A Wicked time was had in London... but there was no chance of a ticket for Wimbledon tennis final
You know how celebrity chef Jamie Oliver spearheaded a campaign for healthier school meals in the UK?
Right, well I want to start my own slightly different child-focused food campaign and it’s to ensure a bland, entirely non-flavoured chicken nugget is served on all kids menus in restaurants. Why? I’ve an offspring who has what we shall call a selective palate which makes dining out a bit of a challenge (ie a total head melt), and as it’s holiday season we’ve been eating out a bit lately (so my head is totally melted).
Our fall-back option is always chicken goujons (yup, a fancier word for nuggets) which you assume would be a dead-safe option, right? Wrong! For some reason, most likely to indulge their culinary skills and perhaps because they’re not familiar with fussy, sorry selective eaters, chefs of late are inclined to get creative with the nugget and flavour the breadcrumbs with delicacies like dried parsley (sounds harmless enough but actually has quite a bang), lemon (why?), and all sorts of cajun seasoning (stop it).
Now, my smallie could get a job with the drugs unit as she can sniff out a dried herb a mile away so such things are never going to go down well, which basically means my meal won’t either. Here’s how it usually goes: we arrive at a restaurant, spot the familiar goujons on the menu, order them, they arrive, she takes a bite, her nose crinkles up and … my heart sinks. ‘Taste these,’ she will insist. And here’s where I have to put on an Oscar winning performance. ‘Oh these are really good, mmm, yum, exactly how I make them,’ I’ll enthuse, while being careful not to over-egg it either. She can smell a rat as quickly as the parsley. She’ll usually then chance another nibble before correctly identifying the offending flavour and that will be that. Chips it is then! Again.
So chefs far and wide, by all means get playful with the pasta, reconstruct the fish and chips, serve the sausage three ways and bang out whatever kind of burger you want, but please I beg of you, do nothing, nada, with the nuggets, except just a side of ketchup if you really must.
Emma’s smallie is not a fan of experimental chefs messing with the tried and true plain chicken goujon.
Anyway on to more exciting things. My husband celebrated a roundy birthday during the week and to mark the occasion we took a short trip across the pond to London. It’s been ages since I’ve been properly out and about in London and I was properly mind blown by its big-city energy. I know I sound like a proper country bumpkin (and I suppose I am), but coming from West Cork, I found the crowds and the constant waves of people coming at you at all times of the day and night, insane. It’s certainly not a place for the faint hearted, or the slow moving and I was nearly ‘killed’ twice: once by a cyclist who figured the ‘green man’ didn’t apply to him and once by a commuter on the escalator in the tube (my bad, I forgot you had to step to the side if you weren’t going to move at 120mph). Oh yes, there was also a third close encounter when a shop lifter charged right at us trying to escape from a shop with a pair of sunglasses. I was proper shook after that, although not as much as I was after a trip to the M&M shop, the world’s largest chocolate store at 35,000 square feet spread over four floors. Not surprisingly this was on the nine-year-old’s wish list and in my innocence I said we’d visit and getting totally carried away we picked up everything from M&M golf balls to personalised sweets. It was all fun and games and photo ops until I got to the check-out and nearly passed out when I got the bill (who knew tiny sweets cost so much!). Luckily the chap on the till had pity and gave me a free bag – small mercies and all!
Anyway, costly M&Ms and near-death (I jest) experiences aside I adored London. I was in my element as people watching is one of my favourite things to do and there was certainly a lot of very diverse people to look at (and probably explains how I kept nearly getting run over). With it being July the place was jammed with people from all over the globe. We walked miles, tried to see the crown jewels (I’d say we’d still be waiting the queue was so long); we tried to get close enough to see the changing of the guards, but couldn’t and we tried to go to Wimbledon. Just joking about that last bit, anyway Hugh Grant didn’t look like he was having such a great time. We did get to see ‘Wicked’ the musical and it was wicked (and a welcome reprieve to get indoors from 30 degree heat), we did get to the epic natural history museum where the biggest attraction were these huge oversized fans (I mentioned the heat right?) and I’m not certain but I also think I saw Ryan Tubridy which was a highlight for me. I didn’t get to say hello to him though because you have to keep moving on those footpaths. Anyway, I think we covered all the major landmarks inbetween ice-cream stops. Pretty much.
As lovely as it is to go away it’s always nice to come home, particularly into Cork airport where the staff are so friendly (and where walking at slower pace is acceptable). Hopping into the sea was the first thing we did when we got back and it never felt so good after scorching London even if there weren’t as many people to gawk at.
Finally, it’s Cúl Camp here this week which means it’s time to get reacquainted with packed lunches, catch up on some work and hatch a plan for the second half of the summer (I’m already hearing back-to-school ads!). Just joking – it’s a chance to enjoy some brief peace and quiet and get stuck into the M&Ms. Forget about seizing the day, it’s about seizing the moments.
