Training along the Thames

Posted on May 31, 2012 by realfunfood

Two thoughts about my first two weeks of marathon training.

1) I am so hungry.

2) I’ve never slept better!

I did each three mile run this week along the Thames after work.

I know just yesterday I was complaining about the weather in England, but actually, if you’re running there couldn’t be better weather. It’s been in the 60s and cloudy with a breeze – perfect.

Even though I’ve seen these sites hundreds of times and work by them every day, I still have to stop and take pictures.

There are no tourists in this picture, and any place in central London in which there are no tourists means it probably smells like pee. This corner totally smelled like pee.

The first day I ran along the river toward Lambeth Bridge because I’ve always wanted to get a picture of Parliament from this angle rather than the typical Waterloo angle.

I accidentally left my necklace on. No one likes a sweaty necklace.

After that run I went to the only place I know that serves good iced tea – the Young Vic Theatre (where I saw Patrick Stewart!)

Perfectly unsweetened with a raspberry on top.

Yesterday I ran by Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. I hear you can get standing room tickets for £5, and I’m ashamed to admit I’ve never been!

The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee is this weekend so they’ve put up this giant picture of the Royal Family. I’m sad I have to work from home this weekend because I’d love to see all the celebrations in the city.

Hungerford Bridge by Embankment is maybe my favorite bridge to walk across – especially at night! If you’re ever in London I’d say walking across this bridge when it’s dark is a must. The whole city and river is lit up around you. You can see St. Paul’s Cathedral (where Princess Diana got married), the lights from the South Bank, the London Eye, and Big Ben.

I absolutely love the South Bank and feel so lucky to work here.

As I said, I’ve been ridiculously hungry. I had to start eating some meat, because I’m clearly not good enough/creative enough yet to do otherwise and not go to bed with a hunger headache.

So, I got responsibly sourced fish and fried it up with some polenta, old bay, salt + pepper and paired it with a big pile of rocket, spinach, and potato gnocchi that I fried in a pan with a tiny amount of oil and spices so it would get nice and crispy.

I have better pictures that I took with my Nikon, so I’ll post those, along with a semi recipe, this weekend!

Up next is a seven mile run planned for Saturday!

The end of summer

Posted on May 31, 2012 by realfunfood

Tomorrow marks the end of summer in England. The news forecast today read: Diamond Jubilee Weekend – Rain Returns.

This happens every year. We get a week of brilliantly glorious sunny weather in April or May, and people start shouting, “It’s summer!”

But then it goes back to normal and summer never returns.

Still, when it’s nice in London, it’s really nice. Normally about 75-80 so it’s just hot enough to enjoy the heat but not feel like you’re choking on humidity.

This weekend I was lucky enough to get tickets to see David Sedaris recording a reading for BBC Radio 4, and he was fantastic. I’m so excited to have finally seen him speak, because I’ve been trying to see him for years.

I took my friend Chris, and the plan started like this:

me: we’ll have some prosecco and grill out!
Chris: oh man
i love summer

So we bought a £3 disposable grill from Sainsbury’s and had a cook out in my trashy backyard. Not my fault the landlord never cuts our grass!

We bought a pile of vegetables and sliced ‘em long. Egg plant, zucchini, red onion, bell pepper drizzled with EVOO and topped with salt + pepper.

A pair of tuna steaks.

Chris made a really fresh cucumber + tomato + green onion salsa with lemon, olive oil, parsley, s&p that we used to top the tuna. I used the juice from the dressing to dip my bread (which we also grilled).

It was so bright that when I accidentally left my iPhone uncovered it yelled at me and told me it was overheated and needed to be cooled immediately. My phone is the closest thing I have to a child or any kind of creature to care for, so I was distressed and praying he’d come back to life.

After too much sun and food, we went to Oxford Circus to the BBC.

There are flags everywhere because of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee this weekend. Sixty years!

I am still so angry that I forgot my book. I could have had my book signed by David Sedaris, and actually gotten to speak to him!

I already felt special because he’d e-mailed me and gotten me on the guest list for this show, so I totally could have said, “Hey! Remember me??” He’d have likely said no, but still. Exciting.

You can kind of see him sitting down in front of the small row of smart people who didn’t forget their books.

His reading was fantastic, and pretty much a laugh every two seconds. I’ve read all of his books and also listened to all the audio books. He reads his own work for the audio books, which is great. I’m not one to listen to audio books, but these are perfect road trip material!

Rome: The Spanish Steps

Posted on May 30, 2012 by realfunfood

The biggest piece of advice we were given at our amazing little (smallest in Rome!) hotel was “get lost.”

I used to be the kind of person to create maps in Illustrator with attractions and sites to see, and organize them by area in order to maximize my site-seeing potential. I realize this sounds like I’m trying to be whimsical and pretentious, but I’ve started doing this thing when I travel where I don’t plan anything other than my hotel. I just kind of turn up and hope to experience the city.

So, this was exactly what I wanted to hear. He outlined some of the must-see attractions on a map, but in the end said if we wanted to experience Rome we needed to get lost. He saw the big Nikon around my neck and said getting lost would give me the best photos to put on Facebook when I got back home

I ended up taking so many photos (about 700) that I couldn’t do one post on Rome so I’ve decided to do several and focus on specifics.

We started off at the Spanish Steps.

Although the steps are littered with ugly tourists (not ugly individually, but ugly collectively), they’re lined with bright red flowers which makes everything seem happy.

The first morning we went it was cloudy, but the second time (and rest of the vacation) it was sunny and a perfect 75 degrees.

And when I stopped taking pictures of red flowers I finally walked up the steps.

I still don’t know how I managed to get a picture of these steps with no people in sight. Except for the person in the top right corner snapping a picture!

Can you imagine living in one of these homes? May be a bit loud, but pretty!

I can’t imagine a time in which I would get tired of looking at palm trees. Maybe it’s my Florida roots.

I’m also thinking maybe I could handle having a balcony on my house that looks like this. Maybe.

One of my favorite memories from Rome is when we spent a couple hours sitting on the steps catching rays and relaxing. I don’t get to feel sunshine often so I sat on the steps and picked up energy, like WALL-E or something.

Reliving these Rome memories is making it hard to get back to reality and think about the fact that I have another training run today after work …

Mom’s trip to Borough Market

Posted on May 28, 2012 by realfunfood

I’ve been away from blogging for a few days because there has been constant 80 degree weather and sunshine in England, so I didn’t waste one second of it. I have a tan now. The temperature is expected to be back in the 50s by the end of the week, which as far as I’ve ever been able to tell is the average summer temperature in England.

My mom’s been gone more than a week now, but I forgot to post about some of the fun things we did.

We made a couple trips to Borough Market because it’s close to my place of employment and it’s … awesome.

Despite the milk, my random craving for a cup of hot chai tea was too strong so I slurped one down.

Every time I have chai I love it so much that I’m inspired to become one of those hot tea drinking people.

I go to the store and buy a big box of tea, but of course I never drink any of it. I’m just not a tea drinker.

Coffee through and through. I’ll never be a real Brit.

I still have never completed my goal of going to Borough Market with a giant bag and filling it full of fresh vegetables for a late afternoon feast. Maybe this summer?

Speaking of summer, last summer Borough Market had tons of watermelons, and you know what one of my other life goals is? To make one of those giant vodka-filled watermelons. Like college kids do. I know I’m old, but I love watermelon, and this has always seemed like a super fun idea. Vodkamelon. The way forward.

Aren’t these the prettiest ‘shrooms you’ve ever seen?

I think this picture is actually from our random food tour of London a couple days before. Raclette cheese on new potatoes with little pickles. Pepper on top.

Surely Borough has to rank up there with the best food markets in the world?

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??

	forgottenbeast on Training along the Thames
	forgottenbeast on Rome: The Spanish Steps
	forgottenbeast on The end of summer
	realfunfood on Training along the Thames
	realfunfood on Rome: The Spanish Steps

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