What glorious weather for the weekend! I trust you all managed to enjoy it? I certainly did! Here’s how……
It was a quiet night in for us on Friday, with a big fry up supper (the rather shoddy home-made tofu Laksa I’d made the night before had us hankering for something simpler and less healthy!). Apart from cooking and eating, the evening was mainly spent slobbing in front of the TV. I started the first season on True Blood, which I’m really quite liking other than for Anna Paquin, whom I’ve never liked watching. Still, she seems to be in it a lot so I will have to get over that!
We were up and out at a reasonable hour on Saturday morning, after a quick breakfast of some yummy new coconut yoghurt Adam bought for me. We’d decided we really must go out on The Big Egg Hunt, and it was the perfect day for wandering about town in the warm, snapping photos with the gorgeous blue sky as a backdrop. We took the bus into Covent Garden, and there began our hunt…..
Before we’d found any eggs at all, we popped into the London Transport Museum’s shop for a quick browse. It really does have some brilliant gift ideas and some lovely things for the home. After that, we walked through the covered market where we began to find our first few eggs….. a lovely white one covered in sculpted flowers….. a bug furry one covered in brown muppet-like hair….. and this fun and bright one covered in cutesy characters were some of my favourites.
Having found all the eggs we could in Covent Garden, we decided to walk towards Soho for some lunch before moving on up to Carnaby Street where there were more eggs to find. On the way, we found that the London Graphic Centre were having a yard sale, from which I picked up some bargainous brushes and great bits for model making…. and back up at Seven Dials we came across this wonderful bead stall where I bought some treasures for my jewellery making.
From there we walked down Shaftesbury Avenue to Old Compton Street and stopped off at the wonderful Maoz for their amazing falafel…. for £5.80 you get a yummy pitta filled with falafel, hummus and fried aubergine, plus Belgian fries, a drink, and as much salad as you can manage. Stuffed, we walked through Soho to Carnaby Street for more egg hunting, and then back down to Piccadilly where we failed to find any at all. Still, that part of our adventure wasn’t completely fruitless, as Adam found an amazing Gelateria called Scoop, where we sampled what is probably the best gelato we’ve had in this country…. He chose the Cioccolato Bianco (with cocoa butter and farm fresh raw milk), the Pistacchio (with superior pistachios from Bronte, Sicily) and the Cioccolato Extra Fondente (actually a sorbet, with a blend of Gran Cru extra bitter cocoa). All were incredible, especially considering the latter is dairy free! Next time I think I will try the Tiramisu’ (with genuine Italian mascarpone cheese, espresso made from single origin coffee beans, acacia honey and Marsala wine from Sicily) and Green Tea (with Matcha from Kyoto).
And speaking of Matcha, I chose bubble tea over gelato for my pudding…. Bubbleology is a must-visit for me when in Soho, and so it was a large Matcha tea with tapioca pearls for me which I guzzled as we walked down Piccadilly on our way to Green Park. I never can pass that way without a quick peak into the Burlington Arcade, and there we happened across another three eggs too (as well as a chance to snoop the windows of the lovely jewellery shops)!
By the time we got to Green Park, we were ready for a sit in the sun, rubbing our very full tummies! By then it was warm enough that I could sit without my cardi, exposing my milk white shoulders for the first time this year! The park was full of picnickers and sun bathers, and we also saw our first shirtless man of the season (what is it with that?! it wasn’t THAT warm!).
From there we wandered across into St James’s park, where dozens of blossom trees were in bloom, and where all the birds and squirrels were busying about, full of the joys of Spring. We found a few more eggs there as we walked around the pretty lake, before we headed to the end of the Mall and found there the National Police Memorial. Stunningly lit in the afternoon sun, the impressive glass wall is set within a shallow pond which makes it a very peaceful and elegant memorial.
Having found what were to be our last to eggs of the day, we crossed over to Trafalgar Square to see the new fourth plinth sculpture. ‘Powerless Structures Fig. 101’ by Elmgreen and Dragset is a sculpture of a boy astride a rocking horse…… “We wanted to create a public sculpture which, rather than dealing with topics of victory or defeat, honours the everyday battles of growing up.”
And then it was time to head home as we snagged the front seats on the Routemaster! Rather weary from our long day’s wandering, we stopped in at the pub for a half (mine was the lovely Hightgate Bee-Zone honey beer) and at the shop to pick up a light supper. Of chocolate.
The rest of the evening was spent on more lounging, whilst we uploaded our photos from the day. I’ve counted about 31 eggs we found….not bad for one day, but there are still about 170 we’ve not found!
We’d decided that Sunday would be a restful day, and so we only ventured out to Waitrose for the week’s supplies. A lot of this ended up being cake as we couldn’t resist the many cheesecakes, gateaux and muffins at the patisserie counter, as well as some more of the wonderful Heston’s Earl Grey and Mandarin hot cross buns! We rewarded ourselves for our shopping trip with a pot of Earl Grey alongside some of our cakes, whilst settling down to the cross word and Sudoku.
It was only a light supper we fancied after our cakes and slouching about, so I made up some fresh salsa to go with some buttered red-skin potatoes and flash fried tuna. It was certainly one of the most delicious suppers I’ve made of late…. the super fresh line-caught tuna was gorgeous cooked very rare and with a little soy sauce.
After that, we settled down to watch Super8, which Adam has just bought on Blur-ay. We’d not seen it since the cinema and so were really excited to watch it again. I absolutely love the retro setting, the awesome music, and the touching story. You must see it if you haven’t already.
And by the time the film had finished we were very much ready for bed….. and so it was a lovely early night to finish up our wonderfully relaxing weekend!
