On our London days before being apart again...for a little bit.

(David making salad at the London flat... he has mastered the art of salad making and dressing...)

My stay in London flew by, it seemed, and there never seemed to be enough time to do everything, work or play, get enough sleep, see friends, etc. David and I had a lovely time together despite the initial bumps with the computer. It was rather mellow, perhaps due to the perpetually gray and rain-prone weather and our domestic cookery. It was nice, and I am glad and grateful that I was able to spend the past week and half with David in London.

I really hadn't blogged anything, busy as I was attempting to be useful around the house. But here are a few updates and snapshots:

On David's computer:
It's working for the time being, albeit with some damage to the screen, which is a bit blotchy. David has decided to keep using it for now, and we shall cross our fingers that it continues to work until he's back in New York and can take it to Tekserve to get it fixed. Fixing the computer in London costs an absurd amount of money (when we take into consideration the current exchange rate)... so, we shall believe and wish for the best.

(David toasts one of my other favorite comfort food concoction -- French onion soup.)

On the flat and cooking meals at home:
The flat is lovely and cozy and we had a terrific time eating at home. It may very well have been one of our more healthful eating weeks we have ever had. I made a couple things that turned out very well: a whole roast chicken; organic miso-glazed wild black cod with shitake mushrooms; melanzane alla parmigiana (of course - I made it not once but twice!); French onion soup; broccoli soup (of which I made a massive batch of, so that I could freeze it for David to eat after I'd left). We found it very easy to find organic produce in London, especially with a few trips to Whole Foods, so I tried to cook everything as organically as possible.

(My whole roast chicken...very much comfort food style!)

(A bit of an experiment... whole roast sea bass in parchment paper... turned out quite well, although I was slightly taken aback handle the whole fish-ness of it all. But it is hard to go wrong when cooking fish en papillote!)

On dining out for a romantic dinner:
We did manage to go to a couple of notable restaurants as "de-stressing" outings. On Saturday, which we had a leisurely lunch at Gordon Ramsey's Claridge's restaurant. It was a very gilded and proper sort of weekend lunch affair. We had a delicious time, each one of the 3 courses were executed with great precision and flair. David had wanted to go to a Gordon Ramsey restaurant for some time, and each time he'd suggested it as a "special event" type occasion (couples lunch or, last year, our anniversary), I'd sort of balked at it, as Gordon Ramsey just didn't seem like my kind of a chef. Having gone to lunch at Claridge's, I must say I was impressed with the food -- each dish was elegant and "masterful." Yet I still do not think he is exactly my kind of chef. Having thought about it, I think his dishes are more about his flourishes than about the people eating them; while beautiful and impressive, I am not exactly sold on his having a soul about cooking for people who enjoy good food. It seems more like cooking to showcase his talents, and while I find this aspect interesting and am impressed with his restaurant, I don't particularly warm to it.

On my final night in London, we splurged on a very romantic and elegant dinner at Rousillon. Absolutely splendid. I think Rousillon is one of the better fine restaurant experiences David and I have had. The restaurant is classical French cooking with an emphasis on using fresh and seasonal British produce, and their menu ranges from a 3-course a la carte, a vegetarian tasting menu or a non-vegetarian tasting menu. (Note to my vegetarian girl friends: THIS is the place to be taken to on a date!) Dinner there was a magical time, and we had a fabulously memorable tasting menu. One of my favorite dishes of the evening was a risotto dish covered in black truffles. It was simple yet delicate, and it made me want to swim in a whole tub of it:

(The fabulous dish of risotto with shaved black truffles... delicious!)

And so went our week and a half together in London. It was packed, I suppose, looking back at it. I also had a few sessions with my osteopath while David was at rehearsals, which were useful and helpful, especially before I begin rehearsals in Toronto. I hope to get back to London at the end of September, as the new cast gets ready to go on stage -- I have booked flights on miles (thank you work trips that gives me airline miles!). It's good to have this return trip to London, to which we can look forward when we start to mope about being apart. Thankfully for web camera and so long as David's computer holds up, we can see each other over the internet, which is nice. We can work while we hang out with each other web-camera-ically, as it were. This makes a great deal of difference.

Of course, we'll both be very busy in the coming weeks that we are apart. David is in Amsterdam as I type for the weekend, working on a big gala that showcases bits from our show on television. I am packing frantically (yet again) to leave for Toronto tomorrow afternoon. I start rehearsals on Monday! Yet another production of DD kicks off... it will be my first production without David there, too, which will be strange, but I suppose as our show spreads around the world, we may have to get used to it... (but we hope it's not too necessary, crossing fingers).

TM