Travel

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The Summer List

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(That was last summer, in Alexandria.  Sigh!)

It’s fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinally summer!  Took long enough to get here, and even longer to actually feel like summer.  Okay, we still have some chilly days, but I’m done waiting and ready to get my summer started.  Since we had to slog through such a hard winter, I have a lot of dreams and plans and fun to fit in during these warmer months, before the cold fronts return.  Here’s what I’m thinking for the season:

What do you have on your summer agenda?

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TD Five Boro Bike Tour 2014

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The Five Boro Bike Tour is a massive bike event (it’s not a race, and there are no timing chips, but it’s as well organized as any big running race) – forty miles of traffic-free roads through all five boroughs of New York City.  My dad and brother rode in the event last year, and this year, my brother’s girlfriend and I got to join them!

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We left Buffalo around mid-day on Friday, stopped overnight in Albany, and then headed down on Saturday for Bike Expo NY and packet pickup.  The rest of our crew left early on Saturday morning and had an easier time at packet pickup as a result, but hubby and I hung back with Peanut until noon (a good time for her to start her nap) in the hopes that she’d get her sleeping done in the car.  She did, but I paid for the decision later, because the expo was a mob scene.

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I waited in lines starting a few blocks away to even get into the expo.  Once I finally made it inside, we were herded toward packet pickup, which fortunately was running like a well-oiled machine.

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After I got my packet, I headed over to the tour merchandise and bought two t-shirts, then made a quick loop around the expo and headed out to find hubby and Peanut.  We reunited outside the expo, went back to the hotel, and carbed up with an Italian dinner.

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We were in the silver wave on Sunday morning, which meant that our start time was 9:15 a.m. – right in the middle of the chaos.  (Last year, my dad and brother had a 7:15 a.m. start and they definitely preferred the earlier start.  Maybe we’ll luck out and get an earlier time next year…)  Anyway, we took two cars into the city from our Jersey City hotel.  Hubby and Peanut and I found parking right by the start line and then began the long process of looking for the rest of the crew.

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Peanut was in rare form.  As we were getting set up in the parking garage, she saw three cyclists zip down the ramp and announced “Bicycle bicycle bicycle!”  We weren’t sure, at that point, whether she was going to announce “Bicycle” every time she saw a cyclist all day, but I guess she figured we got the idea.  She also shouted “GO FAMILY!” which was adorbs.  Best cheering section ever.

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I finally found the rest of my crew, and before we had time to get too comfortable…

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We were off!  The first part of the ride went through Manhattan, past Radio City Music Hall and through Central Park.  The park was my favorite part of the ride – it was a beautiful spring day, the flowering trees were in bloom, and I felt as if I was on a Sunday ride with 32,000 of my best friends.  From Manhattan we crossed into the Bronx for a very short while, then were back in Manhattan for miles 10-14.  Just before mile 15, we crossed the Queensboro Bridge into Queens, and that was my other favorite part of the ride, because how could this be anything other than epic?

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I never, in a million years, thought I’d ever ride over a bridge like this on my bike, let alone with hundreds of other cyclists around.  It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done.

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Right before the Queensboro Bridge I bumped into this guy ^ and we hung together while we could, but I lost him somewhere before the bridge.  I saw him again briefly in Queens, but he was waiting for the rest of our crew and I decided to continue on.  To be honest, I was nervous about pulling over to the side of the road and waiting in the crowds of people.  With our late start, the roads were significantly more crowded than they were last year, and I’d already seen several crashes.  I decided I’d feel safer just continuing on my way and finding the rest of my “team” at the finish line, so that’s what I did.

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Astoria Park!  There was a “mandatory rest stop” here, so I took advantage of the opportunity to grab a banana, then got the heck out of there as fast as I could.  It was a long haul getting through the park and back on the road.  I used some of the waiting time to Instagram – since I couldn’t ride, why not?  Finally, I made it back onto the road.

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Before I knew it, we were crossing into Brooklyn.  We still had a ways to go before the Verrazano Narrows Bridge and Staten Island, so I plugged along as best I could.  This was definitely not a race; I’ve never been shouted at to “slow down!” quite so much.  (No one ever seems to worry that I’m running too fast in a half marathon.  I wonder why.)  It wasn’t just me – everyone was getting instructions to go easy.  The last thing anyone wants is a crash, so I totally get it.  It was tough for me to slow down, though, because I have a fast bike, and even riding the brakes I was passing people left and right.  I just hung on tight and went with it.

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Adorable interlude – if you’re wondering what Peanut was up to, she was checking out the runners and “Horsie! Neigh neigh!” in Central Park with Nana and Daddy.  They walked by the zoo, got bagels with lox, rode the subway and then watched the Staten Island Ferries come in.  It really bummed me out that I didn’t get to experience Peanut’s first trip to NYC with her.  (First trip on the outside, that is.  She’s been there twice before, but the view wasn’t quite as good.)  But there will be plenty of other opportunities, and I was having a ball on my bike.

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I plugged away all through Brooklyn and over the Verrazano, which was a beast of a bridge.  It seemed as though almost half of the riders had gotten off and were walking their bikes up the bridge, but I really, really wanted to ride the whole thing.  I gave myself a pep talk: “Just keep pedaling.  You can pedal as slow as you want, but don’t get off this bike.”  Finally, finally, after what seemed like days, I made it to the top… and then it was pretty much all coasting to the Finish Festival on Staten Island!  I cruised in, found a spot on the grass, and waited for the rest of our family team to come riding up, which they did about thirty minutes later.

Here’s a fun secret: the “Finish Festival” is not the end of the biking for the day!  Even once you get through the festival, you still have about four more miles to ride to get to the Staten Island Ferry and back to lower Manhattan.  We decided to bypass the food and entertainment and get right back on the road, since my brother and his girlfriend had to get home.  So it was off to the ferry, where we waited about twenty minutes to get on a boat.

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Once we made it onto the ferry, the views were breathtaking.

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Totally worth the forty mile bike ride!  Heh.  All joking aside, this was an awesome day.  The Five Boro Bike Tour is organized with military precision and the event seemed to go off without a hitch (at least from where I was sitting).  I had so much fun riding – or at least, starting and ending – with my dad, brother and brother’s girlfriend, and I’m definitely on board for next year!

Have you ever ridden in a bike event?  Were you white-knuckled the entire time too?

 

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Tifft Nature Preserve: Winter 2014

Tifft Nature Preserve is an urban wildlife sanctuary located practically in the heart of Buffalo.  I’d been itching to visit for months, and hubby and I thought it’d be fun to go at least once in each season, and photograph the landscape as its elements changed with the months.  A few weeks ago, we bundled Peanut into the car and set off for our winter visit.

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Before we even got out of the car, we’d already seen two deer.  Deer in the middle of the city!  Love it.

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(This guy ^ was closer than he looks.  I need to learn to work my camera a little bit better, clearly.  Or maybe I should have swapped in my zoom lens.)

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There were beautiful paths leading in several different directions, so we picked one to follow.  I can’t wait to see what this trail looks like in spring and summer!  I expect it’s a riot of green overhead and all around.

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Peanut wasn’t sure what we were doing tramping around in the snow, but – once again – she was not impressed.

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We passed a bat habitat that the nature preserve had set up in the trees, which I thought was extremely cool (almost like a modern art installation).  Although I – like every woman, I think – have a horror of getting a bat stuck in my hair, I actually really like bats as a rule.  They’re good for keeping local insect populations under control, and if you actually watch them swooping through the evening sky, they’re really quite graceful.  Obviously we didn’t see any bats (it being the middle of the day) but I like knowing that the nature preserve is taking steps to protect the local population.

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More nature: deer tracks!  I felt like I was tracking a Jaguar with Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet.

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We found a small frozen pond tucked away down the trail.  Peanut is recently obsessed with ponds (more on this next week) and we took advantage of the opportunity to show her her favorite ecosystem all frozen over.

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I don’t think she really put two and two together.

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Just before we turned back, we saw this small offshoot trail leading to a wide expanse of snow and grass.  I might be completely losing it, but something about the landscape reminded me of the beach.  Maybe the small path leading to the great wide open?  Or the tall grasses that look so much like the Outer Banks’ famous sea oats?  Either way, it was a beautiful sight.

Thanks for the lovely walk, Tifft Nature Preserve!  Can’t wait to see you bedecked in your spring finery.  Anytime now…

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Summer Schemes ‘n Dreams

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Y’all, I’m COLD.  There’s snow coming down (again) outside my window, I’m on my fourth cup of tea of the day, I’m wearing layers IN THE HOUSE and I’m about to kick another tube of hand lotion.  At the moment, I’m not sure it will ever be warm again, although at least I have it better than the Ingalls family during The Long Winter.  I’m employing my usual techniques for riding it out: plenty of tea, good books, warm blankets, and a pile of knitting to keep my lap warm.  Still, it’s SO ridiculously cold that the only thing that will really, honestly warm me up is planning for the summer ahead.  (If there is a summer ahead.  Right now, it seems a bit like taking a leap of faith.)  It’ll be my first summer in New York State since… oh… 2003 or so, so I want to make it count.  Here’s a bit of what I’m looking forward to this summer, if it ever actually comes:

  • Hiking Letchworth State Park.  This is tops on the list.  I’ve never been there, but it’s called “The Grand Canyon of the East” and it’s not far from Buffalo, so this must be on the agenda.  We’re thinking we’ll invite Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Grace to come along and make it a big family affair.
  • A wedding in Boston, and hopefully, seeing my pen-pal Katie for an afternoon while we’re there.
  • Climbing at least one or two Adirondack high peaks.  Cascade and Porter are two of the easier climbs, and can be combined into one excursion, so they’re good possibilities.  And I’d love to see the view from atop Mount Marcy.
  • Visiting Greycliff, which looks like it would be beautiful in all seasons, but especially in summer.
  • Taking in the scene at Larkin Square and Taste of Buffalo.
  • Renting kayaks and exploring the Canalside area.  (I’m not sure if this will be something Peanut can do with us by the time she’s two, or if we’ll need to call on Grandma to snuggle her onshore.)
  • Running the Fifty Yard Finish Half Marathon.
  • Making – and drinking – homemade lemonade.
  • Taking in a performance at Shakespeare in the Park… maybe.  (Or maybe this is something to put off until a future year when our toddler will be a little less unruly and more cultured, LOL.)
  • Visiting more of the wineries on the Niagara Wine Trail.  (We’ve already been to Konzelmann and Palatine Hills, YUM.)
  • Taking Peanut to the park and letting her run around to her heart’s content.
  • Sitting and soaking up sunshine.
  • Exploring more hiking trails in WNY.
  • Afternoon sails on my parents’ boat.

What are you looking forward to doing if the weather ever warms up?

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Forays into the Buffalo Dining Scene

On my last day in D.C., some of my coworkers took me out to a farewell lunch in Dupont Circle.  (Tapas at Boqueria – my choice.)  While we were enjoying our lunch the conversation turned – as it often did, with that group – to other dining and food experiences.  We were a foodie bunch, what can I say?  Naturally, they all wanted to know what the restaurant scene is like in Buffalo, but at the time, I couldn’t really tell them.  I knew that the Buffalo food scene was more than just chicken wings, and I described Rue Franklin, a fawncy (and delicious) French restaurant that hubby had taken me to for an anniversary dinner several years ago, but beyond that, I wasn’t too sure what kind of options there were.

Having lived here for a few months now, I can now say… the food scene in Buffalo is pretty great.  You can get anything you want around here – from top notch sushi to incredible brunch, and everything in between.  We’re lucky enough to live in a neighborhood with tons of options within walking distance from our house (which will be a big factor in our decision-making when it comes time to buy a house, but more on that later) and we’ve established a few favorite neighborhood places where the wait staff already knows us.  (Well… they know Peanut.)  But we don’t just go to our favorites; we’ve tried a number of new-to-us places over the past few months.  Here are some of the highlights just since Christmas:

Elm Street Bakery, East Aurora NY

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I’ll have a whole post about our day in East Aurora coming soon, but I wanted to share this gem.  The Elm Street Bakery is a family favorite with my in-laws; they make incredible breads and delicious-looking granola.  (I’d have brought some granola home, but I’m eating sugar-free in January.  I’m sure the granola will be there in February, though.)  We decided to give the place a try because my in-laws told us they make wood-fired pizza, and we’re still on the hunt for a replacement to Pizzeria Paradiso, our favorite place in Old Town Alexandria.  The restaurant itself was quaint and cozy – check out the order counter above!  And the verdict on the pizza: pretty darn good.  I’d say it probably was the best pizza we’ve had so far, since we moved up here.  Now I’m dying to go back and try some of their other menu offerings.

Crust Pizza, Buffalo

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Crust is a new restaurant, which just opened a few months ago.  We’d been meaning to give it a try, because in addition to build-your-own pizzas, they have arancini and POTATO CROQUETTES.  Yes, you did read that right.  We finally hit it this past Friday and the food was great.  We tried pizza with red sauce, chicken, mushrooms and broccoli and it was delish.  (Next time, I’d leave off the mushrooms because, while they were good, the broccoli was even better.)

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^Our pizza!  Sorry for the dark shot.  Ambience, ya know?

My only complaint about Crust is that they have no high chairs.  No big deal for my friends sans kiddos, but we had a tough time managing Peanut and eating at the same time.  We had to eat in shifts, which is something we haven’t had to do since last summer: hubby went first and wolfed down his dinner while I held Peanut, then it was my turn – but by then, my food was cold.  So what we learned that night is that Peanut having her own seat is integral to a good dining experience for all of us.  (Hubby and I like to enjoy our food simultaneously, and Peanut is at a stage where she’ll happily sit in a high chair but doesn’t really appreciate being restrained by a parent.)  We’ll definitely go back to Crust, but I think we’ll save it for date night, or when Peanut is big enough to be trusted in a real chair.

Betty’s, Buffalo

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I saved the best for last!  I’ve been to Betty’s twice now and am officially declaring it My Most Favorite Buffalo Restaurant Ever.  I went back in October for a networking lunch and had a smoked trout Nicoise salad that was absolutely unbelievable.  Look, I really like salad, and I order it a lot… but this was no ordinary salad.  This salad was… absolutely unreal.  Every single bite was packed with flavor and freshness.  I inhaled that salad and I’ve been talking about it ever since.  (Seriously, ask hubby if he isn’t tired of hearing about this salad.)  So when my parents came into town for a visit, I knew Betty’s had to be on the agenda for the weekend.  My sister-in-law had recently gone for brunch and said it was just as fabulous as ever, so we decided to save it for Sunday and man, am I glad we did, because lookie what I had:

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Yes, that is smoked salmon eggs Benedict.  (Please don’t lick your computer screen.  I won’t be held responsible for any technological failures.)  The smoked trout Nicoise salad wasn’t on the brunch menu, which was probably a good thing, because I was forced to try something new… and let me tell you, EVERYTHING on Betty’s menu looks phenomenal.  (Hubby also had the smoked salmon eggs Benedict, and my mom had a breakfast burrito, which she said was excellent.)  We’ll be going back to Betty’s ASAP.

Those are just a few highlights of our Buffalo dining experiences – I promise more to come!  What about you – any favorite Buffalo restaurants that I just have to try?  Non-Buffalonian friends, what are your favorite local dining spots?

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Weekend in Niagara-on-the-Lake

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Oh, my friends, do I have an adventure to share with you: Peanut’s first international travel!  Last weekend (which happened to include my birthday), hubby and the kid and I hopped across the border for a few relaxing days in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.  This trip was my anniversary present from hubby, and I was so excited; I’ve been wanting to visit Niagara-on-the-Lake for at least five years.  And now that we live so close (it’s about 40 minutes from the border, which is less than ten minutes from our house) it seemed like the perfect opportunity.

We headed up mid-day on Saturday, after Peanut woke up from her morning nap, and we arrived just in time to feed her and put her down for the afternoon nap.  (It was a bit of a scramble, because I realized I had forgotten the sleepsacks, and Peanut doesn’t sleep without a sleepsack.  But hubby found a Wal-Mart and was able to run out and pick up some emergency sleepsacks without crossing the border again, which he really didn’t want to do – the line to get into the States was loooooooong.)  Saturday afternoon was low-key; when Peanut finished her nap, we headed out of the B&B and explored the town of Niagara-on-the-Lake for a bit (it’s a gorgeous, meticulously preserved nineteenth-century town in the heart of the Niagara wine country) and then had dinner in a pub.  We shared an order of fried pickles, which were amazing, and I had the turkey burger I’d been craving for weeks.

The next morning, we got up early for a walk down the Niagara Waterfront Trail.

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Peanut enjoyed checking out the boats and the wildlife.  We walked for about 45 minutes, then headed back to the B&B for breakfast – which was out of this world good.

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I wasn’t really hungry for lunch, after such a big breakfast, but I knew I wanted to try out the Irish Tea Room.  After Peanut woke up from her morning nap, we headed back into town for tea and a scone (with real Devon cream! oh, yes) and even though it felt as though I was trying to stuff an already-full tummy, it was worth it for this:

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Come to Mama.

I had Earl Grey and a raisin scone with cream and jam, and hubby had a cappuccino.  I’m picky about scones – I can’t stand scones that taste like doorstops, which is most American scones.  This one was perfect.  Light and fluffy, with perfectly chewy raisins and a sweet crust.  Yum.

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Fortified by tea and scones, we headed out for an afternoon of wine tasting.  I knew better than to set too ambitious of a schedule – even without a baby in tow, four wineries is pushing it for me.  I decided we’d try to visit Konzelmann, Palatine Hills, and Small Talk, but that if we didn’t make it to all three I’d be perfectly okay with that, too.  (I want to visit every winery in the region, but that’s going to take some time, and quite a few trips.)  Well, we made it to Konzelmann and Palatine Hills, and I was happy to check two off my list.  (We probably could have squeezed Small Talk in, too, but I got to chatting with the winery folks who were pouring my tastes – it happens – and lost track of time.  So it was my fault, not Peanut’s, that we didn’t get to our third winery.)

We started at Konzelmann, which was absolutely beautiful.  The building looks like a castle on the outside, and the tasting room inside was breathtaking.  I tried quite a few of their dry reds and whites, which were all spectacular, but it was the sparking rose that really blew me away.  I have a thing for rose wines, and for sparkling wines, and especially for sparkling roses, and this one was magnificent.  I bought two bottles and will buy more the next time I’m up Canada way.

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After tasting, my inhibitions were lowered just enough for me to poke around and take a few pictures.  This is a shot of some of the vines, and of the working part of the winery – where the magic happens – taken from a cute observation deck off the parking lot.  I am fascinated by viticulture and oenology – have been since I took “Introduction to Wines” at Cornell – and I love seeing the business end of a winery.  (Fun fact: did you know that women make better winemakers than men?  Our noses tend to be more sensitive.  I capitalize on this factoid when I imagine myself as the hottest new winemaker in Sonoma as I drift off to sleep at night.)

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Here are some grapes ripening on the vine at Konzelmann.  (This was also right off the parking lot.  I said I poked around a little, and I mean a little.  I didn’t actually stray more than three feet from the parking lot.  Darn my goody-two-shoes tendencies.)  The employee who did my pours told us that they’re just starting to harvest the white grapes, and the reds will be coming off the vines in a few weeks.  Wish I was there for that – I love watching harvest.  We saw a little bit of the beginning when we visited Napa and Sonoma in September of 2009.

I don’t have any shots from Palatine Hills, because my wine-student memory muscle was working overtime as the tasting room manager made me guess what each wine he poured was.  (And then I got into a discussion about terroir with the trainee.)  Their wines were fabulous too, and I brought home two bottles: a steel-barrel Chardonnay and a Pinot Noir.  I was so relieved to find that, at both Konzelmann and Palatine Hills, I was able to get a full tasting in, just on the “dry” side.  I’m not a fan of sweet wines, and I expected Niagara to be all Riesling, Gewurztraminer, and Icewine, which I can appreciate but which I don’t particularly enjoy.  The region is famous for those, and I’m sure justifiably so, but I had more than I could handle just sticking to Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Pinot Noir, and those were absolutely delicious.  I’m glad to know that the Niagara region makes superb dry wines as well as sweet – now I’m even more enthusiastic about my project of tasting my way around the region.

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We headed back into town for dinner at a yummy, casual bistro (casual is the word for us right now – white tablecloths are out until a certain member of our party can eat without smearing sweet potatoes on everything).  After dinner, we found ourselves caught in a chilly Canadian October downpour… but I really wanted gelato.  (For some reason, Niagara-on-the-Lake is lousy with gelato places, and they’re all raking in the stars on Trip Advisor.)  We were wet and cold, but it was my birthday, so we went with it.  We popped into Il Gelato di Carlotta (ranked #1 out of all of the restaurants in Niagara-on-the-Lake on Trip Advisor) and I had a dish of half hazelnut, half caffe.  Perfection.

We headed back across the border as soon as breakfast was over the next morning, and thus ended Peanut’s first international travel experience.  (I still think it’s hilarious that we have to travel about four times as long to get to Peanut’s local grandparents, than we did to get to Canada, a foreign country.)  I loved Niagara-on-the-Lake, and I’m already scrolling through my calendar, trying to figure out when we could get back there for another weekend.

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Preserving Vacation Memories

Unfortunately, vacations only last so long.  A week or two – more if you’re lucky – but at some point we all have to go back to reality.  I suppose that’s a good thing.  After all, if vacations lasted forever, we wouldn’t be able to appreciate them fully, now would we?  (Don’t answer that.)

When we get home, and get back into the swing of ordinary life, there is so much to do that thoughts of vacation often fly right out of our minds.  We have to take steps to keep those memories intact.  If you’re like me – camera-happy – and you’ve taken hundreds or even thousands of pictures over the course of your trip, organizing those photos and turning them into a keepsake can be a fabulous way to relive the vacation – and bonus, you’ll have them to look back on after every rainy day or crushing work deadline.

My favorite way to preserve my vacation pictures is in a hardbound photo book.  I make mine on Shutterfly, simply because I’ve been storing my pictures there for years and I find it to be one of the more user-friendly sites (at least, it seems to make sense in my brain). There are many other photo processing websites to explore, though – Kodak, Snapfish, MyPublisher and others all allow users to store and display their pictures in many ways.

I made a Shutterfly book after my trip to France in 2010 and was thrilled with the result.  The process was simple (and I imagine it’s much the same on other photo-processing sites).  First I uploaded the photos I wanted to use from my computer onto Shutterfly.  I then chose which pictures I wanted to go on each page of the book, as well as the front and back covers.  The site allowed me to play with the layout of each page until the pictures were set out exactly as I wanted them.  I was able to choose from several color themes for the book, each of which came with a number of background page options.

 

When the pages were laid out, I typed in my own custom captions for each page, describing the pictures and my experiences in detail.

I loved my France book so much that I made another one for my 2011 trip to England:

The books arrive a few weeks after you create them, and – I can’t speak for every photo site, but at least the Shutterfly versions – they’re gorgeous.  The covers are excellent quality and the pages are glossy and professionally printed.  I love to sit on my couch and flip through these books for hours, tasting the flaky croissants and cafe au lait from France or the scones and tea I had in England all over again.

Making books is my favorite way of preserving vacation memories, but there are others:

  • Blog about your trip!  Take your readers on the journey with you.
  • Make a video slideshow, and set it to music.  (My parents and brother do this.  It’s on my agenda to figure out how to do it with my own computer software.)
  • Keep a trip journal while you’re away, writing down your impressions as you go, and turn it into a scrapbook with ephemera you pick up at each stop.
  • Print your photos and hang them on your walls or display them around your house.
  • Make a traditional photo album with 4×6 prints.
  • Collect small souvenirs along the way and turn them into a shadowbox when you get home.  (I’d love to try this sometime!)

(Please note, this post has not been paid for or perked by Shutterfly.  Use whatever photo site you durn well please, or don’t use any of them.  I no curr.  That’s just who I use, and I like them.)

How do you preserve vacation memories when you get home?

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The Afternoon Tea Experience

The English do love their hot beverages!  (Not everyone does, I’m sure, but there does seem to be a widespread ritual of drinking tea, coffee, or cocoa on a daily basis.)  And since I love tea, too, we tend to be in agreement.  There are few restaurants in England where you can’t get a little pot of tea anytime you want it, and the tea ritual for a traveler could be anything from popping into a cafe for a morning cup, to a welcoming brew prepared by your B&B hosts, to a small or large afternoon tea in just about any location you can imagine.  I’ve had all of the above, and then some.

But I want to talk about the “traditional afternoon tea,” because it’s really a different plate of scones altogether, and so delicious.  At the fancier tea salons, you’ll be confronted with choices immediately – do you want a “cream tea,” which tends to be just a pot of tea and a scone or two (boiling the experience down to its most essential elements, in my opinion), an “afternoon tea,” in which the tea comes with a three-tiered plate of goodness (sandwiches on the bottom, scones in the middle, pastries on top, and you eat your way up), or a “champagne tea,” which is the afternoon tea with a glass of champagne added to increase the decadence by a factor of ten?  Personally, I like to stop for a cuppa on most days of my trip, so I’ll usually go for the simple cream tea – no need to get over-full.  But at least once or twice, I want the full-on afternoon tea experience, and at 5:00 p.m. it can easily stand in for dinner.  (Try to eat afternoon tea and then go to a restaurant at 7:30.  Go on, I dare ya.)

So let’s imagine that you’ve walked into one of the fancier tea establishments – the Orangery in London, for instance (or the Ritz or Savoy or Harrods), or the Pump Room in Bath, perhaps.

You decide to go for the full-on afternoon tea, and here’s what comes to your table:

Think you can eat all of that?

My first “afternoon tea” was in Keswick in 2008.  It wasn’t our first stop on our northern England road trip – that was York, but we were too jet-lagged and busy seeing the town to really focus on tea.  So once we got to the Lake District, we made it a point to have an afternoon tea.  We popped into a little bakery on Keswick’s main drag, with a tearoom upstairs.  I was looking forward to the tea sandwiches, and the pastries, and obviously the tea itself, but not to the scones.  The only scones I’d had were the doorstops that Americans tend to bake and then try to pass off as fluffy biscuits (c’mon, fellow Yanks – admit it; we’re not fooling anybody with those bricks).  So I had the entirely reasonable idea that I hated scones.  However, because we were in England, I told myself I was going to be a good, open-minded traveler and try scones in their native habitat.  I couldn’t have been more shocked – they were nothing like I was used to at home.  Warm, soft, and buttery, studded with currants – those scones were divine.  I piled my bites with clotted cream and sweet jam, and scones became my second-favorite part of an afternoon tea (the tea itself must always come first, of course).

So yes, let’s talk about the parts of an English afternoon tea.  First, there’s the tea.  In most establishments, it will come in a pot, brewed loose-leaf style, with a little strainer for you to pour through.  (Try not to drip on the table.  Then, if you figure out some magic method for pouring tea through a strainer without dripping on the table, please tell me what it is.)  You’ll get a little pot of sugar (bonus points if it comes in cubes) and a small pitcher of milk (generally not cream; cream is for coffee).  Fix yourself a cup however you like it.  When at home, I usually take my tea black, because I like to actually taste the flavors of the brew… but in an English afternoon tea, I treat myself to cream and one lump of sugar, because why not?  (Sometimes I’ll start off black and add sugar later as the brew becomes stronger from sitting in the pot.)

Once you have your tea fixed and have fortified yourself with a sip or two, turn your attention to the tower of treats in front of you.  Start on the bottom with the tea sandwiches (and note – usually at least one of the sandwiches will be some form of meat; if you’re vegetarian simply let your server know when you order and they will gladly fix all veggie sandwiches for you).  Once you’ve gotten through the sandwiches, it’s time for the fun part: SCONES!  Everyone has their own way of eating.  Some slice them like mini loaves of bread.  I personally like to pull off tiny bites and save the top crust for the last part.  You finish with the pastries – if you have room, that is.  (This is where a big guy comes in handy to bring as your date.  You can usually convince him to do the heavy lifting on the pastries and just beg a bite or two.)  Have you finished eating?  Do you have room for dinner?  (HA!)

Roll on back to your hotel and reflect on the fabulous treat you just had.  No one does afternoon tea like the English do.  Cheers!

by

London, Part VII: Portobello Road and Tea at Harrods

Portobello road, Portobello road
Street where the riches of ages are stowed.
Anything and everything a chap can unload
Is sold off the barrow in Portobello road.
You’ll find what you want in the Portobello road.

Yes, I did walk down Portobello Road humming the lyrics to the song from Bedknobs and Broomsticks.  And I just might have branched out and also sung a little bit of “The Beautiful Briny” – just for me.  (It’s lovely bobbing along, bobbing along, at the bottom of the beautiful briiiiiiiiiiiiiny sea!)

We decided it would be fun to check out the Portobello Road market on Saturday, its big market day.  I had hopes for finding a vintage teacup or a used book at a steal price… but ended up leaving empty-handed.  I tend to get overwhelmed in crowd situations, and Portobello Road was about as crowded as anyplace I’d ever been.  Hubby and I elbowed our way through the throngs of people and booked it outta there as fast as we could.  But not before seeing at least a few carts piled high with cool antique china, clothes, and other odds and ends.  I’m glad that we went, although it was a rather stressful hour!

After Portobello Road, we headed over to Harrods for tea.  When we were in London in 2008, we only had time for one afternoon tea, which of course we did at the Orangery.   This time, we obviously made our pilgimmage to the Orangery again, but we also wanted to try tea at Harrods.  Our former neighbors own a house in the Cotswolds and have travelled extensively in England, and they assured us that the tea at Harrods was touristy but worth it.  So we tripped off to Harrods hoping to get into the famous Georgian Restaurant for afternoon tea.  But it was fully booked… all day long.

So, instead – as you might be able to figure out from the plate of macarons – we went for the new Laduree tea salon instead.    Laduree is a French tearoom and patisserie that was founded in Paris and now competes with Pierre Herme for the honor of making the best macarons in Paris.  (When we visited France in 2010, we ate our share of macarons and I’m sort of in love with them.  We had local macarons in Burgundy, but ate Pierre Herme in Paris – so I’d never tried the Laduree macarons before.)  I had been somewhat torn, knowing we only had time for one Harrods tea and wanting to try both Laduree and the Georgian Restaurant.  Since we struck out at the Georgian, the decision was easy – and delicious.

In addition to the macarons (I went with my four go-to flavors, by the way: black currant, salted caramel, raspberry and coffee) we enjoyed a “traditional” afternoon tea with a French twist.  Tea sandwiches on the top tier, then an assortment of croissants, and finishing with the pastries.  Now, I know I told you I can take or leave pastries, and that’s generally true.  Consider Laduree the exception that proves the rule… because WOW.  They were all incredible, but the best was the gigantic raspberry macaron “tart” that’s flaunting its gorgeousness right in front there.  Hubby and I split each of the pastries, and I strongly considered hitting him with my purse and stealing his half of that baby.  (I didn’t, because I love him.  But next time we go there, I’m getting one all to myself.)  In retrospect, I’m glad we didn’t get into the Georgian Restaurant, because the Laduree tea was the most decadent I’ve ever had.  If you’re visiting London and have time for another tea, don’t hesitate to get this one.  I was a little unsure at first – it seemed wrong to have croissants instead of scones at Harrods, of all places – but the macaron tart was to. die. for.  (And if you don’t have time for tea, at least stop and pick up some macarons.  And get a black currant one for me.  Thanks.)

Tea at Laduree was the perfect way to wrap up our London trip… because wrap it up we did.  This post concludes the England recaps.  It was the vacation of a lifetime – a perfect way to turn 30.  I don’t know when I’ll be back to England next, but I know I will be there again.  Many, many more times.  And the British fun isn’t quite over – I’ll have a few more posts popping up in the next few weeks about different related topics – like the English afternoon tea experience, and creating a photo memory book to memorialize the vacation.  But, for now, imagine we’re on a plane headed back across the Atlantic… looking fondly over our shoulders toward the little island where so many of our favorite vacation memories reside.  Thanks for coming along!

by

London, Part VI: Borough Market

The Borough Market in Southwark was one of those “if we have time” destinations that I was reaaaaally hoping we’d get to visit.  I love checking out local markets, seeing the gorgeous produce piled up – even if I’m always a bit sad that I can’t bring any home with me – and scoping out the various goods for sale.  Hubby and I made sure to leave ourselves plenty of time for exploring the bits of London we didn’t see last time (well, some of them, anyway – it’s such a big, multi-layered city that we’ll never see it all) and I was thrilled we made it here.

The market was spread out through several indoor-outdoor buildings and across a few lots.  It reminded me a bit of Ferry Plaza in San Francisco, but noisier, more energetic and more colorful, if that’s possible.  I loved it.  Everywhere you turned, there were locals and tourists exploring the stalls and buying all manner of delicious-looking goodies.  I tested out some yummy dipping oils with fresh bread and picked up a bag of salted caramels – yum.

My favorite stall, by far, was Turnips – a fruit and vegetable purveyor.  I tend to think produce is gorgeous anyway, and theirs was just perfect.  Perfectly ripe, perfectly fresh, piled in perfect stacks just begging to be photographed.  I had to restrain myself from shouting “You’re gorgeous, dah-ling!” at these figs.

Look at those piles of fruits.  How I wished I could have tried them all.  And the vegetables – oh, my gracious Heavens.  Piles of ripe heirloom tomatoes – in October! – each one unique in its shape and shade.  Stacks of squash, carrots, peas… I imagined the fresh vegetable stew I could create.  And the cauliflower – I love cauliflower, and Turnips arranged purple, green and orange heads together in an autumnal explosion of color.  And then if the fruit and veg displays weren’t enough, I found stacks of creamy eggs in soft-colored cartons that looked like a painting.

It was basically like falling through a rabbit hole directly into Jamie Oliver’s brain and finding it an even more delicious place than you imagined.  (Am I the only person who thinks it would be extraordinarily fun to live in Jamie Oliver’s brain?  Tell me I’m not.)  I could have stayed in the Borough Market forever and just wandered amongst the stalls, trying out all of the local goods.  Sadly, I couldn’t – but at least I had some caramels to savor.

I know I said this was the last post of the trip, but as I was attaching the pics I realized I actually have one more day yet to blog.  Yay!  So check back Friday for what will be… I mean it this time… the last England travel post… until the next trip.  And no, I’m not teasing a vacation.  At least not one anytime soon.  So let’s keep reliving England for one more week, shall we?