Islington with Mum

Posted on 2015/01/16 22:18:35 (January 2015).

[Sunday 11th January 2015]
Mum came to London today as she had a course in the afternoon in Islington. So after tea in the morning at the flat in Pimlico, we headed up to Angel together, where we went for lunch at The Gate, the second branch of a long running vegetarian restaurant, the other being in Hammersmith, one of those places we kept meaning to try at some point but never quite got round to. I have to admit I was a tad sceptical at first, as the menu looked like the typical confused mish-mash of global cuisine you often get in vegetarian restaurants. It's not that I don't like food from lots of different countries, but I question whether the same chef and kitchen can really make the best of so many different styles of cooking, and sets of ingredients. Anyway, perhaps as a happy accident, it turned out there was some problem with the kitchen today, and half the menu was unavailable - so the choices were limited to what seemed like a more manageable selection. Both Chie and I ordered the "aubergine schintzel", and both agreed it was actually quite good.

To my surprise, Erika fell asleep in my arms before any of the food arrived - it's very unusual for her to fall asleep anywhere but in her buggy in the daytime. It was rather lovely, although I did then feel a bit guilty that she missed out on the food. We managed to successfully transplant her into her buggy without waking her up, so the three of us grown-ups were able to have a relaxing meal without having to keep Erika entertained / try to shovel food into her mouth / stop her from getting down and running about. Albeit, as noted, with a twinge of guilt - particularly as we ended up eating the kid's meal we'd ordered for her.

After lunch Chie took Erika home, and Mum and I had a bit of a wander round Islington, before she went off to her course, and I headed up to the new flat to inspect the refurbishment work which had been started the day before. Impressively, although also slightly disconcertingly, the contents of the bathroom had been entirely removed, and placed rather unceremoniously in a big heap on our patio. Whilst it was good to see progress had already been made, I'd rather hoped the flat wouldn't have to go too long without at least a functioning toilet!

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