My first deleted post

I just deleted a post; my first blog deletion ever. A few days ago I blogged about the MeatWagon which is a guerrilla dining experience in South London that does supposedly amazing hamburgers. I attempted to go this evening but after 3.5 hours of waiting was sent home with a refund and an empty belly. Totally sucked. How could I ever promote such garbage on my blog? I'm sorry. The owner Yanni, claims to have traveled across the US, picking up cooking tips from the best burger joints but he obviously didn't pick up how to run a business efficiently which is why many places in the US are so coveted; amazing food in under 20 minutes. This place is total bs and I would stay away unless you want to waste a few hours of your day waiting around.

Shoes and Spa day

While I should be busy writing a brief for my internship, I am in full on wedding planning mode. I ordered the bridesmaids dresses yesterday and have started to plan my bachelorette/spa day that I'm having a few days before the wedding. While I was surfing the net looking at venues (even though I have pretty much already decided on Indian Springs in Calistoga) I started to look for shoes again. There were the other shoes that I loved but weren't available anymore. (I actually found out that Miu Miu recently released a similar shoe con Swarovski crystals, making them muy caro.)

I found these which I thought were really cute and very feminine, but with almost 5" heels, I think they might be a little too tall. The search continues...

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So back to my spa day. I am thinking of having it at Indian Springs. While I've never been there, the pictures look great and they offer a variety of options from massages to just soaking in the mineral pools.

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There is so much to plan for a wedding. I have to admit, I am having a lot of fun organizing this, even if it is a little stressful. I literally can't wait to have all my friends, especially my girlfriends, around on the same day, in the same place!!

New Zealand Pics

Finally, I am getting around to posting some New Zealand pictures. There were so many to choose from (and so many of them were just food!) Enjoy!

My first meal in Auckland. Amazing scallops.

Our B&B in Rotorua

Trying out a few NZ snacks: L&P and Rashuns

White Island. So cool!

White Island

White Island

Geyser at Wai-o-Tapu

Pies. NZ tradition.

Lamington

Hangi at Maori night

b&b in Martinborough

My favorite winery in Martinborough

Afternoon at Margrain Winery

Cheese platter at Margrain

Margrain vineyards

View of Wellington harbor from Mt. Victoria

Cafe Pacifico Celebration

To celebrate the end of the semester and the handing in of our portfolios the mister and I met up with my classmates at Cafe Pacifico.

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Where: 5-6 Langley Street (near Covent Garden tube)

The Scene: Pretty dead at 6 when we arrived but bumpin' by 8 when we left

Delight: good Tex Mex

Disappointment: Margarita prices

We all arrived early (at 6pm) since there was a big group of us and I hadn't bothered to make a booking. I immediately headed to the bar where I ordered the large margarita. To my surprise the large was tiny and cost me a whapping £8! It was ridiculous. This is a Tex Mex joint tucked into an alley. Granted we're in Covent Garden but £8, that's insane. I threw my margarita back pretty quickly and enjoyed beers the rest of the night. To my delight they were serving Pacifico beer, one of my favorites to wash down Tex Mex food.

Everyone at the table scarfed down bowls and bowls of chips and salsa. The salsa, although pretty spicy was really good. Everyone at the table couldn't stop commenting on it while they scooped mouthfuls of the salsa up with the tortilla chips. One thing the hostess mentioned to us several times as we were being seated was that we would only have the table for 2 hours. That was fine but the five or six reminders was a bit overkill. I was wondering, with such a large group would we be able to get out in under 2 hours? After finishing off a bucket of beers and at least 5 bowls of chips our mains arrived; in under 20 minutes. I guess 2 hours wasn't going to be a problem.

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The mains were absolutely everything I was hoping for. Covered in cheese, guacamole and sour cream like true Tex Mex should be. I ordered the Chimichangas and man were they good. I couldn't even eat half the plate. The mister ordered the Quesada Grande (a flour tortilla filled with melted cheese, onions, tomatoes, lettuce, guacamole, ranchera sauce and sour cream) and they looked amazing as well.

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While my friends Tex Mex birthday had food that could easily compete with Cafe Pacifico, I would definitely visit again. If you're in the mood for Mexican that's covered in cheese and sauce (i.e. Tex Mex) then this is definitely a good place to check out.

Blues Kitchen - Camden

Recently I went to the Blues Kitchen to sample some good (or what I hoped to be good) home southern cookin'.

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Where: 111 - 113 Camden High Street (near Camden Town tube)

The Scene: Camden. Enough said

Delight: always a good atmosphere but on a weeknight not too crowded

Disappointment: blah food.

When I originally suggested this place to my friend it was because she had commented on wanting to try their jalapeño cornbread. Thinking that sounded amazing, I thought that we should give this place a whirl. Upon arriving we were told by our waiter that they only served the corn bread for parties. I asked if we ordered a lot of it, could we get some. He laughed and firmly stood by his 'no'.
 
So gutted that the jalapeño cornbread wasn't available we decided to go for the next best thing for a starter, the sweet corn fritters. These weren't the best fritters I've ever had but they were quite good. The crunchy outside, the sweet corn taste and to top it all off, mango, coriander and red chili salsa that I could have eaten by the spoon full.

For my main I ordered the cajun chicken burger and my friend ordered the Blues Kitchen Chili. We both thought our mains were lacking in flavor. My cajun sandwich had barbeque sauce on it, which last time I checked isn't cajun or spicy. The chili got ok reviews but it was so disappointing to see it being served with corn chips rather than corn bread. Real southern places would never leave out the corn bread. But this is London, where they just can't seem to get American food right. (Sandwiches are my biggest complaint but that's for another time.)

how chili should be. con pan de maíz.

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All and all, I thought the Blues Kitchen was ok. The prices were very reasonable making it much easier to palate my cajun sandwich came sans cajun. But this ain't no soul food.

Master's Portfolio

On Friday I handed in a portfolio of my Master's work. While I wasn't exactly beaming with pride (some of the pieces were pretty rubbish) I did make this short video that I thought was pretty cool. I wanted to make it longer but ran out of time. I've got one final (monster of a) paper due in July along with a presentation and then it's all dissertation. Enjoy!

Sharing some research

I'm in the middle of writing a paper about Benetech's (a social enterprise out of Palo Alto, California) involvement in archiving the Civil Police records (some 80 million of them) in Guatemala. Guatemala holds a very special place in my heart. It was the first culture I got to know outside of my own and their strength as a country and as a people is unbelievable. I wanted to share this documentary made by Frontline on PBS. The work that Benetech is doing is nothing short of amazing but the personal stories that weave in and out of this piece basically brought me to tears.

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Almost free

Today is the last day of my internship. While it has been enjoyable, doing an internship full time while trying to go to Grad school as well has been hectic and often left me feeling like I could sleep for days. (admittedly, this semester has been much less stressful than my first semester) I am really excited to finish up my last couple of papers for the year and start full time on my dissertation.

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To celebrate the end of my internship (and even though I have a lot of writing to do) I am going to a friends house party that is forest themed this weekend. I am going as wind; white dress with wire in my hair and dress to have the affect that I'm blowing, along with a mini handheld fan. I know, no one is going to understand what I am, but I thought it was a cute idea. Here are some pics I'm hoping will inspire me for my makeup and hair. TGIF everyone!

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Buying Organic

The mister recently watched Food Inc. and while recounting the horror stories of what food in America goes through as its grown, we both decided that now seemed like a good time to switch to organic. We are fairly lucky in that we can afford to do the majority of our shopping organically. But my biggest problem now is deciding what should be bought organic. Should we buy organic cheese and bread? Or are meats, fruits and veggies the main things we should focus on. Is buying organic at the grocery store good enough or is the farmers market better?

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This summer I read In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto. While I think this book would have been better suited as a long article, it did bring up some good points about food and specifically buying from the farmers market. Michael Pollen (the author) argues that when you buy from a farmer direct you can ask questions and talk to the farmer about how the produce is grown. When the farmer knows he's accountable to his customers directly, it keeps him honest and wanting to grow the type of fresh and organic products his customers want. (I'm paraphrasing - he says a lot more than this)   

I don't yet have the full picture on shopping organic, but I did come across this great chart (and website) called the 'Clean 15'. While this isn't strictly about organic produce, it does help you to determine which fruits and veggies you would want to buy organic, since organic contains less pesticides. The fruits and veggies on the 'Clean 15' card are ones that are least likely to test positive for pesticides. I'm unsure if produce on the 'Clean 15' needs to be purchased organically or if the regular stock is ok. Shopping organic is a lot of work and research. Any comments are appreciated!

Here's some more information about the 'Clean 15' and 'Dirty Dozen'.

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Can't get this song out of my head

I can't stop singing this song!


New Zealand pics coming this week!

Lazy Saturday

The Mexican hot chocolate cupcakes were a success! I got rave reviews from everyone who tried them. After last nights Tex Mex fiesta, inclusive of a piñata, I had to have a lie in this morning. I met up with a girlfriend for lunch at Harrisons and if stuffing my face there wasn't enough, I made Neiman Marcus Chocolate chip cookies after dinner this evening. I am supposed to be writing a paper, but I just can't seem to get into the groove...

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The cookies are amazing. I highly recommend them!

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