Marie's Sunday Six in London

Welcome to my Sunday Six post of May 24th, 2009. I just love being able to tell you about all the wonderful things that make up my week, counting my blessings! I could tell you about all the nice things my boss said to me the other night when we were working together, or I could tell you about all the lovely e-mails I received this week, the pretty birds I got to listen to, the beautiful flowers I got to see, or even a host of other wonderful things that made me smile this past week, but, for today, I am going to dwell on the lovely time that Todd and I had in the city yesterday. The sun was shining and it was wonderfully warm. We really could not have asked for a better day out!



We left Oak Cottage, bright and early yesterday morning to catch an early train in to London. We wanted to get there nice and early so that we would have enough time to get ourselves a good priced ticket for the Saturday afternoon matinee of Les Miserables at the Queen's Theatre. We were really lucky and got a fast train that only stopped twice, once at Waterloo Station and then at our destination and we were really pleased once we arrive in London to discover that Leicester Square was only one stop away from Charing Cross station, so that was easy peasy lemon squeasy!



I love London, especially on a sunny day. It is so full of life and excitement. If I was a young person I would probably want to live there, but since I am a lady of maturity now . . . ahem . . . it's a nice place to visit , but . . . well, you know the rest! It had been a really long time since we had been in London together. I think the last time we had been was the day we took our lovely missionary couple the MacDonalds in, and that was about a year and a half ago, or maybe even longer!

The first thing we wanted to do was to procure our tickets. We had been hoping to get some half price ones, but alas . . . we were told that because Les Miserables sells out every Saturday there was no chance for a good deal . . . we'd have to pay the full price. We hummed and hawed over that, coz it was a LOT of money, but finally we decided it was a once in a lifetime thing, and so we said what the heck, damn the torpedos, and went for it. All I can say is it's a good thing we don't do this all the time!



Once we had our tickets bought we had about 3 hours to kill and so we wandered about London here and there. We spent a lot of time in London's Chinatown, which is chock full of charm, Chinese grocery stores and restaurants. (Not to mention acupuncture and massage parlours!) I managed to find some Panko bread crumbs, which, as any real foodie knows, are the absolute best and lightest crumb to use for breading anything that you are going to fry. The streets hummed with excitement and energy and the pavements were full of oriental fruits and veg just ripe for buying from the various vendors. The air was full of the smell of stinky Durian fruits and melons. It was all very wonderfully exotic!



We enjoyed a picnic lunch sitting on a bench together in the park at Leicester Square. Just Todd, myself, a host of other people and umpteen bazillion pigeons. It was lovely. We wandered about up to Piccadilly Circus and had a cold drink in a pub there and chatted and just enjoyed the time to be away from work and together. It was lovely, it truly was.



Before we knew it the time had flown past, and we started wandering our way back to Leicester Square, and on up to the theatre, but were delighted to find a bunch of young ladies and men doing a May pole dance in the square green! How wonderfully colourful and delightful it was! We stood and watched them for about 15 minutes. It was really lovely, an added bonus to what had been a lovely day thus far!



All of the costumes were fun and very pretty, and beautifully colourful.



I was so excited to see the theatre with the HUGE Les Mis sign outside! Ever since I moved over here to England I have wanted to see a musical in the West End and all my dreams were coming true!



We didn't have long to wait before we were seated inside the theatre and enjoying one of the best musicals I have ever seen. What a talented cast and what an amazing experience it was for us. . . . even though the ice creams at the intermission were incredibly expensive, (£3 for a very tiny Hagen das) and Todd spent the whole time trying to peer around a very big head of hair!! We were both swept away into another time and another world. It was fantastic, and so very well done. I am so glad we went, and so glad that we didn't change our minds when we found out how much it was going to cost us! This truly was a once in a lifetime experience and I enjoyed every moment of it.



Afterwards we spilled out onto the streets amidst the happy crowd of what seemed to be thousands and thousands of merry holiday makers making their way through Chinatown and back to Leicester Square. There was a lovely Mexican restaurant there and so we decided to treat ourselves to a Mexican meal for our supper. We gorged ourselves on nachos and chicken wings and then Todd had some Mexican chicken dish and I had . . . oh heck . . . fish and chips. It was in a Mexican beer batter! I know, I know, what am I like! An eating out treat for me, ever since I was a child, has always been fish and chips. You just can't teach an old dog new tricks! While we were eating we thought perhaps we could go for an evening walk along the embankment, but alas . . . we were so zonked from all the sunshine and excitement by the time we were finished that we decided it was time to catch the train home and home we went. (even the train ride home was pretty exciting as it was full of footie fans either on their way to or from a footie match. I couldn't figure out which!)

We fell into bed last night tired and happy, and so very glad to have each other in our lives. I do love my Todd so very much, and getting to spend a whole day like that with each other doing something special was just the best day ever . . . I can't think of a better way to spend a day off than with the one that you love, can you?

Todd always balks at the idea of me taking pictures of our food in restaurants, so I never do (although I really would like to). This is the chili I made for our tea the other night. It's not quite fish and chips, or even nachos . . . but it is kinda Mexican-ee, right?




*Marie's Chili Con Carne*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

This is tasty, economical and uses things that I always have in my store cupboard. It's also a real family pleaser. Sometimes we eat this in bowls with crushed cornchips and cheese on top, and sometimes we eat it spooned over rice with a garnish of chopped raw onion and grated cheddar cheese. Either way it's delicious!

1 TBS oil
1 pound extra lean ground beef
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
1 small green pepper, seeded and chopped
1 green chili, seeded and chopped (optional)
1 fat clove of garlic, peeled and minced
2 cups tomato sauce (in the UK tomato passata)
3 ounces tomato paste
2 cups tinned chopped tomatoes, undrained
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
2 tsp mild chili powder
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
2 cups tinned chili beans, undrained

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium high heat. Add the ground beef and brown, cooking and stirring, until no longer pink. Add the onion, peppers and garlic. Cook and stir until the onion and garlic are softened.

Add all of the seasonings and cook for a few minutes longer until quite fragrant. Add the tomato sauce, tomato paste, chopped tomatoes, worsestershire sauce and the beans. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a low simmer and simmer over low heat for several hours. Serve hot over rice if desired, or ladled into hot soup bowls.