A Lady in London

February is the hardest month of the year for me. Winter has dragged on for three months, it still gets dark at 5pm, and while the snowdrops are blooming, the threat of snowstorms is never far.

When I returned from Asia four weeks ago, I reverted back to my pre-winter holiday self. I redoubled my efforts to find comfort food in London. The highlight of this quest has been my recent meal at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal. But there have been other great meals as well, even if they lacked the fanfare of a new opening.

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I didn’t think I would ever travel to Cornwall in the winter. My last visit took place in the warmth of summer, and my inner sun worshiper figured that if I ever returned, it would be at a similar time of year. But I was only thinking in terms of outdoor pursuits. It never occurred to me that there could be just as much to do indoors no matter what the weather.

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After my foodie trip to Madrid, I decided I needed to cut back on my calorie consumption for at least a day. Then I remembered that I had been invited by Travel Onion to attend a dinner at the Andaz Hotel in London. Located right next to Liverpool Street station, the hotel had no fewer than four restaurants and two bars, and I was offered a chance to sample a bit from each of them. With that much food and drink involved, I couldn’t say no.

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Less than a week after I returned to London from Singapore, I was already starting to miss good Singaporean food. Thankfully I didn’t have to wait long to try more of it. Nor did I have to go very far to do so.

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After three weeks of traveling in Asia, I was ready to return to London. But when my flight touched down at Heathrow at 4:30am, the dark, damp reality of winter had me wishing I were off traveling again. As a partial concession to this desire, I had an invitation to stay at Flemings hotel in Mayfair, where I planned to spend a one-night staycation in denial of being back in the cold.

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Two weeks ago I wrote about my quest to find comfort food in London. Since then the weather has only gotten colder, and the arrival of freezing wind and several inches of snow has convinced me to redouble my efforts to find good winter culinary options in the city. Last week this took the form of dinner at Tempo, a new Italian restaurant in Mayfair that invited me to come for dinner.

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Afternoon tea is one of my favorite British traditions. Hotels across London vie for the Tea Guild’s prestigious Top London Afternoon Tea award, and residents and visitors alike benefit from their constant efforts to outdo one another.

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I want a pet. I would love to get a dog or some other sort of canine. For a long time I tried unsuccessfully to convince my neighborhood fox to be a part-time pet, foxes being quite an anomaly to San Franciscans like me. Sadly, the fox wasn’t as thrilled about the idea as I was.

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I don’t think I’m alone when I say that the holidays stress me out. Christmas shopping for family members is difficult enough, but figuring out how to ship the gifts overseas presents another layer of complication. Add to that the massive seasonal shopping crowds on Oxford Street and the steady stream of holiday parties that make waking up in the morning a difficult task, and I always find myself in need of some relaxation and purification before my actual Christmas vacation starts.

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Winter came early to London this year. November was the coldest on record in over 20 years, and December has started off on a rather snowy note. Today’s weather is overcast with temperatures below freezing. All of this means that I have one thing on my mind: comfort food.

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My last trip to Austria was seven years ago. I hate to admit it, but many of my memories of sightseeing in Vienna have faded since then. I remember little of Schoenbrunn Palace, St. Stephen’s Cathedral, and the State Opera House, and even less of the museums and galleries I visited. I needed a trip back to to the city to create some new memories. Coincidentally, I was recently invited on a press trip to visit the city.

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Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I love getting together with fellow Americans to be thankful and eat heaping portions of autumn food. It’s pretty simple, and it’s always good. So good, in fact, that this year instead of going to just one Thanksgiving dinner, I went to four.

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Being an American expat in London, I’m always interested in stories about my fellow Americans abroad. I enjoy meeting new acquaintances and hearing the story of how they made their way to their new country. I also love expat stories in all forms of media, from Hemingway novels to contemporary films. So when I was invited to a screening of The American, a new film about an American expat in Italy, I was happy to attend. The film doesn’t come out in theaters until Friday, so it was nice to get a sneak preview ahead of time.

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In all of my exploring London, there are a few neighborhoods I haven’t spent much time in. One of those is Battersea. The neighborhood sits right on the south bank of the Thames across the river from Parsons Green. It is close, but due to sparse tube transport links, it feels strangely far away. Thankfully a new restaurant, The Fish Place, gave me an invitation to sample its fresh seafood selection and an excuse to visit the area.

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It’s that time of year. The weather is getting colder, the days are getting shorter, and my appetite for comfort food is getting bigger. It’s Christmastime in London, and there are celebrations to welcome the annual Christmas lights on high streets throughout the city.

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