Travel: Cairo, Egypt March 2013

I was invited to a wedding reception of one of my dear friends from University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign.   We were both in the Management Information Systems program and took a wide variety of classes together.  She was also the one that taught me a bit about wine, led me to actually liking cheese (and thinking that it's more than just Kraft singles), and was a big sister to me.  The wedding reception/dinner was in Cairo - of all places - as her fiancé (at the time) is Egyptian and his family lived near Cairo.    Done deal!  Not only will I get to see my friend get wed, I've also never been to Egypt before and it was close enough for me to not have to take too many days off of work during a busy period.

Cairo is a 3.5 hr flight from London.  Not bad if you think about it.  In March when I went it was about 11 degrees Celsius (50ish degrees F) in London - and it was around 40 degrees Celsius (close to 100 F) in Cairo.   A complete and welcomed change.

Plans:
I got in to Cairo on a Friday at 5am.  The plan was to rest, spend some time going to Mosques and a large market in Cairo with the tour guide, my friend, her fiancé, and her family, then have a reception dinner in the evening.  Saturday, her family and I were to go to the Egyptian Museum while my friend went on her honeymoon.  Sunday when her family flew out - I was to go to see the pyramids and go on a camel ride before I had to fly out Sunday afternoon.  Tight timeline but it was amazingly wonderful!

Onto the pictures!

Travel: Athens, Greece April 2013

With my big birthday in April, I had to decide where to go celebrate that I've never been before.  Because I rather like architecture and old artifacts, I ended up choosing to go to Athens, Greece.  I still think that was a great decision and all my friends had fun on the trip!

Accommodation:
We rented a 3 bed 2 bath apartment for the 6-8 of us rotating in and out of Greece at Greek Vacation Homes (http://greekvacationrentals.com).  The area is more local than touristy, walking distance to a myriad of restaurants, clubs, as well as sights like the Acropolis.  It's also a lot easier to experience the joys of being in a different city like walking to the grocery store, making breakfast at home, and feeling a bit more like a local than if we all had gotten a hotel.  The apartment even had a rooftop terrace with Acropolis views and a giant grill to have a BBQ!

Plans:
In terms of itinerary - our loose plans were to visit the Acropolis, Zeus's temple, Archeological museum, and take a day trip to a close by island, and do a wee pic of shopping.  We were only there for about 5 days.

Onto the pictures!

Play: Ice Bar - London

Why would anyone pay money to go and freeze their butts off - you may wonder?  Well - it is a cool experience during the summer when you need a bit of refreshment and the drinks and restaurant there aren't half bad!  At temperatures around 23 Fahrenheit or -5 Celsius, it is not somewhere you want to stay for a long time and get drunk with your buddies - and that's not a problem because you can only go in at set times for up to 45 minutes.  Otherwise, I assume that the ice that makes up the bar, the glasses, and the sculptures will start to melt with the body heat!

I went as part of a larger group for a hen night (UK term for Bachelorette party).  The 3 course dinner and Icebar and dinner deal starts at 29.50 GBP, which is not bad.

They throw a large cape on you with attached gloves so you can pick up your delicious drinks in cups made of ice.

Onto the pictures!

Travel/Eat: Cologne, Germany - Christmas Markets

I happened to have go to Amsterdam back in early December for work.  Like any fun minded traveller, I made sure to book my flights to include a free weekend in order to explore the city some more.  I ended up staying and meeting with a Chicago friend of mine, Stacy, in Amsterdam.  Coincidentally another friend and colleague of ours, Dane, was in flying into town from working in Berlin for the weekend as well.  With such a fun group - what would we do?  Exactly! Christmas markets!

There is not one, not two, not three, but four old Christmas markets in Cologne, Germany. These are located at the Rudolfplatz, Alter Markt, Neumarkt, and the largest/most impressive one by the Cologne Cathedral. It took about a 3.5 hr drive (with some snack and comfort stops) from Amsterdam to Cologne on the highway.  

After a spin around to look for parking we ended up right by the Cathedral (PS: Ladies have special designated parking - it's in places close to get to and well lit for safety).

Travel: A day and a half in Barcelona

Barcelona is a gorgeous city.  Having lived in London before for 2 years and having been living in London for a month and a half already for my second go-round - I can say that Barcelona is a lot more chill, warmer, and friendlier feeling than London is.   The last time I was here was about 6 years ago it was at the tail end of my long European trip - so all I really did was lay on the beach, tan, eat tapas and drink sangria.  It was the epitome of laziness.

So this time when I had the chance to go to Barcelona for a few days, I forced myself to not over plan (which if you know me, is very difficult for me).  The high level plan was to relax, see some major sites, have some sangria and paella, visit the beach, and go out one night. We didn't hit ALL of these, unfortunately, which I'll get into a bit later.  

Day 1 - We missed the entire day as we missed our flight (tip: All EasyJet flights close about 30 min before the flight leaves...so don't dawdle and have a leisurely breakfast and try to get on the flight 15 min before it takes off because it will already be gone) WHOOPS!  Thankfully, we got a flight leaving at 5:10pm which put us at the Hostel around 9:30pm.  Just enough time to grab some food and sleep but we lost the entire day. 

For dinner we went to Apolo Diner which is located next to one of the best clubs in the city (did we make it at all? no...) http://www.apolodiner.com/en/home/  The menu has typical American diner food like hamburgers, nachos, etc., which is now big in Europe.  However they also have traditional Spanish Tapas.  I can attest that all the food was delicious and I definitely recommend it especially for lining your stomach before you go clubbing at the Apolo Theatre club. 

Day 2 - The itinerary for the day included Sagrada Familia and Paella - both of which were achieved!  The Basilica de Sagrada Familia is a Roman Catholic church that was originally started by the architect and artist Gaudi in 1882/1883.  Unfortunately, only a quarter of the church was finished by the time of his accidental death in 1926.  At present, there is still construction being done on the church.  By the time the church is done, there will be 18 towers.  You can see the influences of nature and Gaudi's style all throughout the church.  It is truly breathtaking inside.  (pics and day 3 below the cut)

Location: Sagrada Famila Metro Stop (L2)

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!

15 Fun Indulgences

I recenly read this article on Yahoo regarding the 30 fun indulgences that won't break the bank.  This is great considering everyone is scrimiping nowaday.  I know that I am at least. 

http://green.yahoo.com/blog/the_conscious_consumer/147/30-fun-indulgences.html

Among some of the suggestions they had - the article said:

1. Go out to brunch. Enjoying a meal in the middle of the day can be just as much fun as eating dinner out and a lot less pricey.

2. Get a foot massage. A good foot massage might not be quite as relaxing as a full-body rub, but it's pretty darn close and easier on your wallet. Just walking into a spa can lift your spirits. 

3. Have a themed movie rental week. Clear your calendar. Pick a time period or a genre and watch a movie every night. Don't forget about the local library as a source of free movies. In fact, more people borrow movies from the library than rent from Netflix, Redbox, or Blockbuster.

I got to thinking what little indulgences that I let myself have.  In no particular order:

1) Once a week get a fancy coffee drink with whole milk because really that skim stuff is awful.  Vary this up with Soy.

2)  Have a night in every two weeks where I walk my pup to the closest Red Box for a movie and then spend a lazy night cuddled on the couch and filling my brain with mush.

3)  Make pancakes for dinner just because

4)  Cook a big dinner and invite friends over for a hot meal

5)  Try out new recipes that I cut out of magazines or find online

6)  Add a ton of clothes, candy, makeup, and other items I don't need to my online shopping cart and then not buying anything

7)  Allow myself to plan out all the countries I want to visit in my lifetime and buy tickets to an international destination every year

8)  Sending my boyfriend a gift just because I miss him since he lives so far away

9)  Buying a chapstick for myself even though I own about 2 dozen just because I forgot to bring any of them with me

10) Learning a little of a new language through workbooks and poring through manuals in Borders.

11) Relax with a mug of hot chocolate on a rainy day and do absolutely nothing

12) Concerts at Millieum park with friends - with snacks and drinks

13) Lose a good half a day at Blicks arts and craft stores because I WANT EVERYTHING IN THAT STORE

14) Buying very expensive candy in small quantities just to say I've tried it

15) Making an attempt to eat food from around the world one restaurant/stall/food truck at a time.

What's yours?

Chicago - Explore and Eat Task #1: Lawrence Fisheries

I've been back in Chicago for close to ten months now and I have yet to explore around Chicago like I did in London and get into all the different neighborhoods.  I need to find a new routine for weekends anyways to keep boredom at bay (at least once I get my condo all clean) - so I decided that I'll give myself tasks of places/areas to explore in Chicago and a place that I MUST go for a meal in that area and take my camera along for the ride.  Then I'll update the blog with what I thought and fun pictures.  Sound like a plan?

First stop:
Lawrence Fisheries:
2120 S Canal St, Chicago, IL 60616(312) 225-2113
http://lawrencesfisheries.com/

I have heard really good things about this place and their sushi for a looonnng time even pre-London.  It is oh so close to Chinatown even though I haven't explored the area where the fishery is located at.  I know it's very industrial - so there should be awesome pictures from the trip.

Where else would you go to?  I am thinking Task 2 will be a bakery in Andersonville.  Any recommendations?

Quick update - more to come - promise!

Why hello there readers (I'm sure there is pretty much only 1 or 2 people reading this) - I've been completely MIA for a while haven't I?  Yes I know, I've been a bad bad bloger...here is a quick run down of the things that have happened that have prevented me from writing:

1)  MOVING - this one was huge.  The one month running up to me leaving London and returning to Chicago was crazy.  Wrapping up work, seeing friends, walking through my favorite parks, going to the food markets, seeing friends, packing...it was a bit crazy
2)  Readjustment time - so there is this thing called Culture Shock for when you move to a new country and adjusting to a new life style.  There is also this thing called Reverse Culture Shock which is much much worse.  I figured that because I would have my friends and family there that I would be okay - but I was pretty much in a three-four month slump of suck.  I won't whine here - but in short while I love Chicago and everyone here, I miss my London life dearly
3)  Family problems - less than a few days after I moved back I recieved some stressful family news.  Dealing with that took a few months and I didn't have the mental space
4)  Readjustment time - sorry I have to reiterate how much this reverse culture shock affected me. 
5)  Work - Americans just work more hours in general - enough said
6)  Other personal issues
7)  A lack of fun things that have happened - there has been a lack of traveling or maybe just a lack of posting anything.  That should change though. :)

That was my quick update!  I'll post some new things very soon!

Hugs,

Travel-Eat-Play

Amsterdam pictures!

I went away for a long bank holiday weekend in Amsterdam with one of my friends and her two girl friends. It was a really great time, but I wish I had just one more day there so I could have cycled around the city.

We stayed in a hostel right near everything:

The entrance is right into a bar/club and smoking den. The rooms are on top of all this.

The hostel was really cute. The rooms were clean and had it's own private bathroom.  The only complaint I had was that it was really really loud.  The club/music didnt' die down until around 5am or so, so you can still feel the bass through the floor.  I slept okay as I brought ear plugs but two of the other girls didn't fare so well.

If you like canals and water, Amsterdam is your city.  The entire city is dissected with canals and lakes.  As a result there are a lot of house boats along the water.

 Most all of the people in Amsterdam get around via bikes.  As you can see in the pic above, they are very active.  It puts me to shame!

Here is a pic of their bicycle parking near the train station....

What you can't see is that the bike garage in the background is actually 3 stories tall.  My question is how the heck do you find your bike if you left it there for a while and forgot which area you parked it????

Obviously, when in Amsterdam...um...eat pancakes!  I saw that the Pancake Bakery was one of the most recommended restaurants in Amsterdam, so we went there for brunch

Here is the menu:

So many choices...what could we possibly choose?

I had this:

Boobies and pancakes!

But seriously, I had ham and mushroom pancake, while Ms. boobalicious had banana, whipped cream, and powdered sugar.

My other companions had:

Banana-nutella on the left and plain powdered sugar on the right. Oh and that is the Chocomel drink in the middle. Delicious delicious chocolate milk with the pancakes.  Everything was great but it's more like a crepe rather than a fluffy pancake as most Americans would expect.
Lots of pictures following..

Count down to Chicago - To do list before I leave London

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?

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.

CAKE OR DEATH!!!

Cake please!!!

This is probably one of my favorite Eddie Izzard comedy skits ever.  Mostly because I love cake.  Mmmm...cake. See Cake or Death here!

My love of cakes probably started as most people's do around their childhood friend's birthdays.  I really didn't get to eat my first cake (that I remember) until around 2nd grade in Happy Hollow elementary school in W. Lafayette, Indiana.  I remember being invited to a friend's birthday party - and at that time and age, everyone in the classroom was invited - and seeing my first birthday cake.  It was decorated with white frosting and colorful icing and lettering.  It may even have been a Disney Character...whatever it was I don't remember.  But what I DO remember is that in the sickenly sweet frosting that covered the large rectangle of cake, was soft, lucious, sweet, airy cake.

I am one of those people that unless the frosting/icing is light to medium sweet buttercream or whipped cream icing, I scrape it all off.  My sweet tolerance (for a cake lover) is low.

My mother was never a baking kind of person.  She can make amazing food but she doesn't really do the whole baking cookies and cakes and tarts thing.  That is - as Austin Powers would say - not her bag, baby.  So for me, I could only really get cake at birthday parties and every now and then, Jewel-Osco (a Grocery store chain) when I really whined.

I started baking when I was in High School.  I knew that other people's parents baked and figured that I could do it too.  I begged and pleaded with my parents to buy me a Betty Crocker cookbook.  In fact I probably still have it some where at my parents house.  Anyways, Betty Crocker cookbook showed me all the cakes and candies that I could be making.  I made a yellow cake as my first cake, followed by a sponge cake, and then I progressed onto caramels and toffees after my parents complained cakes were fattening.  An addition of a very old old Muffins/breads/and baked goods book ignited me into making bagels, croissants, and challah bread from scratch.

Cake was still one of my favorites.  But only if I put in half the sugar that the recipe asked for - I found that out quickly. :)

Then came the cupcakes.  It seemed perfect - mini cakes and are easy to hold and that you didn't need a fork to eat!  I started baking those in College once I moved out of my parents house I believe. mmm.

I'm happy with the addition of the new gourmet cupcakes shops that are springing up all over Chicago (my home town) and London (my host town).  While a lot of them are delicious, some of them are really just really bad cake topped with way too colorful and too sweet icing. 

Favorites in London:
Crumbs and Doilies - Lovely flavors and nice people!
 Bea's of Bloomsbury - known for their infamous Cookie Monster cupcake!
Hummingbird Bakery - Lucious red velvet with cream cheese icing

I have this thought that when i retire, that I would open up a cafe/cupcake bakery that is attached to an independent bookshop.  We'll see how well it works.

(Found on a fanpop website)

So cute!!!

So yes...cake.  Who doesn't love it!

Zoo-Reesh - whey soda, chocolates, mountains

- as my boyfriend likes to call it.

I got back from a long weekend away in Zurich, Switzerland on the 31st of August with one of my fellow travel loving friends.  (I have a visit 30 countries before I am 30 goal and I believe this country is number 16)   Monday was a bank holiday in the UK so I didn't have to go to work - so we flew out on Saturday morning and flew back Monday night really late.

On the trip we had a few goals: drink the soda made from milk serum  ( Drink me! I'm cheese excrement!), eat fondue, eat chocolate, climb mountains/hike, eat pretzels filled with stuff, relax, and buy chocolates.

So we pretty much checked everything off of that list.

Day one (September 29, 2009) :
-  Drink Rivella:  Check!  I found out about this drink while reading various Swiss blogs on things to try in Switzerland.  It intrigued me due to the fact that it is made from whey.

Once my friend and I got off the train to Zurich from the Zurich International Airport, we ducked into one of the large grocery chains that was attached to the train station called Migros where we found the Rivella soft drink.  Rivella (according to the Rivella website and Wikipedia) is:
"a soft drink from Switzerland, created by Robert Barth in 1952, which is produced from milk whey, and therefore includes ingredients such as lactose, lactic acid and minerals. It comes in four varieties:

• Red Rivella, the original version
• Blue Rivella, a low calorie version of Red Rivella
• Green Rivella, which is flavoured with green tea extract
• Yellow Rivella, which is made with soya rather than dairy milk extracts"

Here is the Rivella that we shared - the original version.  It is actually quite nice.  Wasn't much of a shocker for us as in Asian supermarkets, there are always a lot of yogurt and milk derived soft drinks.  This was sweet, fizzy, and with an aftertaste of slight tangyness that comes from the whey.  An overall winner!

-  Eat Fondue:  Being good foodies, we (mainly my friend) did some good research into the best fondue places  in Zurich.  Alder's Swiss Chuchi kept popping up

We basically hung around the area for a good hour to wait for the restaurant to open for lunch at 11am - as we were starving.  Thankfully our hunger was saved a little by ducking into a shop near the restaurant that only sold gummy candies of all flavors and sizes (and without additives and artificial flavors!).  The man running the shop was more than happy to share pretty much everything with us (this was by no means a small quantity of samples) and we ended up leaving with bags of spicy fruit gummy hearts.

Once Swiss Chuchi finally opened, we ran right in and asked for the Lamb Raclette, the Half and Half Fondue and bottles of sparkling apple juice.

Ah isn't it beautiful?  A bag of baked new potatoes to crush, then topped with bubbling, melted cheese, onions, and grilled lamb for our racelette and a huge basket of freshly torn bread for our very strong fondue (half mild cheese and half Swiss Appenller(sp?) cheese that is intensely strong).

We both enjoyed the raclette the best as everything with the raclette just went together so nicely.  The only issue was that we were sitting outside on a slightly chilly day so our bubbling melted cheese hardened within about two minutes on the potatoes.  Didn't stop up from devouring it though!  Our thoughts on the fondue was that the half half was probably too much.  I would recommend that unless you love love love really strong (to the point of slightly bitter) cheese, i would go for the cheapest and therefore mildest, cheese fondue on the menu.  The Swiss also add alcohol (and I'm not talking wine here) to the fondue.  It was so strong that I actually coughed upon  my first bite of my cheese fondue drenched bread.  So yes - delicious - but the next time I'd get the milder cheese and ask that they hold the alcohol for the cheese.

- The rest of the day:  After the initial gummy candy shopping followed by the gigantic lunch, we went to drop off our bags at the hotel and head out.  We ended up at Zurich's Chinese Gardens with Koi ponds, bridge to walk over the pond, stone sculptures and Chinese temple architechture.  It was a lot of fun running around in there and pretending to be a panda in the bamboo garden.  I mean um act normally.   The Chinese Gardens are actually really close to the water and a lovely park - so we sat down to rest a bit, soak in the gorgeous sun and dip our toes in the crystal clear water.  Another thing we noticed about Zurich was that there were fountains everywhere around the city that contained fresh drinking water.  As long as the fountain had a water spout (like the ones you see to fill a water bottle) coming out of it - you could get drinking water from it.  It was so nice as I probably drink more than 2 ltrs every day. 

Zurich has areas all over the city that allows you to rent a bike for the day for a 20CHF deposit (in case of no return or damage)  you can return it to any bike rental station in the city.  Of course we took advantage of this fantastic deal by buying a picnic dinner of Brioche bread, Wasabi chips, cheese, tomatos, and apples and then renting the bikes to ride around the city. 

 

Sun setting as we biked by the lake - a perfect end to a great first day in Zurich

Day 2 (September 30, 2009):
-  Climb Mountains and Hike:  On the second day that we were in Zurich, we decided to take a trip to Lucerne to see the top of Mt Pilatus (Mt Pilatus Website).  We had heard there were breathtaking views and if you bought the "Golden Ticket" to get there - there would be a 90 minute ferry ride to the town on the bottom of the mountain, then a cog train up the mountain for another 40 minutes, and then two Gondola trips down to the bottom of the mountain, and a bus to take the traveller back to Lucerne.  It wasn't cheap at around 89 CHFs per ticket - but it was so worth it.

The ferry ride was absolutely breathtaking.  Lucerne is a beautiful city much like Zurich with all the bodies of water, surrounded by mountains and trees. I kept getting scenery like this:

The ferry led to the cog train which is the steepest in the world I believe.  We had to wait a really long time to get on it - but the view from that going up the mountain were beautiful.  At the top of the mountain, we grabbed some quick eats (sausages and bread) and hiked about and took pictures.  After a while all the photos look the same because they are of gorgeous mountains so I won't bore you with more mountain scenery aside form this one:

 

Sings " The hiiillls are alliiiiiiiive...with the sound of muuuussiiiiiiccc"  I know wrong country but doesn't this just make you want to twirl around and yodel?  No? No?  Just me then?

It suffices to say that it was breathtaking up there.  The Gondola down stopped half way where we got to get off and play around on one of the luges that lets you jet down the mountain on the metal tube as fast as possible before being pulled back up.  The smaller Gondola down the mountain after that passed by lovely Swiss cows wearing bells on their neck.  I didn't have any beef while in Switzerland...:)

- Eat Pretzels:  Oh did I mention that before we went on the ferry, we obtained a lovely soft pretzel from Bretzelkonig?  Oh oh so so delicious.  I am drooling thinking of that delicious pretzel right now.

We walked around Lucerne until dark and took some photos of the city.  It was lovely and only about a 45 minute journey back to Zurich. Here is one of my favorite shots:

Day 3 (September 31, 2009):

-  Eat Chocolate:  Oh and was there amazing chocolate to be had in Zurich. I mean we are in Switzerland and Swiss chocolates are some of the best in the world.  Unfortunetly I was too busy eating to take pictures of the chocolates.  The chocolate aisles in Zurich Grocery stores had your typical Lindt (which tasted better there - go figure) as well as a lot of other brands.  My friend and I went into one of the most famous chocolate and pastry shops in Zurich called Sprungli (Sprungli - so delicious!) and got an assortment of items to share.  That was an amazing breakfast - let me tell you!

The last day was defintely relaxing.  We knew we had a flight to catch around 8pm and knew we had the whole day to wander around - so I bought some Swatch watches, bought chocolates to take to coworkers and friends, went to the Zurich Zoo to see funny animals and to feed goats at the petting zoo, and took in as much smog free air (CoughLondonCough do something!) as we could before heading back to London.  

Bye Zurich!  See you next time!