easy dinner

being the lazy uni student that i am, i really didn't want to cook last night. i was walking past the shop inside the main building and saw some sandwiches in the fridge, so i figured i'd pick one up. after all, i didn't have much food left in my own fridge, and it looked really delicious from what the description said. it's an organic ready-packed sandwich called "tastes of the souk" (£2.85).

the sandwich is filled with "moroccan spiced chicken with coriander houmous, roasted lemon and peppers, olives and rocket". judging by how things are spelled and how many words seem foreign, it's definitely not a typical american sandwich. a quick translation: "morrocan spiced chicken with cilantro hummus, roasted lemon, peppers, olives and arugula".

overall, it was quite delicious. the chicken was well prepared and they gave you enough - could've been more, but it was adequate. what surprised me was the lemon; somehow, i had read the description as "lemon juice", but it's actually full on grilled lemon slices! it wasn't appetizing. you'd bite into the sandwich, enjoy the savoury taste of the chicken and hummus, and then .. "what's that bitter tough thing??"

see the orange thing? that's not chicken, that's grilled lemon rind. once i pulled all the slices out, the sandwich became much better and made a good dinner. i did get hungry after a while though, so it might be better suited for lunch. not too shabby for £2.85, though for that price i would've preferred a grilled panini (:

late night food runs

before arriving in london, i was telling everyone how i would probably come back 15 pounds skinnier because there'd be nothing to eat. i should've known better because i'm still going to be living on a college campus. campus = pubs + late night fast food + chinese/indian take out. aka WEIGHT GAIN!

there's a place down the road from school that stays open until 2 am every night called Tasty Kebab. granted, it's not the nicest quality food you can get, but after a night out or if you're up studying, it's not a bad place to go.

i've eaten from there at least 4-5 times now; i swear the owners probably know me :| i think there's only been a week that i haven't shown up asking for chips (£1.20)!

the first time i ordered them, i got ketchup and no vinegar because i was staunchly standing my ground against the whole "i-put-malt-vinegar-on-everything-i-eat" British ordeal. they give you a choice of sauces as well, and i've always ordered the garlic sauce, which is essentially garlic flavored mayo & a tad of ranch, i believe.

the chips are really, really good. i'm not gonna lie - i think i probably have a few arteries blocked already, but they're that good. it must be how they fry it or something..much much better than normal pub chips (in my opinion). probably because it's greasier. haha.

i've also ordered the falafel and chips (£3.00) in order to watch the USC game. i know, it's weird, but they don't serve nachos anywhere near here, and i don't trust getting a hotdog at any of these places..

they come with a piece of pita bread, fresh off the grill (: and yes, that's garlic sauce again...and vinegar! i've completely converted and can't eat chips w/o it anymore. here's a nice look at the crispy falafels:

yumm. these falafels were definitely satisfying, even if i'm not the world's biggest falafel fan. i think it's because i watched an episode of F.R.I.E.N.D.S where rachel's sister thought ross was the falafel guy..regardless, i got a huge craving for them and headed to Tasty Kebab. didn't fail to impress (:

i haven't actually tried any of their meat products yet because i'm slightly worried about them .. they're encased in a large refrigerated glass, but it looks exactly the same each time i walk in, so i'm not sure how long they stay in there :| the rotating piece of lamb on a spit also looks slightly dodgy (sorry, TK!) i think i'll be sticking with the chips for now. at £1.20, it's a freaking good deal. they give you a lot, and it's definitely enough to share.

Tasty Kebab

319 New Cross Rd.

New Cross, SE14 6AS

Cornish Pasty

I dearly luv a pasty, 
A 'ot 'n' leaky wun, 
Weth taties, mayt 'n' turmit, 
Purs'ly 'n' honyun, 

Un crus be made with su't, 
'N' shaped like 'alf a moon, 
Weth crinkly hedges, freshly baked, 
E always gone too soon!

 a traditional pasty (pronounced past-EE, with a soft "a" - opposite of pastry) is very similar to what Brits call "pies"; it's essentially half a pie with some sort of filling inside it. almost like a large unfried empanada, really. you can get all sorts of filling inside, from cheese & bacon to apples and pork, with the basic being the "traditional", which has minced meat (aka ground beef in American-speak) along with onion and potato. pasties originate from Cornwall, and they are actually trying to place a patent on it so that only those made from there can have the label (like Champagne).

the first time i saw the company, i thought they had spelled something wrong. then, when i was queuing to buy one, i sneakily listened to how everyone else was ordering so that i wouldn't say something stupid. thank goodness, because otherwise i would've blurted out "can i get a chicken and veg PASTE-EE please?"sure goes against basic spelling/pronunciation judgment, doesn't it? you'd think that since pastry has a long "a', pasty would be the same...

anyway. i chose to order the steak and stilton pasty (£3.00) from the West Cornwall Pasty Co. today, which you can find pretty much at every large tube station.

the filling was .. decent, i suppose. it was my second time getting it, and both times i was a little let down. they mostly give you loads and loads of onions and potatoes; i barely tasted the cheese, and there was about 4-5 pieces of steak inside. small pieces. :| the crust tasted quite good, but there's a whole lot of it. quite honestly, half the time i barely even got any filling with each bite.

i always get cravings for them for some reason, yet every time i actually DO eat one, all i feel is disappointment. i'm thinking that i might just stick with shepherd's pies for now, and perhaps i'll give the "traditional pasty" a try some time before i leave for home.

West Cornwall Pasty Co.
Unit 11, Main Concourse
London Bridge Station
London, SE1 9SP

LOLA's Cupcakes

i am usually not a sweets person, let alone a cupcake person. i love baking them for people, but i usually hate eating them - especially the frosting! well, it seems like i've found a new weakness: Lola's  Cupcakes. i've been there twice already, once at Harrods, and once at Selfridges & Co. they have counters inside both stores, and each time i was unable to walk away without a purchase.

the first time i tried it was at Harrods; i figured i'd buy 2 mini-cupcakes and then decide if it's worth getting a bigger one next time. i purchased a red velvet cupcake and a banana cupcake, which turned out unsuccessful because they gave me a vanilla one instead :(

they package it in a little container for you, and let's just say small container + crazy tube ride = smushed cupcakes.

public house food

The British Empire was created as a by-product of generations of desperate Englishmen roaming the world in search of a decent meal. - Bill Marsano

you know, the Brits get teased a lot for having "super bland food" and just..well, bad food in general. i had prepared myself for the absolute worst before arriving in London: i searched Google for "typical british foods" and got "carrots, peas, brussel sprouts, potatoes, roast meats, pork, and cream." i thought to myself, "great, i'm going to starve." and decided that i would bring some packs of ramen to prevent utter starvation. then i thought, "wait. how could London, such a huge and diverse city, have bad food?" turns out, it's not so bad after all (just rather expensive).

i'll describe a bit about London food in general in some later posts; today, i wanted to focus on something important: fish and chips. this is generally what you think of as soon as you hear the words "british food" and "pub". i've had it twice so far, and both were quite decent.

my first ever experience (yes, i've never even tried it in the US before) was at Castle, a nice pub near Notting Hill. the plate of fish and chips (haddock, i believe) arrived with a side of mushy peas (£7.90).

i had always imagined the fish to be cut up in chunks - something along the lines of fish fingers. well, in front of me was a huge, 10-inch chunk of fish, waiting to be chopped up and eaten. the fish itself was fried to a nice crisp; the skin was so crispy that it detached itself from the fish, so i was able to save a few arteries from being blocked by not eating some bits. the mushy peas were incredibly sour. i know British people have a habit of putting malt vinegar on everything, but i was hoping that i could control the amount in my food. needless to say, i didn't finish it. the tartar sauce was extremely light, and there was barely any taste to the fish even with the sauce and vinegar and lemon juice. i left the place happy but a little unimpressed; somehow, i felt like it didn't wow me like i had expected.

the second time was at White Horse, which was a huge pub right next to Carnaby St.

after a full afternoon of walking around, i was starved and ready to dig into my food. the pub was huge; my only complaint was that our table smelled of smoke the entire time, and we never found out where it was coming from. when the fish & chips (£7.50) arrived, i eagerly dug in, hoping that it would be a more pleasant experience.

the mushy peas this time weren't sour at all - surprisingly, this turned into a complaint of mine. it didn't have a taste, really. the fish was smaller than the one i had gotten at Castle, but it was much thicker. the sauce was perfect, and i finished off the entire plate without hesitation (not a good idea because the portion was rather large, and i was in slight pain afterwards). they don't give you as much chips though, but it was well made up for by the huge fish.

it's not exactly a healthy meal, but i'm not giving it up any time soon. if i can help it, i'm trying to eat it at least twice a month so i can say i truly know what they're supposed to taste like.

Castle
225 Portobello Road
Ladbroke Grove, W11 1LU

White Horse
16 Newburgh Street
Soho, W1F 7RY 

breaking out the champagne

after a one year hiatus on my previous food blog, i felt like it was time to start it up again. the only problem was, it didn't seem appropriate to just pick up from where i had left off. first of all, i wasn't even sure if i wanted to approach it the same way i did before - i'm not sure how this one will turn out, but i wanted it to be more fun, casual, and personal. secondly, i felt like my style of writing had changed some since i last wrote (it's been a good 2+ years); i also am using a new google account. it would have been weird to see a new username posting, even though it was the same person.

hence, it was only appropriate to create a brand new blog! those who know me understand that i love creating new things - new screen names, new email addresses, new blogs, new layouts...the list goes on. i promise i'll try to make this one last, though!

if you want to visit the previous one, click HERE. i read through it from beginning to end the other day, and i'm actually quite surprised at how much i used to cook and bake! in fact, i'm rather impressed! (: i couldn't even believe that i had made some of those things .. well, i'll take this new blog as my opportunity to impress myself (and you guys) all over again. 

finally, thanks for taking the time out of your busy day to read my blog. i hope it creates a bit of joy for those out there who enjoy eating and learning about food as much as i do!