Meatloaf, Coventry & Chester in February.

We are way behind on the blog. We will work to get up to date. 

One of the presents Mark received for Christmas was a Nigella Lawson cookbook from his Auntie Mary. Mark has always been a keen cook but, unlike Sally who can turn an odd collection of ingredients into a fabulous meal, he needs a recipe. In Damascus Mark was known for his fresh cherry & Cointreau cheesecake, in Jakarta for sticky date pudding and in Sydney & then Canberra for his Lindt chocolate mousse. Of course, the kids have long loved his 'Daddio's' home made pizza. Over the last 12 months both kids have started to show interest in cooking, especially William. Each Tuesday night (the only weeknight when nothing is going on !) they choose a dish  to cook with as little help from us as possible.

A recent highly successful dish was Nigella's meatloaf. The kids made it from scratch and then devoured it, accompanied by the calming tones of 'Bat out of Hell' by who else but ........Meatloaf!

Will's scout group recently ran a fundraising where parents pledged to cook a dish which others bid for. Sally's world famous pavlova, which has featured in too many dining photos in this blog, had so many bids she agreed to make it twice for the highest bidders. The kids' meatloaf was also bid for and will be cooked at some stage for the winner.

As mentioned in the previous post, December and early January were quite mild and dry with generally clear skies. Our trip to Chester, on the mid west coast of the UK coincided with the beginnings of some bitterly cold, windy and very grey weather in February. 

On the way we stopped again at Coventry, famed for its Lady Godiva nude horse riding and, more significantly, for the WWII bombings. Coventry's history is amazing and is recounted vividly in a previous post. http://struttingaroundlondon.blogspot.co.uk/2011_10_01_archive.html

ONE OF THE WORLD'S LARGEST TAPESTRIES
HANGS IN THE NEW CATHEDRAL.

THE STAINED GLASS WINDOW
OF THE NEW CATHEDRAL.

LOOKING DOWN ON THE RUINS OF
THE OLD CATHEDRAL.

We drove to Chester via Coventry one week after going to Dover and Richborough fort, the site of the 2nd Roman invasion in 43AD (entertainingly described in this  post http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=7793500779359320440&postID=1552010363192803066). Chester represents the other end of the Roman occupation of England. It was founded as a Roman fort named Deva Victrix in 79 AD. A civilian town grew up around the fort and it went on to become a major settlement of this far flung province of the Roman Empire. The Deva fortress was significantly larger than any other Roman fort at the time (the amphitheatre was to be the largest in Britain) and this has led some historians to suggest that originally Chester was intended to be the capital of Roman Britain rather than London. After the Romans left in the 5th century the Saxons fortified the outlying town against the Danes and renamed the whole thing Chester.

 A recreation of the Roman settlement at Chester.

There is extensive Roman history still evident here, such was the size of the Roman fort and settlement. While Chester has some of the best preserved Roman walls in the country, with all but 100 meters of the original walls still standing, a lot of history must have been built over. A classic example of this are the pitiful remains of the Roman baths hidden away, but still accessible, under a 'spudUlike' takeaway baked potato shop. The remains were far grander when originally found during modern construction work. Tragically, the fine mosaics of the baths were mysteriously destroyed before archaeologists could examine them fully. 

PART OF THE ROMAN BATHS' HYPOCAUST SYSTEM.

We took a Roman tour of Chester which operates out of a tiny shopfront next door to the Grosvenor museum. The shopfront was full of replica clothing and scaled down weaponry which William ended up trying on. Our initial expectations were not high as it all looked very kitch but we soon found that we had stumbled upon a goldmine of Roman knowledge and enthusiasm. Our Roman guide 'Ngias' turned out to have a double degree in Roman history and was an archaeologist before turning ' fully Roman'. What was supposed to be a one hour group tour turned into more than two hours of personalised tour. While we were rugged up, Ngias was wearing authentic Roman clothing right down to hobnailed sandals - without socks ! It was cold but excellent and had us not only looking forward to our planned trip to Rome in April but also promising ourselves we would return to Chester for its annual Roman festival in June. http://ancient-warfare.org/rat.html?func=view&catid=23&id=302568&view=entrypage

AT THE CHESTER ROMAN AMPHITHEATRE.

By sheer coincidence, rather than good planning, we were in Chester for Chinese New year and stumbled across the celebrations held in the town centre. The traditional fireworks at the end were surprisingly VERY loud.

While Chester has loads of Roman history, it also has a lot of more 'recent' history. It is known for its black & white buildings, which look medieval but are mostly Victorian.  Chester also has its famous 'Rows'. These are basically buildings with shops or dwellings on the ground floor which are often lower than the street level and sometimes lead to a crypt like vault. The first floor level have sloping covered walkways where market style traders would set up their wares each day, with shop entrances behind. These date from around the 12th century and, although their exact origins are obscure, it is thought they may have been built on top of Roman rubble. The Rows are unique to Chester and found nowhere else in the world. 

In between The Rows.

A wedding group walks through the centre
with The Rows behind.

Roman through the street of Chester.

We had a meal in 'The Brewery Tap Ale House' a pub in an old Jacobean 'great hall' dating from the the early 1600s. It was originally Gamul House, home to a wealthy merchant  - Sir Frances Gamul. King Charles 1st stayed here in 1645 during the battle of Rowton Moor, a decisive part of the civil war that took place just 3 miles from the town. Towards the end of the battle retreating royalist cavalry were chased back behind the Chester walls, choking up the narrow streets allowing advancing parliamentarian forces to fire into the the confused mass of men and horses. The king reportedly watched from the Roman walls as his troops lost the battle. 


Before Charles fled south through northern Wales (with the remaining 2,400 horses of the cavalry !) to his final defeat, imprisonment and execution in January 1649, he told his commander, Lord Byron, to surrender in 10 days if no relief army had arrived. There was no relief army but Byron decided to hold out for a further 20 weeks. The city was besieged and finally surrendered, due to starvation, on 3rd February 1646. 


A huge amount of damage had been done to the city and, to add to the city’s problems, an outbreak of the plague occurred in the same year killing nearly two thousand people, about a fifth of the population. After the war Sir Frances, who survived the plague, had most of his land and property confiscated by Parliament.  

The bar in front of the 16th century Jacobean fireplace.

We are all well, having returned from an 11 day trip to Italy last week, and enjoying having numerous visitors from home - Sally's brother Tim and his wife Andrea and daughter Caitlin (3), Aisha’s best friend from Canberra, Rachel, and her dad as well as Rachel’s mum and her husband. 

It is a busy, slightly crowded time but great to catch up with everyone.

Last night,18th April, we went to see Matilda which was unbelievably good. How such young kids could have so much talent is incredible. 

This weekend we are hosting a street party and next week William reads a prayer at Westminster Abbey for ANZAC day. At the end of that week the kids are going gliding at Cambridge then the week after that we go to Paris with Tim and Andrea. Our next available free weekend is currently at the end of June.......