Sunday 9 December 2007

A Night Out At Caprini

Yesterday I rang Dorothy, who was not feeling sociable and was having a bad day. This made me rather worried as to why so I emailed Julian who did not reply, so they were obviously both having a bad day. I do hope things are improving today , or one of them will let me know if I can help.

I had a funny Christmas card from my new brother, Mykel, which made me laugh, and another from a neighbour. Hortense and Robin turned up in the early evening, Hortense clutching a Christmas present for me which she tried to make me open. I insisted that I was a traditionalist and would have so little to open on Christmas Day that I would prefer to open it then.

We decided to go to Caprini, since they had not been there before. This time we had a table at the back of the restaurant since I was not keen to go upstairs. I think I will try upstairs next time, but downstairs is rather jolly and one can observe the other punters.

I started with my favourite egg mayonnaise which is so hard to find these days, especially with lots of salad bits, Robin ordered melon with Parma ham and Hortense settled for assorted cold meats, sausages, pate and olives, which turned out to be a vast plateful of food. We asked for tap water which came in a huge jug as well as glasses full, with ice and lemon, and we had half a litre of house red and ditto house white.

For mains Robin and I had garlic prawns with rice, and Hortense had a mixed seafood pasta. These were all enormous, and we were brought finger bowls afterwards. We absolutely could not face desserts, so came back for coffee. Chatting to the staff as is her wont, Hortense discovered that they were all Portuguese, and the manager/owner went back to Portugal for a few days every month to visit his parents there. The staff were very nice and helpful and the food delicious in an old-fashioned kind of way. It reminded me a lot of the cafes in Barcelona where I used to eat.

We came back for coffee and a chat and Hortense told me about some poor neighbours who would be happy for some bits and pieces, and also that the local women's shelter always needed sheets and other bedding. I shall go through my airing cupboard which is full to bursting to see what I can find. We parted at 1am, when my neighbour opposite was just arriving home with her 85 year old father from a jolly evening out. 'Hey! we should go to the Ministry for a dance now' she called over the road. 'Behave!' I replied, so we all said our farewells.

No comments: