Rudders at Home

Last night Paul and I went out in Clapham Junction. Clapham Junction is ages away from where we currently live. Well, not really ages, but it certainly seems like it when you’re out late, the Tube is closed and we require a night bus to get home. The transportation issue is the reason we normally stick around Central London. However, sometimes we have to make allowances, and this Thursday night had to be one of them. A friend of ours is leaving town. He’s headed back to the states after a measley two years in the country and we had to have one last fling. He recommended two places in Clapham, which we hadn’t been to before. Khan’s and Microbar.

Because we are always earlier to places than our friend is, Paul and I were also able to get in a second pub for a quick drink while we waited.

We headed up to Khan’s for a curry. It didn’t disappoint. I do love a good curry, and this was especially good. They advertise themselves as being low-fat and colorless. I, however, probably got the most fattening dish on the menu, made with cream and all sorts. But hey, what can I say? I don’t normally go out for a curry. Usually we’re so lazy that all we do is call for our local to deliver. So, I splurged. Big deal! And let me tell you, it was worth it. And I have to say, Kevin has good taste in food. Even if he was drunk when he was last there.

Then we headed off to Microbar. I should probably say rolled off. It was a filling meal. It wasn’t a bad pub and I can certainly see the appeal. While they seemed to have a nice selection of beer, I wouldn’t go back to Clapham just to go there. It was nice for a night, but the journey for us just doesn’t make it a possibility to go often! 

Overall, it was a pretty good night out. The ride home was eventful – bus back into town, and then another bus back out. We didn’t get to bed until nearly 2am! But we had fun, and the most important part was that we got to go out with a good friend who’ll be leaving us soon. I think we’ll miss him when he’s gone!

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So, Paul and I went out for an anniversary meal last week. It was five years to the day that he and I met in the middle of a street in London. We’re a bit sappy, yes.

Anyway, we pretty much always mark the occasion in some way – not with gifts, really – this isn’t a gifty anniversary, not a wedding anniversary. We only like to say, hey, we met and wasn’t it cool?

So, enough about our silly little traditions, the important thing is we usually have a nice meal to mark the day. This year, we went to a new Mexican restaurant called Wahaca.

We’d been passing by this restaurant even before it was a restaurant. Literally, we walk by it every day on our way to work, and had watched it morph from a dingy old place into something nice and clean. Once I found out it was Mexican, I decided we had to try it. I don’t get very much Mexican or Tex-Mex here in London, and well, frankly, I really wanted a margarita. Apparently my night at Cubana didn’t satisfy me.

So, we went in and were seated right away. The waiter was friendly and we ordered a selection platter to share. This meant we got two of a number of the “street foods” that were on the menu. Two steak tacos, two fish tacos, two different kinds of quesadillas, etc. The food itself was pretty good, even if there wasn’t much kick to it. I don’t really mind that, but Paul thought the salsas could use a bit of something.

The restaurant itself was all right. We’ll probably go back, in fact, I’m sure we will. It’s “local” for us – ie, on the way to the train station – and it satisfied a bit of that craving I get every now and then for Mexican-ish food. The margaritas weren’t bad, but next time I’ll probably opt for a beer. However, happy as we were with the place, we both decided that, just as we won’t wait in line for Wagamama’s, we woudn’t wait in line at Wahaca, either. There are plenty of other options and it just wasn’t special enough.

As a side note, I did see two people from UK television. Thomasina Miers, who won MasterChef in 2005, and I’m sure I saw Gregg Wallace – one of the judges from MasterChef. Thomasina Miers was in the kitchen cooking away (she owns or runs the place or something along those lines) and Gregg Wallace was speaking to her. That’s the great thing about London, is sometimes you just never know who you’re going to see!

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Last Friday I went to Cubana with a girlfriend. Not only was it a fabulous night out with a friend I hadn’t seen in ages, but it was a fabulous night for a margarita. And they do them well there. I was not disappointed. So happy with it all in fact, I’m already planning another visit. Maybe we’ll check out the food this time.

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And I’m just relaxing now after having cooked dinner. I made steak sandwiches, and I’m waiting for my rhubarb crumble to come out of the oven. I got rhubarb in my fruit box this week, so I couldn’t let it go to waste. Especially as crumble is Paul’s number one favorite dessert. Or at least, one of many. I don’t really think he’s that discerning.

It’s been a beautiful weekend here. Paul and I spent the majority of today just relaxing – we also went for a drive. Yesterday, we spent the afternoon enjoying our garden. It was lovely. Hopefully the sun decides to stick around for a while. We could use a bit more of it.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Paul and I went to Rye last weekend. They were having their siege of Rye festival, which we just randomly happened upon. Here’s a picture of the jousting we saw. We got some video with the camera, but I haven’t had the time to really investigate how to get it on here. Plus I’m not sure anyone would really be interested!!

We also saw them firing cannons at the festival, which was kinda cool. Paul enjoyed it a bit more than me, but we both agreed that Dad would have really liked it quite a bit.

Rye was a really pretty town, and the festival was an unexpected pleasure. We’re hoping that we can make it out to more places like that. With any luck we might have have another great experience!

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Ok, so I’m going to call yesterday’s photo my feature photo of the week. Yes, I’m a little evil for putting pictures up of mom and dad snoozing away in the back of the car. The surprising thing is that I have even MORE pictures of mom and dad napping. You would think that’s all they did on their holiday, but I promise you, that’s not the case. They did tons and tons of things. That’s why they were so knackered. We wore them out. As simple as that.

So, now that I’ve given my apology for putting up silly pictures of mom and dad, I may as well let you all know what Paul and I have been up to.

Last weekend, we went to Rye. They were having the Siege of Rye Festival, which was pretty cool. They had jousting and all sorts. It was very similar to the medieval festivals I’ve been to back home, only different. The characters here seemed more eccentric than anything else. Rye seemed to be a nice, picture post card kind of town. Cobbled streets and pretty cottages – Paul and I both thought we could live there quite nicely.

Also this week, Paul and I booked another short holiday to France. We’re going over on the ferry again, and this time we’re staying in the Champagne-Ardenne region, near to the border with Belgium. We’re staying at another small hotel in the country. I think it will be gorgeous and lovely. I just need to begin brushing up on my French now.

And that’s our week so far. Hope you’re all having a good one as well.

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