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Summer in London

Ahhhh, the warm weather is here, but for how long?

Last summer in London was probably the best weather I could have ever hoped for. For one, I HAD A TAN. IN ENGLAND.

Two months of 70+ degrees (with one month consistently over 80) reminded me a little bit too much of home. I’ve missed Michigan summers for five years, but it really affected me in 2013.

I’m crossing my fingers and toes for a repeat and so far, so good. Our windows fly open as soon as I get in the door, the garden is coming along nicely and our first round of BBQ burgers this past weekend were divine.

Getting hitched.

So, somehow in all the craziness of the last couple months Charlie and I got engaged. Even at 31 (which seems a totally respectable age to get engaged in these modern times), it feels really adult. Though I know many successful couples who have, I can’t even image what it would be like to take this step in my 20s.

It’s been a crazy four-year journey going from being flatmates who ventured into the dangerous territory of rebound flirtation to spending the rest of our lives together; but at the same time, it’s been totally effortless. Without getting too cliche, I get to marry my best friend.

We’re holding off on too much wedding planning up front. To be honest, there’s so much change going on right now, the last thing we need is to worry about what kind of bunting we’ll have or whether or not we send out save the date cards. The important bits (style, locations, time of year) we’ve pretty much sorted, so now it’s just a matter of actually getting out there and doing it. 

I’m really glad I have a background working in PR though. The event planning experience is totally going to come in handy. Bring on the colour coding, spreadsheets and clipboards. 

 

The veil of social

Recently I wrote a blog post for a news site that has attracted some negative attention. The gist of it is, I wrote a piece on a rhetorical question because there hasn’t been any research on the subject. I find the fact that no one *has* done any research curious. Long story short, it blew up into something I didn’t anticipate. Debate-wise, I take a lot of the points on board. I might have worded things slightly different in hindsight, but I still stand by the overall point and I’m not going to change it because a small percentage of people took offense.

However, my frustration with it all actually stems from the fact that people, thinly veiled by eight time zones, a different culture and an axe to grind, are not interesting in having a conversation or debate. If you don’t agree, absolutely fine, but let’s figure out each others’ motivations first before going in for the attack.

Frivolous fun

Last weekend was the best escape.

I really like Oxford, but I like it especially when our friends throw their yearly dance party. Get 20 of your closest friends in a room with some bumping techno and some lasers and boy, do you have yourself a party.  True Frivolity.

We’re not boring, we’re domestic.

It’s shocking how quickly you get back into an old routine. We did ‘nearly dry January’, which means no alcohol apart from my birthday weekend. We were climbing the walls, but sleeping the night all the way through, having the energy for the gym and losing all the Christmas weight made it ever so slightly easier.

This first week in February made a harmonious January feel like a distant memory. Body pump Monday, lovely dinner with Jaz on Tuesday, theatre on Wednesday (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was pure imagination. Loved it.), and working till 8 on Thursday and sadly, Friday.

Our weekends have become painfully normal. Not in a bad way, we’ve just become terribly domestic. Homebase, the big Sainsbury’s on Finchley Road, Yoga on Sunday and hopefully today a trip down to the Black Lion (our local gorgeous if not slightly overpriced pub). 

Though we still manage to retain a couple ‘cool’ activities that don’t scream of responsibility. We’ve been prepping tunes for next weekend’s party in Oxford. I may even have the guts to play a graveyard set. We’ll see though. 

Oh, and I found tater tots in London. Bacon-wrapped, cheese covered tater tots. Hurts so good.

There’s more to London than restaurants

Coming from a foodie, it’s tough to say, but I fell out of love critiquing restaurants. It’s still something I often do, but recently (ok, the past 18 months), I’ve done it in private. There was something about it that, towards the end of my regular blogging stint, that began to annoy me.

Certain restaurants I went to, I found I didn’t really have anything interesting to say. I was priced out of a lot of others. The food blogger community is a bit cliquey. It got old, I got busy, so I stopped.

In the meantime, I’ve had a really good time not feeling the guilt of not having posted for a week, and then a month and then two… I was enjoying more of what London had to offer. Charlie and I moved into an amazing flat, I worked my way up the corporate ladder a bit more, went to South Africa, finally had my mom visit. I was and am busy just enjoying life.

I do miss blogging though and so I’ve decided to take it back up, but without guilt and without a ‘theme’. Nom nom London isn’t just about eating anymore, it’s about devouring everything the city has to offer me, even if it’s a few mundane pictures of my garden and what Charlie and I did last week.

Here’s to hoping I keep it up this time.

Fifteen – Old Street

To say my experience at Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen was horrific wouldn’t be fair. However, to say the thought of returning turns my stomach wouldn’t be far off the truth. The thing is, it’s an ok restaurant based on a wonderful concept (the restaurant also runs as a charity that gives young, unemployed people the chance to be trained as chefs), but is so fantastically exorbitantly-priced for the food you’re served, you get the feeling the only person who’s really getting any benefit out of it is Jamie Oliver.

A starter of buffalo mozzarella and peaches was probably the highlight of the meal. Well-sourced cheese and nicely balanced against the sweetness of the peaches. Still, at over £11, I was surprised it didn’t come plated in gold.

The main, a Fisherman’s Stew containing about one or two pieces of mackerel, pollock, squid (respectively) and topped with 2 teeny tiny mussels, one clam and an angry-looking prawn staring at me with a face that said ‘No, I can’t believe it either’, cost a mind-boggling £28. Twenty-eight pounds. To add insult to injury, the seafood was completely overcooked and absolutely drowning in a tomato stew that I wouldn’t be surprised if had come out of a jar.

Dessert – a strawberry balsamic panna cotta – was ok, not particularly memorable other than the fact that it has a nice consistency, but was maybe too heavy on the balsamic flavouring.

A few positives though…

1. It was cheerfully busy on a Tuesday night, but not so much so that you couldn’t hear your dining companions. I imagine it would be a good setting for a work dinner that you’re not paying for (which is actually what I was there for).
2. Service was faultless. I really liked our server – he was calm, knowledgeable and just really nice.
3. The decor was lovely. However, I suspect that’s another reason why it’s so expensive

Will I be going back? Not unless someone’s paying. And even then, I’d feel a bit guilty for not pointing them in a different direction.

Welcome to Nom Nom London

Well, it’s been nearly two months since my last review. Frustratingly, this isn’t because I’ve not been bothered to blog or go out to eat. It’s because I lost the Om Nom London domain name, and I’ve spent the last 8 weeks trying to get it back.

Long story short, unbeknownst to me, my OmNomLondon.com URL wasn’t under automatic renewal, and some EVIL companywith nothing better to do than rip off unsuspecting bloggers (owned by Go Daddy – the thieving bastards), purchased the domain from under my nose and tried to charge me over £200 for the pleasure of getting it back.

I blog for a hobby, and I certainly don’t make any money from it. Technically, it’s a*losing* game as I pay for my own meals!  Needless to say, paying to get my URL back was just not on, so I’ve registered NomNomLondon.com as the new name of my blog. It’s a subtle difference, and hopefully Google won’t completely kill my search rankings. Now I just have to get used to saying ‘Nom Nom’ instead of ‘Om Nom’.

Normal service to resume soon!

Delicious by DS5 – Shoreditch Pop-up restaurant

Often times, pop-ups are a little difficult (if not slightly pointless) to write about. By the time you get a chance to do so, they’re – poof! – gone. However, the one I was lucky enough to snag a table at a couple of weeks ago was a unique enough experience that it would be a disservice not to talk about. Oddly enough, it was for the launch of a car, the Citroen DS5.

The setting was typical of your Shoreditch pop up: big, white gallery space, hidden door, champers on arrival, lots of creative types waiting anxiously to be sat, but once led to our tables, it was quite unique. Three reasons why:

1. Entry was a £5 donation to Fareshare
2. For £5, you got a 5-course meal devised by Tim Anderson (of Master Chef and Brew Dog Camden fame)
3. The menu was based loosely on the 5 senses, and incredibly posh at that

First course, Textures of Duck included a tissue-like dissolving in your mouth piece of crispy skin, a lovely liver parfait disguised as a quail’s egg and a deliciously leather-y jerky

Second course, Visions of Beetroot, was visually stunning, but not for me. I take beets in small doses, and this was way too much for me. Pretty though…

Hands down favourite was Flavours of Beef, a simple, but majestic fillet perfectly cooked and served with a delightful blue cheese potato puree and cashew butter.

And of course with any gastronomy-inspired tasting menu there has to be a bit of theatre.This in the form of Sounds of Bacon, made up of a pancetta lolly pop and pork rind popping candy (ie Pop Rocks). Good fun, both, although the popping candy made me want to reach for a nice cold Diet Coke rather than wine.

Also in the theatre department were the liquid nitrogen macaroon palette cleansers. I can’t say I enjoyed them any more than any other macaroon, but it was quite fun to blow ‘ smoke’ out of your mouth in between courses (as modeled by my friend George…)

Dessert – Aromas of Syrah – I was incredibly sceptical of. Peeling back the lid on the jar, you’re met with what can only be described as a cigarette barbecue. Not at all appetising. However, once the ridiculous odour dissipated, you were left with what actually was a quite nice chocolate ganache.

And in between all this, we got to play around with the car itself, and all its shiny buttons and features. It’s about nine million times out of my price range, but we had a lot of fun playing with the moon roof and driver’s seat massage function

By the end of the evening, suitably impressed with almost everything and having now been to two different Tim Anderson sort-of ventures, I’m wondering when is he going to get his own restaurant. I think it would have a lot of potential.  Surely something must be in the works…