oops, kinda fallen behind
It's Wednesday and last I posted was early Sunday evening. *sigh*
My brother and his family arrived for dinner and we went up to the Italian chain on the corner. Decent enough food. I had spaghetti carbonara aka heartattack in a bowl. Apparently my brother's weird teeth are genetic as my nephew is missing his two upper first pre-molars. The baby teeth were there but nada on the adult ones. On my brother, his teeth just grew together and on one side the dentist filed down his canine. His upper wisdom teeth were allowed to stay. The nephew has his mother's tiny mouth, though, so he'll need braces and bridges and god knows what. My dad doesn't have it but it's obviously not a recessive gene and it's quite possible our grandfather had it and dozens of generations earlier, too, as dad himself didn't go to a dentist until he was eighteen so we're sure his father never did and it's possible his eldest brother never did either, so they could have had it.
Anyway, that was the exciting conversation at the table. *g* Oh, that and my SIL loves Twilight. *rolls eyes*
On Monday I strolled up to the British Museum and wandered around the Greek and Roman exhibits. It was very busy. This is obviously the tourist season as half the world seems to be in London. I've never seen so many Middle Easterners in Harrods, for one thing--at least half the shoppers. London is the happening place! (Especially this area at dusk as it's jam-packed) I took pictures of the same stuff I always take pictures of. Commo has, apparently, had all the unflattering busts of himself pulled but left the one of his father, which I dutifully took a picture of to use when he pisses me off to remind him that he smothered the poor man.
After stopping at the wicca/pagan store (yay, still there!) I walked down Drury Lane for the first time ever and met mom in Covent Garden. We ate lunch and then met up with my brother et al again and wandered around shopping, then mom and I headed back home. We're only about three blocks from the Garden. We got some wonderful pastries at a bakery on the way.
That night we went to another restaurant right around the corner, The Forge. (Really, step outside and there are forty restaurants within a few blocks of this place, everything from McDonalds to Jamie Oliver's new place) I had halibut served with teeny tiny brown shrimp and teeny tiny sea asparagus (the width of a chive, tasting exactly like asparagus). It was yummy.
Tuesday I waited until dad arrived so I could lug his suitcase up the stairs. Then we discovered that somehow his wireless isn't working on his laptop so I'll be taking his laptop home with me and they'll be keeping mom's. I'm spending Saturday night at an airport hotel and chances are they'd charge me for wireless anyway, so I probably wouldn't use it. If I've watched all the Castles, I'll download a few shows to watch before I leave here and I can always read fanfic or write.
Then I went to the Tate (aka the Tate Britain fka the Tate but then they added the Tate Modern and had to differentiate). The last time I went was 1986 and I was in horrible shape and I thought the walk from the tube stop was neverending.
Jesus, I was a lazy cow back then. It's no more than five blocks and all flat and nothing near as far as the British Museum from the flat which slopes uphill the whole way. I was tired, though. I've been walking a lot. I found that I could walk with no problem but stopping and looking at pictures made my legs feel weak, so I sat a lot. I just went through the British section, stopping after the Victoriana section. I don't like modern art. Found it very odd that they no longer sell postcards. I did pick up a book on London interiors (as in the townhouses of the nobility, filmed for Country Life magazine a hundred years ago) and a book on Derelict London which is interesting as some of the places are really recently derelict. One famous pub has been saved by a Starbucks. We were all greatly saddened. I dunno, maybe the Brits don't mind all the Americanization over here but I do.
My nephew's being really picky where food is concerned so they decided to go to a pub. Mom and dad and I went next door to the tapas place. It's a chain but was really good. I had a white wine sangria since I don't like red wine.
Today I stayed in and lazed around. I watched several eps of Castle, the SPN season finale (again) and read some fanfic. Dad was off with the nephew and my brother to see the Horrible Trenches thing at the Imperial War Museum (the nephew is really into Horrible Histories) and then mom met them for lunch in front of the National Gallery (just down the street), but I just ate Stilton and sausage rolls.
Mom and I have been watching a lot of a show called "Come to Dinner" (or something like that) where they put five strangers together who go to dinner at each ones house five nights in a row and they judge the host on food, service, entertainment, hosting etc. We don't quite understand what the point of the guests snooping in the host's bedroom and bath is all about because what does that have to do with having a great dinner party, but otherwise it's enjoyable. There always seems to be one bitch. We've seen eps of several different weeks as they're shown on several channels at different times of the day. Outside of news and sports, we really haven't watched much else on telly.
Our big meal out was tonight and OMG so good. It may be the best meal I've ever had. We went to a two star (Michelin) restaurant called The Square. The ambiance was wonderful and it was roomy--so many restaurants are squeezed into small spaces and this one was spread out. At least four or five different people served us--one for rolls, one for taking the order, one for serving it, etc.
There were mini-courses between each course and wonderful rolls. I had the starter I'd seen on the menu dad printed out which was what gave my vote to this restaurant. It was a dorset crab lasagna in champagne foam. It was heavenly. Very rich but just the right amount of food so that you didn't overdo.
(Just missed a call so had to call back because I didn't recognize the number and it might have been the cat sitter--one of the problems with cell phones--you're never out of touch. Anyway, it was the new library chair at church asking me to show her the ropes and not realizing I was out of town *g*).
Back to dinner. For the main, I had roast turbot served in this killer butter sauce over coco beans (which are not coffee) and more of the sea asparagus. With dinner I had a sweet Riesling which was close to ice wine. I prefer my booze not to taste like booze. For dessert I had the bittersweet chocolate mousse which came with several other chocolate items like tiny cookies and icecream and pieces of chocolate.
And they got a taxi for us. Coming we got caught in the rain but we had umbrellas. It had stopped by the time we left but it cooled way off. I actually was cold walking to the taxi. I brought a lightweight cardigan but haven't had to use it. If we'd been walking tonight I'd have wanted it.
Going to be great sleeping weather.
Tomorrow I'm off to the comic book store and then the National Gallery (it's just down the street; it would be a sin not to go) and maybe the National Portrait Gallery as it's been twenty years since I've been there, then a bit of shopping in this area. Mom and I are going to Browns for tea (right across the street, really, if the lift was working, this place is super fantastic for me, right where I want to be) and then we have tickets to some play starring Joanna Lumley and David Hyde Pierce.
Off to watch more Castles. :)
My brother and his family arrived for dinner and we went up to the Italian chain on the corner. Decent enough food. I had spaghetti carbonara aka heartattack in a bowl. Apparently my brother's weird teeth are genetic as my nephew is missing his two upper first pre-molars. The baby teeth were there but nada on the adult ones. On my brother, his teeth just grew together and on one side the dentist filed down his canine. His upper wisdom teeth were allowed to stay. The nephew has his mother's tiny mouth, though, so he'll need braces and bridges and god knows what. My dad doesn't have it but it's obviously not a recessive gene and it's quite possible our grandfather had it and dozens of generations earlier, too, as dad himself didn't go to a dentist until he was eighteen so we're sure his father never did and it's possible his eldest brother never did either, so they could have had it.
Anyway, that was the exciting conversation at the table. *g* Oh, that and my SIL loves Twilight. *rolls eyes*
On Monday I strolled up to the British Museum and wandered around the Greek and Roman exhibits. It was very busy. This is obviously the tourist season as half the world seems to be in London. I've never seen so many Middle Easterners in Harrods, for one thing--at least half the shoppers. London is the happening place! (Especially this area at dusk as it's jam-packed) I took pictures of the same stuff I always take pictures of. Commo has, apparently, had all the unflattering busts of himself pulled but left the one of his father, which I dutifully took a picture of to use when he pisses me off to remind him that he smothered the poor man.
After stopping at the wicca/pagan store (yay, still there!) I walked down Drury Lane for the first time ever and met mom in Covent Garden. We ate lunch and then met up with my brother et al again and wandered around shopping, then mom and I headed back home. We're only about three blocks from the Garden. We got some wonderful pastries at a bakery on the way.
That night we went to another restaurant right around the corner, The Forge. (Really, step outside and there are forty restaurants within a few blocks of this place, everything from McDonalds to Jamie Oliver's new place) I had halibut served with teeny tiny brown shrimp and teeny tiny sea asparagus (the width of a chive, tasting exactly like asparagus). It was yummy.
Tuesday I waited until dad arrived so I could lug his suitcase up the stairs. Then we discovered that somehow his wireless isn't working on his laptop so I'll be taking his laptop home with me and they'll be keeping mom's. I'm spending Saturday night at an airport hotel and chances are they'd charge me for wireless anyway, so I probably wouldn't use it. If I've watched all the Castles, I'll download a few shows to watch before I leave here and I can always read fanfic or write.
Then I went to the Tate (aka the Tate Britain fka the Tate but then they added the Tate Modern and had to differentiate). The last time I went was 1986 and I was in horrible shape and I thought the walk from the tube stop was neverending.
Jesus, I was a lazy cow back then. It's no more than five blocks and all flat and nothing near as far as the British Museum from the flat which slopes uphill the whole way. I was tired, though. I've been walking a lot. I found that I could walk with no problem but stopping and looking at pictures made my legs feel weak, so I sat a lot. I just went through the British section, stopping after the Victoriana section. I don't like modern art. Found it very odd that they no longer sell postcards. I did pick up a book on London interiors (as in the townhouses of the nobility, filmed for Country Life magazine a hundred years ago) and a book on Derelict London which is interesting as some of the places are really recently derelict. One famous pub has been saved by a Starbucks. We were all greatly saddened. I dunno, maybe the Brits don't mind all the Americanization over here but I do.
My nephew's being really picky where food is concerned so they decided to go to a pub. Mom and dad and I went next door to the tapas place. It's a chain but was really good. I had a white wine sangria since I don't like red wine.
Today I stayed in and lazed around. I watched several eps of Castle, the SPN season finale (again) and read some fanfic. Dad was off with the nephew and my brother to see the Horrible Trenches thing at the Imperial War Museum (the nephew is really into Horrible Histories) and then mom met them for lunch in front of the National Gallery (just down the street), but I just ate Stilton and sausage rolls.
Mom and I have been watching a lot of a show called "Come to Dinner" (or something like that) where they put five strangers together who go to dinner at each ones house five nights in a row and they judge the host on food, service, entertainment, hosting etc. We don't quite understand what the point of the guests snooping in the host's bedroom and bath is all about because what does that have to do with having a great dinner party, but otherwise it's enjoyable. There always seems to be one bitch. We've seen eps of several different weeks as they're shown on several channels at different times of the day. Outside of news and sports, we really haven't watched much else on telly.
Our big meal out was tonight and OMG so good. It may be the best meal I've ever had. We went to a two star (Michelin) restaurant called The Square. The ambiance was wonderful and it was roomy--so many restaurants are squeezed into small spaces and this one was spread out. At least four or five different people served us--one for rolls, one for taking the order, one for serving it, etc.
There were mini-courses between each course and wonderful rolls. I had the starter I'd seen on the menu dad printed out which was what gave my vote to this restaurant. It was a dorset crab lasagna in champagne foam. It was heavenly. Very rich but just the right amount of food so that you didn't overdo.
(Just missed a call so had to call back because I didn't recognize the number and it might have been the cat sitter--one of the problems with cell phones--you're never out of touch. Anyway, it was the new library chair at church asking me to show her the ropes and not realizing I was out of town *g*).
Back to dinner. For the main, I had roast turbot served in this killer butter sauce over coco beans (which are not coffee) and more of the sea asparagus. With dinner I had a sweet Riesling which was close to ice wine. I prefer my booze not to taste like booze. For dessert I had the bittersweet chocolate mousse which came with several other chocolate items like tiny cookies and icecream and pieces of chocolate.
And they got a taxi for us. Coming we got caught in the rain but we had umbrellas. It had stopped by the time we left but it cooled way off. I actually was cold walking to the taxi. I brought a lightweight cardigan but haven't had to use it. If we'd been walking tonight I'd have wanted it.
Going to be great sleeping weather.
Tomorrow I'm off to the comic book store and then the National Gallery (it's just down the street; it would be a sin not to go) and maybe the National Portrait Gallery as it's been twenty years since I've been there, then a bit of shopping in this area. Mom and I are going to Browns for tea (right across the street, really, if the lift was working, this place is super fantastic for me, right where I want to be) and then we have tickets to some play starring Joanna Lumley and David Hyde Pierce.
Off to watch more Castles. :)