THE BOAT RACE ..........

Before I start, I would like you to know that you are lucky, or not so lucky, depending on whether you are interested or not, to have got this post !! I'll tell you why at the end.

The idea for a rowing race between the universities of Oxford and Cambridge came from two friends - Charles Merivale, a student at Cambridge, and his old schoolfriend, Charles Wordsworth (nephew of the poet, William Wordsworth) who was at Oxford. On the 12th of March, 1829, Cambridge sent a challenge to Oxford and thus the tradition was born, which has continued to the present day. This year's race was held last Saturday 3rd April. We have always supported Cambridge, as we live very near to Cambridge and my brother-in-law studied there.

The Oxford crew are always in dark blue and the Cambridge crew are in light blue. Cambridge hadn't won for the last two years, but are winning overall.

The race passes many London landmarks, one lesser known one is the Harrods Furniture Depository. It was built in 1894 and was the former warehouse of Harrod's Knightsbridge store. Today, it has been converted into 250 'posh' homes called ' Harrod's Village ', for the well-heeled.

Well, this year's race was very close but, Cambridge were victorious. They are now winning 80 to Oxford's 75. The race in 1877 was declared a dead heat. Apparently, the judge, 'honest John Phelps' had fallen asleep under a tree, supposedly drunk, so the race was declared a tie !!

This year's victorious Cambridge crew.

This year's devastated Oxford crew......... and, it is devastating, as they give up everything to train for this race and, most of them never get the chance again.

Tradition dictates that the cox of the winning team is thrown into the River Thames !!

An estimated quarter of a million people watched the race from the banks of the Thames with an overseas audience of 120 million, making it the most viewed single day sport in the world.

Right, now here is my post script. I have suffered the wrath of one of those slippery little devils called oysters. I love them but, over the weekend, one of them didn't like me, and I am writing this post in agony !!!!
I just wanted you all to know, mainly for a lot of sympathy, but also as an apology for not commenting much over the last few days.

I hope that you all had a better Easter weekend than I did,, and enjoyed yourselves.



Jackie

THE SECRET GARDEN ..........

I have found a key, so come with me and see if we can find my Secret Garden ..........

.......... along the path ..........

.......... through the greenery ..........

.......... it must be around here somewhere .........

Ah, there's the door .........

It's very overgrown ..........

Oh, this is better, how pretty is this ?

Even the women are beautiful in this garden !!

Tea anyone ?

image by photographer Mustafa Hacalaki

Collect yourselves some fireflies ..... it's getting dark ..........

Now, where's that gate gone ..... I've got to get home.
Here in the U.K., we had a taste of Spring BUT apparently, rain and even snow are coming again so, images of beautiful gardens are all I have at the moment !






If you are having wonderful weather, enjoy your gardens. If not , start planning it !!




Image 16: photograph by Mustafa Hacalaki




Jackie

THE DELICIOUS MISS DAHL ..... bear with me, you non-chefs, there's a lovely white house in this !!!! ..........

Tuesday evening saw the start of a new cookery programme, featuring Sophie Dahl, grand-daughter of Roald Dahl.

Is Sophie the new Nigella ?....the new sex- kitten on the butcher's block ? She confesses that she has been a yo-yo dieter and has been 'as round as Ruben's' and 'a little slip of a thing'.When you see the menu that she cooked in her first programme, entitled ' A Purely Selfish Day', I think that maybe the Ruben's look is on the cards !! Her first menu racked up several thousand calories and, used rather expensive ingredients.

Her day begins at breakfast, a good place to start, with her take on an Arnold Bennett omelette. Arnold Bennett was an English novelist and theatre critic who frequented The Savoy Hotel Grill on a regular basis in the 1920's and put his name to this smoked haddock, cheese and creme fraiche omelette. Sophie shows us how to make this adding this wide-eyed afterthought ' I can't remember the first time when I had Arnold Bennett'.......... get the picture ? She prepares Peanut Butter Fudge for a mid-day snack (have you seen the size of this woman- she is soooo slim !!).......... Next comes a Buffalo Mozzarella Bruschetta with shaved fennel and courgette salad for lunch. You can imagine the double entendres when the mozzarella makes its appearance !!

Finally, it's dirty martini's (the dirty bit is a spoonful of juice from the olive jar) and a dinner of Roasted Halibut with Spinach and Watercress Sauce followed by Rich Chocolate Pots with Brandy soaked Cherries !!

Between courses, we get to see Sophie shopping in Cheese shops and searching out antiques and little bits of shabby chic for her 'pretend' house !!

Although we could probably do without another cookery programme, I actually rather liked it. Sophie Dahl is very likeable and, as a fan of Nigella, I like her sensual presentation skills ! ......... but, I think that the main reason I liked it was for the house that they are using for the series..........

The house that was used is located in Crouch End in London, a very trendy area where many actors and musicians live and a lot of yummy mummies !! The house is currently for sale for £1.45 million !! It belongs to photographer Paul Massey.

This is the kitchen where you see Sophie cooking. It has been dressed up for the programme with shabby chic paintings and little touches of Victoriana.

Here are some other rooms in the house ..........









Isn't it gorgeous ? If I had a cool £1.45 million spare, I would be onto the estate agents in a flash.
Sophie Dahl recipes can be found on the BBC web site. I'm not sure what she will be cooking next week, but, lets hope it's slightly more healthy !!


Have a delicious weekend.




Jackie

DENNIS SEVERS HOUSE ..........

Dennis Severs House

Spitalfields

18, Folgate Street

London

E1 6BX

If you are ever in London and are lost for something to do, go and visit Dennis Severs House. It is situated in the City, very near to the restaurant, Galvin's, that we went to for Mother's Day. We have been, a while ago now, and it is a real treat. It isn't very expensive and takes about one hour and, to see it at it's best, one should go when it's dark and, if you happen to be in the area at Christmas, it is decorated with decorations and a Christmas tree. Dennis Severs(1948-1999) bought this house and turned it into a time capsule. He was an artist and lived in the house in much the same way as its original occupants might have done in the early 18th century.

To enter through the door is to pass through a frame and into a painting - one with a time and a life of it's own.

THE TOUR.

The game is that you interrupt a family of Huguenot silk weavers named Jervis who, though they can still sometimes be heard, seem always to be just out of sight.

As you journey off in a silent search through the 10 rooms, each by fire and candlelight, you receive a number of stimulations to your senses.

There is the sound of a carriage outside, the wheels of which and the horses hooves, clattering and clip clopping off into the London night. There is the smell of food .... Mr Jervis's meal is only half-eaten ....did he abandon it when he heard us arrive ? The experience is conducted in silence, and it's level is poetic.

Dennis Severs called his unique experience 'still life drama' and his goal was to provide his visitors with a rare moment in which to become as lost in another time as they appear to be in their own.

THE PLOT.

The 10 rooms of the house harbour 10 spells, that engages the visitors imagination in moods that dominated the periods between 1724 and 1914.

Room 1 is the cellar. You begin in the dark in which there are fragments of St. Mary's Spital AD 1197, hence the name 'Spitalfields'. You are drawn by the light and warmth of ............

Room 2 ..The Kitchen

Room 3 is The Eating Parlour

Room 4 is The Smoking Room

Room 5 is the Withdrawing Room

There are various bedrooms and sometimes ..........

you can hear a child giggle or a young woman whispering ..........

When you enter a room, a candle has just been extinguished and has left a trail of smoke as if the occupant has just snuffed out the candle and left in a hurry.

As you reach the top floor, it starts to get cold and less luxurious. These are the rooms that the Jervis family have let out and are for a poorer family. The drapes on the bed are tattered and torn and the furniture is of much poorer quality. On a table are the remains of a supper of oysters, which was the food of the poor in those days. You can hear the tolling of Big Ben, telling the City that Queen Victoria is dead.

This is not a museum ....... it is not designed to make you 'learn something' in a conventional way. If you are annoyed at the silence observed then you have missed the point. The visitor is required to engage with the atmosphere and story ........ and, if you do, it's a really special sensation that stays with you. From the minute you walk in the door, you step back in time........ you can imagine the hard times when you reach the attic rooms, eerily cold, you can smell the poverty. Listen hard and you can hear the occupants. The journey through the house becomes a journey through time with it's small rooms and hidden corridors, it's whispered asides, it resembles a pilgrimage through life itself.
Painter David Hockney described the house as one of the world's greatest works of Opera.
Dennis Severs bequeathed the house to the Spitalfields Trust shortly before his death.
Go and visit if you are in the area. It is a truly special experience.




Jackie