No surprise, you’ve heard all the stereo type about English food: its bland, its fried, its well, Its English!
The UK really is trying to shake that stereo type and there are great chefs and gourmet restaurants and a food awakening in jolly old England, And in some parts, they are really getting it figured out.
We had some of the best Thai food I’ve ever had in my life in London. Oh wait, but that’s not English food, that’s because the Thai chefs were cooking! hmmm that’s true. The Indian food in the UK is Awesome and wow hot! nothing bland there. Oh but that is because the Indians are cooking not the British. And yet, the Brits LOVE their Indian food the way Californians love their Mexican food.
Ok, so for the most part, the stereo type English food is well, just “ok” and very bland with no Wow factor. So my question is? Brits love Indian food for all its spices and heat, then why don’t they cook like that in their food?
We did find some REALLY good new food coming out of areas around Windsor in the country, North of London -there are some great restaurants. In fact, this is becoming the foodie area and people come from London to eat at the new restaurants and 5* chefs are opening up and creating super creative dishes.
Manchester has a small chain of private owned restaurants called The Botanists that the food was Wonderful.
But overall, I don’t quite get why England does continue having just “ok” food still. And of course don’t get me started on any menus having ORGANIC food on the menu, it just doesn’t happen ever!
My quest continues to find consistent good food and we’ll let you know as we post areas we are traveling, where we find that good tasty food. The good news is, the best quaint pubs that are old old always serve a great Pint so the meal isn’t totally lost with gorgeous atmosphere and a steady pint to quench your hunger!
Wrong! Laundry in UK/Europe isn’t like America at all. Everything is different.
#1 is Most households do NOT have a dryer and if you are under 55, none of us know what life is like without a standard washer/dryer in America! Ok, so maybe if you grew up or live in Manhattan, you know European styled laundry- maybe.
But where I come from, washer/dryer is a MUST and have always had since University days. No coin ops for me please.
So you get to the UK or Europe and you are in a house, you will find a small, on the floor waist high, (usually in the kitchen!) washer No dryer. Or, in some cases, the washer IS the dryer! As strange/funny as it sounds, and as you probably guessed, No they don’t work worth a damn! (you run the washer load, then click over to the dryer load never removing the laundry)
Be prepared, you will either have a clothes line outside or inside or not at all and you just hang things on the back of chairs.
You ask, why do they not have a dryer? Well I’ve been asking and get kind of a blank stare from people! the standard answer is the electricity bills here are so high no one can/wants to afford a dryer cycle for their electric bill. I’m all for being frugal and saving money BUT I am not for having sand paper rock hard towels to dry off after a nice hot shower!
When we finally settle down and have a flat or a house, we Will have a dryer trust me!
1. Tuscany of course! it REALLY is as pretty as the pictures and sometimes even more. The colors are crazy gorgeous. My Favorites are Assisi, Cortona, Sienna.
2. Rome if you have never been. Its crazy and busy and crowded and there is SO much to see it takes at least a week and really 10 days or more.
3. Vatican City, Yes its in Rome but its Not Rome! Vatican City is its own city and the Vatican and the Chapel are crazy cool and a MUST do.
4. Venice. Go quick it Really is sinking! and its gorgeous and wonderful.
5. Amalfi Coast: We haven’t made it yet and its a must do BUT does need to be done non winter months as I’m afraid all will be shut down. Best to hit this May or Sept for the shoulder months. Love to take a boatfrom Rome vs the crazy curvy road trip.
PS: Yes that main photo is of Florence and No I didn’t put it on top 5. For me, I like it a lot, but not top 5 -but its a must do as well. the amount of leather shops is OVER whelming. and yes the brown leather coat you see in a lot of my photos is my coat from Florence 🙂 soft as butter!
1. London of course! It really is a GREAT city, Love it! You need at least 5 days and that is going all day every day to take it all in: Big Ben, House of Parliament, London Bridge, the Tower, China Town, Buckingham Palace, British Museum and just simply walking around and pub crawling.
2. Bath. Gorgeous gorgeous town, great shopping and walking around
3. Stonehenge. Hint: there are only 4 nights a year you can actually go beyond the ropes and touch the stones so be sure to go then: Winter/Summer Solstice and the Spring/Autumn Equinox
4. Windsor and Ascot and the surrounding country side area
5. PUBS old old PUBS, gorgeous interiors, history and crazy old
Scotland here we Finally come. Our next destination for July/August. Darla has dreamed of Scotland for years, the land of both our heritage. (and hot men in skirts!)
Darren and I have been on Ancestry.com for quite some time and tracked our family trees back to the Scottish Isles and are looking forward to going to actual towns that we have found our heritage to be from.
This is Darren’s Grandfather in full regalia! What a handsome fellow!
and Darren’s grandma, who was born in Glasgow.
How cool will it be to maybe be able to go to local archive offices/churches and see if we can confirm what we have done on line and find our ancestors home towns.
Can’t wait to hear Scottish music and drink a pint in a good OLD old pub. stay tuned.
Bella is surrounded by all kinds of wildlife, not just the ones coming for the Isle of wight Festival!
(think of a modern day Woodstock) Fleetwood Mac be darned she says.
She much prefers the company of pheasants and grouse and badgers and flocks of sheep and rabbits, oh the rabbits, heh heh. Even blind she knows they are here and loves to get excited and riled up!
She is doing really well and loves to roll down the grass hills. She loves to roll into pubs in her Royal Pram and join us for a pint!
The UK really is trying to shake that stereo type and there are great chefs and gourmet restaurants and a food awakening in jolly old England, And in some parts, they are really getting it figured out.
