The Top Floor Flat

The problem, once I’ve passed a month of not blogging, becomes finding a way to get back into the habit with an overwhelming backlog of things to write about. But pushing 8 weeks of no content, I’ve got to bite the bullet and see what I can cover in an epic recap post. Here we go….

On 12 May, not long after my mother got to experience the amazing Fulham win against Hamburg at the wonderful Craven Cottage, Fulham travelled to Germany to play Atletico Madrid in the Europa finals. The momentum of the team, the belief of the fans, the absolute impossibility that they would make it to the finals at all left Fulham fans with every assurance of a win at the end… but it was not to be. In a pub in east London, I felt a true sportsfan’s despair as Fulham played a fantastic match but couldn’t overcome Madrid to take the final trophy.

On 20 May, I attended the first tech event for a long while and made up for lost time with the very well organised Social Entertainment and Tech Breakfast at the Edelman PR firm offices in London. A great lineup of speakers talked about the role social media is playing in the entertainment space, particular in broadcast entertainment.

26 May saw my rather impromptu decision to apply for the UK Apprentice (the show made famous by Donald Trump in the States) and with the help of my Top Floor Flatmate, I whisked off an application, under the vain delusions that I am clearly better than any of the other applicants in the country (that’s the California optimism coming through!)

I’ve been keeping busy at the gym throughout the last two months with 29 May marking the date that I smashed the girls’ record for the indoor triathalon at my gym, shaving about 1/3 off the previous top time. Was quite proud of myself and got to enjoy the rest of the day of an international food celebration with Ann in honour of Eurovision, a strange European tradition where representatives from a variety of European and non-European (but nearby) countries sing terrible songs while viewers from each country vote for the countries that would probably end up on their side in a war. It’s all very strange.

By 30 May I had decided that I would have to start seriously applying myself to GMAT studies if my vague plans for “oh business school someday” were to ever become a reality – more to ensure I don’t forget any more math than because I wanted to get going on the application. I took a break on 1 June to celebrate and panic at the fact that date marked two years since I arrived in England – and to fully embrace my new-found Britishness, I spent the evening on a rainy football pitch, trying out for an 11-a-side girls’ team (translation, I tried out for a girls soccer team).

Not to make myself out to be too healthy and cultured the last couple months, as 2 June saw me indulging in the sin of gambling at a PokerStars tournament where I was seated at a table with Victoria Coren, one of the premiere female poker players in the world (who in addition to robbing us all blind is a gorgeous, talented writer of both a fantastic autobiography and a weekly column in The Guardian). Despite my competition I still ended up placing 5th overall and picked up a bit of a poker bug. Fortunately there was no buy in and no cash winnings otherwise I would have been totally hooked.

To atone for my gambling sins, I surrounded myself with incredibly talented, driven and entrepreneurial women at the Women 2.0 dinner on 4 June where I met some fantastical ladies and had a chance to catch up with a few old friends.

My terror at realizing I had been in the UK for two years was only equaled on 7 June, the date that marked 24 years since I arrived in the world. I had a low-key birthday and the opposite of a low-key cake created by the incredible Top Floor Flatmate Ann.

Although my birthday day was quiet, I was going to make up for it on 12 June with a little celebration in honour of my birth and, more importantly, the USA vs England match in the World Cup. From then on out, the World Cup and work began to dominate my life. Group rounds proved an emotional challenge as the USA was robbed of goals, saddled with horrendous refs and still managed to pull through at the last minute. England was causing heartache for their fans as well with dismal performances against the USA and Algeria.

On 15 June I got to squeeze in a visit with a friend of mine from Colby. Chris was stopping off in London on his way back to America from Austria. He had joined us for my birthday celebration and we managed to catch another World Cup match in a classic British pub for dinner on a gorgeous sunny day. I can’t for the life of me remember what match we saw but it was great to spend the evening with a friend from Colby and his lovely girlfriend in a traditional, riverside pub.

I had a slight break from football on 21 June when Wimbledon kicked off in earnest with Roger Federer coming dangerously close to losing in the first round but fortunately he hung in long enough for me to turn my attention back to USA and England’s performances and on 23 June they both eeked through to the next round of the World Cup, USA amazingly leading the group and set to play Ghana in the match ahead. Landon Donovan’s goal with less than four minutes left to play was probably one of the top 10 sporting moments I’ve ever experiences, right up there with Fulham beating Hamburg and the Red Sox winning the 2004 playoff series against the Yankees.

Poor England was stuck with Germany and not even the loyal fans, generally ready to forgive them early performances, had much hope for the outcome of that pairing. The day wasn’t over yet as this also marked arguably the most epic Wimbledon match in history, the 10+ hour marathon of Mahut and Isner which began before the football and, as I incredulously followed on my phone, continued during my commute, through my walk home, until I got back to my television and so late that they had to postpone the match into the next day (the third day of play).

Sports continued to play a dominate theme in the month. While I was looking forward to the USA v Ghana match, I got some bad news about Fulham – it seemed their manager, Roy Hodgson, had performed so well with the team the season before, and so well as a pundit during the world cup, he was getting eyed by the bigger, and wealthier teams in the league. Rumours were flying that he’d soon be off to Liverpool, leaving us Cottagers behind.

Rumours were still unconfirmed heading into the weekend of the USA v Ghana match but before I could focus on football, I first had a visit from Nina, a close friend from high school who was in London for a few days between Oxford and Cambridge jaunts. Selecting some favourites from my London in 48 Hours tour, we raced around the city on her first day, then took advantage of the sunny weather to head out to Greenwich on 26 June.  That evening, while Nina opted for a different kind of British culture (she was off to the Globe for a production of Macbeth) I returned to my local pub for an evening of white-knuckled USA supporting.

The eventual defeat of the Americans shouldn’t have come as a surprise but I was devastated when their World Cup trip ended. My only consolation was that, less than 24 hours later, on 27 June, Englanders would feel my pain (times four) as Germany beat the England team 4-1. A weekend of rubbish refs, the crippling confirmation that Fulham was to lose Roy, and too much pub food was balanced with how fantastic it was to have Nina visiting, and the glorious California weather she brought with her.

With all of the sports of June, you’d be forgiven for thinking that I had done very little work but despite my sports fixation, in fact 90% of my mental capacity was focused solely on Spoonfed and the upcoming product launch for Bullseyehub, our fantastic new bit of software which allows companies in the entertainment space to better communicate with their customers. My role at the company transformed into full-time bug tester as we barreled our way through June and to the looming launch party date, by which we needed to have tested, perfected and released Bullseyehub to the world.

I needn’t have worried as our incredible team pulled it off without a hitch and on 30 June, we got to show friends, family and London press what we’d been working on for the last 12 months. The launch night was incredible and something I’ll never forget – one of my proudest moments. I was so rewarding to have been involved in the project from start to finish and to be able to share that with the Spoonfed team as well as the attendees of our launch event.

The good news at Spoonfed didn’t end there. On 1 July, New Media Age, one of the top trade publications for marketing and advertising, published an article about listings websites that heavily featured Spoonfed and some of the great work we’d done with advertisers in the past.

The whole team was ready to celebrate and as a reward for all of our hard work, on 3 July the company directors had arranged a special day out at the horse races (yes, more gambling!). Ladies dressed to the nines (with hats that looked more like small allotment gardens than headwear) strolled through the green paddock while the nation’s top horses prepped for their sprints. The Spoonfed team, of course, celebrated in a private box overlooking the finish line, quaffing champagne, losing unfortunate amounts of money and generally having a wonderful time.

The 4th of July didn’t register on my American holiday radar until I got a text in the morning wishing me a happy Independence Day. I was more distracted by the Sunday Times, which featured Spoonfed once again – a whole article on grads making good with a big picture of our Spoonfed offices. The weather seemed to be celebrating as well and I got to take advantage of the sun with a tennis match on a clay court (the first time I’d played on anything other than a hard court) with Spoonfed director Alex before we gave up our own attempts at tennis greatness to watch the end of the Wimbledon final.

Whew! I knew I’d get there in the end! I’m all up to date with the exciting things that have been happening lately. While I hope to get a full commentary on World Cup mayhem from an England perspective, my most lasting and proudest memories from the last 8 weeks will be related to Bullseyehub, the Spoonfed Media team and our successes as a company. I’m so excited for what the next six months will bring us and am looking forward to the rest of my British summer.

Hopefully there’ll be quite a bit more time to keep my blog up to date.

[3] Comments

On my way back from Fulham Palace, I happened to notice a tiny cafe tucked away on North End Road. It wouldn’t have caught my eye except for the sign which promised authentic Ethiopian food. I had tried Ethiopian food once before, at a restaurant by Kings Cross, but it had been almost two years and I was excited to give it another go.

I coerced Top Floor Flatmate, Ann, into coming along with me, warning her that the possibility was high that this would be a disastrous meal. For starters, the cafe itself looked more like a greasy spoon than a location for a fine meal out, and that was just the outside. Upon walking in we were greeted by some aluminum-topped tables, a rather dingy interior and, fittingly, a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony which included a circle of low wicker stools, a central heating unit and a lot of incense.

Odd decor aside, we were warmly welcomed by an incredibly friendly woman who seemed to be in charge - she certainly took charge, waving away the staff’s apparent surprise at our desire to dine there, sitting us down and proceeding to talk us through the menu and, when we showed some hesitation, ordering for us.

A traditional Ethiopian meal is typically a spicy and flavourful meat or veggie dish served on a large flat round of bitter bread called injera. There are no utensils and the porous bread is used to scoop up, sop up and otherwise consume the meat or veggies, which are a stew-like consistency.  While the bread isn’t too appealing alone, with the intense flavours of the meat and spices of the sauce, it’s a perfect balance and the Ethiopian style of food was just as delicious as I remembered. I had a lamb dish while Ann went with the vegetarian option but we both agreed it was a) amazingly tasty and b) way more than we could comfortably eat (though not for lack of trying).

The Ghion Cafe was certainly not a looker - and if you want ambiance, this is not your best bet. But don’t be put off by the simple surroundings. The food was authentic, rich and delicious; the service uncharacteristically friendly for London and the food arrived almost instantaneously (although we ended up having to ask twice for the bill before getting up to pay at the counter - a long, drawn out and well-enjoyed meal seemed to be encouraged) and it was an excellent opportunity to further discover food of another culture. Plus at under £10 per person for an incredibly filling meal and drink, it’s an unbeatable price. The perfect combination.

Ghion Cafe
248 North End Road
Fulham, London, SW6 7RS
020 7385 1287

1 Comment

On my last day in Cornwall, I found myself with a seemingly endless stretch of sunny day before my evening train back to London and no plans with which to fill it. At a bit of a loss for what to do - there being little useful public transport, having checked out of my hotel and not being familiar with the area - I decided to walk the half mile or so to Charlestown, just next to St. Austell where I had been staying.

The first evening in Cornwall I had walked to Charlestown so had seen the one street, few shops and, most impressively, the gorgeous bay and working docks where a couple of full pirate-like sailboats were still docked. This, however, was not a brisk walk along the ocean, this was a full seven hours to fill so I busied myself with finding something to do.

Being drawn to museums, I decided to investigate the wonderfully named Shipwreck, Rescue and Heritage Centre, a small museum built into the clay mines and loading tunnels from Charlestown’s still existing china clay trade. Let’s see, how can I possibly describe the Shipwreck, Rescue and Heritage Centre?

The museum was a kitschy cross between a middle school poster project, an antique shop and Disneyland in the 70s. In fact, nothing in the museum (artifacts aside as of course they were expected to be old) could be more recent than 1989 including the quarter of an hour welcome video that described the clay mining history of Charlestown; and the importance of the dock to the few families that populated Charlestown’s handful of streets. Featuring 80s swimwear, hairdos and turns of phrase, it was a perfect segue into the winding corridors of animatronic rooms depicting olden day Charlestown life, a vast amount of history on the numerous shipwrecks that took place off the Charlestown and Cornwall coast, artifacts from these wrecks and - the most modern part of the museum - a 2009 Royal Navy recruitment video.

View from one of the china clay loading tunnels at the Charlestown Shipwreck, Rescue and Heritage Centre

I have to say, I was completely entranced and ended up spending almost two hours reading the history of local shipping trade and rescue teams. I’m not sure what it was that captured my imagination about this local attraction (perhaps I it was the wooden pirate statue out front holding a sign “fun for dads, mums AND kids!”) but I think the Centre will live on in popularity accompanied by those American roadside attractions such as “World’s Biggest Plastic Dinosaur,” “Amazing Stream that Runs Uphill” and “Mystical Rock Garden” where parents know, at the very least, after hours of listening to a child beg to visit the overbilled attraction there will be a shop selling ice cream bars at the end.

The rest of my day in Charlestown was spent enjoying the local delicacy, a Cornish pasty, at the Atishoo Gallery Cafe; a long wander down the short dock and stretch of beach; and a delicious Easter chocolate cake at Charlie’s Coffee Shop. Amazingly I had filled my day quite happily and Charlestown is not only gorgeous but full of some of the most friendly people I’ve encountered in the UK. Maybe it’s local pride at their lovely Heritage Centre.

Steak and stilton Cornish pasty from the Gallery Cafe in Charlestown, Cornwall

1 Comment

While there is something to be said for randomly wandering a foreign town until you find the local favourites, when planning a trip in advance nothing can beat a good browse through TripAdvisor for restaurant recommendations. Before my trip to Cornwall I made a point of looking up the top ranked restaurant in St. Austell for a special Easter weekend meal. All signs pointed to Austell’s as being the area’s top pick (additionally, it’s listed in the Michelin Guide!) so I emailed my reservation for Saturday night in advance and headed off to Cornwall ready for a delicious dinner.

Unfortunately, and to my great surprise, I heard back that they were entirely booked so I swung by the restaurant to plead my single traveller case - thank goodness I did, they kindly found a spot for me and allowed me to enjoy the most delicious meal I’ve had in ages.

Austell’s operates on a set menu - always a good sign in my opinion as it means the menu options will be well prepared rather than a whole range of short order meals coming out of the kitchen. I could choose between a small array of starters, mains and desserts for a fixed (and incredibly reasonable) price. While located in a fairly unromantic area (next to a fast food Chinese buffet and Indian takeaway restaurant in what Americans would call a strip mall), once stepping inside the restaurant it was like being in a whole different location.

I started with a fillet of bream served with fried squid and a light, lemony fregula which was perfectly prepared. The fish was salty and light and had just enough fishy flavour to taste fresh but not enough to overpower the rest of the meal. The squid was incredibly flavourful and not the least bit chewy (which I thought was a given with squid) - it cut with my fork. The grains balanced the dish nicely, adding a bit of texture to the fish.

Next I decided on the Cornish beef ribeye served with a red wine jus, sauteed mushrooms, green beans and potatoes. I don’t eat red meat particularly often at home and so it was a very special treat, even moreso in that it was perfectly done to medium rare and I polished off the plate in much less time than I would have probably done in polite company.

Finally, I finished with the hot dark chocolate lava cake, served with mint chocolate chip ice cream. Simple, delicious and amazingly chocolatey, it was the ideal end to the meal.

Overall I’m so glad I picked Austell’s for my Easter meal (even if it was a Saturday dinner rather than Sunday!). The staff were wonderful - my waitress stopping to chat with me when she had a moment as I was sitting alone and of course the fact that they squeezed me in - which really added to the whole meal and ambiance. If you can get a table, I highly recommend a visit to Austell’s if you’re ever in the area.

Austell’s
http://www.austells.net/
10 Beach Road
St Austell
PL25 3PH
Tel. for bookings: 01726 813 888

Leave a Comment

Finding a place for a quiet drink after work was proving to be a bit more difficult than I had imagined - the issue was the friendly between England and Egypt which meant that any pub with a screen would be packed with punters eagerly awaiting the first of England’s efforts as we move towards the summer World Cup.  This meant that I had to find a place off the beaten path, without a television and with easy transport access. Where else to look than Notting Hill in West London?

After a few false starts (both of the original pub choices had TV screens and, in an indication of how noisy it would be, numerous England flags already hung in anticipation of the match) we decided on the gastropub/wine bar The Mall Tavern which, while only a few metres from the Notting Hill Gate tube station, felt quite removed from the busy high street.

As far as a gastopub goes, The Mall Tavern was much what you’d expect, comfortable tables, dimly lit, nice wine - my friend was at first impressed at their range of imported beers on tap, then less so when it turned out they were out of nearly all of them. It would have been a fairly average pub-going experience had it not been for one thing: the free scotch eggs and pork pies.

For whatever, reason, the kitchen decided that this was the day they would provide all punters with some of these traditional British delicacies. Having never had either a pork pie or a scotch egg before, this was an opportunity to expand my British horizons. A scotch egg is a rather hideous creation of a hard boiled egg wrapped in sausage, wrapped in bread crumbs. With an off the charts calorie, fat and salt count, it’s probably not something you’d want to eat more than once a year but having heard so much about them, I figured I might as well give them a try (that and my friend was in shock I’d never had one before).

While I can’t say I’ll be ordering a scotch egg again any time soon (for health reasons much moreso than taste) nor was it, according to my friend, the best example of a scotch egg that Britain might provide, I will certainly be returning to The Mall Tavern. It’s quiet, friendly, provides decent drinks and, best of all, bribed us to return with free food. Works for me!

The Mall Tavern
71 Palace Gardens Terrace
London W8 4RU
020 7727 3805‎

Leave a Comment

Before heading back to California, Alex, Henry and I had an end of the year dinner at a Notting Hill diner with, what I was promised were, the best hamburgers and milkshakes in London. With that tall order, and hearing the two of them gush about various dishes on the menu the entire way to the restaurant (California burger with avocado and mozzarella; onion rings; chocolate milk shakes… uh oh, I’m getting hungry again!) I was really looking forward to our meal.

We arrived at the diner which, true to its word, felt like a 50’s burger joint, complete with red booths and a silver bar from which fountain drinks, fries and burgers appeared with impressive speed. We settled down to business with milk shakes and placed our orders for various burgers - and low and behold, Lucky 7 Diner has managed to create an American tasting and looking burger in the heart of Notting Hill. Delicious :-).

Lucky Seven Diner

127 Westbourne Park Road
London, W2 5QL, United Kingdom
020 7727 6771

1 Comment

While I do a lot of baking at The Top Floor Flat, every so often it’s nice to indulge in someone else’s confectionery goods - especially if that someone else is winning French pastry shop Maison Bertaux. My flatmate Ann had been singing the praises of the shop for some time and finally we found a spare few hours, sandwiched between Christmas shopping, for us both to visit the impressive display of cakes, pastries and gloriously over-the-top desserts.

Instead of trying to describe the food, here are a few pictures:

For the incredible quality, the prices are very reasonable - but bring someone to share the food with you; one slice of cake proved too much for even me to handle (but that didn’t stop me from making a valiant effort.)

Maison Bertaux

28 Greek Street
Soho, London
W1D 5DD
Tel: 020 7437 6007

Leave a Comment

Last week I had the opportunity to attend the Courvoisier Punch Bowl Experience (and what an experience it was!). But after sailing across a bowl of alcohol on a wooden orange slice, I had worked up an appetite and my friend Alice and I found ourselves in Soho, surrounded by some of London’s best restaurants, and not a clue where to eat. Half an hour of wandering later we had decided we were ravenous, desperately wanted sushi and didn’t want to pay an arm and a leg to satisfy both cravings. This seemed like an impossible challenge to overcome as we passed half a dozen overpriced sushi restaurants on the various side streets around Piccadilly Circus when we came across a little shop called Ten Ten Tei.

While the menu held fairly standard Japanese fare, what caught our eye were the preset meals, which looked fantastic and featured soup, salad, sushi, tempura, teriyaki, fried tofu and dessert. Expecting a reasonably sized sample plate of each of the offered items, we were delighted when generous plates of each were presented one after the other, with a large patter of sushi each topping off the meal.

For less than £20, we had an incredible meal. The ambiance in the restaurant itself was limited, although we were seated in the slightly cramped upper level on the ground floor alongside the sushi bar - it wasn’t until later I realised that lower level seating looked a bit nicer. Regardless of the space, however, it was a delicious meal and one I am very much looking forward to repeating.

Ten Ten Tei

56 Brewer Street,
London, W1F 9TJ
020 7287 1738

Leave a Comment

As an American, travelling abroad this time of year can be an interesting experience. It sounds silly but sometimes I honestly forget that Thanksgiving is unique to my native homeland. I mean, Christmas with its rampant commercialism seems to better typify American-ness, much moreso than a day about giving thanks for the amazing things in our lives. So, whether it’s homesickness, forgetfulness or just the desire to share one of the best holidays of the year, I’ve found that both myself and other Americans tend to force Thanksgiving, figuratively and literally, down the throats of their fellow abroadees.

This year, my Thanksgiving took place the Saturday after the traditional Thursday and a friend of mine from Colby who also happens to be in London had invited me over to celebrate. Although he wasn’t American himself (in fact originally from Kenya) four years at an American university had instilled in him the need for turkey, potatoes, stuffing and pumpkin pie once a year. I wasn’t particularly surprised when he called the night before to ask if I’d be willing to come by and help him cook the meal for the rest of the guests and, with no other plans and excited to take on the challenge of cooking a 20lb bird, I agreed.

Little did I know that this meant that I would be, in fact, cooking the entire meal myself – and I arrived to find my friend looking expectantly to me to make the meal appear. The flat, a Depford bachelor pad with a view of Greenwich and Canary Wharf was gorgeous however I was a bit overwhelmed by the cooking before me when I realised the building was stocked with a bag of potatoes, a giant turkey, and about four dozen bottles of various alcohols and mixers. I hastily scribbled up a list and sent my friend to the store, leaving me alone in the flat to attack the bird and prepare the pie (the ingredients for which I had brought myself, correctly assuming that ground cloves might be mistaken for some sort of illegal supplement rather than the necessary spice).

Six hours and a surprisingly straightforward cooking routine later, I proudly produced a (sadly dry) turkey, gravy, stuffing, green beans, broccoli, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie for the seven of us who gathered for dinner. In the true spirit of the holiday, we consumed almost all of it – including a fair number of the bottles of wine.

I have so much to give thanks for this year; the fact that I am happy, healthy and safe in an amazing part of the world, working in a job I love, communicating my family regularly, surrounded by a growing international contingent of friends and with a bright future ahead. All of that and, of course, the fact that I successfully managed to produce a full Thanksgiving dinner that everyone enjoyed.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Leave a Comment

I think I’m doing pretty well on the karma front. I managed some charitable giving this year, I attended the International Buddhist Film Festival, I’ve baked a few cakes and pies for the office… But what really set me over the top on my quest for enlightenment was my one-of-a-kind commute yesterday. Cobra Beer - the only beer one would conceivably drink along with their traditional British curries - is celebrating National Curry Week by hiring a small army of Karma Kabs to shuffle shmucks with an hour+ commute (like me!) around London.

How to describe a Karma Kab? The most effective analogy I’ve come up with is the following: think back to that horrendous early 2009 film with Mike Meyers, Love Guru. Now, imagine a cab that looks exactly like that film. This was the thoroughly pimped ride that appeared on my doorstep Thursday to take me (and the karma-inducing pumpkin pies I had made for the office) into work.

Along with simply giving some free rides for National Curry Week, the Cobra team had also done some surveys to discover, among other things, one in five Brits name curry as their favourite food. It’s almost like pizza in the States as the default takeout food.

During my incense-heavy ride, I was also presented with a bag full of goodies to make my own, handmade curries, some recipes and, of course, a range of Cobra beer.

So, feeling enlightened (or was that ‘light-headed’ from the incense in my Karma Kab), and bearing pies, beer and curry, I arrived at Spoonfed after a significantly less painful commute than normal. Be good and good things will come, and if good karma equals curry, beer and Karma Kabs, I’m going to camp out under a Bodhi tree. Have a great National Curry Week!

[3] Comments