Let me back up and tell you what I’ve been doing…

Dining with Chris Pople at Som Saa in Hackney: I like Chris Pople and I like Som Saa. We talked about Chris’ London restaurant app — you should download it — and how certain Instagrammers are now charging for their Instagramming. Guys, I am totally doing this whole blogging thing totally  wrong!!!  The deep-fried seabass was a particular highlight of our meal. If you get to Som Saa before they open — which you should because they don’t take bookings and get crazy busy — check out the  little industrial wine bar, Lonzo, across the road.

Scoffing free tacos at Wahaca in Soho with Jordi: I can’t say I’ve never won anything. I won free tacos at Wahaca! So did Jordi. So we conspired to meet. And the tacos were…not very nice. The tortillas fell apart in our hands. Also, they were purple. Purple? It was still a nice afternoon out — who doesn’t love strolling through Soho on a weekday when you don’t have an office to go to — but I wanted better tacos. Given the choice between free bad tacos and paid good tacos, go paid.

Running into Denise at Hix Oyster in Smithfield: I really love Hix Oyster & Chophouse. I don’t know who is in the kitchen, but they are really consistently awesome. I popped in on a weekday afternoon in an effort to get away from my laptop and who did I run into but Denise, The Wine Sleuth. Scrumpy Jack Oysters for the win! (Seriously, these things are delicious.) Denise invited me to join her table, where I met @CapeLondonWine and we drank a lot of his lovely wines.  

Running into Chris on the corner in Clerkenwell and meeting up at Foxlow for a drink: It’s funny that I hadn’t seen Chris or Denise in more than a year and then all of a sudden, I start running into them in random places. I was on my way to Waitrose when I saw Chris  and told him I’d meet him for a drink at Foxlow later. I like everything about Foxlow, a project from the guys that brought you Hawksmoor, except for their tiny and uncomfortable bar stools.

Analyzing the economy at Ohisama Sushi in Marylebone with Al and Rutton: I hadn’t debated whether markets are truly efficient in a while so I met up with my old b-school posse over sushi at Ohisama. This place is super small but very sweet. I thought everything was pretty excellent and would gladly go back for more. Rutton swears by this place and he is incredibly picky.

There’s actually a lot more but rather than bore you with one long post, I’m going to break this up a bit. More to come!

The post 50 Coffees with 50 People, A Lot of Weeks first appeared on Passport Delicious | Solo Travel Blog | Solo Female Travel.

50 coffees — my experiment in social learning since quitting my job last month — continues…sort of. This past week has been a lot more about socializing than learning. I’m a bit okay with that because it is summer after all but I’d like to tilt this back in a learning direction. Here’s what I’ve been up to…

Dinner at Bouillabaisse with my friends Barry and Natalie and, uh, Bobby Chinn. My friend Barry invited me along to friends & family night at Bouillabaisse and I told him I wouldn’t really blog about it. Instead, I will talk about it in the 50 coffees sense. I learned the world is a small place. I met Hilary from Hush Heath who just happens to know Denise the Wine Sleuth. (Denise is rapidly becoming the most-mentioned name in this series!! Can you tell she is a master networker??) I also met Bobby Chinn and we talked colonics. I’ll leave it there. This was a very fun night and I consumed a lot of seafood. I didn’t want it to end! And it was only a Monday. The Verdict: Bouillabaisse is now taking reservations so if you like seafood –like I do — you should go. Fine Print: I was a guest of Barry’s.

Get your minds out of the gutter, people.

Coffee at Shoreditch Grind with a Headhunter: I’m still on the list of heads to be hunted, so every so often, a headhunter asks to meet me. Yes, this blog is not my full-time job! I’ve spent the last few years working with an HR system called Workday, which is somewhat of a rare skillset for Europe. This headhunter has been particularly nice over the last year or so so once I told him I had quit my job last month, I agreed to meet up for a coffee and talk shop. The Verdict: I like the vibe at Shoreditch Grind. And the staff.

Dinner with Kikkoman at Korubuta in Chelsea: I love soy sauce. In the US, if you buy soy sauce, you pretty much always buy Kikkoman. You buy soy sauce on brand. To me, not buying Kikkoman would be like trying to make your own ketchup or serving Hunt’s ketchup. There is only one soy sauce and that is Kikkoman! In the UK, this is not the case. People buy soy sauce on price, which is funny because soy sauce is not expensive. So I was pretty delighted to be invited out to this dinner to celebrate the joy of Kikkoman and to help, possibly in some small way, convince the good people of the United Kingdom that they really should buy Kikkoman. And Korubuta was a pretty cool place to have this all come together — very Japanese izakaya/drinking den. It was great seeing  fellow London restaurant blogger Cassie again too!  The Verdict: Shameless plugs everywhere! Use Kikkoman! Go to Korubuta! Fine Print: I was a guest of Kikkoman and Korubuta.

Lunch with Ollie at Whaam Bahn Mi. The lovely Louis at Tonic suggested I drop by Whaam Bahn Mi for lunch for one of my 50 coffees. Whaam is tucked behind Piccadilly Circus and the staff could not have been nicer to me and my friend Olly as we tried to figure out what we wanted. It’s a tight little space — more of  a takeaway joint and not somewhere to linger. We grabbed our lunch boxes and headed over to Golden Square to enjoy the rare London sunshine. We enjoyed our traditional bahn mi too and Olly introduced me to some cool new apps to help me rediscover London….Dojo (what’s going on in London) and Uncover (last minute restaurant bookings). Also, I learned that Olly remembers what I write in my blog more than I do! The Verdict: Whaam is a very good value in an expensive city. Traditional pork Bahn Mi sandwiches at Whaam go for £6 quid. Very generous portions too. Fine Print: Olly and I were guests of Whaam.

London Travel Massive: On Thursday, I decided to heat up to Kings Cross for the London Travel Massive. I figured there would be lots of interesting people to talk to and things to learn, so it could sort of serve as one of my “fifty coffees.” The event was hosted by Cheapflights, which I guess I kinda knew about already but I didn’t realize that they were an aggregator site. This means that they will be even better than the best at finding you the cheapest flight! The best part about this event is that they gave everyone free iPhone chargers!! (Handy because my old one really doesn’t hold more than one charge.) It was a fun night and I met some nice people. The Verdict: If you’re into travel, you should check out these London Travel Massive Events.

Drinks at the pub with my old boss. After hanging out with strangers on Thursday, I decided to hang out with someone I hadn’t seen in a while for my next coffee. My old boss suggested we meet at The Artillery Arms, which is a nice little pub southwest of the Old Street Roundabout, close to Whitecross Street. Unfortunately, even though he was the one who chose The Artillery Arms, he went to an entirely different pub to meet me! Once we sorted that out, we talked about everything and nothing and before you knew it, 20-ish of my old colleagues turned up. It was a bit of a reunion and very different from the night before where I stood in a room of total strangers. (With the exception of course of social media master A Lady in London who was also at the London Travel Massive.)  The Verdict: I like The Artillery Arms, particularly when it’s quiet. Oh, and I also like Cornish Orchards Cider!!

Outcomes from this week…

• This week was a bit short on learning and a bit higher on socializing. I’m okay with that for now, sort of, but I’d like to learn more as this project continues.
• Though all the different conversations I had this week, I think I have some leads for my new gig. Yes, it’s true. I have a new job! I’m now an MBA admissions consultant. So if you or someone you know wants to talk about getting into a top b-school, talk to me. I hold an MBA from Chicago Booth myself, but I’ll be helping candidates with their admissions strategy across all the top MBA programs. (Harvard, Wharton, Stanford, Chicago, etc.)
• I have some cool new apps to check out thanks to Olly.
• Free soy sauce!
• I hung out with Bobby Chinn.
• I connected two people who both like sports and analytics: one was from the Kikkoman dinner, the other is from my new gig. I hope it will prove useful to the two of them!

Let’s see what next week brings…

The post 50 coffees with 50 people, Week #5 first appeared on Passport Delicious | Solo Travel Blog | Solo Female Travel.

50 coffees continues. And it’s all consuming. I have new rules. I try not to make any weekend plans. I save them for my non-Internet friends. (A tricky phrase to use, but you know what I mean. Your friends from your offline world.) And I try to take Mondays off. Also, I try to go to the gym four times a week and continue my Couch to 5K. Also, I’ve been trying not to set my alarm in the morning. Networking and being social is hard work, particularly when you’re a bit rusty at it. For a borderline introvert like me, it can be highly draining. Here’s what I’ve been up to lately.

Lunch with Jeff (aka Stonch’s Beer Blog) at The Jerusalem Tavern in Clerkenwell. I haven’t seen Jeff in ages. Back when my London restaurant blog was pretty hot, he had the hottest beer blog around. If you like beer, you should check out his blog. Jeff used to be the landlord at The Gunmakers in Clerkenwell but now he’s sold that and he’s also sold his new pub The Finborough Arms and so he is a man of leisure. We both live in Clerkenwell and we both love The Jerusalem so what better place to meet? Jeff has the gift of the gab and is a master story teller. He also disagrees with my sentiment that every restaurant should offer a wine by the glass that costs £3.50. Jeff mentioned 400% mark-ups on bottles of wine in pubs and restaurants! My assumption of a 100% markup was obviously naive. I also didn’t factor in VAT or any alcohol taxes, which is probably why I can’t follow his math. I still believe strongly that every restaurant should offer a small glass of wine for £3.50. If your starting price is £6, there’s something wrong. The Verdict: Go to The Jerusalem Tavern and enjoy the beverages. Lunch is okay too, although I’d maybe suggest lunch at Foxlow around the corner instead.

Barrafina with old-skool London restaurant bloggers Mr. Noodles and EuWen: We went to Barrafina and ate everything on the menu but yet we were surprised that we spent £50 quid a head! Everything was pretty good but not great. The mushroom croquettes were probably the best and I think that says it all…mushroom croquettes?? (OK, the whelks, photographed, were also very nice.) Service was snappy though! The Verdict: I like Barrafina — it’s on my Top 10 list — but I may push it down in the rankings soon. Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY EUWEN!!

Taste of London with Denise and a cast of characters: Chris, Jeanne, Rosanna, May. Much much rose. I haven’t been to Taste of London in a long time. It’s bigger now, more crowded. There are a lot more products now too. It’s a very fun time — especially when you’re walking around with someone like Denise — but I was surprised by the amount of rubbish everywhere and people seemed less polite than I remember from past experiences. I would still go back — it’s Taste of London after all — but I would have a different strategy. I would stake out a place to sit and send people out to get things and bring them back rather than all of us fighting against the masses at the same time. Going back to the beginning of this #50coffees experiment, this event never would have happened for me if I hadn’t had reached out to Denise in the first place! Things are happening as a direct result of this project, which is great!!

Drinks and snacks at The Canonbury with London restaurant bloggers Cassie and Priscilla: Cassie invited me out to the re-opening of The Canonbury — a gorgeous pub in a gorgeous part of London with a gorgeous outdoor patio — where we descended on the gorgeous canapes like the world was going to end. Many sliders and three free drinks later, I had a gorgeous long walk home in the gorgeous London twilight. The Verdict: I want to go back to The Canonbury and loll about in their garden.

Hanging out my b-school crowd at the Chicago Angels Network at the Barclays Accelerator: I wish I could say that I’ve earned the millions that I deserve, but I (still) haven’t. Still, it was fun to go to the Chicago Angels Network event in Whitechapel last weekend and pretend I was a kajillionaire with money to invest. Four start-ups presented their wares for their latest rounds of funding. These events are the types of things I’ve always wanted to go to, but never had time to do so. In watching other people pitch, you learn a lot about yourself and your own presentation skills. And you learn a ton of stuff about the world as well. Ballast water and zebra mussels!! Yikes. We’re killing ourselves.

Outcomes of this week…

It was a good week. No cancellations, which is always a good thing. And I’m glad I did something business-y by going to the Chicago Angels Network. I really like this sort of event..a bit business-y, a bit social. My ideal combination! Here are some other outcomes and highlights…

• Running into master London restaurant blogger Chris Pople TWICE in one week and making dinner plans for later in July.
• Learning more about the world of start-ups, reconnecting with some old b-school friends and meeting some new people in the process.
• Learning about ballast water. And zebra mussels. (I already knew about Asian Carp. The bastards.)
• Oh! This was interesting. I had a conversation with a start-up guy all about Classpass, which I never would have known about if it weren’t for my lunch with Jordi at Roux at The Landau! I was the only person in the crowd who knew about Classpass, so that was cool. Thanks, Jordi!
• Making plans to meet Olga from KidCuteure, who saw my blog post and volunteered to meet for coffee.
• Making plans to meet up with grammar aficionado Olly over Bahn Mi. The Bahn Mi is a PR invite on the back of my 50 Coffee series, so that’s nice.
• Invite from my old friend Barry to join him at the Friends & Family Night at the opening of Bouillabaisse.

Can’t believe that as I write this, it’s already Week #5…I need to do a count of how many “coffees” I’m at…and figure out when this experiment will end…if it will end…and what will happen next…

What do you think I should do???

The post I’m having 50 coffees with 50 people…Week #4 first appeared on Passport Delicious | Solo Travel Blog | Solo Female Travel.

As I write this, it’s Week #3 of my 50 coffees project and everything is happening. I feel like I’ve learned more in the last three weeks than I have in the entire last year. Talking to people is good for the mind, body and soul. (Body = I’m also spending a lot of time at the gym…more time than I have in years!) Here’s what I’ve been up to in Week #3.

Lunch at The Well with my friend Brian. Brian was supposed to meet me at Iberica the weekend of Week #1 for paella. He got the dates wrong and went to Gibraltar instead (!!!), leaving me with a giant pan of paella to polish off. I love Iberica. I really do. So I still managed to have a lovely time but I had an even better time at The Well the next week because Brian actually turned up! We talked restaurant booking systems and taking the overhead out of restaurants and taking costs out of systems in general. That’s what happens when two U of C people get together. Also, I think we agreed that markets are definitely inefficient. Brian also convinced me to sign up for another Chicago Booth event later this month. (More startups!)

Lunch at Sanxia with LIZZIE. Buy her book, Chinatown Kitchen, on Amazon now! Lizzie was already on my list of 50 people but she awesomely reached out to me before I got to her. (It’s really hard to organize coffees with 50 people at the same time, so I reach out to five-ish people a week.) She suggested a couple of places but once she mentioned Sanxia, I was in. The lovely if slightly goofy staff alone makes me want to go back. Also, the soup noodles and the dumplings. I didn’t die over the scrambled egg and funghi, but this is a menu worth exploring and we explored it so there’s that. The best part? £12 quid a head!!! The Verdict: Eat the menu. And buy Lizzie’s book!

Lunch at Aqua Nueva with Chris: Back to where it all started during Week #1! At the very beginning, I had reached out to Chris to set up lunch and we had picked this date in mid-June, but then Bar Boulud happened so after not seeing him for 5+ years, I saw him twice in a two week period! He was kind enough to invite me to the reopening of Aqua Nueva, where I saw Hugh Wright in all his fabulousness from a distance. I also fell in love with the Secreto at Aqua Nueva–deliciously lusty pork and potatoes. (Luckily, we ordered two.) The Verdict: Discuss your business secrets over Aqua Nueva’s Secreto. Disclaimer: We dined as guests of Aqua Nueva. Top Tip: Ignore where Google Maps says Aqua Nueva is. It is not on Regent Street by the Apple Store. I’m not sure why the restaurant hasn’t done something about this already…

Virtual Coffee with Jessica from Meal Sharing: Jessica from Meal Sharing saw my post and suggested we have a virtual coffee date over Skype. I LOVE THIS SORT OF THING! The idea behind meal sharing is that in over 450 cities around the world, there are people willing to have you over for dinner. Jessica and I joked about how restaurant bloggers don’t tend to cook much but know all the bloggers who do. If you’re interested in hosting people for dinner, drop Jessica and the team a note! Meal Sharing looks like a fun concept.

YOLO Party at Yo! Sushi: The old me would have said no to something like this but 1. I’ve always kinda loved Yo! Sushi and 2. The party was in Soho and I love Soho. I am really super glad I went because this was an awesome party. There were Japanese hot dogs, furi fries (just shake and eat), unlimited Yo! Sushi dishes and free sriracha key rings!! While I was at the party, I met PS Origami and Happy Belly and I also ran into Kavey and told her about my 50 coffees project. (Kavey, I am coming for you.) My only complaints? As with all PR events, it would have been nice to have copious free wifi. Also, they didn’t tell us the hashtag #yoment until half-way through the party. PRs of the world, HELP ME HELP YOU!!! Because I really am open to that these days.

Drinks at The British Film Institute with @Webcowgirl: I’ve been following @Webcowgirl on Twitter for ages. For a while, she was documenting what people were reading on the tube, which was fun to follow given how seldom people tend to read real books nowadays. I thought it was very cool that Webcowgirl reached out to me — a stranger on the Internet — and suggested we meet up. We had cocktails at the bar at the BFI and it couldn’t have been a more lovely, gorgeous late afternoon, watching the tourists and the Thames go by. It was such a lovely evening that I decided to walk all the way back to Old Street afterwards.

Malaysian by May Supper Club with Denise & Jeanne & Rosanna: Oh my goodness, oh my goodness. I haven’t laughed this hard in a long time. Thank you, Pietro. And thank you Jeanne, for inviting me in the first place. But I digress…May’s Malaysian food is truly fantastic. I adopted a Malaysian tourist at Holloway tube — she was already planning on joining for dinner but was traveling solo — and she said later that May’s food was truly fantastic and authentic. I can’t speak to the authenticity part but I can tell you…FANTASTIC. Be on the lookout for May’s next Malaysian supper club. Truly a great night out.  The Verdict: GO! (And take more photos than I did. I was having so much fun, I barely took any snaps.)

Cool things that happened during Week #3…

• I created my first Snapchat. It was okay. I kinda get Snapchat more now, but I don’t like that your videos disappear. I want mine back!
• I started Couch to 5K! I’m on Week 2 at this writing.
• I actually made it to Cardio Boxing!
• I uploaded 40,000 photos to Google Photos! And it’s awesome. If you haven’t experimented with the new Google Photos yet, you should!
• Imogen at Quarto Group sent me the book “Daily Greens 4-Day Cleanse.” I am kinda in the market for a cleanse — waaaaaa — so the timing worked perfectly. It’s a beautiful book so this should be interesting.
• I published two blog posts (this one and this one) in one day! That hasn’t happened since like 2007!
• I met an origami artist!
• I booked plane tickets to NEW YORK CITY next month!

The post I’m having 50 coffees with 50 people…Week #3 first appeared on Passport Delicious | Solo Travel Blog | Solo Female Travel.

Lunch with Aine at Sedap: Aine is a headhunter I used to work with at the job I used to have before I quit the job I just had. Aine found my old employer some great people and I’ve always enjoyed catching up with her so I reached out to set up lunch. I’ve also always loved Sedap and I know they do a good value set lunch. Over our curries, we discovered we have people in common beyond the people we already knew we had in common. A nice surprise! The Verdict: I love Sedap! Cheap and cheerful. And if you work in financial services and your company needs a headhunter, contact Aine!

Career Panel with Georgetown at The University of Notre Dame: My undergrad university hosted some alumni from Georgetown for a great career panel. They talked about the importance of WAITING and the importance of RELATIONSHIPS and how you may not get that job today but maybe that headhunter will remember how nice/cool/interesting and smart you are a few years down the line and you will get that job tomorrow. Lots of good food for thought. AND…the main reason why I went to this is because Alice (see Coffee #3) was going and suggested I go. So score another point for the benefits of socializing and reaching out to people.

Lunch with Con Ann at Chiltern Firehouse: When Con Ann suggested meeting up at Chiltern Firehouse, I was all like “YES!!!” I got there early. I pretended not to look for celebrities. And I enjoyed a great catch up with an old friend and a very good meal. The Verdict: I will gladly go back to Chiltern Firehouse. Gladly.

Lunch with Jordi at Roux at The Landau: I knew Jordi was available for weekday lunches and I also know that she loves Rimowa as much as I do. We met for a posh lunch at Roux at The Landau and it was really tremendously lovely. Once I get myself back into shape, I am going to join Jordi at one of her Psycle classes. Jordi also told me about Classpass — a way to try out classes at lots of different focused gyms and studios — which sounds AWESOME. The Verdict: I would very gladly eat here again. Once I have money again, that is.

Lunch with Jeanne (aka Cook Sister) at Vinoteca: Having lunch with Jeanne was funny. She told me she could do lunch, but only if I met her in Clerkenwell. I LIVE IN CLERKENWELL. Hah. We had a great value lunch at Vinoteca, only one of my favorite places for lunch. (Even though they did unfollow me on Twitter. BASTARDS!!!) Jeanne helped me get up to speed on all things London blogging and social media and suggested I join her for a supper club the next week. (Score another point  for the benefits of reaching out to people.) The Verdict: You cannot beat the £10 lunch special at Vinoteca. £12 with a glass of wine! Great to see Jeanne again too! She is one of the original London blogging crew!

Drinks with Mike from Chicago: Mike moved to London from Chicago last year and the Chicago crew told him he should meet me. We met up for a quick drink at The Jerusalem Tavern (ace watering hole) last spring but I haven’t seen him since. So the other day, we met up for drinks and a catch-up tat Ask for Janice, only one of my new favorite places in Clerkenwell. The people that work there are SO NICE. We talked about financial technology (my previous area of expertise) and TransferWise and all sorts of good stuff.  Mike still owes me a list of Fintech apps though. The Verdict: Get the garlic flowers. Drink all the beer. Ask to see the beers in the cooler.

Dining room at Jamie’s Italian

Lunch with Denise at Jamie’s Italian: Meeting up with London wine blogger Denise is always an adventure. We had lunch at Jamie’s Italian and then she convinced me to ditch my Instagram Meetup — I really would like to go to an Instagram Meetup — in favor of hanging out on the rooftop of the ME Hotel in Aldwych. Good times. Great times actually. Denise made me feel better about missing the Instagram Meetup by telling me who to follow on Instagram, so it all worked out. Also, the people that work at the rooftop bar at the ME Hotel are so nice, I actually had to keep telling them that. The Verdict: I liked Jamie’s Italian! And I really enjoyed the rooftop bar at the ME Hotel. Great people watching and great views of London.

Raw Sicilian prawns with some Instagram

Lunch with Mr. Noodles & Su-Lin: I should probably call Mr. Noodles by his real name but he was the mysterious and anonymous Mr. Noodles for so long that I can’t stop calling him that. I met my original London food and restaurant blogging friends Mr. Noodles and Su-Lin for lunch at Rex & Mariano and marveled at the relative cheapness and deliciousness of it all. Big takeaway of the lunch? Apparently, I need to get down to Wing Yip. The Verdict: As I said here, go.

Outcomes of Week #2

• Learned about Classpass.
• Met someone who had actually used TransferWise. Convinced me to give it a shot.
• Jeanne suggested I join her for May’s Malaysian by May supper club.
• Denise invited me to Taste of London.
• Mr. Noodles invited me to Barrafina. We’re going with EuWen.
• I need to check out Wing Yip.

The post I’m having 50 coffees with 50 people…Week #2 update… first appeared on Passport Delicious | Solo Travel Blog | Solo Female Travel.

Lunch with my friend Louise: Louise and I ran the British 10k together back in 2008. We hired a running coach and everything. We had lunch at Brasserie Zedel and talking about how much fun the race was. She had just run another a 10k that morning. I, unfortunately, am not ready to run a 10k anytime soon. BUT…I came home from lunch and and downloaded Couch to 5K. I just started the program so I’ll get there, eventually. Hopefully in the next month or two or three. The Verdict: I loved Brasserie Zedel. Why haven’t I eaten here before?? What a great value too. You should go here. I’m going to take my dad here.

Startup panel at The University of Chicago London Campus: Many years ago, I managed to graduate from the MBA program at The University of Chicago. I haven’t had a chance to get to any of their educational events at the London campus since I’ve been back, but on my first true day of unemployment, I decided to wander over to their panel on startups. Great idea! Not only did I run into an old colleague, but I also picked up some great tips on how to get into the world of tech startups. The disappointing bit is that they said there would be snacks after the panel. There were crisps. Crisps are not snacks. Big takeaway? Check out Escape the City.

Lunch with American in London: I know Alice from her London restaurant blog, which she sadly hasn’t updated in FOUR YEARS. I saw her last summer when I first moved back to London but haven’t seen her since. We met up at Taberna do Mercado where I ran into Nuno himself and he remembered me!! So that was lovely and kinda awesome. And then Alice and I had a great lunch where we chatted about all sorts of expat things and work things and good things. (And the boring things like freaking U.S. TAXES.) The Verdict: I liked Taberna do Mercado but I was still in my “Wait wait why aren’t I at work” panicky haze so I barely remember our meal…except for the delicious sandwiches. I think I need to go back.

Dinner with Chris and Leila at Bar Boulud: Earlier in the week, I had reached out to Chris about meeting for lunch sometime. We set up a date to meet (more in a future post), but in the interim, he suggested I join him for the 5th anniversary party at Bar Boulud. Hello. Yes. We had a great time at dinner and with Evyn, Daniel’s lovely PR person and I managed to not eat all the oysters. The Verdict: I love Bar Boulud. You will too.

Snacks at Vinoteca Clerkenwell: My friends John and David legally confirmed their union after 20 years of togetherness!!! We knew we needed a firm foundation before the festivities started. So Ben and Fiona and I met up at Vinoteca and ate all the rabbit rillettes and pork belly before the party got started. Fi gave me some new verbage to think on…Portfolio Career?

Outcomes from Week #1

• Downloaded the Couch to 5K app.
• Learned about Escape the City.
• Nuno Mendes knows who I am.
• Tiki Chris invited me to Bar Boulud after I reached out to him to meet up later this month.
• I met some new people…Leila and Evyn.
• PORTFOLIO CAREER

The post I’m having 50 coffees with 50 people…here’s the latest… first appeared on Passport Delicious | Solo Travel Blog | Solo Female Travel.