Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Pip Pip and Cheerio Old Bean


That's right, folks. I'm back from Jolly Old England (which is the official name for across the pond). I took lots of pictures just for you! After my trip to Paris, I was so racked with guilt about my poor food documentation (trying to enjoy my honeymoon and all), I vowed to do better next time. This is that time! Also, Meredith is a great photo helper. She reminds me to take pictures and then takes them in better angles/light than I do.

For our first photo stop in London, I'm starting with the most important meal of the day - breakfast. Brits each a lot of breakfast. Meredith and I wanted the best English breakfast possible. We weren't sure where that was, so we headed to Inn The Park, which is (unsurprisingly) the Inn in St. James park.


We went on a Monday so that there would be no one else there (except a couple with a screaming baby that the waiter sat RIGHT NEXT TO US. Awesome). There was a beautiful view out the window -


- crazy British condiments -


- and a zillion pounds of food.


That's two eggs, baked beans (British style - which apparently means really sweet), a grilled tomato, some griddle flatbread thing, a giant grilled portabello mushroom, pork and leek sausage, British bacon (which I think is like Canadian bacon, i.e. not really bacon at all), and black pudding (which is made out of blood - it sounds gross but is really good). Also, you get a mountain of toast.


We also got some English Breakfast tea - we drank a LOT of tea this trip. You'll see.


That's Meredith's picture - that's why the angle is more interesting. But you can't see as much of the food.

We're both big eaters, but neither of us could finish all this food (Meredith did better than me - she's more British). It's a crazy amount of food to eat first thing in the morning, but I guess you have to remember that Brits used to just eat breakfast and supper - so they really had to make breakfast last (and then they added Afternoon Tea - but more on that later).

When we were leaving the Inn, we walked past this:


Just in case you weren't sure that you were in Great Britain - the redcoats are a bit of a giveaway. Lots more soon!

1 comment:

Meredith said...

Yay! That was fun, and it was a very good, refined version of proper English breakfast. The sausage was actually good, and that never happens.

This is an excellent breakdown of the whole bacon debate:

http://thepauperedchef.com/2010/04/a-guide-to-bacon-styles-and-how-to-make-proper-british-rashers.html#more-6086

I'm sure your dad will really enjoy the various and sundry meat products we enjoyed, but hey, the brits are all about the meat, aren't they?

Also, I'm not a better photographer than you, just different.