BURGER FEST 2015

8:50 PM

Burger Fest!!! A coming together of the best burgers in London. 75 burger joints submitted their best burger for a competition based on bun, patty, structure, toppings and 'wow' factor. Some of the top 10 were brought together to Paperworks near Elephant and Castle for a festival. For the price of the ticket, we got 5 slider-size burgers!

Voucher booklet for our grub

(i don't feel badly about not getting the 5th burger voucher because it had naughty language
'Throw them burgers at me'
'Stuffed but still going'
'Deep breaths - you can do this'
'Beast mode'

We got stamped and ready to go! We determined to try the 'worst' one first. That way, if we were crazy full, the best one would theoretically still be great.

Paperworks. South of the River.

No. 10: The Juicy B...... (i just can't, sorry) From Burger Craft.
"Two loosely packed patties smothered in melted cheddar and smokey BBQ sauce, topped with crunchy lamb lettuce and tomato and slapped between a soft-glazed brioche". 
(spoiler alert* this was our collective favourite! haha)

No. 7: The Green Chilli Cheeseburger from Dip n Flip
"A chunky spicy patty, gooey American cheese and pillow-soft bun, all dipped in French gravy. Dangerous."

They so thoughtfully gave everyone gloves with which to enjoy this baby. It was soooo good. Dip each bite in aus jus? It's just too good to be true :)

No. 5: The Buffalo Bill from Street Kitchen
"An aged beef patty topped with mustard mayo, sweet pickled onions and gloriously melted cheddar, perfectly housed in a golden brioche bun. True. Burger. Perfection".
I would agree that the cheddar was glorious and this was my favourite patty for texture.

No. 1: The Veni Moo from Wild Game Co.
"Beef and venison patties (sourced like all the meat on Wild Game's menu, from Andy's family's farm in the Scottish Highlands), topped with bresaola, Bearnise sauce and onion jam. #getinmybelly"
Sadly, the #1 wasn't my favourite. I'm sure it didn't help that I was not even close to hungry but it was overdone for my taste. 
Sad story-some of these vendors RAN OUT of burgers. We got the last of these from Wild Game (lucky) and the Burger Bear didn't show at all with their #3 burger called the Angry Grizzly. We still got our money's worth and some real good food.

Overall, a marvellous night out with some dear friends!



You Can Do A Lot in One Day

4:23 PM

Cousin Madeline was in town and we walked all around. These are all the things we did in ONE day. And we didn't even start until noon (because beauty sleep, guys). London is a fantastical place.

Since we met up near Hyde Park Corner, it just made sense to start at
Apsley House, the home of the Duke of Wellington. There are lovely rooms, art, a museum room and rather large and unusual statue of Napoleon that he was quoted saying was 'an embarrassment'. You would have to see it to know why but let's just say the sculptor was massively generous in the statue's physique.

Just down the street, you come to the Prince Albert Memorial. A large golden tribute to Albert from his loving wife, Queen Victoria. It is the middle point of the southern edge of Hyde Park.

We walked through Hyde Park, past the Royal Albert Hall, Prince Albert Memorial, north and east to the Italian Gardens. This is pretty central on the north end of the park.

We found the Peter Pan Statue! J.M. Barrie lived near Kensington Gardens (just west of this statue) and received inspiration from his walks around the Gardens.
In his Peter Pan tale, The Little White Bird, Peter flies out of his nursery and lands beside the Long Water. The statue is located on this exact spot.

We stopped for a spot of Afternoon Tea. The hotel was was once an African Bank. Very interesting decor and sadly NOT my new favourite place for tea. I have been recommended Orangery but this tea was very last minute.

Over on Holborn High Street, a street artist was sculpting a sleeping puppy! Out of sand! I love London and its random street art.

Whenever I take someone to Covent Garden, it is REQUIRED to take a quick walk through Neal's Yard. A colourful and fun place! Also, just smelling the pizza from Homeslice in Neal's Yard is worth the trip. There is always a queue out the door and down a ways on the weekends. Huge pizza though.

The magical sweets section at Fortnum & Mason
Everything inside is super dreamy. I could, and probably will, make a whole post about it.
Not usually on every tourist 'list of things to see' but I HIGHLY recommend it! Even just to pop in to look. 

Hatchards. London's oldest bookstore.
'Booksellers since 1797'

We hit Covent Garden, Neal's Yard, Fortnum & Mason, Hatchards Bookstore, and then walked up Regent's Street to see the great mess of people at Oxford Circus. From there, the BBC building was just a couple of minutes

Canal around Regent's Park and right before you get to the Camden Lock Market

Walked the length of Regents Park and got all the way to Primrose Hill. We got to see the evening skyline. The very shiny building in the center is the Shard. The tower to the right a bit is BT tower (big landline phone and internet provider).


We took a bus to Little Venice because we had our eye on dinner at a nearby pub. They closed the kitchen earlier than we thought so no go but what a lovely place to watch a sunset!

Little Venice

The Warwick (pronounced waaar-ick) Castle pub. Where we wanted to go to dinner...didn't work out.

Like I said, the dinner we had planned fell through so we sauntered up to Warrington Hotel that Taylor and I pass ALL the time. Pretty cool inside and the food wasn't half bad :)

All in one day! We were pretty tired at the end of the day but we only tubed once and used 2 buses. There is so much to see, it's crazy. If you know what you're into, it's easy to plan the best route (Brits pronounce 'root', so do some Americans but still..) to hit the biggest, best and even some of the less visited gems.

Taste of London, Taste of Heaven

11:44 PM


Through work, Tamara and I got complimentary tickets to the food festival, Taste of London, in the outer circle of Regent's Park.

I'll give you what's in the picture and recap our favourites at the end!

Pakistani honey mangoes. So so sweet and delicious. Free sample? Don't mind if I do.

Lithuanian BREAD LEMONADE. What? Yes. I tasted zero lemon. No one seemed to be accepting the drinks that had been sitting in the sun so this may have been cool and carbonated at one time but it's hard to tell. It smells like tootsie rolls and yeast but I couldn't pinpoint what it actually tastes like. Not bread, lemonade, or tootsie rolls, that's for sure.
It's made with bread (not sure how) and usually the homemade kind is alcoholic. 

We found The Draper Arms first.
menu: Courgette, Mint, Strawberry and Cow's Curd salad. 
And from Ember Yard menu:
-Asparagus, peas and goat cheese croquettes with wild garlic pesto
-White Chocolate Panna Cotta with Roasted Peach, Strawberries and Meringue

There were also loads of free samples of just about everything. We grabbed this Raspberry Chocolate Chilli Bang from Mövenpick. A raspberry sorbet, white chocolate ice cream with white chocolate flakes, topped with lemon zest and chilli flakes! Amazing!

Cute little Italian stand for Limoncello. Didn't not partake :)

Free fresh pasta ravioli! Yes, please!!! Cheese ravioli with butter and sage. Simple and delightful.

So many people! Glad we went on a Thursday night and not at the weekend!

That tower out there is the BT tower. (Provides Internet and the fading technology called landlines haha)
Tamara and I specifically sought out only a few places. Lima Floral was one of them.
Menu: Seafood Ceviche, Traditional Tigers Milk, Canchita corn

Also had to try their Alfajores with Dulce de Leche and Amazonian Chocolate

There are demonstration tables all around. We stopped to watch a 'chop restaurant'

At the Modern Pantry we tried a Buttermilk, Lemon and Fennel Seed Cheesecake, Gooseberry and Vanilla Compote.
I could not get over the fennel seeds. So weird. And I don't love cheesecake, especially baked cheesecake. (makes my job hard, you know haha)
(p.s. english cheesecake is cold-set, just a by-the-by)

Mestizo had a Chicken Tinga on the menu that I was game to try (probably my favourite Mexican dish) BUT we walked up and saw that they had tacked on Tamales to the menu. WHAT?! Yes, please. We got two. A Chicken Mole savoury tamal and a sweet Strawberry one.
It was even coloured the same way my Grandma would make them. So special. Mmm mmm good!

I hadn't realised how thirsty I was until we walked by an all-natural popsicle stand. I am always game for mango/passionfruit combos so I jumped on this Orange, Mango, Passionfruit bar. Pretty good!

Barbecoa (by Jamie Oliver)
Menu: Smoked & Fried Wings- White BBQ Sauce, Cashew Nuts
More Barbecoa got us some Salted Peanut Butter Cheesecake- Black Cherries, Sour Cherry Candy Floss. YES.
(Candy floss is UK speak for Cotten Candy)

I wish I had room in my tummy for my all-time favourite cheeseburger at Shake Shack....

Duck & Waffle and Sushisamba shared the most intense booth that we saw. Both restaurant locales have incredible views of the city up high on the 30-something floor. We didn't get anything here so I guess I'll have to try both in the sky-high locales. ;)

Hyde Park picnic and Japanese Pancakes

9:00 AM

On the 13th, we had a church picnic. Pretty low key but so nice to see and get to know new people and hang around outside. It wasn't idyllic weather but it was nice enough to keep the picnic outdoors. 
Afterward, we took a nice, long walk through Hyde Park. Past the pond, Princess Diana's memorial fountain and through the Rose Garden toward Hyde Park Corner. 

I took a picture in this same spot a few months ago in a sad, sad, winter-bare Rose Garden. Now it is blooming, full of beautiful smells and is just gorgeous.

Another 'then vs now' picture of this bench in Hyde Park

Taylor had planned a dinner with his co-workers. For a fun and different kind of meal, we decided to try Okonomi-Yaki (like a pancake, but Japanese style) Abeno has two locations, one near Covent Garden and one in Bloomsbury.

We got to watch them cook these pancake-like things in front of us. NOT for the very hungry. It would have been torture if we had gotten there and been starving.

The lady asked if we wanted all the toppings: seaweed, special sauce and fish flakes. Fish flakes, what? not a thing we just do but when in Rome....or a Japanese restaurant... Not bad! My Tokyo mix with Pork, Squid and Prawns was pretty tasty.

Overall, a very fun experience. Great to meet the people that Taylor works with but not adding Abeno to our list of All-Time Favourite places to eat.

Banoffee treat! Taylor and I are incapable of quitting milkshakes. I did shake it up that night and tried a very British dessert consisting of biscuits(cookies), banana, caramel and vanilla ice cream. I like it! Taylor was not a fan and stuck with his favourite Oreo milkshake at Byron. (MUST eat in. A take-away milkshake is not the same.)

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