Poor Richard had to go to class today, but I could basically spend it recovering from the marathon trip to Edinburgh. Well, that and getting some food in the house!
We have come to the conclusion that we are going to try and cook most of our food and bring leftovers to the school. Richard has, at last, discoverd a microwave (in the staff's breakroom, but we've successfully snuch our tupperware in for warming up as well, lol) and the cost of buying take-out is becoming prohibitive. I know we said that so far the food we had eating here was good...I know we did. Unfortunately, it now appears that we just had an exceptionally lucky first two weeks, and everything since then has been absolutely nasty. Oh dear. British food really is BAD, sandwiches, take out, street vendors...it's all just gross! Often the meat pasties (which I raved about earlier) are just gravy inside, no meat in sight). The chicken curries are wierdly flavored, any noodle or pasta dish is guaranteed to be overcooked and undersalted, etc. etc. etc. And ALL of the salads have bean in them, what is with that? And if it's not beans it's potatoes. Apparently no one told the British that eating a salad is supposed to be the 'low-carb' option for lunch. If you are willing to pay slightly more for your takeout, 9-11 pounds (which is about 15 bucks people!) you get into things that taste kind of ok. But whose got that kind of cash 3 meals a day!?!
On this particular grocery shopping trip I also went looking for vegetable oil to do pan cooking, but lo and behold...they didn't have any! Oh, they had plenty of oil...
We have come to the conclusion that we are going to try and cook most of our food and bring leftovers to the school. Richard has, at last, discoverd a microwave (in the staff's breakroom, but we've successfully snuch our tupperware in for warming up as well, lol) and the cost of buying take-out is becoming prohibitive. I know we said that so far the food we had eating here was good...I know we did. Unfortunately, it now appears that we just had an exceptionally lucky first two weeks, and everything since then has been absolutely nasty. Oh dear. British food really is BAD, sandwiches, take out, street vendors...it's all just gross! Often the meat pasties (which I raved about earlier) are just gravy inside, no meat in sight). The chicken curries are wierdly flavored, any noodle or pasta dish is guaranteed to be overcooked and undersalted, etc. etc. etc. And ALL of the salads have bean in them, what is with that? And if it's not beans it's potatoes. Apparently no one told the British that eating a salad is supposed to be the 'low-carb' option for lunch. If you are willing to pay slightly more for your takeout, 9-11 pounds (which is about 15 bucks people!) you get into things that taste kind of ok. But whose got that kind of cash 3 meals a day!?!
Anyway, armed with a microwave, Richard and I have decided to attempt the banks of ready-made food at the grocery store. Perhaps due to the size of homes and kitchens, or the busy city lifestyle, people in London don't appear to cook much at all. Don't get me wrong, plenty of American's don't cook either, but what seems to be unique about the London is that massive aisles of the grocery store are dedicated to supporting the 'insta-food' lifestyle. (This could also be true for New York and LA, never been there, but is not for DC and Chicago). There are shelves and shelves of refrigerated ready-made meals that need only to microwaved or oven-baked. (lots more oven-baked than one would see proportionately in the US). For example, just check out their selection of take-and-bake pizzas! (Not frozen, refrigerated).
So we've decided to give the ready-made dinners and lunches a try, especially since we figured out that most stores have a special section where they put the stuff about to expire at really reduced price (1/3 to 1/2 off).
On this particular grocery shopping trip I also went looking for vegetable oil to do pan cooking, but lo and behold...they didn't have any! Oh, they had plenty of oil...
But fruitless scanning of every label left we with no vegetable oil, or even corn oil. I finally just bought the cheapest olive oil I found and made a mental note not to try and make muffins or brownies which might require oil while here in England. (If you haven't tried olive oil baked sweets before, I'd avoid it...NOT such a great flavor. By which I mean, it gives them a very distinctive flavor). I also encountered a deal of difficulty locating beef broth or boullion cubes. (I've decided to try my hand a big pot of beef and barley stew to augment our insta-meal plan, now that we have access to that most glorious of all inventions, the microwave). After a great deal of talking round and round the concept, I finally managed to get the concept through to a store employee, who then directed me to where I could find the Knorr brand 'stock cubes.' Good to know.
By the end of the shopping trip my trolley was, once again, filled to the brim. However, since it was the middle of the day I had no Richard to rescue me. I considered just absconding with the entire trolley, but they make them so that when they cross a magnetic strip across the store threshold one of the wheels locks and they become almost impossible to push. Quite inventive, the British. (I do luv the little clip for your grocery list though! In lieu of a child seat...lol.) Anyway, without the ability to nick the shopping trolley for my own personal use, I was reduced to carrying half the load about 50 paces, setting them down, returning for the 2nd load, carrying them 50 paces beyond the first load, setting them down, and bactracking for the first load, thus hopskotching my way home - (a la my car-less early college days.)
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