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An away day

N and I felt the need to getaway this weekend. Sometimes we just have to get away.

We took the bus (not Neil's favourite mode of transport) to London Embankment and started to wander. It felt like such a long time since we'd been to certain places in London. Like our favourite Thai restaurant Busaba, or walking through Covent Garden. It surprised me how easily I remembered the route from one place to the next. We walked from The Strand through backstreets to Covent Garden, through the most annoying pedestrians to Neal Street and Neal's Yard. From there it was like my feet knew the route to Soho better than my eyes.

There were a few downsides to the day:

1. It was humid, but not unbearable especially when it rained slightly to cool us off.

2. The worst part of the day was arriving at Busaba for the world's best calamari (or at least it is the best on my search so far), only to discover they weren't serving any due to a fryer problem... oh, and they'd run out of jasmine tea!

3. There was also a lack of decent looking cake and coffee places on our route, and since Google was being outdated we never found somewhere to just sit and relax.

4. Finally, the aquarium seemed overrun with noisy and impatient foreign children which forced Neil to learn how to say "Look, it's Nemo!" in at least 5 different languages.*

There were also good parts to the day:

1. Being away from obligations and all the things we "should be doing".

2. Finding decent cocktails for only £4 each at a bar near the bus stop.

3. Some of the tropical freshwater aquariums were very inspiring.

4. Eating Phad Thai (me) and a tasty green curry (N) in the window seat at Busaba.

5. Discovering a Mexican restaurant (Wahaca) to try next time we're in London.

6. And yes - I'm cheesy enough to say it - the best part was spending a day just enjoying sunny London with N... but next time we're stopping for cake.

*Spanish: "¡La mirada, es Nemo!"; Italian: "Lo sguardo, è Nemo!"; Portuguese: "O olhar, é Nemo!"; Russian: "Слушайте, это - Прямой репортаж!"; and Japanese: "見てください、Nemoです！".

Picky

I think I have become too picky when it comes to food. Last night N and I had a perfectly lovely evening to celebrate out 8th wedding anniversary a day early, but we had very few good things to say about the meal. We opted to try somewhere new although we were headed in the direction of our favourite Cambridge restaurant (Teri-Aki). Instead we stopped for tapas at a place that has always seemed busy when ever we wandered by in the past. There was a pleasant enough atmosphere and the menu seemed enticing, but when the food arrived we felt quite disappointed. The spinach, avacado and pinenut salad was watery and tasteless. The langostines were over-cooked and tasteless. The chicken croquettes were a strange spongey texture, and the calamari was average. The potatoes were the most tasty, but not very impressive. There wasn't enough oil for the bread and the olives were strangely bitter. The service staff eventually forgot about us. There is nothing about the experience that makes us want to go back.

But it leaves me wondering why the place always seems so busy. Have I just become too picky about my food? Knowing what I like is a good thing, but I wish I could be happier with not-exactly-terrible food. At least none of the food was off-putting. I can't help but want more from my restaurant choice. I want to enjoy eating. Is that too much to ask?

Goat and strawberry

It was Strawberry Fair last Saturday. This is most likely (since I haven't taken the time to look up the facts) the biggest fair in the Cambridge calendar. It fills Midsummer Common with people, food, music, stalls and fun. It the one day out of the year that no one will look at you twice if you walk around in a pink tutu and top hat (or something similarly bizarre). There wasn't a food culture missing representation. Neil and I tried a goat curry with rice and peas (beans). It was fabulous! So juicy and flavourful! It contained a few too many bones, but that wouldn't keep me from getting one again.
The best part of the day is that it brings out the hippies in full force. There are fair trade, free clothing (yes, someone put up a washing line with clothes and said, free to take), charity shops and look-what-I-made stalls a plenty. Unfortunately there weren't as many stalls as I would have liked. I could have gone wander shopping for much longer. I bought a birthday gift for a friend though, which made me happy. Neil and I stopped at a wraps and sandwiches stand for a bottle of water which made us so very happy. The label said that 100% of the profits from the sale of the water would be given to water projects for communities in need. 100%!!
We finished off our trip to the fair with a bag of donuts and a sit down by one of the stages. The music was rubbish unfortunately, so we didn't stay longer. Plus Christopher was visiting and didn't fancy braving the crowds. So we went home and danced the night away.

Toronto

It was a great 5 day get away, but I'm not sure what we would have done if we'd stayed much longer. We're not museum people; I get bored incredibly quickly in a museum. So the many museums were not an option. We thought about going to the zoo, but it seemed incredibly complicated to get there by public transport (we didn't rent a car and the subway train only traveled so far out of town, then we couldn't find bus information and our hotel was going to charge us $5 for 2 minutes of Internet time). There were a couple of restaurants that would have probably been intriguing if our stomachs ever knew what time zone they were in.

I supposed if we'd stayed for the weekend there would have been a festival on the harbourfront which would have been fun.

What we did do in Toronto was enough for a great 5 day break. By Friday we were ready to go home. We hadn't stayed too long, we didn't need more time, it was perfect!

The things we did in Toronto include:
1. Walking all over town.
2. Visiting the harbourfront on a very windy morning (discovering a Canadian pirate ship, and if you don't believe me then check out this close up the ship's flags).
3. Wandering through Chinatown, admiring the many many markets and bakeries.4. Finding a relaxed fairtrade coffee shop.
5. Walking all over town.
6. Walking across town for a beautiful breakfast.7. Attending a show at one of the many theatres. (We saw Doubt by John Patrick Shanley.)
8. Walking across town again in search of Portugal Village.9. Finding Village by the Grange and choosing between so many world cuisines.9. Discovering Kensington Market feels remarkably like home.
10. Walking and walking and walking but still never find Portugal Village.
11. Stopping to eat a DQ strawberry cheesecake blizzard. :-)
12. Wander shopping in the Eaton Centre and admiring the very pretty and expensive table design at Pottery Barn.
13. Eating supper at the suprisingly small and cozy Fisherman's Warf... where the seafood platter is tasty but so very filling!
14. Watching Up in 3D.

When we took refuge from walking in our hotel room I watched the Food Network which was inspiring. (Which reminds me that I want to look up a couple of recipes I saw.)

I am so happy we went and I'm so happy to be home. I like a holiday that encourages me to appreciate the moment.

Contributing factors

There are several factors that have helped in my achieving progress with assignments today:

1. The sun was out long enough to keep me warm while sitting in the garden.
2. Counting the frogs in the pond is a very peaceful and relatively quick study break.
3. Neil was able to sit outside with me while enjoying the sun so we weren't in seperate rooms feeling like we were neglecting each other.
4. Owen is much quieter when he sits outside with us.
5. A laptop is a student's best friend on a sunny day.
6. We're leaving in less than 48 hours and I have definite goals to accomplish before then. Just say no to holiday guilt.
   

Hurray! Study weekend has arrived!

In an attempt to release me from guilt I have planned three days of studying before N and I leave on our quick trip to Toronto. I do not want to take any computer or study books with me, so I will be staying up all hours if necessary to finish the rough draft, 2nd draft and final draft of my digital resources report. I will also be finishing the final draft of my cataloguing report. Then on Sunday evening N and I will have fish and chips (deamed digestively acceptable food the day before an 8 hour flight), pack, print travel documents and get very little sleep as our bus to the airport leaves at 4am.

Bring on productivity and a holiday!