Only the mummies...

(this should've been last saturday's posting. Infront of me STILL stands a snake-like queue of backdated posts. Good Gad!)

Armed with Waitrose cupcakes, grapes and a punnet of strawberries, we commuted to North London for brunch at Val's. With chef du jour, Alan, at the helm of the kitchen, our tummies rumbled hungrily, eager to sample his cooking for the first time.

Alan, it seems, does not only possess a flair for cooking, he also has a flair for blogging his cooking adventures in a way that titillates our tastebuds. By the end of his food postings, we're sucking in GLOBS of saliva, and voraciously wishing we could join him on his gastronomic journeys.

Discontent with eating vicariously through his blog postings, we badgered Val into asking Alan to whip up something (anything!) for us shameless folk.

And dazzle us, he did.

We were treated to an amazing spread - oven-baked ham with curdled milk gravy, chicken liver pâté served with warm sourdough, and sauteed mushrooms. Val made a delicious tuna pasta tossed in pesto, and a refreshing fruit salad. The ham, soaked in its milky gravy, was succulent and baked to perfection. The chicken liver pâté was smooth, creamy, and oh-so-decadent. I'm sure our cholesterol levels sky rocketed that day, not that any of us cared. Alan suggested countering the richness of the chicken liver pâté with pickled cornichons. The saltish sourish flavours from the vinegar-soaked cornichons worked perfectly with the slightly bitter aftertaste of the liver. Divine!

Kids at lunch

After lunch, Val, Ros & I scuttled out of the house, leaving the daddies to take full charge of their scion. We'd negotiated a 'day off' with the dads and were keen to enjoy some 'girly time' with each other, sans kids.

We chose the lengthy shopping strip at King's Road, Chelsea, for our girly outing. With its panoply of high street shops, it was the ideal place to engage in some retail therapy.

Papas United

Mama Sisterhood

Despite the bizzare sunshiney rainy weather, we trudged on, unfazed. We visited VV Roleaux, a craft shop that sells all sorts of notions, we browsed at Warehouse, Oasis, Monsoon, but lingered most at Zara. We stopped for a teabreak at Patisserie Valerie, where we shared family anecdotes, giggled and guffawed, and complained to each other over tea and cakes. But all too soon, it was time for us to return to our familes, and slip back to our mummy roles.

We weren't greedy. A couple of hours was all we needed to rejuvenate, recharge, and rediscover ourselves. As we stepped into Val's house, arms laden with supermarket dinners, I felt (in fact, I think we all did) incredibly moved when our kid(s) charged towards us - leaping into our arms for a cuddle, screaming 'Mummy, Mummy!' - their round faces beaming, genuinely happy to have us home.

It's certainly nice to go out and do things the way we used to before we became mums. Every once in awhile, we need to reconnect ourselves with the other roles that help shape our lives - we're also friends, sisters, wives, daughters.

But of all the roles I've taken on in my life, this 'Mummy' role? It remains my most rewarding to date. And I pray it will always, always be.