So, yesterday, while it wasn’t our anniversary, was the day we chose to celebrate it this year (because I was on nights, or had just come off nights, and therefore it would have been difficult, and then it was Kathryns driving test, and then, and then, so it was the day we picked).
We started out with an exchange of gifts, Kathryn painted me a beautiful picture, which, when I have charged my camera batteries, and with her permission I’ll post a shot of here. She just is the most wonderful woman in all the world, and is so thoughtful and creative and talented.
I gave her the book I’d seen and wanted to get her, and she seems to like it :) (Shaun Tan’s The Arrival).
Then we headed in to London for a day of museums, fine food, comedy and being jabbed with needles.
See we combined the day of celebration with my first trip to the Allergy Clinic in Guy’s Hospital. Having made it in to London we first headed to the Plastics exhibit at the Science museum. So. Many. Small. People. It had escaped me that it was Half Term, and thus the Small People were not in school. There was a massive queue for the Science Museum, and while we vascilated about whether we should queue and go in, or go to the V&A, we had made it far enough down the queue that it seemed like we really ought to wait and go in.
It turned out to be a really interesting exhibit – and reminded me (/us) that I(/we) want to go back and explore the Science Museum some more, it’s a terribly interesting place.
And I discovered that what I often assume is Bakelite is actually more often Urea Formaldehyde.
Anyhow, it was then time to make me look like some really bizzare druggie. Unfortunately I didn’t get the piece of paper which said ‘don’t take your anti-histamines’. So I took them. Not that they do much. After a chat with the Doctor my arm was jabbed the-once to test how well my antihistamines were working – and thus to see if it was worth doing the rest of the test. My antihistamines are not doing as much as they could, let’s put it that way, and so they continued to do the rest of the test, which involved scraping my arm with a sharp thing a further 12 times. Each of these scratches had an allergen on them.
The results, they suspect, were skewed by my anti-histamines because the only thing that came up positive (and is still positive nearly 24 hours later, and still itchy) is Grass Pollen, which fits with the worst of my symptoms, but not my actual spread of symptoms. Because of the whole Anti-Histamine screwing with results they want to see me, in agony, at the height of summer. That’ll be 3 days without Anti-Histamine and I have to make my way into London. They did not really discuss putting me on Immunotherapy, which is what I want. Especially given that it’s still fricking itchy. I am not looking forward to Summer, because now I *know* my anti-histamines aren’t working and I know that it’s not just all in my head, I really am stupid-allergic to grass pollen.
Anyhow, that over with (which unfortunately took us most of the way until dinner) we made our way to our reserved table at Ottolenghi. We’d wanted to go to Ottolenghi for quite some time, and had failed to on a couple of occasions, what with you needing to book, really, to get a table. We hadn’t booked, and thus wer lacking in tableness on previous occasions but had had desert there which was astronomically good.
This time we’d booked, we went in and were seated at a simple white table (the decor is generally very simple, so as not to distract from the food, one presumes). Having discovered that the meals are ‘starter sized’ we opted to pick two each (they recommend 3 each) and save space for desert. Having managed to decide that we weren’t just going to order everything on the menu (it is one of those places where the entire menu sounds unutterably delicious) we finally made our pics. Aubergine and Scallops for Kathryn and Cinnamon Roasted Butternut Squash (with Pine nuts and chilli) followed by Rice coated King Prawns with Miso Mayonnase and chargrilled broccoli. Now, I can’t remember exactly what Kathryn ordered, but I did sample it and it was equally delicious, but the fact I can actually remember, unprompted, what I ordered, should give you an idea of just how incredibly good the food was.
When Kathryn was trying to decide what to eat she asked a waiter who offered the advice that the Scallops were the more ‘challenging’ dish. The complexity of flavours, the nuanced undertones…oh. my. god. This was food as I’ve never experienced it before. This was gastronomic heaven. Normally I have to think to slow down when I eat. This food? I paused after each mouthful savouring each and every bite.
It’s not like the sort of complexity which arises from sauces or many different foodstuffs combined, no, this is the complexity of really well prepared ingredients combined carefully and subtly, giving such phenominal flavour that I really am lost for words.
I feel so middle class, so foodie, so…everything for going on about it so much. But it was incredible.
We moved on to desert, Kathryn selecting a moist chocolate cake with bailey’s mascapone cheese, and I had a white chocolate cheesecake with cranberry and pistachio. I shan’t bore you with my opinion of it, suffice to say it was *really* *really* *good*.
And then I had a very nice cappuccino.
And thus filled with exquisite food, we set off to find Geeks at The Library. Now, we’d forgotten to write down the address, but thankfully we both felt it was very close to Ottolenghi. Unfortunately we both thought it was in opposite directions, and the garage shop person thought it was in the wrong direction. Still, at least he’d heard of the pub/club. Having wandered around for quite a while, asked in many many places (who’d not heard of it) we made an emergency call to Nikki, who through the internet found the place and confirmed the address that Kathryn had in her head and the direction I thought it was in, and which disagreed with the garage person.
Eventually we located it and sat ourselves in some Comfy Sofas. It’s not an open mic, but the comedians were very uneven and somewhat patchy. And one poor woman, her entire routine fell completely flat.
But the last guy, Tony Law, was very funny; and I had a thoroughly pleasant evening, and for only a fiver it wasn’t bad. It did, however, prompt Kathryn to suggest that I should try Stand Up. Which is something that’s been suggested before. So maybe I will.
