Recently Ryan had some American coworkers in town and he organized an outing for a few of them to go to the London Eye. I jumped on that trip as quick as I could. The London Eye is a giant, 443 feet tall, Ferris wheel. About 20 people fit into a pod and it takes about 30 minutes to go around. It’s a nice ride, but most importantly, the city views are just beautiful.

I love cities. I grew up in the suburbs, but I’ve grown to love cities. My family would go into Baltimore for trips to museums, fancy birthday dinners, and fireworks on New Years Eve. That’s where I started to love cities. I learned that they were places with lots to do and great for celebrating special occasions.

Since graduating from college, I’ve moved to other cities. I’ve lived in Washington, DC, New York City, and London. In those cities I’ve had first jobs (and fifth and sixth jobs), I’ve lived on my own, I’ve gone to school, I’ve seen President Obama and talked to Katie Couric. I’ve run a race in Central Park, I’ve killed cockroaches, I’ve won play tickets, and I’ve made some wonderful friends. Cities are wonderful places filled with potential and possibilities. Sure, I love natural beauty. I love starry skies, colorful flowers, changing leaves, and rolling green hills. There is definitely wonder in the outdoors. But, give me cities. I love the hustle and bustle, the tall buildings, the bright lights, and all that there is to do.

I especially loved looking out over London. This city is our current home and where we’ve been living for almost a year. Out in that city are my friends, people I talked to at work, that annoying guy who bumped me on the tube, and people I haven’t even met yet. Out in the city there are my favorite restaurants and places I haven’t yet tried. There is amazing art, dinosaur bones, amazing theatre, and all kinds of other things I don’t even know about. I loved looking out at the buildings and glittering lights and imagining all the opportunities that are out there in London. And at night, the buildings, the boats, the bridges, the lights – they all look especially beautiful. So, without further ado, here’s some lovely photos of this wonderful city.

The post Tourist Tuesday: London Eye appeared first on Cooking is Messy.

We’ve been walking a lot, but for some reason we cannot stop looking the wrong way when we cross the street. It doesn’t matter what the crosswalk says, it’s so hard for us not to look right. It’s a hard habit to break! I’m also having trouble finding the crosswalks. The sounds dumb, but let me tell you about it. When there’s  median in the road, the cross walk doesn’t go all the way across, instead the two halves are staggered. Why? I don’t get it. I feel like such an idiot standing in the median, all alone, trying to figure out where to cross next. Here’s a picture. I added arrows so you can see what I’m talking about.

I’ve also gotten in to two “cooking” shows. One is Come Dine With Me. Five people host dinner parties for the other four, at the end of the night each rates the other, then at the very end the winner gets money. There’s always drunkenness and weird dancing. It’s been really funny and I’m addicted. The other is called Dinner Date, and women create a menu that they would cook on a date. A man chooses 3 out of 5 menus. The women who made those three menus have to cook for the guy and at the end they rate him, and he picks his favorite date. I was watching yesterday and one of the women liked to drink and the narrator said she likes “a tipple and a topple.” Which means, you like to drink and then fall over. I died. The is some awesome slang. So hilarious.

But, let’s get on to the main event. The myth busting! As you might remember, at our going away party we received a mountain of treats that may or may not be available in London. So, I went to grocery store to check out what I really could find.

Peanut Butter

There is definitely peanut butter in London! I’ve been told, by people who’ve studied abroad in London, that the peanut butter doesn’t taste as good as it does at home. But, I haven’t tried it yet, so I’ll reserve judgement. For now I’m happy that peanut butter is available. There aren’t the brands that we have at home, but there were at least two shelves of peanut butter. If you need jelly there’s tons, about four times as many shelves of jelly as there are shelves of peanut butter.

Marshmallows & Fluff

There is definitely marshmallow fluff. Marshmallows took me a bit to find at first (because the store was out). I’ve seen them both at coffee shops and at the grocery store. What’s interesting is that the marshmallows are always pink and white! I don’t know why, but I thought it was interesting.

Twizzlers & Hershey products

As far as I can tell, there aren’t Twizzlers. But, I did find strawberry flavored licorice. Isn’t the packaging super cute? The only Hershey product I’ve seen are Kit Kats (and in mint, cookies and cream, and dark chocolate flavors!). But Ryan says in Europe, Kits Kats are licensed and made by Nestle. Who knew? Side note: the Kit Kats are delicious, Ryan and I bought mint and they were great.

Chocolate chips

This took me forever to find because the bag is so much smaller than what I expected! How the heck am I supposed to make chocolate chip cookies with such a dinky bag?! I have no idea. Maybe chocolate chip cookies aren’t that popular here…?

Boxed macaroni and cheese

As far as I can tell, this doesn’t exist. There is pre-made food, but no equivalent of Kraft boxed mac and cheese. No worries, because I can make this at home, and they have Lincolnshire Poacher here. Update: They have microwaveable macaroni and cheese. I found this out because on Dinner Date, the women who aren’t chosen get a “ready meal” at the end and I just saw two women get mac and cheese. The woman who is chosen gets taken out to a restaurant.

Graham crackers

I don’t think this exists either. There are tons of similar, lightly sweet flat cracker-cookies, but I didn’t see anything exactly the same.

Pancakes and syrup

Remember when I made lemon ricotta pancakes because I was told there are no pancakes in London? Well, there are definitely pancakes in London, just not the way we’re used to. Here are my pieces of evidence. First, Ryan and I were watching the TV show Idiot Abroad (which stars a British guy) and he says something about “Pancake Wednesdays,” which means that must be a thing and so British people have pancakes. Second, I saw a commercial for Warburton’s pancakes; and you can watch it here. I don’t know where to find it in the grocery, but obviously it exists.  Finally, the grocery store has all the ingredients you need, including maple syrup! So, I can definitely get pancakes. Now, as far as I can tell there’s no Aunt Jemima or Bisquick, but I’m pretty sure we can get over that because making them at home isn’t that hard.

The post London Food Myth Buster (Or things I found at the grocery store) appeared first on Cooking is Messy.