Fine Dining and Fairy Bread

We had some genuine Oxford experiences this week courtesy of Julian, one of Mark's old school friends who is currently doing a PhD in legal philosophy at Oxford Uni. On Tuesday, Mark was invited to dinner at the 'high table' at Pembroke College as a guest of Julian. Mark wore a suit and Julian wore an academic gown. The evening commenced with pre-dinner drinks in the college "reception room" before being ushered into the formal dining hall and seated at the 'high table' (similar to the head table at a wedding). The students are seated below along long tables (a bit like in the Harry Potter movies) amongst walls lined by portraits of previous masters and founders of the college going back hundreds of years (photo). After grace in Latin, a 3 course meal and a few glasses of French wine, guests of the high table (about a dozen of us) were led into a separate dark candlelit room and seated along a table lined with platters of fruit, nuts and chocolate. The head of the table passes around caraffes of port and dessert wines (in a specific order - one is frowned upon if they disrupt this custom) which do 3 laps of the table and are followed by the snuff box(!) The evening concludes in the common room with brandy and coffee. A truly unique experience.

On Friday, we were both invited to a banquet at the same college by Julian and his wife Anna. This was a black tie affair and held in the same dining room -although this time we were seated with the 'commoners' - The commoners being undergraduate Oxford students with very posh English accents (think Prince Charlie) from public school (ie posh private boarding schools). Meaghan sat among three such lads and proceeded to "interview" them. Two were "reading" Law and the other Medicine, they had all been educated at boarding school and their parents were graduates of Oxbridge. Yes, this is the reason stereotypes exist - because they are true! Meaghan had great fun with these fellows and by the end of the evening we all learnt something; they discovered the term 'bogan' and we learnt how to "sconce" someone. Sconcing is essentially an Oxford drinking game along the lines of 'drink if you've ever........' but much tamer given that the college master and his wife were present. Proud to say that the "sconces" were read out by a very well spoken Aussie MC. We moved on to the bar at Jesus College (Anna's college) where we found ourselves amidst a toga party (or should I say pimply, pasty, scrawny Poms dressed in bedsheets - see photo of Meaghan's new friend James). Or we just getting old or are they getting younger?
Sunday provided a slightly different experience as all 4 of us went off to playshul at Oxford Synagogue. Noah enjoyed the fingerpainting and everyone sang happy birthday to Ethan (in Hebrew). The kosher cake tasted ......kosher! Sunday afternoon was a combined 1st birthday party for Ethan and 2nd birthday for Monte, who belongs to John and Nova, fellow doctors from Melbourne who are working at the same hospital as Mark. Meaghan made fairy bread which was a real novelty for the English guests. John and Nova made an amazing caterpillar cake which was the perfect complement for our last minute supermarket cake (see pic). Ethan finally turned 1 today (is he only 1 - been a long year). It was great to hear from all the family and he loves all his cards and presents.