Brownie

Even though Brownie has a mild fear of flying he loves to travel, and always makes certain to have a foreign getaway booked for the near future. One of his favorite places to jet off to is London, where he used to live and where he has lots of good friends. Although there are certain spots he always tries to get to when in town, the majority of his time is spent catching up with people, generally over a glass of wine and/or a tasty treat or two.


This past trip involved numerous gossip dates, ranging in location from the British Museum courtyard café (better for people watching than for treats) to Le Pain Quotidien (he can’t get enough of the Blondie spread) to Leon (he loves the sweet potato falafel but stuck with wine on this occasion) to the May Fair Hotel bar (the incredibly over the top restrooms left more of an impression than the cocktails).


Brownie’s recent trip also coincided with a friend’s housewarming party. Because he loves getting ready for a party almost as much as he likes attending a good party, he was more than happy to help with the preparations. After a day spent chopping, cooking and arranging he was rewarded with an evening of treats, bubbly, good conversation and activities such as gnome bowling. He thoroughly enjoyed the latter and had hoped to take a set home with him, but sadly none were left in the stores.


If time allows (which it did on this visit) Brownie likes to hit Borough Market, where he enjoys nibbling on various samples and picking up lovely cheeses, baked goods and other assorted goodies. The surrounding area is also home to numerous hidden treasures; while wandering around he stumbled upon the Union Street Urban Orchard, which he thought was most charming. He also stopped by Jerwood Space to check out Locate, an exhibition of three artist commissions addressing the concept of ‘site’.


Of course it wouldn’t be a trip to London without a day of shopping, and Brownie was able to squeeze one in on his last full day in town. But first, to ensure that he would have the energy to tackle Oxford Street, he stopped by one of his new favorite London spots, Cocomaya Fine Chocolatier and Artisan Baker.


The café is less than a year old and serves incredibly tasty coffee, as well as lovely sweets and chocolate. Furthermore, Brownie loves the ambiance, with its fun décor that ranges from a giant pelican on the wall to cabinets filled with Toby jugs and other fun antiques available for purchase (he would have liked to start his shopping there, but wisely realized any purchase would not likely make it back in one piece).


As always the trip went by much too quickly, and before he knew it he was back in Washington. Luckily there is no need for Brownie to be sad, as he knows it won’t be long until his next trip!

Toby and Chessie

Although Toby and Chessie enjoy an active social life in Washington, they miss their London friends dearly, and take every possible opportunity to visit them. As with all of their trips, the agenda on their latest one included gossip sessions accompanied by treats, drinks and/or shopping (a combination of the three being ideal).


One place Toby and Chessie always try to hit is the Le Pain Quotidien on Marylebone High Street. While they can go to the Belgian chain back home this branch, the first in London, opened long before the restaurant came to Washington, and they have been meeting friends there for years. Although LPQ has many tasty offerings, they love nothing more than the Blondie spread, and they feel no shame in generously smearing it on slices of baguette.


After catching up and filling up Toby, Chessie and their friends waddled down to Selfridges, where they perused the clothing, home goods and gourmet shop, and made the somewhat disturbing discovery that Elizabeth Hurley has her own line of low calorie cereal bars. Needless to say they did not feel the urge to stock up on them.


While they often stick to their favorite haunts, Toby and Chessie were more adventurous on this trip, and ventured beyond the tried and true. One of their favorite new discoveries is Cocomaya, a lovely chocolate shop and café that also sells various odds and ends like Toby jars and vintage china. They also very much liked the Windsor Castle pub, where every nook and cranny is filled with assorted memorabilia and knickknacks, including the ceiling, which is covered in royal commemorative plates (they found the Diana and Charles divorce plate the most amusing).


Toby and Chessie also discovered that the pub is home to the Handlebar Club; while they certainly do not find mustaches even remotely attractive, they do support any group that promotes a quirky style.


The weather was lovely during their trip, providing the perfect excuse to try the gelato at Marylebone’s Cocorino, another new discovery (yogurt, banana, nocciola and pistachio were the flavors sampled). Toby and Chessie also hit one of their favorite places in London, Spitalfields Market.


They were impressed by how the area around the market keeps growing and growing, and they enjoyed checking out the additional fashion, food and vintage mini markets that have sprung up. Of course no trip to the area would be complete without stopping by the 24-hour Brick Lane Beigel Bake for bagels and challah, which they quickly devoured. They also recommend Montezuma’s for interesting chocolates, especially if you have a sweet tooth, which they naturally do.


On their last full day in England Toby and Chessie ventured out of central London, and went to Greenwich to visit a friend. It was yet another sunny day, making it perfect for a walk in the park and jumping on their friend’s trampoline (their favorite form of exercise, although they are also quite fond of hula-hooping).


As always the visit went by too quickly, and Toby and Chessie were very sad to leave. They were, however, pleasantly surprised when United upgraded them on the flight home. The skies are certainly friendlier when starting one’s journey with a glass of bubbly!

Baby Charly

Although Baby Charly loves a good party he is also very much a one on one kind of penguin who likes to schedule gossip dates as often as possible. He had a packed social calendar this week, and was able to catch up with various friends he hadn’t seen in a while. He planned his first date at the National Gallery of Art (one of his favorite places in DC) as he wanted to catch The Sacred Made Real exhibition before it closed. His trip to the Gallery was somewhat stressful due to smoke issues on Metro's tracks and a lack of proper communication (no surprise there), but once Baby Charly arrived he relaxed immediately. He loved the 17th Century Spanish art, especially the fabulous sculptures – his favorite was Mary Magdalene Meditating on the Crucifixion. Afterwards he and his friend went to the Espresso and Gelato Bar in the East Building’s Concourse Level for coffee and gossip. Although he resisted the gelato, he highly recommends it if you find yourself at the Gallery.


Tuesday Baby Charly ventured out to the suburbs (which he avoids as much as possible, unless of course he is craving Dairy Queen) to meet up with a friend at the Clarendon Le Pain Quotidien. He does admit to being a fan of that particular Pain Quotidien, as it is always quiet on weekday evenings and thus a very relaxing place to sit and chat. They also stopped by Kinder Haus Toys for a little shopping, so that his friend could check out the Smurfs. Baby Charly agreed that they are festive creatures, but of course not nearly as fabulous as penguins.


The week’s activities also included a friend’s birthday drinks at Zola, which Baby Charly thought was a most civilized choice of venue for Cinco de Mayo. Call him a snob, but he does not feel the need to celebrate a “Mexican” holiday that is primarily celebrated in the United States, and especially not with bad chemical laden margaritas and cheap tequila shots. He had a great time catching up with the birthday girl and meeting her friends, and showed remarkable discipline by sticking to Diet Coke. But, lest you think he’s gone boring, it was primarily motivated by the gala packed weekend ahead of him (discipline always goes out the door when there’s free flowing bubbly).

Momo

Like Waddlesworth, Momo enjoys frequent trips to London to see her friends. She was very excited this past visit as a friend came down for the weekend from Newcastle, where she is hard at work on the AV Festival 10, a festival of electronic arts. This year's theme is energy, which the festival explores from scientific, technological, environmental and spiritual perspectives (and it includes a live performance by krautrock band Cluster at a swimming pool for both underwater and poolside listening!).


On Saturday the two of them met up with two other friends, one down from Norwich for the evening, for a night on the town. Momo and her friends hit various spots around Liverpool Street Station, starting at the Spittalfields Market wine bar Bedales, where they sipped a yummy Spanish rosé (hoping that the summer drink would take their minds off of the cold) and munched on tasty bread (to line their stomachs for further drinking). As the staff at Bedales looked anxious to lock up, they left their comfortable perch and made their way to The Hawksmoor. The restaurant’s bar had a lovely cocktail list, but Momo was not so excited to discover that it was also a steakhouse, so it was a one drink stop.


They ended their evening at the much more vegetarian friendly The Real Greek, with a dinner of tasty meze, including melitzanosalata, htipiti and, much to the delight of her Norwich friend, fava dip.


The following day Momo made her way to the Museum of Everything, a temporary museum displaying a wide variety of outsider art. She thoroughly enjoyed the rather crowded show, which was interestingly curated and a change from her normal museum experience.


She also enjoyed wandering around the neighborhood, as she rarely gets to North London.


Since the sun had decided to pay a rare visit she decided to waddle down to St. Pancras Station, where she was to meet a friend at Le Pain Quotidien (while their coffee is hit or miss, she loves their Blondie spread). Momo had a wonderful gossip session, but felt sad knowing that her trip was coming to an end. However, she knows she’ll be back soon, especially since her friend promised her a bread pudding dinner next time!