My friend Dave had one of those “special” birthdays the other week.  One of the ones with a zero at the end, which, for some reason, we all seem to think of as milestone birthdays.  I suppose they are too, the start of a new decade, and all that.  Anyway, it was an excuse to celebrate.

I knew that Dave would not enjoy the thought of entering another decade, I recall him not being over-enamoured the last time round, so I thought, take the boy out for a nice lunch.  He’ll enjoy that, it’ll be something for him to remember and it’ll be fun.

I invited the boys, Paul and Paul, to join us too.  Not because I thought Dave wouldn’t enjoy being out with me alone, but because they are good company and I though it would make it more party-fied.  I left the choice of restaurant up to Dave and he chose Brasserie Zedel in Sherwood Street, Piccadilly.

Dictionary.com defines the word brasserie as “an unpretentious restaurant, tavern or the like that serves drink, especially beer, and simple or hearty food.”  By that standard, Brasserie Zedel is poorly named.  There is nothing plain or unpretentious about it.  Quite the opposite.  The restaurant is  Art Deco and has marble pillars topped with gold leaf architraves and is very opulent.  It can seat 220 people, so it’s big and can get a wee bit noisy.

It was once part of the Regent Palace Hotel, when that existed, which was built by the Lyons Tea Group company.  When it opened in May 1915, it was the biggest hotel in Europe, with 1028 rooms.  I remember staying there back in the 1980s, and remember thinking it was a bit dated as the rooms didn’t have en suite in those days.

Zedel is run by Chris Corbyn and Jeremy King, the same pair who run the Wolseley and the Delaunay, amongst others, so they know a thing or two about restaurants.  I’ve read some disparaging reviews about Zedel, but I liked it, and so did the boys.  The portions were good and the prices were good too, at about £50 per head, which included much wine.  There was nothing to complain about in the food, and I do know how to complain if I’m not happy.

We went for drinks in the Ham Yard Bar afterwards, which was all very civilised.  The only fly in the ointment was that my travel card jumped out of my pocket somewhere on the way from the bar to the station.  I retraced my steps to search for it, but fortunately for me, someone handed it in at Piccadilly Circus (thank you, whoever you are) so all ended well.

© Susan Shirley 2016

I stayed with the boys the other weekend.  I’m staying there about once a month at the moment, they live close to the place I go for my Accelerator Days for my coaching course with the Coaching Academy.  (It’s a great course, and a subject for another post.)  They live in Chesham, near to a lovely little place called Old Amersham.

I went to “school” on the Saturday and we went out for dinner at a Thai restaurant in Chesham called the Jasmine Kitchen

http://www.kitchenjasmine.com/

It was an absolutely excellent meal at a really reasonable price.  I’ll be honest, I was tired, I don’t remember the exact details of what we ate, except to say that one of the boys and I had the same.  Paulie had a masaman curry.  The food was high quality and well cooked.  We had a couple of bottles of wine to boot, so I am double impressed with the price.  The boys loved the meal so we were all very happy when we left, and had a little walk around the town before going home.

Chesham

Chesham is a quaint little town, dating back until at least the 10^thcentury, but probably earlier.  Historically, Chesham is known for the four Bs – boots, beer, brushes and Baptists.  Strange, thought I?  The boys hadn’t mentioned this to me.  Boots and shoes apparently started in the area as a cottage industry and expanded when tanneries opened locally.

Brewing (beer) started in the nineteenth century, presumably as a result of the Beerhouse Act of 1830 which allowed anyone to brew and sell beer, whether from a public house or their homes for a fairly cheap licence.  (Previously brewers had to have a licence from a JP, which was more expensive and a longer process.  More like the system in place now.). I suppose this accounts for the number of old, local breweries there used to be, most of which went out of business in the 1970s when they started to be subsumed into the bigger breweries – Whitbread, Watney Mann although that’s all changed since then.

Brush making was introduced to the area in the nineteenth century so that the off-cuts for wood working were used – back in the day, there was much less waste, most things were recycled.

The Baptists relate to the religious dissent which was prevalent in the town and surrounding area in the 16^th century, starting in 1532 when religious dissident Thomas Harding was burnt at the stake for being a religious heretic.

Old Amersham

The next day, we had a trip to Old Amersham, which is a couple of miles away.  It’s an old market town, dating back to before Anglo-Saxon times.  (And it’s distinct from Amersham-on-the-Hill, which grew up around the railway station around the start of the twentieth century.

Amersham is also famous for its martyrs.  In 1512, seven Lollard dissenters were burned at the stake in Amersham.  The Lollards were part of a movement started off by John Wycliffe.  Wycliffe was a noted theologian in the fourteenth century, but he was dismissed from Oxford University because he criticised the church.  In general terms, the Lollards wanted reform in the English Church.  (If only they’d waited 24 years or so, Henry VIII would have done it all for them!)  These seven chaps (well, six men and a woman) were executed for the heinous crime of reading the bible in English.  There is a plaque in the town to commemorate the executions and there is also information about them in the local museum.  There have even been community plays about them, performed in St Mary’s Church.

The boys told me an interesting story about Amersham – in 1200 AD, Geoffrey, Earl of Essex was granted a Royal Charter permitting him to hold a Friday market and fair on 7 and 8 September every year.  In 1613 the market day was changed, by charter, to Tuesday.  Even during the World Wars, some livestock were taken to the market square on the charter day, to keep it going, otherwise, the charter would have become nullified.

Some people moved to the area, in a house overlooking the market square.  Apparently, the newcomers did not know about the charter.  Much to their surprise, they woke up to find a modern day fair and market outside their house!  Outraged, they tried to get the law changed, without success.  They have to put up with the market once a year.  The moral of this story is check out your local area prior to moving.

© Susan Shirley 2016

I’ve recently returned from a trip to Goa.  I’ve been to India before and was captivated the first time round, so when I got the chance to go again, I jumped at the chance.

We’d booked the holiday some months earlier, Sheena and I, and were so-o looking forward to going.  The flight to Goa from Gatwick is about eight and a half hours so although we left the UK at 13.25 we didn’t reach the hotel until about 07:00 Goan time. In any event, we were having breakfast in our hotel by 07:30.  It’s about a ten-hour flight coming back home, which is a bit of a drag (no pun intended).  The difference in time is something to do with the tail wind.

Dona Sylvia beach resort in Cavelossim had been recommended to us and we were not disappointed.  If I have a complaint to make about the hotel, it’s that there are a lot of switches in the room and no guide to tell you what they all do.  Maybe we should have known, or maybe we should have been more systematic in our fiddling with the switches but we did struggle for a few days.  We had the ceiling fan on every time we turned on a light and got the lights to work at sometimes, and not at others….  Sheena and I have both travelled quite a lot and can usually cope with these things so I’m inclined to think that there should have been a manual.  The hotel is going through a refurb so hopefully it will all be easier next time I visit.

For us Brits, eating out in India is very inexpensive.  In fact, pretty much everything is inexpensive.  There are some things in the supermarkets that cost more, such as baked beans, and I suppose if you are a Brit abroad for a few months, you might want them, but the local food is so fresh and well-prepared, I’d rather eat that.

The beach is a short walk through the hotel, although, surprisingly (to me, at any rate) it doesn’t have any rights to it.  Some of the hotels do and I rather think the Dona Sylvia has missed a trick.

On our first day on the beach, we met a woman whom we affectionately called “Dog Lady,” although I now know her name is Jane.

Lying on our sun beds, white as a magnolia painted wall, it was probably a bit of a give-away, but she said,

“Are you English?”

“Yes,” came the response in unison.

“There’s a dog under the sun bed next to you.”

We both looked.  There was.

“They are going to come and take him away.  There’s something wrong with his eyes and he needs treatment.  It’s just it’s not very nice, the way they do it, and if you are animal lovers, you might find it distressing.”

It transpires that Jane has an association with the Goa Animal Welfare Trust,

https://www.facebook.com/gawt.goa/?fref=ts

a charity that helps to neuter, flea, worm and generally look after the many stray dogs in India.  The guys from the charity turned up soon after and caught the dog easily so off he went to be looked after.  We saw this happen a few times while we were there, but I must say, I didn’t think it was at all cruel.  Of course, it probably helped with the Brits feeding the dogs a few minutes beforehand…

We had stray cats at the hotel too, although they are apparently nothing to do with the hotel.  One was an albino who was sitting on a chair in our veranda when we got home one day.  Blondie was very talkative, and wanted to come in.

“No,” said I, when Sheena popped to the bar, “You’ve probably got fleas.”

I did weaken and got her a Pringle, which she seemed to think was ok.  Good job she just walked around me and didn’t sit on my lap; she did have fleas, and so did I when she’d left.  We had a few visits from Blondie during our stay, and for a tiny little thing, she made a lot of noise.

We had a few trips out while we were over there, and saw some beautiful sights, about which I will tell you over the next few weeks.

© Susan Shirley 2016

Dear Gianni of across the hogs back

(https://acrossthehogsback.wordpress.com/2016/01/21/the-sisterhood-of-world-bloggers/comment-page-1/#comment-1191)

nominated me to be part of the chain of posts about the Sisterhood of World Bloggers.  Admittedly, it was a couple of weeks ago, but I was having internet problems, so better late than never.

I like women bloggers, in the most part, anyway.  Ok, I like men bloggers too, but they are different in the way that they write.  Somehow, I think it’s more polarised than in books or magazine articles.  Or is that just me?

Anyway, there are some questions I have to answer to keep this going, so here we go:

1. What is your all-time favourite destination?Mm, that’s a really difficult question because I like different places for different reasons.  I love different parts of the UK because of the countryside and the architecture.  I love Cornwall, I have so many fond memories of being there, especially with my parents as a child, and with my friend Lynn.  I love India.  I think it’s an amazing country, although there are lots of things I don’t like about too.  I love Normandy, it reminds me of Devon.  I love Marseilles, again, I suppose, because of fond memories.

   My least favourite destination is Thailand.  I was mugged on my first day in Bangkok and it took months to recover from the injuries.  (Months and quite a lot of money to put the bits back into the right places.)  I never want to go there again.

   I’ve enjoyed most of the places I’ve visited but there are loads more on my list, so maybe I should come back to this one in 20 years time?

   

2. Which post are you most proud of?
   Another difficult question. I write them and forget about them.  My sister-in-law likes the more personal ones, I like the more factual ones, where I have to do research first, but that’s because I like research.  I don’t think there is any one I am most proud of.
3. Who would you invite to your dream dinner party, dead or alive?
   Elizabeth I and Margaret Thatcher. Two women who’ve had a huge impact on this country, I’d be interested to see how they interact.  Churchill and Napoleon, to see how two powerful men get on.  And Byron, I’d like to meet him, just to see whether I would have fallen for him.  Rupert Brooke because he’s really the only poet that I like.  That’s it, I’m not cooking for more than that.

   

4. Do you have a favourite travel app?
   Not really, although a calculator is always useful for currency conversion since I seem to lose all ability to do even basic maths outside the UK. I agree with Gianni about WhatsApp though.  When I can get an internet connection.
5. What’s your favourite thing and least favourite thing about blogging?
   My favourite thing is the writing (and research, where appropriate). My least favourite thing is website problems.

   

6. Is there anything you like to do anytime you visit somewhere new?
   I like to get to see some of the place I’m visiting, not just the hotel or the beach. I do not see the point of travelling even a few hundred miles and not setting foot outside of my room.I like to try the local food, although the big caveat on that is that there are lots of things I don’t and won’t eat.  I don’t eat red meat, wheat or citrus fruit, which sometimes makes things difficult.  I don’t want to eat bugs – I did try one in Thailand (yes, just one).  I don’t fancy sweetbreads, etc, and I rather think that now, if I don’t want to, I don’t have to eat these things.  I’m sure there are more things I don’t want to eat, but I always find new things to try.
7. Where is somewhere you’ve been or something you did that you didn’t expect much of but ended up loving?
   I’m sure this has happened to me many, many times, but the most recent occasion was my visit to Goa. I haven’t been on an all inclusive holiday since I was a teenager and was a bit dubious, if I’m honest.  Mainly about the food in the hotel.  I was worried that it wold be very bland.  How wrong was I?  It is true, the wine wasn’t great, but I managed to cope with that…  J
8. What’s your pet peeve?
   How long have you got? I hate it when banks make a mistake and then the person at the end of the ‘phone isn’t interested in doing anything to put it right.  Actually, that doesn’t just apply to banks…  I had this recently, Bank of Scotland “lost” £500-odd of my money and didn’t want to take any responsibility for it.  Thanks to First Direct and my persistence, I got it back, but it was hard.
9. What’s your most treasured possession?
   I’m not sure that possession is the right word, because I’m not sure you ever really own cats, but my girls. I love them dearly.  They are my friends.  They are so clever and bring so much joy into my life.

 As for my nomination, well, I only know two women bloggers, and one of them nominated me, so I can’t nominate her back, so I nominate Julie Hayward.

© Susan Shirley 2016

On our first Tuesday in Goa, Sheena and I decided to take a bus trip into Margao, or Madgaon as it is sometimes known, the second largest town in Goa, and the commercial capital.  The local language spoken in Margao, and Goa, is Konkani, although the dialect is different here from in North Goa.  Most people also speak Hindi, and, fortunately, English.

The bus ride cost us 20 rupees each – about 20p.  It probably took an hour to get to there, so it was really good value.  There are no bus stops, you just wait by the side of the road and stick our your hand when the appropriate bus approaches.  All the buses are privately owned in India, there is no public transport.  The bus ride itself was an experience.  The “air conditioning” was open windows, and there was a sign at the front of the bus that said, “No smoking, no alcohol, no spitting.”  There were also signs saying that the right hand side of the bus was for women, although no-one seemed to take any notice of that.

Margao was described to me as a slightly tired, grand old lady.  It is the main travel hub in that part of Goa – if you want to travel by public transport to the capital, Panjim, or one of the other major towns, Vasco da Gama, you go via Margao.  It houses Goa’s busiest (and biggest) railway station.  For me, it was a very typical Asian town – broken pavements, dust, lots of people, lots of noise, and heat.

One of the main tourist sights in Margao is the covered market (Closed Market as it is called locally).  This type of market is still common in India, although they are becoming less so because of the fire risks.  Nonetheless, this one was bustling.  There was just about everything you could have wished for here: from shoes to mops, flowers to food but it was very hot and very crowded, with it’s labyrinth-like paths branching off at intervals.  It would be very easy to get lost there.  Quite scary, I should imagine.

Sheena and I met an Indian lady whose name was Sarah, she told us she came from Rajasthan.  We got chatting to her, and I think it took her all of five minutes before she pulled a silver bracelet out from her sari and asked if we’d like to buy it.   We told her we’d come to look for her stall, but we wanted something to drink first, so she very kindly showed us to a nearby bar.

We did try to find her when we went back to the covered market.  We met another lady on the way, asked if she knew Sarah (which brought forth some sort of expletives about Rajasthanis).  She followed us all the way round the market!  We never did find Sarah’s stall, which is no surprise to me now I’ve been there.  I wouldn’t have found my feet had they not been attached to me.

There are other tourist attractions in Margao – there are a number of churches and temples, but perhaps more importantly, the town square, which houses a pretty amazing library with books in Hindi, English, Konkani and Portuguese!  There is also the town hall which is really very European (or do I mean English?), opposite which are the Municipal Gardens, laid out very much like typical municipal gardens in the UK.

After a couple of hours, the heat had taken its toll on us so we returned to Cavelossim, by bus again, which was even more interesting since the conductor got off before our journey was complete!  Somehow, we passed the test and alighted exactly where we wanted to!

Next week, I will tell you about our next outing.

© Susan Shirley

Last week, my friend Anne Germain and I visited M Victoria Street.  Sue Hill was supposed to join us, but was unable to do so (get well soon Sue).

I had no idea what to expect in M, although I now know there are a couple of branches, I hadn’t seen one before; the Victoria Street branch has only been open a few months.  It’s situated on one of the regenerated sites in Victoria Street.

The top floor is the wine shop – very tempting, but we managed to resist the urge and go straight downstairs to the restaurant.  It’s not a huge restaurant but very stylishly designed.  The ladies’ was particularly stunning with black embossed wallpaper.   And they have a Japanese toilet that heats the seat, and a few other things…

Ok, it doesn’t look black here, but….

The restaurant is the creation of Chef Michael Reid, who trained at Le Gavroche and also with Gordon Ramsey.  He opened the Threadneedle branch of M in December 2014.

There are two menus in the restaurant, the Raw and the Grill.  Anne and I went on a “free-flowing Prosecco” deal, so had a mixture of both.  And a very fine Prosecco it was.

Anne and I both have a number of food allergies, and I don’t eat red meat, so it can be challenging to feed us when we go out, but they managed very well at M.

The set menu included Puffed Beef – sort of Prawn Crackers but with beef, which looked delicious but neither of us could eat the wheat, so we passed on that one.  There were also Edamame Beans with Firecracker Sauce, so we doubled up on these instead of the Puffed Beef.  Anne and I both love edamame beans and the Firecracker Sauce was a delicious addition.  It really was a firecracker.

We both had Cured Trout with Pears for starters, Anne without the buttermilk sauce.  I suppose the clue is in that this came from the raw menu, although I didn’t know that at the time.  I may have had raw trout before, in a Japanese restaurant, but this was very special.  I really enjoyed it and it made me want to go back for more.

Anne went for steak for the main course, while I had Hake with beer-battered mussels and poached clams.  And Anne’s chips.  The Hake was delicious but the beer-battered mussels were even better… I could have had a whole plate of them.  Anne told me that her steak was great too.

We decided against dessert, we had had quite enough food.  I can’t write about this without mentioning our lovely waitress and waiter, Natalie and Cesar.  They were so friendly and helpful, and helped to make our visit even better.  When it quietened down we had a very friendly chat with them both.

We stayed drinking Prosecco for a bit longer before going home.  Anne and I had a lovely day, and will be going back to M.

Thank you all at M Victoria Street for a great day out.

© Susan Shirley 2016