Andrew Brennan

Um, where did the past six weeks go? Before I head off to China tonight (for the “2009 Xinjin Water City ‘Longhu Cup’ International University Rowing Show and Dragon Boat Festival” in Chengdu where there are pandas), some highlights:

Barbados (14-22 March)

Anthony and I had a fantastic time. So sunny and so relaxing–there was time to just sit around and read, which there never is in London. The beaches were great and our hotel, the All Seasons Resort Europa, was very nice and in a great location (the west ‘Platinum’ coast, which is less touristy than the south coast). I ran a ton and got to see a lot of the island that way. We also had some great dinners at The Tides and The Cliff, and spent one day on a catamaran snorkeling in a coral reef and swimming with sea turtles.

Boat Race Weekend (28-29 March) 

Always great to see all the old boys together around Boat Race time, particularly the guys who flew in for the weekend. On Saturday night there was a loud and rowdy boat party on the Thames. And on Sunday there was a similarly loud and rowdy Boat Race Ball after Oxford won both races.

Easter Weekend (10-13 April)

We definitely took advantage of the time off for Easter. On Thursday night Anthony and I went to Oxford to Alex’s leaving dinner — she’s spending 8 weeks in Malawi traficking orphans for Madonna working at a hospital. Caught up with Jamie, Greg, Martin, Yannis, Robbie, Henry, Nick, Pango and several other Oxford types. Friday night was a very fun at Trash Palace, Saturday night was a late one at Kensington Roof Gardens, then on Sunday we had a fantastic Easter lunch at Dottie and Bianca’s–so much delicious moussaka.

Other highlights

Sara’s Hats, Cats & Spats party at the Albert & Pearl (27 March) — there were many great hats, cats, and cat-themed hats, but not so many spats.

Wired UK Launch Party (31 March) — Anthony was able to snag us invitations. It was fun (and there were great canapes and an open bar), but I couldn’t shake the feeling that this is just the wrong time to launch a high-brow tech magazine.

Dinners — We had Buddy, Sam, Chris E., and Sara over for what turned out to be some very good chicken tacos (2 April). Andrew (sans David) had us over for another rather boozy dinner in Belsize (15 April). And last night we went to Asia de Cuba for Ryan’s birthday–having heard bad things about the one in San Francisco, I was pleasantly surprised. The Asian-Cuban fusion concept actually worked, and the food was very good (highlights: the beef spring rolls and the miso-blackened cod).

Chengdu

And now I’m off to China for just over a week, to race in a regatta with a bunch of guys I rowed with at Yale. I’ve been back on the erg quite a bit in the past six weeks, and it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. Chengdu appears to be the Chicago of China–important internally but not well known internationally. Bianca and Tony have been there before, and Bianca said that the downtown area at night is “seriously surreal in an asian-futuristic-hello-kitty-meets-jetsons kind of way. Everything is pastel neon.” So that should be interesting. And there’s a panda nursery, which makes Anthony insanely jealous. We’ll see about this place.

The past two weeks:

• Awesome morning runs along Regent’s Canal
• Seeing Jamie and Greg and Martin and Alex and Robbie in Oxford and then Alex and Robbie again in London
• Keats is finally back and staying with us while he hunts for a flat
• Preparing for Barbados

We leave for Barbados tomorrow morning. I’m SO. EXCITED. I’m bringing my running shoes, a stack of books, my camera, and that’s about it. No computer, no email, no Facebook, no Twitter. I actually feel slightly anxious about leaving all these modern trappings behind–which means I’m way overdue for a break.

Friday 20 February — Drinks with Carl, Giulia, Claire, Franklin at Akbar, then serious dancing at Trash Palace.

Saturday 21 February — Had Robin and Ali over for brunch, attempted to watch Mishima, a Life in Four Chapters but it was too heavy for Saturday afternoon post-hangover viewing. Wandered into the City attempting to find an ice cream place with Ali but failed. Had Mike B over for dinner; Anthony made a Thai red curry that turned out really well. Then we saw F*cking Men at the King’s Head theatre on Upper Street. It’s an American play about modern gay relationships, and it was pretty good aside from the consistently dodgy American accents and occasionally dodgy acting.

Sunday 22 February — Gym, burritos, pints with Mike W and Daniel at a surprisingly charming pub in Kennington. Well, surprising in that it was in Kennington yet kind of charming.

Tuesday 24 February — AM gym, work, then all you can eat conveyor belt sushi at Habibi Sushi in the City with Dottie, Bianca, Sykes and Fred. Quantity made up for quality.

Thursday 26 February — Amazing run before work along Regent’s Canal, work, then pint, burrito, pint with Ryan, Rob K and Mayumi near Charlotte Street. The black beans at Benito’s Hat were mushy and flavorless.

Friday 27 February — AM gym, work, dinner in Balham at Simon and Kasia’s with Anthony, Jessica and Luke. Simon made some amazing jerk chicken, ribs, salmon and rice & beans. There was very serious arguing about literature and Beyonce.

Saturday 28 February — Had a lovely day with Roisin and Tom. First Anthony and I wandered down to Spitalfields Market to meet them for brunch at Canteen, then we had tea at Coatsie’s before walking back through the City to Clerkenwell. Chilled out at our flat, then attempted to get free burrito’s at Mucho Mas’s reopening, but the line was too long, so we went to Mem and Laz instead. Saw Roisin off then Anthony and I went to Tati and Sam’s housewarming.

Sunday 1 March — Gym in the morning, then Putney (and a mission to get there–3 tube switches) for the Oxford-University of Washington fixture. Was nice to see the usual OUBC suspects and especially Terence, who’s in town this week for work. Oxford won both pieces but UW didn’t make it easy.

Monday 2 March — Anthony and I watched 21 Up, the third part of an ongoing documentary (7 Up) that started filming a group of British kids in 1964 and catches up with them every 7 years. This episode was filmed in 1978. It’s been really interesting (and sometimes sad) to see how these people have changed so far.

Valentimes (14 February)

Daily Photo!

I started doing this in 2007 but trailed off about 200 days in when I hit my free Flickr account’s 200 photo limit. Copying, editing and posting the photos got tedious too. This year I have a much better workflow: Photos make it to the computer automatically (through an Eye-Fi card), then I edit, describe and upload them to the SmugMug gallery within Picasa. Easy Peasy.

Something to train for!

I’m way happier at the gym when I have something to train for. At some point Robin, Ben, Rob and I decided it would be a good idea to do the Tough Guy this year on 1 February (“the worlds safest most dangerous taste of mental physical pain endurance toughest events” says its website). Um, maybe this wasn’t such a good idea:

Hurrah?

Events!

31 December: Emma made a fantastic dinner at Boris’s in Bermondsey. Couldn’t see the fireworks from Tower Bridge due to the fog.

6 January: Took the day off work to see Mike (as Romeo) in the understudy run of the RSC’s Romeo and Juliet. Stratford was quaint but if I were a teenager growing up there, I think I’d find it excruciatingly boring.

7 January: Dinner with Jon at Mem and Laz. Good to know he’s survived Japan so far, sad that he’s going back.

8 January: Lastminute.com deal at the Michelin-starred 1 Lombard Street. Was alright, however not as good as The Square or Pied à Terre.

11 January: Anthony and I saw Slumdog Millionaire. I really liked it, especially the cinematography and soundtrack.

13 January: Ali’s birthday. Nice Thai dinner and hanging with the EFs.

17 January: Anthony and I watched The Wave, a German film about a dictatorship experiment gone wrong at a high school. Then Tati and Sam came over for dinner–Anthony made his Sausage-Lentil soup, which was delicious, and we’re going to have leftovers for ages.

One of these days I’ll start writing about things in a timely manner, but until then…

The weekend after Christmas (December 26-29) was super fun. Friday night I took the train to Market East in Philly and met up with Sas, his sister Melissa and their friend Matt. We went to Plough the Stars, Philadelphia’s Irish-ish bar, and then Urban Saloon near the Art Museum, which was big and generic.

Saturday, jumped some rope (it’s a good workout, really!), then went to Sabrina’s on Callowhill for brunch with Leslie and Rob (tried Day by Day but it was closed). Then L&R gave me a ride to 30th Street Station and I took the Boltbus up to New York. I arrived near Penn Station and discovered post-Christmas hell: Herald Square and Macy’s–thousands of people blocking the sidewalk in every direction, trying to catch a glimpse of the Macy’s display. Eventually I made it to the L train and Brooklyn, met up with Carolyn at her store and picked up her key, chilled at her place for a bit until she got back and then we grabbed dinner at Dumont Burger.

Then the West Village, met up with Warren and Ryan at Dos Caminos. I hadn’t seen them properly since our sailing trip in July. It was really good to catch up with them; they were in the middle of a move and uber-busy. We then met up with their friends Brad and Matt(?) and headed to Lucky Strike in Soho, then Soho House NYC, then Brad and I hit Mr. Black before I discovered the joys of late night public transport in New York–it’s worse than London, somehow.

Sunday got brunch with Warren, Ryan and Brad at Extra Virgin (which was later featured on The City…eeeeee!), then Brad and I hung out for the rest of the day–I had only just met him but he was very cool and it worked out pretty well: both of us were in town without an agenda and most of our friends were still away for the holidays. We watched some football with Brad’s friend Mike from home, grabbed a drink at Splash (heh), then went to Brad’s friend Dane’s, where he was staying. Thai food (from Spice) for dinner, then a group of us headed to 1Oak and then a place called Park. It was fun, and we ran into a guy Anthony knew from Oxford, who has a juggling act with his twin brother.

Monday hung out with Brad again–got brunch at Cafeteria and then met up with Ryan, attempted to go to the Chelsea Galleries (but they were closed) and instead Dane joined us and we did the Guggenheim, which I hadn’t been to before. It was alright, but nothing to write home about. Then I just barely caught my bus, went back to Philly, then flew to London on Tuesday in time for New Year’s.

Merry Christmas! The past two weeks were crazy busy. Some (mostly food-related) highlights:

Friday 12 December: Office Christmas lunch at Tsunami on Charlotte St. +2 for the oyster tempura–I’m not a huge oyster fan but they were really good.

Weekend 13/14 December: Caught up with Keats while he was in town, and he got me hooked on The Wire–we started watching season one.

Monday 15 December: Anthony returned from America and we went to a Christmas party at Rob and Julie’s with very good mulled wine.

Tuesday 16 December: Anthony and I watched Miracle on 34th Street as part of his continued campaign to make me love Christmas as much as he does. The campaign had previously included Holiday Inn, White Christmas and the Muppet Christmas Carol.

Wednesday 17 December: Client Christmas lunch at Gaucho then Anthony and I hosted a dinner party for Andrew and David, Nick, and Ryan. We (well, mostly Anthony) did herbed chicken in the slow cooker with salad and quinoa followed by baked apple tarts.

Thursday 18 December: Client Christmas lunch at Chez Gerard, then Anthony and I had a holiday splurge for dinner–the tasting menu at the two Michelin-starred Mayfair restaurant The Square. As you’d expect the food was fantastic–though the highlight for me was something I ordered as a substitute for one of the courses, the crab lasagne (or the “Lasagne of Dorset Crab with a Cappuccino of Shellfish and a Champagne Foam”). It melted in my mouth.

Friday 19 December: Tony, Emma, JR and I owned the platform at Trash Palace.

Saturday 20 December: Nick had a final leaving do at the Albion that featured a whole roast suckling pig. It was so good, but so much food–the 12 meat eaters there couldn’t finish it. After a post-pork nap I went to Notting Hill for drinks with Buddy and Sam and then to Robin’s night at Kensington Roof Gardens for the EF v F cousin-off. It started with a pint with Toby, Jack and Tom but went downhill from there.

Sunday 21 December: Dinner and chilling at Emma’s with Em, Ali EF, and Kate and Alice.

Tuesday 23 December: Flight to Philadelphia, watched Mamma Mia (wow, Pierce Brosnan is a bad singer) and Hellboy II: The Golden Army (which was surprisingly sweet and visually stunning, even on the little plane screen, thanks to Guillermo del Toro, who also did Pan’s Labyrinth).

And today, 25 December:

• Mom made baked french toast and ham/egg/cheese souffle for breakfast–delicious.
• Santa was very good to me–got the beginner DJ kit I really wanted.
• Went on a 10 mile run in Valley Forge Park–they got rid of the parking lot I normally use and covered it with grass, which was unexpected but nice.
• Played Monopoly with the sisters–though it was interrupted by dinner and we still need to finish.
• Had my favorite dinner of the year–salad with blue cheese and walnuts, peppercorn beef fillet with twice-baked potatoes and green beans, and chocolate mousse cake. So good.

Looking forward to seeing Leslie in Philly and assorted people in NYC/Princeton this weekend. Not looking forward to going to the mall tomorrow to make some exchanges.

Here’s a recap of Thanksgiving weekend–it was over two weeks ago, but better late than never, right?

Thanksgiving was awesome–the Ejsmond-Freys let us use their house(s) in Shepherd’s Bush. We hosted and did most of the cooking/reheating at Sophie’s but did the turkeys at Gordon’s two blocks away. Gordon has a double oven (score!), so there was plenty of space for both turkeys.  We covered the birds with butter and bacon (as always) and cooked them in bags this year (Anthony’s cousin Jeff’s idea), and it worked really well.

Yannis came down from Oxford the night before and helped us cook all day at Sophie’s–he made this great halloumi stuffing that went in the turkeys, as well as a spinach pie, roast vegetables, bean casserole and numerous other things. Emma was around for most of the day too helping to cook–it was pretty much smooth sailing all the way, mostly because Anthony took Tuesday and Wednesday off from work to do all the mashed potatoes (25 lbs worth) and sausage stuffing (with 12 lbs of sausage). In years past we’ve tried to do everything on the day, which gets difficult with one oven.

We had an unprecedented turnout as well–all told, counting people just passing through the EF house but eating something, we had 37 people there. The food and company were great–hopefully we’ll be able to top things next year.

Early on Friday I flew to Dublin for a rowing reunion–Dominic hosted six of us who rowed at Oxford in 2005/6. Friday was pub lunch, seeing some sights in Dublin, then hitting the town–we went to Cafe en Seine (awful) then Howl at the Moon (better).

On Saturday we went to the Guinness Storehouse, which was cooler than I expected it to be–they do a good job of making the beer-making process seem interesting, and the floor on Guinness advertising was pretty neat. We caught half of the Wales-Australia rugby match at one of the pubs inside the building, then half of us split off and wandered back into city center.

That night after some drinking games (like fives, above) we went to Flannery’s where there was some very silly dancing going on. Then Sunday we all headed back relatively early. It was a very fun weekend, and awesome to see everybody, especially the guys (Michiel, Dominic, Stephan, Bruce) who aren’t based in London. Hopefully the next group trip won’t take as long as this one did to organize, and hopefully it will be someplace warm like Croatia.