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Toad in a Hole
Looks aren't everything - this was lip smackin' good!Cherrio, Jolly Good, and all that. When Tony Blair led his country into an ill-conceived and poorly planned military effort to back GWB, I thought the last of British hospitality was used up. I was wrong.
After learning that not one but two of our newest friends would be in the Brighton area right about the time we would be passing through, our plans were instantly locked down for a few days by the water. Despite a minor automotive snafu, we caught a bus from Heathrow to Brighton with little difficulty. We did notice that Heathrow bears a strong resemblance to all other airports from the 1970's, except the rest have all been renovated already. Next time it's Gatwick all the way.
Upon arrival in B-town the Dorrels met us with open arms and open bottles of wine. As they had just returned from their trip and only moved into their apartment the day prior to our arrival, things were a little sparse. This suited us just fine as we lounged on the sheepskin rugs and reminisced about what had happened since we parted ways in Vientien.
The next day we made our way to the famous
Bag Ladies
Available soon at an internet site near you. - the bags, not the Eastern European lovelies. Brighton pier (the one not burned down under questionable circumstances). On the way we met up with Blue and D and then D's sis and our merry band made short work of games, rides, and the obligatory purchase of Brighton rock. That's candy not contraband to all of you in the USA. Well, not such short work as, somehow, Blue convinced some of us to try out one of the rides. Clearly- only Blue and Jimmy enjoyed the experience as they were the ones who screamed in glee(not horror like Blanka and I) and didn't look green for 3 hours afterwards. I guess I'll just have to stick to loop-de-loops (no more Waltzers for us)- I think I can still handle those...
We spent the night out at Gamblemead where Blue and D were staying until they got settled in a place of their own. We thought this was a town until it was explained to us that all the houses in the 'countryside' have names instead of numbers - which makes postal work particularly tricky. There, in addition to more great times and hospitality, we were treated to an Olde English dinner (Toad in the Hole - ie-
sausage in dough) and an even Olde'er English breakfast. Black pudding! I will not tell you the ingredients, but suffice it to say the lable does not read Kosher. Despite numerous requests of all our hosts, we were unable to get an answer to how anything gets named pudding. Suffice it to say it's not all dessert (as Aneta had hoped)! It seems that the criteria are very loose. Alas.
Next we returned to town to continue our culinary exploration of the UK (who would've thought there was anything to eat in England) -YES! Fish n Chips it was and mashed peas(though you must say 'Mushy peas" when you order) to round it all out. Delicious. Then, finally, a Thai cooking class informally conducted by Jimmy which inadvertently veered into two men yelling about politics in the kitchen and two women looking at wedding catalogues in the living room. In fairness it was business research.
All in all we could not have been happier with this jaunt through the country-side. Hospitality was incredible. The food was great (who knew) and the company was top-drawer all the way! The only down side is that we felt it wasn't nearly
as much time as we would have liked to spend with our new friends and, of course, we still can't figure out what qualifies as pudding. Next it was off to London. Maybe they would know...
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Handman
non-member comment
still going...
Are you two still on vacation? Get a haircut and get a real job. Watch out for British beef, now you will get mad cow disease.