Whenever we come home from a long trip abroad we always talk about it on the flights, what exactly we have missed the most and what must we buy at the grocery store when we arrive. We always miss our beds. I miss my pillow, big time. And my usual morning cup of coffee latte. Naturally we buy the usual stuff: bread, milk, yogurt, fruit, cream for my coffee, fresh vegetables, coffee beans. On this trip to England, we did have vegetables. It’s just that they were the same ones, day in and day out: carrots, cauliflower and maybe green beans. Steamed only. And often just flavorless.

But usually we crave some one thing. I’d say that 75% of the time we crave green salads with a vinaigrette dressing. So our first night home I defrosted some rotisseried chicken we’d done just before we left and I made a lovely big salad with celery, carrots, tomatoes, cilantro and chunks of tender chicken. I also made my old tried-and-true Creamy Garlic & Blue Cheese Vinaigrette. It tasted wonderful.

With still more chicken left, the next day I searched around in my beanie for what sounded good. It was beastly hot here that day and I craved something cold. Nothing inspired me until I began reading blogs again and sure enough, there was a curried chicken salad over at The Pioneer Woman. Oh yes, that sounded really good. Fortunately I had all the ingredients, and I amplified them a bit – I put the chicken on a bed of greens (see, more greens we were craving), and I added apple slices. I was out of almonds, so I used pistachios, which were delicious, actually. As for the apples – the first night I sliced them (in photo at top) to decorate the top. With the leftovers of that, I cut fresh apple into small bits and tossed it in with the salad without the greens. Each time we’ve had leftovers I’ve added the fresh apple into it. Altogether delicious and worth making again. Once the salad had been refrigerated the pasta absorbed all of the dressing, so I might reserve some of the dressing to add to the leftovers (if you have any, that is).

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A year ago: Sugar Snap Peas with Mushrooms
Two years ago: Asian Baby Back Ribs
Three years ago: Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce

It’s not every food blog you read that has pictures of toilet parts or apparatus, is it? After visiting England this last time, we talked about it several times, how practical the Brits are about flushing. Those two buttons you see there are for different quantities of flush. I won’t go into details here, but am sure you can get the picture – you use the smaller press-button for a solely fluid flush – and the larger press-button for well, you know. Why don’t we have this in the U.S.? Especially here in California where we have years of drought and currently have water rationing? Our most recent installed toilet in our house flushes with a miraculously little amount of water, and I actually don’t know how much water the British toilets use with each of the above cycles – maybe lots since they don’t have much issue with water – but the method here just seems so intelligent. Don’t you agree?

It’s also not every day I take a picture of a paper napkin. And this photo doesn’t begin to do justice to the quality and feel of this paper napkin. It was at the breakfast table both mornings we stayed at our hotel in Cheltenham. I was surreptitiously going to take mine home, hoping to find it here. Instead, I asked the hotel owner about them and she promptly brought me a stack of about six in the cellophane package wrapper. (Those I could fit in my suitcase!) They look and feel like linen napkins. But they’re not. They’re heavy and they’re paper. The design you see in the napkin is not just inking, it’s actually an embossed design. I’m smitten with these. The manufacturer (Duni) is in Britain, alas. After talking with their U.S. affiliate, unfortunately these napkins are not available anywhere here. Darn! I did my best to convince the person I spoke with that they NEED to start importing these napkins.  They’d sell like hotcakes. They’re called Elegance Lily, by Duni. Weeping going on here.

In the event you are interested in the details of our trip to England, I’ve written up a PDF 1-page listing of all the places we stayed and most of the restaurants. I didn’t include prices in most places because those change. Some of the B&Bs were 40 pounds per person per night. Others were higher like 80 pounds. Each one was different, so if you’re interested, go online to the different places and check them out.

One of the wonderful things about mid-day food in England is a Ploughman’s Lunch. It has a humble background – back in the day, the plough men needed a hearty but inexpensive lunch. It got onto a menu somewhere, sometime, and has stuck ever since. Normally you only find a Ploughman’s at a pub.

This one, which we shared at the Felin Fach Griffin (an upscale hotel and eatery in Wales – we didn’t stay there, just had one lunch and one dinner there) was one of the best we’ve ever had. The bread was house made. The two pickled things (chutney and fruit pickle) were outstanding. Starting from the left: delicious local Cheddar, some whole wheat bread, a little bowl of chutney-like fruit, some celery sticks, a small bowl of Branston Pickle (or probably their own homemade version), some cornichons and pickled onions, fresh tomatoes, apple slices and some unadorned greens in the middle.  The cheese was wonderful – you eat it with bread and a bit of the chutney stuff, maybe some of the Branston pickle stuff, and nibble on all of the other things at the same time.

I didn’t do a big single-post write-up about our hotel in Cheltenham. Most tourists wouldn’t be staying in Cheltenham, probably. We stayed there because our friend Pamela lives there. Instead of staying right in downtown, I booked us into a hotel up on the top of one of the nearby hills, called Cleeve Hill (with views of the Malvern hills). The hotel: Malvern View Hotel. It’s been recently remodeled (under new ownership) and the rooms are really nice. Lovely decor, and the breakfast food was scrumptious. They also have a small restaurant on premises, and we were sorry we didn’t get to eat there. The menus looked wonderful. If we stay again in Cheltenham, yes I’d stay there again, although the hotel does have a jillion steps (hard for Dave with his two artificial legs). All the rooms are on the upper floor. We did have a nice view out the window, though, don’t you think?

Picture at top taken at the Malvern View Hotel, Cheltenham, in their lovely remodeled bathroom that was spotlessly clean.

When I look back on trips and places we’ve stayed, I often remember the B&B, or inn, where we’ve stayed, rather than the town itself. Our visit to South Wales was certainly the case. The owners of Lower House sent us a very detailed map of how to find their home as it’s down a 1+ mile dead end, narrow road. We got to know it well each time we wended our way out and about, then returned to the comfort of the place in the afternoons and again at night.

The B&B is a patchwork quilt of rooms, in a typically English cottage style. Low beams, low door beams too, old wooden floors, little push-out windows to provide ventilation. But the bathroom in our room was very modern. Very clean and charming. All the amenities are there, a flat-screen (small) TV, a tea tray, bottled water, a big bed with a duvet. And a delicious cooked breakfast. That’s what they call them here – a cooked breakfast.

The B&B has a lovely, big sitting room where we spent some time. It was still summer there, but July is usually the month of warmer weather – meaning sunshine and heat – not August. So, we had rain. And rain. And rain.

Hay-on-Wye was one of my included destinations on this trip because it’s composed of mostly used and antiquarian book stores. 32 of them, supposedly. We visited about four of them, I think before we got weary of ducking in and out of the rain. Besides, there is no way I could buy even one book to take home. But they were interesting to browse. Some specialized in gardening and horticulture. Others had lots of history books. I did go into one that had a big cookbook collection in their window. But I didn’t buy. It took will power, but I have no room in my suitcase for books. Especially since the airlines weigh bags these days. I suppose if I had to I could fit one book in an outside pocket of my suitcase, but I didn’t really see anything I wanted.

Actually, I went into a cookware store in Hay and DID buy two little herb crocks. One for thyme and one for oregano, the two herbs that always sit out on my kitchen counter. The “Original Suffolk Canister” crocks, pictured here, are made locally, and the they advertise that they’re suitable for home and on safari. They have rubber seals to keep the herbs fresh, you see. They were expensive (5.50 pounds or about $7.75 each). But I’ll enjoy them, reminding me of this trip. Dave bought knickers (underwear) and I bought herb crocks.

I’ll include some photos I took in and around the B&B. I’d come back here and stay anytime. The owners, Peter and Nicky Daw, are lovely hosts and the B&B is inviting, to say the least.

The sitting room in the B&B (pictured below) was just charming. Since it rained nearly the entire two days we were visiting Hay, we spent some quiet time there reading. Here’s a photo of Nicky. She was telling me all about a cookbook written by a friend of hers. She wrote out the lengthy title for me and as soon as I got home, I went online. Luckily, there was one copy here in the U.S. (used, but “new,” it said) which is on its way to me. Once I get it I’ll write up a post about it.

That was our visit to Hay-on-Wye, and it was quite lovely, even with the rain. The B&B is well known in gardening circles (a Philadelphia garden club went to Hay just to see the gardens at the Daw’s home). Nicky works a lot in her garden – I didn’t get many good photos because of the rain. But in any case, if you ever go to South Wales, do stop by to see Nicky and Peter and tell them hello for us, too.

Lower House

Cusop Dingle, Hay-on-Wye, Herefordshire HR3 5R2

(0)777 9480783

Once we arrived at the Beudy Bach B&B, I had to ask how the name is pronounced. Helen Pour, the owner/wife, explained it’s BYE-dee bahk. It’s Welsh for little cow shed. Their house, in an earlier incarnation, was a cow shed and barn, but was converted to a home. They have three B&B rooms. One double upstairs with an en suite bathroom (en suite is French for a private bathroom  . . you’ll see that word used throughout hotel, B&B and inn descriptions). The other two twin-bed rooms downstairs share a bathroom. Sharing a bathroom is not one of my favored travel experiences, but we only had to share one of our two nights there.

Helen and Steve are delightful hosts. They worked overtime on our behalf, actually. Not only did they make dinner recommendations and reservations for us at the Grey Hound Pub down the road, but they also made phone calls for us to find someone who would engrave us a house number plaque made from Welsh slate. Sure enough, the local undertaker was happy to oblige, even making it for us in a little over 24 hours. He wrapped it in bubble wrap and Dave fit it into his suitcase. When Dave and I visited the Lake District many, many years ago, we had a plaque made of slate with our last name and another with our (then) house number on it When we sold that house, of course the number plaque stayed with it. At our new house, there was no logical place to put the name sign. Now that we have a new number plaque, we’ll have to find the name plaque. I don’t think, though, that the two slates are the same color; that may pose a decor issue for me. Can’t mix the slate colors. The name plate has white letters. This number plaque has silver numbers.

Helen also bought a small bottle of cream (single) for me because I asked if she had any for coffee. She didn’t but she bought one just for me. That’s hospitality! She also showed me her ipad, the new hand-held Apple computer which was very fun. Loved that! We spent several hours (while it was raining outside) sitting in their light and bright kitchen – me plugged into their wi-fi, with numerous cups of tea along the way. The Pours are horse people – they don’t ride anymore, but they have several horses that are like pets.

Anyway, we enjoyed our 2-day stay at Beudy Bach, taking a long drive on the in-between day to visit the seashore near Cardiff. Dave visibly relaxes when he can smell the sea. So, if you ever find yourself in South (West) Wales and need a very gracious B&B, this one should be in your itinerary. The rooms are small, but you don’t spend that much time in them anyway. The house is very nice, modern and light. Tell Helen and Steve we said hello.

Beudy Bach B&B
Bethania Rd, Upper Tumble, Llannelli, Carmarthenshire
West Wales, SA 14 6EB
+44 (0) 1269842702

Surely there must be thousands of recipes out there for corn salad. And this one is not all that different, really. I started with a recipe from one of my America’s Test Kitchen cookbooks, but then I veered off and added some other things. Like a little jot of maple syrup to the dressing, and basil instead of cilantro, plus some orange bell pepper. I also used frozen corn (Trader Joe’s fire-roasted corn), which was a distinct no-no in the original recipe – they used fresh, and only fresh corn. Just be sure to add the basil at the last minute – basil doesn’t like to soak in liquids – it wilts. So, just stir it in before serving and garnish with some additional leaves.

There’s lime juice in the dressing . . . I had one lime, which wasn’t enough, so I used fresh lemon juice as well. No way was I going to make a run to the grocery store just to buy a lime or two. And I didn’t have cilantro in the frig, so that’s why I substituted basil from my garden. If that wasn’t enough, I didn’t have a green onion either, so I switched out some sweet onion instead, minced ever-so finely. But the substitutions were good. Very good. And I used a bit more dressing than the original recipe indicated. But then, there was some pooled in the bottom of the bowl, so perhaps you could cut down on the quantity if you’d like to. What I liked was the addition of the fresh cherry tomatoes. They added a nice acidy element to the salad, along with the citrus in the dressing. Anyway, I took this to a girls’ night potluck and there wasn’t much left to take home. The little bit left over I added to a big southwestern green salad I fixed the next night. It was the perfect amount of added carbs and color. Plus the extra dressing floating in the bottom was just right for the greens.

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No, Victoria’s is not a restaurant. She’s our friend Pamela’s daughter, who lives in a darling house  – called Cobweb Cottage, smack dab in the middle of the Cotswolds country, out on a remote country road with nothing but pastureland in sight. It sounds like it ought to be right out of Beatrix Potter, doesn’t it?

I’ve told the story before, about how we met this family. It started in 1981 when Dave and I were on a trip to England and Pamela and Jimmy befriended us in a local pub. In a tiny little town called Ilminster, in Somerset. And we’ve been friends ever since, Jimmy, sadly, passed away some years ago, and Pamela now lives in Cheltenham (on the west edge of the Cotswolds). She’s a woman of indeterminate age – I won’t embarrass her by announcing it. She’s an absolute dear. A dear heart, as the saying goes. She’s still full of piss and vinegar at her age, although the body is having a hard time keeping up with her agile brain!

Pamela and Jimmy had two children – Victoria (her husband Graham was away, sadly) and Nicholas who lives in Ludlow (Wales, about 2 hours away) with his wife Lottie. This time we met one of the grandsons, James, who’s about to go to India for an extended trip and plans to write a book about the refugees (now in India) from Nepal. He met the Dahlai Lama, who’s been impressed with his writing and offered to write a foreward to his book. James writes a blog too, called Coffee and Countries, if you want to go check it out. He’s a new college grad with a degree in journalism, about to experience life as an adult. In his spare time in India he’s also looking into the family genealogy too. Pamela’s family (originally from Ireland)  lived in India. It was her great-grandfather who moved to India and actually joined the Indian Army (as a liaison with the the British Army then occupying India). Pamela was born in India, but moved to England when she was 10 (to attend private school) and stayed. But India runs in the blood, I guess you could say. We sat in Pamela’s kitchen this time and she told us long, fascinating stories about her childhood, about India. And how proud she is of her children and grandchildren.

Victoria is a very accomplished cook (Cordon Bleu trained), and this was the first time we had the opportunity to enjoy it. Pamela used to be a fabulous cook – I’ve told stories about her before on this blog – about how she taught me to make a proper pot of tea, for instance. And how she wowed us on our first visit with a lamb roast dinner.

There, clockwise from top left: Victoria, James (Victoria’s son), Lottie (Nick’s wife) and Nicholas.

First we enjoyed sitting outside (on one of those rare, but glorious English sunny summer afternoons) for awhile with drinks, then sat down for the dinner inside. Victoria had outdone herself with providing ample side dishes to go with the beef roast. I mean – can you see in the top left photo – that roast is huge. And it was so juicy and delicious. Then we had the Yorkshire puddings (popovers), honeyed parsnips (to die for, I swear), cooked carrots from her garden, broad beans (here we call them fava beans) in cream sauce, cooked leeks, roasted potatoes, and cauliflower cheese (a casserole of cooked cauliflower in a cheesy cream sauce – divine is all I can say).

Once all that settled Victoria served dessert. She doesn’t make fancy desserts, she said, but served instead a delicious concoction (fondly called in English-speak “Eton mess”) of crumbled meringue, fresh berries and whipped cream. In England you can buy ready-made meringues (like baby pavlovas), so she’d crumbled them up, spooned in a bunch of fresh berries with juice, then some sweetened, whipped cream. It was delicious and easy. I make something very similar – see my blog post about it: Mixed Berry Meringue Parfaits. Mine also has ice cream in it, but originally it didn’t. So, it’s an American version of “Eton mess.”

Then Victoria served a cheese course – oh so lovely. With wonderful, mostly local, English cheeses. I was so full by that point I could hardly eat any, but I did anyway. I don’t remember the names of any of the cheeses – one was a Cheddar, another a type of Brie, I think.

Hopefully Victoria will read this – we had such a lovely afternoon at her home – and the food was off the charts wonderful. Thank you, Victoria! Now all I want to know is what she did with the 10 pounds of leftover beef? Maybe shepherd’s pie?

When I began planning the trip to Britain, I spent countless hours researching online – not just places to stay, sites to see, but also restaurants. Some locations didn’t have much. More and more I seem to rely on Trip Advisor. That compendium of updated information provided only by users. About places ‘round the world. Its amazing, really, when you think about it, that one can do so much travel planning online now.

Many hotels we visited had Trip Advisor decals in their windows (a good sign). Or they had photocopied write-ups from Trip Advisor. And many of the hotel sites I visited had a mention of Trip Advisor within. I must go online and submit new additions to the sites where we really enjoyed our stay. There was only one hotel (in the Lake District) that I probably won’t write up somehow. And there was really nothing wrong with it – the owners were nice. But our room was damp. Towels didn’t dry overnight, and the little bit of hand washing I did took 2 full days to dry. Not problems the owners can do much about, I don’t suppose. So, it’s better to just not mention that one.

Anyway, back to restaurants . . . I did make dinner reservations in several places we visited. The tourist season was busy, and I thought it might be difficult to get reservations, particularly if we selected a popular place. Such was the case with our last night in Britain. We turned in our rental car at Heathrow, got checked into our Marriott hotel there, and then we took the tube into London. We’ve sight-seen in London countless times and had decided not to stay there on this trip.

So when researching what we’d do our last night, I went online (of course) and checked-out London restaurants. We’ve been to many of the better restaurants (although not the River Cafe) in London. We didn’t take dressy clothes on this trip. Dave absolutely refused to take a sport coat, so I didn’t want to embarrass us or others by going to a fine dining establishment in inappropriate clothes. I read about Fifteen London, Jamie Oliver’s restaurant in downtown London. Where he (and the professionals on staff) train (for free but paid for by Oliver’s foundation set up for this purpose) about 20 underprivileged young people (adults, though) how to be chefs. Not just cooks, but real chefs. They train for 11 months, when they graduate and go on to get their own jobs, hopefully. They’d just graduated the class of 2010 a few weeks ago – August is the only month of the year when the meals are created and cooked by the pros/teachers.

Whether I didn’t notice, or I made the decision to go there anyway, I don’t know, but I didn’t remember how expensive it would be. Fifteen has two restaurants – a more casual trattoria and a downstairs dining room. The latter, a set menu for 60 pounds per person is where I’d made the reservation. The kind of meal you should remember for a lifetime. I hope I do! I took photos with my small point and shoot camera, so I apologize for them not being as clear or precise (or focused) as usual.

We arrived a bit early. Too early to eat, yet not enough time to go do something else. We didn’t know how long it would take to get ourselves into London from the airport, so we allowed ample time.

So, once we got there we sat in the small bar area where people kept streaming in – some in quite dressy clothes – others in very casual clothes. We sat watching the chefs (the professionals were wearing little tight bandana head coverings (black); other kitchen staff were sans head coverings. Multiple languages were punctuating the air. Sous chefs kept going out the door (behind the glasses in photo) and disappearing down below somewhere (the dungeons) to retrieve big huge deep trays of food things (we spotted olives for sure). The walk-in storage refrigerator must be somewhere in the basement.

My drink was a cocktail type – with prosecco, Aperol, soda and an orange slice. Altogether perfect for relaxing on a warm afternoon. Dave had a glass of red wine.

This course may not have been my favorite of the night, but it was certainly right “up there.” Some delicious house made salami with to-die-for focaccia bread with red onion. The bread was just filled with the onion – it was warm, tender, and SO flavorful. The olives were home cured, we’re sure. I didn’t have any of them, but Dave said the large green ones were the best. We also had a small bowl of Spanish olive oil to dip the bread into.

Then they brought us a little amuse-bouche of fresh scallop with pomegranate (and juice) with a tiny drizzle of olive oil and the juice of Japanese limes (top photo left). All in a small Chinese ceramic soup spoon. Altogether amazing flavors.

I didn’t take notes about the wines we had – all unusual and chosen by the wine steward to go with each course. He and Dave had an animated conversation about each and every wine and why the wine was particularly appropriate for the different foods.

Next, I had burratta (second photo down). With a little bit of dark greens, a delish sauce too. You can barely see the cheese on the bottom of the plate. It was, by far, the best burratta I’ve ever had. It had great flavor and oozed just like it’s supposed to. I think they drizzled some balsamic on the plate too, or maybe it was a basil swath – I can’t remember. The greens were dressed and they also perfectly matched to go with the cheese.

Then I ordered a risotto course (third photo down). This was a tasting menu, so portions were small. Otherwise we’ve have never been able to waddle up the steps and out of there.

The risotto was full of red cherry tomatoes, fresh mozzarella cheese and basil. It was absolutely to die for. Best risotto of that type I’ve ever had. I may try to re-create it here at home. It was that good. And risotto is not hard to make, but I’m not sure exactly what made this one taste so significantly better than others. Probably just the ripest of tomatoes (sweet, ripe) and whole milk mozzie. Anyway, it was superb.

Trying not to make a spectacle of myself taking photos, I didn’t use flash, so I apologize if you have a hard time seeing them. I tried to lighten them up as best I could. This last is the duck breast I ordered. It was served on a bed of very soft polenta, then drizzled with some kind of fig jam or sauce, and buried underneath the duck was a fresh fig. This dish was so good, I couldn’t believe it. And yet, nothing about it was that unusual – the duck was rare, tasty and tender, the fig sauce light and sweet, and the fresh fig was just ripe perfection.

Then they brought dessert. I took a photo of it, but am not including it because I was very disappointed in it. I ordered baked Alaska. They used a small cake round on the bottom, a nice (small) knob of vanilla ice cream, then covered it with sweet meringue. Then they’d browned it with a hand torch, I think. But the meringue was still sticky and overly sweet. After two bites I scraped off the meringue and just ate the ice cream and cake. It was okay. Nothing to remark about, really. But to have had all the other courses (5 if you include the amuse-bouche) be off the charts, I’m fine if the dessert was a “miss.”

Would I go again? Yes I would. To the dining room? Probably not – I’d try the trattoria part just because I’d like to.

Fifteen London

15 Westland Place (about 4 blocks walk from Old Street tube station on the Northern Line)
London N1 7LP, United Kingdom
0871 330 1515 (reservations available online)

We arrived back home to California last night, after 2 grueling flights (one nearly 10 hours and another nearly 3). This was the pack-em-like-sardines portions. We had 4 very small children around us, all about 14 months to age 3. I often say a little prayer when we fly, hoping we won’t be seated next to or near children on any flight actually, but especially on a long, transatlantic one. All the parents involved did their best, and for the most part the children were good. But the screaming-meemies were difficult – you know that stage of childhood when the child realizes that if she/he screams as loud as possible for a long, but piercing burst, they get attention? Yup. We had 2 of those, one in the seat just ahead of us. The other 2 rows behind us (she was not part of the 4 children in our immediate vicinity, but her piercing screams felt like she was too close! Anyway, we survived the flights and got home about 7:00 pm last night. It was over 100° here in Southern California yesterday, and our house, where the A/C had been left off, of course, was hotter than blazes. It was 90 on our upstairs floor. I could hardly stay awake until 9:00 pm and promptly went to sleep. I woke up at 4, and finally got up at 4:30. I’ll be doing this for some nights, readjusting my system to California time.

We piled up laundry (nearly emptied both of our suitcases doing that), took showers and toddled off to bed. But not before I put my iPhone on to charge – it was completely dead. And not before I put my iPod on to charge – it too was completely dead. My Kindle is charging, although it still had a whiff of juice left. My mini-laptop actually had some charge left, but not much. I wrote a couple of blog posts on it while we were en route.

So, as we were flying I wrote down some things I thought you, my readers, would enjoy. If you’ve never traveled to England, you might enjoy this the most. Those of you who already have may not find the list all that interesting. Observations of traveling (for Americans) in general and a few about the Brits:

• Habits run deep . . . it’s hard remembering what side to get into a right-hand drive car . . . on the right side! We were both still making that mistake after two weeks of driving.
• When you travel by car, you live in a near state of dehydration . . . because bathrooms are hard to find. There are fewer gas [petrol] stations in Britain than in the States and many of them don’t have toilets.
• Nearly all hotels and B&Bs use duvets, and I find them stiflingly hot in summer. Nearly every night of our trip I found myself awaking to throw off the duvet, then being cold in a matter of minutes. It took some time to start  your night’s sleep with the duvet just hovering over you, not draped over both sides of you. At least I guess that’s the way the locals adjust
• Brits love old American TV shows. Hotels offer a very limited selection of basic TV (not so different from U.S. travel, just less) and after you’ve listened to the BBC and CNN for 30 minutes you usually switch to something else and what was on mostly was The Golden Girls. Yes, really.
• Speed cameras are everywhere. The difference is that they signpost them, telling you there [probably] is one at the beginning of every village where the speed limit slows to 30-40 mph.
• The cost of getting from the airport [Heathrow] into London is dear. And time consuming. Took us about two hours to get there. We were staying at the Marriott at Heathrow, so needed to take the “park hoppa” bus (about $6.00 each for a 20 minute ride) from the hotel to one of the main terminals at Heathrow. Had to walk a goodly distance to get to the underground (tube) to take a train into downtown. Cost about $4.50 each, one way. I’d think twice about doing that again, yet we wanted to stay at the airport for our early-morning flight departure (that part worked very well) but didn’t want to eat dinner at the hotel restaurant. Reminder to self: just get used to it – stay at the airport and eat at the hotel next time.
• Roundabouts – you know what they are? Instead of traffic lights the Brits use an ingenious system of round circles to keep the flow moving. If you’ve never driven in Britain they do take a bit of getting used to, but they’re wonderful. Only twice did I miss the correct road out of the roundabout, but what’s so great about it is that if you miss, you just go around again.
• Finding a place to pull off the road are rare (like to check a map, get a drink of water, stretch your legs). On the motorways (freeways) they have “services” areas every 30 miles or so (for petrol, food, bathrooms, etc.) but they’re so far and few between. And those work great when you’re on the motorways. Otherwise, lots of luck trying to find a place. I drove slower than the general traffic did and on narrow, 2-lane roads (of which there are tens of thousands all over Britain) there are no places to pull over, hardly, to let someone pass. Often fences go right up to the side of the road – there’s no shoulder or anything. We always prefer the more scenic routes and forgo the motorways when time permits. Bear that in mind if you decide to drive yourself!
• Brits like cold toast. It’s just a matter of a cultural difference. We always like hot toast, but the Brits put them into the cutest little racks and you eat toast stone cold (freshly toasted, but still cold).
• If you’re a coffee and cream drinker, take Coffee-Mate packets if you can. The Brits don’t use cream in their coffee – only milk. And usually it’s low-fat milk. That’s one of my idiosyncrasies . . . I like half and half in my coffee. At one of the B&Bs the owner actually went out and bought cream for me – bless her! Otherwise I had to get used to it.
• Having read the book The World Is Flat 3.0, I see more and more of it. . . I heard so many different languages in England (more in London and at the airport, of course) than any place I’ve ever been. Most service people in Britain are foreigners – they speak British English – but they’re very hard to understand. England has more people from India and Pakistan (at least that’s my observation).
• If you’re a techie, you may need more than one converter and British plug adapter. And yet, most hotels will have just one available plug (if you can find it) – you’ll be lucky if you have two in any one room. This was a source of frustration for me as a traveler.
• Sunday Lunch is an institution in England. Meaning it’s the main meal, and they like nothing better than a big roast with all the trimmings. We had one of those meals with friends, which I’ll write up later.
• Soft drinks are very pricey. They do have sugar-free drinks, fortunately, but canned soft drinks cost dearly – at least 2 pounds each (about $3.00) and that’s for one glass. No refills. And you may have to ask to get ice.
• The double bed is still alive and well in Britain. Queen sized beds are becoming more well known but king beds are a rarity. When a hotel says they have 10 doubles, 2 twins, that means they have 10 rooms with double beds only and 2 with 2 twin beds. Just so you know . . .
• Pay the premium for a sat/nav or GPS with your rental car – it can be a lifesaver when you’re driving internationally. I cannot advise you enough – pay the price – it’s worth every penny.
• Dress codes are almost a thing of the past – we found casual dress the norm everywhere. Even in a pricey London restaurant it was casual. I’m sure there are still holdouts and we did see some people dressed to the nines, but casual was also acceptable everywhere we went.
• Brits are really fond of their stick shift cars. I grew up driving a stick shift, so it’s not a problem for me, but I decided this time to pay the premium (yes, it’s a premium to rent an automatic). When you’re concentrating on driving on the other side of the road and making right turns across incoming traffic can be stressful, it’s nice to know you don’t have to fret about shifting gears all the time.
• And the best one – if you rent a GPS or a sat/nav with your rental car, what you need to get you anywhere in the country is the 6-digit postal code. It’s an ingenious system – that postal code takes you TO the exact address. Nothing like ZIP codes here which may cover 10-20 square miles. Although I think with the U.S. 4-digit addition at the end, it takes you pretty close.
• Green salads are relatively rare. They do serve a little bit of greenery with meals sometimes, but they’re not dressed as we expect they might be. The Brits like giving a salad a little squirt of concentrated balsamic (thick, sweet) and that’s it (inexpensive and efficient, not necessarily tasty). And most green salads are made with more unusual lettuces like frisee or rocket. You’ll likely not see much head lettuce or Romaine anywhere. Salads I did miss – my first dinner here at home is going to be a big green salad with chicken.
• The Brits have perfected the mechanics of an instant-heat hot water kettle. I showed one in one picture in a previous post (on the tea tray in most hotel rooms). We just can’t believe how fast they heat water. But then, my DH says it’s because it’s heating with 220 vs.. 110. That does make a difference.
• French Fries – oh my goodness. Do the Brits love their chips! I was offered chips with nearly every meal I ate there. Not that I don’t enjoy a few now and then, but the Brits adore them. And they like to sprinkle them with malt vinegar, not ketchup.
• An English cooked breakfast includes: fruit juice, a fried egg, some bacon (more like salty Canadian bacon than our streaky bacon, it’s called), a pork sausage (usually big, fat and unless purchased from a local butcher it has lots of filler in it. . . not to my taste), some grilled tomatoes, some sautéed mushrooms, hot canned baked beans (the Brits are crazy about old-fashioned canned baked beans – they have them on toast for a light lunch or dinner too), perhaps some Black pudding (a blood sausage product – you don’t want to know what’s in it), toast (white, brown or sometimes a grain or seedy bread), coffee or tea. It’s enough food to get you through the whole day if you fill up on it. B&Bs and hotels will serve you all of that, along with some yogurt maybe, fresh fruit, and cold cereal. We missed our favorite Fage yogurt – apparently it’s available at the markets, but they didn’t serve it at any of the hotels or B&Bs – it’s a premium yogurt, so I guess that’s understandable.

Stay tuned for more stories about our travels. It will take me a few days to get back into the cooking groove, although I DO have two posts about food that I did before we left on this trip. So I rewarded you with one of those today too. So, Dave is off to the grocery store to buy all varieties of fresh produce and fruit, yogurt and fresh bread. And my favorite cream for my coffee.

In between writing all these posts here at Tasting Spoons, I do occasionally prepare dishes that are family favorites. That have stood the test of time. BUT, they’ve already been posted here. There’s the temptation, always when I’m cooking, to find some new recipe for whatever I’m about to make. But, gosh, when you’ve already got a good recipe, why bother? Well, I do because I always wonder whether that new version might just be better than the old favorite? Especially when I see some interesting, different or unusual ingredient in it. And then maybe I’d have a new, old favorite.

Over the last six months or so I’ve been trying to go back through some of my earlier posts to insert new photos. Some of my early photos were really pretty awful. Done with my little point-and-shoot Canon. For sure, I didn’t use sufficient light (this was before I purchased my good EGO light). I also couldn’t do close-ups very well, either, with that camera. That’s why I eventually bought a good Canon DSLR camera.

I started writing Tasting Spoons in April of ‘07. In early July I jumped off our sailboat, twisted my ankle and fractured my foot. I couldn’t put a single ounce of weight on my foot for nearly 3 months. I lived in a wheelchair mostly. And my DH (dear hubby/husband) did 99% of the cooking. And he’s not a cook. During that time I wrote up one very funny story, about a night when my DH invited a friend over for dinner and I tried to coach him through making the meal. I can laugh about it even now. Writing my blog was a great way to use up long stretches of mornings or afternoons when I was mostly housebound. So I posted stories without photos. I have this long list of posted recipes that I’ve been slowly winnowing through – making the dish and adding photos to those old stories.

Now we get to this post. If you have an ice cream maker, then I urge you to make this ice cream. It’s so darned good. The recipe comes from David Lebovitz’ book, The Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments. For sure, that’s my go-to ice cream cookbook. I’m not going to re-print his recipe here – you can go to my original post about it and get it there. It’s just gosh-darned good stuff. You bake the very ripe, chopped bananas with brown sugar and a little bit of butter. The result is a soft caramel-tasting mixture that’s whizzed up with some milk and a jot of lemon juice and a pinch of salt. When I made it this time I added about a tablespoon of Tuaca, the vanilla-scented liqueur. Why? Because I have it on my shelf now and need to find ways to use it. Besides, adding some alcohol helps keep home made ice cream from freezing into a total ice block, supposedly. It keeps the texture softer, they say. And just a little note also – this ice cream is extremely low fat. It’s 80% bananas. And it’s made with milk, not cream. Which technically could make it a gelato. But Lebovitz calls it ice cream. Whatever it is, it’s good.

A year ago: Savory Tomato Pie
Two years ago: Afternoon (lunch) Tea at the Posh Peasant is San Clemente
Three years ago: Goat Cheese with Apricot Chutney

Laughing at yourself is one of the humbling and fun things in life, isn’t it? This picture doesn’t show you the laughing part. First, the coffee tray. What’s there not to love about staying in a charming B&B and having the owner deliver a fresh pot of coffee at 8:00 in the morning? Indeed Nicky brought this cute little tray for us and it just barely lodged on the edge of the bedside table. We savored every drop.

Now the other part – we had just one electrical outlet in this room above (in Wales). If you’ve never traveled in England before . . . well, for us with U.S. 110 volt plugs, we must first use a British plug. On the back are the holes for both European and American plugs. But first you have to insert a power converter so you don’t  blow up the electrical device. It converts their 220 volts to 110. But, the plugs don’t hold very well. They’re loose. They fall out. Either the converter falls out, or the American plug/cord falls out. So I’ve had to resort to all kinds of makeshift things to prop it up.

As I write this (it’s Sunday here in Cheltenham), up in the room I’m charging my ipod. But in order to do that I had to unplug the television, which meant my DH couldn’t watch morning TV while he waited for me to finish showering and dressing. So he went down to the “lounge,” (the living room type place where small hotels offer drinks or lounging) to read. When I first got up this morning I began charging my iphone. It was completely dead. Because, you see, when we drove yesterday we needed to leave the GPS plugged into the cigarette lighter. Dave thinks that the GPS must be plugged in when it’s in use (I think it has some reserve juice to run awhile; he thinks it doesn’t). So I couldn’t charge my iphone in the car yesterday.

So, I should have charged it last night, but Dave was watching TV when I decided to go to sleep. My ipod, that I listen to almost every night before I drift off to sleep, was nearly dead too. It had just enough juice for me to listen for about 15 minutes. So therefore, nothing got charged. Ah, the dilemma of a techie. Of course, I have to have my ipod, and my iphone, and my mini-laptop. Then, you throw in the fact that Dave’s razor (his only battery type device with him) must be charged too. He told me this morning that his razor is just about dead. So we need to leave it charging while we’re out and about today. With the British plug, the converter and then the curlicue cord for charging. But it falls out too, so we have to find something in the room that’s not flammable (like plastic or something similar) to prop up under the contraptions – to keep them supplying juice.

So here I am, sitting in the lounge myself, running the laptop on battery power because the British plug and converter are upstairs in the room. I hope I have enough juice left to upload this post. You readers are just lucky I even have a post with all this electronics mess!