Morris Minor Alert!

Fortune smiles!!  I chanced upon another Morris Minor today, this time parked on the street just outside the Mooring allotment in London.  It turns out that this beauty belongs to another allotment holder named Stephen, a kindly old pensioner whose plot suggests he knows quite a lot about farming.  It also seems he has fine taste in automobiles.

Not bad, right?  I really like the wagon model.  I might need to get friendly with Stephen with an aim towards test-driving his wheels.  In the meantime, I'll just have to admire from afar, & continue to keep my eyes peeled for others of its kind.

Brooklyn in the House

Fi & I stopped into the Kensington Whole Foods this morning to pick up a few things, & I came across a Brooklyn beer display!  For those of you who were lucky enough to take advantage, you will remember that my apmt in Williamsburg was about 10 mins' walk from the Brooklyn Brewery, maker of delicious beers.  I remember it being fairly tough to find most varieties of Brooklyn beer outside of New York, but here we are being offered BK Summer Ale in a whole other country!

£12.99!!!  For a six pack!!!  At the current exchange rate, that would amount to $21, which was a bit too rich for my blood.  While I do enjoy the Brooklyn beers, there are plenty of local options here that're just as tasty (if not tastier).  I didn't buy any BK beers, but seeing the display here in London made me smile.

Harvest is When I need You the Most!

Our first tomato from the balcony garden!

A Horse, a Horse, my Kingdom for a Horse!

Last weekend, Fi & I went to see Shakespeare's Richard III at the Old Vic Theatre in London.  Hooray for another episode in my English Arts education!  This may come as a surprise to you, but I didn't spend much time on Shakespeare's history plays in college, only making my way through Henry IV & V before moving on to other older & more important things.  Nor had I ever, previous to my arrival in the UK, seen a Shakespeare production in real life.  Embarrassing, I know, but better late than never, right?

It goes without saying, then, that before Sunday, I'd never read or seen any version of Richard III.  I had heard good things though, so I felt super excited to see what dude was all about.  Before our outing, Fi thought she'd give me a little teaser by referring me to the story of the Princes in the Tower.  It's a spooky vignette about the mysterious disappearance of Edward V of England & Richard of Shrewsbury, a couple of teenagers in line for the throne who were spirited away without a trace.  Richard might've had something to do with that.

NB: the Guardian's pic, not mine.

As it happens, Richard the III is one of Shakespeare's great villains, ranking up there with the likes of Iago & Shylock.  Fortunately for Fi & me, Sunday's production featured Kevin Spacey in the titular role, & dude knocked it out of the park.  Directed by the renowned film auteur Sam Mendes, Spacey brought his characteristic blend of humor & creepiness to the part with admirable, if not sometime staggering, intensity.  I found him super entertaining.  Not only that, but he managed to make the Shakespeare feel accessible, I suspect even to audience members who were just there for his star-power.  Though the production totalled 3.5 hours & aspects of it bordered on a little too artsy (I blame you, Sam Mendes), I really enjoyed myself.   It's nice when edifying activities turn out to be fun, eh?

Photography was verboten inside the theatre, 

but I managed to sneak this one pic for you guys.

Hopefully I won't get deported.

Kolaches

Before Samwise returned to London on Sunday, I thought I'd try my hand at baking some sweet kolaches.  While living in NYC, I turned out many successful batches of my savory recipe, filling the kolaches with sausage, ham, cheese, jalapenos, &c.  However, I had yet to attempt the more traditional, Czech-style sweet bun, which is famously had in West, TX, on the drive to Dallas from San Antonio & Austin, here:

Suspecting my savoury kolache recipe wouldn't quite work with a sweet filling, I scrambled for a reliable alternative.  After about five minutes of wading through garbage online, I decided to try Homesick Texan, a cooking blog I started reading while living in Brooklyn.  The author, Lisa Fain, is a Texan living in the New York City, & she writes about preparing classic Texas dishes in her pint-sized, urban kitchen.  Her writing's un-pretentious & she posts great pictures; it's more or less everything I want from a food blog.  I've had a little success with Lisa's recipes in the past, so this past Sunday morning, I figured I'd try her suggestion for sweet kolaches.  They turned out really, really well.  See for yourself:

I can't recall if these look anything like those available in West, but they tasted delicious!  The dough was yeasty & sweet, & Lisa's recommendations for apricot & prune toppings made for extremely tasty kolaches.  I ate half a dozen myself.  It was a good day.

Samwise in Oxford

This past weekend, cousin Sam visited me & Fi for a spell.  As I mentioned before, he's been in the UK for a couple of weeks doing a summer course at LSE.  Luckily, he had a bit of free time & chose to come spend it with us.  Minus nights & mornings, we had only one full day to usher him around, so given the time constraints, our tour was limited to colleges & pubs, which are really the two best categories of sightseeing anyway.

Our first port of call was Christ Church, alma mater of societal luminaries like Sir Philip Sidney, John Locke, & the Winklevoss twins.  It's a beautiful college & has gained particular notoriety of late for its supporting role in the Harry Potter films, which, I'm sure played no small part in the outrageously long line we found at the entrance.  Fi & I had a few other options on deck, & it seemed a little ridiculous to queue up for hours, so we shrugged & moved on.

Plan B was to head over to Merton College with a quick a pit-stop at the Bear Inn en route.  Those of you interested in pubs, be sure to insist on the Bear next time you're in town.  Though it's the oldest pub in Oxford, its real claim to fame is the inner walls, which are decorated with some 5,000 snippets of neckties, every one unique.  Word has it the landlord's willing to compensate tie contributors a half-pint of beer for their offerings.  Big money.

Once our whistles had been wet, we repaired to Merton, where Fi studied English literature for her MPhil.  Like the other colleges in town, Merton is gorgeous to behold.  It's particularly fun for me to visit, though, because I get to to watch Fi show visitors around the grounds.  Though I've heard the stories & school trivia a couple of times now, I still take pleasure in tagging along for her grand tour.

No Oxford University college walkthrough is complete without a traipse around the gardens, & Merton's do not disappoint.  I'll spare you any details, as I'm aware they sound better spoken in an English accent, but here are a few photographs I snapped this time around.

Not bad, right?  They're twice as pretty in person.  Eventually, the skies began to clear up.  In order to take full advantage, Fi suggested climbing up the tower at St. Mary's Church, reputed to have one of the best views of Oxford's skyline.  I'd never before been to the top, so I was stoked about the prospect.  A short ascent later, having squeezed through some very narrow hallways, we finally gazed upon Oxford from a height, & the tower views did not disappoint.  Thanks to the Victorian poet Matthew Arnold, Oxford is known as the city of 'dreaming spires', which, after taking in the town's architecture from that tower, I can now attest, is a description entirely merited.  This really is a magnificent place.

If history tells us anything, it's that no amble around Oxford should end without ducking in (literally) to the Turf Tavern.  Warm weather abiding, the Turf is a reliable source for Pimm's, which was of particular interest to us then.  Although Samwise has now accumulated a veteran 19 years of age, a full 12 months beyond the legal minimum in England, he hadn't yet discovered any British beverages which suited his discriminating palate.  Real Ale & Cider, in my opinion two of the best reasons for local consumption, fell flat on his tastebuds, so Fi & I thought we might try Pimm's.

 I don't know if he was just parched from the trekking or what, but Samwise suckled down two full glasses of Pimm's in as many seconds!  Sluurrrrp.  Finally, a tasty beverage we could all enjoy together.  Mission accomplished!  Once Sam had sponged up the dregs of our pitcher, we thought we might try Christ Church again, hoping the long lines would have abated over the afternoon.  This theory actually met with some success, as we sneaked in with the very last group of visitors allowed in for the day.

 Walking around the grounds inside the college, it occurred to us that Christ Church might be the worst possible place to study in Oxford.  In the time I've lived here, I've never seen so many tourists squeezed into one place.  Sweet merciful crap, it was awful.  Negotiating the line to see Christ Church's dining hall (featured in the Harry Potter movies) felt like waiting to get my driver's license renewed at the DMV.  Ridiculous.  The school is stunning, no doubt, but the magic is lost (no pun intended) when you've gotta share it with six busloads of Japanese sightseers.

Once we'd ticked off that box, it was high time to head back to the homestead & cook up some dinner.  We had accomplished quite a lot, & I reckon Samwise was able to see a representative slice of Oxford in his time here.  Sufficiently exhausted from our day, an evening at home with some burgers & Top Gear felt like the perfect way to spend the evening.  Thanks for coming to see us, Sam, & best of luck rotating back to our homeland after your summer abroad!

Courgette Flower

Fi's garden is progressing nicely.  Although we don't get too much sunshine here, there's plenty of rain, & on top of that, she's quite diligent about watering each night when we haven't had any precipitation.  We've had a small harvest of arugula so far. The tomato plant is populated with clusters of grape-sized tomatettes, so hopefully they'll redden up before too much longer.  The zucchini is blooming like crazy & has produced a few gigantic yellow flowers.

Indulgence for Breakfast

After spending last weekend in London, Fi & I came back to Oxford with another haul of allotment treasure.  Part of the batch this time around was a bag of Bramley cooking apples, which I'd never before tasted.  Allegedly, they're so sour that biting into one raw will turn your face, & attempting to eat the whole of it will upset your stomach beyond repair.  Intrigued by this hearsay, I tried my fate & can confirm: the raw taste is unpleasant.  Once chopped up & roasted with a few cupfuls of sugar, however, the Bramleys made for some pretty fine applesauce.  Where does one go from there?  Stewed apple French toast, of course:

Fi found this Nigel Slater recipe (below) in the Guardian online, & we thought we'd give it a shot this morning.  As you can see, I topped the toast with a generous sprinkling of powdered sugar, but otherwise, I followed the recipe to the letter.  Totally delicious.

French Toast with Stewed Apple & Blackberries

Per person:

2 slices white bread

Butter

2 heaped tbsp stewed apple

A handful of blackberries (or raspberries)

2 eggs

2 tbsp caster sugar

Remove the crusts from the bread, & butter on both sides. Mash the stewed apple with a fork. Beat the eggs lightly in a bowl with the sugar. Dip the slices of bread into the egg, then pile the filling on one half of the bread. Place the second slice over the top, & press down firmly around the edges. Melt the butter in a shallow pan. When it starts to froth, add the sandwich, & fry till golden underneath. Turn over, & cook the other side. Remove with a spatula, & drain briefly on kitchen paper before sprinkling with blackberries & eating.

Kinsmans Calling

Now that Mollie's made her UK visit & fed back to her state-side posse just how great England is, it was only a matter of time before more Kinsmans came a-knocking.  This time around, Aunt Donna & Samwise were stopping into London on the tail-end of their week-long romp around Europe.  Sam had registered for a brief summer session at the LSE, so Aunt Donna stayed over in London for a couple of days to help him settle in.  To take advantage of their arrival, Fi had booked a table at the Duke of Wellington for Sunday lunch, so the Kinsmans met us (Fi, Tania, Mummy, & yours truly) there for some proper English victuals & getting-to-know-you chit-chat.  

Sunday lunch at a pub can be a pretty exciting prospect if you've done your homework.  Fi had researched gastropubs in Marylebone, & the Duke seemed very well-regarded, so I had high hopes for my meal.  Upon the grounds of experiencing traditional British fare, I convinced Samwise to opt for the beef with me, & we were not disappointed.  In a pint's time, I was presented with two slabs of savoury 28-day aged sirloin flanked by duck-fat roast potatoes, carrots, savoy cabbage, & an embarrasingly large Yorkshire pudding.  Om. Nom.

Though the roast potatoes weren't a patch on Mrs. Mooring's, the rest of the vittles quite redeemed the meal, & in no time, I'd stuffed my meat-stomach to contentment.  Sunday roast can be a beautiful thing.  After lunch, the six of us chatted for another hour or so, thoroughly entertained by Aunt Donna & Sam's travel tales.  Good times.  Upon leaving the pub, Fi & I parted ways with the other Moorings & accompanied the Kinsmans on some errands til it came time for us to head back to Oxford.  All told, the visit wasn't much more than a few hours, but I really enjoyed myself.  It's always nice to see family, esp when you can eat some delicious meat in the process.

Eureka!

Since my arrival in the UK, Fi's kept vigilant watch for outlets supplying my favorite American & Mexican foodstuffs.  She knows what sort of cooking I like to do, & having developed a taste for burritos & queso during her visits to NYC, she's now got an interest in sourcing things like dried chiles too.  Unfortunately, foods like Stubb's BBQ sauce & pinto beans, considered run-of-the-mill in any TX household (& more or less easy to find in NY), are difficult to come by in England.  We've located Chipotle Tabasco & American cheese in random stores around London & Oxford, but Ro-tel, the holy-grail of Tex-Mex ingredients, is nowhere to be found.

That is.. until now.  Enter Melbury & Appleton, online grocer & importer of coveted N. Amer viands.  Fi found these guys on the interwebs last week, & we placed an order with them almost immediately.  Check out the treasure trove they delivered:

Glorious, isn't it?  Provided we don't go hog-wild with the queso, that batch of goods combined with the parcel of dried chiles my mom sent should put us in good stead for a couple of months, at least until our next American visitor!