The Grocery Adventure

The family needed to learn a few new words when we moved to London.  The most difficult category for me was food as I attempted to adapt American recipes to UK grocery ingredients and sizes.  I feel that I've found acceptable (or sometimes even better) equivalents for some of our favorites.  Before I could become an experienced shopper, I had to learn the lingo:

cookie = biscuit

fries = chips

chips = crisps

pop = fizzy

zucchini = courgettes

eggplant = aubergine

cilantro = coriander

roast = joint

tomato sauce = passata

tomato paste = tomato puree

Size Matters

The selection at my regular grocery is quite good; it's probably just about the size of any US grocery.  I have found that the product selection is nowhere near as plentiful or the packaging as large.  For example our favorite Trader Joe's Tomato Basil Spaghetti sauce comes in a 25 ounce jar.  That was plenty for our family of four to have dinner.  The Marks & Spencer equivalent only comes in 12 ounce jars.  I buy these six at a time to keep the family stocked for a bit.  I'd ask the manager to order me a case, but I have nowhere to store them.

I can't even get started about milk.  The largest size of skim milk I can buy is 4 pints.  That's a half gallon, folks.  I buy these four at a time.  I also have some armageddon milk stashed in a cabinet incase we run out after a weekend at home.  You've never heard of armageddon milk?  It's actually ultra-pasteurized milk that's in a shelf-stable container.  If you have seen the individual Horizon milks then you know what I'm talking about.    

Product Placement & Selection

Eggs are not in the refrigerated section; they are hanging out on the regular grocery shelves.  I asked a lady once if she keeps her eggs on the counter at home.  She laughed and said, "No!  They go straight into the refrigerator."  

The flour and sugar don't hang out in the same aisle.  Flour is over with the baking ingredients.  The sugar is in the cereal aisle.

There's exactly four choices of cake mixes in the baking aisle: Devil's Food, Classic Vanilla, Chocolate Fudge, and Carrot.  One brand is Betty Crocker and the other brand is the store brand.  Betty is charging £2.25 ($3.75) a box, which is horrible since they can often be found for $1 in the states.  I believe there's a Betty Crocker brownie mix, too.  

It's amusing to see some of the "American" products on the shelf or the products that claim to be American favorites.  Unfortunately, the British think our best Mexican foods are made by Doritos & Old El Paso.  Then there's the hot dogs in a jar.  Ew.

I'm sure these smell appetizing  

What's missing?

The whole family is craving a quality Mexican meal.  The salsa from the grocery store is a joke. A George Lopez joke comes to mind when I buy salsa.  He pretends to wipe sweat from spicy hot salsa from his brow and asks if that's a tomato in there.  I feel the same way.  It's more like tomato soup than anything else.  Yes, I can certainly make my own, but the tomatoes at the store need to stop being crunchy and unripe on the inside before I embark on that journey.  I think I came across a salsa verde yesterday, but I have to compare the ingredients to a bottle of Rick Bayless' Tomatillo Salsa just to be sure.  I'm dying for Chicken Enchiladas made famous to our family by our old neighbor (hi!).  

What's new?

While I cannot find refrigerator biscuits in the pop tube, I have found Pain Au Chocolat in the pop tube.  Now that's a delicious way to start the morning.  

The British have a thing for Indian curries.  Curry shops are plentiful for take-out meals, and the grocery has many sauces on the shelf.  We've made Tikka Masala, which was delicious.  My kids licked their plates so it's new addition to the meal rotation.

Fish & Chips is a delicious meal.  I don't think I'll make it at home as I'm not interested in the mess it will make.  It's much easier to buy it down the street.  The mushy peas that come with it are darn good, too.  

At the end of the day I need to be sure what I buy will fit in my grocery trolley.  

When we need more than the grocery trolley can handle, there's always delivery.  I often get free delivery vouchers at the store or splurge on the £4.99 fee.

Courtald Gallery - Touring Tuesday - Museum Mile

I am visiting all of the museums listed on the Museum Mile.  You can see a summary of each museum in one spot in this post.  Today I visited the Courtauld Gallery in Westminster.  It is located in the Somerset House, which is a beauty in itself.   This gallery has an affordable admission price of £6, and I was informed by the cashier that my ticket allowed for reentry to the museum until 6pm on the day of purchase.

Some research on the interwebs indicates that the Courtauld Gallery is one of the finest small galleries in the world.  I really enjoyed this museum for several reasons.  First it's not huge so the types of art were well balanced.  Let's be honest, you can really only see so many portraits of naked ladies eating fruit or religious artifacts & murals in the large museums before one looks similar to the next.    

The second reason I really enjoyed the Courtauld Gallery is because of the Impressionist paintings.  For some reason my heart beats a little faster when I enter a gallery of this genre.  I really got excited when I saw a painting by Georges Seurat on the wall.  The painting titled Bridge at Courbevoie depicts a young figure looking at the river from La Grande Jatte.  Be sure to click on the photos below for a larger look.  I had a particular affinity for this painting because Seurat's famous Sunday on La Grande Jatte is hanging at The Art Institute of Chicago (Do you remember Ferris Beuller's friend Cameron staring intently at this painting?).  I have immense love for that painting and Bridge at Courbevoie just adds to my appreciation of Seurat.  

It was a cozy space with great period details.  Even the air vents were classy.

The Courtauld Gallery is easily accessed by the Temple Underground Station on the Circle Line & District Line.  A myriad of busses also stop just outside the doors to Somerset House.

On a side note:

I have certainly increased my knowledge of different London neighborhoods/boroughs through my weekly adventures. Up until just a few days ago, many of the places I visit are self-contained units.  I never put together how incredibly close Leicester Square is to Trafalgar Square.  Oh my goodness, they are ridiculously close.    

My visit to the Courtauld Gallery connected two more areas for me.  The #13 bus took me from Somerset House straight through Trafalgar Square and good old Lord Nelson and his lion protectors.  Imagine the slack-jaw look on my face when this connected in my head.  

Museum Mile - Touring Tuesday (updated November 27, 2015)

Matt came across a map of the Museum Mile a shortly after moving to London.  It is a compilation of thirteen+ museums all within a reasonable walking distance of each other.  I don't think one is meant to visit all thirteen on the same day, but the transportation/walking links to them are pretty good so I can see why they are marketed together.  Some museums are free and others have an admission fee.

One thing I liked about the Museum Mile was that the museums were quite varied.  Also, many of them were close to Matt's office so we usually had lunch on the days I visited the museums.  I included links to the museums' websites and my own blog posts if I have them.

British Library (free) - I visited a while back, and the amount of actual books a general visitor can see is limited.  If I was researching something, then I'd have an amazing assortment of literature.  The central column of the King's Library is beautiful.  The library's treasures room is what makes the British Library stupendous.  I've seen the Magna Carta, a Gutenberg Bible, John Lennon's song lyrics, and many other first edition or hand written versions on books.  There is also an exhibition in the main space that seems to change quite often.    

British Museum (free) - I could go on for days about the British Museum.  I love the mummies, the Elgin Marbles, and the Rooms of Enlightenment the most.  The main lobby is a highly photographable location (aka Instagram gold).  I wish I could sleep here I love it so much.  

Brunei Gallery (free) - The exhibition I saw was titled Empire, Faith & War - The Sikhs and World War One.  It showed how Sikh soldiers fought valiantly for their commonwealth.  The fascination aspect of the exhibit was how the Sikh soldiers represented a tiny percent of the overall commonwealth population, yet they were a large percentage of the fighting soldiers.     

The Cartoon Museum (£7) - This small museum is comprised of, you guessed it, cartoons.  It focuses on British-based creators, and the current exhibit is about cartoons made during WWI.    

The Dickens Museum (£8) - Dickens' London house is situated on a street full of Georgian terraced houses.  The rooms are decorated in the way Dickens used them.  The museum also displays many letters and articles written by Dickens.  

The Courtald Gallery (£6) - What a delightful museum!  It is located at Somerset House and has fantastic transportation links.  I feel this museum had a nice balance of art genres: the usual religious art & sculpture, portraiture, Impressionist pieces, and high quality temporary exhibits.  I toured the museum in about an hour and felt it was worth the admission price.

The Foundling Museum (£8.25) - When I visited the Foundling Museum, it immediately found a spot in my heart.  Thomas Coram created the Foundling Hospital to take care of the abandoned children in the late 1700s.  The parents left tokens (coins, fabric, etc) as claim tickets for their children to retrieve their children in the future (sadly many never claimed their children).  The legacy of Thomas Coram lives on today next door where the Coram building provides parent/carer training and adoption services.   

The Hunterian Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons (free) - This museum is beautiful!  The focus of this museum is on the study of human and plant specimens in various stages of typical and abnormal.  The specimens are displayed in well-lit cases and the upstairs history of surgery exhibit made me happy to live in this day.

The Freemason Museum (free) - I'd walked by this museum near Covent Garden several times not knowing what was in the hulking building.  I did not know much about Freemasons, so I had high hopes for this museum.  The tour of this museum, which was situated on only one part of the first floor, did not help my confusion.  I thought maybe I'd missed a wall plaque or seven of Freemasons descriptions, but that was not the case.  The display cases were full of ornate medals, aprons, and other regalia.  The information about the items, while descriptive, really did not help me understand what it was all about.  I walked away knowing that Winston Churchill was a Freemason and they have a lot of ceremonies and secret ceremonies.  I did not write a blog post about the Freemason Museum since the only photo allowed was of the outside of the building.  A visit here is probably not worth your time unless you have some background of the Freemason society.  However, that is just my opinion.

London Transport Museum (£15 and under 17 free) - I took the kids here when we were still in the apartment, and it is a great museum!  The museum starts at the beginning of transport in London to present day.  We could sit in carriages, train cars, and busses.  The admission ticket can be turned into an annual ticket with for no additional fee.  That's a bargain!  We've visited several times, and it never gets boring.  If you choose not to see the museum, the gift shop is totally worth your time for Transport for London related items.  

Sir John Soane Museum (free) - This museum is not far from the British Museum, The Huntarian Museum, or Holborn Station.  The security in this museum is by far the most overt of any museum I've visited.  Other museums have staff stationed at the doors of the different galleries, but this place takes the cake, for good reason.  I had to put my purse in a clear plastic bag to carry with me instead of on my arm.  They followed me through the rooms, which were really small and compact.  No photos were allowed and they made sure of that.  The museum is Sir Soane's former home and filled to the brim with antiquities.  There's a sarcophagus in the lower level for goodness sakes and books galore on the main floor.  If you are lucky, you'll get to see the original set of William Hogarth's A Rakes Progress in the art gallery.  Lincoln's Inn Field is in front of the house and would be a nice spot to eat on a sunny day.    

UCL Museums & Collections - The UCL Museums is a collection of two museums.  

• The first museum I visited at the UCL campus was The Grant Museum of Zoology (free) - This small museum presents animal specimens in jars and skeleton forms.  The animals presented span all species.  The anaconda skeleton is particularly impressive.  The domesticated animals are sad to see, but it's all in the name of science.  

• The Petrie Museum (free) -This museum has one of the largest collections of Egypian artifacts in the world.  Matt and I were awe struck at how the artifacts survived in tact for so many years.  At the time of our visit, they had an area set up for children to explore Egyptian hieroglyphics.  

Wellcome Collection - I had the opportunity to visit the last of the Museum Mile participants last week.  Their new exhibit is titled the Institute of Sexology.  As you can expect, not photos were allowed.  In the months after, the museum has added a few more exhibitions to the museum.  The best part has to be the reading room on the top floor.  It has a gorgeous "chaircase" that's perfect for cozying up with a book.   

Well that's it for the Museum Mile!  If you visit any of these museums, please leave a comment.  I'd like to know which is your favorite!

When You Visit London.....Touring Tips

The tourist high season in London is on it's way.  We have noticed an increase of people standing in the middle of the sidewalk with confused faces & guidebooks in their hands.

When you plan a trip to a foreign country, it is usually a big deal and you want to maximize your time.  I hope some of these tips help you to live your trip to the fullest.

Prepare for the time change!

I first wrote about this tip before we went to Germany in 2010.  In an effort to not sleep until lunchtime the first few days, you should adjust your wake up time by 45-60 minutes each day leading up to departure.  You might want to think about a schedule such as this, if your alarm typically rings around 6:30 Chicago time:

Monday 6:30am (12:30pm London)

Tuesday 5:45am (11:45am London)

Wednesday 5:00am (11:00am London)

Thursday 4:15am (10:15am London)

Friday 3:45ish (9:45am London)

The last two days are really, really difficult to do.  Get a few rom-com movies you've been meaning to watch to pass the time until the sun decides to wake up.  I'm sure you have some laundry to toss in too.  When the sun decides to get up, take a nice walk in the morning air to Starbucks or Dunkin' Donuts to keep you going.  When I did this before Germany, it was a particularly rainy weather pattern, and we kept losing power.  It was obnoxiously difficult to stay awake at 4am with only the beam of a flashlight.  If I can do it in a power outage, you can certainly do so with power.

Prepare for the walking!
Chances are you'll walk more on your vacation to London than any vacation in the United States (or maybe rival a marathon day at Disney World).  Many streets are cobbled and narrow so be sure to have sensible footwear for your days of walking.  In addition to the uneven streets, the city is full of stairs.  Many Underground stations have more stairs than others, and the stairs are often full of people so your pace needs to be quick.  Also, if you choose to climb to the top of St. Paul's Cathedral (528 steps) or The Monument (311 steps) there's no stopping once you start climbing.  I recommend you prepare your thighs by climbing the stairs a few times a day at home or work in the weeks leading up to your trip.  Your legs will thank me

Money & Credit 

You'll need some British Pounds to get through your trip.  There are a few ways you can get the local currency: from your bank, the ATM, or the currency exchange at the airport.  You can exchange money with your bank before you leave.  Your bank can detail all of the fees associated with the money exchange, and I would bet the fees are reasonable.  Be prepared to wait a day or so to get your money; they do not always have a supply of British Pounds on hand.  It might be worth it so you have a bit of cash when you arrive at the airport.  Matt and I prefer to get Pounds from the ATM in London because it helps us budget our money better instead of getting a ton of cash before we leave.  We have also learned that getting money from the ATM reduces the amount of Pounds we have left over at the end of our trip.  The travel kiosks at the airport are not your friend, and they should only be a last resort.  You will pay a lot of fees to transfer your travel funds to or from local currency.

**Here's a big tip**

You can use a credit card for most things, which is super.  That is if you have the right card.  Many retailers in the UK no longer accept credit cards with only a magnetic swipe strip.  Why?  Just look up the Target data scandal from November and you will understand.  Retailers in the UK prefer (or only accept) cards with microchips.  This is a new style of credit cards from what's readily available in the US.  At this time US issuers have cards with microchips that still require your signature.  This type of card can get you by at most retailers.  However, if you can get a credit card with a chip and pin you would be golden.  If you cannot procure a chip card (and the retailer won't accept your swipe card) you should have some backup cash ready.   

Cellphone

If you are not under contract with your cell phone, you might be in luck.  It is very easy to get SIM cards for your phone in London which can give you unlimited texting and a decent amount or even unlimited data for about £15/month.  If you rely on your phone for navigation it might be something to look into.  

If you are under contract with your US provider, it's probably not worth it to add international coverage.  However, you can get by with wifi provided at your hotel or some restaurants. Here's a great tip, The Apple Store has free wifi.  

If you end up with a phone that has data coverage or are on a wifi signal, you must have the free City Mapper app.  It provides the best combinations of walking, bus, and Underground routes.  If your trip takes you to Paris, Berlin, or New York it works there too!   

Plug Adaptors

You will need plug adaptors to charge your technology, but leave your hair dryer & flat iron at home.  The 220 volt power in the UK and your hair dryer's motor do not play nicely together.  Your hotel should have one in your room, and that will provide you with more room in your luggage.  I bought a travel flat iron at the Boots (Walgreens equivalent) that was only about £15 that worked just fine.

Toiletries

If you plan to stay in London for more than 3 or 4 days, buy your shampoo & conditioner when you get here.  You will thank me when you're not squeezing the heck out of that tiny hotel shampoo bottle, and you will appreciate more room in your luggage.

Places of Interest

If you've read my blog for a while you already know that London is full of places, large and small, to visit.  So many of these places are free to visit.

If you decide to visit the big attractions that have an admission fee, please look into buying your tickets before you get to the gate.  You'll waste valuable time waiting in line for tickets to find out that the next available tour is 6pm that night or not for a few days.  In Germany we stood in line for Neuschwanstein tickets at 11am only to find out the next English tour was at 4pm.  We busied ourselves with some beer, but it was lost time on our trip.  Pre purchasing admission tickets takes away the spontaneity of your touring, but you'll thank me whilst you reminisce about all you saw that day at the pub with a pint.  The London Eye & Buckingham Palace (summer opening) are two biggies that you should really think about buying tickets before hand, and you might even get a discount if you purchase online.

Check out the Time Out London website a few weeks before you leave.  I grab the magazine each week and always find something to do solo or for the family.  It might help you tour something not many tourists know about!

Navigating the City

The Underground is a fantastic way to get around the city.  While not the most scenic, the trains are an efficient mode of transport.  Keep in mind part of the fun is the journey to get there, and if you spend all of your transport time in a tunnel you might miss something spectacular.  I've learned in the last few weeks that some of the Underground stations are ridiculously close and it is not worth it to get on the train.  Take a look at the map before you leave the hotel for the day to see if your feet are the best mode.

The bus is also a great mode of transport; more sight seeing for only a few pounds.  I've read that it might even be worth your time to take one of those Hop On, Hop Off bus tours.  You can visit major parts of the city whilst riding the city streets at your leisure.  I have not ridden one of these so I have no knowledge of their quality.  

Look into an Oyster card or a travel pass before you leave to see if one of these will save you money on transportation.  If you order & put money on your Oyster card before leaving home, they will even mail it to you.  Then you can easily hop on the Piccadilly line from Heathrow into the city!

If you get lost, use the sidewalk maps of the city!  

I hope these tips gave you some things to think about before making your trip to London.  Many of the tips can also apply to other European countries.  Bon Voyage!

Let's Go For A Walk - Touring Tuesday

If you've read any of the A4 monthly updates, you'll know I walk a lot.  Below is a screen shot of the last week of February and the first full week of March.  Yes, that's about 42 miles in two weeks.  I think it's probably a bit more as I only count the major walks of the day - to the kids school, the train station, grocery, etc.  The little walks from store to store on the high road are not always factored in.

I do not dread walking at all.  I thought I might get sick of it after a few weeks, but since there is no alternative I have no room to complain.  There is no complaining now especially since I can tighten my belt one hole tighter & the pants that were a bit tight in Chicago now fit.

The amount of walking that I accomplish in one week is a vast difference from what I accomplished back in Chicago (which was about 0).  The shops we frequented were not close to our house nor really each other.  The style of living we had was not conducive to walking whilst purchasing a week's worth of groceries, a stop at Target, a big stop at Costco, and the library.  We needed a car to accommodate the quantity of merchandise we bought.  For goodness sakes I had trouble carrying the package of Costco toilet paper to the car let alone the rest of the groceries.

The lack of a car makes us think differently about our shopping now.  As you read on Friday's post about the kitchen, we don't have a ton of space to store extra food.  I left a great pantry behind at The 407 which appropriately accommodated storage of cereals and canned goods.  I will say that I am a more conscious shopper knowing that everything needs a space, especially in the fridge.

While walking is a necessity for the smooth running of the household, it is also a beautiful byproduct of our surroundings.  

The other day (March 4th on the calendar above), I had a lovely walk along the River Thames after my visit to the Tate Britain Museum (that's an upcoming post).  Once I dropped the kids off at school I hopped on the Underground to Pimlico station, which is almost at the southern most point on the north side of the Thames.  My walking path is outlined in red blow.         

I have not spent much time south of Parliament as there is not much to do between there and the curve in the river.  At least I think there is not much to do, so please let me know if I'm missing something spectacular.  Other than knowing the Thames was on my right and Parliament was somewhere in front of me I was clueless as to where I was.  London, being a lovely city, had help for me all along the way.......  

When we visited London over Spring Break a few years ago I met up with a colleague (hi!) who was here for a two-year stay for her husband's job.  On our walk, she showed me how the clueless traveler (or in this case resident) can get where they need to go.  London has these great maps all over town.    

The top provides a quick reference to the nearest big attraction or train station.  The bottom is comprised of two maps - a wide shot and close up of the area.  

The circle that provides walking times is very helpful.  I also appreciate the close up map for its cityscape drawings.  I do not do well with directions of North, South, East & West; I operate best with a street name paired with turn left at the skyscraper with the two towers type of directions.  I ultimately ended my 2.5 mile walk at Leicester Square Underground.  Or as I know it, behind the National Gallery and to the left.

I'll let the photos speak for the views on my walk.....

This is where James Bond works

Flowers are everywhere!

Parliament

One of the gates into Parliament

Lord Nelson in Trafalgar Square

As the weather continues to improve, I plan to rack up the miles with more walks in the city.  The best part, these types of tours are free!