Writing Life

Diane and I spent two weeks in London, a day in Oxford and four nights in Edinburgh. We ate some amazing meals, including adding one to our Top Meals Ever Worldwide.

In London, we dabbled with Pret and EAT for lunch. Pret was so much fun the first time we found it in 2007, but now that we discovered EAT, that’s a much better place. I had amazing chorizo sausage baguette sandwiches several times. Yum.

For dinner, we ate at Wagamamas several times. Good noodles and a great vegetarian selection. Their tofu was done nicely, but then again, it was fried so it’s hard to mess that up. We also did “take away” from Marks & Spencer’s Simply Food. It’s like a US Trader Joe’s, so we bought sandwiches, salads, crisps and cookies there. We also had some nice beer (stouts and bitters) and wine (Spanish).

We did fish & chips at three different places. One from the take away shop above the Anchor bar, one from Hornimans at Hay’s and a quickie for Drew at Jacko’s Fish & Chips in Islington. Of the three, I liked the hole in the wall Jacko’s. The others were good (better than most you’d find in the States) but not spectacular.

One night we went to dinner with an old colleague of mine. We ate at Wahaca, a fantastic Mexican place. It was as good as some of the stuff we’d find in Arizona and New Mexico, as well as some family run places in our neck of the woods (El Azteca and La Palapa). Definitely check it out if you’d like, but be warned that it’s crazy popular, very busy, and doesn’t take reservations.

Another night, we went out with two of Diane’s colleagues, Claire & Jo. We went to Cantaloupe in Shoreditch. It was pretty quiet (weeknight) so we had much of the back room to ourselves. They had a nice selection of wine but almost no ale/beer options. We had some starters and then a nice meal with a bottle of Malbec, if I recall correctly. The best part of the evening was the shared company and the fun walk from their office through various parts of The City.

For Italian, we ventured back to a spectacular find from 2007, namely Made in Italy down in Chelsea. They make spectacular pizzas and have a very nice wine selection. We actually ate in the basement, right by the open kitchen. Was hot at first, but mellowed in a few minutes. So good. We also tried out Zigos, over in Islington, for some pizza and drinks. We were in the area to see Letting in Air over at the Old Red Lion Theatre Pub, and we needed snacks before hand and dinner afterwards. The bruschetta was good but the pizza and pasta dishes were mediocre at best. The high prices were not appreciated.

As we were in the UK, trying Indian curries was a must. We ate at the Bengal Clipper in Butler’s Wharf, just a few minutes away from Tower Bridge and our hotel. It was hit and miss here. I had their signature house curry that wasn’t all that yummy and Diane had a lamb saag that was pretty tough. But, we went back a few nights later and I had a fabulous spicy Murgh Xacuti and Diane had a yummy, tender, fall apart just looking at it lamb dish. So, sample the menu and try again if at first you don’t succeed.

We took a day trip to Oxford one Saturday and had some good Thai food for lunch at AT Thai and then some nice Indian at Chez Zouk. It was good but I liked the drinks we had at the Half Moon pub better.

After Diane finished working in London for two weeks, we took a four day holiday to Edinburgh. On our first night, we turned to Cafe Roma since it was close to our hotel and it was a rainy windy night. It was nice food but not worth the high price they charged.

Another night, we tried to go to a cool Japanese sushi place, but it was closed that one night for renovations. We ate next door at a nice Thai hole-in-the-wall restaurant called Chiang Mai. They had wonderful Thai curries and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.

When we first arrived, we quizzed our taxi cab driver about where to get good curries. He mentioned three places and we tried two of them. Sadly, the third suffered a horrible fire several months ago and was closed while we were there. They had a small place they rented but we passed on it. The first place was called Omar Khayyam‘s and it was packed when we showed up with a reservation. But, we had great food there. Yummy.

On our last night in Edinburgh, we went to The Indian Cavalry Club. This was the best Indian food I’ve ever had. Diane had a great meal which I can’t remember right now and I had the best chicken vindaloo ever. The quality of the food, decor of the restaurant, great view from our window seat and amazing service made this one of our favorite meals ever. We can now add The Indian Cavalry Club (Edinburgh, Scotland) to our list of best meals that also includes Chez Girard (Lyon, France), NOLAs (New Orleans, USA), Gary Danko’s (San Francisco, USA) and Yacout (Marrakech, Morocco).

Okay, that’s a long post. I hope this helps others who might stumble upon my entry while looking for places to eat if they’re in London, Oxford or Edinburgh.

This is impressive. I saw this over on Brick Lane in East London. I was so moved.

First, because the UK is working on providing care to the homeless. And it’s part if the National Health Service, not some NGO stepping in to do what the government should be doing.

Second, I was moved since we don’t have anything official like this in the States. We have so many without healthcare, and the homeless likely have no care and get no proper respect. This place in London wasn’t an emergency room. It was an established, government-run healthcare facility.

We must learn from this and provide care, top-notch care, to all. That is the duty of government.

At 11:51 pm (London time), the election was called for Conservative Party candidate Boris Johnson. Seen as a long-shot, perhaps cardboard stand-in candidate about a year ago, he’s beaten two-term incumbent Labour Mayor Ken Livingstone.

Of the first preference votes (voters submit both 1st and 2nd choices on their ballots to enable easy instant runoff counting if no candidate wins at least 50% of the vote), Livinstone got 893,877 votes, Johnson got 1,043,761, and Lib Dem candidate Brian Paddick picked up 236,685. The rest of the votes were split among seven other candidates. No one achieved 50% so that top two candidates, Johnson and Livingstone, went to the 2nd round instant runoff based on 2nd preference. The final totals are that Boris Johnson got 1,168,738 votes and Ken Livingstone got 1,028,966 votes.

Boris wins and is the next mayor of London.

Best to start another post, esp. since it’s almost May 3rd in London. The mayoral race still drags on, although some of the conservative rags have printed headlines calling it for Tory Boris Johnson over Labour’s Ken Livingstone. More updates below, in reverse order as usual.

• London Assembly results and analysis: Tories 8, Labour: 6.
• According to the BBC: “Livingstone’s campaign manager Tessa Jowell has said she does not think he will win the mayoral race. She told the BBC: ‘I think it’s highly unlikely that Ken will be mayor of London after the end of this evening.’”
• This is quite possibly the best political blog quote I’ve ever read (from 8:11 pm, if you click the link):
  

  Tony Benn is talking about what Labour should do now. As always with Benn, it’s about 75 kilometres to the left of what Labour WILL do now, but that doesn’t matter as, as always when I hear Benn speak, he’s talking socialist political ideas but in this warm toffee voice that sounds like he should be reading bedtime stories about teddy bears stuck up trees.

• BBC now says it might not be until after midnight before the election is called. Boris leads Ken in first choice votes so far. Second choices haven’t been factored in yet, as far as I know.
• Some voting machines crashed and a huge turnout have slowed the counting. Some bloggers at the Guardian say it might be past 11pm London time before an official result is available, possibly even longer.
• All 159 council races have been called. See below for the BBC’s tally.

Elections were held today throughout England and Wales, with a tight race for Mayor in London and local elections across the country. The conservative Tory party claims to have won in London, beating incumbent Labour Party Mayor Ken Livingstone in his quest for a third term. [I was rooting for Livingstone.] Throughout the north of England, where Labor was strong, it appears they may have lost some important races. The Guardian has coverage and I’m sure the international wires will be covering the elections.

Most recent updates on top:

• Likely mayoral results (and London Assembly that oversees mayor) due evening British time (so about 1:30 PM EST).
• No word still on Mayor race, though people speaking in past tense about Ken Livingstone. Labour took a beating in local elections, losing 189 seats while the Tories netted 173 and the Lib Dems 7.
• [Last post of the night for me] From the Guardian: “Labour was tonight desperately hoping a record turnout would save Ken Livingstone from what the Tories were privately predicting was going to prove a clear victory for Boris Johnson in the London mayoral election.”
• With 98 of 159 Councils declared, Conservatives have picked up 6 vs. a loss of 5 by Labour and 1 by the Lib Dems. Overall, the Tories have netted 138 new councillor seats vs a loss of 144 by Labour and a loss of 11 by the Lib Dems.
• Mayoral race still too close to call. The Guardian says “counting is due to begin at breakfast time and could go on until late this evening.”
• With 91 of 159 councils officially called, the Tories have picked up 7 Councils and 124 councillors while Labour has lost 3 Councils and 108 seats. Overall, Labour is coming in third in voting to the Tories and the Liberal Democrats.
• From the BBC: “research suggests [Conservative Party] will take 44% of the vote nationally, with Labour on 24% and the Lib Dems on 25%”
• Labour sources say Livingstone likely to have lost bid for 3rd term
• From the Guardian: “In a dismal performance for Gordon Brown in his first electoral test as prime minister, Labour’s national share of the vote was heading below 25%, the party’s worst performance since records began in 1973.”
• Early BBC results show stasis, i.e. Conservatives and Labour holding some safe seats.
• Opinion polls show Livingstone closing in on Tory mayoral candidate Boris Johnson. Guardian and BBC saying race is too close to call.
• Conservative party backs off on its own website’s claim that it won London mayor race.
• First results should be in around 6:30 pm EST (11:30 pm London time). English council results may be reported tonight, while results in Wales and the London races (Mayor and Assembly) might not be available until tomorrow (Friday).