Eat: London - Borough Market - (aka Eat all the Things)

One of my favorite Saturday morning events is to go to the gym early to earn my breakfast because Saturdays is the BEST day to go to Borough Market in London.

The old food market is probably one of my favorite food and veggie markets in London just because it is massive, has all kinds of fruit and veggies as well as: (examples)

- milky hot chai (from Scratch)

- Best Coffee Ever: Monmouth Coffee

- Fresh oysters that are shucked for you and that you can eat at the stall

- Garlic Prawn wraps

- Pork roasts

- Thai food

- Beautiful veggies and fruits

- German Food

- exotic burgers (ostrich, buffalo, wild boar, venison, etc.)

- Spanish chorizo sandwiches

- Butchers

- Farm Fresh eggs

- Vegetarian Food

- Best Cheese Raclette sandwich 

- 100s of varieties of cheese

- 100s of varieties of chocolate and pastries

- British meat pies

My favorites are the garlic prawn wraps, the chorizo sandwiches, and the pork roast sandwich with cracklin.  The raclette sandwich is so good - but so rich that you can really only have it twice a year. 

I could go on - but I mean, if you are in London you just HAVE to go to Borough Market.  A lot of the stalls take credit cards as well as cash, but it's better to have cash on hand just in case.  You can get really great deals on fruit and veggies there if you know where to look.  Once you are done eating and shopping, you can take a stroll towards the river as Tower Bridge, London Bridge, and the Shakespeare Globe theatre are all close by.  Also - the Bombay Sapphire room at Vinopolis http://brilliant-london.com/tag/bombay-sapphire/ is pretty amazing if you like gin and a great event space. 

I'll leave you with some pictures - 

Back in London - My heart goes pitter-patter

Since moving back to the US in 2010 after living in London for 2 years, life has been a heck of a roller coaster ride.  I have experienced shock, hurt, euphoria, heartbreak, extreme stress, gut-wrenching pain, depression, happiness, adrenaline highs, sloppy drunken lows, lust, numbness and pretty much everything on the emotional spectrum not to mention 2 moves.

What I have learned is, you live, you learn, you love, you smile through pain, you laugh at the sheer joy of being able to feel the sun, rain, or snow on your face and you move on.  There is no place in my life for bile, hatred, and jealousy - life is too short to curse the world for things that don't happen or bad things that happen to you. Bad things can happen to good people and good things can happen to bad people and vice versa.  Did you know that the average life expectancy of an average person is around 65/66 years? There are about 526,176 minutes in a year - that is 34,790,757 minutes in an average lifetime.  I would prefer to spend 98% of those minutes focusing on positive things and helping other people.  The other 2%...well I have my moments, obviously.  I am human after all. *shakes fist

Since moving  back to the US, I haven't done too much traveling with the exception of visiting a few cities Ohio for work and some holidays, San Francisco to see some friends and their adorable baby, Singapore/Malaysia for a wedding, and Amsterdam and Madrid for another wedding.  Okay, okay, so that may seem a lot to most people and there is a lot of the world's smallest violin playing going on, but trust me, when you have lived in Europe before, traveling about 4 times in 2 years is really nothing...

It brings me back to this exciting announcement!  I have moved back to London for the forseeable future!  I don't like using terms like forever and never because those get me into trouble when my mind is made up (I am stubborn - what?) But I plan on being here until I don't want to anymore.  That is probably the most accurate and most truthful way I can put things down on paper.

I flew into Heathrow airport yesterday, 18th September, 2012 and landed around 10am.  It only hit me about 10 minutes ago that I am actually moved here rather than here for another visit with my friends like I did back in late April.  It felt like a ball of charge electricity - excited, happy, sad, and scared at the same time!  I think it'll take a while for the feelings to sort themselves out.

London really is the city of my heart. There is just something so warm and satisfying about being here that I struggle to describe.  Being here is like a warm bowl of soup and a delicious grilled cheese sandwich on a cold cold day - but for my soul.  There is just so much to do, eat, travel to, and explore.  I really cannot describe it without getting all teary.  What I do wish was that there was some sort of teleportation device so that I could get my loved ones in the States here in an instant whenever they or I want them to be here.  Alas...maybe one day.

I have a fully furnished corporate flat until I move into the house share this weekend or early next week with my awesome housemates. But boy, is this place gorgeous!  I keep trying to pace myself and the speed at which I see and do things around London because I will pretty much have all the time in the world to do, eat, and explore.

As I am back - I have started to look for trips to Greece, Budapest, Malta, etc etc., so I am sure I will be a lot more active on this blog than before.  Plus - I will also add restaurant reviews (London has so much good stuff!!!) and possibly some random video blogs if I can be convinced to show my face.

I will leave you with some pictures of the flat, the views around Canary Wharf where I am staying during the day and night, and some pics from wandering around earlier today (Camden and Chinatown)

Going through changes

I haven't touched this blog in a while for a couple of reasons. The first one is that I moved from Chicago to Washington, DC.  Transition time always mean adjustments.  Secondly, I got engaged, moved for the guy and un-engaged within 8 months.  Something about heartbreak just doesn't scream "BLOG ABOUT ALL THE FOOD AND TRAVEL!!!"  I have been depressed and getting myself back to okay has been a bit of a struggle. 

I have not been single in a long time.  I never thought I would be single at this point in my life.  Although I am one year from being there, the 30s were supposed to be about being where you want already, settled and happy in what you are doing, and all that jazz.  Then suddenly, I find myself without my family around, without a lot of friends around, and trying to figure out what I want to do with my life.  I really did think that David was the love of my life and it really irks me that it didn't work out but this isn't about dwelling...it's about acceptance and moving onwards. 

I formed a group called "Eating around the World" in DC/VA/MD and invited some people I knew to go.  It has gone really well and I met a lot of cool people through it as well.  Luckily, I have made some great friends here and moved to a new area of DC and starting to find my place.  But the big announcement is that I am actually moving to London in 2.5 months.  Yep..London.  The city that my last post yearned for.   Long story short - my coworkers in London found out about the breakup and banded together to get me back to London.  I accepted my job offer in May.  I am so so so thrilled.  Even though I will miss my new DC/VA/MD friends to a million pieces along with my family and friends in Chicago, I cannot complain about the direction my life is taking.  Even though I was willing on giving up that life in London to be with David, I guess this is life's little way of telling me to return to go and start over again.  Finish whatever it was that kept me drawn to London and have fun doing it.  I am looking forward to seeing my friends there and having a slightly better work/life balance than I did here.  It's just very exciting - although very bittersweet. 

In terms of travel - I have already decided that I am going to visit the following places this year if not early next year (as when I start in London it will be September):
- Lisbon, Portugal
- Iceland
- Greece
- Turkey

We will see though!  I hope to post some amazing pictures from the travels and get this blog up and running a lot more.  I have this problem called not knowing how to wind down.  I am either on the go constantly or passed out because I am exhausted.  One of these days I will learn a better balance.

Until then - hopefully see you guys on the other side of the pond - unless I blog about my NYC Bloggher trip in August. :)

It's hard to say goodbye...

During my last day in London by myself, I walked around the area where I lived in Canary Wharf - through the Dockland's sailing center to Asda to buy some chocolates and gifts for people, looked at the boats, the weird looking water fowl floating about with their white beaks, dark feathers and beady red eyes, and tried to let all of it sink in.   The Thames river by my house that day wasn't spilling over into the wharf area behind my flat.  Usually when that happened you'd get all sorts of delightful gifts from the river like old tin cans, a shopping cart, and plastic drink bottles.  It was just part of the charm of living where I lived. 

I took my last ride on a double decker bus as a resident.  I believe it was the D7 that I usually took to go to Bricklane and Mile end so I could take the Central line to town and walk to China town/Leicester Square area.  I rode on the top, of course in the front right corner so that the branches would hit the front of the windows as we went (as American's would say) on the wrong side of the street. 

I wanted to visit Borough market to get some Monmouth coffee - the best coffee ever really - but I think they were closed at the time because it wasn't yet the weekend.  They have this all you can eat Paul's baguettes, fresh butter, and preserves for 2 pounds 80p that was so delicious with their lattes.  So I just walked around the closed borough market and remember how thrilled I was just walking through, hearing all the accents, looking at all the wonderful veggies, pastries, and cheeses, and feeling like I was a visitor to a wonderful new world.

 I realized that I felt more a part of London than I felt a part of any other city I've ever been in.  I think part of it is my sense of adventure.  London is a great place to travel to any other part of the world.  Within 45 minutes I could be in Ireland.  Within 2 hours I could be in Rome. TIckets cost anywhere from 30GBP to 90GBP per roundtrip.  How amazing was that?  Another reason is my ties with how multicultural the city was.  I know a lot of people think that cities like Chicago and New York are multicultural.  But really mostly it's Hispanic, Black, and White.  In London it's S. African, Australian, Kenyan, Nigerian, Sri Lanken, Mongolian, Polish, Russian, Korean, Malaysian, the list goes on.  It just made me feel like I could easily blend in and I love meeting different people (and eating) all the fun foods there. 

I walked along the Thames by London Bridge and saw Saints paul cathedral along the river path looming across the water.  I saw the London eye and house of parliment.  It just didn't feel real that this city that I have come to love and loves me was no longer going to be a big part of my life anymore.  Sure I can visit.  But it's different.  It's just so...difficult sometimes to not be there.

I really want to wake up and be in my old bedroom, say hi to my flatmates James as I walk out the door, and go see jugglers at Covent Garden while perusing the little shops.  I want to duck into Pineapple studios for a butt kicking day of dance workshops, and then run over to Chinatown - Hong Kong Cafe to meet up with Sarah for cheap dinner while she scrunches her nose at my sweaty salt crunchy self.  I want to go to Marks and Spencers for an overpriced but completely delicious and worth it fruit salad.  I want to be able to go over to Amelia's house for a S. African Brai and get too hungry as they get the fire going and end up eating ramen while the chicken wings are being grilled. 

I want to have the entire city shut down with 3 inches of snow on the ground so that my friends and I can stay home and make snow forts and inappropriate snowmen/women. 

I want to be able to say that I want a weekend in Vienna and be able to do it the next weekend.

Why can't I just let it go?

Some travel is better than none...right?

Since moving back to Chicago from my beloved London, I haven't had a chance to travel as much as I would like.  It's just so darn hard to get out of the US!  A flight from the Midwest to the East coast is around 2.5 hrs and a flight from the Midwest to the West coast is around 3.5 hrs.  If I want to go out of the country, unless I am flying to Canada or Mexico - it takes at least 8/9 hours.  There goes my weekend trips to other places!

I was asked to go on this project in Ohio a month ago, so I have been flying to Columbus, Ohio and staying in a small town of Dublin, Ohio.   Not knowing much about small towns, Dublin is actualy quite a pretty town!  There is a cute high street area, some shopping, a few malls around, but what is really gorgeous is the river that runs through it.  It's one of those lush tree lined, water sluicing over boulders, people in small boats, fishing - kind of rivers.  The building that my client is at actually has an enclosed walkway and confernce rooms over the forest and river. 

I split my weeks between Chicago and Dublin, whenever I am in Dublin, we typically always go out to eat. So far I've eaten at:
- countless Indian buffets (mostly vegetarian) as my coworkers are Indian
- BD Mongolian Grill
- Boston Market
- Blue Ginger Asian Fusion
- Windchimes Chinese restaurant
- more Indian buffets
- Max & Ermas
- Jeni's Ice Cream

Here are some pictures of Dublin:

Singapore and Malaysia trip - Part I

I love destination weddings.  I know that they are expensive and everything, but what a better time to go visit a city that you've always wanted to visit but never had a great reason to go to or put off going in lieu of a place that is closer, cheaper, or more familiar? 

Obviously when I found out my friend Amelia was getting married in her home country of Malaysia, I leapt at the chance to go celebrate the nuptials of my little sister from another mister as well as explore the island of Penang where she grew up.   

Of course I can never let an itinerary just BE, I always need to add other trips and adventures to it, and accomplish that I did!  I figured, I'd fly to Singapore first to look around for two days or so and then take an overnight train to Penang the 2nd night rather than pay for a hotel and hang out on the Island, eat at food stalls, walk around on the beach, get splendidly golden, meet a studly foreigner who would sweep me off my feet and feed me custard apples and mangosteen while gazing into my eyes...what? I was single at the time and it was a nice thought if nothing else!

I am not going to prattle on too much about the lows of the trip - but I will warn you that if you DO decide to take an overnight train from Singapore to Penang, make sure you do not take a shower and not change into anything too comfortable before you pass through border patrol on the Malaysian side - they WILL make you get off the train and march to the building with dripping wet hair and a towel or whatever you are wearing.  Also - the temperature in the cabin may not be ideal...so make sure you have enough clothes to keep warm enough to sleep.  Truth.

Onto the pictures!!!!!

Travel that I need to update on!

Goodness me, it’s been almost a year since I last wrote an entry…how sad is that?  I need to start building blogging into my schedule so that I don’t slack off and not post something.  I typically always have something to say or display…

I need to update on so many things – my goal for tonight is to update on Singapore and Malaysia (before I pass out because I have been up since 4am today).

The other posts I need to update on are:

-          Italy, Rome

-          Italy, Naples

-          Hamburg, Germany

-          Vienna

In between, I’m sure I’ll rant in rave about something of no significance. ;)

Watch for the Singapore/Malaysia one tonight!