'Wrapping up' Christmas....

This has been a great week for reconnecting with family and friends. I have enjoyed the time spent with parents, in-laws, extended family, and friends. I am grateful that I recovered so quickly from being sick, and just in time for Christmas, too! We have traveled all over the area - DC, DE, PA...we head back from DC to TX on Thursday (New Year's Eve) in time to bring in the new year with friends. I look forward to a bit of peace and serenity once the holidays have passed. This has been the busiest season I have ever had with Thanksgiving (and those 11 pies!), London, being sick, and finally travel to DE/PA to visit family.

Resolutions...Do YOU have one???

The new year is nearly upon us. As with many of you, I am considering what, if anything, I will adopt as my New Year's resolution. I generally avoid making such committments since they are usually tossed aside by the end of January, but I think I may give in this year. My New Year's Resolution will involve working on my website - expanding it to evolve into something much more exciting. Writing has always been one of my passions, and food is an even bigger passion than writing. I look forward to sharing my love of all things food: recipes, restaurant reviews, history of food, nutrition, etc.

And to anyone out there who might actually be reading this: What is *your* New Year's Resolution???

I (had) lost that Christmas spirit...but it's back!

Well, it has been a rough week or so. After all of the hustle and bustle associated with Thanksgiving, London, and Christmas preparations my body finally gave in to it all and forced me to slow down. I am feeling much better as of this morning and have regained my Christmas cheer along with my health!!! I have baked no cookies, and my annual homemade eggnog had to fall by the wayside this year to allow for my body to heal...I am hopeful that I can make up for this before the season ends...

Goodbye, London...

This (self-proclaimed) London-girl is back in TX, lamenting the fact that she had to leave after such a seemingly short visit...

Truly I feel as if London is the place I belong. My eyes teared as the plane alit from Heathrow's runway to return us to Dallas, and I sadly watched the English countryside grow smaller as we traveled further and further away. The culture and buildings and people are so quaint...London is surely more beautiful at Christmas than even New York City. The city itself is cleaner and the people seem friendlier. I would move there in a heartbeat!

Our driver to and from Heathrow is a renouned Indian chef who has an extensive list of people for whom he has cooked, including, but not limited to, Princess Diana and other British royalty, much of the Hollywood crowd (ie Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, etal), and many mid-eastern royalty. He has even cooked for President Obama...I am not exactly sure why we were fortunate enough to have him drive us, but I certainly enjoyed my time with him. He has many stories to tell, and he did so during the entire drive to and from the airport. He has lived all over the world, and travels extensively.

More on London...

I have been having a *smashing* time here in London! I spent some time in Hyde Park on Wednesday wandering about their holiday 'Winter Wonderland'. I was not so far from Buckingham Palace, but decided not to walk the rest of the way there (I had seen it a couple of years ago after all...) and instead just took my time people-watching and scoping out the food stalls and rides. We had dinner at the Wolseley that night. It came highly recommended; however, I found the food to be quite traditional and ordinary. Please make no mistake, the food was fine, but it did not knock my socks off as did the food at some of the other places we have eaten. I would say the clientelle was generally an older crowd, perhaps many of whom were long-time customers.

Thursday was spent at Covent Garden. I took a tour of the Royal Opera House of London. It is generally filled with about 20 people; however, there were only 3 of us on the tour, so we had the place to ourselves...It is an impressive building. What the general audience sees of the stage and public areas is but a fraction of the actual building. They have an enormous area where they build the props for whatever show for which they are preparing. And they store the current sets assembled. Each set is on a separate 'grid' and they can move the floor to set up the stage without having to take apart/put together the sets for each show. This allows less wear and tear on the sets, as well as enabling them to put on multiple shows each week, sometimes even two different shows a day! After the tour I wandered about Covent Garden, enjoying the markets and outside performers while indulging in a hot cocoa. Lovely!

That night was the holiday party for my husband's office here in London. We gathered at a club called 'The Loop'. We did not have a formal sit-down meal, but rather a selection of heavy hors d'ouvres. The music was pulsating (translation: loud) and everyone seemed to have a good time. I rather enjoyed meeting everyone...it is a wonderful group of people.

Today my husband and I took the tube over to the London Bridge area and visited the Borough Market. It reminded me of Seattle's Pike Place Market, only with even more character and charm. Lots of meat, cheese, and fruit stalls; fresh poultry hanging about (yes, feathers, heads and all)as well as venison and rabbits and other meats - again, looking fresh from the kill...I savored a mulled wine as we meandered through. And today was a day for my brown hat and gloves!!! It was a bit chilly out. A sign at the Porter and Oyster bar advertising a 'beef, guiness and oyster pie' grabbed our attention, so we wandered in only to discover they had stopped serving hot foods until 6pm (it was 3pm)...so we promptly seated ourselves in a nearby pub (called The Tavern) to wait it out...and it was well worth the wait...The pie was brought out(basically a beef pot pie) with 2 raw oysters on the half shell sitting next to it. The waitress told me to break open the crust and pop in the oysters for a couple of minutes to cook them. I, of course, quickly obliged...the steam poured out as I pulled apart the crust, and those two succulent oysters dove in, eagerly I have to believe. What a treat!!! My husband had ordered a Meantime Stout which I also sipped on. It paired so well with the beef and oyster pie...Mmm, Mmmm...

"Ring, Ring"....why, I believe it's London Calling!

We arrived safely in London on Saturday and have spent the past several days wandering about and eating and pubbing. Last night we had our 'Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese' fix. We met up with another couple and enjoyed a smashing meal and hand pulled ales. The pate' and cheese plate (yes, it included Cheshire Cheese) were as delicious as I had remembered, and the lamb shanks were beautifully done. I followed up my meal with a lovely bread and butter pudding surrounded by warm custard. My husband had the spotted dick, also surrounded by the warm custard, and we each enjoyed a glass of port to finish off the meal.

Lunch earlier was spent at a cafe' we found near the hotel...my husband had the Croque Monsieur while I ordered the shephard's pie (made with lamb). Not bad, but also not fantastic enough to return...

Dinner on Sunday was quite memorable. Eight of us met up at the Harwood Arms. I'll admit, it was quite the trek to the other side of town (a decent 30 minutes) but well worth the journey. It is a charming pub with delicious food. The special was a loin of venison served with fried potatoes (not really french fry style, more whole peeled new potatoes) and a brussels sprouts/cauliflauer medley. This was perhaps the best venison I have ever eaten. It was beautifully done to a warm center, sliced and topped with small mushrooms. We had the poached salmon with horseradish sauce and minced apple to start off the meal, and they brought out a bread basket with a very tasty bread which I believe had oats in it, but I forgot to ask. Waiting for the cab outside the restaurant after the meal we spotted two red foxes wandering the local neighborhood - quite close in fact! It seemed a bit odd to see them meandering about the city streets, certainly not something one would expect to see in London...And the cab ended up taking awhile to pick us up, so we ended up back in the pub for another quick pint of a hand drawn ale (okay, the guys had the pint, I watched!)

Fruitcakes!!!

It is finally feeling and looking a lot like Christmas. This morning I awoke to the wonderful vision of snowflakes falling outside my window...IN TEXAS!!! No, it didn't stick, but I did manage to take a couple of pictures of the snow which had settled on the roof and shrubs. And then - POOF!! - it was gone, just like that! Oh, well! I was at least able to make the first fire of the season in our fireplace tonight...it crackles at my feet as I type. And I have a tradition of drinking a Manhattan with the first fire of the season, so I did that instead of roasting chestnuts on the open fire. One, I did not have chestnuts. Two, I did have bourbon and vermouth...

Last night I made 2 of my 3 batches of fruitcakes...tonight I will bake the final batch. Each recipe yields 12 small fruitcakes. I will let them dry out for a couple of days, and then I will 'marinate' them with a sugar syrup/bourbon/Grand Marnier mixture. It will take a good 3 weeks for them to 'cure' and then those babies are ready to eat!

I am a bit ahead of schedule this year with my decorating and Christmas shopping due to our upcoming London trip. This has been one of the busiest seasons I remember, but I have most of my tasks out of the way and can (hopefully)thoroughly enjoy London and the rest of the holiday season. I'll have to remember to do this again next year...