dinner on the thames and the le boat cruise

March 16, 2016



















On Sunday night my husband and I had a group of friends over--travel companions who traveled together to England and Germany last October to cruise the Thames and visit friends in Wiesbaden.   On our boats the guys kept a few bottles of single malt on hand for happy hour tasting.  That was the reason for this party:  a single malt tasting/cruising reunion.  I've been so busy lately I kept everything simple and chose an Englishy menu comprised of easy-to-make do-ahead dishes that had minimum last minute prep to give me maximum time with my guests. 

Menu 

Deli Tidbits
Green Salad

Party Tricks

If your table is small like mine and space is relatively limited, I have a few party tricks that give the illusion of more space: it's as simple as keeping the decorations simple.  I never have enough room on my dining table for a grand floral display--not if I want to fit on my dishes too.  I lined up six green pears down the center of the table, popped a few sprigs of fresh herbs on the buffet, a single stem of green heleborus on the bar, and a tiny potted orchid on the hors d'oeuvres table.  To extend the simplified look, I used a maximum of white and limited my colors to only one, green; this gave the impression of more space.  Candle light can also seem to add space: small, nondescript glass votives added romantic dots of light without taking over.  No one element "steals the stage" but instead, the simple elements combined to create an elegant backdrop for our guests to shine!

Single Malt Tasting

This is a subject of which I know absolutely nothing about.  But just because most distilled liquors taste like poison to me doesn't mean that the guys and a few of the girls didn't have a good old time tasting the whiskies.  If this sounds like fun to you too, I found this Beginner's Guide to Single Malt Tasting. 

The Thames Cruise

I loved this trip.  For our group of nine, we rented two boats from Le Boat, one with 3beds/3baths and one with 2beds/2 baths.  Both had tiny galley kitchens and living room/dining room spaces inside with an open deck with seating up top. We traveled for 7 days from Benson to Chertsey, about 150 miles total.  We piloted and crewed our own boats and went through about 30 locks.  Most locks had a lock keeper to guide us through, but often enough they were unmanned so we had to get through some locks on our own.   I have to laugh at the memories but we did manage to get through each lock while locals cheered the clueless Americans on.  Each night we picked a cozy spot on  the riverside to moor and walked to the nearby village for pub visits and dinner.  The next morning, off we went--and a top speed of 6 mph meant a leisurely, pleasant float to view some of the prettiest scenery on the planet.  During the day we would make several stops to sight-see and grab a bite.  We met so many nice people, ate lots of good food, and enjoyed the loveliest fall weather England has to offer--the sun was shining every day and not one drop of rain--we felt like we hadn't left California except everything was bright green!  Boating on the Thames on a Le Boat with good friends was a great way to visit England.  See the photos below.

The girls.

We are all dog lovers, so we were all fond of this little guy who kept a careful eye on us during one lock passage.


Manning the boats through a lock.

The locks were very pretty and each had their own personality.

The boats had bikes which was nice.

I loved being at the front of the boat.

Another pretty lock.

Happy hour wearing our matching floral leggings.  The week before we left, one of the girls found these at TJ Max and bought one pair for each.  We were quite dazzling, don't you think?  They are quite comfy and now I use them as jammies.

We moored our boats next to each other so we could visit back and forth.  Here is a wine transfer taking place.





Two nights we cooked dinner on the boat. Very brave.
We all had a good time.  It was a great trip.
To make a comment, click here.


You Might Also Like

11 Comments

  1. There must be a story behind the matching floral leggings ...

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's so funny that you write this post now. I have just heard about Le Boat! My friends went on a trip in France and loved it! Your pictures look like you had a lot of fun! I would love to do this.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I had never heard of Le Boat until some friends told us about it. They had been on many Le Boat trips throughout Europe and said they rated the Thames trip at the top. Fantastic trip and would be a good family trip with older children.

      Delete
  3. LOVED your blog about dinner and trip ����⛴

    ReplyDelete
  4. Love these pictures! Sam

    ReplyDelete
  5. How fun! Love this idea about boating the Thames and will add it to "the list"! Great pics.

    ReplyDelete
  6. What a wonderful post....you have no idea how much inspiration you pack into one post! Thank you for taking the time to share...you always make my day!!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. This post was like going on vacation. I feel really invigorated! Thank you so much for the wonderful pictures! Kristen,,your menu sounds so wonderful for a dinner I am planning. It looks like it would appeal to a wide variety of tastes, many of whom have dietary restrictions, mainly of taste preference rather than medical needs. There are a lot of steps to the Shepherds Pie, however. Could you tell me how much of it you can do ahead? I am not the world's most skillful cook (although I do manage to get by!) and like to do as much as possible the day ahead. Thanks! Chloe

    ReplyDelete
  8. What a dream come true, a cruise down the Thames with great friends to share the adventure! LOVED this post!

    ReplyDelete

You make my day when you make a comment!

Labels

afghan Alana Dakos ally pally ambassador Amy Herzog Ankestrick Arte Italica baby Baby Cocktails bakelite baking berry picking Best Friday of the Month best of Ravelry Big Sur blue transferware book review books boutique brook cables California candy child children children's activities Christmas Christmas crafts Christmas knitting cleaning collections cookie cutters cookies cooking craft Crafts crochet cross-stitch day trip decluttering decorating designer spotlight discount diy dog dolls Easter eau de vie Elizabeth Bradley Elizabeth Zimmerman embroidery entertaining Facebook fall fall decorating fall garden family featured first car fit flower arranging flowers free pattern Friday night party group friends funny Fur garden gardening Giants Gifted Hostess give-away giveaway gluten free gourmet group Halloween herbs holiday home how to set up a party group jewelry Kaffe Fassett KAL Kim Hargreaves kitting Knit Picks knitting laundry Le Jacquard Francais Little French Knits Los Altos lunch Mailbu Making Things Marie Wallin Martin Storey menu minimalism money talk mosaic movies my house my patterns my town nails needlepoint needles October challenge Octoberfest ollalie organizing original design outdoor seating owl party prep pear peg dolls pies pomegranates poncho preview quilting recipe recycling redwork review roses Rowan San Francisco Sarah Hatton sewing shawl shopping shower social media softie spring spring garden stash Stitches West summer summer garden summer knitting Sunday Morning Swans Island table setting test test knit Thanksgiving Three Irish Girls TNNA tomatoes top 10 list toys travel tutorial twinning ufo Uncommon Threads vacation Valentine vegetable garden videos wedding winter garden wip Woolfolk yarn yarn for sale Ysolda