Roast and Toasts

Feb 25^th

Today we had a easy morning and strolled up to Lu’s new neck of the woods.. just a little north of in Camden for a good Sunday Roast. We were told to go early but we were a little early so we looked really eager.. but it was delicious, I had the pork roast and still got a yorkshire pudding
and we all got the pudding as well which was a warm apple crumble… it was all yummy. The name of the pub we were at was the Lord Stanley which is right beside Lu’s new place which is inside a converted church. Andrews friend Daryl from Birmingham was also in town with his girlfriend Beth for the weekend for a wedding so they came and joined us as well and told us wonderful stories of the (literally) cheese filled wedding. From there we walked off a bit of our meal by coming back to our local, the Victoria and sat around for the afternoon catching up and have some pints. And that was pretty much our Sunday.

In other very old news now while we were asleep in LaLa Land Happy Feet won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. So congrats to all that worked on it!!!

Buckets Birthday

Feb 24^th

Today is Craig Bucket McPherson’s Birthday!!!

We so wish we could be there in Vancouver to celebrate with you but instead here is just a tribute of your face I send to the world!
Happy Birthday we miss you !!!

In other news Moose and Vashti were in London on their return back to Vancouver from Lemmington Spa, and we got to meet both their little girls who are adorable. Neil was also in town to see them off so Andrew and I met them at the zoo in the late afternoon, went for a little stroll threw Regents Park and had dinner at place called Giraffe in Marlyebone. After dinner Niel came home with us as he was crash on the couch for the night and we just hung out and had some drinks.

Lee Ho Fook’s for lunch – meh

Feb 22

I felt like some Won Ton noodle soup with BBQ Pork so I met up with Andrew at work so we could go to Chinatown. As we walked down the main strip we decided to go to Lee Ho Fook’s from such fame as the “Werewolf in London” song to check off something that we wanted to do before we left London and that is have a big plate of Beef Chow Mein there. And that is just what we did, of course with the won ton noodle soup and some BBQ pork but all in all we both found the meal very sub par and quite disappointing for pretty generic Chinese fair. However we now have another thing checked of the list but if you are ever going to Chinatown for food quality do not go to Lee Ho Fooks unless of course you are a werewolf.

I cooked!

Feb 20^th

So after our neighbor made us such a yummy lunch I thought I should try to brush up my culinary techniques before we invite Joe over to our place for dinner. So I decided to roast a couple chickens for Catherine, Pabs and Lu. So to start there were just some cheese, tapenade, olives and grapes. Dinner consisted of Roast Chicken stuffed with Fennel and Garlic, roast root vegetables and broccoli. Dessert was just simple Vanilla Ice Cream with fresh strawberries, blueberries and raspberries. I think it all came out yummy and I had fun in the kitchen for the day getting it all ready.. I didn’t take a picture but here is a generic roast chicken picture for your taste buds. And thanks to the tasting guinea pigs!

Mom’s Birthday 60th!!

Feb 18th

Today was my mothers birthday, her 60^th birthday!! Here is an old picture of my mother when she was a youngster and a picture of her now. It also seems to be a family curse now to start small fires on peoples birthdays ( for those who were at Downs surprise b-day celebration) but my mom wanted all 60 candles which turned the cake into a little bon fire and smoked out the living room as you can see

It is also Chinese New Year which is the year of the pig ( some useless pig trivia, the following famous people are all pigs Woody Allen, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers,Lucille Ball, Humphrey Bogart, Glenn Close, Alfred Hitchcock, and Arnold Schwarzenagger – people who are pigs are said to usually be honest, straightforward and patient people) So some of my the family went to Chinatown for the parade.

Happy Birthday Mom Love you

Sunday in Paris

Feb 18^th

Sunday Andrew did the same for me again and went out early and got us some pastries for us to nibble for breakfast. We took the Metro again to meet up with Vincent where he took us to a canal area for a nice stroll along the water. Here you can see all the tents, there are for the homeless.. it’s where the government puts them.

It was another gorgeous day in Paris we saw some cool graffiti. After a walk to the edge of the city we came to a science centre sort of place that had a cool Imax globe, check it out. we turned around and had a little bite to eat before we went to the Gard du Nord to catch our train back to London. All in all a fantastic weekend or food relaxation and catching up with Vincent.

Saturday in Paris

Feb 17^th

The next day Andrew woke up early and went out and got us some juice, croissants and pane chocolate for breakfast while I slept in.. what a sweetheart! We had a slow morning and then we met up with Vincent for a walk in the city. Andrew wanted to go up the Eiffel Tower so we headed into the city. We walked along the park grass area leading up to the tower and slowly the crowds emerged it was going to take hours of waiting in line to get up the tower so we opted out of that and just admired the tower from the ground below. After we went for a bit of walk then took the Metro to the Arch de Triumph from there we walked all the way down the Champs Elysee where we stopped in to look around the new Louis Vuitton store, which I have to say was quite nice inside, and I would have a picture to show of this cool ceiling they had but unfortunately I was not allowed to take any photographs, le lame. We continued to walk all the way down past the Louvre all the way to Pompideu - Museum of Modern Art. We went to the top of the museum where they have a great view of the city and had a drink at their restaurant called George.

From there we went to another area of town for dinner to a restaurant that Marie Vincent’s girlfriend recommended. When we got there it was great timing we got to sit down right away and not wait about 15mins later there were many people waiting for a seat. The food was fabulous we started with some escargot. I love snails!! I could have eaten two more plates full. Then I had a duck confit with these lovely mushrooms from the southern region of France and Andrew and Vincent both had a hearty looking piece of meat with a roquefort sauce. For desert I had a crème caramel and the boys shared some cheese and black cherry compote. It was all absolutely delicious. From there we went back to the area where Andrew and I were staying and had a digestive and tea with Vincent before we called it a night.

GO to Paris!!

Feb 16th

So tonight I went to meet Andrew at work a little early as we are on our way to Waterloo Station to get the Eurostar to Paris for the weekend. We got the station in good time and while we were sitting in the waiting lounge I noticed my ticket saidEnfant, we could not figure out why .. well that is until we got on the train.. for some reason we had been placed in the childrens carriage.. and we now going to spend the next few hours with about 7 kids. Joy! It didn’t end up being too bad but we were happy our tickets on the way back were Enfant free.

When we got to the station Vincent met us they we went to his place to drop off our bags and had a little bite to eat close by. Andrew tried steak tartare for the first time It was a very cool little area in the South of Paris wines stores, boulangeries, patisseries and cheese shops. As well I would like to apologize for any bad spelling of French words as I am shit at spelling as well I can’t get accent aigu’s and the rest.

Saw a Play in Soho

Feb 15th

Tonight Lu, Amanda, Andrew and myself went to go see a play in Soho. It was called The Oak Tree. Now it was a little different than the usual play in that one of the characters ( there are only two in the whole play) has never seen the script or knows anything about the play really and they are directed on stage during the show by the other performer. I was expecting it to be a little more improvisation that it was but it was still and interesting watch.

It just finished running in New York and every night there is a different actor in the play. I can’t remember the name of the actress who was on the night we went to see it, she had been in some bit parts in stuff.. to narrow it down for you all… anyways for more about the theatre or about the play here is the site http://www.sohotheatre.com/pl1217.html .