What happened:
We welcomed Jasper and Juno to the family, two British Shorthair kittens that we adopted from the RSPCA in mid-March. Both are so, so loved and very much a part of our family. They've had a few big adventures already - house guests looking after them when we went to Sweden, neutering, and staying in the cattery!
But spring has been tough as both my parents were very poorly, and mum was actually admitted to hospital. She's been in there a few months now and had heart surgery on the last day of May, the day after we got back from NYC (then had another op on the first day of June) - but she's doing much better now. I've been up and down the country quite a bit visiting her.
When I've been at home in London though, I've been trying to do fun things. Such as see Elton John perform in his farewell concert. We were originally going to see him in Belfast in November 2020, which never happened because of the pandemic. Then he broke his hip so the rearranged date of December 2021 became March 2023... We got a refund at that point! So it was amazing that we were able to grab last-minute tickets, and he did not disappoint. A fab evening.
We went to Hampton Court Palace for the tulip festival, which was lovely to see the blaze of colour - and descended upon the Royal Albert Hall for The Always Sunny LIVE in London show. I've not listened to the podcast - Olly has - but we're both big fans of the TV show so were excited to go and see the gang on stage. We also cheered my sister-in-law on in the London Marathon.
Sweden happened - we headed to Stockholm for five nights to celebrate my birthday. It wasn't as warm as we'd hoped - it wasn't warm at all! - but we had an awesome time (blog posts soon!). The highlight was eating at Ekstedt, but Fotografiska was cool, as was going to Vasa. We also really enjoyed our day at the Japanese spa, Yasuragi, which is about 20-mins outside of Stockholm.
We had a lazy Coronation weekend, plus made it to Whitstable for the day so Olly could run a half marathon with his brother (we were originally supposed to be there for the weekend but couldn't with the kittens). I also ended up in A&E as I got food poisoning at work, was sick on my first train home, then felt very sick on my second train home... I fainted hard from a standing position resulting in a very big lump on my head and a very bruised face for quite a while. (And I still have a tiny bump.)
Which wasn't ideal as it was just before we headed off to NYC for a week - got a bit of a grilling at customs about my appearance! But, we had an awesome time - again, blog posts will happen, at some point! - and did many, many fun things. Ate lots of yummy food. Saw Blink 182 in Brooklyn. And Shucked and Kimberly Akimbo on Broadway. Plus I made a wish at the Zoltar machine in Coney Island. (Big, anyone?!)
What I ate:
In London I've eaten at Box Park in Croyden, Rosa's Thai Cafe, Blacklock, Cento Uno and Kudu. In Leeds: Meat:Stack, Phranakhon and Hoist House. We also had oysters and fish and chips from The Forge in Whitstable. We got our Ooni pizza oven back out in March, so home-made pizzas have been back on the cards. And we've done Dishpatch a few times: The gegigkara ramen kit from Kanada-Ya, the Goila butter chicken kit, and Cyrus Todiwala's Parsi prawn patia kit.
In Sweden we had the most amazing tasting menu at Ekstedt, with the wine pairing - seriously incredible (two photos above are from there). The other top food we had was at Gastobud and Sweet O Salti. And in NYC I've got to shout-out Oxomoco, Los Tacos No. 1, Bleecker Street Pizza, Joe's Pizza, Tavern on the Green, H&M Bakery, Bipple & Sip, Bagels & Schmear, Momofuku Noodle Bar and Chote Miya. And, of course, Xi'an Famous Foods - the only repeat place we ate at.
What I watched:
Finished watching
Loot, This is Pop, and
The Last of Us. And watched season two of
Clarkson's Farm and
Shrinking. Started watching
The Reluctant Traveller with Eugene Levy and
season 3 of
Mythic Quest.
We rewatched seasons 1-3 of
Succession, ahead of watching season 4 (love that show so much). And after we got back from the Sunny podcast show, we started rewatching
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. We've got through seasons 1 to 3, so far.
Films:
Elvis,
Tetris,
Amsterdam,
Tangled, Guardians of the Galaxy, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Ticket to Paradise, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (at the cinema),
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and
The Fablemans.
What I read:
In March I read 9 books - no standouts from that month. In April I read 6 books.
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus got a 5* rating - I also gave
Chosen Ones by Veronica Roth a 4* rating. And in May I read 7 books. Mostly the
Slow Horses series by Mick Herron, which I rated either 4* or 5* - really enjoying these books.
How have you all been? x
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