A lovely English week-end and a farewell to my twenties

After doing not much of anything Friday night, simply due to lack of planning, I woke up Saturday morning faced with an entire week-end of nothingness, which didn’t really seem very fun, if I’m to be honest ;)

So, having noticed earlier in the week that there was a new afternoon tea meetup and that they were having their very first tea Saturday afternoon, I quickly signed up and went off for my run, calculating that I had just enough time to do that, get ready and get to the tea without racing…this is England, you don’t race around on week-ends, you relax :D And yeah, yeah, I’m an unemployed bum so week-ends don’t count, but shh.

So anyway, as I came back from my run (where I actually managed to run almost the entire way for a change), the lady from stables #2 had left a message. So, quickly calling her back and setting up a 7am Wednesday meeting, I got ready for my very first English tea and set off to the tea place.

Short digression: I would now like credit against my bum status for this 7am appointment thankyouverymuch. This means that I will be up at around 5:30 Wednesday morning and by 7am, will be engaged in smelly manual labour and riding for at least the entire morning, if not part of the afternoon (the appointment is that I’m spending the morning in a “this is what it would be like to work here” thing). Ok, moving right along:

So, we had tea at the coffee and tea museum in London Bridge and it was just utterly lovely. I had cream tea, having been both intrigued and obsessed with the very idea of it since I saw that thing on the travel channel (I’d link you back to the entry where I talked about it, but I’m not cool enough to know how to do that). But I was a bit bummed when everyone’s orders came and I saw that afternoon tea was exactly what I ordered, plus the cute little finger sandwiches. So now I know, afternoon tea is better than cream tea :D Mind you, I had plenty of food: a generous slice of perfectly concocted lemon cheesecake and 2 equally perfect scones, with clotted cream and jam…and Darjeeling tea. But I eyed those sandwiches jealously.

About halfway through tea, I struck up a conversation with the lady across from me, who’d said that she too once stopped working for a bit too and loved it. So, of course, I said “what do you do now?” when she replied “I’m a food journalist,” I just stared back in wide-eyed awe for several moments. Oh. My. GOD. I was talking to the coolest woman I had ever met. That is one of the most fun jobs I could possibly think of. I met several other really nice people too ;) But man alive, I was excited beyond words at this woman’s job.

So then, as if she didn’t seem cool enough as is, she says “I’m thinking of wandering around the museum and then having a glass of champagne down the street. I love champagne. Is anyone up for it?” Champagne? Well if you insist. Lol, I love champagne too. And with nothing else planned, why the heck not?

So, having gathered a few other people (who were interested in the booze but not the museum), she and I wandered the museum. It was interesting, for the 90 seconds it took us to get through it, but um, I’m not sure I recommend it. Everyone else had wandered off to a market I’d never heard of, so we texted them and went off to the restaurant.

As we neared the restaurant, my new friend pointed out the market, which was closed by this time but which we were standing in. The Borough Market is “a foodie heaven,” is the biggest tourist attraction in London and the vendors are all by invitation only…long story short, I’m going back next weekend, it looked incredible. So, we went up to Roast, this restaurant she’d mentioned and it really is quite nice. It’s on the second floor and the bar area, which is glass from floor to ceiling, overlooks the market…the menu looked quite tasty, but we didn’t stay for dinner. After lounging around with our drinks for a few hours, talking and just generally having a really nice, relaxing afternoon, 2 of us accompanied my idol off to a restaurant for dinner, which was on her list to write a review on. I don’t want to comment further, lest I kill her anonymity somehow, but I was intrigued by the cuisine because it was an odd fusion…and of course I was far more intrigued by what it was like to dine with a food expert :D The food was yummy, the atmosphere fun and weird and the company was perfect…who knew that my Saturday would turn out so heavenly ;) I’d set out at 1pm for a tea and arrived home shortly after midnight, having done much much more. We won’t discuss the calorie debacle that accompanied the day.

Still keeping in tune with the whole “week-ends are for relaxing” mentality, I had a rather extreme lie-in yesterday and arose at 10AM, which I felt guilty about on mere principle. After the usual breakfast and email check, I decided to go for a wander…I always forget that Kensington’s just through the park, it seems like the complete other side of Central London and too far to get to without hassle. So that was my destination…I wandered for over an hour, looking for a possible pub for yesterday’s Sunday roast and working up an appetite for the roast. I didn’t really see anything that was both intriguing and that also had wi-fi, so I went back to my flat, scooped up my laptop and went across the street to what I already knew was a very yummy roast. By this time, I was exhausted and quite ravenous and felt fully deserved of my upcoming roast. But alas, there was a big football game yesterday, it was now nearly 4pm and they were out :( So ok, I sipped the wine I’d already ordered and, searching online for an alternative, settled on another pub I hadn’t been to yet, even though there’d be no wi-fi…I had some offline stuff I could do. The point was that by that time, I was deliriously hungry and yet stubbornly still set on a roast.

So, popping in to this other pub and seeing others eating happily, I approached the bar, ordering another glass of wine and, with a sheepish and pleading look, said “do you have any roast left?” “Yes!” the bartender exclaimed, frighteningly excited that I was ordering. So, I took my wine and sat down, wondering what on earth I’d ordered…the roast was scarily cheap but was really quite good, kind of a toss-up with my neighbourhood pub. The veggies weren’t fresh, but they served a combination of mashed potatoes and roast potatoes, which I liked…and the Yorkshire pudding was huge. The roasted potatoes weren’t neatly charred like I prefer, but still tasty. After my roast, I went back to my flat for a nap…which I never do, but with the copious amounts of both booze and food I’d just consumed, I was powerless to stop the nap that soon happened. I spent the rest of the evening searching for my 2 birthday treats to myself:

On my birthday tomorrow, I’ll (I hope) be having breakfast out somewhere, followed later by afternoon tea at one of the hoity toity hotels (can’t decide which one yet)…my present to myself :D

And on Wednesday, at 5:30am, the calorie debacle will end. I promise.

The moral of the story here is that I had a nearly perfect week-end, simply by not planning much of anything :)

Now if you'll excuse me, I am off to bid farewell to my twenties :(