tell me if you've heard this one....

to italian sisters walk into a bar.... ha ha...i'll get back to that in a mo'

today was one of those days where we had no plans and therefore, had an amazing time. we started our day off very slow with a fantastic sleep in, and when we did finally get our act together, we head off for the Cologne Christmas market. It was a lot smaller than we thought, but it was interesting just the same. Lots of the stuff we saw there looked like items we'd see at the spruce meadows market, so we focused on eating our way through the market (as one does). we had some honey roasted pumpkin seeds and almonds. holy crap they were good. and of course, lunch was a bratty on a bun with hot mustard.

afterward we went to greenwich to see what we could see and ran into another market, and we realized that a, we were cold, and b, we were done with markets. so we head to leicester square with the intention of having a pint and then make our way to our fave thai restaurant tonight instead of on christmas eve.

we first stopped at one of the MANY pubs in leicester square (the bear and staff) for a pint of staropromen (not one of my faves) and a glass of mulled wine (it smelled so good, how could we resist). of course, while we're sitting there, a group of about 12 guys walk into the pub and i mistakenly made eye contact with one of them. but it turned out to be a good thing! ha ha

we ran into a group of guys who meet once per year, every december 23rd, and pick random pubs to drink the night away. they have been doing this for the past 15 years, and have accumulated more along the way. as it turns out, they are all randomly related, which is hysterical. we first met tony (42) and his 2 other brothers, and then we met johnny, one of their second cousin's sons...seriously...too funny. they come from Irish stock, and their last name is Swords. their family goes waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back, to the point that their family 'owned' a town (Swords, Ireland, north of Dublin). Ironically, they found out we were Canadian and they said hey, we have rellies in Canada, and we've only been there once to visit. they live in Calgary. SERIOUSLY!

anyhoo, Tony has been banned from France....dear lord. well, he's banned from the ferries between england and france. i didn't want to know what he did, but he said, hey, let's go to france together and see what happens. i said, i'd be allowed in and he'd be turned away. And then Johnny told me he's in a band (and if i were 10 years younger, i'd be ALL over him - so cute). check out his band betaboy . he tells me he's playing in Camden on Saturday...maybe i should go!

so they had their pint, invited us along (but we bailed as we didn't think 2 girls crashing their party was on the cards) and went to busaba eathai for our monkfish in green curry sauce. well, actually, we had fish cakes, spring rolls, the monkfish, jungle curry (holy heat) with coconut rice. super duper yummy.

and now i'm legit. i got a blockbuster membership today...wee. can't wait for tomorrow...its a Wicked date for the afternoon.