At Home in London - Christmas
Dec. 27th, 2001 11:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lillibetWe've had a lovely holiday together. Anne & George arrived on Sunday
morning, about an hour after they were scheduled, due to flight delays.
They had seen the shoe guy's plane on the ground at Logan--waaaay out on the
tarmac, surrounded at a cautious distance by emergency vehicles--and
wondered what was up. We spent the day eating and napping and looking at
pictures and catching up.
Monday was Christmas Eve and most tourist places were closed. So they had a
nice lazy morning while I went to Sainsbury's and after lunch we got out of
the house and went down to Covent Garden. On Monday's the stalls in the
Apple Market are occupied by antiques & collectibles dealers instead of the
usual arts & crafts vendors, so we wandered among those and Anne checked out
the amber on offer. Lush was open, so we stopped in there and Anne stocked
up on some of their wonderful bath things. They were closing as we left
about 4:30.
We headed out to Charing Cross Road, with detours through the churchyard of
Inigo Jones' Church of St. Paul (the one with the porch where the characters
take shelter in the opening scene of My Fair Lady) and through an alley
filled with shops selling prints and books and coins and the like. We
paused for quite a while in front of a print shop and came away with a map
of India for Anne & G. and a few presents for other people.
>From there we worked our way up Charing Cross Road, looking into the various
bookstores along the way. At the end of that run is Borders, which has a
cafe with convenient places to sit and toilets. Sadly, the counter closed
just as we walked up, so we couldn't get coffee, but we sat there and
rested and got warm. We found a couple of books we wanted and were
astonished by how quickly the queue was moving--in two minutes George went
from fifteen people back to signing his credit card slip.
Leaving there we walked into Soho to meet Jason for dinner at YMing. We
shared some fried dumplings and Jason and I had the hot & sour soup while
Anne tried the double-boiled beef soup with red dates and George had the
aubergine delight--deep fried battered packets of eggplant and bacon. For
mains, I stuck with the duck with winter greens and Jason the Tibetan garlic
lamb, while Anne tried a quarter of crispy aromatic duck and George had
Mr. Edward's Pork, which I've enjoyed before. After dinner we took the tube
home and I talked to Linda Marie for about an hour before bed.
On Christmas morning I talked to steve and caught up on email before making
French toast and waking everyone up around 10:30am to enjoy it. After
breakfast we opened the mountain of presents. Thanks very much to everyone
who sent us such lovely things! Anne was having a narcolepsy attack, so she
and G. went up and had a nap. I napped a bit and then got started on
dinner. Barbara and her mother, Miriam, arrived just before 6pm. We had
some nibblies (cheese, crackers, dried fruit, olives, dips, etc.), opened
more presents, and dinner was ready around 7:30pm. I had made roast beef
and (with Anne's assistance) Yorkshire pudding, gravy, baked potatoes,
asparagus and salad. I thought the beef was a tad overcooked, but everyone
seemed to enjoy it. I shooed everyone back into the living room so I could
do a first load of dishes while the Christmas pudding finished steaming. It
had come in our Christmas hamper from Fortnum & Mason (thanks guys!) and was
delicious with brandy butter slathered on top.
Anne was still falling asleep and I was pretty tired from the day. Barbara
and Miriam left around 10:30pm and I did another load of dishes and went to
bed.
Very little is open here on Boxing Day, so I had booked advance tickets at
Madame Tussaud's, one of the few available attrractions. It was a gorgeous
day and would have been a good one for visiting the London Eye--as Anne kept
being sure we were going to do--but we stuck to the plan. Jason accompanied
them to Mrs. T's and thence to the Sherlock Holmes Museum. I met them for
lunch--our first choice pub, the Volunteer, was closed, but our second
choice, The Globe, was open--and we had nice fish & chips and sausage &
mash. Then we came home, all quite tired, and fell into our respective beds
for a nap.
We hauled ourselves out again, dressed up, and headed off to the Barbican.
The tube was slow and it's quite a walk from the station to the theatre, so
I had Jason run ahead when we were almost there and keep them from closing
the house in our faces. We took our seats and the lights went down. The
play was Shakespeare's Twelfth Night and it was a fine production. Jo
Stone-Fewings was very dashing as Orsino. They played with the gender
confusion more than I had seen done in the past, which apparently surprised
the woman behind us, as she gasped quite loudly when Antonio kissed
Sebastian. If I had a complaint, it was that everything was played a bit
too straight--the drunken Sir Toby vomiting onstage may have been true to
the character, but it wasn't pleasant to watch. I felt like no one had let
Viola know the play's the comedy and she was having her own little tragedy,
feelingly portrayed, right up to the end. But overall it was lovely and
very entertaining.
We went upstairs to Searcy's afterwards and had a lovely dinner. I had a
thick slice of smoked salmon coated in dill with roasted vegetables as a
starter, followed by slices of roast wigeon (a small wild duck) that were
nicely rare and tasty. Jason and George started with the mature cheddar and
smoked haddock soup with a tiny souffle in the center. Jason's main was the
roasted rump of lamb in a gremolata (lemon) jus, which was also the choice
of Anne and Barbara. Anne started with the terrine that I remember incuded
rabbit, among other things, while Barbara had the grilled mackerel starter.
I think George's main was the seabream with saffron risotto and crab cream,
but he was at the other end of the table and it might have been pan-fried
hake with a mild curry seafood. We decided to stay for dessert and coffee.
Barbara and Anne had the chocolate fondant and Jason and I split the praline
bavarois with a lemon center that was tasty, but overpowered the praline
flavors.
The manager called cabs for us and showed us through the maze down to the
Silk Street exit where they were waiting. We said farewell to Barbara--we
will see her again on January 1st, if not before--and packed ourselves into
the mini-cab (a normal sized sedan rather than one of the big black cabs)
and were quickly taken home. George called his parents and then I talked to
Beckie for a few minutes before falling into bed again.
We had thought we'd go to the Eye if the weather held today, but since it's
cloudy, the others are sleeping in. I've talked to steve and will get busy
on the last few dishes. I think perhaps we will go to the British Museum
this afternoon.
morning, about an hour after they were scheduled, due to flight delays.
They had seen the shoe guy's plane on the ground at Logan--waaaay out on the
tarmac, surrounded at a cautious distance by emergency vehicles--and
wondered what was up. We spent the day eating and napping and looking at
pictures and catching up.
Monday was Christmas Eve and most tourist places were closed. So they had a
nice lazy morning while I went to Sainsbury's and after lunch we got out of
the house and went down to Covent Garden. On Monday's the stalls in the
Apple Market are occupied by antiques & collectibles dealers instead of the
usual arts & crafts vendors, so we wandered among those and Anne checked out
the amber on offer. Lush was open, so we stopped in there and Anne stocked
up on some of their wonderful bath things. They were closing as we left
about 4:30.
We headed out to Charing Cross Road, with detours through the churchyard of
Inigo Jones' Church of St. Paul (the one with the porch where the characters
take shelter in the opening scene of My Fair Lady) and through an alley
filled with shops selling prints and books and coins and the like. We
paused for quite a while in front of a print shop and came away with a map
of India for Anne & G. and a few presents for other people.
>From there we worked our way up Charing Cross Road, looking into the various
bookstores along the way. At the end of that run is Borders, which has a
cafe with convenient places to sit and toilets. Sadly, the counter closed
just as we walked up, so we couldn't get coffee, but we sat there and
rested and got warm. We found a couple of books we wanted and were
astonished by how quickly the queue was moving--in two minutes George went
from fifteen people back to signing his credit card slip.
Leaving there we walked into Soho to meet Jason for dinner at YMing. We
shared some fried dumplings and Jason and I had the hot & sour soup while
Anne tried the double-boiled beef soup with red dates and George had the
aubergine delight--deep fried battered packets of eggplant and bacon. For
mains, I stuck with the duck with winter greens and Jason the Tibetan garlic
lamb, while Anne tried a quarter of crispy aromatic duck and George had
Mr. Edward's Pork, which I've enjoyed before. After dinner we took the tube
home and I talked to Linda Marie for about an hour before bed.
On Christmas morning I talked to steve and caught up on email before making
French toast and waking everyone up around 10:30am to enjoy it. After
breakfast we opened the mountain of presents. Thanks very much to everyone
who sent us such lovely things! Anne was having a narcolepsy attack, so she
and G. went up and had a nap. I napped a bit and then got started on
dinner. Barbara and her mother, Miriam, arrived just before 6pm. We had
some nibblies (cheese, crackers, dried fruit, olives, dips, etc.), opened
more presents, and dinner was ready around 7:30pm. I had made roast beef
and (with Anne's assistance) Yorkshire pudding, gravy, baked potatoes,
asparagus and salad. I thought the beef was a tad overcooked, but everyone
seemed to enjoy it. I shooed everyone back into the living room so I could
do a first load of dishes while the Christmas pudding finished steaming. It
had come in our Christmas hamper from Fortnum & Mason (thanks guys!) and was
delicious with brandy butter slathered on top.
Anne was still falling asleep and I was pretty tired from the day. Barbara
and Miriam left around 10:30pm and I did another load of dishes and went to
bed.
Very little is open here on Boxing Day, so I had booked advance tickets at
Madame Tussaud's, one of the few available attrractions. It was a gorgeous
day and would have been a good one for visiting the London Eye--as Anne kept
being sure we were going to do--but we stuck to the plan. Jason accompanied
them to Mrs. T's and thence to the Sherlock Holmes Museum. I met them for
lunch--our first choice pub, the Volunteer, was closed, but our second
choice, The Globe, was open--and we had nice fish & chips and sausage &
mash. Then we came home, all quite tired, and fell into our respective beds
for a nap.
We hauled ourselves out again, dressed up, and headed off to the Barbican.
The tube was slow and it's quite a walk from the station to the theatre, so
I had Jason run ahead when we were almost there and keep them from closing
the house in our faces. We took our seats and the lights went down. The
play was Shakespeare's Twelfth Night and it was a fine production. Jo
Stone-Fewings was very dashing as Orsino. They played with the gender
confusion more than I had seen done in the past, which apparently surprised
the woman behind us, as she gasped quite loudly when Antonio kissed
Sebastian. If I had a complaint, it was that everything was played a bit
too straight--the drunken Sir Toby vomiting onstage may have been true to
the character, but it wasn't pleasant to watch. I felt like no one had let
Viola know the play's the comedy and she was having her own little tragedy,
feelingly portrayed, right up to the end. But overall it was lovely and
very entertaining.
We went upstairs to Searcy's afterwards and had a lovely dinner. I had a
thick slice of smoked salmon coated in dill with roasted vegetables as a
starter, followed by slices of roast wigeon (a small wild duck) that were
nicely rare and tasty. Jason and George started with the mature cheddar and
smoked haddock soup with a tiny souffle in the center. Jason's main was the
roasted rump of lamb in a gremolata (lemon) jus, which was also the choice
of Anne and Barbara. Anne started with the terrine that I remember incuded
rabbit, among other things, while Barbara had the grilled mackerel starter.
I think George's main was the seabream with saffron risotto and crab cream,
but he was at the other end of the table and it might have been pan-fried
hake with a mild curry seafood. We decided to stay for dessert and coffee.
Barbara and Anne had the chocolate fondant and Jason and I split the praline
bavarois with a lemon center that was tasty, but overpowered the praline
flavors.
The manager called cabs for us and showed us through the maze down to the
Silk Street exit where they were waiting. We said farewell to Barbara--we
will see her again on January 1st, if not before--and packed ourselves into
the mini-cab (a normal sized sedan rather than one of the big black cabs)
and were quickly taken home. George called his parents and then I talked to
Beckie for a few minutes before falling into bed again.
We had thought we'd go to the Eye if the weather held today, but since it's
cloudy, the others are sleeping in. I've talked to steve and will get busy
on the last few dishes. I think perhaps we will go to the British Museum
this afternoon.
