Food in London

Once upon a time London was a place with a reputation for bad food. I am happy to report that a culinary revolution of sorts has taken place. There is good food to be had in the capital city! Here is a list of some of best eats that I have enjoyed on my trip.

The Royal Albert Pub
This charming pub is popular with the locals and members of Parliament. For a formal meal you can head upstairs from the bar into the carvery. They serve a traditional roast with all the fixings including Yorkshire Pudding and a selection of 3 meats. Included in the meal is dessert and tea. Its delicious and the service is good. Prepare to dread the walk back after eating all that food!

Nando's
Nando's is a chicken chain resturant that is located throughout the city. This is not a fast food restaurant, more like casual dining with a Portugese twist. They are famous for their Peri-Peri sauce which comes on most of the chicken they serve. It's awesome and a bit firey, but if you like a little spice this place is a winner. It is also relatively cheap by London standards. A regular meal will set you back about 13 pounds.

The Wallace Restaurant at the Wallace Collection
You cannot go to London without doing tea. My program directors scheduled a group meal for us at the Wallace Collection so we could take part in this British tradition. The Wallace Collection is formidible private collection of some of the finest works of western art. All the better is that it is located in what was once the posh residence of  Sir Richard Wallace. It provides the perfect setting for an afternoon tea. The food was excellent, especially the scones! It was a pricey adventure at 20 pounds a person, but it was a delightful experience.

Wagamama Noodle Bar
This is another ubiquitous chain in London. This is a pan-Asian restaurant that serves up a wide variety of noodles and other typically Asian treats. My friends and I were in walking in the City on Friday night, desperately search for a restaurant that was open and not completely packed when we ran into this place. Its a fun atmosphere with bench seating and all the tea you can drink.

There are definitely more treats to be found in London. This post is just a quick sample. There will be many of posts on this topic! Enjoy and don't let the drool hit your keyboard.

Found! Blog lost on the side of the Internet.

It's been a month since I have written for the blog and I feel quite terrible about it. Life in London is hectic, between class, theatre trips, and outings there's not a lot time left over to work on this project. The good news is that it is Spring Break and I have some more time on my hands. These next few entries will be retrospective of my time in London. Enjoy!

Blue Dragon

One of my classes in London is a Theatre course. We went to our first play on Wednesday night, The Blue Dragon by Robert Lapage. The play was staged in the Barbican Theatre in central London. I think that most of the class was a bit ambivalent about the theatre experience. Most of us had only seen student theatre or popular musicals, "real" theatre was a bit foreign to all of us. Blue Dragon was a bit of an intimidating, but also wonderful introduction to theatre in London. Blue Dragon is the story of a French-Canadian ex-pat living in China and his relationship with his ex-wife as well as his involvement with an up and coming artist. The play uses English, French, and Mandarin to tell the story, with subtitles of course. The play gets rave reviews in the daily papers. The spectacle of the show is enough to keep you glued to your seat for 2 hours. The play uses projection images and lots of interesting technical tricks to drive the plot of a rather slow moving play. I definitely recommend catching this show, especially if you want an introduction to the relationship between the west and China.All in all it was a great experience!

A scene from The Blue Dragon.

Things To Do in London When You're Dead (Tired)

Sorry its been so long since my last post. London, as you can tell from the title is exhausting. This post will be about getting to London, which was an adventure in and of itself. I left for London ,Tuesday the 15th, with the expectation of arriving in London on the 16th. I am happy to report that is just what happened. The flight was lovely and I caught up with a fellow Centre student on my flight from Atlanta to Heathrow Airport in London. My baggage even arrived on time! Two Centre students and I took a rented car from the airport to our flats. That was definitely a good decision. The late flight made arriving in London at 9am a bit disorienting. The driver was very pleasant and helped load our considerable amount of luggage into his van. When we go to the flats it was time for showers and a quick nap. That evening our program directors showed us the neighborhood and took us out to a quaint little Italian restaurant that is across the street from our housing complex. One of our quick stops was the British Museum which is about a 5 minute walk from our classroom. It was gorgeous and I am sure I will go back many time while I am here to explore the exhibits.We also got our first introduction to English grocery stores (definitely not Walmart, but more on that topic later). By the time we crawled into bed there was no question that we would all sleep well.

London Calling

On Tuesday I leave the states to spend my last semester of college living in London. I am so happy to be going abroad! One of the reasons I came to Centre was the promise that I would have the opportunity to study-abroad, have an internship, and graduate all in four years. At the end of the this semester I will have taken advantage of all of those opportunities. Given the general panic that I will be thrown in trying to pack and get acclimated to the city, it may be a few days before I get back to blogging. Wish me luck in my travels!

Why I Love Centre

One of the regular features of this blog will be a reason why I love Centre. It can be serious or silly, and given my general disposition, let's go for silly this time.

Flash mobs have become a common feature on many college campuses. They a fun way to use technology and live out your secret ambition to randomly dance in public (with a legit excuse to do so, of course). Centre did its own flash mob a few months ago to Glee's version of Teenage Dream. What makes this flash mob so freaking fabulous is not just the sweet dance moves, or the tunage, but how uninhibited everyone looks. Some flash mobs have people who are so focused on appearances that they do not seems to enjoy it. The Centre folk look pretty darn happy by my own estimation. The improv moves only add the ambiance. Its the people and how happy they look to do this with their friends/classmates that makes this mob one of the reasons why I love Centre.

P.S. I was not there :(, I was sleeping because one my professors cancelled class that day. I regret it, but I am happy to report it was the best night of sleep I got all semester.

I Need a Hobby!

With graduation approaching and my activities winding down, I have a fear of boredom. Centre has always kept me busy. Now I am afraid that I won’t be busy enough. This blog is one hobby, but there are lots of other things that I would like to do with my free time. One thing that I haven’t really done in college is explore my creative side. In high school I acted, wrote scripts, designed costumes, and painted sets. Likewise, I also used to be relatively athletic; playing basketball and going to the gym on a regular basis. Over the years I have also given up horseback riding. None of this was intentional, over the years I replaced one activity with another and now that I will be leaving college I hope to have more free time on my hands.

Here are a few ideas that I have come up with:

-Quilting

            I have always loved working with my hands. When I was making my tutu for Bid Day this past weekend I realized how much I missed creative, hands-on activities. I put a few quilting books on my Amazon.com wish list. I hope to read a few and then maybe get a sewing machine this summer.

-Running

            It’s been a really long time since I have done anything athletic. I’d like to get back in shape, start out walking and build up to running.  Or maybe I could get a bike and try something like that. My one problem here is allergies. Spring and fall can be the worst for being outdoors. I would like an athletic hobby I could take indoors if I have to.

I am open to suggestions. Leave comments or premature requests for a quilt :).