alexist

Saturday evening I went to clarisinda's for the Whisky Widows. Getting there was fun--NOT. No trains north of East Finchley, so it was a (slow) rail replacement bus to there, then a train to Balham. I got to Balham at 18:59. The 315 to West Norwood leaves at 19:00 and 19:30. Guess who didn't make the bus...

Found 249, which coincidentally Neil was on, and Michelle picked me up from the bus stop. Total time: over 2 hours :/ We had a curry, went back to Michelle's, did the usual hang around nattering thing which was fun. Better than listening to the boys be pretentious about what they were drinking ;-)

Left at 01:30, got a lift to the bus stop. 159 to Trafalgar Square, walk round to the other side of Nelson, only a few minutes wait for an N20. I was clever getting on there: the drunks started getting on at Cambridge Circus. By Camden, the bus was so packed no one else could get on. I was so tired that I slept through the fights.

Miraculously I managed to be up in time to get to my volunteering. I helped supervise a bunch of kids at the Hollywood Bowl in FInchley. Only had to bowl a couple of frames. The barriers were up, so I didn't humiliate myself as usual ;-)

Came home, had soup, went to bed.

I had to nag Neil to hell and back to get him to decide on Christmas presents for his family. I quite generously offered to do the shopping itself. :-P

Therefore, I headed into town today. Quelle nightmare. And I didn't even get the presents... (and we've just been informed that N's sister got his mum the present he was intending on getting her!) I did get various other bits and pieces done, though, so it wasn't a wasted trip. I could have gotten his dad's Armagnac but decided (wisely as it turns out) that another bottle was the last thing I needed to carry.

I did get the Compass Box Orangerie though. Neil says "it's very nice, you might even like it". He also claimed it tastes smells rather like the cake I made last Christmas (orange and ginger, soaked in Grand Marnier; boozy yumminess).

I had 9 shopping bags to carry back (including the supermarket). It is a sad statement on the manners of London bus passengers that the elderly woman with a cane offered to help me (and even offered me her seat, saying she was getting off at the next stop--I declined though) when I was trying to manage them all on the 125, and the perfectly fit young man didn't move a muscle when a jar of passata rolled out and nearly hit his leg. The problem (as London bus riders will know) is that it is very difficult to stand AND hold bags in both hands, especially in stop-and-start traffic. If, in addition, you grabbed the bags in any order when picking them up at the stop (I put them down while I waited) and need to rearrange them, you're screwed.

Neil decided he wanted to stay in for his birthday as it's such a pain trying to go out so close to Christmas. I let him choose what he wanted, and he decided on chicken & mushroom pie (my posh one :) ) with mashed potatoes. After a bit of indecisiveness he decided on molten chocolate cakes for dessert. (Very overdone I know but they're yummy, especially if you use good chocolate, and you can make the batter in advance and just pop them in the oven when you're ready for pudding.)

Of course, I later realised I didn't have the right sized dishes for them--I only have 4oz ramekins. Perfect for custard, too small for this--they'd simply bake through and there would be no gooey middle. So while I was out today I went to get some larger ones. Of course, they weren't labelled by capacity, but by diameter.. which would be a great idea if they were the SAME DEPTH!! Had to guess. I didn't want to try shopping around--these were made by Pillivuyt, which is the largest manufacturer of white ceramic dishes, and I knew I'd probably get the same selection in most shops.

I filled one with water and measured it when I got home: 225mL. Slightly larger than necessary but it will do; I can underfill them slightly.

Neil has also decided he wants to go see King Kong that afternoon (he's got the day off work).

I'm not often offended by a TV drama but tonight, Nip/Tuck managed it.

Not with the gory surgery scenes or porn stars, oh no. It was the Jewish stereotypes that were done so broadly it was sickening. (Rich Jewish mother takes her 16 year old daughter in for a nose job. Oh, and she got the name from the shul newsletter.) There was a point to it (it tied into something later in the episode) but gratuitous or not there was a way of making the point (people trying to disguise their ethnicity) without doing it in the way they did. :/