On this journey, we made the difficult decision to fly Ryanair from Glasgow to Stanstead Airport just outside of London. When I say just outside London, it is almost a 2hours trip by bus to get into central London. Not a fun journey at all. And this flight used to leave from Prestwick, which is only a 15 minute drive from our house. To leave on the first flight from Glasgow, we had to get a hotel room near the airport. Not nice when we have been so spoiled in the past.
There were two reasons for this trip, the first and most important was to see Martin, but we also wanted to see the Tower of London poppies. Since Martin had seen this 2 weeks earlier with his sister and everyone, he really did not want to face the crowd of visitors once again! So we went straight to the Tower before meeting him at St Paul's Cathedral later that afternoon.
The sight of all those poppies is breathtaking, and very much worth a visit, even if having to fight the crowds. In fact, it was much too crowded to see it all properly, especially with also wanting to find Martin sooner rather than later. In addition, the traffic congestion and maintenance work on the tube lines we needed made transport incredibly difficult and time consuming too! But worth all this!
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| a close up so you can see the way the individual poppies are placed |
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| Could not get a decent angle on this iconic view of the window |
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| How lucky were we with the weather? |
Whenever we are in London, we tend to walk and walk and walk and walk......here I am on the riverfront with the Tower Bridge behind me on the way to meet Martin. When flying Ryanair, you have to pay extra for a case, so all my worldly goods, including cookies, are in my trusty, pink backpack!
We were having a great time and took the train back to Chiswick, where our hotel was. Then we got a phone call that almost ruined the whole trip.....our poor Bailey had not been well when we left, but the vet thought she would be ok until Monday. Unfortunately he was wrong. Morgan phoned us to let us know, we phoned the vet's assistant, she phoned the vet, he phoned us, he then phoned Morgan.....then he went to our house to collect Bailey. Late Saturday night she got an emergency hysterectomy and was brought home at 1:30am Sunday.
Somehow, once we knew things were under control, we managed to salvage the night and went to the George IV Comedy Club. It seemed odd to be sitting there laughing after only about an hour ago we were contemplating Martin taking the night bus home to take care of his ailing dog! I am writing this exactly one week after her surgery and Bailey is doing just fine! I will always be grateful to our fabulous vet and my superstar niece for handling this stressful situation so well.
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| Look how busy it is here! Corbyn would love to see this dinosaur skeleton! |
On Sunday, after meeting for a delicious breakfast and getting absolutely soaked in the rain we decided to go to the Natural History Museum to see the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition. But we never thought to book tickets and there were none available for the time we needed. Oh well, still a great place to visit!
It wasn't until Sunday morning that I was able to deliver these cookies, and they had survived all the hours and miles of this trip.
I have this recipe hand written in a little cookbook I received as a gift years ago. I do not remember what I copied it from, but my notes show that the first time I tried it was in January 2001.
There are conversion charts on my "pages" to find equivalent butter weights and pan sizes.
Championship Chocolate Bars (recipe on its own follows at the end)
Preheat oven to 350F 180C makes about 36 bars
1/12 cups flour
1/2 cups light brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter
2 cups chocolate chips
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
Stir in 1/2 cup chocolate chips
Bake 15 minutes.
While baking, combine milk, egg and vanilla
Add remaining chocolate chips and nuts
Spread mixture evenly over baked crust
Cool completely before cutting into bars.
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| I had 4 of these boxes in my backpack all day! |
"Everyone has a story, but no one would make it to the happy ending if they didn't have the help of the other characters." Levita Charin
Championship Chocolate Bars
Preheat oven to 350F 180C makes about 36 bars1/12 cups flour
1/2 cups light brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter
2 cups chocolate chips
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
Stir together flour and sugar, cut in cold butter
Stir in 1/2 cup chocolate chips
Press into the bottom of 13 x 9 inch pan.
Bake 15 minutes.
While baking, combine milk, egg and vanilla
Add remaining chocolate chips and nuts
Spread mixture evenly over baked crust
Bake 25 minutes or until golden brown
Cool completely before cutting into bars.
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