Week One Complete!

Can't believe it has already been a week.  See how fast time flies?

Monday I made my way into the office.  The pic isn't the best, but it is a shady spot in a great location (as I believe I have mentioned on more than one occasion before).  My Blackberry was waiting for me, so that is a good sign.  I now have a UK and U.S. phone number for the time being.  At this point the most culture shock I have had is over being in an office full time as opposed to my peaceful "office in the trees" I liked to call it in Chicago.  It's pretty chatty and I do not have a permanent spot yet, but all-in-all seems to be a good group of people.  I suppose there is maybe 40 Nielsen people there, but I really am unsure since I haven't had a formal introduction.  There are several Americans, a Swiss, Brazilian, Scot, among many others I am sure I am still unaware of at this time, so seems I won't be getting that British accent down quite as soon as expected (though I seem to be putting the word "quite" in front of every adjective ala "that suit is quit lovely", or "wow, this dish is quite tasty").

Monday night I cooked at home, as bragged about in my last post.  Tuesday did the office thing all over again.  I am walking to work from my temp spot - about 20 mins.  It's enjoyable and making me ponder whether I want to be within walking distance from here on out.  Tuesday I found the Monmouth coffee shop, which is very well known in extremely reputable distributor of fine global coffees (http://www.monmouthcoffee.co.uk/Company).  They have the machiatto in the little mini "to go" coffee cup with the lid.  I swear, the cup alone makes this a very enjoyable start to the day, let along the delicious espresso.  New habit with me for some reason, that I actually started while still in the U.S.   Yum. (NY has one comparable across the street from the Bowery hotel).

I had eyeballed this French spot close to the coffee and decided to go there for dinner after a little walk around the area.  Still looking to see what other neighborhoods are close by for me to consider.  I had to give my housing agent my suggestions Tuesday, so I wanted to check out Soho and Charlotte St.  Well, let's just say I ruled those 2 places out.  Soho feels to me like London's Times Square.  Dirty and obnoxious.  Charlotte St. was cute enough, but too close to Soho to be relaxing enough to live.  So, back to the French food ... OMG this carpaccio (on top of a croûton and foie gras) was to die for.  Unbelievably good ... there were sprinkles of crunchy salt and the little quail eggs were cooked just right.  Going to be a challenge resisting this just outside the office.  Especially with a cup of legit French Onion soup to follow.  Danger!!

Wednesday evening I got to meet up with another co-worker of mine from the U.S. and his family.  They are here on vacation celebrating his 40th birthday and are literally staying in a spot on the same street as the office.  How nice!  Another friend!  They suggested a restaurant newly opened by Jamie Oliver (those of you who actually watch TV will probably know who this guy is, I did not at first http://www.jamieoliver.com/italian/).  He is known for the TV show he recently did going into obese U.S. towns and trying to make their diets healthier.  Anyway, it was a really great meal  - I had squid ink angel hair w/ scallops and ALSO a truffle fettuccine.  He does small plates so I decided to try two!  Afterwards we went for a little stroll and had a couple cocktails at the Covent Garden hotel.  It was a beautiful evening, great conversation, and nice to interact with them with their lovely daughter and equally as lovely mum.

To finish the week I will be "flat" hunting ... those days are deserving of their own posts.