Patrick in London

One of the local newspapers here, the Telegraph, has a regular recurring section in which they ask a celebrity or other well-known personality about their “perfect weekend.” I unfortunately haven’t been asked yet ha, but below is what I think my response would be if they ever asked…

My perfect weekend

During the week my day starts quite early and given how never-ending my workday seems to feel, my weeknights are mostly filled with dinner at home or somewhere easy, a bit of relaxing and checking out what’s on British television (I’m partial to BBC documentaries), with of course the occasional pint(s) thrown in.  Also I like cycling and tend to take advantage when the weather is nice, and this is especially true come the weekend.

Sometimes Saturday morning if we’re not headed to the nearby Italian café, Golborne Deli, for a nice, simple breakfast of something like scrambled eggs and pancetta, I may cycle down to Holland Park and hit the amazing Lidgate’s butchers and pick up some of their delicious smoked bacon and maybe a few of the different sausages on offer.   Then I’ll pop into the local fruit vendors for one of their unrivaled, amazingly creamy avocados, head towards home and pick up a small pack organic eggs on the way.  Also we might pick up a few white “baps” as they’re called here, and fix up what I consider to be some of the best breakfast sandwiches on this side of the Atlantic!  If the weather is nice (a big “if” here!) and since I’ve finally decided to spring for some garden furniture, we might even enjoy our breakfast in the garden. 

For coffee near us we like the new Talkhouse Coffee on Portobello road, which serves a great latte even if they do charge £3 for a small cup of it.   Also in the area, we are fans of Electric Diner for their American style brunch menu.  If there’s a crowd, sometimes we’ll put our name down and walk over to Ottolenghi for one of their delicious croissants in the meantime.   

After breakfast, if the weather is nice we will usually head out for the day, checking out one of the various markets in London or just exploring some new corner of London, hopping on Boris bikes, bicycles from this fine city’s cycle hire scheme, if possible.  Recently we rode the tube out to Greenwich, which I found to be a nice greenspace and having a certain village feel to it.

After a full day spent checking out this sprawling city, we might come back to one of our locals for an afternoon pint, either at Union Tavern so I can sample the latest that they have on tap from my favourite London brewer, the Kernel Brewery, or else check out the Cow on Westbourne for a pint of Guinness (and some Oysters if my girlfriend has any say in the matter).  (In addition to us, this place counts Rhys Ifans as a regular and it is not uncommon to see him in here downing a pint of the black stuff.)

For dinner we’re just as likely to cook at home as we are to head out, and we don’t tend to stray too far from home on weekends.  If I picked up anything extra from the butcher’s, such as their mint spiced lamb or any other high quality cut of meat, we might walk down Portobello road to buy some vegetables from the farmer’s market, stop by the video shop and have a nice night in.   In addition to finally springing for some garden furniture, when my parents were in town recently they got us a pretty sweet Gas Grill (or Barbeque as they are called here), so we might try our hand at grilling up some dinner. 

Otherwise Thai Break near Notting Hill gate is by far our favourite Thai restaurant in the area, and makes for a nice, reasonably priced dinner.  I go for the Green Curry but am always tempted to try one of their even spicier dishes. 

Sunday is usually an equally laid back day, and I like to sort out any errands early in the morning, and then may head to a nearby cafe to blog.  The most demanding part of my weekends tends to be when I am forced to do a bit of grocery shopping; this normally just consists of going to an organic type foodstore called the Grocer on Elgin to pick up some River Cottage plain yoghurt and the granola they sell with big bursting dried cranberries in it—this will be breakfast for me all week. 

If we are lucky, we would’ve booked tickets to a see a movie at Electric Cinema for their ‘Electric Sundays’ program…lounging with your loved one on large leather chairs with footstool, blanket, and a sausage roll and pint of Sierra Nevada by one’s side is a perfectly acceptable way to spend a Sunday, as far as I’m concerned.

Otherwise we might round the weekend off with a visit to our local, Portobello House, which is just across the street and has nice big windows so makes for a good place to have a drink or two during the day.  Of course, nothing too ambitious, as the whole thing starts all over again for me at 6:00 am the next morning…

IN SHORT

Herbal tea or stiff drink?

Stiff drink, although a smoothie from Portobello juice bar on weekends is just fine by me most days

Favourite item of clothing?

A shawl cardigan I got a few years back that I wore nearly every day when I was studying for the bar exam, and is my go-to most weekends

Last meal?

This is a tough one.  If I were back home in Chicago, I’d say something off the brunch menu at Longman & Eagle.  Here it might actually be the veal meatball, prosciutto & white cheese pizza from Pizza East.

Your perfect weekend abroad?

Somewhere easily accessible by a relatively brief plane ride, with a slower pace of life and good food and drink on offer.  Southern Europe, specifically Italy and maybe some parts of France come to mind.  Recently we booked for the end of May bank holiday weekend to go to Stockholm, which in truth is none of those above things, but I’m keeping optimistic that we’ll enjoy it!

My favourite things

My macbook pro

The Kernel beers

My bicycle, which gets me most anywhere I want to go

Brightly coloured striped wool socks from Stumper  & Fielding on Portobello road