Royal Wedding

I'm no monarchist, but I was excited to watch the wedding.  To be honest, I just like weddings - I love seeing the flowers, the cake, the dress, the hair.  I enjoyed planning our own wedding so much, and hearing about all of the preparations for someone else's wedding brings back lots of lovely memories for me.

I had two friends over, Michelle and Amy, to watch the coverage leading up and the ceremony.  I prepared a light tea for us to eat - poached chicken sandwiches, egg and watercress sandwiches, meringue nests with cream and raspberries.  We also drank tea and Champagne.

I have refined my chicken sandwich recipe over the years, based on experience, research, and conversations with caterers and chefs.  Everyone likes different things in a chicken sandwich, but for me, this is It:

Poach chicken breasts in barely shivering light chicken stock, with a bay leaf.  When just cooked through, remove to cool.  Finely chop the meat (roughly 5mm cubes).  Mix through with plenty of whole egg mayonnaise, fresh lemon juice, crunchy flaked salt, chopped chives and a little white pepper.  You can also add some finely sliced celery or chopped blanched almonds or walnuts, if you like some crunch.  Taste as you go along, but in general, I use more lemon juice and salt than you'd think.  Sometimes I add a tiny bit of Dijon mustard, but not normally.

Spread quite generously onto buttered white bread, and cut into triangles or fingers.

The egg and watercress sandwiches are easy - boil some eggs until they are nearly hardboiled (but before they get dry).  To do this, sit a few eggs in plenty of cold water, and bring to boil.  Once boiled, turn the heat off straight away, leave to sit, covered, for ten minutes, then rinse well in cold water.  Once the eggs are cooled, peel them, chop them, then mash with whole egg mayonnaise, salt, a little pepper, and possibly a little seeded mustard.  On buttered white bread, spread a reasonably thick layer of the egg mixture, top with some rinsed fresh watercress, then cut the sandwiches into triangles or fingers.

Meringues are an excellent way to use up egg whites if, like me, you always have loads of them in the freezer from making custard and custard-based desserts.  Top each meringue with plenty of whipped cream (with a little vanilla caster sugar) and some fresh, slightly overripe raspberries.

Now, the actual wedding?  Loved the trees in the Abbey, the waist and hips and back of the dress.  Didn't love the lace top of the dress - I thought the lace was too heavy, too coarse.  I love plain and simple, like Princess Mary's amazing gown, but Mary's dress let the veil, jewels and flowers stand out.  Kate's seemed like an interpretation of Princess Grace - I would have been so much more excited by an original gown.  Never mind, I'm sure she adored her gown and that's all that matters!  I like her halo tiara - so pretty and delicate.

I do hope that William and Kate will 'make it'.  I think they will.  They've been together for a long time, and they both seem quite sensible.  I love the footage of the couple leaving in the open topped carriage - with the horses trotting so quickly, Kate looked so beautiful, like she was gliding along through the air.

Finally - the Abbey is just gorgeous.  I visited Westminster Abbey when I was eight years old, I remember it so clearly - the worn steps, the cool stone, the dark shadowy corners.  A beautiful building.