Family, Food, and Friends

Now that I'm just about over what must have been the flu, (and yes, I did have a flu shot) I'm finally feeling up to writing a bit about our February trip to England. (Yikes! That was nearly a month ago.) Given the problem with my knee, and my inability to walk very far, this trip was mostly about family, food, and friends.

We were able to spend some time with Mark's dad, kids, grandkids, cousin, and an aunt and uncle. We accompanied the kids to Eureka!, an interactive children's museum. We even got to spend some time with a couple Mark has known since his days at British Aerospace, but whom he hasn't seen in years. For me, it was making new friends and putting faces to a couple of those folks we exchange Christmas cards with each year.

We did manage a quick visit one afternoon to the John Rylands Library in Manchester - a lovely old building with a number of interesting exhibits. We'd planned an outing to the Turner Contemporary in Margate, but for some reason, we came to believe that it houses more contemporary artists than Turner and we ended up just having a leisurely lunch at the Tartare Frigate in Broadstairs instead.

So let's talk about food! There are some things you just have to have when you're in England. (Well, some things Mark has to have - like steak and kidney pie, or kidney and bacon pudding. Things that I will never feel compelled to eat.) But let's be realistic. First of all, you have to have fish and chips. You have to have food served in a pie. You have to have curry. You should have Italian. Chinese and/or Thai food is optional. And of course you must have a roast dinner at least once.

So how did we do? We had fish and chips when we visited his dad. Being a seaside town, it's always good and fresh. We had traditional English fare at lunch several days and a dinner or two. For Mark this translates into lamb dishes or dishes with kidney and something in pies or "puddings". For me it means corned beef hash or Lancashire hot pot, or something served in a pie. We had curry four times. Good for me! I love it, and given that when we were there last September, Mark's condition was deteriorating from it's normal "cast-iron" into "delicate", and we had zero curry. (I threatened him with a week of it when we returned home, but after that whole episode in the French hospital, I couldn't actually do it.) We went out for Italian one night, as well as middle eastern. Ordering the mezzes is wonderful. Lots of little dishes so you can try an assortment of things without feeling over stuffed. We even ordered fajitas one night. Not the Tex-Mex version we're accustomed to, but they were good and it was just the right amount for us to share. Our daughter in law made the Sunday roast dinner and it was way better than the roast dinner you'd get in a pub.

On our last night in Manchester, we got the folks at the Church Inn to do us some sandwiches. Ham and cheese with mustard for me. And when you get them to leave the butter off the bread, it's wonderful. Nothing ruins a good ham sandwich like buttering the bread. And when you have the best mustard in the entire world, I don't know why you want to ruin the taste of it with butter. But all you have to do is ask them to leave it off.