Last Day in London

Saturday was our last day in London. David and I met his friend Peter in Maida Vale for lunch and a walk. But first we couldn't leave for the day without our daily serving of truffles. This time it was black truffle over scrambled eggs and toast, delicious!

Maida Vale is a luxurious neighborhood of London, to say the least. The architecture is beautiful, and it is close to Primrose Hill, which is where our walk took us. Primrose Hill is supposedly one of the best views of the city, where you can see many of the monuments. The walk back to Maida Vale was through "Little Venice", a canal at the bottom of Primrose Hill with tour boats and a few house boats. It is not as beautiful or quite as unique as the real Venice, it was a nice walk.

We said goodbye to Peter late afternoon and went back to Joyce and Roger's house for take-out Indian food. I had never had it in London, but heard it was one of the best places to get it, which was true! All in all our Thanksgiving in London was an amazing experience!!! We are already trying to figure out when we can take our next trip.

Scrambled eggs on toast with black truffle

Maida Vale

View of London from Primrose hill

Peter, me and David at the top of Primrose hill

Little Venice

Sinking boat in the canal

Tour boat

One of the enormous mansions next to the canal

House boat

Assortment of Indian appetizers

Four types of chicken over rice with cucumber yogurt

Roger, David, me and Joyce

London Cont.

On Friday we spent the day walking around London. Our first stop was St. John's Wood where we had brunch at a place called Carluccio's and saw the famous Abby Road crosswalk. We took the train from there to Buckingham palace, walked to Westminster, Big Ben and across the river, past the Eye of London, through an outdoor Christmas fair to Waterloo station where we took the train to an outdoor food market. After all day walking around we went home for an amazing truffle pasta dinner. Every year Joyce and Roger buy a fresh white truffle, it has become their tradition around Thanksgiving. Joyce made fresh pasta with a little cream, parmesan cheese and shaved white truffle on top. It was the first time I had white truffle, and it's fantastic! She also made steak with mushroom sauce and we had a special port for dessert. It was a great day with an absolutely delicious ending!

Abby Road

Carluccio's

Roger, Joyce & me

Buckingham palace

Westminster

David playing in a phone booth

Big Ben

The London Eye

Skate board park

An interesting band outside the food market

The food market

Joyce making pasta

White Truffle

Shaved white truffle

White truffle pasta

Everyone ready to dig in!

Beef with mushroom sauce

Tasting a 1977 Port the my father had given Roger

Thanksgiving in London

For Thanksgiving we went to London for a long weekend to visit my aunt and uncle (Joyce & Roger). We did so many things in four days, I have to break it up into a few posts.

We arrived late Wednesday night, so we only had time for a midnight dinner. Late Thursday morning we to a 350 year old pub in their town, walked to their allotment (like a community garden in the US) and Joyce and Roger prepared a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Roger grilled the turkey, Joyce made porcini soup, vegetable pie (originally made for my sister who couldn't make it), mashed potatoes, brussel sprouts, carrots, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie and a berry crisp. There were 8 of us for dinner, 3 of Joyce & Rogers British friends, and my cousin Nathaniel's cousin Shirley, who is studying at the London School of Economics. We all had a wonderful time, and everything was delicious!!! It was great to have a traditional Thanksgiving my first year in Italy.

350 Year Old Pub

David the giant inside the pub

The Allotment

Porcini Soup (the picture doesn't do it justice)

Vegetable Pie

All the traditional fixings

In between courses

Berry Crisp

Pumpkin Pie