Happy 2013! (or where to watch London's fireworks)

Happy 2013 readers! This New Years I managed to nail it. That's right, I was here:

On my third New Years Eve celebration in London, I finally managed to bite the bullet and attempt braving central London.

And if you live here, there are horror stories of central London on New Years. Think elbow-to-elbow crowds, freezing fingers, and waiting patiently for hours and hours in the icy cold to see the fireworks. Once the fireworks finish, think hours of queuing to get onto the street from the bridge you chose, queuing to get into the tube stations (which promptly close from overcrowding), and then queuing to get onto the tube platform, and then jamming yourself quietly into the corner of a tube train to make it home.

But it turns out all the queuing is simply not worth it. Those people are confused and lost.

Because the fact of it is, you can see London's fireworks without all that. You just need to get to a bridge that's a bit further up the river. Instead of crowding onto Westminster bridge or winding your way through the heaving crowds under the London Eye - head to a different part of the river.

If you make it to Vauxhall Bridge or even Chelsea Bridge, you'll have a fine view of the fireworks. And even be able to move spread out your arms and not touch anyone else! Now that's the definition of personal space in London.

If you had to one of these bridges, all you have to do is stroll up ten minutes before the fireworks go off. There's no jockeying for position, or shoving your way through. Just easy viewing (provided you get the angle right - make sure that you have a good view of the London Eye where they shoot the fireworks off).

Then, it's as simple as just making sure not to take any public transport for at least another 60 minutes - everything will be busy and horrible.

Instead, after watching the fireworks, slip into a nice local pub for a crowning glass of champagne to welcome in the new year (try The Warwick or Cask pubs - just double check they're open past midnight).

Easy, right?

Now the hard part is just remembering all this when 2014 starts peeking its little face out.

Breaking the silence

Breaking the silence with a little poem for ya'll...

For No One Knows What Tomorrow May Bring

by David Willems

You must allow youself to LAUGH
And not only to laugh, but to laugh HARDER, LOUDER and LONGERThan you ever have before.
You must allow yourself to SMILE
And to smile WIDER, STROMGER and MORE OFTEN
Than you ever have before.
When you EAT, you must TASTE your food.When you BREATHE, breathe DEEPLY.
When you HUG, KISS or SHAKE HANDS
Do it FIRMLY and with COMPASSION
And when you say I LOVE YOU...MEAN IT.
It is your LIFE and now you must LIVE itFor that is the greatest HONOR you can give to anyone
Who never had a chance.

Thanksgiving menu planning

If there's one thing I love it's a good list. Or a good stack of cookbooks just waiting to be read - and made into Thanksgiving shopping lists!

This year I'm celebrating Thanksgiving with a dinner party - turkey and all the "fixins". Which includes in no short order:

• Pie 
• pumpkin
• pecan
• apple
• Turkey
• gravy 
• stuffing
• Cranberry sauce (with orange zest and Thyme)
• Potatoes dauphinoise 
• Green beans 
• Sweet potato casserole with pecan crumble
• Cornbread ...or  regular yeasted bread...To Be Decided
• clam chowder (to start)
• green salad

There are just a couple of rules about Thanksgiving in my mind; namely, there has to be some over-the-top turkey themed decoration. And there has to be cranberry sauce and at least 3 kinds of pie. You can't have Thanksgiving without pie in bulk - it's just one of those facts. 

Also, everyone has to say what they're thankful for. It's what separates a Thanksgiving dinner party from just your average dinner party (And pie. Did I mention pie? Lots of pie.).

Where to drink beer in Brugges

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to take a quick weekend trip to Bruges. Did you know Belgium is a scant 2 hour train journey from London? This is quicker than getting to Plymouth - a monstrous 4 hours in a trundling train to the coast. 

It turns out that when you book a Eurostar ticket to Belgium they give you one free transfer. You can actually just wander onto a train to any destination in the country and they will accept your Eurostar ticket. Not bad!

Naturally I went to Brugges - the fairytale city that plays the backdrop to the shoot-up (comedy?) movie In Bruges. 

And naturally the thing to do when in Belgium is drink beer. I'm not normally a beer drinker (weirdly, that's failed New Year's resolution in 2010). But this changed - albiet temporarily - when I got to taste the beer in Belgium! I guess it has its reputation for greatness with good cause. 

The thing is the beer in Brugges is not like any other beer I've ever tasted. 

Rather than a lager which is sort of bitter and watery and boring (OK, that's my take), beer in Belgium is a drink like wine. There are loads of different kinds, and each one is presented in its own special way. 

In fact, every single beer has its own special glass to drink it out of. Which is impressive considering there are over 350 beers available. 

When in Paris, eat baguettes. When in Brugges - drink beer. 

There are two places I went in Brugges that I thought were just right for experiencing the beers:

1. De Halve Maan

The last brewery in the city boundaries, De Halve Maan (The Half Moon) offers tours and a lovely sunny courtyard to relax in. The price of a scant €5 includes one free beer (which costs about €4 without the tour), plus a tour of the historic parts of the brewery.

Just be sure to book your tour a few hours in advance - especially if you are trying to visit on the weekend.  

While you wait, be sure to ample the beer on tap. It's unfiltered and fresh straight from the brewery. Even the 10% dark beer is delicious! 

2. Cafe Rose Red

As quaint and tacky as can be, Cafe Rose Red is an amazing little bar that offers over 300 beers. Its beer menu is a small book unto itslef.

Not to mention that it has easily the best, most beer-crazy staff you could ever wish for. All the tasting notes are clearly explained  when you ask - and in English which is helpful after staring blankly at a menu of 300 beers. . .

On top of that, the recommendations are expert! Their staff seem to have tried every single beer on the menu, and know about each individual one. From my end,  I would especially recommend a dark cherry cuvee brut beer...or maybe the raspberry beer which arrives in its own small wicker basket. But you can always ask them. I suspect they will have just the something you are after.

This llittle bar was so good that I went back both nights for further samplings and recommendations. Not  noisy place, but pleasantly full throughout the evening with a mix of tourists and locals (and locals are hard to find in this town).

Eating cake with cheese ( or a recipe for Bara Brith)

I've had a bit of a baking drought for the past few months. There have been minimal cakes in my life, and too many store-bought biscuits (suitably dunked in tea of course- how did I not know about this before?!).

I'm finally settled into my new flat, and a bit of baking is naturally in order. There's nothing that says home like cake-baking.

Plus, I've recently been introduced to the concept of fruitcake and cheese. Wait! Bear with me here. Before you decide this is clearly a terrible idea, think about fruit and cheese for a minute . . . Fruit and cheese are a classic combination that's widely accept as delicious.

So why not fruit cake and cheese? As long as the fruitcake isn't too sickly sweet of course. This sort of situation and combination calls for specific types of cheese, and a specific cake.

You just need to make sure you bake a Bara Brith (a sort of welsh tea cake), and find the strongest, crunchiest cheddar cheese you can find.

This cake is apparently so classically Welsh that it's included on their national tourism site - along with recipes for leeks and Welsh Rarebit. So it must be serious! The recipe is nicely straight forward, and perfect for a Sunday afternoon watching the rain race down the window, drinking marathon cups of tea.


Recipe for Bara Brith

• 450g (1lb) mixed dried fruit
• 300ml (1/2 pint) tea
• 2 tbsp marmalade
• 1 egg, beaten
• 6 tbsp soft brown sugar
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 450g (1lb) self-raising flour
• honey to glaze

Soak the fruit overnight in the tea.

Next day, mix the marmalade, egg, sugar, spice and flour into the tea and fruit. Spoon into a greased 900g (1lb) loaf tin and bake in a warm oven (gas 3, 325ºF, 170ºC) for one and three quarter hours or until the centre is cooked through. Check from time to time that the top doesn’t brown too much, and cover with a sheet of foil or move down a shelf in the oven if necessary.

Once cooked, leave the Bara Brith to stand for 5 minutes, then tip out of the tin on to a cooling tray. Using a pastry brush, glaze the top with honey.

Serve sliced with salted butter and some tasty farmhouse Cheddar. Store in an airtight tin.

N.B. My cake only took 1 hour to cook, and used a lot less flour (these are probably related). The dough should be stiff, but not dry.

Plus, it's the perfect accompaniment for your morning commute on the tube.

Why are Londoners Grumpy?

Londoners have a bit of a reputation. They're known as...well, a "bit" grumpy. A bit out of sorts. Londoners are constantly rushing - or sunk under the grey skies of the morning commute.

But the grumpy reputation belies a penchant for a stream of apologies that politely tumble from commuter's mouth at every opportunity. Bump into someone, and both parties apologise profusely as they continue on their way - no matter who was at fault a 'sorry' is always given both ways. On the commuter belts of the the tube,  sorry might be the only words exchanged on a Monday commute (besides "mind the gap").

I think visitors to might be mistaking London quietness for rudeness.

Of course, if you catch a tube at 8AM you're going to be met with a wall of glum faces staring at the morning paper. But won't you see the same morose faces staring out of car windows in bumper-to-bumper highway traffic in Los Angeles?

I think the quietness is in some ways a defense reflex - surely common to all big cities. Why would you have a chat with the person next to you on the tube? When you live in a city of 16 million strangers, it would be hard work to be temporary friends to them all. Much easier to be polite if your paths cross (saying sorry to each other as you both rush for the same train), but ignore each other otherwise.

And I think that's a really important differentiation about Londoners. They're not grumpy so much as in their own world. If you're lost or need directions, almost anyone would stop to help. You just need to accept the fact that a total stranger isn't going to compliment you on your cute hairstyle. They'll leave that to the people who really matter (your friends).

London Day Trip: Golders Green

I was recently asked where to go in London that isn't touristy, but still essential to see before you leave.

 For me, one of the key places I would take visitors to is Golders Green. A less famous suburb of London, it lies unassumingly in North West London - just past King's Cross.

Without the crowds of Camden or hectic striding suited businessmen of Canary Wharf, this is a quiet piece of London that's worth a day just bumping around (you're likely to bump into some lovely sites).

I would argue London's charm isn't in Trafalgar Square or Buckingham Palace (although these are brilliant in their own, tourist-laden, way). Instead, to see what London's really about, you need to explore the odd nooks and crannies that are hidden up winding streets. And Golder's Green is one of these places.

The area is especially noted for its large Jewish population. Coming to this area of London is completely different to anywhere else in the city.

Where else can you find Kosher Dim Sum next to a Kosher Indian restaurant, followed by a Jewish Cultural Centre and a Swaminarayan Temple?

This is the area I live, and it's like peering into a semi-familiar world. The area has London's diversity, but rather than a veneer of British-ness, there's an overlay of Jewish culture on nearly everything you come across.

Visiting Golders Green

Most of the London Day Trips I recommend are actually outside London, but this time I would suggest going on a 'day trip' to an unusual area of London - Golder's Green. You could spend a lovely day here - first head to Carmelli's bagel bakery on the high street. Pick up some bagels, pastries, or whatever takes your fancy. From here, it's a short 1.5 mile walk to Hampstead Heath - one of London's greatest parks.

You can easily spend a whole day wandering through the park - it has everything from bathing pools to English rose gardens, small forests and emus.

When evening falls, head back to the high street for a quite coffee (the high street boasts more than a dozen), or perhaps for some Kosher-Italian-Thai food?

Getting There and Away
The closest tube station is Golders Green on the Northern Line.