MAYFAIR was our last Life Lately, at the beginning of October, and it was all beautifully laid out in wide-screen format⏤best viewed on a desktop⏤but now more of you are here via your phones, so we’ll make this one (which is actually in two parts) a single layout to fit your screens while you’re out and about.
Here we are again at the beginning a brand new year. It seems everyone have spoken with is happy to leave the past year behind, for there were those in the throes of life transitions—be it a broken heart or career uncertainty, serious illnesses or loss, worries about the future and the state of the world in general.
We live in a quintessential English countryside village, the kind that looks like it’s a movie set, a beautiful place with stone cottages that have names like Rosebank and Appletree Grange. It's the kind of place where there are cosy pubs and a greengrocer for fruits and vegetables ...
JUST A FEW photos of the past days and weeks leading up to summer's end and the official arrival of fall. There are deep orange roses that faded to pink and photos on old digital cameras; there are dusky autumn skies and late-night tapas after getting caught in the wild Scottish rain and Eggs Benedict the morning after ...
OUR FIRST visit to Mc & Sons was actually by chance. We were walking out of Vauxhall station and passed the pub along the way, P thinking it was the one he’d been telling me about that serves Thai food...
"Have you ever thought that you would be living in Spain?" It's a question that P asks often, and my answer is always the same: no, never in a million years had I ever imagined that we would, on a whim, move here, having never visited before, and to this particular city, as opposed to the more predictable choices of Barcelona or Madrid. Not because it's not a wonderful place to live, to be sure, but because I (like many others, it would seem) had never even heard of Valencia before.
WHEN I FIRST began putting together this instalment of Life Lately, had actually disabled the entire TIG Instgram account (as in, removed it from the internet) and deleted the app from my phone—hence the title. Also took time off from Twitter at same time and reclaimed all of the EXTRA hours left from those two alone to catch up on reading (currently reading this book). Recently, in our triweekly articles series, we had included two very interesting articles on this very topic: The Case for Deleting Everything and America Offline, both of which had confirmed my restless feelings and urge to be extremely and wildly social media-free.
AT THE BEGINNING of the summer, P & I bought folding bikes and on every sunny day over the past few weeks, we went on as many bicycle rides along the English countryside as we could, often ending up in charming, cosy pubs, places with names like The Wallace Arms and Rose & Crown; The Black Bull and Robin Hood. On one trip, our longest, we went from the city all the way to the seaside ...
This letter arrives months late, but with good reason, for it has been the most eventful past few months ever, we can assure you! Life-changing in many ways, both personally & professionally, the year 2015 will go down in history as one to remember always.
FOR QUITE some time, we had intended to visit Primrose Hill, the charming neighbourhood in northwest London nestled between Camden Town and Regent’s Park. However, it was the opening of a new bagel shop on Regent’s Park Road that proved to be the incentive we needed to finally make the excursion.
ONE OF our favourite things to do in London is stroll the down tree-lined streets of Mayfair, amongst the Georgian townhouses with their grand façades, all intricate architecture and delicate wrought iron detailing.
IT'S STRAWBERRY SEASON and Wimbledon, which can only mean one thing: strawberries and cream. Have you been watching the tennis? Also, Summer Solstice was just a couple of weeks ago and we said a bittersweet good-bye to the longest day of the year. Here is a little of our lately: homemade gazpacho and June rose; pints on a sunny pub terrace and wildflower meadows; friendly llamas and gin and tonics and so much more...
JUST A FEW SNAPSHOTS of the things we've been up to this past July, including a quick trip to Edinburgh that ended up taking longer due to the heatwave, so iced coffees on the morning of the day that we were supposed to return home; pink English roses in the bright June sun and Sweet Potato, Ginger & Garlic Tofu Stew (with Lime and Spinach) ...
. . . this past weekend, left the city behind for a leisurely countryside drive, a stop in the most quaint café [for coffee and an exquisite slice of apricot tart], and a day in the picturesque town of gullane . . .
HAVE WORKED THROUGH two of the five Jean-Luc Godard films that are thought to be his best, prompted by the French-Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic's recent death last month. It's been an eventful few weeks since the last update, with autumn walks in the changing colours, saying hello to random cats in neighbours' gardens ...