2 fond farewells

friday and saturday night was dedicated to seeing my friend erik off on his epic adventure. jeli jr. started a 3 year journey across eastern europe and into asia i'm sure...i don't know his full route but you can read his travel blog to find out what he's up to. i know i plan on checking in from time to time to see where he is, what trouble he's gotten into, and what more he could possibly learn. he's in belgium...the land of beer with very high percentages and unfortuante for me, my favourite kinds. belgium is on my list of places to see - brussels or bruges, but the idea of all that beer makes my liver cringe. ha ha ha. man up, live, man up!

at eriks' goodbye party i met a friend of his who was preparing to cover the press room for the upcoming olivier awards...the london's version of the tony awards. very cool. she may not get to be a part of the actual award ceremony but at least she gets to see the only people that matter at those things - the winners! :)

i also went cake shopping with bim this weekend in notting hill followed by lunch at carluccio's. i love spending time with bim - she's good people.

on tuesday i took a moroccan cookery course at food at 52. with my friend caroline. what a great place. john, our chef at large, owns this beautiful georgian townhouse. and i tell you, what a home! he used to be a furniture seller, as in people would contact him to find pieces for their homes, and he also ran a casual cookery school. as times got tight, he focused more on the cooking as opposed to the furniture but what you get is a beautiful home to learn how to cook in. and i tell you, his home is so beautiful. we were able to repose in his reception room while our culinary delights cooked away and the pieces he had! there was a suit of armour, i was sitting on a very old sleigh bed for one, transformed into a large sofa. i'm telling you, the house was absolutely gorgeosity.

we made preserved lemons, an appie of feta with lemons and we made our own pita bread to eat it with, then we made a chicken and lemon tagine and finished the evening with moroccan tea with apple and pear filo parcels. YUM! it's gotten me in the cooking mood. i've given you links to similar recipes, but i ain't sharing the ones i got from the course. ha ha

the week wrapped up with my second send off party for the lovely basar.


she had asked me to arrange her leaving do and so i came up with a pub crawl along london's fleet street. the pubs on this street are quite legendary and extremely old, some who's original structures date back to the 1200s, and most rebuilt after the fire of 1666. we gathered at our usual pub the stonehorse, and then made our way to pub number 2, The George. The George, 213 Strand (closest tube is Temple) is at the top of fleet Sstreet, opposite the Law Courts, dating back to the 18th Century. A resident ghost is said to appear in the form of a cavalier… and i tell you, going to the toilet there was a very spooky experience for me. for those that know me well, you know why.

our third pub was the ye old cheshire cheese. a fave hangout of Dickens, Voltaire, Twain and Wilde (blah blah blah and many other famous people). rebuilt after the great fire of London in 1666 this is a seriously old pub.

we had every good intention to continue down the street to tipperary (an historic Irish pub, it became the first pub outside of Ireland to sell Guinness. Older than the cheshire cheese and the oldest irish pub in london) and the old bell (built around 1670, it is one of the historic pubs said to have a long association with the printing trade that make fleet street so world famous), but we were near closing time and well, to full of the drink to move any further.

its very sad to say goodbye to two good friends but at the same time, i understand the itch to go somewhere else and experience something new. so, i put on a brave face when i say goodbye. i am extremely happy and excited for the both of them and do my best to put my own misery aside. i know my stay here isn't forever and as much as i love the idea of returning home to my family and friends in calgary, i do not look forward to saying goodbye to the family and friends i've made here. i love them all.

you can find pics of the pub crawl (among others) here.