Journal installment #9

The “Eye” from across River Thames.

Sand art on the Thames, done by a group protesting dirty beaches, thus the huge rat you see all stretched out here.

Excerpts from an English Journal,
Part Nine

Tuesday, March 17: Today is our second trip into London and the last one before I leave next week. We’re planning to spend the day browsing around and see another play this evening. I have to get dressed soon as Jo is driving us to the station so we don’t have to take the bus this time. The weather is nice but it is windy again. Still typical March weather but that means London will probably be twice as cold as Chelmsford!

Evening: Weather-wise, it was a beautiful day, albeit a chilly one, but not as cold as the first one we spent here. The wind seems twice as vicious when it’s blowing off the water anyway. It was another day of walking too. We probably covered 5-6 miles total. We went across the Thames and back twice, using a different bridge each time.

We behaved like children, eating sweets all day, but we did have some excellent pizza and the best Bruschetta con Peperonata I’ve ever eaten at The Strada at Royal Festival Hall on South Bank, London. It was served on chargrilled ciabatta with warm caramelized pepper and onion peperonata, crumbled goats cheese and fresh basil. If I had that recipe I might start cooking more often.

While it was fun to see so many different things, the highlight once again was seeing a play. This time, we chose “The Thirty-Nine Steps.” It turned out to be an excellent choice. In my wildest dreams I could never have imagined how entertaining a Hitchcock thriller turned into a comedy with just a four-person cast would be. There was a short intermission about half way through but the whole show moved rapidly with never a down moment from start to finish. It was truly a great performance and well worth the money to see it.

This show was at the Criterion Theatre on the south side of Piccadilly Circus. It’s a relatively small theater with less than 600 seats. The most interesting thing though is that aside from the box office, the entire theater is underground and is reached by descending a tiled stairway.
Columns are used to support both the dress circle and upper circle, thereby restricting the view of many of the seats but our seats were in the center with an excellent vantage point. The unique design keeps you from feeling as though you are underground. I’m not sure I was aware of it until we had to climb the stairs to leave.

It’s a lovely building with a long history. It was opened as a theater in March 1874 even though the original plans were for it to be a concert hall. It closed in 1883 to improve ventilation and to replace its gaslights with electric lights. It reopened in 1884 and closed again in 1989 for extensive refurbishing. It opened once again in October 1992 and has maintained a full time schedule since then.

There’s so much to see and learn in London but it would take several days there alone to see it all and even then you probably couldn’t do it justice. I’d like to see more of London at a later date but I don’t think I want to walk that much again for a while. At least not there. The countryside here is far too beautiful and interesting to spend most of my time walking up and down city streets.

We got back around midnight and again took a taxi home. It was a wonderful day just as my whole trip has been thus far but I told Richard I’d like t slow down a bit. We’re already committed for some lunch and dinner dates but other than that, I’d like to take the rest of the visit a step at the time. We only have eight days left (seven really because I leave on the 8th one) and I’d like to have some personal, relaxing time before I return to the states. We’re thinking of going away for a couple of days but haven’t decided where yet.

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Unfortunately, La Strada wasn’t as generous with recipes as Chef Tristen at Waterfront Place was but I did find a similar recipe. You could use ciabatta in place of Italian bread for similar results. This dish is definitely worth the little extra prep time it takes to prepare it.

Peperonata con Bruschetta
(Sweet Pepper Toasts)

2 T. extra-virgin olive oil
1 T. sweet butter
2 medium red onions, diced into 1/4-inch pieces
2 large red bell peppers, diced into 1/4-inch pieces
2 large yellow bell peppers, diced into 1/4-inch pieces
1 clove garlic, minced
4 cloves garlic, sliced in half
3 ripe plum tomatoes, diced into 1/2-inch pieces
Salt and pepper, to taste
8 slices Italian peasant bread
8 basil leaves, finely cut

Preheat a grill or broiler. Heat the oil and butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions and peppers and cook over high heat for 4 minutes. Stir in minced garlic, cook for 30 seconds, add tomatoes and simmer 5 minutes to thicken. Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Grill the bread for 2 minutes on each side. Rub one side of each slice of bread with the cut side of 1/2 a garlic clove. Top each slice of bread with a heaping spoonful of pepper mixture, sprinkle with basil and goats’ cheese and serve immediately.