Pear Ice Cream At Harrods

I have decided that there is nothing quite so nice to do, on a Thursday afternoon, than to sit at the ice cream bar in Harrods with a tiny silver dish of pear ice cream. It was so lovely to have a day out of work, to do something so very, very different. Harrods itself is an odd thing. We found the food halls lovely, as you can imagine we might. I treated myself to Violet Creams from Charbonnel et Walker, and bought some freshly ground coffee as well, and some orange truffles for Carl. And then we visited the ice cream bar, which was heaven. They had huge sundaes on offer for £15! Apart from the cost, I don’t know that my tummy would survive it- my one little scoop of pear ice cream was very rich and filling, let alone many scoops of chocolate ice cream with hot fudge sauce!

And now for the curious thing- much of the place seemed oddly empty. And very touristy. We had just finished having fun picking out jelly moulds and such things in the kitchenware section (and I, dribbling over a scrumptious pink smeg fridge), when we found ourselves in an awful bit selling fleece coats emblazoned with ‘Harrods’ and ‘Harrods’ teddy bears and ‘Harrods’ mugs and so on. I would happily visit again if I was in the area, but I would much rather bring back some exquisite chocolates or a bunch of flowers or something than a Harrods fleece! We did decide that if we had been going to GO to Harrods, we would have been rather disappointed. But as it was, it was just what they did with us until it was time to go to the studio and see Ready Steady Cook!

And oh, how we laughed. We had heard that there is a Portakabin that they put you in if it rains while you are waiting to go in- and we drove past a shabby one, laughing that it would be THE Portakabin. And it was! And it seems our timing was wrong, and we were far too early, so they herded us in to eat economy bourbon biscuits and drink cheap white wine! Surprisingly plesant way to while away an hour or so!

We peeked at a notice that said that we would be in the audience for the Comic Relief edition! We did not recognise the celebrities names, but lovely Sarah googled them on her mobile phone, and it seems one was from Girls Aloud and the other Sugar Babes. I never did work out which was which! The chefs were Ginno D’Acampo (uttlerly delicious accent!) and Toby Tobin. Due to my fluttery eyelashes, I managed to get a seat in the front row, right next to the aisle! I have to say that the studio is much smaller than it looks in real life, but you might just get a glimpse of me. I am the one in a white cardigan and black-and-white skirt, holding up her green pepper and grinning somewhat manically over the top of it!

(the reason for the grin is that when Ainsley says ‘vote’ you mustn’t! They get rid of the celebrities, then you vote, and they count the votes to see who has won. Then they bring the celebrities back, and you vote again, this time for the camera! Such a lot of voting, and worrying about if your pepper is the right way up, and so on!)

I am just glad that we availed ourselves of the free bourbon biscuits, as all that cookery makes you feel awfully hungry!