The not-so-secret diary

A promised, some photos that reveal why St Albans is so popular with visitors both from UK and overseas. This is final in my series (for now at least). This was a beautiful building and garden that I spotted on the way from the rail station to the city centre. I took the scenic route rather than the short walk over the bridge. A view of St Albans Cathedral On the way from the cathedral to the little village nearby. The green by St Albans cathedral Japanese peace pillar behind the cathedral The winding road leading from the city centre to the countryside beyond. Monastery Close St Peter's church at the other end of town.                                                     ...

It's been almost exactly one year since I went to my last exhibition of Picasso's work which focused on his later works incorporating cubism as described in this post . Today morning a friend suggested we visit Somerset House and catch the latest Picasso exhibition before it moves from London. This is how I found myself looking at maybe two dozen or so works from Picasso's Blue Period. The small size of the exhibition belied our expectations but I was glad to have had the chance to view one of his earliest works 'Child with a Dove' which elicits a feeling of tenderness for both child and dove. The image below is from the internet as I did not take photos inside the exhibition.                      Source: http://www.picasso-art.com/picasso_child_with_dove.html Picasso's works in the Blue period were quite melancholy as he was influenced by several tragedies in his perso...

So before I post some postcard-worthy shots of St Albans, here is a final post on some of the Asian restaurants spotted in the city centre at St Albans. It is worth clarifying that there is a wide range of cuisine available in town  including, I assume, lots of pub-food going by the numbers of pubs within a mile radius of the town centre. I decided, once again, to succumb to "Asian restaurant voyeurism" which involves walking up to an Asian restaurant, reading the menu, peering into the interiors of restaurants and trying to guess from the wafting aroma whether this would be worthy of a visit at some future point. Usually I come to the conclusion that I could just as easily cook something at home and it might even taste more authentic. However this time I actually ventured into a restaurant. But more on that later-  first the round-up. First up was Koh-i-noor (like the diamond) Restaurant. When they say 'Bangladeshi and Indian' on their sign it usually means t...

I feel like I must continue with the non-cathedral focused St Albans theme for this post as well. After all I did walk past some very interesting, traditional English pubs all within a square mile or so of each other and all bustling with happy people on the almost-warm spring day I was there. On the way from the station to the town centre, this was a view of The Mermaid. As I approached The Peacock, music wafted through the windows. When I walked past the windows I saw couples dancing. "All that Jazz....". Giving company to The Peacock is The Peahen which lies about half a mile away, closer to the old town centre. The sign is on the black placard which was against the light and hence cannot be read properly in this photo. The Cock and St Albans Tandoori have a pride of place at the main crossroads in the town centre. Also at this main junction lies the Tudor-styled Blacksmith Arms Just across from the Blacksmith's is Darcy. The...

I don't know Lisa Harries and I haven't read Utopia (yet). I randomly hit upon ' Random Thoughts of a Plum ' a few years ago, found myself chuckling, giggling and smiling and decided to add her to my blogroll. I admit I haven't followed all (or many) of her posts but I do pop by now and then when something piques my interest. Most recently I read one that led to some dismay that this person (whom I don't really know but kind of feel I know) was almost letting go of her dream . So this post if for all those who dare to dream. I'm really excited  for Lisa, who is officially a published author now and her first book Utopia is available on Amazon for kindle users (and on smartphones via a free Kindle app I believe). So like I said I haven't read Utopia but I'm sure it'll be fantastic if her blog writing style is anything to go by (well at least the bits when she is not a severe introspection mode!) Oh and by the way Lisa, I think I might b...

Now St Albans, the historic town just North of London which has a bicycle stand shaped like a bicycle as you may have gleaned from my last post a few days ago, is also home to a lovely cathedral and several churches. However, continuing with my shopfront theme from Brighton , I decided to capture what the high street  in St Albans had to offer. For those outside the UK, the 'High Street' is the main retail area in a British town or neighbourhood. These days you never know what to expect on a British high street- a long line of typical chain stores, boutique cafes, charity shops or boarded-up windows. Having approached the town from the less used exit of the main rail station,  I started my walk at the "wrong" end of the high street. Therefore my first few encounters left me somewhat puzzled. Now why on earth would this nice little town with pretty house have a high street dominated by pound stores? Adjoining this was a betting shop and Thomas Cook Travels...

Among other interesting things on my recent visit to St Alban's, a historical town just north of London,  I caught sight of this cool cycle stand.

Have re-discovered jelly again. This time in the form of 'exotic fruit' jelly with real fruit pieces. And that is just how I like my one of five-a-day (I mean fruit and veg of course). Rewinding back, my earliest 'jelly' memories are of birthday parties when I was 8 or 9 years old. There was usually jelly and custard on my sister's birthday or mine. We always bought the pink-coloured 'REX' jelly mix which mum would prepare a day before the birthday using the grey (aluminium? steel?) jelly mould. Anyhow, I didn't plan on going jelly-free for so long. It just kind of happened in the way these things do. More recently, I've seen a lot of vegetarian jelly being sold and that has reminded me of the 'animal gelatin' issue which had become a concern at some point in the past. I've also discovered numerous ways of eating jelly and this is not accounting for all the Masterchef finalists who put together some crazy stuff. Among all kinds o...