On a whim...

Sometimes you just have to surprise yourself and do something on the spur of the moment (and not plan ahead long before as we usually do)!

So…  when during a phone call our friends from Houston mentioned they would be travelling around the UK for  a holiday and would be spending the last night of their holiday in London (but due to work commitments did not have the time to come to The Netherlands) , we looked at the hub’s work schedule, found that we could take the time to fly over to London, booked tickets, a hotel and a table at a Covent Garden restaurant and off we went.

The weather was gorgeous from beginning to end!

 

Catching an early flight we did have the greater part of the day to spend around town. As you may know we love London and I have visited frequently for the past 35 (!!) years, the last 21 (!) with the hubs, so we have seen a thing or two, but this time we went to a part we had not been to before: Brick Lane in the East End.

It was busy, colourful, fun and I wonder why we never went here before, especially after our visit to the Beigel Bakery. Open 24/7 they are famous for their beigels (they look like the better known bagles) that are constantly being baked in the back of the shop. You eat them on the spot with various toppings, but we opted for their (apparently) famous hot salt beef, and oh boy, it was good!

In the meantime there was food everywhere and cozy coffeeshops (you know, the ones that actually sell coffee) , trendy clothes shops etc.

And something for the hubs, which is the reason we went up here in the first place

We loved Brick Lane, will definitely go back again.

 

After Brick Lane a ride on the tube and a walk across Tower Bridge with a spectacular view of the new London skyline, reminding me how much this city has changed since I started coming here

  

At the other end of Tower Bridge:  Shad Thames, also a first for us

 

Before heading back to the hotel and the dinner we actually flew over for. Needless to say that was memorable, lovely to see our friends in this wonderful city.

The next day we still had a few hours to do the usual things before catching our flight back home again, which for me of course meant a visit to…

 

Yippy!! I love it here, and I don’t know why, maybe because I was there when it opened and the weather was so nice and everybody stayed outdoors, but the place was very quiet, lovely to just wander around and look

 



I have heard about glamping, but this….. a tent made of (one of my favorite) Liberty fabrics!

 



The Liberty Christmas department was already open !

 



and this year at Liberty’s Christmas has gone to the dogs!

 



After all this a walk through sunny Chinatown

 

 



lunch and then the flight back home, with wonderful memories of a very special 36 hour trip!

 

Phyllis

Special days

The past week brought some special days.

First of all there was the Chinese New Year, always a big celebration in Chinatown in The Hague. You may have guessed by now and my friends definitely know that I love Chinatown, shopping there and eating there, so at Chinese New Year I’ll always go to have a look at the celebrations.

The waking of the dragon is always a colourful spectacle, but as usual it was too busy to get  a good picture. Luckily I was able to make a picture of the dragon before the ceremony.

 

 

Another reason I was there was to do my shopping for that evening, last week was just to practice for this night: sushi night with friends!

It is great to share a friendship with a fellow quilter, but even better if the families have a connection too. Our husbands and Hubertine’s son share a love of music, rock music that is, drums and guitars. They played together for the first time this evening,  that was great, at some stage I am sure pictures will follow on our blogs. Our daughters each made loads of sushi and we all enjoyed eating it!

Hubertine showed me some of her mother’s quilts, that was very special.

Later in the week of course, Valentine’s day! The surprises DH and I had for each other  somehow went slightly different than intended.
After 20 years together (!) my DH told me the week before Valentine’s that one of his favourite cakes is lemon cake….  so I thought I’d make him one for when he came home from work that day.

As you see it is still in the tin… it would not come out, my very first ever lemon drizzle cake, too sticky, I should have lined the cake tin with baking paper….. But it tasted good.

DH came home with a lovely bunch of flowers:

 

To his surprise on Sunday morning (3 days after Valentine’s day!) by the time the flowers had opened up a little, he noticed he bought me tulips (which I love by the way) instead of roses as he had planned to…. “I wasn’t wearing my glasses when I bought them….”

And on Saturday, Hubertine and I treated ourselves to a day to Zutphen, Petra Prins’ shop of course. So much inspiration in that shop!

We spent so much time in there that at some stage Bep decided to make us some tea so we could have a little rest.

Bought fabrics for my King George and Jacob’s Ladder quilts, want to get on with those. Walking back to the car noticed an apron in a shop window that was made for a quilter……………

“Darling, dinner is in the cookbook”

J!

Phyllis

Giveaway: 50 Followers!

Over the weekend I noticed I now have 50 followers! Wow! Thank you followers and also everyone else who reads my blog and have not signed up as a follower (yet). I really appreciate it.

Apart from the creative side quilting is also a social activity for me, as is blogging. Both give me a lot of enjoyment and  I have met so many new, nice people through both.

Soooooo, to celebrate this it is time for my first Giveaway!

On Friday I will ask my DD to draw a name among those of my followers at that time, he or she will receive this handy book! A mini encyclopedia on quilting, always ready to answer any question you may have.  If you are not a follower yet and wish to participate, you can still do so.

(If you do not, not to worry, I am planning another little giveaway for everyone in April!)

On another note, DD and I have been busy this weekend making sushi. In this household we all love sushi and sashimi. Even Whopper seems to get more exited at the smell of fish than at the smell of meat in the kitchen. It was DD’s first experience at making sushi and she took to it like a duck to water J !

First on Saturday afternoon we went to one of the supermarkets in Chinatown and to the fishmonger nearby to get our ingredients.

Back home it was preparing the rice the proper way (for me the most difficult part, the rice has to be moist and sticky, it is easily either too dry or too moist, in both cases it will not be sticky enough), making the Japanese egg omelette and the Japanese mushrooms. We bought the seaweed salad ready made at the fishmonger’s.

And then – DD’s favourite part – putting the actual sushi together.

After that, the best part, eating it!

This is DD’s picture, she often knows how to get a different angle in a picture.

Until Friday!

Phyllis