Handel, Hendrix and Lowering the Tone.

Greetings from a rather dismal West Berkshire. It's greyer than Eeyore's rump out there today so, after posting this, I have a morning of faffing around with plants planned. The Monstera is doing its best impression of Korky Paul's 'Rascally Cake', with aerial roots foraying out horizontally as if trying to trip up the unwary.  It's 'potting up' time, which will no doubt necessitate a trip to the garden centre/B&Q at some point to purchase obscene amounts of houseplant compost and bigger pots.

This month I have enjoyed a trip to Bristol to celebrate a belated Christmas and birthday with E and L. Festivities were cancelled in December when the dreaded lurgy reared its ugly head. January involved E being ill and various busy weekends, meaning that it was the first weekend in February when we eventually managed to get together! We had a lovely time exchanging gifts and then had dinner out at 'Vegan India' - their mango lassi was delicious!

My treat box and 'cookie ingredients in a jar' - one jar was GF. R and I enjoyed a happy, rainy afternoon baking session on Sunday and they were yummy!

The Bird and Blend tea was very tasty and relaxing:

Other happies this month include:

Learning how to do button holes on my sewing machine for my Hinterland dress. This will probably be very obvious and simple to some, but I'm not the most technically minded and it took me a while, pouring over the instruction booklet that came with the machine.

I have since finished said dress and may possibly take a photo of me wearing it at some point - when it's warmed up a bit!

Enjoying the lantern patterns cheering up a dark day:

Bathroom mirror messages from R!

For R's birthday back in December, L bought him a tasting menu for 2 at Gauthier in London, complete with sommelier service. We booked it for a Saturday in February, arranging with L to stay at her flat overnight. The 'petit diner' was booked for 5pm, so we set off early and spent the day pottering around London. R wanted to visit the Churchill War Rooms - I had taken the girls many years ago, but was happy to make a return visit. Arriving earlier than our pre-booked slot, we popped into Wasabi to enjoy a sushi lunch. Here R nearly had his backpack stolen when 2 men, on pretence of looking for the WC, walked by our table and picked up his bag on the way back. Luckily, R noticed and, when he shouted out, the man dropped it and fled the shop. More than a little shaken - it was the brazenness that shocked me - we finished lunch and headed to the War Rooms. It was just as good as I recalled, my favourite bits being the bedrooms and offices that were recreated to be as they were at the time. There were some beautiful clocks - I do love an old clock! I was just feeling rather pleased after learning that Churchill hated the sound of whistling (one of my pet peeves), when the guide pointed out that Hitler did too!

More shots of London before we headed for dinner:

The spot at which King Charles I was beheaded:

Downing Street:

St. James's Park:

Pottering around China Town:

Just before 5pm we arrived at Gauthier and were slightly intimidated by how posh it looked. We're not used to posh!

The menu:

Despite feeling that we were lowering the tone somewhat (everyone else had definitely dressed for the occasion, rather than a day exploring London), the staff couldn't have been nicer. The waiter and the sommelier were brilliant, explaining the dishes and accompanying wines. I went easy on the wines - there were 4 different sorts and I had only a little of each - 1 glass usually being quite enough for me. R did exactly what I expected him to do - he finished his own glass and then polished off mine, it being too good to waste. By the end of the evening, he had had more than a moderate skinful!

Our dishes were mostly the same, occasionally they differed as mine were gluten free. My favourite were the canapes, where instead of the tart, mine was served on a tapioca crisp. I also loved the edible moss - it looked a little like the Spanish moss houseplant and was blanched, deep fried and then dusted with icing sugar before being used to garnish the dessert. There were 7 courses plus some petit fours. I tried to take photos but, owing to the red light just over my shoulder, they aren't the best. 

After spending the night at L's flat, we sallied forth to see the Handel/Hendrix House. Here, we befriended a young American lad who was a huge Hendrix fan. He was thrilled when he found out that the museum had just purchased Hendrix' sofa off an old girlfriend. I took some photos of him posing on it to take back to the US. 

I liked the Handel House, although a few more pieces of original furniture would have been nice. I also found the kitchen a tad disappointing. Usually my favourite bit of any property, it was a modern reconstruction and lacked soul.

After a late lunch at Leon's, we headed for home. It had been a lovely weekend and I feel I may have developed a taste for taster menus - I loved the small quantities and the variety.

Lastly this month, a trip to Unravel at the Farnham Maltings. Having nearly finished my Felix Cardigan, I bought yarn for my next project. I'm going to attempt some colourwork - the blue seen below is the main colour and the grey will be used for the pattern. I also bought a single skein of DK that was in the sale section, some mini-skeins and a packet of sea themed buttons.

Well. that's it for this month. I can't put it off any longer - plants and compost await. Any news at your end?

Toodle pip for now. x