Marathon training begins!

Posted on May 23, 2012 by realfunfood

My first two days of marathon training are complete. Two words: hot. sore.

I can’t say it’s in any way been easy. I took a month off from running because I was so busy before my mom came to visit, and then I had no time for even a single work out while she was here. It’s amazing how much of a difference a month will make in fitness. Before, I could run three miles and wouldn’t really feel tired afterward. After running three yesterday and two today, I am sore and so tired!

The month + of rain we’ve had in England finally left and we’ve been enjoying temperatures between 75 and 80, which is great!

It’s not too hard to stay motivated on my runs because I’m really lucky and have a lovely running route.

My favorite blue house:

And other cute English homes:

I live close to a large park, and it’s great because it’s not in the city center so there are no tourists! It’s well maintained and spacious, and every time I’m here I forget I live in a big, dirty city.

Anyone who thinks South West London is anything but the best part of the city is crazy.

SW-4-Life, yo.

As you can tell from all the pictures, I took a few walking breaks

Another reason I love this park is because there is a good mix of pavement and dirt paths so you’re not always on concrete.

I think I might be 75 years old. Every time I see a lawn bowling club, I really, really want to join. Doesn’t this look great?

I can’t wait for retirement.

Rome: the food!

Posted on May 22, 2012 by realfunfood

Our first meal was had at a restaurant near the Spanish Steps. I know! It’s not good to eat directly in front of a tourist destination, but when you’ve been up since 1:45 am and you don’t get to eat until 11, anything will do.

And it was fine! It’s Rome, and it was pizza, so it was as good as any pizza we get in England.

The pizza was further proof that everything mom does is perfect. I looked over at her pizza:

And then looked down at mine:

Aside from the first pizza place, everywhere we went immediately gave us a basket of bread and water.

I’m thinking I need to get a bottle like this to serve water to people when they come to my house!

I had marinated artichokes as a snack, because they seemed to be on every menu. Only crazy people don’t like artichokes.

It was in Rome that I discovered my new favorite drink. I’m an iced coffee lover through and through, but this may have changed my mind.

Meet Marocchino:

Marocchino is a little espresso drink with a teeny bit of milk and cocoa powder – but it’s not sweetened. It tastes like really, really dark chocolate with a bit of coffee. I added only a small amount of sugar, but for the most part drank it bitter and it was everything I could ever ask for from a cup of coffee. Even McDonald’s in Rome had my marocchino lover!

Another one of my favorite meals was a really cheap sandwich from a cafe on a side street. It was an omelet that was filled with spinach, topped with a thin slice of mozzarella and put on a sandwich with some kind of heavenly bread. You know how bread gets sharp and cuts your mouth? This managed to have a crisp without the cut. Good stuff.

Mom had a simple salami + mozzarella. Also good!

In big cities McDonald’s is usually the only place with a bathroom, so we popped into it and were drawn to the McCafe and its huge display of amazing looking desserts.

Here you’ll find the best dessert to ever come to you on a tray:

I can’t believe how good this tiramisu was! I’m not much of a dessert person, but I had a hard time saving half for mama bear.

For dinner the second night we went to a restaurant recommended by the very kind guy at our hotel, which he also said is officially the smallest (legal) hotel in Rome. I’ll post all about that soon!

Mom had sliced beef with balsamic, tomatoes and rocket, and I had onion soup. I could only get soup because my stomach was very shaky due to all the cheese pizzas, gelato and soda I had. Turns out the onion soup was creamy too, but it was still good!

One last thing. I am so glad I randomly starting liking tomatoes before my trip to Rome.

I don’t even remember where this was taken. Maybe somewhere near the Vatican?

Food in Rome = A!

As bleak as it gets

Posted on May 20, 2012 by realfunfood

I haven’t seen the movie “As Good as it Gets,” so I’m just going off the title here, but if anyone were to make a movie about daily life in England this spring it could be titled “As Bleak as it Gets.”

Look at this!

That’s my mom eating fish and chips, in the rain, on a step outside of a construction site in Southwark because the chip shop decided to close early and kick us out. They rudely handed our fish & chips to us in a package with no salt and vinegar for our chips, no napkins and no fork. We had to ask for all three, and then walk outside in the rain to find a place to eat.

We weren’t angry, though, because this was right before we left for Rome!

Let me tell you, Rome was great! It was about 72 degrees and sunny all three days we were there, and I took almost 700 pictures. I ran out of space and battery on my camera before we even got to the Vatican.

I’m going to edit the pictures tonight and hopefully have at least one Rome post ready for tomorrow.

Happy Monday!

Eating animals

Posted on May 17, 2012 by realfunfood

Still in Rome, but I thought I’d share this!

A look in Benjamin Franklin’s London home

Posted on May 16, 2012 by realfunfood

My mom dropped a little bomb on me this weekend. I was rocking out to Kenny Chesney’s duet with Tim McGraw, Feel Like a Rock Star, and I asked her how much she loves the song.

She said, “…well, I don’t love Kenny Chesney.”

What.

Then she said she didn’t even really like country music, and she doesn’t know why I like it because I certainly didn’t get it from home.

!!!

Despite this, I still took her along for some coffee and Benjamin Franklin-ing. Yeah, that’s right. I went to Ben Franklin’s house in London. The only surviving Franklin home in the world!

She met me at work and we had mochas at the ScooterCaffee on Lower Marsh, near Waterloo. The mocha was some weird kind of chocolate that was super thick. Good!

After the coffee we went next door where I found this 60s bag that I WANT. You know what I’d use it for? A lunch bag. I have to bring 2-3 meals to work every day, and this would be way better than carrying my food in a crappy orange Sainsbury’s bag.

Too cute, huh?

After work we took an architectural tour of the Franklin home near Charing Cross. It cost £3.50 per person, and since it was a Monday afternoon my mom and I and another woman were the only people there. This place should be packed!

So far I’ve visited the homes of:

George Washington
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Andrew Jackson
Benjamin Franklin

I loved them all, and although Jefferson is not my favorite founding father, Monticello can not be beat. It’s gorgeous. Here’s the view from his house:

I LOVE American history, because once you study it you realize it’s a lot different than the mythical stories you learn in school.

Outside the Franklin house on Craven Street.

I couldn’t take many pictures because I wasn’t sure if we were allowed to and I was too afraid to ask. He was living in style. He had floor to ceiling windows and the whole first floor to himself. Almost all of the architecture is original from when he lived there.

We stopped off for a drink at our local, but at this point I was so tired! I couldn’t even finish that little glass. Mom had her standard half Guinness, but that wasn’t enough so she got another!

I’m in Rome today! See you Saturday!

I signed up for a marathon (!) / Leaving university crisis

Posted on May 15, 2012 by realfunfood

Today’s post is a dual theme! Part exciting, part crisis!

On a whim last week I decided to sign up for my first marathon. The United States Air Force Marathon in Dayton, Ohio, to be exact. I’m so excited!!

I ran the 10K last year and thought the race was so much fun, but I never thought I’d be able to run a marathon. I really enjoy racing and have been thinking I want to go for it and do longer distances, but I never found a marathon in London that I really wanted to do.

Once I got the idea in my head last week it wouldn’t go away. Why can’t I run a marathon? I changed my vacation plans to make it to Ohio two weeks earlier, and $90 later I was signed up for my first marathon.

I’m using Hal Higdon’s 18 week marathon training plan because I’ve seen him recommended on a few blogs, and the plan seems doable for me this summer considering I have only four months to train.

In other news: I might be having some sort of crisis. My friend Clay reminded me that we’ve officially been out of college as long as we were in it. WHAT?!

How has it been four years since graduation?? I remember it like it was yesterday. In our minute-long reminiscence of school we recalled the time we left the newsroom to go to Long John Silver’s and got in trouble for not bringing our cell phones or telling anyone where we were going, which undoubtedly lead to newsroom chaos. As news editors at the Indiana Statesman, we were highly important, you see. Stories about lack of attendance at SGA meetings won’t write themselves!

I want to go back to ISU. Maybe for like, a year. But I want my current lifestyle and amount of money I have now. Basically I want my current life, but minus all the work. I guess maybe I could go to some classes, but I have a feeling I wouldn’t attend any more now than I did back then.

Another thing I miss about school is cheap rent. I paid $280 a month for a room in a two-bed apartment just off campus. I pay about $1,100 a month for a room in a four-bed house in London. Granted, London is a tiny bit cooler than Terre Haute, Indiana, but thinking about those numbers makes my heart hurt.

Does anyone else after being out of school for 4+ years still want to leave the real world and go back to college??

A visit to Will & Kate’s new house

Posted on May 13, 2012 by realfunfood

For Mother’s Day we went on a morning bike ride through Hyde Park followed by an English Sunday roast.

Although I wouldn’t take the bikes for a spin on London’s crazy streets, they are perfect for a ride through the park. At £1 ($1.60) to rent the bike for the whole day, it’s a London bargain!

After weeks of non-stop rain, we were lucky enough to feel some sunshine on the ride.

We rode past the Prince Albert memorial and across the street, Royal Albert Hall.

I can’t get over how good the pictures from my iPhone are!

We ended our ride near Kensington Palace, where Will and Kate are planning to live once renovations are finished. I’ve never actually seen this view of the palace because it’s been under construction for so long and was blocked off by barriers.

Behind the wall are the Will & Kate apartments.

After Princess Diana died, this is the gate where the public placed all their flowers.

The front of the palace, with some kind of gate reminding people to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee next month.

Wearing my Indiana State shirt. Sycamores!

My mom is getting to experience the joys of being a Londoner – tubes packed with rowdy football fans.

Sunday roast at The Alexandra in Wimbledon, my favorite pub.

Today we’re taking a tour of Benjamin Franklin’s house near Trafalgar Square – it’s the world’s only surviving Franklin home!

Wednesday we’re off to Rome!!

More fun in the city

Posted on May 13, 2012 by realfunfood

After three straight nights of watching shows in the West End we still got up for an early breakfast.

It was Carluccio’s again, because we’re addicted to the coffee.

I had eggs florentine with hard poached eggs. No runny yolk for me, ever! Mom had eggs benedict.

Friday we saw The Lion King, then last night we saw the last ever performance of The King’s Speech. Both were great!

The King’s Speech theater. Our seats weren’t the best for this one, but we were still close enough to see everything.

We got box seats for The Lion King for half the price of the floor seats, due to the “restricted” view. For that price plus the coolness of having your own box seat, I didn’t mind having the lighting obstructing a small part of the stage. I love box seats! Only £30 a piece for a box seat by the stage, and if you pay that much for seats in the theater you’ll be so far away and surrounded by people.

Another cool thing is that we had a performer come in our box at the beginning of the show to sing as part of the opening act.

My view was slightly restricted, but my mom sat a bit farther back in the box so she could see almost all of the stage.

I love The Lion King musical so much! If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it!

I know I said last weekend we were off for a bike ride in Hyde Park, but it turned out to be way too rainy. We actually have sun today, so we’re rushing off to bike ride before the clouds settle back in!

A girly day out!

Posted on May 12, 2012 by realfunfood

I feel like a real girl. I just had a leisurely breakfast with my mom at Carluccio’s in Wimbledon Village, followed by a manicure/pedicure. The morning couldn’t get any girlier.

We saw horse riders in the Village. I love it here. If I ever have enough money to be able to afford a house in London, I’d live in Wimbledon Village.

They don’t have Main Street in England. They have High Streets!

We had something called Bicerin. Espresso + chocolate + cream, and you mix it yourself. This is our second one in less than 24 hours. So good.

Scrambled eggs + mushrooms on grilled bread.

Then off for my first manicure!

During the process the lady asked if I’d ever had one before, and I said no. So she asked what other things I do, and I didn’t know what she meant.

Her: “Oh, like facials, waxing, etc.”

Me: “Ummm …. nothing?”

Her: “Hmm. So you’re low maintenance.”

Me: “… I guess?”

I just don’t get waxing. I mean, I’d never want to have to say to someone, “Sorry! I’m between waxes.” No. How hard is it to just shave your legs and umm … other stuff, every day? Maybe it’s not quite as nice, but I’d rather be decently un-hairy every day than have half of my life spent growing out for a wax. Plus, have you ever had your bikini line waxed? That’s not something I ever wish to experience again.

Oh, and eyebrows – just pluck! Again, I see so many women walking around with wild eyebrows because they’re “growing out for a wax” and it looks so stupid! I don’t get it. If you don’t pluck or wax, that’s fine. It only becomes obvious when people have a perfectly groomed eyebrow surrounded by a few rogue hairs.

Anyway, mint nails! Does having a manicure make me a real girl now? I sound like Pinocchio.

At this point a couple hours had passed so I had to top up with a salad from Paul. I definitely could have done without the goat’s cheese, but otherwise a great salad.

I have a small confession to make. I’ve been craving … hot tea lately. Yesterday at Borough Market I had a chai, and today I chose a hot peppermint tea over a mocha. It’s really soothing on my sore throat (don’t know where it came from!) and it tastes so good.

Could I be a tea drinker now??

We’re off to see the last performance of the play, The King’s Speech, in Leicester Square. I hope it’s good!

Boleslaw

Posted on May 11, 2012 by realfunfood

WordPress doesn’t know what coleslaw is, but it knows what Boleslaw is!

Wtf.

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	realfunfood on Rome: the food!
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