Meal #38: Breakfast

Meal #48: Breakfast

Our sweet English friends hosted us for a few nights. They were raving about “American Breakfast with streaky bacon and syrup”, so I decided to make it for them. I made my grandmother’s style pancakes ( a bit darker in color and crisp around the edges because they’re cooked in bacon fat:), “streaky” bacon (American style smoked pork belly), and hash-browns. We found Canadian maple syrup, but it was ridiculously expensive, so I made my own syrup with Golden Syrup (similar to a light molasses), orange zest and segments and finished with a splash of good single malt Scotch. YUM! To my chagrin, our friends stacked everything on top of the pancakes and covered it all in orange syrup – lol. They loved it:) Robbie made us some proper strong coffee and the meal was complete!

Meal #37: Dinner

We have the great pleasure to be hanging with close friends in London. Our friend Robbie is a supervisor at Jamie’s Italian in London. He told us he would treat us to an awesome night of gluttony- boy did he deliver!!! We started with the meat plank and the fish plank- Italian prosciutto, capicola, olives, bread, smoked mackerel spread, pickled peppers, fresh smoked salmon, cockles, mussels, and so much more. Wow- and we still have mains on the way!

I had the pasta Vignole Tagliolini- a fresh clam, white wine, and butter pasta. It was amazing! Perfectly clean, simple sea flavors. Adam had the Wild Rabbit Tagliolini. It, too, was great. Earthy, creamy pasta perfection. We were totally stuffed, but we had to try the desserts:) Adam had the Jelly and ice cream. Elderflower jelly with honey ice cream-very good! I had the Raspberry Frangipane. An almond cake with raspberries and cream. Wowza. Too good! We also, of course, had satisfyingly bitter Italian espressos to complement our sweet desserts. Food. Coma.

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Meal #33: Lunch

Amazing! Why don’t we have Turkish Donner Kabob restaurants in the US? The lamb was juicy and flavorful with perfect crispy- charred bits and SOOO much garlic!!!! I had the Donner lamb plate with pickled carrots and cabbage as well as a small green salad. Adam had a Donner lamb roll which had the same ingredients rolled up in a fresh flat bread. We also had the yogurt spinach dip which was sour from the yogurt and lemon juice. Earthy from tons of cooked spinach and roasted garlic. It was awesome served with hot, out-of-the-oven homemade Turkish pita! Wow! It was all so good and we were totally stuffed. We only ate half our entrรฉes, but we had to try the dessert- pistachio baklava with Turkish black tea…amazing!!! I was in heaven and Adam was pretty happy, too ๐Ÿ™‚

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Meal #32: Breakfast

No more fairy tale castles for me. We’re staying in a mixed dorm at a hostel in London. It’s actually very clean and nice, but privacy and nutritious food are hard to come by. Despite some of the downfalls of hostels, we’re clean, well rested, and happy to be in England! Today they offered cereal, toast, and croissants for breakfast. No fruit. No protein. Couldn’t they at least give us a cube of cheese? An apple? Nope. We know now to pick up some fruit to accompany our “continental”.

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Meal #31: Dinner

So delish! Super crispy fish and chips! Absolutely amazing with malt vinegar and mayonnaise! Adam had wild venison bangers and mash with black current jelly and stout gravy. Whoa! It was really good. The sweet and tangy jelly worked perfectly with the earthy, savory venison sausage and smokey gravy. Yum!

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Snack #7

Yum!!!! Wow- the best onion rings EVER! Perfectly crispy. Amazing breading and sweet onions. Served with horseradish cream. Adam stopped me from ordering a second helping;) We’re at a great pub in London called The Blackfriar. Thanks for the great recommendation Greg!

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