What Did I Just Order?

This trip has been a culinary eye-opener! The British Empire is still going strong in the respect that you can find food from just about every place the Crown ever ruled. 

I promised Paige she could write the post about Windsor and our trip to the crypt, so that leaves me with the last few days meals and museums. Trust me, that's just as good. 

First stop: Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese! 

Laying claim to being the oldest pub in London, we stopped in for lunch on our way to the crypt. Paige and Professor Ullinger both got the fish & chips and I tried the chicken roulade, despite having no idea what it was. Luckily, it was delicious. Adding to the experience was the fact that I was sitting in Dr. Samuel Johnson's seat (he wrote the foremost dictionary of the time, right up until Oxford's) and Paige was sitting in Charles Dicken's (Dickens'? Dickens's?)! Super cool getting to look around the place and feel more like I was sitting in a museum exhibit instead of just looking through the glass.

Neither a meal nor a museum, Paige and I saw A Midsummer Night's Dream at Shakespeare's Globe Theater and it was incredible! We waited in the return ticket line, where people who can't go either phone the theater and give up their ticket or just stop by the line in person and sell you theirs. Paige had a stroke of luck and a guy getting rid of a ticket gave it to her for free! The atmosphere was super upbeat and fun, and the show seriously was hilarious. We had standing room tickets, which got us deemed "groundlings."

Panoramic of the Stage and Surrounding Seating. 

Two more culinary adventures happened in consecutive meals. First came lunch at Leon. 

Chicken with Garlic Aioli and Lemonade

This place was of a "fast food" variety, but not like we know in the states. I mean really, just look at the picture and tell me if that looks like a meal from BK or Wendy's. All the food here is incredibly fresh which makes popping in for a quick bite to eat really easy because 9 times out of 10 it's gonna be great. It would be interesting to see how well a place like this would fare in the U.S. I would guess they'd do pretty well because Chipotle is on about the same level and gets business from just about every college student in a 5-mile radius. Maybe I'll have to try my hand at entrepreneurship and bring Leon to America!

Then came dinner at Woburn Tandoori with Professors Ullinger and Conlogue. Approximately 100m away from our flats resides a small Indian restaurant where Paige and I both tried Indian food for the first time. Yes, you read that correctly -- we both made it to almost 20 years old without ever having been out for Indian. This meal just about defined "new experience."

I could not get enough of the poppadoms! The dips they were served with were delicious, but I was just as happy to sit there and munch on the crunchy goodness. Then came the main course which we split 4 ways. There was green stuff with chickpeas, yummy yellow stuff, chicken tika masala, something with lamb in it, a plate full of spicy, and naan bread! Clearly the professors ordered and Paige and I just ate what was in front of us. 

Sunday was a day of exploring that brought us back to Trafalgar Square and into St. Martin-in-the-Fields for the first time. There was an honest to goodness cafe in the crypt below the church. It was amazing. 

Paige had baked cauliflower and potatoes with a lemon cake for dessert, and I had potato broccoli soup with apple crumble and custard. I speak no lies, that custard is the most delicious thing to ever cross my lips. 

We toured the National Portrait Gallery, saw the Tower of London, went on top of Tower Bridge, and saw 221B Baker Street! (I've successfully gotten Paige hooked on BBC's Sherlock.) 

Once home we made a yummy basil pasta and tofu dinner for ourselves. This trip has been a fun challenge because we seriously are living on our own and having to do things like grocery shop, cook, and run to the laundromat. I think that because of these few weeks I'll have a better idea of what it's like to be totally independent, and be more prepared when the time to live alone comes!

Holly