Crock pots & Paradise

We've been living in Hawaii at the Lodge at Kaneohe Bay for the past month. Basically our room is a normal hotel room with a medium sized refrigerator and freezer, a sink, and a microwave. It is pretty nice (no five-star hotel, but it isn't bad) and it's right on base which is super convenient with us sharing a car! They have a decent breakfast in the mornings which has been really nice and again convenient, especially because they have coffee 24 hours a day and my husband is somewhat of an addict- people call him Starbucks.

Since we don't have an oven or even a hot plate (flat heated surface, typically portable, used for cooking food or keeping it hot- silly enough, didn't know what it was until I came here) we've been eating out a lot, cooking on the grills at the courtyard at the lodge, eating Panera's frozen soups and sadly a few nights have been the classic microwave dinners.

Last week I decided to buy a crock pot. We already have a crock pot, but it is in storage somewhere in Honolulu until we get a house on base. It was hard for me to convince myself to buy something that I already had and didn't really "need," but I am so glad that I got it. We've had a couple meals in it so far, pot roast, Mexican chicken, and chicken tortilla soup. Walking into our room smelling cooking food has been a nice way to feel at home. This week I am going to try some new recipes in the and I am excited to see how they turn out! I am trying Italian chicken tonight and crock pot meatloaf tomorrow. Sounds way better than anything that comes out of a cardboard box and it is much more budget friendly than going out to eat.

What are your favorite go-to crock-pot meals?

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!