Since the countdown to Chicago is now on - you are probably wondering what I want to do before I leave London. Here is my list of to dos before I go:
1) Visit Portobello road market for antique maps and hummingbird bakery cupcakes
2) Go to the Science Museum
3) Go ice skating at Somerset house
4) Eat at a michelan star restaurant at least one time
5) Go to Brighton with a friend for a day trip at least one more time
6) Go to Wales for a weekend
7) Take a day trip to Lille, France
8) Have a three-four course dinner party
9) Go Retro night bowling
10) Go to the Ministry of Sound night club
11) Have Turkish food at Yildz
12) Go to Borough market for Monmouth coffee and a garlic prawn wrap
13) Overindulge in cheese and desserts at Harrods food hall or at Neals yard
14) Szechwan hot pot with friends
15) Clubbing out at Heaven
16) Charity shopping in Balham
17) Eat at Nobu - expensive celebrity sushi haunt
I'm sure there are a lot more things I want to do in London that I will add to the list once I think of more. Any recommendations?
Monday, November 30, 2009
Update - Moving back to Chicago, Traveling, Thanksgiving...
I haven't updated this in a while! My countdown to moving back to Chicago is on - less than two months until my last day of work and a little over two months before I fly back to my home country - bidding adieu to my lovely London.
A lot has happened in between my Zurich post. I am taking a lot of yoga and dance classes, seeing friends for salsa dancing and eating out. Travel wise I went to Amsterdam with a couple of friends for a long weekend which was a lot more tame than I expected it to be. I will post pictures and a longer post when I can get access to the pictures, but all in all a great time. In summary, I saw things I've never saw before except in movies (weed) and only heard about (red light district). In between there were canal cruises, Anne Frank museum, pancakes, brownies, dancing, creepy men, and a lot of walking. But pictures are worth a thousand words so - will post that very soon.
I went on a day trip to Paris with the boy in September and spent a great week with him in London, even though I had to work. (pictures soon as well!)
After my half marathon, which I completed despite having a cold, pink eye, and a hurt ankle, I also went to Rome and Naples, Italy for a few weeks with David early October. Italy was amazing. I would go back again in a heartbeat. I'll post everything and the pictures soon as well. In short, Rome is great if you are into Roman history, architecture, ruins, and religion. David geeked out pretty hard while he was there. Rome had lovely markets and excellent gelato as well as friendly people. The apartment that we stayed at was wonderful. David developed a love for a Cornetto (sweet croissant) shop that was close to our apartment and wanted to go there daily for their cream stuffed bread and cornettos. mmmmm. The Vatican museum was amazing but we didn't see the pope... Rome is a bit touristy though, I think locals usually stayed away from all the sights, but that also meant that the city was a bit cleaner although still filled with graffiti and cigarette butts everywhere.
That brings us to Naples which was the second leg of our trip. David and I almost turned back around to go back when we got off at the Naples central station. It was scary, the people, little kids clinging to your arm, the garbage everywhere...graffeti and people who looked like mafia people.. BUT as the girl at the Hostel said to us - it grows on you. I know that Naples was probably one of my favorite parts of the trip because it felt like real Italy. You see the narrow streets busy with pedestrians and cars and can see how the stereotype of neighbors yelling at each other across the balcony would work - one probably brandishing a rolling pin. Also - the most fantastic pizzas I've ever had. Period. It makes me think of Chicago pizza and go ew...it makes me think of New York pizza and think how it's a sad substitute. But I took pictures of most of my food - so posting those soon! (my goodness I'm behind!)
I was hoping to go to a few more places in Europe before I have to say my goodbyes here but I don't know if I have the time (or the money) to do so. However, I am going to Germany in December. Unfortunetly, I used up all my holidays this year so I couldn't go back to the States for either Thanksgiving or Christmas. My wonderful German friend, Sarah invited me to spend Christmas with her family in Germany, which I readily accepted. So not only will I get to see tiny villages in Germany (her mom lives in a village of less than a thousand people, possibly 500-600) and get to have hearty German food (mmm schneitzel...) I will get to have family time with her welcoming family and not feel alone as I did during Thanksgiving this year. That is really all of my travels thus far!
Thanksgiving dinner for me on the 26th of November consisted of a bowl of porridge (oatmeal to all those Americans out there). I decided to celebrate Thanksgiving with a handful of friends (who love food) on Saturday the 28th instead. I bought a ton of groceries, 5 turkey legs, green beans, fresh cranberries, corn meal, pumpkin puree, stuffing mix, etc. The Corn meal and pumpkin puree finding took me all over London. American groceries are so difficult to buy in London. Especially corn meal. Brits don't understand the concept of corn bread. Their first question is why would you want to ruin perfectly good bread with corn? Sweet corn to them is only found in some salads and in some sandwiches. So of course I had to make some Corn bread to prove that it is indeed delicious especially with my home made honey butter.
I started preperation for Thanksgiving on the Tuesday - wet brining the turkey legs, then dry brining them on Thursday, then making corn bread on Thursday and pumpkin pies (2) on Friday before getting everything else done on Saturday. We didn't have that much leftovers among the 5-6 of us so I consider it a success. However, I do have a lot of pumpkin pie left as well as 2 boxes of profiteroles and an entire beautiful french cake that people brought and never even opened because they were chock full of Turkey and other foods. The menu was:
1) Roasted Garlic, Sage, Thyme stuffed Turkey legs
2) Roasted Garlic cheddar mashed potatos (I like Garlic can you tell?)
3) Candied sweet potato with marshmallows
4) Fresh green bean casserole
5) Baked spinach and artichoke dip
6) Fresh cranberry sauce
7) Mixed salad
8) Corn bread
9) Pumpkin pie
10) sage and red onion stuffing with sausage and mushrooms
11) Cornbread stuffing
A lot of food for 5-6 people eh? Especially as each of the turkey legs were almost as big as one of my thighs - and I do have big thighs. I'll post pictures of Thanksgiving before my travel photos.
A lot has happened in between my Zurich post. I am taking a lot of yoga and dance classes, seeing friends for salsa dancing and eating out. Travel wise I went to Amsterdam with a couple of friends for a long weekend which was a lot more tame than I expected it to be. I will post pictures and a longer post when I can get access to the pictures, but all in all a great time. In summary, I saw things I've never saw before except in movies (weed) and only heard about (red light district). In between there were canal cruises, Anne Frank museum, pancakes, brownies, dancing, creepy men, and a lot of walking. But pictures are worth a thousand words so - will post that very soon.
I went on a day trip to Paris with the boy in September and spent a great week with him in London, even though I had to work. (pictures soon as well!)
After my half marathon, which I completed despite having a cold, pink eye, and a hurt ankle, I also went to Rome and Naples, Italy for a few weeks with David early October. Italy was amazing. I would go back again in a heartbeat. I'll post everything and the pictures soon as well. In short, Rome is great if you are into Roman history, architecture, ruins, and religion. David geeked out pretty hard while he was there. Rome had lovely markets and excellent gelato as well as friendly people. The apartment that we stayed at was wonderful. David developed a love for a Cornetto (sweet croissant) shop that was close to our apartment and wanted to go there daily for their cream stuffed bread and cornettos. mmmmm. The Vatican museum was amazing but we didn't see the pope... Rome is a bit touristy though, I think locals usually stayed away from all the sights, but that also meant that the city was a bit cleaner although still filled with graffiti and cigarette butts everywhere.
That brings us to Naples which was the second leg of our trip. David and I almost turned back around to go back when we got off at the Naples central station. It was scary, the people, little kids clinging to your arm, the garbage everywhere...graffeti and people who looked like mafia people.. BUT as the girl at the Hostel said to us - it grows on you. I know that Naples was probably one of my favorite parts of the trip because it felt like real Italy. You see the narrow streets busy with pedestrians and cars and can see how the stereotype of neighbors yelling at each other across the balcony would work - one probably brandishing a rolling pin. Also - the most fantastic pizzas I've ever had. Period. It makes me think of Chicago pizza and go ew...it makes me think of New York pizza and think how it's a sad substitute. But I took pictures of most of my food - so posting those soon! (my goodness I'm behind!)
I was hoping to go to a few more places in Europe before I have to say my goodbyes here but I don't know if I have the time (or the money) to do so. However, I am going to Germany in December. Unfortunetly, I used up all my holidays this year so I couldn't go back to the States for either Thanksgiving or Christmas. My wonderful German friend, Sarah invited me to spend Christmas with her family in Germany, which I readily accepted. So not only will I get to see tiny villages in Germany (her mom lives in a village of less than a thousand people, possibly 500-600) and get to have hearty German food (mmm schneitzel...) I will get to have family time with her welcoming family and not feel alone as I did during Thanksgiving this year. That is really all of my travels thus far!
Thanksgiving dinner for me on the 26th of November consisted of a bowl of porridge (oatmeal to all those Americans out there). I decided to celebrate Thanksgiving with a handful of friends (who love food) on Saturday the 28th instead. I bought a ton of groceries, 5 turkey legs, green beans, fresh cranberries, corn meal, pumpkin puree, stuffing mix, etc. The Corn meal and pumpkin puree finding took me all over London. American groceries are so difficult to buy in London. Especially corn meal. Brits don't understand the concept of corn bread. Their first question is why would you want to ruin perfectly good bread with corn? Sweet corn to them is only found in some salads and in some sandwiches. So of course I had to make some Corn bread to prove that it is indeed delicious especially with my home made honey butter.
I started preperation for Thanksgiving on the Tuesday - wet brining the turkey legs, then dry brining them on Thursday, then making corn bread on Thursday and pumpkin pies (2) on Friday before getting everything else done on Saturday. We didn't have that much leftovers among the 5-6 of us so I consider it a success. However, I do have a lot of pumpkin pie left as well as 2 boxes of profiteroles and an entire beautiful french cake that people brought and never even opened because they were chock full of Turkey and other foods. The menu was:
1) Roasted Garlic, Sage, Thyme stuffed Turkey legs
2) Roasted Garlic cheddar mashed potatos (I like Garlic can you tell?)
3) Candied sweet potato with marshmallows
4) Fresh green bean casserole
5) Baked spinach and artichoke dip
6) Fresh cranberry sauce
7) Mixed salad
8) Corn bread
9) Pumpkin pie
10) sage and red onion stuffing with sausage and mushrooms
11) Cornbread stuffing
A lot of food for 5-6 people eh? Especially as each of the turkey legs were almost as big as one of my thighs - and I do have big thighs. I'll post pictures of Thanksgiving before my travel photos.
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