"I can't think of a better way to spend the night..."

[rhythmaning]

I am in London again; a good train ride down, a somewhat distracted afternoon, an evening in Hampstead.

I ate in Carluccio's; last time I was in London, a friend recommended the chain; I hadn't realised there was one in Hampstead, where I was (and am) staying. I found it by chance when I was wandering around this afternoon seeing what had changed. The bookshop I worked in during my Christmas holidays is now a Gap (it was a supermarket before that, sometime ago); and the wine bar where I sat trying to seduce D - many years ago - is now Carluccio's.

I ordered the chicken and lemon rissotto, largely because I tend not to eat rissotto, but spurred on by white_hart's passion for all things rice I thought I should experiment a bit, and I reckoned if anywhere in the UK would do a good rissotto it would be Carluccio's*. It was good, though not wonderful, so I was a little disappointed; maybe I should have had the fettucine with wild mushrooms, because that looked great.

I also had a large glass of verdicchio - very pleasant - followed by tiramisu (because it was there) and a powerful macchiato, which finished off a good meal.

But what really made it a special evening was the book I have just started to read - Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, by Jonathon Safran Foer. By the second page, I was hooked; I am only on page 37 - a mere 290 to go - but it is excellent. It reminds a lot of the stories in Paul Auster's New York Trilogy - in the mood, the feel, even the the ideas perhaps (obsessivley digging holes in Central Park; scribbling out the words because he's forgotten what to say). I am gripped: I can't wait to read more.


* Or, in Edinburgh, V&C's or Centotre; but I wasn't in Edinburgh tonight

Comments

[f4f3.livejournal.com]

Carluccio's is one of my favourite places - and the chocolate truffles are powerful magic.

[white_hart]

Funnily enough, I'm going to be writing about risotto later today...