Going Home…

After one whole year away from all the beautiful people I love dearly and have MISSED EVERY SINGLE DAY(like you wouldn’t even understand) I simply had to go home.

My life would of course be much easier if all of my friends and family were located in the same city, but like most families, they are strewn out around the United States.

It’s always going to be challenging to see all of the folks that I would like to when I visit. It’s simply not possible. I will also miss weddings, births, and killer dinner parties whilst I’m abroad.

This is just a sad reality of my spectacularly fun new life. ;(

We flew into Cleveland first because that’s where a big chunk of my family live.

My beautiful Aunts did their best to make our stay the most relaxing and fun few days imaginable…

I even got to spend some quality time with the family pets!

And no trip to CLE is complete without stopping by Cedar Point.

We rodes some epic and terrifying coasters…

Ate some massive BBQ turkey legs…

Then we passed out from jet lag exhaustion!

Followed by a quick flight to Nashville!!

I immediately had a bar party and invited everyone to come out and give me a year’s worth of hugs.

They complied!

Toasts were made…

I was so excited to spend time with some of my besties…

And baby!

OOooohhh baby!

This one made me want one of my own…

Even with fussy scrunched up sad baby face…

There were lots of babies being made whilst I was away…

Big fat squooshy pretty babies!!!

And some of the babies I knew a year ago weren’t babies anymore, but little tiny people…

Simon made some new friends as well…Of the furry variety…

And the wacky-conspiracy-theory-Jesus-loving-rocker-chick variety…

Crazy girls are the hottest. Always. That is a fact.

LOVE YOU LALA. Forevs. PS. Her Dad MIGHT be Ziggy Stardust. FYI.

Moving on…

My mom was as pretty as I remember her being…

My brother was still a massive fantasy football dweeb…

Gorgeous sunny Murphmurph was just as gorgeous and sunny as ever…

Becca was still awesome and smart and sharing her love of great food…

She and her fantastic fiance took us out to Dinner at Silo http://www.silotn.com

Exceptional and elevated Southern cuisine welcoming me home proved to be JUST what I needed…

Especially deviled eggs three ways…

Deep fried greenbeans…

And pork belly…

We even visited my beloved Bombay Palace http://www.bombaypalacetn.com/

They were all super excited to see me too! Awwwwww!

Actually, we did a lot of eating.

And of course, we had to work some of it off…

No better place than Edwin Warner Park…

So that was our trip back to Nashville via Cleveland. A ton of photos I know, but some super wonderful days with friends and family! Hopefully I’ll be back sooner than later and can see more of my loved ones this time! See ya soon Nashville xx

One last Spain post for my foodies…

I just wanted to share some of the food I DEVOURED in Spain for those of you who live to eat…

I promise I’ll be quick!

A simple lunch…

Followed by a decadent dinner…

Tomato and goat cheese salad

Beef carpaccio with sheep’s-milk cheese

Tuna carpaccio with pink peppercorn and dill

Filet mignon with foie

Vanilla bean panna cotta with black currants…

Me pre-FACESTUFF

Me in action!

Grilled calamari for another yummy lunch…

A little scampi party…

Tasty tapas…

That is all! I hope you salivated at least a little!

Next up: LONG overdue Nashville Trip posts!!!

TEA. A Love Affair.

I have always loved tea.

Growing up in the South, iced tea is generally part of daily existence.

Iced Sweet tea, Iced Green Tea, Iced Peach Tea, Iced Passionfruit Tea…the varieties are endless.

I’ve never really gotten into hot tea as much (aside from wintry days where my throat is highly unhappy).

A few years ago I stumbled upon Teavana in the Green Hills Mall and developed a very serious crush with the place.

http://www.teavana.com

But they are SO EXPENSIVE. And they try to up-sell you to death.
It got to the point where I didn’t even want to make eye contact with the sales associates when I went into the store.
They also don’t tell you that the canisters they put the tea in cost extra (or at least failed to mention that to me any of the 50 times I bought tea).
And some of the “teas” don’t even contain tea at all. Just sweetened dried fruit & flowers…but they still call it “TEA”.
(Is there not a rule against this)?

Anyway, I still love tea.

To be more accurate, I’m pretty much obsessed with hot tea since I moved to the UK.
Specifically Earl Grey.

At first, it’s a little weird that everyone is always going on and on about having a “cuppa” tea all the damn time.
But I quickly realized that I had never had Earl Grey tea with milk & sugar before.

MY BRAIN——-> WAIT A MINUTE! THIS IS EFFING STELLAR!

A hot cup of tea can fix your soul.

Part of the joy of tea is the ceremony…

And adorable china…

And having a hot tea date…

I can’t stop drinking it. I crave it!
I have even been using agave syrup and soy milk to be healthier.
It has fully replaced coffee in my life.
I know…THAT’S CRAZY TALK!

I order it everywhere we go.

I just can’t help myself.

And people here even drink it alongside their meals. Even with cheeseburgers!
(By the way, I ate a cheeseburger the other day and it was phenomenally delicious).

See? DELICIOUS!

So, long story short, tea is important. Drink it and feel better.

Now, how about I leave you with some spectacular street art from my travels around Brick Lane in London?

And of course, lest you forget…The Beginning is Nigh!

London Wedding Reception

The great thing about having two wedding receptions is that after experiencing the stress of the first one, you are totally ready for the second one to be MUCH more low-key and chill.

Thankfully, this is exactly what we got at our London Do.

For starters, I refused to dress up. No more wedding dress. No more fancy hair appointments…no more!

Pants…boots…done.

We sort of adopted the attitude of “Hell, it’s our party…so by god we are going to wear jeans!”

(And it was much more fantastic because of it)

My Husband planned pretty much all of it on his own, and honestly the venue could not have been a more perfect representation of both of our personal design aesthetics.

Funky wallpaper, vintage furniture, artsy chandeliers, and old movie posters gave the space serious character and set the tone for super fun party time.

My Brother-In-Law was nice enough to make us a cake!

Which I was more than excited to hack up with my giant knife!

Even though there were people trying to distract me with highly inappropriate “that’s what she said” jokes.

New Family!<3

QT was our happy toastmaster and said some really sweet (and hilarious) things…

“It’s amazing what you can find on the internet these days”

Har. Har.

There was lots of love going around…

And many a happy guest!

And Champagne!

Happy People with Champagne are the happiest…

And Food!

Wild mushroom, garden pea, and creme fraiche tartlets…

Kashmiri Lamb skewers with minted yogurt…

Salmon & avocado nori Rolls with chive & red pepper…

Hoi Sin duck pancake rolls with cucumber and spring onion…

Tiger prawn lettuce wraps…

Parmesan and herb muffins with salsa verde and sun-blushed grapes..

Chocolate covered strawberries & fresh raspberries…

The catering company truly did an amazing job!
http://www.kaicatering.co.uk/
Everyone remarked on how lovely the food was…And soon it had vanished!

So…

Smitten…

And tons of laughs…

By the end of the reception everyone was chummy!

Reception #2 was a complete success!

Just look at that delightfully intoxicated smile on QT’s face!

I fully intend on having a Wedding reception #1 post as well, I just haven’t gotten the photos back from the wedding photographer just yet.
But, I hear they are enroute!
Soon I will have more wedding loveliness for you! I promise.

xxoo

Adventures with Duck

Although my status as a carnivore has for the most part, been on a down trend, every so often I break away and indulge in some good old-fashioned meat-eating.
My favorite animal to eat is duck.
The deliciously tasty and most excellent duck.
The skin especially, is just down right decadent.

Guh.

How can one commit to a life of complete vegetarianism after tasting duck skin?

Tell me this!

My spectacular trip to London this Summer involved my first ever Peking Duck experience, which I shall never forget, no matter how many more brain injuries I sustain in my life.

The started out with no plans of a duck feast in sight.
We did a little sight-seeing…

Hung out in the park and acted like annoyingly adorable teenagers…

Met up with QT and consumed some wine on a boat bar on the Thames River…

Before you know it we were on a tipsy mission, wandering the streets of London in search of the duck feast to end all duck feasts…

Soon enough we were seated in a fabulously elegant Chinese restaurant ordering a duck and a half, and even more wine…

Moi, patiently awaiting the duck feast!

Snacks!

THE DUCK!!!

MMMMmmmmmmm…

Duck Skin…

The spread…

So here is what you do to make your taste buds have the biggest most fantastical explosive party in your mouth ever…

You take a pancake, you spread some plum sauce on it, you add cucumber and spring onions…

You grab a nice tender chunk of duck meat and top it with a crispy crunchy lacquered duck skin crackling and you roll it up as quickly as possible; inhaling it like you are in a prison camp.

Because it disappears fast!

QT tries to hide the shame of shoveling duck into his mouth…

Oh! And they clean the rest of the duck and stir fry it with bean sprouts!

There is no shame! Only joy!

Wow. That was an awesome day.

So the other night, I attempted to make my first duck and roasties using the UK fan oven.

DUCK!

Check out those taters atop my new Acacia chopping block…

And the finished product!

MAGNIFICENT! CRISPY SKIN, TENDER DUCK!

Super easy to make!

Simply sear the duck legs for a few moments on a hot skillet til the skin gets nice and brown and transfer to the oven with raw sliced potatoes for 1.25 hours on 190 degrees Celcius
(for UK fan ovens).

You can season the potatoes however you wish, although I just opted for simple salt & pepper.
As the duck legs cook, the fat seeps out of the duck and cooks the potatoes to the most gorgeous crispy golden brown, while also enriching it with a truly sinful flavour.

Here is the US equivalent…375 F for 1.25 hours
(Remember, I’m all British now)

Okay y’all…more later! Back to veggies and soymilk for me!

Time Machine to London-Borough Market!!!!

Have you heard of Borough Market? Have you been there!?

Well, if the answer is “No” let me introduce you to the culinary braingasm that is London’s Borough Market.

It’s basically a farmer’s market on steroids, with a past stretching back to 1014!
Ummm….yeah…That is seriously old.

It is impossible for me to do this place justice in one post.
I didn’t have the opportunity to take as many photos as would be needed to really explain the massiveness and sheer volume of edible delights waiting within.

But I would love to share with you the photos I did get, and the spoils that I took home with me!

Where to begin?!

The Juice Bar!

Of course, being the juice lover that I am, I cut a path through the insane swarms of people directly to the juice bar without any previous knowledge of its existence.

I have the gift.

This finding was quickly matched by my next discovery of the Indian spices/chutney stall where I sampled very very spicy things and made happy/painful faces.

Which was followed by the joyful arrival to the chocolate area, where my face-making turned to lustful amazement.

And the gigantic vats of Paella! And the samples of Paella! Yummmm

Mussels!!

I had to have my own!

This place is simply unreal.
I could spend an entire day here. Just eating. Everything.

Look at those Tomatoes. Just look at them! With your eyes!

Fungi!

Squids!

Exclamation Marks!!!!!

My Personal Spoils!

Tomatoes, the most delicious lemon & garlic olives on Earth, crusty sourdough round, baguette, elderflower & apple juice, brie, local honey, local raspberry preserves, drunken cheese, and lemon & rose turkish delights…

SNACKY TIME!

This…

is…

the Life.

This is all I have, FOR NOW. Trust me, there will be so much more Borough Market coverage in the VERY near future.

http://www.boroughmarket.org.uk/

The Remover of Obstacles…

This is a story about being patient, told to you by the least patient person on Earth, yours truly.

On September 10th, 2011 I was married to the sweetest, most wonderfully reliable, hard-working, and patient man.

How did I get so lucky?

We had a gorgeous little ceremony at my beloved Aunt Cheri and Uncle Joe’s house in Cleveland and it was everything a wedding should be.

You could feel the love in the air. You could taste it. It was a seriously celestial amount of love.

What better way to celebrate than to hang out in the massively awesome city where we originally fell in love? (and of course, wait for my visa to arrive)

But then…it didn’t arrive…and Saturday rolled around…and I had to cancel my flight to London… leaving me stuck in immigration limbo…indefinitely.

My husband had to get back to work immediately so he flew back as planned, and basically… I’ve just been sort of hanging out aimlessly since then.

I am lucky enough to have awesome friends in Chi-town that have been incredible and beyond gracious in letting me crash on their couch and hog their adorable dog for the last week.

Fluffy Wonderful Neruda Dog!!!!!!

Thanks Rea & Alex!!!!

But let’s get back to the story I’m telling…

As soon as we were engaged to be married we started doing research regarding the specifics of getting me moved over to London as painlessly as possible, realizing very quickly that securing a marriage visa could actually be quite tricky.
After even more research, we decided to use an immigration agency (specifically this one: http://www.ukvisaandimmigration.co.uk/) to help us sort out everything and prepare our application.

What a bunch of idiots.

To be fair, they did proofread our ridiculously long application and make sure it was filled out flawlessly, but other than that, most of the information we were given when we presented them with questions regarding the process was pretty much guesswork.

Due to the fact that it became evident early on in the process that the agency we had hired to assist us was pretty much a load of horse shit, my husband did about 90% of the work himself while working full time and helping me sort out our wedding details from across the Atlantic Ocean.

(I married an amazing man y’all.)

We were told that we could pay more and get the visa faster (a 15 day guaranteed turn-around time with 2-3 days being typical) so of course, we opted for that.

2-3 days my ASS.

To keep myself busy and not crazy with impatient frustration, this week I did loads of walking, sight-seeing, and sampling the many treats Chicago has to offer.

(I’ll have more detailed Chicago posts following this one)

On Tuesday I visited the Chicago Art Institute and had a very special moment standing in front of this guy:

Ganesh: remover of obstacles

We had a little psychic chat and I kindly asked that he use his ancient Hindu elephant powers to remove some freakin obstacles for me.

Well, shit…thanks Ganesh!

I am OVERJOYED to announce that my marriage visa FINALLY ARRIVED TODAY!

HAPPYHAPPYHAPPY!

I board a plane to Heathrow bright & early tomorrow morning and I am SO READY to get over there!!

Good things come to those who wait and keep bitching about it to a minimum (I did my best anyway)

Stay tuned for more back-in-time London food/art posts and Chicago posts.

Feel free to send me positive thoughts tomorrow as I hate flying/airplanes!

Cheers!

Gimmeyummy goes to London! Yes! Fancy Londontown!

Love is a powerful thing.

Five weeks after my crazy fabulous Chicago adventure, I was boarding a plane to travel to my crazy fabulous London adventure.

And although there is much love in this story, there are also lots of delicious culinary tales (and photos)!!!

Shall we begin?

Belgo!!!

Steamed Mussels welcomed me to London!

And yes, nearly everything comes with Fries (chips if you are fancy) and mayo!

I actually don’t even get down with fries very often as they are unpredictable and very bad for you.
These fries were different.
Crispy on the outside with a soft fluffy potato center.
I could get down with these…even though they are still bad news.

AND Posh Belgian beers in funny glasses…

It’s like a science experiment…

Oh! And we went back again later that week and had more goodies.

AND BY “GOODIES” I MEAN LOBSTER!

My first whole Lobster ever! I destroyed it! Like a cave woman.

There was serious carnage.
Lobster bits were on my face, in my hair, all over the floor…

My hot date didn’t do so badly either with his half chicken smothered in gorgeous mushroom cream heaven sauce.

Also, BREAD! Because if there is bread to be eaten I will eat it!

Besides the fact that everything we had the pleasure of eating at Belgo was stunning, they have this really sweet deal from 5:00pm-7:00pm called “Beat The Clock”.
Basically, you select from a special menu and whatever time it is when you order is what you pay!
(The half chicken cost us £5.25!!!)

http://www.belgo-restaurants.co.uk/food

Chicago and falling in love…

After my fantastic journey out West visiting Abigail, my life took a new path in a BIG way.

I found myself suddenly out of a relationship that had pretty much been DOA for a long, long time.

I decided to not only move on with my life, but to not be frightened anymore at the idea of opening my heart to the possibility of good and amazing things happening to me!

I closed my eyes and thought to myself, “What do I REALLY want out of this life?”

The answers came easily.

I want to find someone that can love me with the same depth and sincerity that I am capable of loving them with.
I want to travel the world and BE a part of it!
I want to stop being afraid of failure and the judgement of others.
I want to live my life the way I did when I was eight years old and everything was awesome.

And then I did a crazy thing. A rash thing. A romantic thing.

I emailed a very special man I had always wondered what had happened to…

And then…well…Cupid took over…

This past May, my now husband was brave enough to travel across the pond from London to escort a girl (ME!) he had never actually met in the flesh to her friend’s wedding in gorgeous Chicago.

After years of internet correspondence, and wondering about “what could have been” we decided to see if the magic that had always seemed real over the web, was in all actuality a tangible and legitimate thing in person.

Why not? What was there to lose?

Chicago is such a great city to fall in love in!

MUCH to my cynical amazement, this guy was the Dreamboat Prince Charming that does not exist…but apparently does.
He was basically hand-crafted by pixies in the heavens and put on this Earth to make silly faces with me.

We were ultra super totally meant for each other.

It was simply more than I could have ever hoped for.

Finding something like this is akin to seeing the ocean for the first time.

You just want to dive in and get carried away in the weight of the waves…I know, I know…GROSS.

So gross. But SO WONDERFUL!

Stay tuned for the beginning of my London Adventure….

So where were we six months ago?

Ah! Arizona! Yes. I went to visit my best friend Abigail…it’s all coming back to me now.

There were lots of treats consumed in Arizona.
Specifically Sedona, Jerome, & Cottonwood.
Home of everything magical, mystical, and holistic.

I ate quite a bit of yummy vegan and vegetarian fare and visited the cutest little breakfast/gelato cafe.
Also, a visit to candy mountain (sort of) and a cute wine bar with an insanely scrumptious foccacia appetizer.

Let us begin!

The following delights are from New Frontiers in Sedona…

Kale salad that made my face happy.

The best cold falafel I have ever eaten, also from New Frontiers grocery store.

Deviled eggs (because they are delicious)

Pear and Mesclun salad.

Magic healing bars!

Now, onto my breakfast at Crema Cafe in Cottonwood, AZ.

THINGS TO EAT! Just my kinda place!

Quick and gorgeous little egg & cheese croissant delivered by the sweetest server.

Close-up!

Pretty much the lightest, fluffiest, most breakfasty cloud of sunshine you could possibly introduce your taste buds to.

Oh, and the super sweet server!

Isn’t she just adorable?

AND, there was gelato!

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to sample the gelato as the croissant was the size of my face and very filling!

Scones & biscotti

Who wants to take a trip to candy mountain?

Rock candy in everyone’s favorite flavor “BLUE”

SCOOPS!

There was a time in my life where I would have attempted to eat all of these lollies in one sitting.

Finally, the Focaccia to put all other Focaccia to shame at Grapes Restaurant & Bar in Jerome, AZ.

It doesn’t look like much, but trust me, a little olive oil or marinara dipping action and you have a masterpiece of textures and flavors that satiate all carb-loading desires.

Crunchy, pillowy, buttery, sweet, savory…

MOUTH MAGIC!

http://grapesjerome.com/
http://www.cremacoffeeandcreamery.com/