HRH Prince William and Catherine Middleton
It's a lovely day,a little grey in parts and the chance of a light rain mid-day. London is reaching fever pitch and it's all over the television (unfortunately for the grumpy's) hard to avoid. For me it is a pleasure to be distracted, albeit only for a day, from all the woes and worries in the news just lately. Tiny tidbits of news are sneaking out but thankfully nothing sensational like the dress though there are suggestions it is from the house of Alexander McQueen.
On the food and drink front: of the 1900 guests invited to the Abbey for the service just a mere 600 have been invited back to the palace for a lunch-time reception where reputably 10,000 canapés will be served and guests will drink Pol Roger champagne and £8.50-a-bottle Chapel Down white from Tenterden in Kent. . An even more select crowd of 300 will attend the evening dinner hosted by the Prince of Wales where - rumour has it - the Swiss chef Anton Mosimann is cooking.
According to the Independent newspaper yesterday, the wedding will be marked across the UK by around 5,500
street parties: 298 of them in Hertfordshire, 85 in Richmond upon Thames - and none in Glasgow. Up to 500,000 people are expected to attend such parties, and, according to one estimate, around 2.5 million cocktail sausages and 700 miles of bunting will be used. Beer consumption is likely to be up by 100 million pints.
If you haven't yet planned your street party there is barely time now but maybe someone will let you crash there's.
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British Ploughman's Lunch
The long Easter holiday weekend is over and I have enjoyed every scrap of festive food, from the hot cross buns last Friday, a fabulous Roast Lamb Easter Sunday lunch and of course, copious amounts of chocolate. So it felt good to get out into the fresh air of the beautiful Northumberland coast and walk off the excesses of the festive food (and drink).
A 2 hour hike along the almost deserted beaches around
Warkworth and
Alnmouth which are both part of an
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, necessitated a visit to the pub, a couple of pints of real ale and a
Ploughman's Lunch. This one was a traditional "Ploughman's" with great hunks of
British Cheese cheeses, crusty bread,
pickled onions and a dollop of chutney on the side. The perfect end to a perfect weekend.
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Photo © StockExpert
With friends here for the Easter weekend, breakfast is an extra special affair today. Time to read the papers or simply linger round the table chatting makes a welcome change from breakfast on a busy working day.
It is probably the time for a
Full English Breakfast but as we are having a full on Sunday Lunch today I fancy something a bit different. Am thinking maybe a stack of delicious
Crempog - Welsh Pancakes or
American Pancakes which can be served almost the same way as a full English with some crispy bacon. Yum.
I can always make a scaled down full breakfast on an
English Muffin with a slice of bacon or a sausage and a large spoonful of scrambled egg, maybe
Eggs Benedict? Or I can sit here thinking and we'll end up with nothing. Pancakes it is.
The Irish do St Patrick's in such style, the Welsh openly celebrate St David, as do the Scots with Andrew but St George celebrations are fractional in comparison. This year the day has further sunk into oblivion because it falls on the Easter weekend.
We have such great
food and drink so the least we can do is celebrate that surely. Think traditional English food and what springs to mind but Fish and Chips, Roast Beef, Yorkshire Puds, Afternoon Tea, a pie and a pint, a fat stodgy pudding .... I could go on. Here's a collection of
St George's Day Recipes and Drinks, try telling me there isn't something in there worth celebrating.
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