Whiskey Distillery tour

So, while in Scotland, one of the things I really wanted to do was go on a distillery tour and get drunk in the morning. It did not start off well, it was raining that morning and we got yelled at by the receptionist/tour guide upon entering the building for some stupid reason. It was off-season for whisky making, which meant that all the vats were empty and it didn't really smell like whisky in the factory at all. Our guide was condescending and extremely bitter that the distillery was owned by the Japanese. We walked through the boring tour, politely listening, and trying to not get in trouble with our guide because we knew that the tasting was coming at the end, when we would be shuffled into the gift shop, as with every factory tour. It was a huge letdown, then, when we applauded the end of the talk and were poured literally a thimbleful of whisky, no more. We trudged back in pouring rain, stone sober and finished with distillery tours.

A "Full Scottish" breakfast

Clockwise from top: Butter soaked sweet raisin bread thing, flat bannock-like carbs, grilled tomatoes (best thing on the plate), (above tomatoes, hash browns), sauteed mushrooms, baked beans, 2 poached eggs. Also came with a pile of toast and coffee. Served with grotesque UK tabloids. The idea of it sounded good, but in practice, I felt really sick after.

Indian food that makes me salivate to this day

This is a restaurant a block away from Mo's house called Tayyab's. It was so good. We purposefully over-ordered so that we could have leftovers to take home and eat the following day. It was the best cold breakfast ever eaten on the train to Scotland.

Cornwall/Devon Cream Tea!!!

This was something I read about in guidebooks before I went to England and told Mo that I had to eat. It is a famous meal (?) in the Southern parts of England, in Devon and Cornwall, where there are many cows. It consists of a huge pot of tea, scones, jam and a pot of clotted cream. We ate it in a town called Plymouth near the sea, in a tiny tearoom decorated with royal family paraphernalia and lots of passive aggressive anti-children signs. "Children left attended will be sold into slavery" etc.

Anyways, the way I become in Quebec with cheese, eating it at every meal, I did more of the same with clotted cream in Devon and Cornwall. Needless to say, my digestive system protested a bit.

Wartime English Sundae, anyone?

This is Mo with a knickerbocker glory. I ordered it because the old lady sitting beside us was eating a chocolate sundae and it looked amazing. I was told that knickerbocker glories were 'English wartime' sundaes, so I thought I would try it, thinking it sounded like it would be really sweet. What makes them ration desserts is the fact that it's mainly tinned fruit, strawberry preserve, rather than syrup, and whip cream. Our really kind elderly server told us about eating them as a little girl on the seaside and it made me hate it slightly less, but overall, I was jealous of the chocolate sundae.

World famous jellied eels and seafood

The first photo is of stonehenge. From very far away and through a fence. I wanted to see stonehenge but we (I) cheapened out when we got their and realized that even if you pay the 8 pounds of whatever you still can't touch druid rocks. So we decided to eat our grilled tofu sandwiches that we made in the morning on the side of the road, sitting next to the fence.

Except we had left them in the house and we instead ate pastries from the stonehenge gift shop. Oli enjoyed our sandwiches, however, so we were glad.

The second photo requires no explanation.

This was weird. Mo, his housemate Oli, and I all went out for breakfast near their house one morning. It was before Mo and I left on a camping trip. The place was a bar in the evening that never closed and instead converted into a breakfast cafe in the morning. Sort of like Sneaky Dee's. Mo and Oli had been there before. They had a big outside porch and picnic tables. This was my meal. It was sort of veggie and cheapish; coffee, 2 overeasy eggs, toast, assorted cheeses, fruit salad, sauteed mushrooms, fried tomato, and a chocolate cookie. Very rich in a unsatisfactory way. The North American in me was always crying for potatoes in British mornings. Breakfast will get stranger as we move north.

Fruit Poster: London

So, the England food photos begin. This was taken on my first full day in London. I went to work with Mo, and walked around his worky neighbourhood, and looked at gazillions of antique jewelry and bought groceries. I liked this poster, one of many in the series, of the same pile of assorted fruits in varying stages of decay. It made me think of all of us, and how we lived with rotting food frequently.

Udon with a bunch of stuff on top/resourceful?

I make this sometimes. Theres a poached egg, a pickled plum, random veggies, seaweed, japanese ginger and perilla leaves. The fat noodles keep you full for a long time and its good hot or cold. I thought this was resourceful, but Neon's got me beat. I think I just skip meals or eat bananas for dinner rather than eat sweet egg powder out of a bag. Thats why I love you, you push me to new heights of culinary exploration.

Nutrition of Environmentalist's Fare at All-time Low

Today my resourcefulness + laziness, hence, laz-sourcefulness, was unmatched. Lunch = powdered brownie mix with water in a bowl. I just thought you should know. Also, this is a challenge to best me at being laz-sourceful. Bole, I know you're somewhere crouched in a corner eating a powdered cheese packet. Lav, thumb skin dinner?

Confesss

My neighbourhood Tofu Shop!

It is dark and unlit, with a dirt floor and a single young man in old fashioned work clothes toiling over a cauldron in it. There are two bathtub sized containers near the front, one for soft and one for semi-firm tofu. I always ask for the soft kind, and the young tofu maker fishes dexterously for a delicate cube floating in water for me. 120 yen poorer, I cradle the still-warm mass home, and on this occasion, I covered it in chopped shiso, ginger, Japanese ginger, and soy sauce.

Sandwich Revelation

My sandwich soul got a breath of fresh air today. New Favorite Sandwich (NFS) is simple. Fresh olive and sundried tomato bread, vegan margarine, honeycrisp apple slices. I'm so excited about the apple as a new sandwich ingredient. Apple and PB? Are there any apple-companion condiments? Perhaps honey moutard?Earlier this week I made a non-vegan sandwich which was a magical grilled cheese on sourdough with arugula and apple. The garlic and chive jack cheese was, incredibly, a mistake. It would have been better with brie or cheddar. Nevertheless I'd be lying if I confessed anything less than love for this sandwich.

not.. quite... making it....

In an edibles-related post, yesterday there was a lapsang souchong (smoked black tea) incident wherein my new moleskine agenda marinaded in some that spilled. This HAD to happen in the third week of January; now, for the next year I'm going to look like the opposite of suave. PLUS it now makes me extremely hungry whenever I catch a whiff of its delicious smoked pages. WHAT"S FOR LUNCH, KIDS?