The best chocolate in New York City: Fine & Raw

I’ve never been one of those crazy chocolate-lovers — the kind of person who breaks through walls to gain access to a square of Dairy Milk or  sniffs out a Green & Black’s from 90 paces, like a cacao-sensitised truffle pig. Chocolate is yummy…sometimes, was my measured opinion. That was, until our recent trip to New York City during which our guide from Levys’ Unique New York led...

Reviews: Four Seasons Toronto with kids

You’d be forgiven for thinking that the new Four Seasons Toronto hotel, opened in October 2012, would have gone the grand diva route that lets you know just how fabulous it is. After all, it’s the flagship hotel in the hometown for the entire Four Seasons chain, which itself is a collection of wish fulfillers and pampering providers in exotic locations the world over. And make no mistake, the 55-storey...

#margaritaparty: My pomegranate margarita recipe

I love to throw TexMex dinner parties in London. Everyone raves about the food, which tends to be cheese, smothered in cheese and topped with sour cream. It also helps if you force a margarita into their hand the minute they walk through the door. That was (kinda) the premise to the margarita party I held today with my BritMums co-founder Susanna, our BritMums Live ladies Maddy and George and a group bloggers. The...

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Our plan for visiting NYC with kids

One of the perils of visiting someplace you used to live is a certain cockiness. You think, “Yeah, I know this town. I used to own this town. I don’t need no stinking guidebook.” Of course, that attitude doesn’t take into account — at least in this case — that I last lived in New York as a young, single and ready-to-mingle gal back at the turn of the century. This time, I’m...

Wish You Were Here Wednesday: Times Square

Every place I go, I love to buy postcards (like most people) and inevitably I end up not sending them because I can’t get organised enough to buy foreign stamps. So I carry the cards home in my backpack and then wonder what I should do with them. After moving a stack of postcards around my desk for the 10th time, I decided to buy a proper organiser box (I got a stack of them from Paperchase) and at least keep...

Returning to New York City…as a mother

I spent 10 of my most formative years in New York City — those in my 20s and early 30s, drinking, dining, dating, working and generally becoming what passes for an adult. Then I left for London and a British life with my husband. I love London, but New York is still my spiritual home. That just makes it all the stranger that my kids have never been there. My daughter did make a brief appearance at 4 months...

Silent Sunday

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Finding music on the Tube

This evening, in a foul mood, having just stepped out of a shivery drizzle and into the Tube, I heard something of a rarity: live violin music. I love the musicians who perform in the official spaces in the official busking spaces of Underground stations. But here was a man on a train, travelling along the line, making beautiful music as we journeyed home. He was obviously homeless or at least had fallen on hard...

They don’t eat horses, do they?

The news of beef burgers in several big supermarkets around the UK and in Ireland being contaminated with horse meat is all over the headlines today. It reminded me of this picture that I took in Brenham, Texas, last summer. At the time, I was surprised to see it — I’d never heard of horsemeat being an issue in Texas. I knew from living in France and visiting other countries that people do eat horse but...