food update

Now that we're getting ready to wrap up our UK adventure, it's time for a little food update.


What we like:

• The ale, ciders, and shandies. Shandies are half beer and half lemonade or soda. They're really quite good (I even like them) and are refreshing when it's warmer out.


• English tea. I don't know what it's really called, but there seems to be only one flavor. Herbal teas and crazy flavors are rare. Just about EVERYWHERE serves it, including pubs. You usually get a cute little teapot, cup and saucer, sugar cubes, and milk. Most English like milk in their tea (it is good). Not really a huge tea drinker in the US, I have grown to like it and after a day out in crisp, damp English weather, it's welcome.

• Sticky Toffee Pudding, no question.

• Spotted Dick. Yep, that's right Spotted Dick. When my Aunt Pat and Uncle Chuck were here, it was on the menu in a pub and curiosity got the better of us. Perhaps involves a banana? Nope. Turns out, it's a yellow cake with currants (look like raisins to me and must be the "spots") smothered in a thick... yellowish... cream sauce. Good stuff once you get past the name. Considering this desert has been around for over 200 years that doesn't seem to be a problem for most people.

• Buying fresh bread from the bakery across the Green. They're humorous extra-tall loaves that tend to flop over the top of the toaster, but they make a filling sandwich. This photo was taken while toasting. If you want the whole thing toasted, you have to do it twice and flip.


• Cumberland Sausage. A big hit with Pat and Uncle Chuck, this one's native to the Lake District. The English love a good sausage so there's plenty more to pick from. Of course, none of them are spicy like Italian sausage and there's no turkey sausage so we've been more limited on our recipes.


• Fish & Chips. These can be purchased at your local "chippy" and are usually takeaway. The right ones can be really tasty—certainly not good for you, but good. Oh, and it's best to split one order of chips, there's always a mountain. Pat prefers curry sauce on the chips. Mushy peas are also a popular side dish. Personally, I think they look like baby food or stomach contents.

• Indian food. A first for me, Stephanie and Greg were able to help suggest what to order. It's pretty darn good and probably deserves some more exploration when we get home. We've also done some experimentation with some tasty curry sauces from the grocery. Curry's the national food over here.

• Smaller portions. Both in the grocery store and at restaurants, food isn't presented in the mounds that it is in the states. Smaller servings, smaller packages. I guess it makes sense for the smaller refrigerators, smaller storage, and people walking to and from the groceries. If you had a big family, this would be really annoying.


What we've learned:

• Romaine lettuce masquerades as "cos" in this country. It's still not available in all the grocery stores, but is easier to find when you know what you're looking for. It's also an item that is superior in the US—it can tend to be a little squishy here, not quite as crisp as in the US.

• Almost all eggs here are free range. They have tan shells, most have lighter color yolks, and they routinely come with feathers stuck to the shell. It reminds me of That 70s Show when prissy Jackie won't touch an egg because it came out of a chicken's butt. Well, some downy white feathers and some specks of what I hope is dirt are a big reminder of that. In the grocery, they're stocked on non-refrigerated shelves which is a little creepy–you're still suppose to put them in the refrigerator at home. Sorry Dad—we haven't seen a double yoke.


• Cheddar cheese is usually not yellow for reasons we don't understand. It looks like mozzarella, but tastes like cheddar. I'm almost afraid to ask why—are Americans just too hooked on the yellow food dye? We've also learned that when you order it for sandwiches, it's usually not sliced, but shredded on top which is messier.

• Bacon is more like country ham than what we would consider bacon. It's leaner, thicker, and not crispy. You just have to mentally reconfigure your expectations.

• Pudding can be used as a general term for any old desert here whether or not it includes anything of pudding-like substance. Watch out for Black Pudding though—that's not a chocolate dessert or sweet, but is a combination of pig's blood, milk, oatmeal, barley, suet, breadcrumbs, pepper, and mint. It usually comes with breakfast.

Pat and Uncle Chuck like it ok. Yorkshire Pudding is also not a desert, but a small, pastry-like bread bowl usually served with meat that I guess you could pour gravy into. Confusing, huh?

• At Christmastime in London, I found an advertisement for "tasty seasonal treats" including "...a truly traditional three-bird meal—a pigeon inside a duck inside a chicken, with game chips, bread sauce and onion gravy." If that doesn't float your boat, you also had the option of "...two pheasants inside a chicken, inside a goose." With all of the birds we've seen running wild in the countryside, I guess it's not surprising they're packing them together like Matryoshka (nesting) dolls.


What we won't miss:

• The beef and salmon. It's really hard to find good stuff.

• Super-salty snacks.

• Prawn-flavored everything.

• The lack of variety. Arugula doesn't seem to exist. Neither does Pillsbury or anything resembling a ready-made, put in the oven food (outside of frozen dinners of course). All of this has limited what we can cook. There is one box of one flavor of brownie mix at our local Tescos and maybe one flavor of cake mix.

• Being disappointed with restaurants on a regular basis.