After working very long hours this week, M deserved a day off today. And, of course, I couldn't resist joining him for a day out. I dropped Little Planet off at daycare while M went out on a run. Then we headed into
Covent Garden, where we popped into the
new Apple store in the Piazza to ogle, and I changed the size of
UGG slippers Little Planet had bought me (with the help of her daddy) for my birthday the other week:
Then we breakfasted at
Canela, where we found ourselves discussing toddler eating habits with parents of another two year old at a neighbouring table (if both our two year olds are given a sandwich, they will remove the bread, eat the ham then the cheese then lick off the butter then finally resign themselves to eating the bread, if they can be bothered; if you give them bread on its own though, then they will eat it,
maybe):
We went to the
Royal Academy Of Arts on Piccadilly to view the
Sargent And The Sea exhibition. The place was heaving with old age pensioners so we scooted and dodged our way around. Many of the paintings were incredibly expressive and brooding, especially my two favourites
Fisherwomen Returning, 1877 and
Fishing Boats, 1878. And we couldn't ignore the infamous
2010 Summer Exhibition, where I was blown away by a monumental painting by Anselm Kiefer (
photo below) and, most especially, David Hockney's stupendously life-affirming panoramic photos of 25 trees on a road in Bridlington, Yorkshire, taken in the Spring, Summer and Winter. It closes next week, so do hurry and see it if you can:
Afterwards, we were hungry for lunch, but we wanted first to pop into
HMV to buy both
Madagascar animated movies for Little Planet. Though her attention span is still short, she is beginning to engage with longer movies now and last week happily watched, on and off and in between playing sessions, the animated movie
Happy Feet - she can even narrate bits of the plot: "Happy Feet was dancing and then a shark came and tried to eat him, then he fell down"! She can watch one of the
Madagascar films this weekend, in between entertaining yet more house guests.
For lunch, we went to the
restaurant at Mitsukoshi - one of my favourite places to eat a Japanese lunch. M ate pork cutlet with miso, salad and pickles. I had a delicious bowl of rice topped with salmon sashimi and spring onions, plus cold buckwheat noodles in broth and pickles. For dessert, M had a fresh fruit salad and I had a homemade fruit cocktail with citrus jelly alongside a creme caramel made with brown sugar. I was obviously very greedy but am experiencing no guilt whatsoever:
I went into the
JP Books store to buy
Ku:nel. I love this chic Japanese lifestyle magazine, mainly for its food photography but also for its lifestyle shots:
We stocked up on provisions from the bustling, ever popular
Japan Centre next door...
... before heading home so M could do a conference call with a client at 4pm. We'll collect Little Planet together soon (though its pouring with rain!!) and then, after her bedtime at 7pm, M will make tempura of sweet potatoes and king prawns. Can't wait.
Gallery hopping makes for very tired feet!
We queued round the block to get into Meat Liquor in Marylebone, but the burgers and fries were so good that the wait was certainly worth it.
Little Planet attended a very pink 4th birthday party...
...That had a very pink birthday cake.
And this weekend, Little Planet finally moved from her cot to her very own pink bed, which she absolutely loves.
Little Planet (middle) and two of the St Albans' children playing with the dollhouse...
At the Victoria & Albert Museum...
M and Little Planet at the Serpentine Pavilion...
Little Planet lounging around. It's a hard life being a toddler...
Then we breakfasted at Canela, where we found ourselves discussing toddler eating habits with parents of another two year old at a neighbouring table (if both our two year olds are given a sandwich, they will remove the bread, eat the ham then the cheese then lick off the butter then finally resign themselves to eating the bread, if they can be bothered; if you give them bread on its own though, then they will eat it, maybe):
We went to the Royal Academy Of Arts on Piccadilly to view the Sargent And The Sea exhibition. The place was heaving with old age pensioners so we scooted and dodged our way around. Many of the paintings were incredibly expressive and brooding, especially my two favourites Fisherwomen Returning, 1877 and Fishing Boats, 1878. And we couldn't ignore the infamous 2010 Summer Exhibition, where I was blown away by a monumental painting by Anselm Kiefer (photo below) and, most especially, David Hockney's stupendously life-affirming panoramic photos of 25 trees on a road in Bridlington, Yorkshire, taken in the Spring, Summer and Winter. It closes next week, so do hurry and see it if you can:
Afterwards, we were hungry for lunch, but we wanted first to pop into HMV to buy both Madagascar animated movies for Little Planet. Though her attention span is still short, she is beginning to engage with longer movies now and last week happily watched, on and off and in between playing sessions, the animated movie Happy Feet - she can even narrate bits of the plot: "Happy Feet was dancing and then a shark came and tried to eat him, then he fell down"! She can watch one of the Madagascar films this weekend, in between entertaining yet more house guests.
I went into the JP Books store to buy Ku:nel. I love this chic Japanese lifestyle magazine, mainly for its food photography but also for its lifestyle shots:
We stocked up on provisions from the bustling, ever popular Japan Centre next door...
... before heading home so M could do a conference call with a client at 4pm. We'll collect Little Planet together soon (though its pouring with rain!!) and then, after her bedtime at 7pm, M will make tempura of sweet potatoes and king prawns. Can't wait.
It was also my birthday this week - on Tuesday. M and I took the day off work (which for me means a day not writing) while the Grandmas looked after Little Planet. We began the day with breakfast at the Serpentine Pavilion.
A wander through the wondrous Wolfgang Tillmans photographic show.
A stroll through Hyde Park and down to the V&A for a wander round the magnificent new medieval and renaissance galleries.
To Soho for delicious, flavourful tempura and udon noodles at the charming Koya on Frith Street.
Followed by coffee and pastel de nata at Fernandez & Wells on Beak Street.
Then home in the late afternoon to celebrate with Little Planet and family. Cutsey cake courtesy of Little Planet ;-) via her didi-ma.
The next day, yesterday, M returned to work and I went to the British Library to write (I'm a member). We met up in Marylebone for dinner that night at Dinings for sublime and exquisite sushi and Japanese tapas.
My favourite presents were a pair of UGG slippers from Little Planet (thanks M!), an excellent Olympus E-PL1 compact camera from M which I can't wait to experiment with, and loads of potted plants and flowers from my mum.
