Keep Calm and Carry On: The Diary of Foodie and Gourmet

While we were in London, my parents and I got to spend time with my aunt. My Aunt F is my dad's little sister and she lives in Brussels with my uncle and three cousins. It's always a treat when I get to see her, since we live rather far away. I email her and my cousins regularly, but there is no replacement for hanging out and catching up in person! My aunt arrived in London the night of the Monty Python show, so we didn't really get to see her --- although, earlier in the day, we had a lovely afternoon tea together, which was brilliant. Before my aunt had made arrangements to visit us in London, I had booked three tickets at the Globe, so although we enjoyed a leisurely brunch with her, we didn't get to see her that afternoon either, so it wasn't until after the Globe that we got to truly hang out! That evening, we got to spend time as a family and enjoyed a good old fashioned family dinner! The St. Pancras Hotel is a gorgeous building that houses "The...

After wandering through Borough Market, we made our way to the Globe Theater. The Globe pictured here is a modern reconstruction named "Shakespeare's Globe", which opened in 1997. The original Globe Theater was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company. The original Globe was destroyed by a fire during a performance of Henry VIII on June 29, 1613. In the midst of the play, a theatrical cannon misfired and ignited the wooden beams and thatching. A second Globe was built on the same site in June of 1614, but was closed in 1642 by the Puritans.  The visitor's center of the Globe Theater The Globe Theater gift shop Waiting to get to our seats. The outer courtyard was buzzing with people. The stage And the crowd eagerly awaits for the performance to begin... Back in 2009, when I was at UCL, I was fortunate enough to catch the final performance of Shakespeare's romantic comedy, As You Like It.  I read this play in high school and I re...

After an amazing evening with the Pythons, my parents and I were off to Southwark to catch a show at the Globe Theater. Before we made our way to the theater, we stopped off at my favorite place in London: Borough Market. Borough Market is simply: foodie heaven. It's a GIANT market filled with every kind of vendor you can imagine! Curries, roast meats, confections, Pimms cup, fresh produce, seafood, bread, cheese, dairy…it has EVERYTHING! It is my most favorite place in London and I alway make sure to visit. I can easily spend hours browsing the vast selection of delectables on display and I more often than not, end up buying quite a lot. When I was a student at UCL, I use to come to the market every Friday, buy some lunch, and sit on the Thames walk and people watch. It was so relaxing and really entertaining. I would then return to the market, pick up some extra goodies and return to my dorm. Such fond memories… My parents and I always have a lot of fun wandering thr...

"NOBODY EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION!" // "Norwegian Blue, lovely plumage" // "Is this the right room for an argument?" // "SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM…."  //  "Wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more!" // "Crunchy frog"  I don't know about you, but when I think of Monty Python, these are some of the famous jokes that come to mind.  Literally, for as long as I can remember, I have loved Monty Python. I remember being in elementary school and my father and I went to our local video store (I have clearly just dated myself, since this is before Netflix!) and he rented Monty Python's And Now For Something Completely Different. He grew up watching Monty Python's Flying Circus, so he wanted to share a bit of his childhood with me. I was very young at the time and most of the jokes made no sense to me, but that didn't matter. Somehow, despite not quite understanding what was going on, I couldn't stop laughing! Mo...