Pampers and Paklava

48 hours in London

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Beth as Kate MiddletonHow much can you see if you have 48 hours in London? A lot as it turns out.

Last March, en route to Armenia, Big Papa and I spent two days and two nights in London. Armed with our copy of City Walks London (we’ve used, and loved, City Walks Paris on several trips), we set out to explore the city.

What we saw: Big Ben, Parliament, Buckingham Palace, Kensington Palace, Westminster Bridge, the river Thames, Scotland Yard, London bobbies, double-decker buses,  St. Paul’s Cathedral and the London Eye.

What we did: strolled around Kensington Gardens, toured the Tate Modern museum and looked at cool art before enjoying a yummy lunch at the museum cafe, rode the tube in the London Underground (and made sure to mind the gap!), meandered through Hyde Park and saw amazing feats of skill on roller blades, walked across Millennium Bridge, bought a wool scarf for Big Papa and fingerless gloves for me on Portobello Road, wandered arond Notting Hill and watched dapper school boys in crisp shorts and blazers get picked up from school by mums in spendy sports cars.

What we ate: plenty of delicious bangers and mash, sublime Indian food (at Zaika), and washed it all down with pints of bloody good beer.

London's callingLondon’s calling

London Bobby and horseLondon bobby and his horse

Bangers and mashBangers and mash

Beth and Big Papa with St. Paul's in the backgroundBeth and Big Papa with St. Paul’s in the background

Millennium Bridge LondonMillennium Bridge London

British flagBritish flag

Girl in Hyde ParkGirl in Hyde Park

 

Check out Delicious Baby Photo Friday for more bloody good photos!

Great expectations

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Wearing a Kate Middleton mask in London

When I heard the news, Kate and William are expecting, I couldn’t help but remember the last time I was in England. Nine months ago, I passed through London on the mother of all trips, the trip where Big Papa and I would bring home Baby Bird. London was, if you will, our last hurrah before parenthood.

Big Papa and I enjoyed two days of Big Ben and Buckingham Palace, all the while feeling a heady mix of emotions: excitement that, after years of waiting, we were finally going to be parents; fear that something might go wrong at the last minute–a situation we were all-too-familiar with; and, a certain suspension of belief around the myriad ways our lives were soon to change.

We had been a couple for seven years. Seven years of hours spent working in our garden, of wine tasting trips to Walla Walla and Willamette Valley, of weekends away at remote B&Bs, and of dinners with friends that started at 7:00 and lingered for hours.

Friends who were parents themselves would tell me: Eat out at romantic restaurants as much as you can. See movies_in_a movie theater. Finish any lingering home improvement projects. Travel! I would smile and nod my head as I imagined our child giggling and jumping in the leaves we’d rake each fall, ordering Mac ‘n cheese off the kid’s menu at our favorite dinner spots, or toting a little suitcase packed with stuffed animals as we boarded a flight.

And I continued to conjure up these images until I sat, that last night, at Zaika, a high zoot Indian restaurant in the Kensington district, that a friend had recommended to us. I sat at that table, with its white linen tablecloth, gleaming silverware and crystal goblets, amidst elegantly dressed diners, listening to the din of their chatter. I sat there and stared at my Tandoori chicken. I stared at Big Papa and he stared back at me.

I know we both felt ready to run like scared rabbits. In 12 hours, we would pack our bags and board a flight that would take us to a place we’d never been, a place we could have never imagined in our wildest expectations.

“Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day.”

~Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

Bangers and mash with Walla Walla gravy recipe

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Bangers and mashWhen I first met Big Papa, I was having a crown put on one of my teeth. As I bemoaned my inability to eat much of anything toothier than mush, he assured me, “Chewing is overrated.” That’s when I found out mashed potatoes rate as one of Big Papa’s favorite dishes. Sausages easily make it into his top five. So this March, when our travels to Armenia included a couple days in London on the way over, I knew that if we ate nothing else, we’d eat bangers and mash.

Bangers and mash are quintessential British pub food, eaten in homes for centuries but first served up in English pubs around WWI as a cheap and filling lunchtime meal for the working class. “Bangers,” sausages, and “mash,” potatoes are served up with a healthy slathering of rich onion gravy.

Bangers take their name from the sound sausages can emit when fried. Modern sausages apparently don’t make the loud “bang” sausages pre-WWII did when they were overheated because today’s meats are generally made with less water.

We tried bangers and mash at several London locales and they did not disappoint. How could they really? Bangers and mash, with a good pint of ale alongside, are comfort food at its finest.

Here’s my northwest take on onion gravy, made using succulent Walla Walla sweet onions. Paired with some locally grown potatoes and homemade sausage (one of the latest “it” foodie items easily found in Seattle), and our recent spate of gray days and drizzle, blimey if it doesn’t feel like jolly old England.

 

Caramelized Walla Walla Onion Gravy
Ingredients

  • 3 cups thinly sliced Walla Walla onions (or other Vidalia-type sweet onion)
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 tablespoon light brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon garlic
  • 1 teaspoon thyme leaves (fresh if possible)
  • 2 tablespoons cognac (optional)
  • 1 cup beef or chicken stock
  • salt and pepper

 

How to:

  1. In a small saucepan set over medium heat, add the butter.
  2. Once melted, add the onions and sugar to the pan and saute, stirring occasionally until wilted and well caramelized, about 18 to 20 minutes.
  3. Add the garlic and thyme to the pan and saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
  4. Add the flour to the pan and stir to make a roux, about 2 to 3 minutes.
  5. De-glaze the pan with the cognac and once nearly evaporated, 1 minute, add the chicken stock.
  6. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer.
  7. Simmer the gravy for 15 minutes and season with the salt and pepper.

Want more bang in your week? Check out Wanderfood Wednesday!