I LOVE JIGSAWS

I saw a jigsaw of the city of Barcelona when we were there recently. It had layers of maps and models of buildings and was really attractive.
I love jigsaws so when we got back I "googled" one of London. Amazon obliged.

The joiner was working on the upstairs cloakroom and so I got him to cut me a piece of ply to fit the jigsaw which was an unusual shape and would need to be carted around during its assembly.

The first layer was a map and story of London in 1666, the year of The Great Fire.

The second layer was much more complicated and was made of foam rubber covered with a paper picture layer of the streets in the present day. Some pieces were shaped to fit corners and bridges and buildings.

The models of the buildings were to fit into the spaces in the foam! Like this section of Canary Wharf.

And the last part was very satisfying. Positioning the the buildings to show the skyline.

The completed jigsaw sits well on the board and has pride of lace on the sideboard for a while. It will get dismantled and passed round the family next.

The board was an off-cut from the floor of the new cloakroom on the top floor which is all finished now and waiting for some carpet on Tuesday.

 I came home from Art Class with a picture of York...or mostly York and some invented bits.

It looks quite good in the new cloakroom!

All this is just in time for Summer guests, the first of whom arrive within the week.
Cheers Gillian

Eating Italian in Smithfield, London and Pub Grub at The Flask in Highgate

I didn't bother to take the camera's battery charger on holiday. I might have made it if I hadn't left the camera on and then held it by touching the screen. The touch screen took a continuous photo of the palm of my hand and then ran out of power, so the links on this post will lead you to some lovely illustrations and background info.

The property we stayed in at Smithfield, was above an Italian Restaurant so we very happily trotted downstairs on our first evening to have an "Italian". It was called Amico Bio and was rustic, warm and friendly and could fit us in on a Friday night. It was only after we had perused the menu for a while that we realised it specialised in vegetarian, organic, ... and if wanted...vegan and gluten free. DJ had wanted some chicken and I had fancied a pizza with pepperoni and stuff on it. So a complete re-think produced broccoli and cauliflower fritters, followed by cheese and spinach stuffed ravioli in a tomato and basil sauce. All absolutely delicious and pics of the ravioli are on their website on the link above. But I do still think that I greatly prefer real Parmesan cheese rather than the soy version

The next night we went to Carluccio's. There, we did get some chicken. Chicken schnitzels with green salad. They were delicious, freshly prepared and tasty. This is a modern, high ceilinged, well lit place but comfy and friendly too. Plenty of real, tasty parmesan on this meal

The third night, still not having had the pizza that I yearned for, we went to Attila's on the Farringdon Station side of Smithfield Market. We had nearly been lured in before by their spruiker but he was hard to resist when we were so hungry. We snuggled into the corner at the far end and buried ourselves in the menu. Once again the pizza lost out and I plumped for the Spaghetti Carbonara and DJ for the Fettucine and Meatballs.
Absolutely wonderful and a bowl of parmesan just for me. These were followed by espressos and limoncellos and smiles all round. There is no website but the reviews here do just as good a link.

On the Monday we caught a No.4 bus from the Barbican to Archway and then climbed slowly up Highgate Hill through Waterlow Park and then the High Street shops until we reached The Flask. It was a gloriously sunny day again and the pub garden was full but we had reserved a window table just inside and were joined by more family for a big lunch and lots of natter.
Our last day started early...not only had the smoke alarm started to beep at 5.15am...but we had decided to visit the Smithfield Meat Market before we caught the train home. We therefore travelled up to Darlington with a couple of fillet steaks for our tea!

I suppose it will have to be back to the diet now. If we stick to it, the 5:2 diet seems to work well. Two days of fasting/controlled intake, somewhere in the week seems little effort to have to make for the benefit it gives.
That is until about 5pm. Something often happens about then that melts the resolve so easily set earlier in the day. Oh for more days in the week...

Cheers Gillian