London 2010 – Day Three

Don’t forget to set the alarm clock when jet laggy. Otherwise, you might wake up at 1PM like I did today!

 
First thing, I ran down to do some quick shopping on Oxford Street. I lavishly spent £17 on a cab ride from our hotel since I slept in so late. I visited Evans (a woman’s plus-sized chain) and New Look (kind of trendy teenager shop with a plus-size line). Considering the cab splurge, I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t find anything to buy.

 

I headed down to Leicester Square to meet Karla for our fabulous tea. She showed me some great sights along the way, including lovely book shops, some awesome shopping arcades, and the amazing Fortnum & Mason.

 
Even more fabulous was our afternoon tea destination: The Wolseley. Unfortunately, since it’s a favorite celebrity hangout (Kate Moss, Elton John & Ralph Fiennes), no photography is allowed… so once again you’ll have to do a google image search to see it.

The interior is grand art deco with some subtle asian touches and lots of shiny black lacquer, marble and gold leaf accents. The afternoon tea (£19 each) includes choice of tea, finger sandwiches, scones and pastries. The presentation is gorgeous. The teapots, tea strainers, jelly/clotted cream pots, silverware, honey pot and three-tiered, domed cake stand are all gleaming silverplate. The butter knife and forks are tiny and sweet.

The finger sandwiches included cucumber, roast beef, smoked salmon, egg and cheddar/chive. I have to admit, I’d read about cucumber sandwiches many times in Victorian novels and never thought they sounded very tasty… but in fact, they are pretty darn yummy and delicate. Karla said that the cucumbers are peeled, sliced very thin, salted and pressed for some time to extract the water before they are served with a very thin layer of cream cheese.

I’ve never had real scones, freshly made English scones before. They look a lot more like American biscuits than the big, triangular scones I’m used to. The top and bottom are glazed with egg wash and nicely browned. Evidently, the way you combine your scone with clotted cream and jam says a lot about who you are and how classy you are. I chose to enjoy mine just like Karla did – the Scottish way, I think she said – with a big fluffy smear of clotted cream and then topped generously with homemade strawberry jam. I’d never had clotted cream before either. It’s like a combination of whipped cream and butter – insanely rich and creamy. Together with the scones and jam, it was so delicious I wanted to cry.

By the time we got to the pastry segment of the tea, I was running out of room. The selection of bite-sized delectables included a chocolate-dipped meringue, an eclair, a chocolate mousse cake, a Victoria sponge, a Battenburg Cake, and a Grand Marnier cake filled with redcurrant jam and topped with fresh redcurrants.

What a gorgeous afternoon with such delightful company. Thank you, dear Karla, for an experience that I’ll never forget.

After Karla and I parted ways, I went back to Fortnum & Mason to just stare at the candy, teas and china. Such a pretty store. It was so quiet and spacious. And expensive. I saw a candle for £150. Yowza! I was lucky to escape for under £5. But it was very, very difficult. I highly recommend checking it out – the gorgeous window displays and impressive tea counter alone are worth it.

Next, I wandered through Chinatown. Coming from San Francisco, where we have the largest Chinatown outside of Asia, London’s Chinatown seems small — and mostly consists of restaurants — but it’s got to be the cleanest Chinatown in the world. It’s almost like Disney Chinatown. I had to take a picture of the trash bins a back alley just to feel like it was real and not just a set. I think I may head back tomorrow for a massage.

 
Lastly, on my way home, I stopped off at our neighborhood Tesco again. This time, I brought the camera and spent a lot of time in the canned goods aisles. You can see the results below. I bought the canned hot dogs for Jose. I also bought some Fairy “washing up liquid” because all of the wine glasses are dirty and won’t fit in our mini dishwasher.

Can’t wait for tomorrow. This time, I WILL set the alarm clock.

 

Related posts:

1. London 2010 – Day Four