New European Food: Great Britain

Showing posts with label Great Britain. Show all posts

Cruisin' On Tha Briney

Ocean Princess

Emerald Princess on the right

The Last time we cruised was years ago, in the Caribbean. Very family friendly and incidentally there were things for the grownups to do. Didn't set my hair on fire to throw time and money at it again.

This summer was entirely different. Two cruises. Happy faces! High fives! Mostly adult activities. “What do you mean by activities?” he leered. Dance classes: Salsa, ballroom, line. Photography classes taught by pros. Art history class. Wine tasting. Cooking. Exercise classes. Comedians. Floor shows. Magicians. Six luxurious bars, to linger over a martini and ogle the pony-tailed serving staff. Much more. You really have to pace yourself! I’m referring, of course, to the 40 different styles of martinis.

Pouring 9 Martinis at once

Fruit carving demo

Scottish Dancers

Both cruises were with Princess Line, a Carnival Corporation property. Carnival owns a good portion of the name-brand cruise lines.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnival_Corporation_%26_plc

Which brings us to the whys and wherefores.

What’s the best way to pick a cruise? First, a few questions and the first one is not about the cruise line. Where do you want to go and for how long? Thirdly, when you nailed down those first two, which ship is the newest? That tells you a lot about luxury and service and whether the paint will be peeling. I’m drawing an unreasonably stark picture. Cruising competition is keen and most ships are well kept. Still, after a few days, if you’re a cruise veteran, as yours truly now is, your practiced eye will notice a difference.

The Emerald Princess, launched in 2007, was close to top of the line. We sailed on E.P. for 12 days around the Baltic. Wonderful ship. Emerald is large, with almost 4000 passengers. I figured that might be a little crowded, a drag on the limited facilities. Big surprise. No trouble at all. With so many customers, the onboard agenda was packed with things to do. Never saw an unreasonably large crowd. Never saw a tour cancelled due to lack of participation. Never saw a pool or a hot tub overcrowded or closed for repairs. Service was superb. Anytime I wanted a libation, on deck, in my room, or in one of the exquisite lounges, a smiling staff member obliged.

Our second cruise was on the Ocean Princess, launched in 1999 and refurbished in 2009. Ocean Princess took us around the British Isles and Ireland for 8 days. At 680 passengers, it’s a much smaller ship, with fewer onboard activities and some tours cancelled due to fewer people signing up. The ship was very comfortable, but showed its age. Hot tubs frequently closed for maintenance. Automatically opening doors didn’t. Just a few things that were rougher than the Emerald Princess. The common rooms were just as elegant…. meaning damn elegant, but of course were smaller. Service was still wonderful.

Emerald Princess Showroom

In the Wheelhouse Bar

Much to my surprise and prejudice, the larger, newer ship suited my taste.

I’m slicing the apple thinly. Both vessels met high standards and I would gladly take a cruise on either one again, however, if I had a choice…

What’s good about a cruise? Can’t I just pick out some cities, fly there, stay in a hotel and have a better time? Depends. Many of the cities we thoroughly enjoyed, I’d either never heard of, or would never have gone to on my own.

Baltic Cruise: Tallin, Estonia. St Petersburg, Russia. Helsinki, Finland. Stockholm, Sweden. Copenhagen, Denmark. Oslo, Norway. Aarhus, Denmark.

Great Britain-Ireland: Dover, England. St. Peter’s Port, Guernsey, U.K. Dartmouth, England. Waterford, Ireland. Dublin, Ireland. Edinburgh, Scotland.

Ever hear of Tallin? We hadn’t either. Now it’s one of our favorite places:

http://stroudallover.blogspot.de/2013/07/tallinn-estonia-cutest-place-youve.html

Think you’d pick Dartmouth off a map of England?

http://stroudallover.blogspot.de/2013/09/dartmouth-pilgrims-castles-and-war.html

Think you’d have much luck touring all of Scandinavia in 12 days?

The question boils down to survey versus depth. I don’t suggest a cruise if your heartfelt desire is to learn Swedish, or herd reindeer in northern Norway.

How about the cost? Aren’t cruises super expensive? Can be. Don’t have to be. A little planning goes well with any excursion, whether you’re shopping for airfare, hotels, or cruises. Cruise lines are known for their deep discounts and here’s where to find them:

http://www.vacationstogo.com/

http://www.cruisecritic.com/

Both sites are loaded with info, from cost to details about the ships. On Princess Line, all meals are included and the meals are always interesting and very high quality. Feel like sunning by the pool, downing a cool one and noshing a pizza? Feel like a lavish, multi-course meal? You can do either one, or both, or anything in between. All included.

Alcoholic drinks are extra, as are specialty coffees. No matter. You can spend a bunch on drinks and still come in well under the high prices for all-inclusive cruises. Pretty much like the airlines, right? Economy versus First Class. The big difference being that going cheap on a cruise does not mean the food is less than wonderful and having to sleep with your knees tucked under your chin.

Looking down on the balconies

Pool deck on the Ocean Princess

Cruise suites, of course, are luxurious and huge, but lesser accommodations ain’t bad. On our Baltic cruise we opt for a room with a balcony and paid a couple of hundred more. On our Britain-Ireland tour, the balconies were sold out, but we got a room with a picture-window ocean view that was almost as good. Both rooms were spacious and delightfully appointed. Definitely not what you’d call economy rooms.

What’s the bottom price line? You can find deals that cost $100 a day or less, per person, first class meals included. Stack that up against the cost of meals and luxury hotel rooms! On a cruise you also get sea views, entertainment, sunsets, and a bed that gently rocks and lulls you to sleep.

I’m a convert. Cruises are fun, cheap, and a wonderful way to relax, while cooks, bartenders, and maids bust their hinnies to keep you comfortable and happy. In the end, travel always boils down to time, money, interest, and style. For my money, time, interests and style, I’m looking forward to our

next cruise.

Famous White Cliffs of Dover

Try and get a view like this from your hotel room!

Harrods' Food Halls, An English Tradition

Walls and Floors in Magnificent Tiles

Just one of the many ornate displays

A Few Things Don't Cost the Earth

(Be sure to scroll down for more photos and a recipe.)

Been to Harrods? It’s the massive pillar of London’s upper crust section, Knightsbridge. Ya gotta go. More than just another department store, it’s a sight, a destination, a one of a kind playground for eyes, imaginations, and pocketbooks.

But, like anything else, to get the most out of a visit, you really should know a bit about what you’re seeing. Harrods stands as towering reminder of the enduring entrepreneurial spirit of its founder, Charles Henry Harrod. Chuck, as he has never been known, opened his one room shop in 1849, selling tea and groceries, and employing two clerks and a messenger boy.

Since then it’s blossomed into a looming seven floors and over a million square feet of luxury, fulfilling every need of even the most demanding and deepest pockets. In short, it lives up to it’s motto, Omnia Omnibus Ubique, All Things for All People, Everywhere. Check out all the good stuff at http://www.harrods.com/.

Just name it and you can buy it here. Let your imagination wander. Yep, they’ve got it! But, my favorites and probably the world’s favorite sections are the food halls. No market I have ever seen can match it, either for luxury, quality, or service, with prices to match. Want to sit at the Caviar House Oyster Bar and enjoy a half dozen? Well, you’d better know your oysters because the selection includes varieties from all over Ireland and Great Britain. Go and scoop up a half dozen and at today’s exchange rate you’ll plunk down about $46, or op for the seafood platter, which includes two glasses of wine. $247.50.

For obvious reasons, being married and having no reason to impress being the main ones, I wander aimlessly, asking questions, peering at the food, and wondering what ever became of man’s natural lust for a bargain. No bargains here. The food staff, wearing aprons and boaters attends to your every need, including your finger pointing at sausages you’ve never before laid eyes on, or hanging rabbits, or brightly feathered birds ready for plucking. “

You’ll have to admit, however, that the berries are perfect, every one of them. The apples shine. The joints of beef fit for Henry VIII. The displays are a marvel of panache, and if you plod and poke enough, you can in fact savor a souvenir or two for under ten bucks. Ah, the meats! Ah, the teas! Ah, the breads! Amen.

Back in 1985, Mohammed Al Fayed, an Egyptian, purchased Harrods for £615 million. You might remember the name. His son perished with Princess Diana on that fateful evening of the unhappy car crash.

Recently, Mr. Al Fayed sold the property to the Qatari royal family for £1.5bn, a tiny profit of just under 200 %.

I doubt the sale will change Harrods one whit. It didn’t before. Why mess with a moneymaker? Another thing they won’t mess with is the world famous Harrods’ winter sale, when prices plummet and crowds mash in with a gusto that makes a sardine tin seem roomy. Want to get in on this year’s action? Be there at 9:45 am on Wednesday, 26 December, when Cirque de Soleil’s performance will mark the 25th anniversary of the Harrods Sale, in association with Macmillan Cancer Support charity. Doors open at 10am for all the credit card waving bargain hunters.

Until then, here’s a bit of the English table to keep you entertained, a recipe from Harrods.

Beef Wellington with Stilton (Serves 4)

1 tbsp vegetable oil

750g (1 pound 10 oz) beef fillet

1 large onion, finely chopped

3–4 tbsp finely chopped parsley

250g (9 oz) chestnut mushrooms, finely chopped

150g (5 oz)Stilton, crumbled into small pieces

1 packet of puff pastry

1 egg, beaten

Horseradish sauce to serve

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas 6.

2. Heat the oil in a non-stick or heavy frying pan on a high heat, and fry the beef until it is browned on all sides. Remove the meat from the pan and set aside to cool for about 15 minutes.

3. Reduce the heat and add the onion, parsley and mushrooms to the pan. Season with salt and pepper. Fry for a few minutes, then remove from the heat and leave to cool. Add the crumbled Stilton and stir gently.

4. Roll out the pastry into a rectangle slightly wider than the beef and long enough to wrap completely around the beef. With the longer side of the rectangle nearest you, spread the Stilton mixture onto the pastry, leaving a 2.5cm gap all around. Brush the edges with beaten egg. Place the beef in the centre and wrap the pastry over it, sealing the edges carefully. Fold in the ends and place on a non-stick baking sheet or in a roasting dish.

5. Cut a diamond pattern into the surface of the pastry, being careful not to cut through it, and brush it with the beaten egg.

6. Bake for about 40 minutes. Leave to rest for 10–15 minutes, then cut into thick slices and serve with horseradish sauce.

The Eagle

Welcome to The Eagle

Outside, academics continue...

Note the well scorched ceiling in the RAF Bar

A corner of wartime memories

Steak 'n Kidney Pie, with chips and peas

Let the world roll by, while...

You enjoy your pint

Let’s talk about England. Wait a sec, let’s get more specific and talk about Cambridge. No use stopping there; let’s get down to the basics of life and talk about The Eagle, one of England’s and Cambridge’s finest pubs. Matter of fact, we can talk about The Eagle and the basics of life in one breath, but we’ll get to that later.

Everybody know about The University of Cambridge? I didn’t think so. It’s only one of England’s, and the world’s most famous universities, another being Oxford. Matter of fact The University of Cambridge is a spawn of Oxford, germinating when a group of disgruntled Oxfordsonians (my own clever word) left the older institution in disgust in 1209. Don’t know what the arguments were. Who can truly penetrate the snide and foggy brains of academicians (not my own clever word)? In 1231, King Henry III granted the new university a charter.

Not organized at all like most American universities, Cambridge is a collection of 31 colleges and over 150 departments. With a university this ancient, you’d never guess that the last association to be granted college status was Homerton College in 2010. Google it to read more about its lineage.

Colleges accept their own students, hire their own staff, own their own property and receive their own income. Students of a particular college live and eat there, and also meet for small group teaching sessions, known as supervisions. Thereafter, the academic landscape broadens and students from one college may attend classes in all the colleges. The University of Cambridge awards degrees.

Kinda cool. Students not only end up taking classes at many colleges, but are also encouraged to attend lectures outside their fields of study, giving them glimpses of multitudinous subjects they would never have encountered in an American style institution. Boys and girls, this is called education and you probably didn’t encounter it unless you were Ivy League.

By the way, Harvard and MIT rank right up there with Oxford and Cambridge in study after study of the world’s best.

But, enough about expanding your brain and b-o-r-i-n-g stuff like that. Who needs it when there’s a neat place to drink beer?

I refer, of course to a quaint spot, nestled right around the corner from the city’s bustling market square. The Eagle pub.

Bustling is not an idle handle. The churn of the market, the buzz of the voices, the rattle of trucks and stream of bicycles permeates the city center. Hard to distinguish whether you’re in the city or the university. They mingle like strands of a rope. The streets run from broad and open, to narrow and tangled, as though a horse-drawn plow had run amuck. Cars creep through this warren of streets and alleys, but pedestrians beware. People in flowing robes ride their bikes where they damn well please.

As I was saying, near the market square sits a pub called The Eagle. Some call it a living shrine to all that college drinking establishments should be. Two whiskey-stained bars. Lots of scarred-top tables. Lots of centuries-old timber, and memorabilia galore. Also, lots to know about The Eagle besides that they serve some of the best bitter this side of heaven, an observation I don’t plan to test anytime soon.

In 1525, the site was bequeathed to Corpus Christi College and by 1667 (a year after the great fire of London) there was a tavern in the same place, called The Eagle & Child. Don’t know what happened to the Child.

Remember I said The Eagle and the basics of life are intertwined? The Eagle is where, in the 1950’s, the discoverers of DNA, Watson and Crick, often huddled over a pint or two.

But, that’s not all that’s special about The Eagle. In the back is the ‘RAF Bar,’ where amid the tumult and death of the Second World War, RAF and American aircrews downed their pints, sweaty and bruised from battle. For some it was their last pint.

The walls are plastered with aircraft photos and squadron plaques, but the real show is on the ceiling. Blackened with the carbon from candles and cigarette lighters, you can clearly read the names and squadron numbers and aircraft types. Mute testimony to those who, despite great odds and the constant reality of death, held the weight of our civilization on their shoulders for six long years.

The food isn’t half bad either. The usual pub grub, but surprisingly tasty.

Just remember, when you order your first pint, The Eagle is a place to throw care and time to the winds. Linger much longer than you’d planned. Bring a book, or sit calmly in the courtyard and watch the unfortunates, who don’t have a brew in their hand, stroll past. There’ll be plenty of time later to wind your way through the serene, cold stone of college courtyards and visit the fabulous Cambridge bookshops, like Heffers on Trinity Street, or stop off in ‘Chocolat Chocolat’ for chocolate as you’ve never had it.

For right now, just sit back, enjoy the company of academics and tourists and the silent ghosts of aircrews who never returned. While you’re at it, order another pint in honor of the gallant aviators!