A Bit of the Greene Holidays: Pub Stuff

Time to pull a few bits and pieces I've posted this week together.

We landed in London and had a day, one day, to get a few things done and we kind of did them all.  One thing was to visit the Cabinet War Rooms, another was to enjoy some Crispy Duck, and the third thing we wanted to do was see a friend.  There were others, but with it snowing and us getting into vacation mode, we cut it down to these three things.

What we hadn't thought to do in the snow is a pub crawl, but that is exactly what ended up happening.

After the museum we dashed to Liverpool Street station to meet our friend at a local pub once he finished with work.  It was a nice pub, but packed, so we moved on to another which was again, okay, but had no personality, and so moved to a third.  This is where we decided to have one and do a crawl to Chinatown.  Let me remind you, it's snowing, maybe mid-20's/F, and we haven't eaten all day.

The next pub found us in the Smithfield section of London with it's longstanding market, which was closed, but still some of the best pubs we've ever visited in the city.  Where we went to next was my favorite pub of the night, Cittie of Yorke, and also happens to be where the last picture I took on the crawl was taken.  Somehow the camera was put onto panaromic and ended up with one picture showing the pub sign and front so we can find it again and the third [right] is we think the street, sideways, and have know idea why this was taken.

Okay, moving on from there we visited two more historic pubs, and then to Chinatown for Crispy Duck.  Unfortunately, we didn't check our watches, and after eating discovered the tubes had stopped [12:30am] and so we walked.  First to Russell Square [our hotel] and then our friend went on to the train station where he picked up a train for home.  After an hour ride and thirty minute walk, he made it home, and slept for three hours - had to be at work early the next morning, we merely took the train north and beat the blizzard [relative really because it was maybe 5" in the city] that had been building since we arrived.

Told you the pub crawl could be fun, but also very bad.

There you go, a very small snippet of our time in England for Christmas :-)

A Bit of the Greene Holidays: TV Stuff

Oz [Clarke] and Hugh [Dennis] are two guys we enjoyed last Christmas and so when we noticed they had a show on again this year, we made time to watch it.  The first series was 'Drink to Christmas' and this year it's 'Raise the Bar'.  The fun part of not knowing what going to happen is that we enjoyed it even more when they did the Otley Run pub crawl and visited some of our old university haunts in Leeds.  I'm not sure if you can watch the show here, but if you can, enjoy! 

Oh, and yes, Leeds was the city Ann and Tom visited in My Angel.

There's lots of Agatha Christie repeats, however, this time there was not only a new David Suchet as Hercule Poirot doing 'Death on the Orient Express'.  It was great, stayed true to the story - at least as far as I remember it.  'Suchet on the Orient Express' was also good, there were many interesting bits about the notorious train that were shared, and I would love to take that ride!  Two shows over a couple days, fantastic!  Now, because it came to mind, I thought I'd remind you all that Michael Hoeye's Hermux Tantamoq [a Hercule Poirot of the animal world] trilogy is wonderful, and both you and your young reader will enjoy.  Love those books!

A few others I caught were 'Upstairs, Downstairs' was a popular series from the 70's [I never saw any episodes when it did play on public tv in the US] and they've revamped it.  We also watched 'Countryfile Winter Special' in the Outer Hebrides and want to go up there for a visit!  Others we caught were Top Gear, Have I Got News For You, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, and Rebus - yes, that would be Ian Rankin's Rebus!

And as for that most important show of all - the Queen's Speech - we missed it.  The kids were playing on the Xbox instead - oops - but it was on the importance of sport.  So go out and be sporting :-)

A Bit of the Greene Holidays: Food Stuff

This is one of a few must have's whenever we make it back to England and have time to stop in London.  It's crispy duck and something we share.

We generally choose a restaurant in Chinatown that has a duck hanging in the window, gruesome, I know, but it's a part of this area.  There's only one restaurant we've been to more than once and that wasn't because it was the best, we were just hungry, and knew we could get served fairly quickly.  This place was picked because it just so happened to be opened at midnight, although I suggest you do wherever the toursits aren't :-).  Anyway, we lucked out, the one we chose had some duck still in.

So, to the picture I took above.  That's a steaming pancake with plum sauce smeared around, a bit of crispy duck piled on and followed by thin strips of both cucumber and scallions.  Once everything is there, you roll it up, and chow down on the goodness,  Within seconds it's time to prepare another.  While this is served as a starter, in general we each get 4 pancakes, and that's a favorite dinner of ours to partake.

In short, if you make it to London, go to Chinatown [behind Leicester Square, which is a few short steps from Trafalgar Square] and enjoy the shops, but also indulge yourself with some crispy duck :-)

Something else we usually have is fish and chips or, in my case, deep fried sausage and chips with scraps.  The latter is the bits of fried batter that fall off in the fryer and are collected to sprinkle on top of an order upon request.  Our lady gave me a huge portion of chips and loads of scraps - we were talking about the lack of fish and chip places in America.

There is nothing remotely good for you with this take away, but the fish and chips is something the cutie misses and since I don't eat fish, I get a friend sausage.  Now, I admit it, the scraps bit is probably the worst bit, however, they are so very good, we remind ourselves it's a vacation and no one eats properly on vacation!  On top of all this and can't be seen is salt and vinegar.  Yummy!  I guess I should also explain that if you happen to order fish and chips in a restaurant [there are loads of places that you order take away on one side and sit down to eat properly on the other] you might, particularly if you're the cutie, order mushy peas.  I personally like my peas firm, but these are so beloved you can buy them by the tin in America [Batchelors is the best brand according to an expert I know :-)] at Amazon or your supermarket.

Since it was Christmas, I'll tell you all about what was on our plates, actually the cutie's plate because mine didn't have everything on it.  So, let's start at the 12 o'clock position [and go clockwise] with mashed potatoes, stuffing, turkey with cranberry sauce, sausage wrapped in bacon, sprouts with bacon and walnuts [there were also sprouts with nothing on them], and finally roasted parsnips.  I know the cutie had carrots, although they can't be seen in the pic.  Of course we did the cracker thing [pulled with resulting cracks, hats put on, jokes shared and toys played with, and then we dug in].  We were crowded at the table which always makes it fun to pass the gravy while not spilling it into the wine.

Of course there was much more than this, but I don't want to bore you, so I'll leave you here to go plan a meal where scraps can join the party :-)

A Bit of the Greene Holidays: Book Stuff

I write erotic romances and read them, so when I go into a bookstore - okay, any store that sells books - I check out the romance section to see if there's anything I want to read or to see which ones they have.

Knowing this about me, you won't be surprised I made time for a personal trip to Waterstones [the big chain bookstore in England], and thought I'd share what I found: not much for a large store!

One and a half columns - a bit of erotic fiction and classics shared the other half - of just a few authors.  Nora Roberts had the most space, she starts on the second from the bottom on the left through three shelves on the right.  Now, to give Waterstone's a little less grief on the romance selection, they do have a section for "Dark Romances" over by the Sci-fi/Fantasy section - it was pushed by Christmas around the corner to kick off the Teen Section - oops.  Oh, and they did have four or five ereaders at the front of the shop.

End result, if you like Elizabeth Chadwick, Georgette Heyer or Nora Roberts, you have copious choices, otherwise you're pretty much out of luck.

But wait, there's books in ASDA [I think they're now owned by Walmart], so here's their romance section.

Don't recognize any of the bottom shelf books?  But they're part from a huge publisher, visibly known around the world.  They're Harlequin!  Mills & Boon!  Fab and seriously hot covers, hence they won't be at eye level, you'll have to look for them.

However, this doesn't mean I'm returning with no books, that just doesn't happen - despite the lack of options :-)

A Bit of the Greene Holidays: Museum Stuff

Okay, so you've been following my tweets, you'll know I've spent the past few weeks in England and thought I'd share a bit of the Greene Holidays with you here.

So, today. let me tell you about our visit to the Cabinet War Rooms and Churchill Museum.  You can go at anytime or schedule an a time and you'll want more time there than you think you will.  This entrance [no my picture, it was snowing and we dashed in, so borrowed this one from Sabrina's London Diaries] can be seen if you're walking from Buckingham Palace to Trafalgar Square [The Mall], although the road above is steps from 10 Downing Street.

Now, even though we were there for two hours, we both agreed we hadn't been there long enough.  The shop isn't huge, but I saw so many things I wanted to bring back, and ended up with none - had to think of luggage space and Christmas - although I will be shopping online :-)

The Churchill Museum is attached, seamless entrance, and has one of the most technically advanced timeline displays we've ever seen.  Read up on it before visiting so you can take advantage of all it offers.

Okay, enough of that, time for the exhibit itself.  The walking wand commentary is a must use as it gives all sorts of interesting tidbits.  For instance, I now know quite a few of the secretaries [women] were amongst those who slept below the Cabinet War Rooms, and often were caught in their jamma's walking past gorgeous military men in uniform on their way to the toilets.  There were no private facilities either.  Also, did you know that when the women married, they were no longer able to work down there?  I didn't!  Anyway, the track through the CWR puts WWII in a different light for me.

You get a close up view of the maps they used to conduct a war and it often looks like the old road maps we saw our parents and grandparents use.  The most fascinating map had to be the one showing how Europe was carved up after it all ended.  Yes, very interesting, especially considering how those general lines with a pen affected actual people.

From the very serious to the surreal.

Sir Winston Churchill, whose mother was an American, slept below ground in the CWR [reinforced against bombs - hopefully] three times and wore a velour romper [an Austin Reed "Siren Suit"] during the air raids for comfort.  That's right, the leader of Great Britain during WWII wore a one piece velour romper.  I could swear the one we saw was a claret color, but I didn't get a good picture.

So, which do you like better:  Siren Suit or Romper?

Robin Hood looks good, but what about the scenery?

If you are thinking of visiting England, after seeing some of the sites in London, I suggest you escape the chaos of city life, which can be found everywhere, and head north!

Robin Hood, to be released in May 2010, was partly filmed in the North in such places as Alnwick Castle [Hogwarts from Harry Potter books] and Bamburgh Castle and are definitely must see sites, but not too far from these places is even more that should be visited.

Lindisfarne, or Holy Island, is across the bay from Bamburgh and can only be reached when the tide is out .  It is a small island and is a nature reserve and rich in history with a castle, ruined monastary/museum, and the island is known for their mead.  So, if you're a fan of the Celts and celtic books, this is a must visit place.

Now, head south, and you'll land in the place lovers of Vampires books and movies should visit, Whitby.

Why?  Because this is the place Irish author, Bram Stoker, holidayed during summer breaks and also has brought loads of interesting local tidbits into Dracula. 

Everytime but one [the rain won out on that visit] we've climbed the stairs from town up to the abbey and afterwards, never remember if it was 199 or 198.  I think the first step is a dubious one at a couple inches.

Now, Fish & Chips can be found all across England, but smoked kippers from Fortunes are a must do and they are limited in their opening times so head there immediately.  I happen to eat nothing that exists in the water [and yet I love visiting England's coastal gems], but my cutie does and grew up not too far from here.  He makes a point to stop for a couple kippers from this place for breakfast.

St Mary's Church is another gem to visit in Whitby and make sure to walk through the graveyard - it's sad when you realize how many are for very young and a few empty ones give you a spooky feeling.

Have a seafaring fan in the house?  Then a little further south from Whitby is Staithes, hometown of Captain James Cook, and it is definitely worth checking out as well.

A village that is the ultimate definition of small village life [parking up on the hill and walk down to the homes].  This is where it is said the man who would go on to chart Hawaii amongst other places became enamored with exploring the seas.

From there, you can head inland, and within minutes you're on the North Yorkshire Moors where such books as Wuthering Heights and All Creatures Great and Small are set and museums for the Brontës and Herriot are located.  To the east is the Lake District and Beatrix Potter and further south is York with it's incredible Minster, Jorvik Viking Centre, The Shambles and on the outskirts is Castle Howard, where Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited was filmed.

That is just a tiny portion of what can be seen and experienced in the North of England.  The history is deep [don't forget about the War of the Roses] at every turn and plenty of literary / artistic [Henry Moore has a fabulous museum in Leeds and the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, 500 acres of parkland is near Wakefield] influences to keep everyone eager for what's next.

So, yes, the new Robin Hood film looks good, but every promo I see makes me think about all the other fabulousness that can be found around northern England.

One last thing, because I love this part of England and there is that bit about writing what you know, I've also used it in my own books.  You can find the North of England in The Gilded Cage / Hot Couture [Leeds] and the newly released My Angel [Leeds and Knaresborough].

Friday Funny!

Why not to marry a Yorkshire lass - from a female friend of mine, thank you L for the laugh!

The first man married a woman from Dorset. Told her that she was to do the dishes and house cleaning.. It took a couple of days, but on the third day, he came home to see a clean house and dishes washed and put away.

The second man married a woman from Derbyshire He gave his wife orders that she was to do all the cleaning, dishes and the cooking. The first day he didn't see any results, but the next day he saw it was better. By the third day, he saw his house was clean, the dishes were done and there was a huge dinner on the table.

The third man married a girl from Yorkshire, He ordered her to keep the house clean, dishes washed, lawn mowed, laundry washed, and hot meals on the table for every meal. He said the first day he didn't see anything, the second day he didn't see anything but by the third day, some of the swelling had gone down. And he could see a little out of his left eye, and his arm was healed enough that he could fix himself a sandwich and load the dishwasher. He still has some difficulty when he pees.

Enjoy your return jolly ol' and we'll see you soon!

Are you ready for this?

I've recently told you how to make that special mug of sweetness, a yummy treat usually consumed during the holidays in England, and last week I gave you a bunch of British flicks to watch. Well, ttoday, I'm feeling more contemporary, so here are a few films to put you in Jolly Ol' without having to pack a suitcase:

My Beautiful Laundrette
Love Actually
Full Monty
Trainspotting
Rock n Rolla
Death at a Funeral

Fun times!

Art Day

The Frenchman Hippolyte Delaroche, also known as Paul Delaroche, painted 'The Execution of Lady Jane Grey' in 1833 and it now hangs in the National Gallery, London.

During my first trip abroad, I went to to the National Gallery, and remember sitting in front of this painting, entranced. It was her satin gown that held my attention. The texture was so real, so incredibly executed, I wanted to reach out and touch it, still do.

A few historical movies I've watched that will put you in that English frame of mind are:

Lady Jane
A Room With a View
The Other Boleyn Girl
The Duchess
Elizabeth and Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Pride and Prejudice, BBC version

Yup, a few weeks ago I was in a beach frame of mind, well, now I'm in an English frame of mind. No sand, sun, or surf, but scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam from Bettys Cafe, pints of Black Sheep with a chip butty and scraps, and a bag or two of Walkers Smoky Bacon or Worcester Sauce crisps all sound great as well.

What did I bring back with me?

A flag!

The cutie is British, English actually, but specifically a Yorkshireman! With this we'll have to add another flag pole to the front porch, one on each side of the stairs.

Another good thing to happen is that Ellora's Cave is discounting loads of paperbacks more than 20% while supplies last! Customers also receive one free paperback on each print order and two free books on print orders over $35 (free books are selected at random).