What's wrong with this picture...

Got this catalogue from our local bookstore the other day, with friendly holiday greeting on the back -- shown below. Look closely (or maybe not so closely) -- what's wrong with this message?

Oh dear. As someone who's sent proof-read brochures still containing an error, to newspaper editors across the country no less, I can sympathise... but I do wonder -- did they discover the error and think 'well, we've already spent on the printing, can't waste them', and hope no one would notice? Or do they still have no idea? Until someone's grandmother points it out after the fact, as mine did so many years ago...

9 courses -- but only room for about 6

Last night Ashley surprised me with 5-year-living-together-anniversary dinner out, complete with friendly neighbourhood babysitter (thanks Amber!)

And the surprise venue was a newish Kew restaurant called A Taste of McClements which, as the name suggests, has a tasting-menu style approach. Although I think they will make substitutions (the waiter asked us if everything on the menu looked ok), the basic plan is take what you get on the night. Our 9-course, 17-dish meal included foie gras (twice, in 2 different formats), game, tuna, lamb, pigs' trotters (presuming they came from multiple pigs), bouillabaise (also in 2 formats: one the typical soup; one just, well, chunks of fish), something called a chicken quenelle in a roquefort sauce, lobster, crab, scallops, chocolate cake, violet ice cream... Not so good for the vegetarian or kosher diet. Or anything but the see-food diet...

And how was it? Aside from a bit overwhelming, not bad. I was a little apprehensive before going, because while I'd wanted to try it out, I'd also read a not particularly appealing review (one of the nicer things they said was that everything was overly salty... at least that meant some flavour). The chef had clearly read that review -- most of the food was pleasantly not overly seasoned -- and there were some interesting combinations. I especially liked that unheard-of-before quenelle (yup, a delicate dumpling), and also the herb-encrusted lamb (accompanied by delicious dauphinoise potatoes, my fave). Unfortunately, however, the portions kept getting bigger and bigger as the meal went on. I wouldn't normally complain about getting an entire lamb chop with a meal... however after the 6 previous courses, it was a bit much. The tiny amuse-bouche and half-inch quenelle that started our dinner were misleading, to say the least -- I thought for sure I'd finish the entire thing, but had to throw in the towel pre-dessert, as interesting as they sounded.

A dining experience, to be sure, though I think it's one of those once-is-enough kind of places. And  with only 14 diners on a Saturday night, we may only have a limited time to experience it in any case. So I'm definitely glad we did - though wish I wasn't hungry again the next day!

A little indulgence

So I fiiiiiinally used my baby-shower-gift spa voucher, treating myself to a lovely pedicure morning at Cupcake, a cute spa / cafe / yummy mummy hotspot in Putney (thanks Carmen). The place is specifically geared to mums (and mums-to-be), so they even have a daycare -- but I left Paige home for this one. Public transport on your own is enough to impact that restful post-treatment feeling; wrestling Paige onto the train would not have helped!

The greatest (and most interesting, or at least interesting to anyone who's had a few pedicures) thing, was the pedicure was done lying down! (me, I mean, not the therapist). And it was on a super comfortable warm waterbed (but not too sloshy) table. It was so relaxing I almost fell asleep.

On the downside... pedicures in autumn only work if you have several hours to let the paint dry -- or you're willing to brave the cold in flip-flops. Which I'm definitely not. So the 85% of the pedicure that was not polishing was definitely worth it -- the painting not so much. Ah well -- still a fantastic morning...

C'mon Team Feme

(well, c'mon Team Female didn't really rhyme...)

In any case, Mom, Kara, and my legion of other female followers... get clicking here on the Trivial Pursuit Experiment, and bring victory to the women of the world -- we've got until 9 December to keep those horrid boys from winning -- and holding it over our heads forever. (Ashley still hasn't forgotten his Scrabble success of 2 Christmasses ago...)