Fallen Souffle

One of the great things about traveling is that in the end, for the most part, you are happy to live where you live and you truly appreciate what you have back home. I appreciate my car, my grocery stores and the warm weather. I love seeing new places and encountering different people and cultures, but I always look forward to sleeping in my own bed and seeing the mutts.

This trip was no different. For one thing, I was sick of being cold. We kinda skipped over winter here in NC so I really have had no need to wear a heavy coat except for a few days of the month. In London, it never made it over 35 degrees and there was wind everyday. I think I saw sun two days out of the week we were there. Though I did not go to London for warm weather (especially in March! What was I thinking!) I went for the sites, the history, and Big Ben (Ok inside joke!) I also did not go particularly for the food though I did have a specific list of things to try. I was surprisingly surprised by the food in London- it actually isn’t bad. It is definitely a culture thriving on hearty meat and potato meals but I think all of our meals were of the utmost quality.

One of the things I love to do is bring back little ideas for enhancing some of the things I currently cook. I am a lover of sandwiches, which shouldn’t come as a huge shock since I am surrounded by amazing bread all day. Before we were about to tour the Tower of London, I was becoming cranky because my breakfast was quickly wearing off and I knew we would be inside the Tower for a while among many people. So we stopped in a little cafe called “Eat.” and I found myself in a foodie’s heaven. Not only did they create made to order sandwiches and pies but they had amazing sandwiches pre-made with some of the most interesting combinations. I actually settled for a veggie sandwich, English cheddar with mayo, leafy greens and a sweet sauce on a grain bread. This sandwich was amazing! The sauce was sweet while the mayo added a nice creaminess and the bread was just perfect. This I had to re-create! I jotted a few notes in my notebook and vowed to make this at home.

Before leaving we stopped in a grocery store; my kind of gift shop if you know what I mean! Along with the hoards of Cadbury chocolate and orange marmalades I found an apple and walnut chutney. Eureka! This would be perfect on my sandwich.

Fast forward three days, our first day back in the states and I am craving something light and simple (did I mention how much fried food I ate-yikes!) I picked up a loaf of whole wheat from the bakery, slapped on some light mayo on one side and a thick layer of chutney on the other and sandwiched in some white Vermont cheddar. Divine! A great take on a British treat and a nice change of pace from a heavy meat sandwich.

So I will be writing on some of our meals in the coming days- I don’t want to bombard you all at once. Evan should have his take on the trip up soon and I will link to that as well as our pictures once we get them up.

Ah…It’s good to be home!

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This entry was posted on Saturday, March 18th, 2006 at 1:58 pm and is filed under Lunch. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.