It’s very nice to go traveling but it’s so much nicer to come home !

Well it is very nice to go traveling – and thank you Frank for the inspiration – but it is so much nicer to come home ! Actually we do love traveling – but we do love the coming home part as well ….. So 2 hours back at home as I sit and write this in readiness for publication ! – and so much to write about…..

Of course the food played a big part in our trip – so many unnecessary but delicious English breakfasts , afternoon teas , lunches and dinners shared with friends and family – such a delight. The last night we were in London Bob and I finally went for an Indian meal – to Dishoom – a brilliantly successful small chain of restaurants that I first wrote about a few years ago. They have gone from strength to strength and the one we ate in serves around 1100 meals a day – can you believe it – and the food was spectacular. They have published a cookbook that I have now bought on line which I was browsing through while we waited for our food. I was exclaiming with delight that I would definitely be making the Bollybellini cocktail I saw in the book to the waitress and 2 minutes later she brought me a complimentary one – now that is good marketing isn’t it ? Apparently there are 7 restaurant locations at the moment with more to come…

Dishoom’s Bollybellini – went down well…..

Earlier in the day I met up with my sister Anne and we went to the Antony Gormley exhibition at the Royal Academy. I will write more about that as one of the major highlights of our trip – but first let me tell you about the lunch we had in Selfridges Department store … It was in the Brasserie of Light – a lovely if slightly over the top setting. We shared an appetizer of wild mushroom and truffle rice balls – absolutely gorgeous – followed by an appetizer size of roasted sea scallops with a divine sauce and parsnip curls – washed down with a glass of champagne. Well you see I had met up with my other sister Jane a couple of days before and we had a champagne afternoon tea at the Ham Yard Hotel so I couldn’t share food with Anne without the champagne – right ? wouldn’t be fair I thought.

Please note the clean plates – we were brought up to always have clean plates at the end of the meal !!!

I never used to have a taste for champagne – I blame and thank Angelika Bacchus at Bacchus Fine Food for awakening this previously hidden predilection – she sells the best champagne around and I have taken to it like a duck to water. Anyway just a glass of it now and again never does any harm……

Now this was fish and chips on the night of Bob’s birthday – equally as good as the ones we had at Whitstable….

Right – now let me tell you about the Antony Gormley exhibition at the Royal Academy. He is a British sculptor whose works are known around the world – here is a link for those of you who are interested in reading about his work. Generally he works on a pretty large scale – one of his most famous pieces is a work called The Angel of the North which is 66 feet high and 177 feet across – but the piece in this exhibition which had the biggest impact on me was outside in the courtyard – a large open space in the front of the building.

This is the tiny piece in the courtyard at the Royal Academy……
And this is it close up – so powerful and beautiful…..

It is called Iron Baby and was made in 1999. It is a life size form of his 6 day old daughter and it is so powerful it is the piece I keep on thinking about. This is what he says about it – ” The material is iron ( concentrated earth ) , the same as the core of our planet. Here this tiny bit of matter in human form attempts to make us aware of our precarious position in relation to our planetary future. It is the gesture of a body closed in on itself, needy of comfort, shelter, sustenance and peace.” It is stunning and I love an exhibition where one piece makes a lasting impression with its power. And this is tiny ……

A beautiful birthday desert for Bob at the Arts Club – the night before his birthday….
Good friends Jilly and Ashley who we had a lovely time with at the Arts Club – so trendy !!

There are a lot more things to write about and in time I will make sure I do – we had some really lovely experiences but I do want to point out that we had some pretty mediocre ones as well ! Writing a blog and posting things on Instagram can make it look as if every trip is one long tale of fabulous things happening all the time and of course we all know that the reality is that this is just not true. So thanks to all the poor and mediocre experiences which give a real life balance to us all…..

Beans on toast for supper tonight then !

This is me with Carolyn – sorry Chris you were taking the picture – after a lovely meeting up at the Ham Yard Hotel. They are fellow home owners in Eleuthera for those of you who do not know….
This was a really fun cafe called Rhythm and Brews in Chiswick London where we had breakfast one morning….. Fabulous music – all vinyl LP’s – ask your parents if you don’t know what I’m talking about !
Another menu to work my way through ……

6 thoughts on “It’s very nice to go traveling but it’s so much nicer to come home !”

  1. My favorite fish and chips on the planet is from Green’s, 36 Duke Street, Kathy! (Owned by Simon Parker Bowles, who became an odd penpal of mine). They keep it simple, but it’s just unspeakably subtle and salty and lemony. -Daniel

    PS I need Yorkshire pudding. Am inviting myself over in December!

    1. I am going to look them up and bookmark them for our next visit….. Looking forward to seeing you in December…..

  2. It sounds like a fab UK trip Kathy.

    We are long term fans of Anthony Gormley. The exhibition sounds great and his public art out and about is also amazing. We love the Angel of the North and also Another Place on Crosby sands especially – https://www.visitliverpool.com/things-to-do/another-place-by-antony-gormley-p160981

    I remember being in Gloucester Cathedral once, walking round a corner in the Harry-Potter-famous cloisters and coming across this Gormley installation….
    http://www.antonygormley.com/show/item-view/id/2123/type/solo#p1

    It’s a rainy UK day here now and we were going to stay in, but having read the blog you’ve inspired Mark and me to head off to the Ashmolean for a wander round the Last Supper in Pompei exhibition!

    1. Lovely to hear from you and to hear that you are Antony Gormley fans as well….. We used to live in Oxford and also love the very swish extended Ashmolean. Next time when you have time try a quick visit to the Pitt Rivers Museum – not far from the Ashmolean. It is an ethnographic museum – schoolboy’s dream – shrunken heads always stick out in my mind ! – but the building itself is spectacular in itself …..

      1. Hi Kathy – quick Gormley follow up. Mark and I just renewed our 10 year passports and the new ones have watermarks on the stamping lanes of key British things – Anthony Gormley’s Angel of the North and also Another Place have pages of their own. Remind me to show you in January when we visit?

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Kathy Colman

Writer, Interior Designer, Foodie, and Wife to Bob. Living in Eleuthera, Bahamas

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