Mexican Fiesta Night

On Saturday, I hosted my first gathering at my place. Two of my friends were here working and ever since Cinco de Mayo (which is not celebrated here), I've wanted to have a party at my place to showcase my Mexican specialities. I thought what a perfect opportunity to host a party. I also used it as an excuse to have my friends help me explore the night life in Clapham.

I'm not very good at estimating so I definitely bought too much food. On the menu - shrimp ceviche, guacamole, chicken flautas, quesadillas, beans, and shredded chicken chipotle. The drink of the night was palomas. I also brought out the tortillas I've been hoarding in my freezer. It's amazing how well the Antotonilco tortillas held up.

It wasn't as challenging as I thought it would be to find the products. I had the chipotle I brought back from Chicago. At the supermarket, I found jalapenos in vinegar for the ceviche. I researched Mexican cheese substitutes and it was recommended to use a mild white cheddar with a mix of mozzarella. For the palomas, I did not find Squirt but I tried bitter lemonade. There were only 2 types of Tequila to choose from. I choose not to go with Jose Cuervo. Too many bad memories. The biggest challenge was not having a car to haul everything back to my flat.

My party was a success. We had a great time. I was able to cram 12 people into my flat. I met a new friend that lives in my neighborhood.



After the party, we headed to the high street. There were so many people out. We headed to the Sun and then to Grafton House, my favorite place by far in Clapham. Unfortunately, Grafton closed at 1:00a.m. so we headed to the White House. White House is a really popular club that plays house music. People from all over London come for a night out here. I won't mention how late I came home but it was a good, good night! The bonus was that I was only 5 minutes from home in a taxi.




I will definitely host another gathering. I love being a great host!

Hastings - A Lovely Town

Monday, I experienced my first Bank holiday in England. On a recommendation from a very drunk spectator at the London Marathon, Amber and I decided to take a day trip to the seaside town of Hastings. I hadn't put too much thought into planning this bank holiday. I think I was focused on my Easter break to Lisbon that I didn't really plan the two bank holidays we have at the beginning and end of May properly.

We boarded the Southern Railway from the Victoria train station and headed two hours southeast to Hastings for the Jack-In-the-Green festival. http://www.hastingsjack.co.uk/hist.html

According to the Jack-In-The Green website, "May 1st has long been an important part of the annual Calendar. It is the start of summer in these latitudes and as such has always been a day for celebration: the Celts celebrated May Day as Beltane; The Romans dedicated the day to the Goddess Flora and would go to the woods to cut a tree and decorate it with ribbons and flowers, this is the origin of the May Pole. In the 16th and 17th centuries in England people would make garlands of flowers and leaves for the May Day celebration, they became increasingly elaborate."

It is a very traditional festival in Hastings and has just been reinstated over the last few years. It's a six hour ordeal with a procession throughout the city. The procession stops and there is dancing in the streets. The process continues and ends at the Hastings Castle where old man winter (Jack) he is symbolically slain and the Spirit of Summer is released for another year.












It is very earthy and green celebration and of course there is lots of beer drinking. There was a street vendor selling flowered headpieces. We looked like Earthy Goddesses.

We wondered around Hastings. The weather cooperated most of the time although it was chilly for being May. We climbed up a hill unintentionally thinking it was the Castle. You think I would learn to wear the right shoes on these trips (deja vu from walking the cobblestones streets in Lisbon with heels). We had a great view of the castle and the seaside. There were also cheese and bakery shops that we walked into. I had very good cupcake. We went into an art exhibition. Some of the art was centered around the Jack-In-The-Green theme.



Once we figured out where the Castle was, we headed back there. We had a better view of the procession. We decided against going into the castle mainly because the drawbridge was under construction and had this scaffolding around it. The amount of people going through there made me nervous. You never know in these little towns.

About early afternoon, we headed back to London. We were in the mood for a great burger but most of the pubs were super crowded. In addition to the festival and the bank holiday, there was also a biker convention. We gave up trying to find a place in Hastings and found a really cool pub by Clapham Junction.

It was a perfect day trip. I was definitely happy to do something traditionally English.