English Food Faves, Part I (that includes Scotland)

I love looking back at all the pictures of this amazing trip! Sometimes I really can't even believe I did it; I actually traveled overseas (I'm not kidding, I hate flying) and visited, walked, ate, drank and marveled at the beauty of western Europe. Here are some of the foods I ate in England, Scotland and maybe Wales!

Fish n' chips and mushy peas. I had mushy peas for the first time in Delray Beach, FL, at a British pub called the Blue Anchor, but this time I was really in London, at the Brewmaster in Leicester Square. We met a nice fellow named Dennis there, who was from Belfast. He introduced us to our first taste of Irish whiskey! It was here that I also learned to order at the bar, as you don't get waited on in pubs. FUN!

In Chelsea, at a "mall" near our hotel. We stopped for dessert, but olives and cider sounded way better to me!

See that scarf? I literally wore it every day...it was chilly!!! That'll teach me not to wear low necked shirts!

Lunch at Hampton Court Palace, home of Henry VIII. Beef pie, shaped like a crown! Cool, huh?!

Potato skins with "bacon" at another pub (The Mitre?) No, it's not really bacon, it's just what they like to call it. It's really thick slabs of meaty, ham-like stuff. I dunno, I think I'll stick with our version.

A cheese and pesto sandwich. They only serve fat potatoes with everything. And beer. Lots of beer. (which I struggled through, but managed ; )

Fish and potato cakes, another tasty, gastronomical treat. With a "side salad". Different, but good.

A grilled vegetable tart, topped with "rocket sprouts" (like arugula). Rocket was featured in many a dish (it especially topped sandwiches). Here, we're at yet another pub, the Conan Doyle. We were getting tired of eating at this point. But not tired of drinking! ; )

Famous gingerbread in the Lake District of England. It was chewy, had a crunchy topping (not sure what) and was fabulous! So was the town of Grasmere.

Finally! Bangers and mash! (unfortunately, this was in Ireland, I didn't have time to order it in England!) Liked the mash, liked the peas; the bangers, however, were deep-fried...eeek!

Are you full yet?! Next stop, Ireland!

It Was an Emergency!!!

Thank the good Lord for besties! (Sorry, I'm watching Amy Farrah Fowler right now...) Sometimes it's necessary to have an emergency meeting of the Dolce Girls in between regular gatherings. Yesterday was only Wednesday, and it was already a longggg week; so with only a day's notice, these six die-hard gals answered the call! We called our meeting to order, and the fun began! (for us anyway, I kinda felt bad for the other customers! ; ) 

One guess as to who finished TWO Leoncito margaritas in 20 minutes (no, not me!)... another of us thinks all sweet cocktails are slurpees...and yet another is a margarita waster (lightweight!) Horrors!

A shared fried ice cream and flan. Uhhh, both were fabulous. Who doesn't like flan?! Oh yeah, Melissa and Annie, so I had their portion.

Annie taught us something new! It's a "trick" she picked up from her brothers. My brothers didn't know this one, but they would have loved it! It involves making a game out of noises that boys love. 'Nuff said.

This is Becky & Deb checking each other for sobriety! Thank goodness they passed! I think...Just kiddin'! These two are a riot!

We had a lot of fun ideas for this picture, but they all had the potential of getting us in trouble with the management, so we settled for this.

Ahhh, what a wonderfully fun night with great girls! Meeting adjourned!

Weekend Fun!

The weekend started with our girl coming home! (Thank you, Lord, this is just what I needed!) Shopping, fish tacos and a movie on Friday, while Jack and the boys were out shrimping; Saturday morning I made my four miles (yay!) & in the evening, we met with friends (one of our favorite couples in the world!) at Vintage 56 in Rockledge. Ohmygosh, the food and drinks are superb there, and we should definitely eat there more often. Today we visited with fam and friends, ate and watched the race. And ate. And had a few beers. And ate. Since strawberries are in season here in Florida, I wanted to take advantage of using them in some recipes for today. Here are some pics from the weekend, along with links to the yummy recipes. Aaahhhh, what a perfect weekend! I'm going to pretend tomorrow is NOT Monday. 

Macadamia Brie with a baguette at Vintage 56. OMG.

http://www.vintage56.com/

Brenda & Roy! ( I know you're gonna hate this picture, Brenda...the waiter told us it turned out great, so we only took one.)

This is Jack's favorite summer salad. I made it before church to let the flavors blend. Throw all the ingredients together...

Stir and let sit a bit. Fresh and low-cal!

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000001935529

Me and the girl, cooking. I cook, she bakes. Crap, I'm shrinking!!! : (

Jack doing what he looooves to do: make wings!

Getting the strawberry dressing ready for the Spinach & Strawberry Salad.

Again, I'll make anything as long as I get to use the processor!

http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/recipefinder/spinach-strawberry-salad-recipe

I didn't add chicken since we were having wings, and I also added low-fat feta. Mmmm!

We put the dressing on top, but the recipe suggests tossing it, which is probably wiser.

This is Strawberry Salsa, which was wonderful. The recipe called for grape tomatoes, but I used Campari tomatoes, which were actually cheaper than grape tomatoes! Strawberries are in season, but tomatoes are NOT!

http://www.countryliving.com/recipefinder/strawberry-tomato-salsa-3331

Piggin' out! (I love Dave's face)

Our gang! Any excuse to party! : )