Thursday Challenge: Food at Fortnum and Mason !

Today's Thursday Challenge is FOOD (Food Markets, Ingredients, Cooking, Baking, Pots, Pans,...)
For a foodie like me a visit to Fortnum and Mason was a must during my stay in London. Situated in an imposing building on London’s Piccadilly street, the store is magnificent with gilded furnishings, marble flooring and a beautiful atrium. It is also quintessentially English, with its staff still wearing top hats and frock coats.

It has a dazzling array of foods stuff and delicacies and is known for its very high quality and exquisitely wrapped goods.

It also has a very delectable Bread and Cheese section. 

But my favorite food stalls were obviously in the Confectionery area !

I loved the sweet crystallized veggies and fruits !

And I loved to watch  the figures of Mr Fortnum and Mr Mason make their appearance every hour :)

London Diaries 10:Stonehenge and Bath

After our scenic drive through the countryside, we reached Bath late in the afternoon. Our first task was to find ourselves a place to stay, and after a few misses we did find a quaint little B&B nestled in a small village near Bath. 

Once we had settled in we decided to explore the City of Bath. Bath lies on the banks of the river Avon, and as the name suggests, has a magnificent temple and Bath built by the Romans. It has now been designated as a UNESCO heritage site. The Roman Baths themselves are below the modern street level. They have four main features, the Sacred Spring, the Roman Temple, the Roman Bath House and the Museum.

The actual Bath is magnificent. It is still fed with hot spring water from the source.


  It’s surrounded by pillars with statues of Roman kings including Julius Caesar.

Everything is extremely well preserved and we walked amongst the ruins we felt we were back in the Roman Era. Infact we saw a few romans too :)

 After we had walked amongst the ruins on the Roman Baths we emerged into the late evening sunshine and did what we like doing best – simply walking. Bath is quintessentially Roman, it’s reflected in its cobbled streets and its fantastic old world architecture.

 Late in the evening we went to a little Pub for dinner. I had wanted to see a traditional British pub for a very long time, with its oak furniture, draught beer and perhaps a game of dominoes being played in a corner.
The Pub looked inviting enough from outside but its interiors were all plush and modern from inside and did not have any of the old world charm I wanted to see. I however did manage to have this great British Delicacy there :)

Fish and Chips !

After Breakfast the next day, we decided to drive to Stonehenge. Now Stonehenge is another UNESCO Heritage site and is truly a site to behold. It has huge stones set in a circular pattern and is one of the first Neolithic and bronze age monuments in Britain.

 Stonehenge’s history is not very clear, some believe that it was constructed as a temple for sun worship, some take it as a burial ground and some consider it as a healing center. It’s a mystery how so many huge stones were carried so far away and how such a magnificent structure was built using the most primitive of tools. Standing remote and aloof on a great hillock, Stonehenge is an awe inspiring site.

Stonehenge is still considered a healing place by many. We caught a healing on camera ...

London DIaries (9) :A walk through the English Countryside

I have grown up reading James Herriot’s books. Infact I am still hooked to them. More than his animal stories what I loved most about his books was his vivid descriptions of the beautiful English countryside. The sweeping fells, the rolling hills with the sheep placidly grazing among them and the snow peaks in the distance .. it all seemed so very beautiful. So of course I decided that my visit to the United Kingdom could not be deemed complete without a visit to that part of Yorkshire which is now known as “Herriot County”.
Unfortunately due to lack of time and the fact that I couldn’t tear myself away from the sights and sounds of London, I couldn’t squeeze in a trip to Yorkshire. But what I did manage to do was go on a weekend trip to the country.

After my cousin had heard me lament and moan long enough about how awful it would be to go back without a single trip into the famed English Countryside, she finally gave in and decided to take me on a road trip through the countryside. We decided upon Stonehenge and Bath as our destinations.

We left bright and early on a cool Saturday morning. The start was marred slightly by the fact we couldn’t find a single B&B (Bed and Breakfast) to stay in. But being the intrepid travelers that we are, we threw caution to wind and decided to take things as they come.
The day promised to be sunny. A pale daffodil yellow sun was peeking through the clouds and the wind felt almost warm. As we drove towards the country, leaving the maniac pace of the city behind, my wish got fulfilled. The clusters of houses and buildings were replaced by vast green fields and the heavy London traffic by just an occasional farmer’s car on the road.

We drove past villages with quaint little cottages that had hedgerows and neat pocket sized gardens in front. The gardens were ablaze with flowers and I loved looking at the windows with their lace curtains and window boxes with flowers in a multitude of colors.

It was the strawberry season and since both of us can’t resist strawberries we stopped frequently at the roadside stalls selling strawberries and raspberries. The terrain grew more and more hilly as we drove on and I had my fill of the rolling green hills, emerald as far as the eyes could see, with a few buttercups thrown in like a splash of yellow or white. Streams trickled through like silver threads. It was all extremely picturesque.

Since I couldn’t have enough of the countryside from inside a moving car, we decided to park the car and just walk. This is exactly the kind of travel I like - to be able go at your own pace and stop wherever you want, whenever you want. We walked on through the woods, through pastures and uneven paths, lost in our own thoughts, enjoying the peace and the rare sunny day. 

 
coming up next Bath and Stonehenge .....

Book Review - Tea for Two and a piece of cake

Author-Preeti Shenoy

Publishers-Ebury Press (Random House India)

Tea for two and a piece of cake is Preeti Shenoy’s third book. Her first book "34 bubblegum and candies" is a compilation of some of her blog posts and her second book, "Life is what you make it"  explores the lesser known topic of a mental disorder and how a young girl conquers it. You can read my review about it here.

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading her first two books, but to be really honest I was a little skeptical about reading Tea for two and a piece of cake. It is a love story, albeit one with a twist.Now, I am not one for love stories, however unusual they might be.I think there is already a deluge of books in the market that talk about love and relationships.

But once again Preeti has managed to surprise me. And How! Usually authors tend to follow the same pattern of thoughts and plot for all their books and this is where Preeti stands apart from the rest.

Tea for two and a piece of cake is refreshingly different from not only her earlier works but also from the other books in the market. As she had done  with  "Life is what you make it", Preeti dares to go off the beaten track once again, this time to explore the different facets of relationships, be it love or friendship.

Simply yet eloquently narrated,the story flows smoothly but at a very fast pace. Its a gripping tale and you really don't want to put the book down till you reach the end.
But what really sets this book apart is the way Preeti has handled and described the intense emotional journey of the protagonists. As you read on, you realize the fragility and complexity of human relationships and that sometimes relationships just don’t fall into the norms and regulations prescribed by our society- and it really doesn't matter that they don’t!

Tea for two is not your regular love story about Love lost and found. This is a very bold and unconventional book; a book that explores the fabric of human relationships and forces you to question your very beliefs and perceptions about them.

Definitely worth a Read !