After a good night’s sleep, Michael cooked a delicious breakfast, and then Taylor and I headed off for a walk. We left Whitney and Michael’s “flat” and then headed to Spittalfield’s Market and Brick Lane Road. Most of the stores at Spittalfield’s were closed, but a bunch of the Indian restaurants and supermarkets on Brick Lane were open (and so were the vintage shops). It was a lot of fun to do some more walking and exploring! See pictures below.

this market, originally uploaded by TaylorDane.

church, originally uploaded by TaylorDane.

duke of wellington, originally uploaded by TaylorDane.

div class=”flickr-frame”>


brick lane 1, originally uploaded by TaylorDane.

truman, originally uploaded by TaylorDane.

taylor yard, originally uploaded by TaylorDane.

Afterward, we went to meet Whit and Michael at The Lanesborough for a wonderful tea. The tea was excellent, and we really liked the goat cheese quiches and the cucumber sandwiches. Good times!

underground, originally uploaded by TaylorDane.

tea, originally uploaded by TaylorDane.

tea tree, originally uploaded by TaylorDane.

Afterward, we walked down to the Thames and looked at all of the pretty sights which were lit up at night. Not surprisingly, we grabbed a couple(+) pints at a cute pub right off of Saint Katharine’s Dock on the Thames.

boat and eye, originally uploaded by TaylorDane.

dickens w m, originally uploaded by TaylorDane.

tower bridge, originally uploaded by TaylorDane.

dickens outside, originally uploaded by TaylorDane.

dickens d t, originally uploaded by TaylorDane.

Before heading home, we grabbed some scharma / falafel along the way(as if we hadn’t eaten enough already!). All in all, another wonderful London day!

falafel, originally uploaded by TaylorDane.

After waking up around 9:30 (a brutal 4:30 NY time…) we headed out to have lunch (a Sunday roast) at The Albion very cute little Georgian-era pub about a 20 minute walk from Whitney and Michael’s flat. The place was absolutely perfect – it had a great brick exterior, a wonderful fire going on the inside, and excellent mulled wine. Whit and I had the roast beef, and Taylor and Michael had roast pork belly. We finished off with sticky toffee pudding, and a chocolate plate.

In front of the Albion:

DSC_6789, originally uploaded by TaylorDane.

DSC_6795, originally uploaded by TaylorDane.

Roast Beef, Carrot Mash and potatoes!

roast meat, originally uploaded by TaylorDane.

Slow Roast Pork Belly!

DSC_6793, originally uploaded by TaylorDane.

Sticky Toffee Pudding for Dessert (diet starts when we get back…)

DSC_6802, originally uploaded by TaylorDane.

After lunch, we took a nearly 4 mile walk around the Regent’s Canal from Caledonian Road to Camden Lock and finally to Little Venice. There are these really narrow and super cute canal boats that go up and down the canal, and navigate their way through several locks. It’s a really beautiful walk, and there are great things to look at along the way, including Banksy graffiti, the Blow Up Bridge (which blew up after a boat carrying gun powder hit against the top of it) and the beautiful homes in Regent Park. It was great to walk around and do some exploring (see pictures below).

DSC_6814, originally uploaded by TaylorDane.

DSC_6845, originally uploaded by TaylorDane.

boat and chinese resto, originally uploaded by TaylorDane.

canal boats, originally uploaded by TaylorDane.

And then we made it back to Whitney and Michael’s flat to eat some pastis and play some Wii! More tomorrow!

Just when you thought Paula Deen could not possibly outdo her double-doughnut-bacon-egg-burger-special, she surprises you. And by “surprise” I mean “I still can’t believe she’s still alive” / “she’s my hero.”

We’ve started getting dandelion greens in our weekly, organic fruit / vegetable delivery! Last night we made it into a salad, with scallions, avocado, lemon juice, olive oil and dill (and today I added some sunflower seeds which were nice). Does anyone have any other dandelion greens recipes?? Those bunches are enormous!

Hmm maybe I should start wedding dieting soon…

Add this to the long list of reasons that we already love Sierra Nevada beer: apparently it’s one of the more sustainably produced beers around. Closed loop systems! Solar power! Supporting local farmers! And it’s so tasty too…if only it didn’t have to trek all the way from California in order for me to enjoy it.

“Beer…the cause of, and solution to, all of life’s problems.”
- Homer Simpson [vote for Homer]

Whit and Mikey gave me a great cookbook for Christmas. It’s from a British “healthy” fast food restaurant, Leon. (I think “fast food” is used more in the Pret a Manger version of the phrase, than the Macdonalds sense.)

The Leon cookbook has awesome recipes, which are an expanded version of what they sell in their stores (it also came with stickers!) I tried out my first Leon recipe tonight: harira. Evidently this is a Moroccan soup often used to break a Ramadan fast. Unfortunately I was missing a couple key ingredients, but I did a little improvising and I think it turned out pretty well. I have gotten into the habit of making a big soup on Sunday nights, and then eating it all week for lunch. I think it’s healthier and definitely cheaper than $8 soup from Hale and Hearty (although maybe not as tasty as Crisp falafel…)

Turns out, Crisp IS better than what I think. Crisp is definitely more expensive than you’d want falafel to be (the cheapest, most basic one is $5.75). So we opted for the more expensive Taj falafel salad bowl, which is quasi Indian-inspired.  Our logic was that obviously fancy falafel is what they do right. The Taj falafel was also Crisp’s offering to the ML sandwich challenge.

I could not be happier with my lunch. Falafel are well spiced, and (yes) crispy. They’re baked, not fried – but don’t hold that against them. They have tons of flavor, and manage to still be slightly oily and crunchy. The Indian inspiration for the falafel we ate worked really well – it’s lime and spicy and great. On top of a lettuce salad bed was mango chutney, lime chili pickles, cherry tomatoes (covered with black sesame seeds), and curry sauce. Yum.

And the pita…it’s the best I’ve ever had. It’s super thick, baked there, and light and fluffy. Heavenly.

Oh – AND they use compostable packaging and forks!

Yes, that’s a good lunch!