Last post from England!

Here it is folks - my very last post from England. And it only took me.....almost three times the length of time I was actually there. Whoops.


On our last night in England, Meredith and I decided to eat at Jamie Oliver's restaurant. I've been on a Jamie Oliver kick ever since watching Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution (great show! Way to use the forces of reality television for good, universe. It's not all dancing "celebrities" and wannabe teenage starlets out there). Also, back when I started cooking, The Naked Chef Takes Off was one of the first cookbooks I bought (because it was $1.03 on Amazon. But that's besides the point). Anyways, here we are - at Jamie Oliver's Fifteen.


We were a little early, so we ordered Jamie's version of a Pimm's Cup - gin and fruity goodness.


Strawberries, apples, cucumbers and mint make me happy. You wouldn't think that the cucumbers would work out in there, but they totally do.

We got to our table and started with a big plate of olives.


I used to hate olives, but these are awesome. The color was really striking and the taste? Surprisingly meaty. I don't know how they made a meaty olive but it was really cool.

I started with the risotto - risotto was the first thing I ever made from The Naked Chef cookbook, so I figured I'd give it a try.


It was really creamy with a little bit of bite. The asparagus was great - some of it was more cooked and mixed into the rice and some was crisper and laid on top. There was some creme fraiche as well - it rocked.

Meredith got the ravioli - it was cheesy and amazing.


I can't remember what was in it - I do remember that I wanted to steal it from her. Whoops.

We ended with a pizza. It had mashed potatoes mixed with a soft goat cheese and fresh peas. There were pea shoots on top and the whole thing was really great.


We were too full and rushed to fully enjoy it though. That's my one regret.

Check it out! It's a really fun evening.

Next post - Spain!

Aw man, and I was doing so well

So it's been pointed out to me that I've been neglecting you a little bit. I'm sorry!

So, believe or not, I've still got London posts to do (which is a little absurd. Meredith lives in New York again now. Whoops). So off we go to Borough Market.


Borough Market is totally awesome. You can get fresh produce -


- meat -


- pig heads -


- or just walk around and graze.


You can drink mulled wine.


Meredith loves mulled wine.


If you get lost, there are helpful humorous signs.


There are also giant meringues -


- piles and piles of truffles of every flavor - including tobacco and various booze.


Best of all? There's cheese.


Wheels and wheels of cheese.


Cheese that takes showers (I'm not sure why).


Beautiful amazing cheese.


I took this cheese home with me. It's from Ireland.


I took some Montgomery Cheddar home as well. My dad, an ardent Anglophobe, really liked this cheese. I knew if I stayed in Britain long enough, I'd find something he'd like.

I'll blog more! I promise.

Why doesn't Macy's have a food hall?

Some people go to London for the fashion. But since Meredith and I are all about the food, we managed to go into London's largest department store and see nothing but the food halls. That's right, we're off to Harrods!


They had every kind of food you could think of! There's a butcher counter. In a department store. There aren't butcher counters in grocery stores in most places in the US.


There was Indian food -


- weird pretentious fancy foods -


- a giant statue of freaky wild animals with champagne in front of it for no reason -


I mean, there was so much. I can't convey it with these pictures - it's like an entire floor of food halls. Picture the makeup department of Bloomingdales and cross it with an international food market in your mind. Most importantly, however - there are meat pies.


We took two meat pies home with some vegetables for a salad.


We made a lovely salad (lovely - that's British) with beets and peppers and some shallot dressing -


- and ate it with our two meat pies - a traditional pasty and Chicken of Aragon.


They're so pretty when you crack them open. The chicken was especially good. Meredith (a connoisseur of such things) said that these pies are super good and above the normal level of traditional British pies.


We drank them with some Harrods brand beer and a ginger beer (which was really sweet - almost like if ginger ale was alcoholic).


Beer, meat pies, and our favorite television show -


- Yes, it is Buffy the Vampire Slayer. That's how we roll in Britain.

If you're not drinking tea, you're not in Great Britain

I couldn't leave Great Britain without one of those grand traditions: high tea. Meredith and I made it through Kensington Gardens -


- pretty! -


- and found our way to the Orangery.

The Orangery has little orange trees at each table so that you know what it's named after.


It's super light and airy in here - the room is really open and large.


We got the champagne tea - we're always adding champagne to things when we're on vacation.


I mean, look at it - bubbles make me smile.


The food comes out on a little three tiered stand - so classic.


We pulled the sandwiches out first. Lunch before dessert!


There's cucumber and cream cheese (of course), smoked salmon and butter (yum), cheese and pickle (which isn't pickle at all - it's more like chutney. Brits are so crazy), and ham and mustard. They were very elegant and make me want to say things like "lovely" and "spoonful of sugar."

We moved onto the intermediary between lunch and dessert - scones!


This scone was orange flavored (because, duh) and was really interesting to me. It looked like a biscuit (scones in America are usually all knobby and bumpy looking) but tasted like a scone - dense and sweet and crumby. I'm a big fan of clotted cream and jam. I'd put it on more things if I wasn't afraid of getting fat.

And finally, dessert!


The passion fruit tart was light and creamy and tart and sweet all at the same time. The crust was delicious and the whole thing was pretty much amazing. The chocolate eclair, however, was blah. I didn't even finish it. That should tell you something.

Overall though, very fun and tasty high tea. It's not every day that you get to have tea at a princesses' house. Not that she lives there now or anything...but a girl can pretend.

Oysters and Pearls

One of the great things about Britain is that the laws for street food vendors are much looser than the ones here. Americans are so uptight about not getting food poisoning that they miss out on eating fresh oysters and sparkling wine while sitting outside.


We put some Tabasco and lemon juice down on our oysters and enjoyed the view.


Slurp! I love oysters. They taste like the ocean.


This really blows hot dog vendors out of the water. Why can't you buy a beer with your hot dog in New York? That would be awesome.

Onto more European adventures.....

I like mushy peas

Still catching you up on my British adventure, mates! (hmm, "mates" may be more Australian - I never was any good at accents) Another classic British meal - Fish and Chips!

To get some fish and chips, Meredith and I headed off to Borough Market (more on that later). We went to eat at the fish! kitchen - where sustainable fishing and classic fried goodness meet and are friends.


There were lots of choices, but we went with the classic fish and chips with mushy peas. That's the whole point of this excursion, after all. I was doing my best to hit all the great British meals. Just for you, dear readers! Just for you.


We started with some organic beer! Why? Because it was the only British beer on the menu, that's why.


Meredith said that mushy peas and "chips" weren't enough vegetables, so we ordered this "rocket" and tomato salad.


"Rocket" is British for arugula, apparently. It was nice. There seem to be a dearth of fresh vegetables in meals in Britain. I think they're anti-salad (and I can relate. But still).

On to the main course!


The fish was delicious: white and flaky with a crisply battered crust. I was glad we were sharing because I could feel it making me fat as I ate. I passed on most of the chips - British chips are horrid soggy things. Meredith ordered them extra crispy, but they were not crispy at all.

To me, the biggest revelation was the mushy peas! They weren't that mushy - in fact, the texture was great, sort of a puree with larger firm bits of pea. They were very well seasoned (an anomaly in Britain, I hear). Meredith says they're not always that good, which is a bummer. But these were just plain yummy.

Onto the rest of the Borough Market.....