Fridge

Some days can be so much better than others. It was a beautiful, sunny, warm, day today. Ibolya and I celebrated our 2nd year anniversary of moving into our house and I had a really good day at work, with a fantastic lunch with colleagues. I also had my bi-yearly appointment at my chiropodist and rounded the whole lovely day off with 2 great episodes of the Wire with Stephen, Mark and Mike.
Somebody also left this message for me on our fridge.

The Mummers

One of life's great pleasures is trying an album out and on first play, you know you love it.

Even better, that it improves and grows with every further listen.

We couldn't stop playing The Mummers: Tale to Tell album, all day, on Sunday. The first great album of the year and a great album for the summer.

Someone described it, quite nicely, on itunes as 'Bjork meets Julie Andrews meets Goldfrapp meets Karen Carpenter'.

Here they are (and their very attractive lead singer, Raissa) on Later with Jools Holland.

The Damned United

Ruby and I went to 'Scream Screen' at the Lexi to see 'The Damned United', my first trip to the cinema with my daughter. I loved David Peace's book and Brian Clough was a child hood hero and a big figure in my life so this was a perfect and special film to see with Ruby. I thought it was great film, a beautiful rendering of the period and a powerful (and sympathetic) performance by Michael Sheen. It was Ruby's second film and both have starred Michael Sheen.

Sunday

It was a beautiful, warm, idyllic spring day on Sunday. Ruby enjoyed eating her feet and sweet potato. We all spent some time in the garden and I fired up the Milan 3 Burner barbecue and tried out my new Weber grill; garlic prawns to start with spatch cooked poussin and asparagus.

Dark Days / Light Years

A new Super Furry Animals album always makes me happy and although it might not be one of their best, it's a very pleasant album indeed.
The Super Furry's have got to be one of the most underrated bands in Britain and the best band to ever come out of Wales? I like them for many reasons and here are a few:

• a very nice guy, called Philip Reese, introduced me to them
• they're hard working and prolific, they make an album every other year and do side projects in-between
• they've never had a hit single or that much success but the quality of their music is always consistently high
• they're great live, wear masks on stage and use lots of film projections
• i like their album sleeves, they're always graphic and they're never on them
• they sing some songs in Welsh
• and they love the Beach Boys

What's not to like about an album with tracks called 'The Very Best of Neil Diamond', 'Crazy Naked Girls', 'Cardiff in the Sun', 'White Socks / Flip Flops'.
Give it a listen, this weekend, for free on Spotify.com

St George's Day

It's Saint George's day and, my dear old friend, Peter Roseman's birthday. To celebrate, here's a picture Ibolya took, this time last year, when we were in Havana.
Happy Birthday Pete!

Let The Right One In

Jerry and I went to the pictures tonight to see 'Let the Right One In'. A really remarkable and beautiful love story, from Sweden, between a boy and a girl who happens to be a vampire. It was one of the most touching and moving films I've seen in a long time and certainly the finest use of snow since Fargo.

Stephen's Bathroom

After the pub, we popped in to Stephen's to admire their fantastic refurbished bathroom and the nearley completed walls of the upstairs toilet.

George and Dragon

Ibolya, Ruby and I went to the amazing George and Dragon pub, Acton High Street, for Sunday lunch with Stephen, Christophe and Stephen's wonderful Mum and Dad, John and Liz. It was great to see John and Liz again and to introduce them to Ruby.

Nuts in May

I've been really excited and looking forward to seeing Nuts in May again, which is being shown on BBC4 tonight. I broke my old DVD copy from overuse and it's by far of the greatest and funniest things ever to be made for television. The best thing Mike Leigh has ever done and is sheer genius.

Ruby Practising Talking and Rolling

Park Royal Salvage

After our trip to Retrouvius and hungry for more rummaging, we went to Park Royal Salvage yard. Always good for a good rummage and a few arty photos.
I was sorley tempted to buy this dentist's chair but Ibolya thought otherwise.

Bubbles

As I was blowing bubbles for Ruby this afternoon and it struck me what a good subject bubbles are for a photo-realist painting.

Retrouvius

There's a fantastic shop down the road from us, off the Harrow Road, where we love to have a rummage at weekends. It's called Retrouvius and they've recently extended there premises and now occupy a shop front, connected to their old converted industrial building, behind.
There are always lots of things we'd love to buy but unlikely to ever be able to afford.


We both loved this Scandinavian sofa, just the thing we're after for our long room

and this fine chair would have gone really well with the sofa

Retrouvius build custom furniture, to order, out of reclaimed wood and I'd love to commission them to build us a family dinning table like this one, which is made from old science lab benches.


This wall, in the new shop part of the building, is made from cardboard shelves that were used in the old reading room at the British Museum.
Even if there's nothing appealing to your taste, it's still a wonderful and fascinating building to walk round.

This beautiful cabinet of stuffed birds was actually in the junk shop round the corner from Retrouvius, but I've stuck it in here as I liked it so much

Dinners

I've been incredibly fortunate this week as Ibolya discovered 'Delicious Magazine' and decided to make us something new and delicious for us each night.


Char-grilled chicken with roasted tomatoes, avocado, peas and mint
Sticky sausage and lentil stew

Pork chops with mustard, apple and creme fraiche

Flushed with the success of the week's Delicious recipes, on Thursday we had sushi delivered from the new place on Chamberlayne Road.

Ruby Goes Swimming

Easter, Bank Holiday Monday; we took Ruby to Willesden Green Sports Centre for her first swim. Her best pal Maisie and her Mum and Dad, Kate and Dan, also came along.
We had a good 20 or 30 minutes in the pool and Ruby and Maisie seemed to really like their first swim. I loved it and can't wait to take them again. We passed this glorious Monkey Puzzle tree on the way back. I love Monkey Puzzle trees.

At the Chamberlayne, on Chamberlayne road, we refuelled with fantastic steaks, whilst Ruby and Maisie took it easy.

Back home, we had a big play time and listened to a 1xtra's history of Hip Hop podcast which, Ruby really got into.

Lincoln Imp

On the walk home from Paradise, I noticed this brass reproduction of the Lincoln Imp on someones door. Check the link if you don't know the Lincoln Imp but my sisters and I loved trying to find him when we visited Lincoln cathedral when we children.

Easter Sunday

Sunday lunch at The Paradise, again. With Adam, Jess, Jerry, Samia, Mike and a wonderful cheese board.

Good Friday

It's been a really, really good Friday. And we've been looking forward to doing exactly this for ages. A day at home, without having to go anywhere and just the three of us, together. Here's a few highlights of the day.
A fantastic, long lie-in with my girls, a bit hungover and 'red wine' lips

Eggs Royale, for breakfast

Ibolya found the Gilbert and George swear box and toy that we'd been trying to find since we moved

Ruby's ear

I put up the forth mirror in the bathroom

and put up the Hungarian paintings on the landing