Monday 14 December 2009

Tea and Empathy.

Ooh what a lovely day!
Alex and I walked to London Bridge from my house. We stopped off at Monument on the way to have a trip up the tower. If I hadn't already been so breathless from the 311 step climb the view would have had some breath left to take away from me.


We felt a bit faint on the descent so after gathering our certificates of the climb we sat to have a rest before continuing to London Bridge and onto the train to Norwood Junction.

Met Bob coming up Norwood a.k.a Hinckley High Street and she scooped us onto the bus. I was very intruiged by her heaving Cath Kidston tote of picnic and it did not disappoint. But more about that later. You'll have to wait like I did.
We got the bus to Crystal Palace and it was very exciting. There was some actual countryside. As we approached it the massive stone dinosaur approximations loomed dramatically out of the undergrowth.
You can imagine them being really scary to Victorians in 1854 . The Crystal Palace Dinosaur Court was the first exhibition of dinosaurs in the world! They're Grade I listed.

The picnic was lovely. Smoked salmon, several different cheeses, baguette, pork pie, clementines, mini rolls, and carrot sticks. Oh and a thermos of tea. Perfect winter picnic.

Got home and were all frozen so warmed up with tea and homemade crumpets. Look how cold they were.

Crumpets (via Hugh F-W): 450 g plain white flour, 350ml warm milk, 350ml warm water, 5g powdered yeast, 10g salt, 1tsp baking powder, a little sunflower/veg oil for the pan.
In a bowl whisk the liquids and yeast into a batter consistency of single cream. Cover with cling film and leave for an hourish until it is bubbly. Whisk salt and bking pwdr into batter. Heat frying pan. Meant to use cooking rings to shape the crumpets but who has them? Whisk extra 50g flour into batter to stiffen into round shapes without cooking ring aid.

Eurgh my photos of the crumpets won't load but lets just say they looked nice and tasted great. What an afternoon treat.

Sweet slumber, sweetpeas xxxxx

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