Toad in a Hole.

It's fall in Worcester.

The days have a chill to them now and with the leaves falling I thought it was time to try a British classic, Toad in the Hole, for dinner.

It's a simple batter you pour over hot oil and sausages and bake in the oven. I liked Jamie Oliver's suggestion to add rosemary-- gives a nice flavor.

(The typical English recipe doesn't add spice.)

I'm attempting to capture the rising pie. The recipe stressed NOT to open the oven door whilst the pie is baking, otherwise it doesn't rise properly. I did not have that problem, quite the opposite actually.

The finished Toad in the Hole!

A very nice meal for a stormy night.

Trip of a Lifetime.

Italy & Greece.

Three cities. One Greek Island.

Add some great friends from Seattle.

One brilliant trip.

It was the trip of a lifetime as we toured Florence, Rome, Athens, and finally relaxed in Santorini. We met the Proper's in London and flew to Florence to start off the trip.

In Florence we saw the offices of the Medici family, the godfathers of the Renaissance and patrons of Leonardo DaVinci, Gallileo Galilei, Botticelli, and Michaelangelo.

The artwork was spectacular. One of the trip highlights was getting into the Tuscan countryside.

We saw Pisa, San Gimignano, and Siena. We all said if we did it again we would spend more time in the countryside at a farmhouse.

Rome. It is one of the busiest and 'touristy' places I have ever been to.

We constantly heard Americans speaking, a novelty for us living in Worcester.

Amid the throngs of tourists, we managed to find Rick Steve's recommendation for best gelato in Rome. One of my favorites, although it was mad hectic whenever we went there, was Trevi fountain. We braved the masses to see the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

I've forgotten to mention food. I am a pasta girl, and eating real Italian pasta was sublime. I ordered it for nearly every dinner, except when I ordered pizza. I also like that you can order, "Red wine," and the waiter brings the house wine.

Athens is busy like Rome, though not as many tourists. We saw the Parthenon and Mars Hill. One of our best moments in Athens was relaxing on Mars Hill as the sun set on the city.

Nothing could have prepared us for the delight of Santorini. It's something from a picture or story book. We stayed in an amazing cliff side hotel (great find Sonya!), in caves that had been turned into studios connected with a labyrinth of stairs. Also, it was the best place on the island to watch the sunset. After chasing from museum to museum and gawking at historically significant sights it was bliss to relax and soak up some sunshine

before returning to rain and 45 F/12 C.

We had picnic lunches on the beach, Greek salads every night for dinner, Tzaziki, and my favorite, baklava. I walked every stair thinking-- b, step, a, step, k, step, l, step....

One woman (an American) stopped me and asked how many steps it was from the beach to the top of the cliff? She wanted to know if it was more or less than the 500 steps the tourists from the cruise ships had to walk up at the port in Fira. I told her I didn't know, but I did know that it was enough to feel guilt-free about eating baklava.

Thanks to the Proper's for all the hard work they put into the trip!

Blenheim Palace. Part 2.

It was another beautiful Saturday in September. I packed us a picnic lunch and we drove out to Blenheim Palace to explore the grounds some more.

We found a nice little patch of grass overlaking the lake and soaked in the sun. We had thought to look in the Palace itself, but the day was so fair that we opted to stay outdoors. The rains will come soon enough! The grounds are quite extensive.... we walked and walked and still did not make it around the whole place.

Fire and Ice.

It's September, the kids are back in school, and the sun has finally come out in the Midlands. We celebrated with one last BBQ, or as Jerremy likes to call it, "Fire & Ice". We pull our Ikea folding chairs out onto our deck and soak in the waning evening rays of sun while sipping on strawberry smoothies.

And then....

.... Jerr fires up the grill!

And we serve American-sized burgers that would make a vegetarian drool they're so delicious-- delicately flavored to perfection with the namesake sauce of our city. A great way to usher in the fall with one last BBQ before we move on to spiced cider and pumpkin pies!

Fun Day

What better way to kick off the start of school than to have a Fun Day? The church we've started going to had one and we volunteered to work at it. Below, I'm cheerfully serving hot dogs with a real American accent. I don't think it improved the flavor of the hot dogs, which came from a can, but who can complain when it's free and comes with onions?
I don't think the kids or young guys cared, they came back for fifths.

I signed Jerr up to help run the bouncy castle. The kids made a massive queue, would bounce for a few minutes, and then run back to the end of the line. Given the hot dog/bouncy castle combination I'm surprised there were no incidents! Everyone had a good time.

The adults were given a turn at the end of the day. Even the dog bounced a turn.

The event was completely free. There was face painting, games for prizes, hot dogs, a singing puppet show, and bouncy castles. But I was surprised when a man came by for a hot dog and insisted on paying his way, even when I declined his money and emphasized the "free" bit. It reminded me of God's grace, how it is completely free. There is nothing we can do to earn it. All we do is accept.

London. Part 2.

Once again we packed up the estate and went to Town for the weekend.

On this trip we stayed in Wimbledon and caught the tube in. It was a great area to stay in for this trip. The tube station was a short 10 minute walk from the hotel, and fancy there being a Starbucks and GBK along the way! We breakfasted at the 'Bucks and had an American style cheeseburger at the Gourmet Burger Kitchen for dinner. We watched the Brits use forks and knives on their burgers and, of course, ate ours with our hands.

Saturday, we stopped to picnic for lunch in St. James Park, and then went on to pay our respects to the Queen at Buckingham Palace. We crowded in with the other tourists and took pictures. Fun to hear an American accent again- we don't normally hear many Americans in Worcester. But in London you hear every accent and language imaginable.

We took in The Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms. Humbling to see how the second world war affected Britain; the air raids and bombings, the brave leadership of Churchill, and the indomitable spirit of the British people.

We found out that we are a one-museum-a-day family. Best to stop for an icecream after that and have a bit of a rest.

On Sunday we caught the tube to Temple Station on the District line and walked across the Millenium Bridge, stopping at the Tate Modern Museum to look around before we caught a play at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. We sat in the second balcony in the front row and could rest our elbows on the railing. I kept thinking how many people in history had taken in a play whilst sitting on the hard wooden bench I now occupied.

Brief history lesson: the original Globe burned down in 1613, but they rebuilt a second Globe in 1614. This closed in 1642. The present "Shakespeare's Globe" is 750 ft from the original theatre site and opened in 1997. So maybe it wasn't as historically correct as I believed.

(Thanks Wikipedia!)

We saw Troillus & Cressida. It's a tragedy.

Overall, I would say it was a good trip. Every time we go we see a little more, and there is much to see. But we were happy to come back to our quiet house in Worcester. It's nice to be home.

Blenheim Palace

This massive and beautiful home belongs to the 11th duke of Marlborough and was the birthplace of Winston Churchill.

It's close to Oxford, in a small Cotswold town called Woodstock.

It makes for a nice day trip.

The day after Jerr's 30th, we picked up our friends, James and Elnaz, and went to check it out.

We were all surprised by how elaborate and beautiful the grounds and the palace were.

We spent the better part of an afternoon there and we didn't even see inside the Palace. It was such a nice day we stayed out in the grounds.

(We try to save Museums and other fine houses for rainy days.)

They had a jousting event on the south lawn we were able to take in. And the show "Restoration Roadshow"- which was filming on the grounds- asked the four of us to stand in the crowd and mill about while they restored antiques for the BBC 2 series.