My favorite food experiences in England

I love to eat! While on my trip to England I ATE so much! The food there is just so fresh and yummy! So much better than what I am used to at home. My real weakness is sweets and desserts, so much so that I ate too many pastries and got sick on this trip! I had more pictures of all the meals, but unfortunately I lost my camera in London as well as the memories of some of the great feasts I enjoyed. 

Here is a little "taste" (no pun intended!) of what we got to enjoy! Bon Appetit!

Shoppes with beautiful cakes like these were all over the place.. 

it was so tempting, but such a tough decision as to which to get!

Good old Italian food in England! It tasted very authentic..

The desserts were to die for (okay not literally)- but they were so good! 

Extra sugar, extra time spent making it.. so much better than our American desserts. 

This was a apple cobbler or apple something of some sort.. it was delicious!

At the worlds most famous luxury department store Harrods there was even a bakery in the store.  The candy and the bakery goods were about the only things we could afford at Harrods. This department store was ridiculous. Everything was high end LUXURY designer. Going up the long elegant escalators I felt as though I was on a Disney ride of some sort. There was real gold and over the top decor all over.

Here is me in Harrods Bakery section picking out  the 3 donuts/pastries that made me sick (puke sick), they were sooo amazing that I ate them all right away. The next morning I was sick.. :( but it was still worth it!

This was a berry cobbler dessert of some sort. We went to this pub two times partially because the food was so good, but mainly for this out of this world cobbler! The pub was across the street from The Parliament Building and the Big Ben clock tower. From the pub you could look outside and see Big Ben! This was probably one of the coolest views I've ever had in a restuarant!

The Italian food there was so good that we ate a LOT of Italian! Yumm! 

This restaurant is right along the Thames River. It is so charming!

Delicious food at the farmers market.. there were rows upon rows of these types of stands!

This restaurant was in the alley next to our hotel, The Charring Cross Hotel. We came back twice to this place it was soo good. Both times I got the spaghetti bolognese.

 

Looking at all this food makes me hungry! I'm off to the kitchen to get something started!

Leeds Castle

Traveling is probably my favorite thing to do. I love exploring new places, seeing different cultures and meeting new people. The spring of 2009 I went to England for 10 days. I will post some of my favorite pictures and memories of the trip. Today I will start with Leeds Castle.

The morning of our trip to Leeds castle, I was so sick. The day before I ate pastries puffs from Harrods bakery. These were pastries to die for .. I ate too many and I was almost going to miss this day at Leeds Castle. Leeds is by far my favorite castle we visited, so I am so glad I ignored my ailing and went.

The castle was built in the 12th Century and was home to many famous medieval Kings and Queens. King Henry VIII was by far the most famous of them. He is the king in the movie The Other Boleyn Girl. This castle is ridiculously huge, its 500 acres. It has a golf course, a lake, gardens, a garden maze, creeks, a grotto and cottages to name a few attractions.

 There were peacocks and other lovely birds wandering the grounds. Peacocks were a symbol or royalty and riches.

 The spectacular views on the grounds are breathtaking.

 Part of the rose gardens.

 Leeds Castle has cottages that can be rented out a week at a time to stay in. They range from about 500 to 1700 pounds for the week. I think that this would be a wonderful get away. I hope I get to stay here sometime in my future and really get to soak up the beauty of the castle.

I cannot even put into words how beautiful and lovely this castle is. If you ever happen to be in London take the train to Kent and visit Leeds Castle! It's charming and romantic. It would also be the PERFECT site for a wedding, oh how I would love to go to a wedding here.. maybe someday!

darling kitchen gadgets

I am so excited about my new kitchen gadgets~ Thanks to Anthropologie for creating such pretty and fun things for every part of our lives... These are a few of my new kitchen gadgets I just recently got.. enjoy

 

 This sweet butter dish is just adorable, the color is so fun and its only $12

 

This magnetic timer is perfect. I feel like I am in 1950s when I use it!

 

My best friend Rachael (Rachael and You), gave me this anthro apron for a wedding shower gift. It makes me want to bake desserts all day long, just so I don't have to take it off! I think it's so cute that I wish it had a back so it could be a dress and I really could wear it out in public.. for now I'll just bake a lot!

 

These letters are also from Anthropologie. We decided to not paint our kitchen walls because we could possibly be moving in the Spring and have to paint it back white, so I wanted to find some ways to bring lots of color into the kitchen. These letters are just fun~

 

I figured that the aprons are so cute (the purple is also from anthro, couldn't find a close up pic of it) that they might as well get some use while I am not wearing them, I am missing my red cherry apron, which I think will complete the look..

Halloween

Every year my Halloweens have consisted of red and orange leafs rustling on the street, cold crisp air, apple cider, and warm sweaters. This year we were on our honeymoon in the Caribbean, so I didn't get my Minnesota Halloween. The air was hot and humid and there were no leafs on the ground! So I decided we must still make our own Halloween. 

We had our friends come over and we decorated Halloween sweets! Here are some pictures of our outcomes:

Camille made her own pumpkin cookie! pretty good for a 2 year old!

 

Wes and Kayla's scary Halloween house

Me and Ty's creepy Halloween house

Our friendly cupcake ghosts

My First Blog

As I sit here and create my first blog, I have so many things to get done on the to-do list: make returns, organize wedding gifts, write 100 thank you notes, clean the apartment, make the chili I promised to make for dinner... but a little distraction can't hurt too much... can it?                                                                            
 

Ty and I got married 3 weeks ago yesterday. It's be one of the best experiences of my life, completely blissful. Being that we just got home from our honeymoon 3 days ago we haven't really gotten into the swing of "normal" married life. One of the first normal things we've encountered since being married was my cooking. Yesterday I decided to make chicken, potatoes and carrots in the crock pot. I have heard that you can't really mess up food in the crock pot. Well.. I did! The food was pretty bad and flavorless. If anyone has easy, simply, tasty recipes send them my way! :) Ty and I will appreciate it.

I am going to try my luck at this chili I said I'd make! Wish me luck!

two of my favorite pics from our honeymoon: