Adventures in London: Issue 89

From the 15th to 22nd of the Hebrew month Nissan, the feast of unleavened bread is celebrated. Commonly known as Pesach or Passover, this holiday commemorates the emancipations of the Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt and the Angel of Death 'passing over' the homes on the eve of Exodus, sparing the first borns. The rituals of Passover relive the story and experience of the Irsaelites from over 3000 years ago. I am not going to re-tell the Haggahad....sigh of relief for many I am sure. What I will say is that whilst reading the Haggahad (may it be the abridged version on Monday night), something stayed with me. During the seder you drink 4 cups of wine at key points of the dinner symbolizing the four freedoms. I have been reading a bunch of sites and articles about Passover since then and I found one that was rather interesting. One article summarised Passover into four main themes:

1. Expanding the scope of our empathy; listening to people in need and helping those that we can
2. Questioning; Questioning signifies freedom and even if we don't like the answer we should question as much as possible
3. Liberation; Freedom cannot be gained without having obligations to others or being held accountable for our actions
4. Remembering; Dining together is a reminder of the importance of the people in our lives and recognises the importance of friendship.

After logging in nearly 45 hours in 3 days, I was happy to enjoy the extra day off for Easter break. To celebrate the "mental day" off, I joined my friend Biju to Portsmouth, the Waterfront City 90 miles south west of London. Portsmouth is an amasingly beautiful city rich with history and is the host of the Portsmouth Football Club. The docks there are the home to HMS Warrior and Lord Nelson's HMS Victory. We were unable to go up close to the ships, but I go a few glimpses from afar. These ships are just amasing to see. During the summer time, generally around 4th of July, the tall ships come to NYC for a visit. I remember seeing these ships with Mom last decade. I would love to go traveling in one....not for long, but just for a trip somewhere. The closest I have gotten to this is a trip around the NYC harbor.

It was such a pleasant day in Portsmouth. The skies were blue (with just a little cloud cover) and the sun was out! What would have made it the perfect day was if it was not so windy. I almost put rocks in my pocket so I would not blow away in the wind - rsrsrs.

We spent the afternoon walking along the harbor and later we went over to see the Spinnaker Tower and walked around the Gunwharf Quays which contains an open air designer outlet shopping centre and numerous restaurants. It was such a pleasant day sitting by the water and enjoying a nice warm meal. Would have been nice if the weather was a little less windy, but I am not going to trade the afternoon in Portsmouth for a day in London (especially since it was rain cats and dogs and apparently snowed in some areas - rsrsrs).

The Easter weekend was exactly what I wanted. It was filled with cooking everything from pancakes to bacon sandwiches, cleaning and a vampire diary marathon.

On Friday, I went over to my friend Biju's place to help her prepare a mini dinner party for friends that were visiting. It was a relaxing night of bacon dip, goat cheese and beet root canapes, a pancetta egg bake and a spinach salad. This Good Friday was drastically different from last years, but it was a really lovely and relaxing evening filled with fun stories, learning a new language, fine music and delicious food and I am not just saying that - any night with bacon dip is a good night ;-)

For Easter Sunday I had the desire to make a roast with garlic, pototoes, leeks, mashed pototoes and yorkshire pudding, but as I forgot about the whole "shops being closed on Easter", by the time I went to the grocery store the roast meet available was nothing to be desired. Instead I made the decision to make Beef Stroganoff and rice. For dessert, KV and I made carrot cake and a butter cream frosting (do not be impressed with the baking, as those of you have lived with me know that my baking skills are courtesy of the Pilsbury Dough Boy and Betty Crocker). The evening also included a Vampire Diary marathon to watch the remaining un-aired episodes of the season. This show is absolutely addicting. I miss the CW, but am patient enough to wait for the shows to be aired here in London - which they do - phew!

The evening also included a video call from Kadin in which we chatted about his Easter weekend and danced to Lady Gaga. There was even some schooling to Daddy in that Boom Boom Pow is sung by the Black Eyed Peas, not Lady Gaga. I wish I taped that conversation as it was priceless.

I hope you all had a lovely Easter Weekend.

xoxo

T