2012: Week 19

Saturday 5 May

Jon came home from work yesterday and said 'Let's go away overnight tomorrow'. So we booked a 'top secret hotel' in Knightsbridge on lastminute.com and went in to London. We bought tickets for the 39 Steps at the Criterion Theatre, but before then, we saw Avengers Assemble at the cinema and had a fabulous meal at Hibiscus, where they don't have a menu; you just choose whether you want 3, 6 or 8 courses, specify anything you absolutely won't eat off the list of typical ingredients (I said snails), and they choose a menu for you. We only had about an hour and a half because we had to get to the theatre for 8pm, so we had three courses but instead of having the same dishes, which is what they usually do, we each had different dishes so we could try each other's food as well as our own. It turned out that we had five courses anyway, because there was a pre-appetiser and a pre-dessert - not to mention bread and some delicious amuse-bouches while we were deciding on the number of courses we wanted. When we left we got a little bag with some sweets in and a copy of the menus we were given. The idea to put strawberry with celeriac, make it into a jelly and top it with szechuan pepper cream was absolutely inspired - delicious! And yes, I tried Jon's appetiser of lamb sweetbreads. They tasted quite nice, but knowing what they are, I wouldn't necessarily choose them again :).

Sunday 6 May

We picked up Daisy on the way home from London this afternoon. At one point later on Jon obviously decided to follow the fashion Daisy had set of watching the TV with something yellow in one hand and a cuddly toy in the other :).

Monday 7 May

Nanna and Grandpa arrived today! We went along to the May Day Celebrations on the village green at the end of the road - typically, it was raining, but we still had a good look around and Nanna bought Daisy this book, which they read together when we got back home. Grandpa also did a good job of holding Daisy's 'fower'.

Tuesday 8 May

We bought Daisy a Peppa Pig chair today, and she spent most of the day carrying it from room to room. She did sit on it for a little while. Then she went back to carrying it.

Wednesday 9 May

Daisy and her bag are ready to go to nursery tomorrow. I think she looks really grown up in this picture.

Thursday 10 May

While Daisy was at nursery, Mum, Dad and I went to Ely, which is about 30 miles away. We had a guided tour of the beautiful cathedral and also had time to look at Oliver Cromwell's house - he lived in Ely for 10 years - which tells the story of his life. Whilst I'll admit to having very little historical knowledge, the opinion I had formed of Cromwell based on the little I did know was called into question once I'd looked round the house and read a bit about his background and the possible reasons for his actions. Maybe I should get round to watching A History of Britain while Daisy's napping instead of the not-very-good US crime drama I like so much, then I might learn something...

Friday 11 May

Dad had the BBC News Channel on this morning and I happened to be looking at the screen when this headline came up. Classic.