In the Kitchen: A Special Birthday

I had a very special birthday this year. Oscar took the day off of work and we spent the whole day together - just the two (and a half!) of us :)

We went to The Wolseley for breakfast. I had never heard of it before but it is pretty famous in London. Oscar reserved a couple of weeks in advance and they only had a couple of tables left ... on a regular Tuesday morning! I had a decaf cappuccino and we split a mini pastry basket. It was the perfect start to a wonderful day.

At The Wolseley. The building itself was really pretty. Very "old town" London :)

After that, we walked to Harrod's. While we didn't have great weather, it didn't rain so we could at least be outside. Oscar gave me a special watch for my birthday but it was too big. And, since I wanted to wear it right away, we went to Harrod's to get it sized. We had fun just walking around the store for a while. They have some of the most outrageous things there. Nothing that I would ever buy but it is still fun to look at.

Then, we had some time to kill before our afternoon tea reservation. We were in the neighborbood, so we decided to go the the Natural History Museum. We stopped in on the weekend that we had visited London - long before we knew we would be living here - but didn't stay for long so we wanted to go back. It is a great museum and one I am sure we will go back to again.

We spent most of our time at the dinosaur exhibit and the human mind/body exhibit. The human mind/body section was so fun. There are lots of little games that help demonstrate how the mind works. It was very interactive and had things like memory excercises, optical illusions, and left brain/right brain tests. It was really interesting.

I love this picture Oscar took. There were too little dinosaurs that moved but their shadows were the best part.

There was a whole section on pregnancy. It was neat to read about the different stages and see how far our little one has come. Oscar, of course, took a picture of me reading the part about labor and delivery.

After the museum, we went to afternoon tea at Brown's Hotel. It came very highly recommended from my cousin, Leah, and is a part of the British Tea Guild. I had only been to afternoon tea at a hotel once before with my mom and Angela. I really enjoyed the experience and wanted to go again. Oscar had never been and was a little hesitant about it but he ended up having a good time.

We had the best table in the whole place. A quaint little table right infront of the fireplace and next to the piano :) (PS - Oscar doesn't drink tea - or any hot liquid for that matter - so he had orange juice!)

The dessert top tier. There was even a cake trolley that came around, too. I had to try the Victoria Sponge. Pretty tasty!

Second tier are scones. They were really, really good! The strawberry jam and clotted cream that went with them were out of this world. Oscar said that next time he is skipping the clotted cream, though. Not that he didn't like it but it is really rich and fills you up fast.

Sandwich tier. I love finger sandwiches and the English ones are the best. I had a separate plate for me since I couldn't eat smoked salmon or fresh mayonaise. My favorite sandwich was cheese and onion chutney - yum!

I had the afternoon tea blend - one of my favorites!

There was a live pianist that played beautifully.

The one who made my day so special.

I can't think of a better way to have celebrated turning 30. I also saw it as a final farewell of being "newlyweds" before we become a family of three. I have so many things to be thankful for this year and I know next year will bring so much joy, happiness and adventure. I am so blessed!