WHampstead

Other places (including The Gallery and The Alice House in WHampsteas) sell Monmouth Coffee, but the HQ in Borough does, I believe, roast its own on the premises (this is one of the reasons people go a bit potty over it).

The cricket season is almost over, so this may be your last chance, and it should be entertaining as these charity things usually are.

PatrickLondon

Imelda Staunton is lovely. Mostly known for being funny (she was fussy Miss Pole in Cranford - "Out of my way! There is lace at stake!") but also excellent in Mike Leigh drama - Vera Drake, for one example. And I first saw her as Miss Adelaide in the National Theatre's Guys and Dolls. You can check her out on Youtube, too.

Mathieu

Complete agreement about Imelda Staunton.
She's amazing, and what a range of characters. Her Miss Pole was funny as hell (remember the scene when they are running in panic in the dark foggy night pursued by who-knows-what and one of them is in that carriage box being held aloft by two running servants), and Vera Drake was brilliant. She was my hope for the Best Actress Academy Award that year. I think I recall her also in Kenneth Brannagh's 'Much Ado About Nothing' which also starred Emma Thompson.

Mathieu

Oh, and she was 'Mother' in Gerald Durrell's "My Family And Other Animals". Not a great production except for her.

annhig

(There's a plaque saying that the cinema was opened in 1968 by Emma Thompson, one of my favourites). >>

do you mean 1986? she was nine in 1969! [b. 1959]

cod, leeks, samphire and a huge slice of puffball mushroom.>>

how was the dinner? this year, we found our first puffball in the garden. How did you cook it? we egged and bread-crumbed slices as suggested in a cook book and whilst it was OK, I wouldn't cross the road to eat it again, unlike samphire, which we really like. We have occasionally picked from local creeks or bought from local fishmongers, but it's not easy to find, even here.

goddesstogo

I must mean 1986. Or maybe she was a child prodigy cinema opener!

SO just cut up the puffball slice and sauteed it and it was boring. What a disappointment. I love mushrooms cooked any which way but the puffball was sort of mushy and flavourless. I would not cross the same road with you to eat one again. We didn't have the samphire tonight but I'm looking forward to that. The leeks were good though -- sauteed in a bit of butter and then steamed in vegetable broth. I usually use chicken broth but they were out.

WHampstead

Puffballs - slice thickly and fry off fairly quickly in butter with garlic/black pepper. When I was very little it was the only mushroom I really liked (this may have been largely due to the fact that my Dad used to forage them and I'd go with him, so there was a bit of father/son bonding involved). Sprinkle with parsley when serving. But key to keep them thick. Egg & breadcrumbing them also works, but needs to be thin covering and fried v.quickly. Like all mushrooms they absorb liquid like there's no tomorrow.

It's not the world's most flavoursome fungi, but does have a certain charm. Very hard to get hold of now. Am impressed Borough had one - I've not noticed them there, although I think this is a good time of year for them.

Samphire is fantastic - some proper fishmongers on the coast will just throw some in for you if you've bought a decent amount of fish (this doesn't happen at Waitrose). Is delicious though.

goddesstogo

That puffball was gigantic. If I saw it in a field and didn't know what it was, I'd think it was an alien. I'll stick with portobellos, thank you.

carolyn

I am so enjoying your report. I love London and a trip such as yours is on my bucket list.

WHampstead

Realised when I said Jim Broadbent I meant Jim Carter (The Golden Compass, Shakespeare in Love, and a LOT of TV). D'oh.

Morningglory47

Enjoying your report, gtg and agree with you Mathieu - Imelda Staunton in Vera Drake should have won the Oscar as Best Actress that year.

Googled samphire - looking forward to hearing if you liked it. It doesn't look edible....

janisj

oh-- jeeze -- after we've all convinced GtG that they'd recognize Jim Broadbent

OK - Jim Carter (makes sense since they are married to each other) . . . . Shakespeare in Love and the Cranfords

Here are photos w/ Imelda http://tinyurl.com/29moeup

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mayhewa...me/3379593600/

emily71

Perhaps Mr. Broadbent will be there too...

goddesstogo

Well, today I chatted with Imelda Staunton and Emma Thompson. I was so taken by the homemade cake table, I didn't look up to see that the person selling me my slice was ET. In fact, it was her own 'cold tea cake' that I'd bought, made in her very own kitchen this morning (she said, and who am I to call her a liar). She was lovely and friendly and just the way she's always seemed in the movies. I'm going to add her to my imaginary dinner party list.

Imelda Staunton is a petite lady and as soon as I saw her, I recognized her from Sense and Sensibility. She was prepared to sell us ET's cake recipe ('for charity, after all'). We also met her dog, Molly.

The only other person I recognized was Jim Broadbent (Bridget Jones' father). I don't see enough British TV to recognize anyone else and I'm so bad at that anyway. I rarely remember actors. Once, when I was a teenager, I sat through about 3/4 of the movie Finnian's Rainbow and turned to my girlfriend and said "You know who would have been great in that role? Fred Astaire." She looked at me, paused, and said "That IS Fred Astaire."

There were also well-known cricket players there but I certainly wouldn't have known any of them. I loved the atmosphere, though. It wasn't rows of seats in a stadium. It was a park with a few benches and folding chairs that people brought with. There were families having picnics and little kids dressed up in costumes (I don't know why -- there were a lot of tutus and princess dresses and a child painted green with frog eyes). Aside from the cakes tent, there was face-painting, a display of how cricket bats are made, a police tent with giveaways like colouring books and pens, a tent for kids to paint murals, and a hotdog and hamburger bbq/Pimm's tent. We chatted with many very nice people including Jonathan who was there with his friend, a young woman who formerly lived in Canada but now lives in London, and a woman who was a doctor in Manchester but who has now moved here. She was a big cricket fan. We stayed till after the mid-game break tug of war and then walked down to the main road for lunch.

Home for dinner tonight and then maybe a drink at the pub.

Thanks, Jonathan, for letting us know about this!

(Morninglory, we've already tried the samphire. It was served to us in a restaurant and we liked it so much there, we went on a hunt for it.)

Mathieu

"...Well, today I chatted with Imelda Staunton and Emma Thompson." and "... BBQ/Pimms tent..."

OK, now I'm jealous.

WHampstead

So, after all that, Jim Carter AND Jim Broadbent were there!

However, the most exciting news was that I won a fantastic prize in the raffle at the end of the match - won't mean much to the non cricket fans, but was a bat signed by three England captains and others. VERY excited.

goddesstogo

Jonathan, that's great! I didn't even understand what half the prizes were -- I was only after the dinner for four at the restaurant on West End Lane. No one's called me so I guess none of my raffle tickets were winners. Never mind.
I'm saving myself for the lottery

Mathieu, what? NOW you're jealous? Just NOW? I'd have been jealous of me all along!

emily71

@Mathieu- LOL. You and me both. Especially since I'm reading this whilst doing the laundry.

@WHampstead congrats on the cricket bat.

TDudette

We sat next to a very nice gentleman in a Paris resto who tried to explain cricket in 100 rules or less to my DH. Wish I was there!

goddesstogo

Hey! I do the laundry! Only I do it at a laundromat in London.