man can not live on crisps alone - vacation notes one

so far, my vacation has not been the typical english experience, which is exactly what i had though it would be. in fact, kensington, my sister's 'hood, reminds me distinctly of blythe and carl's neighborhood in washington dc. except for the driving backwards. and her super posh house. but perhaps it is because i'm a decade veteran of new york city, nothing seems as foreign here as it did last time i visited, back in college and shortly after college. even the people don't look altogether that different. and i should know, i've been bloody staring...

and eavesdropping. i'm quite good at it actually. most likely because most brits seem to think americans are so dumb that if i put a semi-blank expression on my face, they must think i'm mentally counting sheep or such, because they have the most personal conversations immediately in my vicinity. i'v already decided my favorite (favourite?!) words here are "grim" which should be used more often and "pardon" instead of "excuse me" which i will adopt back in the states.

yesterday i just caught up with my sister and did a little stroll around her neighborhood, had some cornish pasties (two of which - onion cheese and tomato - and - piri piri chicken - were good, the third - lamb and mint - rubbish!) and napped like a champion. i had this illusion the ambien i popped on the plane was going to cure me from any jetlag, and was kinda disappointed to find out i was affected like any normal person. i wasted a few hours sleeping, and promptly fell asleep close to 9pm. actually, i passed out on the couch way before then, but woke up to have some "take away" Lebanese food. good stuff.

i've been trying some unusual food stuffs here, like a scotch egg (hardboiled egg wrapped in sausage) but i've got to tip my hat to the brits and there love of crisps, aka potato chips. i know chewy has ruminated about this before, but its astounding how many flavors they have. ehem, flavours. roast chicken? steak and onions? baked ham! bacon and blue cheese! and those are just the meats!! yesterday i had feta, lemon and thyme crisps and today we tried farmhouse cheddar and chives. i don't know why the cheddar was "farmhouse" but it was good. with all the variations, you seriously could go on an all crisp diet, croak of heart failure, and die with a smile on your face.

if you were washing them down with what i feel is a genius invention that someone needs to get on top of the bureau of ATF to allow in america. from marks & spenser, fine purveyor of ready to eat foods and stuff, come cocktails in a can. whisky and soda, vodka and tonic, gin and tonic, margaritas. and not "made from malt liquor to taste like a cocktail, cocktails" honest to god liquor and mixer in a can. bless them. who's ever headed off to a house party and though, "hey, i don't feel like beer tonight?" instead of buying a bottle and mixers, wondering if the host has ice, etc, etc, a six pack of these puppies and you're ready to go! this makes up for a lot of english culture.

although, beyond shopping, i can't say i've immersed myself in too much culture. driving by royal albert hall doesn't count. today we visited the Tate Modern, which was pretty auspicious. i liked it a bunch. i've always been a huge fan of surrealism and dug all the dali, miro, magrite and ernst they had there. practically a whole wing! but some of the other stuff, interesting to look at, yet i just don't understand. someone, please, and i say this without malice or sarcasm, explain rothko to me. i just don't get it. why?

the building itself is special, its a converted power station and an amazing feat of architecture. the one souvenir i've bought so far is a book about the four Tate museums and how they were designed. can't wait to read it.

not to say i haven't bought anything. i purchased two pairs of shorts at the infamous "topshop" yesterday, and although i dug 'em both, the store seems like a sibling to "forever 21" nothing too special. i also got a few trinkets to take to folks back home, and this weird, tart, so unusual its good, jam made from gooseberry and coriander for myself at borough market.

borough market is the london equivalent of chelsea market. although there is a history there, it resides underneath the famous london bridge and has all sorts of cool corners and eaves, but its basically just lots of fresh produce, meats and cheeses. it all looked tempting but nothing so out of the ordinary that you couldn't get it at, well, chelsea market. but it was still enjoyable to wander around and taste bits of this and that, snap a lot of pictures of the artfully arranged food. i'm aiming to get the art of picture composition down prior to asia, so i'm snapping a lot of shots. even when i excuse myself with the "well, i'm a tourist so its ok"

the one place tonight that i did NOT feel like a tourist was the absolute, yes THAT absolute, ice bar. its basically a gimmicky spot for tourists and first-daters (my sis: "well how can you tell they're on a first date" me: "cause they look all awkward and are carrying flowers, no one brings flowers to a third date.") and one big advertisement for the ice hotel in sweden. home of absolute. you pay £30 to gain access to a 24'x24' room which has been chilled to below zero and rimmed with blocks of ice. and ice benches, ice tables, an ice bar, and they serve absolute drinks in glasses made of out ice. they give you these silver "capes" made out of fake fur on the inside and with mittens attached and let you loose. you're not allowed to stay for more then 45 minutes, and you must make reservations, but once the novelty wore off, and your fingers got numb, it was like, "ok, so... this is the ice bar. um, so can we go?!"

the drinks were crazy awful too. like, "absolute peppar, apple liquor and pineapple juice" no, i did not just make that up to give an example, that's actually what my brother-in-law drank. i picked something with absolute raspberry and blue curacao that didn't sound disgusting but it tasted like generic 'tussin. ick. the nice sancerre we had at dinner erased the taste, thankfully, and it went well with my duck i devoured, in honor of the game pending in the good ole usa. go wings.

tomorrow i leave for hong kong and will quite literally spend a day in the air. i take off saturday evening and arrive monday morning. kinda like a bender but without the alcohol. or, er, much alcohol.

cheerio good chaps! xxoo