England: About as close to America as you can get in Europe. I binged on all the possible non-Spanish foods that I could get my hands on: Indian for the supper my first night, French the second, English the third, Italian the fourth, Chinese before I left, pancakes and syrup for breakfast, tortilla chips and salsa in between, Middle eastern, etc etc. I was in food heaven. The best meal that I had though would have to be duck. I went to London and stayed with Adam. He rents and apartment, 12th floor, right over the Thames River in London. He grew up in Broadstairs by the sea and now works as a paid intern in IBM managing many many people. Going back to the duck, since he has a kitchen in his apartment, we went to Tesco because he was going to cook me crispy duck in a plum sauce (which sounded absolutely spectacular to me). Ingredients: 5cm of ginger, 3 red chilies, 450g victoria plums, 150g sugar, 30ml balsamic vinegar, 2 duck breasts, 25g butter, 250g spinach, and 2 sweet potatoes. After removing the seed and chopping the chilies until your fingers start burning, grate the ginger (after pretending it is a mummified finger), “stone and quarter” the plums (or take out pit and cut into 4 pieces), add it all to a saucepan with the sugar and balsamic and cook at medium heat. Once it starts bubbling keep it bubbling for 20 minutes until the plums start to dissolve and the sauce is syrupy and burns like napalm and then place in a blender. For the duck we scored the top fat, seasoned it, let the pan get really hot and then seared the duck (fat side down) for 5 minutes, turned it over and cooked for 5 more minutes (nice and crispy and not fatty at all!!). Then we wilted the spinach in the butter, cooked the sweet potatoes and mashed them with more butter and maple syrup and voilà! Crispy pan seared duck in a spiced plum sauce with wilted spinach and a sweet potato mash. Best meal of the trip.
Second best meal: Fish and chips. Adam took me to his home back in Broadstairs to experience real fish and chips. It’s a cute little town right on the English coast with old buildings, beautiful churches tucked in between, and a charm that just won’t quit. We stopped in a shop for some really thick milkshakes (don’t exist in Spain) and walked along the coast for a bit. After going back to his house I met his family who are all absolutely hilarious. It reminded me of an Italian family: constantly arguing, joking around, all together in the same room, talking loud, hilarious, but most of all you knew right away that they love each other more than you can possibly imagine. We got sent out to find dinner and we stumbled across the winner for best fish and chips 2009. It looked packed with both old and young people and people were walking in and out with take away: a good sign. I got a half of a cod that hardly fit on the plate with a half kilo of fries (haha), Heinz ketchup, and malt vinegar. To be totally honest Rhode Island’s fish and chips taste exactly the same. That’s good though because I LOVE fish and chips.
We did a little picnic under St. Paul’s cathedral the next day, explored the city, saw the crown jewels, bought some snacks in Chinatown, and had a lemonade in Greenwhich market (we will have to eat there when I go back because the food looked amazing and the vendors around them sell all types of things from books to old metal signs and beer bottle clocks). We explored the Tower of London, walked over Tower Bridge, had a few half priced drinks at Tiger Tiger (non-alcoholic of course), explored the Underground and public transportation system of London, and of course we shopped!! Can’t really get any better than that! All in all my time in London was good therapy. I needed a break from Spanish food and Spanish culture. I felt back at home with people walking fast past me, quiet eye-avoidance on the subway, and everyone’s on a mission to get somewhere. I felt weird being surrounded by English, but then again it felt nice. I felt normal again being surrounded by diversity: African, Asian, European, Latin, black, white, brown, yellow, caramel. Though England is nothing like America (I definitely figured that one out fast), it has a lot of things in common with it which gave me a little dose of the things I missed. I am all filled up now to make it through the next month!
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