Ben's Blog

After another broiling run in Hyde Park, Jay and I went to a Polish resturant in Kensington called Wodka's. I have to admit, I was a little skeptical about a Polish resturant, since I have never heard someone rave about having Polish food. We took a cab over to the resturant through a charming, red brick neighborhood (apparently one of the most expensive in London) and stopped at a quiet intersection deep into the neighborhood. Again, I was struck by the relaxed nature of everyone eating outside on the patios of restuarants in the warm summer air. Apparently Wodka's has a mascot, a cute little dog who sits outside, minding its own business. It reminded me of the dog in the RCA Victor logo.

We walked inside the resturant, which is an old house and was very simple. The walls were bricks painted bleach white and were covered sparesly with modern Polish art and cultural event posters. The darkly stained wood floors gave the place a simple elegance. The open windows allowed us to relax and enjoy the warm air from outside. Two Polish couples sat next to the window and a group of three speaking French were to my left. Ahh...summer in Europe.

The food was simple but very good. We started with some flavored Vodkas that were made in house, and enjoyed some delicious appetisers. Jay and I decided to split a bowl of goulash, which was absolutely amazing. For the main course I had some fish that was so tender it fell apart, which was spread over some well-cooked asparagas. Dessert was just as amazing, one of the best meals I have had in my life. The flavored Vodkas were very good--the flavor of the pear vodka popped out at me, and the strawberry vodka tasted like strawberry jam...mmmmm!

The place reminded me of A16 in the Marina or Town Hall in the Financial District. Simple and elegant, yet very good food. I would definitely vist this resturant again.

Posted by Ben at 09:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Before I left for my London trip, a co-worker of mine said I should look up her niece Lizzie while I was over there. I contacted Lizzie yesterday and on the spur of the moment she invited me out to see some live music (since she's in the business) with some friends of hers. After leaving work I headed to the tube and met Lizzie in northern London. It's always interesting meeting people you've talked to over the Internet or over the phone; you never know what they will be like in person. But my fears were quickly dissovled after meeting Lizzie since she is very gregarious and was a great host. We met at a pub and chatted about Kathy (my co-worker) and talked about work and family. Since Lizzie's mum is American she has spent a lot of time over in the States and we were laughing about differences between the two countries. Anyways, after a quick beer we headed over to meet her friend Lucy for dinner in East London at a small Vietnamese restaurant. The food was quite good, but I must admit that it took a few seconds to get over the legs and eyes on the prawns I had to eat, since these are usually cut off of prawns when served in the US.

After dinner we headed over to Hoxton Square, which is a city square around a small park with large trees. The grass in the park was covered with young people sitting around on blankets and talking the night away, enjoying the beautiful evening weather. Around the square were pubs and art galleries, and people were streaming in and out of the buildings. I wish San Francisco had areas like this. I made this comment to my friends and Sophie--who had just joined us and had been to San Francisco--commented that the Mission district was similar. I agreed, but there was something a little more here in London that took the square to another level. At any rate, I quite liked it.

Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen (review) was pretty cool--a small patio led into the building, which was a long rectangle, mostly of brick. It had the feeling of a large space, but was made intimate by the throngs of young people inside the pub. The bar was dimly lit in a lounge style, but its openness made it more warm than intimidating. The building ran all the way through to the street on the other side. As you walked into the pub, the long, dimly lit bar was on the left and the entrance to the music stage on the right.

We had just arrived in time for the band Original Cast, who had been bugging Lizzie for a while to come hear them play. They were an okay band--the last song sounded similar to Nirvana, but mostly their sound was a combination of spoken or screamed lyrics in a rap style, filled out with a guitar, bass, keyboards, and drums. We laughed quite a bit at the antics of the band--they pretty much jumped and screamed the entire time. During the music, I noticed a bloke wearing a Michael Bolton shirt, which brought back memories of Office Space...too funny. Lizzie took a picture since I had forgotten my camera.
It was good to be Michael Bolton in 1995

After the band finished, we walked back out into the pub to talk. A hilarious lecture on pronunciation of English words ensued, but I still think the US pronunciation of Leicester and Gloucester is more phonetically correct. The conversation was fun and then we went in to catch the last band. Lizzie pointed out a guy there who was famous for dating someone on a reality show...we were all laughing that he was still trying to ride his 15 minutes of fame.

After that, we parted for the night and I headed down to the broiling Tube to catch a ride back to Paddington. Over all, quite a fun night and a great taste of some of the unique things that make up London.

Posted by Ben at 08:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

As is to be expected anytime one crosses eight time zones, the first day in London was a blur. Fortunately the flight over was quite good--business class on British Airways was much roomier compared to American and United--and I was able to get a couple of hours of sleep. I wish I was as small as the man on my left, I think he slept the entire flight. Ten and a half hours of bliss. At any rate, the first day was okay, not too many meetings to stress my brain out, but my brain did slow down around 10AM and coffee was required.

We got out of work a little earlier than usual, heading out around 4:30 and heading back to the hotel. I popped on my VPN and replied to some work emails since I didn't have Internet access during the day. Since we didn't have dinner plans until 1900 I went for a run. Even though I was in good shape from climbing at 14,000 ft last week, I was no match for the faster cadence and brutal heat on the run. Running through the park I was suprised, it seemed as if everyone in the city was there! People sunbathing, reading, riding on paddle boats, children playing in fountains, everyone was in on the fun. Why does this not happen on a weekday in San Francisco? Oh wait, we're all WORKING!!

After a very hot run I took a cold shower and headed down to the lobby to meet Jay and Goran for dinner. We headed to a resturant down the street called Frontline, which was started by a group of foreign journalists and has some amazing photos on the walls, including D-day photos and pictures of refugees and war-torn areas. The resturant had decent food, but as the night progressed I became very relaxed due to the atmosphere. The building had loft architecture with bare wood floors that were heavily used and bare light-colored bricks. The wide windows let in plenty of light. But the greatest contributing factor to my relaxed mood was watching the people at other tables. They were sitting there for hours chatting and one could see the relaxed look on their faces; not a care in the world. These were not bohemian twenty-somethings from a foreign country, these were Londoners in their 40s and 50s who were relexed because of the good food and great conversation.

After dinner I walked around for a bit since I couldn't leave the feeling of relaxation and ease that I was observing on the faces of the people. People were eating on sidewalks and relaxing--I think many were on holiday from continental Europe. I wish people back home did this, and it gave me an idea for a dinner party that I want to start. On a periodic basis I will send out a Craigslist notice for a Dinner Party and will take applications for guests. No one can come who has the same career as another person in the group. No dogmatic people, just twenty and thirtysomethings getting together to discuss ideas. Does this sound like an interesting idea?

Posted by Ben at 07:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)