All posts by Charity Prawitz

Meal #54: Lunch

Greek panini, small sandwich shop, Oxford, UK

I had a Greek panini from a small shop on the High Street.  It was sort of lack luster, but terrible.  It had salami and feta and tomato and olives but there was no sauce, and the grill didn’t properly heat it up, so it was mostly cold.  I ate it though, for the nuritiousment it provided to my body. 

Ham and cheese on strange bread with a coffee, Oxford, UK
 There was way to much bread on this sandwich!  It was all bread I think.  No sauce, just ham and cheese with a bit of greens.  Not very good. 

Pecan danish, Oxford, UK
Delicious lunch dessert!

Meal #53: Second Dinner

Fish and chips, The Head of the River, Oxford, UK
We decided to go to The Head of the River for a small second dinner so that Charity could have a taste of the famous English fish and chips.  The Head of the River is where our Aussie friend Shannon works/lives.  We tried to get her to come downstairs and eat with us, but she never showed up?  The fish and chips are good here though so it’s okay, even without Shannon?  The batter on the fish was super crispy and fatty?  The tartar sauce was excellent?

(The question marks are there because in my head I’m hearing Shannon’s accent?  If you know any Australians you’ll understand?)

Meal #52: Dinner

"Tacos" with rice and green beans and cheesecake, Oriel College dining hall, Oxford, UK
This was a funny one.  The menu said we were to have “tacos” but when we came through the line this is how it went:

COOK:  Rice?

ME:  Yes please.

COOK:  Taco?

ME:  Yes please.

COOK:  Chilli?

ME:  Wirp? …. oh, ah, yes please?

And he put the taco shell on the rice and filled it completely with beef and bean chilli.  I guess that’s an English taco.  It really wasn’t bad, the chilli was pretty tasty and the cheesecake was great.  No complaints.

Meal #51: Lunch

A picnic lunch, Oxford, UK
While I was working on school stuff, Charity went out on the town to gather ingredients for a proper English picnic.  She got a baguette, some salad, raspberries, cherry tomatoes, green olives, soft cheese triangles, a bottle of cheap cider, and packet of Hobnobs, (the best biscuits ever).  Unfortunetly, it started raining, that’s English weather for ya.  So we ate it in my dorm room.  It was still really tasty, though not as scenic.

Meal #50: Dinner

Donner kebab with onions, cucumber, and tomato, Mehdi's kebab truck, Oxford, UK
Charity wanted to experience the glory that is Mehdi’s kebab truck, so we shared a kebab as we were still full from all the Indian food.  The donner meat was very tasty, as always, and the veg was okay.  The garlic mayonnaise pulled it all together, but the pita was less than amazing, it was just a plain old pocket bread like we have back home.  I’ll stick to chips and cheese from the truck I think, much better results.

Meal #49: Lunch

Chicken starter, Majliss, Oxford, UK
This is just the starter that Charity and I had.  Our dinner was a huge and amazing Indian meal that we shared with our friends Robbie and Cara.  Everything we ate was amazing, though I cannot identify everything in the pictures.  Charity and I shared a menu for two, which included a giant number of dishes.  The four of us ate like Indian royalty, and still had leftovers to take home in the end!

Loads and loads of delicious Indian food, Majliss, Oxford, UK

Meal #48: Dinner

This was a very special dinner for Charity and me, as it was our 6th wedding anniversary.  We booked at Fifteen in London, one of Jamie Oliver’s restaurants.    

Fresh olives in oil, Fifteen, London, UK

Brushcetta with sardines, peaches, and rocket, Fifteen, London, UK
 

We’re experiencing some technical difficulties, so I’m going to talk about the olives and the bruschetta here 🙂 The olives were fresh, that’s right, not cured! We had never had fresh olives before so we were very surprised by their creamy texture – similar to an avocado, but firmer- and their sweet, mildly fruity flavor. They were a great way to start an awesome dinner!   

The brushcetta pretty much blew our minds! Our mouths were salivating with delight and the excitement of the totally unique flavor combination peaches and sardines?! So weird, so delicious. The charred exterior of the bread added smokey flavor as well as crunchy texture. It was perfectly dressed with a really nice, fruity olive oil. We could have eaten at least 3 plates of this awesome dish!!!   

Pasta, Fifteen, London, UK
The pork and beef bolognaise was rich and meaty. Not sure what kind of cheese was on it, but it was creamy and had a nutty, mildly fruity flavor – maybe a young Parmesan or Reggiano? The pasta was cooked al dente. The toothsome pasta with the rich, meaty sauce made this course filling and deeply satisfying.  

Fish and mussels in a black olive sauce, Fifteen, London, UK
Good, but not our favorite dish. Somehow I missed the “black olive sauce” part of the description on the menu. As neither of us are huge black olive fans, I think we made a bad choice here. However, it was still pretty good. The briny, tomato sauce with little salty black olive punches, complemented the sweet, salty seafood. The clams and mussels were juicy little sea gems and the fish was perfectly cooked. I’m sure black olive fans would love this dish. We didn’t love or hate this dish, but we ate all of it 🙂 

Cheese, Fifteen, London, UK

 Whoa baby this was good! By this point in the meal, we were stuffed, but we had just enough room for some stinky cheese and thinly sliced honey-wheat bread. There were two cheeses, a pleasantly stinky Roquefort and a lovely aged English Cheddar, served with a sweet and spicy apple cinnamon chutney and succulent Madjool dried dates. The waiter suggested a complex Bordeaux to complement all the cheesy, fruity goodness- Heaven!

Meal #47: Second Lunch

Prawn layered salad with apple juice, Sainsburys, Oxford, UK
This was a small take away lunch I grabbed from Sainsburys to eat on the Oxford Tube into London.  The prawns were super tiny, and a bit fishy, but hey, it’s from a grocery store after all.  It wasn’t so bad with the sauce that was included, it was sort of like salad creme, but slightly better.  For anyone who doesn’t know what salad creme is, it’s basically a sweetened mayonnaise, and your only option for salad dressing in England.  The apple juice was the best part of the meal, just some plain old apple juice, 35p worth of pure nature.