Aylesbury, England

[Sundae]

Off to Waitrose to browse exotic and strange and lovely things.
I wanted the edible flowers for my salad days, but aside from eating them on the bus I acknowledged they were't really appropriate.

Got the ingredients for my fish stew - yay!
Also talked Mum into buying some blinis so next time the girls come round she can have them as canapes. I think they sell them in Sainsbury's, but you can never guarantee items will be in stock there. Anyway they were on special offer and freeze well. She also got some uncooked prawns for the Gambas Pil Pil recipe her SIL gave her.

And then she had to dash off to the toilet, leaving me with her card!
Oops.
Well, I was good. I did buy some ribs, but that's for the Sunday dinner I'm cooking for Dad & Stevo while she's away house-sitting, so it's not like I bought hard liquor and drank it in the bathroom or something. Ribs is in freezer awaiting September.

I went through the self-checkout and the lady monitoring it sidled up to me and told me my hair had brightened up her day. Which pleased me no end. Except I was a bit paranoid that she was checking out the name on the card and the fact I have no wedding ring on. Ridiculous - my own card has Mrs on it and I've never been asked about my lack of ring!

An old lady on Thame market complimented my hair too. VERY well to do, tweed skirt & pearls. She didn't look me in the eye and disappeared into the crowd immediately, as if she'd been passing underground information. It was great.

[DanaC]

Now, see, that bacon looks tasty to me :P Just the right amount of golden brown.

Great pics and write up chika. Thame looks great. I love those highly individual little market towns. And yes, I can smell the money from here lol.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by Sundae

Off to Waitrose to browse exotic and strange and lovely things.

When I was in Waitrose just before Easter, I thought it was cool that they had goose eggs for sale.

[DanaC]

I used to like goose eggs. But then I went off them. Just a bit too...eggy.


[eta]my local Sainsbury's sells a lot of odd stuff. Local produce and 'world foods'. i noticed that Cherry often seems to struggle to find less common items in her local sainsburys and I wonder if it's because there are fewer places like waitrose around here.

[Sundae]

It's more because we have a very small Sainsbury's, in an area with highly restricted delivery times. I worked there, as did my brother. deliveries seemed to turn up randomly, with fifteen kinds of liversausage and no sugar. It's just unreliable.

They sell world foods and more than your local corner shop. Just no edible flowers or lobster tails.

Some Waitroses sell ostrich eggs!

[DanaC]

We definitely don't get ostrich eggs :p

Quail eggs though, sure.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by DanaC

I used to like goose eggs. But then I went off them. Just a bit too...eggy.

I would have liked to try one, but they were pretty expensive. Sure, they are bigger, but you could buy two dozen chicken eggs for the price of one goose egg.

[DanaC]

The last time I ate goose eggs, they weren't that expensive. They were about the same price as a half dozen free range chicken eggs. Mind you, they were smaller than those goose eggs.

[Clodfobble]

You can get goose eggs and duck eggs around here, but they're mostly only purchased by people who are allergic to chicken eggs (most people with a typical chicken egg allergy can eat other fowl eggs just fine.) They are expensive here too.

[DanaC]

Yeah, duck eggs are a bit too eggy for my taste too.

[Sundae]

Went to Oxford with Mum on Friday.
Her suggestion - I think she likes to get out of the house as much as she likes me to be out of the house.
Dad was invited but he had too much to do.

Got the 280, same as we did to Thame. It's a lovely bus ride.
Got pole position again - front seats at the top.
Bus left late because it changed drivers. I've always noticed this - the drivers don't get on until the ETD and then spend time faffing about as well as the time it takes for the passengers to get on. We left at 11.15 instead of 11.00 and then the man drove like an old granny. Meh. Like to see how supermarkets or schools coped if the staff didn't start prep until they were paid to.

As we approached Oxford, Mum wanted to get off before Cornmarket. No point sez I, we're off up the Woodstock Road. We'll get off at the bus station. She's the one with the gammy knee after all.
She didn't like this. Tuts and mutters and then outright comments like "Well! I hope you know where we are because to me we're heading out of Oxford now!"

Must admit, a bit confussed about the route we were taking, but I did know where we were, perfectly well. The route obviously went via the railway station now. I mean, I know Oxford, I'm not exactly an innocent abroad there. Then we stopped, and the miserable old giffer came huffing and puffing up the stairs and looked at us and the other two passengers with disgust. "RAILWAY STATION!"

I felt like saying, "Yes dear, I can read." But instead said, "Is this the last stop?"
"Yes. Railway Station."
"You don't go to the bus station then?"
"No. Never has."

No thank you or goodbye from me then.
They certainly used to go to the bus station in the days I went to Oxford every weekend. Mum pointed out this was a long time ago - well, yes. Still made the miserable old git ignorant or a liar though.

I swallowed my pride, apologised to Mum. Told her we were still closer to our destination than if we'd got off earlier and tried to brush off her sulks. It worked, I think. By the time we crossed the road she recognised where we were - I think coming in by road, via a one-way system, she probably did feel like she was miles away. Once she spotted Yo! Sushi and the theatre she realised we were to the West of the centre and going in the right direction.

Things got better from here.

[Sundae]

Mum wanted to go to the Oratory.
Last time she went was in the Winter and some sort of relic was being displayed.
The whole place was lit with lights and candles, all the gilt was shining and there were flowers everywhere.

FFWD to August 2012 and an ordinary day. No special flowers, a few candles lit for prayer and no lights on as it was a fine day.
She knelt to pray but was disappointed. I did feel for her. Still, I had a good chat with the Caretaker (Olympids and Paralympics) and he gave me carte blanche re photos. The only person praying was Mum, so being careful of her mood I still only took a few.

Outside.
From the entrance.

[Sundae]

I thought it beautiful anyway, but I suppose when something doesn't quite live up to your memory, it's disappoint.

Fresco. Which hasn't been updated by a mad old biddy.
Side Chapel.

[Sundae]

Then off to Browns, which is more or less next door.

NOW.
I have been to Browns more than once. In more than one location and more than once in Oxford.
I came out happy, but it was not a completely happy experience. Little, little things. But when you pay what we did for bar snacks (and cocktails ) I think you should feel wonderful. Harvey Nicholls was great. Browns is not Harvey Nicholls and I felt... out of place. Uncomfortable. Unwelcome, to an extent. Hmmmmm.

When I've been before, I've been dining. Had a reserved table. Waited in the entrance for a server and been seated. This time we wanted the bar snacks well-advertised on the website and were unsure whether to wait or ask at the bar. We walked in hesitantly only to hear the people coming in after us say to the approaching server, "Yes, table for three." Rude gits.

The chap behind the bar noticed and sprang out and offered to seat us. Walked us into a section of the restaurant and started to hand us the menus. I said, "We were hoping to see the bar menu? The finger food?" Slight pause. I am obviously now a time waster. "Of course!" he recovers and takes us into the central area, telling me that there is no menu, the food available is on the blackboard. Leaves us to seat ourselves. I suppose for bar snacks you are supposed to walk straight in to do this, but how were we to know? I hate the staff superiority that comes from having to repeat the same thing over and over to customers. It means it's not clear in the first place.

Anyway, I accosted him a few minutes later to ask if we could order flatbread from the main menu as well as bar snacks. It even suggests it on the website. He acted slightly confused, as if I'd asked for kippers and jam. Yes, yes I could of course. He even deigned to get me one of the menus that had been whipped away from us earlier.

Oh, forgot to say that apparently the table sat next to where we were originally going to sit were all staring at me as if I had two heads. Mum was kind enough to tell me so after we sat down. She said to them, "Had a good look did you?" Now that doesn't sound like Mum, so I'm not sure. But it did make me feel very out of place, especially given the other little issues. I was too fat, too brash, dressed in too much colour and man-made fabric. Amongst those muted, linen, cotton and wool dressed people in their layered clothes despite the warmth of the day I wasn't a butterfly, I was an aphid.

So, we chose our cocktails and food.
And waited.
Not long, but our server hadn't indicated to us whether we ordered at the bar or were waited on, so for me it was a twitchy time. I hate not knowing the rules.

By this point I was feeling like that section in Sons and Lovers in the teashop, which they always used to use for English Comprehension, where the protagonist and his mother try to have a treat they can't really afford and are immediately spotted as such by the waitress.

I lied earlier, on reflection.
This is where things got better.

[Sundae]

The server who in the end was very nice, and friendly, and seemed to run the bar as well as the bar area, came to take our order. No pen, paper, electronic pad. Just memory. Colour us impressed.

I had a Kajuma to drink.
Disaronno Amaretto, Chambord, blueberry, pomegranate, lime and a touch of Shiraz
Oh it was good. I could have gulped at it like a drowning woman - tangy and fruity and Autumnal.

Mum has a taste for Champagne cocktails.
She had a Browns Bellini
For those whose bubbly must be French, Mercier Brut NV and white peach
(did I tell you I've had a Bellini in the place they were created - Harry's Bar in Venice?)