A Birthday Feast

I celebrated my birthday with London friends before and after my trip to Amsterdam. It all started with Lisa, Warren, and The Breakfast Club on a Saturday morning. 

I had heard great things about The Breakfast Club and figured that it must be awesome since the line was so long. I got The All American but was a bit disappointed. No breakfast with the word "American" in it should be served with such a small amount of syrup. 

Lisa read about the Scotch Egg Burger at The Star of Kings pub near Kings Cross. A burger with a scotch egg instead of a bun? She knows me very well, indeed. 

These were available at the pub for a limited time and the cashier told us that we got the last ones! I love exclusive things, so I was thrilled to hear that I had the last one of the season. It was so salty! I'm still glad I tried it since it is a combination of so many of my favorite things. 

After I got back from Amsterdam a group of my friends gathered at Dinerama (a gathering of food trucks) for my birthday. I have been wanting to try Mama Wang's for so long and they had a stand there! The hand pulled noodles did not disappoint. It was delicious! Mama Wang's is definitely in my top three list of favorite food trucks. 

Since Warren was there to split everything with me I also tried the lobster tacos from Bob's Lobster. They were also really good. I would definitely get them again. 

Of course, I also got You Doughnut for dessert. Mary was so thoughtful and brought a candle to put in my doughnut 'cake.' 

Me, Pamela, Sara, Kate, and Mary at Dinerama

I am so lucky to have such amazing friends here in London. This was one of my favorite birthdays. 

I'll Have a Blauw Birthday Without You

My birthday was last week and I celebrated by packing my bags, leaving Warren behind, and heading to Holland to visit my sister and brother-in-law. We started out the day with appletaart from Winkel 43 for breakfast. This stuff is amazing!

We went out and explored some other smaller towns in Holland, starting with Edam. 

We made it for the last cheese market of the year. Farmers bring their cheese to the market by boat and they unload the boats by throwing these giant balls of cheese two at a time to each other. 

There were people at the market dressed in traditional clothing who handed out samples to the crowd. 

After the market, we went to Echte Edammer Kaas where they age cheese. We tasted tons of cheese and it was some of the best I've ever had. Definitely bought a bunch to take home. 

Next we headed to Volendam, which ended up being really touristy. We walked around a bit but didn't stay too long. We were mostly there to catch a ferry to the next town. 

The last town we visited was Marken, which was adorable. All the houses were painted dark green and loads of homes had goats, rabbits, or sheep in the backyard. 

There was a place selling poffertjes (little pancakes) that they topped with strawberries and powdered sugar. These were some of the best poffertjes I've ever had! We actually went back for another batch with just butter and powdered sugar, which are still my favourite. 

The whole town of Marken was really cute and not as touristy as Volendam. All three towns combined made for a really nice day. And the weather was perfect!

 For my birthday dinner we went to the Indonesian restaurant, Blauw (the Dutch word for Blue). We ordered the tasting menu so we could try a lot of different things. The food was amazing! 

Jackie, Zach, and me with our dinner

Fried bananas, vegetables, and sweetened coconut were just part of our dinner. I especially liked the chicken with peanut sauce and the curries. 

 I really love prawn crackers with sweet chili sauce. Everything was delicious!

I had a great week celebrating my birthday in Amsterdam. But I also had a fun time celebrating the weekend before and after my trip with my London friends. More on that next time. 

If Truth Be Told...I Met Dave Coaches

Today started off kind of rough. I had a root canal scheduled for 9:15am and it was pouring rain all day long. When I was out running errands I walked past a man who looked a lot like Steffan Rhodri (the actor from The Mentalists, Gavin and Stacey, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I). I caught up to him and confirmed that it was actually Steffan Rhodri! I told him that I loved seeing him in the The Mentalists and Gavin and Stacey. He asked me where I'm from and when I told him I'm from Nebraska he said, "How did you watch Gavin and Stacey?" I said that it was very challenging. He let me take a couple of selfies with him, then he asked my name and shook my hand. 

This might be my favourite celebrity sighting since he was super nice and I actually spoke to him (unlike when I saw Kate Middleton or Hugh Grant). Meeting Steffan Rhodri definitely turned around a potentially bad day. 

Shiny New Things

Living abroad has introduced me to so many shiny new things. I would have never known about these new favourites before I moved here so I thought I would pass along a few of the things I am totally into right now. 

Ginger Beer--This carbonated ginger soda is available everywhere and there are so many brands. It is much spicier and less sweet than ginger ale back home (some brands are spicier than others). I love trying new variations of ginger beer. It has the added benefit that ginger is good for an upset stomach and I've found that ginger beer helps with motion sickness (which can be particularly bad on buses, I've found).

Thornback & Peel--I stumbled across their printed handkerchiefs on Not on the High Street and was super excited to find that they have a store in Clerkenwell. I have now become a regular.

Thornback & Peel has amazing prints including pineapples, sardines, pigeons, rabbits, and many more. They make pillows, tea towels, lampshades...you name it. I originally went in for one handkerchief but ended up getting a lot more than that. 

The new season of The Great British Bake Off (GBBO) is back! GBBO pits twelve contestants against each other to compete for the title of best amateur baker. Each week has a theme (so far this season we've seen cake week, biscuit week, and bread week) with three challenges (signature, technical, and showstopper). GBBO is very popular here and I'm loving watching it live.

Living in London has more to offer than just 'Keep Calm and Carry On' merchandise, black cabs, double decker buses and red telephone boxes. I've discovered a deep affinity for Indian food, high quality locally made handicrafts, and publicly funded television. I came for the shiny bobbles but I stayed for the underlying culture of it all. Britain has so many more layers than I ever could have expected. 

So You Think You Know Britain Part 5

Sharp items (including steak knives) can't be sold to someone under the age of 18 no matter what store. This was at a stationary store but the same applies at hardware stores, grocery stores, IKEA, etc.

One store I miss from America is Target, where you can get just about anything you need under one roof. In London lightbulbs are sold at a hardware store, envelopes at a stationers, soap at a health/beauty store, and milk at a grocery store. The only way I can get them all at once is to have them delivered to my door from Ocado. 

Salad cream is often used on sandwiches and instead of mayonnaise in potato and egg salad. It has the consistency of mayonnaise and a hint of the taste of salad dressing. The only description close to describing it is if you made ranch dressing with mayonnaise. 

Mint is often served with lamb but I don't think Americans eat lamb as often as the English. So seeing mint jelly in a supermarket is something unique to me. 

There are so many more flavours of mayonnaise available in England. The British eat mayonnaise on their french fries and restaurants often have their own specialty version. My favourite is the baconnaise with sweet potato fries at Gourmet Burger Kitchen. 

I'm sure this happens a lot of places but I hear a lot of people complain about having spotty mobile phone service in their flat. I saw this lady trying to get reception out her window. 

I was surprised to see that it is common that a blowdry and style is not included in a typical women's haircut here. You often have to pay more if you don't to leave with wet hair. 

Queen's English as a Second Language Part 9

Tickety Boo--in good order or fine, as in "How are your classes going? Is everything tickety boo?" I wasn't sure if I'd hear this now since it is old fashioned (you hear it said in Call the Midwife) but a friend of mine has a professor who still says it. 

Rubber--eraser, as in "a good mum makes sure her children pack a rubber in their pencil case." This one really caught me off guard because in American English, a rubber is another name for a condom. Let the double entendres begin!

Choc ice--ice cream bar (typically a rectangle of vanilla covered with thin chocolate), as in "If you eat your vegetables you can have a choc ice after dinner." 

Loads--lots, as in "I've had loads of fun" or "We have loads of jammy dodgers in the cupboard." 

Stuff--a bit harsher than the word "forget" but not quite as harsh as a curse word. But definitely used to express anger. As in "They ran out of Harry Potter tickets. Stuff them!"

Prezzy--present (I think this is actually an Australian word), as in "You'd better bring me a prezzy from Paris!"

Hoarding--a billboard or barrier over a construction site, as in "I wonder what they are working on behind this hoarding." 

Chin Chin--cheers (but only used when drinking), as in "Here's to our trip to Rome. Chin Chin!" It comes from the sound of the glasses clinking. 

I found another restaurant with some cockney rhyming slang written out. I couldn't find examples for all of them, but here are the definitions. 

Hampstead Heath--teeth, as in "Better put me hampsteads in."

Scotch Eggs--legs, as in "Blimey, did you see the Scotches on her?" (I got this from a book, I didn't write it)

Swannie River--liver

Pie and Liquer--vicar

Stop and Go--snow

Skin and Blister--sister, as in "She's my skin and blister." 

Burgers and Pancakes and Ice Cream, Oh My!

It has been a busy two months for my tastebuds. When my friends, Kim and Jeremy, were here we went to The Bread Shop in St Johns Wood for some Quarkinis. They are like large, super moist doughnut holes. They are made with quark, which is a soft cheese popular in Germany.

Kim, Jeremy, and I also went to Dinerama for Street Feast. We tried several food trucks including: pork and shrimp buns at Yum Bun, the kimchi burger at Busan BBQ, and nitrogen frozen ribs at BBQ Lab.

On another night the four of us went to Whiskey Ginger in Borough Market. The burgers were actually pretty good, especially with their special Whisky Ginger mayonnaise. 

I take every visitor to Udderlicious, my favourite place in London. The flavour of the season is strawberry and basil. It was delicious (like everything at Udderlicious) but wild cherry is still my number one. 

At Comptoir Libanais my friend Lisa and I split the mezze platter with baba ghanuj, hummous, tabbouleh, falafel, lentil salad, cheese sambousek, and pita bread. Everything was amazing but I especially liked the hummous and falafel. 

Franco Manca serves delicious sourdough pizzas for around £5. I got this pizza with buffalo ricotta and basil and it was awesome. 

Lisa and I headed to Soho for this popcorn ice cream with smoked fudge sauce at Barnyard. It is almost half price if you get takeaway rather than eating in. The soft serve tasted exactly like toffee popcorn and the fudge was amazing. 

Some friends introduced Warren and me to this hole in the wall sandwich place by Queensway called Taza. The mixed meat shawarma was really good but they make a terrible falafel. 

I've been dying to try the ricotta pancakes with bananas and honeycomb butter at Granger and Co. and they were well worth it! This dish includes so many things I love: ricotta, bananas, and pancakes.

Several people recommended Dirty Burger so we finally tried it. We got cheeseburgers, onion fries, and crinkle fries. I really liked the onion fries after I shook off some of the salt. The burgers were disappointing but I think they just had way too much mustard. 

I met up with some friends for lunch at a Korean restaurant called Gogi. I got the beef dolsot bipimbap, a mixture of cooked beef, vegetables, rice, and a raw egg yolk. Going there for lunch made me want to go back to try the dinner menu where they cook the meat at your table. Hopefully Warren and I can try that out soon. 

This has been a summer of trying new restaurants and most of the food has been delicious!