That pile of rocks

In all my excitement over sharing Hampton Court with our readers, I totally forgot about the rest of our day.  When we left Hampton Court to head for Bath, we passed right by Stonehenge, and figured we would stop and have a look around.  Initially, I was going to forgo a visit as I’ve heard that all the bloody tourists ruin the experience, but we did literally pass right by it (seriously, the motorway runs right next to it), so I figured we could have a look around. 

bloody tourists!

   

When we pulled up, I certainly feared that the tourists were going to be too much for me.  They were crawling all over like ants on a piece of candy.  Apparently, Stonehenge is on some master list of sites in England for Japanese tourists.  It looked like an invasion.  I’d like to think that the citizens of Oxford thought they were in Japan earlier on in the day since about 90% of them were wearing some article of clothing with the words OXFORD written on it.

Also,  the entry price was a bit extreme, but luckily we are members of English Heritage and neither had to pay the 7 pounds a piece nor wait in line with all the invaders and their cameras.   Luckily, the space around the actual site was wide enough to get around all the other tourists.  Also, they had the area around the actual site blocked off (too many idiot tourists climbing on and graffiting it) so you could easily get photos without random people in them.  This is my pet peeve and I will wait 10 minutes for a site to be clear of people when taking pictures.  It drives Kevin nuts but makes for better photos.

Hurray!  No tourists in my photo

In all, we spent about 10 minutes looking around (which is why the entry price is so ridiculous) before setting off for Bath once again.

 

We got into town just in time for dinner.  I am a huge foodie and also love Jamie Oliver so I was very excited that he had just opened a restaurant in Bath – Jamie’s Italian.  Jamie is a huge proponent of locally sourced fresh ingredients and good food at reasonable prices.  And good and reasonable it was.  We decided to start with bruschetta topped with fresh ricotta, heirloom tomatoes and basil which was delicious.  Kevin had a delicious Bucatini Carbonara, which featured tubular, hollow spaghetti type noodles with smoked pancetta, courgettes and parmesan.  After hearing that they had a special of squash risotto, I had to have that as it is one of my favorite dishes.  It certainly didn’t disappoint.  The squash was full of flavor, the risotto a perfect texture and seasoned with just the right amount of sage.

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

We topped off our meals with a lemon polenta cake (me) and tiramisu (Kev).  The polenta cake was glorious and I am going to make it my mission to replicate it when I get home.  In all, a fabulous meal, but lets face it – it would have to be.

Give Thanks

But not to Continental Airlines.  Thanksgiving came, and we had a big day planned.  Katie and Kevin were to drive to Manchester and get John while Cailin and I slept and got Thanksgiving dinner started.  Once they arrived back with my BMF (best male friend), Kevin and John were going to drink scotchy scotch scotch while Katie and I finished up Thanksgiving dinner in time for our friends experiencing their first American Thanksgiving to come over.  However, Continental airlines had other plans when they caused John to miss his connecting flight due to air traffic problems, booked him on an alternate overbooked flight and caused his mother to have to drive to Newark in the middle of the night and pick him up.  While the news that John would not be coming left the entire flat depressed (its hard to tell if Katie was more sad about not getting to spend Thanksgiving with her husband or Kevin as he was now stuck with three girls), we tried to make the best of it. 

I spent the morning getting things prepared and we all ran out to the market around lunch to get a few last minute things.  After lunch, we put on the music and cooked.  Since we had a girl from Ireland, a girl from England and a guy from Scotland coming over, I figured we better do a very traditional Thanksgiving meal.  On the menu:

• Roast Turkey (brined the night before in citrus and then rubbed with Herbe de Provence butter and stuffed with lemons, oranges, onions, rosemary, sage and oregano)
• Mashed Potatoes (Alton Brown’s delicious masher recipe consisting of 2:1 russet to red potato and mashed by hand with garlic infused buttermilk)
• stuffing (traditional french bread, celery, onion and sage stuffing cooked outside the turkey.)
• Rosemary-citrus gravy
• Butternut squash (cubed and roasted in brown sugar/cinnamon butter)
• Green Bean casserole (with home-made onion rings on top since the French’s onions were back in CT with John)
• Cranberry Sauce (OceanSpray straight from America)
• Pumpkin cheesecake with pecan caramel sauce
• Chocolate cream pie

Look at that beautiful golden brown skin!

Allister wants to know what everything is.  The overwhelming hit – Green Bean Casserole!

   

Yum – wine!

After we taught our friends how to stuff yourself silly, Cailin broke out another hit of the night – Beef Jerky.  I don’t understand why they don’t sell it over here, since everyone I met over here has loved it.  Plus, it’s a culture obsessed with meat!

Meat!

While the jerky was a hit, the grapefruit gin and tonics that Katie and I discovered at the store were not! 

We’re smiling cause we haven’t tasted them yet

After we all digested our food slightly, we set off to get a post-dinner drink at the Swan with Allister and Ciara.  Cailin and Sarka were not feeling well so unfortunately they didn’t join us.

 

Enjoying a traditional “American” drink in honor of Thanksgiving – Jack Daniels (+coke for Katie and I)

We all missed our good friend John, but made the most of our day.  Hopefully everyone else enjoyed it as much as I did!

“Come forth into the light of things, let Nature be your teacher”

It’s easy to see why William Wordsworth wrote most of his well known works while living in Dove Cottage on the edges of Grasmere Lake.  While the whole Lake District is beautiful, I find this particular area the most beautiful of all the places I have been so far.

 

The first thing I saw when I stepped off the bus

When I stepped on the bus in Grasmere, my original plan was to visit Dove Cottage and the Wordsworth Museum, and then walk up to town and spend the rest of the day there.  However, when I stepped off the bus, I immediately amended the plan to include a walk around the lake, as the sky was blue and there were some beautiful reflections in the lake.

Dove Cottage

  

The view from the garden.  In Wordsworth’s time, you would have been able to see the lake.

The tour of the house is well worth it as they have interns who are studying William Wordsworth guiding the tours.  They really seem to know their stuff.  The museum was neat, but kind of a letdown as the Longfellow exhibit that was advertised was no longer there.  I’ve had a soft spot in my heart for Longfellow ever since I got a turn of the century, illustrated copy of Evangeline from my Aunt one Christmas.  However, the exhibit on Wordsworth’s connection to other poets of his time was really interesting and worth the visit.

After my educational experience for the day, I set out around the lake.  I must have taken about 200 pictures, trying to capture the beauty of the area.  I managed to get a few.

 

The only thing not perfect about Grasmere are the sheer numbers of people walking around.  It takes away from the beauty when you are constantly dodging slow old people or having to listen to children shrieking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After I finished my jaunt around the lake, I headed into the town of Grasmere.  While most little towns in this area are basically the same, Grasmere stands out in the food department for their World Famous Gingerbread. While not a big fan of the hard as a rock “gingerbread man” style gingerbread, I decided to give their version a try, and boy was I glad that I did.  The gingerbread was slightly soft, and tasted more like a spice cake  than gingerbread.  Biting into it, you can see giant hunks of ginger.  I bought 3 big pieces, intending to eat 1 and bring two home for Kevin, but it was so delicious that I ate another 1/2 piece.  In fact, its so good that as I am writing about it, I am stealing one of Kevin’s pieces.  (Shhh, don’t tell).  If you are ever in the Grasmere area, its worth a stop just for the gingerbread.

The last stop on the tour de Grasmere was St. Oswald’s Church to visit the graves of the Wordsworth family.

Home Sweet Home

We finally arrived back in Ulverston Monday night, after being away since the previous Tuesday. Since we had been traveling so much, we decided to take it easy and hang out around Ulverston on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Tuesday morning, Mumsy and I went to the grocery store first thing as we needed more milk for Mumsy’s tea and the ingredients for Boeuf Borgignone which Mumsy requested I make. In addition, all of our smoothies were gone. In England, they have these fantastic smoothies called “Innocent Fruit” that are pretty much just pulverized fruit. They are glorious. I personally like the Mango and Lemon Grass smoothie as it tasted just like Mango Lassi, but Mumsy and Don didn’t so they watered it down!

After a trip to the grocery store, I took Mumsy and DOn to my favorite little restaurant in Ulverston – Hot Mango Cafe. Only open for breakfast and lunch, the cafe serves food all locally grown. The owners even own the farm that produces all the bacon and other pork products on the menu. While the regular menu is quite good, I love the specials that they have. This time, I got a BBLT – Bacon, Brie, Lettuce(Rocket in this case) and Tomato Chutney– served at just the right temperature where the Brie was gooey and the ciabatta roll perfectly warm. To be honest, I have no idea what Mumsy and Don had because I was too focused on the gloriousness that was my sandwich. Hot Mango Cafe also has really great tea and desserts so Mumsy and I split a pot of tea and we all got desserts. I got Millionaire shortbread, which I had never heard of before but it was everywhere in the UK. Basically, its shortbread with a layer of caramel and a layer of chocolate. Very delicious. Joy of Baking has a pretty good recipe, which I’ve included below.

SHORTBREAD:

3/4 cup (1 1/2 stick) (170 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated white sugar

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups (210 grams) all purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

CARAMEL FILLING:

1 - 14 ounce (396 grams) can Dulce de Leche or sweetened condensed milk

CHOCOLATE TOPPING:

6 ounces (170 grams) semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate, cut into pieces

1 teaspoon unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place rack in center of oven. Grease with butter (or use a cooking spray) a 9 x 9 inch (23 x 23 cm) pan.

FOR SHORTBREAD: In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the flour and salt and beat until the dough just comes together. Press onto the bottom of your greased pan and bake for about 20 minutes, or until pale golden in color. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool while you make the filling.

FOR CARAMEL FILLING: If using Dulce de Leche then simply warm the caramel in the microwave or in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. If using sweetened condensed milk, pour the milk into a heatproof bowl and place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Cover and cook, over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 60 to 90 minutes or until the milk has thickened and has turned a caramel color. Remove from heat and beat until smooth. Pour the caramel over the baked shortbread and leave to set.

Note: You can also do this step in a microwave oven. Place the sweetened condensed milk in a large microwaveable bowl and cook on medium power for about 4 minutes, stirring halfway through baking time. Reduce the powder to medium-low and continue to cook for another 8 to 12 minutes, or until the milk has thicken and has turned a light caramel color. Remove from microwave and beat until smooth.

FOR TOPPING: Melt the chocolate and butter either in the microwave oven or in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. Pour the melted chocolate evenly over the caramel and leave to set. Cut the shortbread into pieces using a sharp knife.

Store the shortbread in the refrigerator to keep the chocolate nice and firm.

Yield: 16 - 2 inch (5 cm) squares

The next day, Mumsy and Don went down the Canal Path again so Don could take pictures. I decided to opt out as my knees were rebelling against all the rainy UK weather. However, I did join them for a jaunt up Hoad Hill after lunch.

Hoad Hill is a big hill right near Kevin’s flat that has a monument to Sir John Barrow, a local naval officer who traveled extensively through China a nd South Africa, and wrote many naval history books, including one about the seizure of the HMS Bounty. Normally, visitors to the top of the Hoad can climb up the monument to Sir Barrow, but currently, the monument is being restored. However, we totally lucked out and got a beautiful sunny day, so the view was quite lovely from the top of the hill.

Mumsy’s Idea of Heaven

Sunday morning arrived and brought with it uncharacteristically nice weather for the UK. Since it was so nice, we decided to take advantage of it and head to Hyde Park. Once a dangerous place home to Jack the Ripper, the park is home to a beautiful rose garden, lake, and miles of biking/walking trails. A large oasis in the hustle of bustle of London. The day we decided to visit coincided with a 5K Women’s Charity Race, which was neat to watch as thousands and thousands of women ran through the park.

First stop, since we were with Mumsy was the bathroom (or toilet/loo in the UK). After that, we took a stroll through the rose garden. It would have been gloriously beautiful in prime flower season. Most of the flowers were slightly past their prime, but it was still beautiful.

After the Rose Garden, we headed down to the lake to partake in another of Mumsy’s favorite pastimes – tea and shortbread intake.

Mumsy is over the legal limit (tea wise)

Does anyone know what type of flower this is? Mumsy ordered me to take a photo for ID purposes.

Magpie – Kevin says you have to salute them. Why? I have no idea.

After we had our fill of Hyde Park, we headed up to Picadilly Circus to walk around a bit. Kevin and I then decided to walk up Regent Street to Oxford Street (where all the designer shops are). Along the way, we spotted the restaurant shown below. Its owned by the people that make Cailin and I’s beloved Peri Peri Sauce. Too bad we already ate!

We rounded out our night by meeting a childhood friend of Kevin’s from Warren at the Embankment station for drinks and dinner. Heather brought us to Gordon’s Wine Bar, the oldest Wine Bar in London opened in 1890. We settled in the cave like basement for a bottle of of Andes Peak Carmenere. Its too bad we aren’t going to London with the Felty’s when they come for Thanksgiving because I know they would love it.

I stole these off their website. I forgot to take pictures because I was too busy drinking my tasty wine.

After drinks, it was off for a walk through china town to a glorious Thai restaurant. It was great to hang out with someone who had lived in the city for over 4 years, because we were able to visit places that Kevin and I would have never found by ourselves.

London Calling

On Friday we had to get up and be on the train to London at the ungodly hour of 4:50 am. Unfortunately all the other trains that day were full so that was the only option. The good part about it was that we arrived in London at 8:30 am and had the whole day to play tourist.

I think the guards got tired of all the idiot tourists bugging them because they are now stationed behind the giant gate and no longer sit out front

First up was a trip to Buckingham Palace. Kevin, and I had been to London recently, and Mumsy not so recently, but none of us had been able to tour the Palace. When the Queen is in residence, the palace is closed to visitors, but the state rooms open for the last month of summer when she is off visiting one of her many other palaces around Europe. No photos were allowed inside the palace, but to get an idea of the sheer opulence of it all, I’ve included a few canned photos.

Apparently, the palace was originally built for the Duke of Buckingham as a townhouse outside the hustle and bustle of London. George III acquired it in 1761 as a house for his wife, Queen Charlotte. It was enlarged in the 19th century by John Nash, an architect famous for his set design which accounts for the theatrical quality to it. When Queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837, it became the official residence of the royal family.

We got to view 19 state rooms out of a total 775 rooms. I’d love to place Hide and Seek in a place that big. However, I’d be afraid to touch anything. I have to say that my favorite part was an exhibit commemorating Queen Elizabeth II’s Commonwealth tour of the 50’s and 60’s. While the footage of her trip and gifts she received were fascinating, the best part for me as an aspiring Vintage Clothing collector were the dresses. We think of the Queen now as a seriously dowdy old lady, but she was really a stylish bird back in the day. Once again, I couldn’t take pictures, but here are some canned images of some of my favorite pieces that any one of the Trifecta would kill to wear.

1961 Evening Gown by Hardy Amies

1967 Evening Gown by Norman Hartnell

1972 Evening Gown by Norman Hartnell

Once we exited the palace, we took a walk through the palace gardens (the largest private gardens in London) where we walked among the plants, water and fat pigeons. Seriously, these things were the fattest pigeons I had ever seen. Apparently, not only the Royals live a cushy life in England.

At this point in the day, we were pretty tired since we had to get up at 3:30 AM, so we decided to retire to the hotel until our High Tea was ready (YUM!). The hotel was running a special to coincide with the palace being open for visitors were High Tea was free, so of course Mumsy decided to stay at this hotel. The high tea included a variety of teas (NOT prepared correctly according to Mumsy but still good), scones with fresh unpasturized clotted cream and homemade jam, and a variety of tea sandwiches (including cucumber sandwiches which really are NOT that good since they taste like cucumbers on crustless bread with butter), and a variety of biscuits.

After we stuffed ourselves silly, we decided to take the Tube down to the Westminster area and check out the sites. Immediately upon exiting the Tube, we were greeted with the sites of Big Ben, Parliment, Westminster Abbey, and the exhibit that Don and I (being afraid of heights) dreaded the most: The London Eye

Situated on the Thames (that’s pronounced Temes. Kevin’s UK friends find the fact that we live in New London on the THames very amusing), the London Eye rotates its guests to a height of 135 meters, affording great views over the Thames. As much as I hate heights (right Cailin?) the experience was awesome and really didn’t bother me that much as we were enclosed quite safely in a ski chalet type bubble.

After our ride, we decided to take some time taking many MANY pictures of Parliment, Westminster and Big Ben before heading back to bed after a long day.

Hey Look Kids, Big Ben!

Old Ironsides in the courtyard of Parliment