This weekend my old friend ben frost visited me at the GF en route from reykjavik to adelaide – first time we’d seen each other in years… so exciting!

london graced us with a spectacularly sunny and warm day, so we walked over to primrose hill. i somehow managed to get us lost but it was to our fortune – as we accidentally stumbled across l’absinthe, a cute little french bistro on chalcot street. it was lovely from the get-go. we sat at a little table out on the pavement in the shade, our waitress was cute and friendly and the host-chef guy was endearing.

We had the goats cheese and walnut salad to start, then the duck confit with potato gratin for the main, and espresso chocolate mousse for sweet. it was all delicious, huge servings, and the service was warm and non-intrusive. i have walked past this place so many times but never eaten there, but now i think now they’ve won themselves a new regular. i want to try so much on their menu… all the classics: french onion soup (4.75), steak frites (14.95), apple tarte tatin (4.65) – or just go there to hang out and enjoy some cheese and wine. so beware to those visiting me in london soon, I will be taking you there for brunch/lunch/dinner!

and the picture above? ben’s new album ‘by the throat’ will come out in just over a month on the bedroom community label.

listen & free download here

I’ve been listening to this song repeatedly… it’s all about the OTT strings that kick in at 1:42 and I LOVE it!!

bloody hell. i’d just come back to london from a week (holidaying?) in russia and sat down at my desk at work and thought “how the hell do I do this work thing again?!”. I’d arrived late, forgotten the password to my pc, realised i’d left heaps unfinished before i’d gone and somewhere in there was a bit of jetlag.

but, i got a great big cup of coffee, said hello and gave the headlines of my trip to the people closest to me, then settled in with my giant headphones on and opened up safari to find something to listen to on the BBC iPlayer while i got stuck into doing some work. I came across a Gilles Peterson show featuring a special Floating Points live session, recorded at the BBC studios in Maida Vale.

Oh. My. Gosh. it is brilliant. You can hear some bits of it on his myspace page, but I seriously hope this gets a proper release as it’s just about the best thing i’ve heard all year. dude is a genius.

and I had a moment of real pride for where I work.