Category: ENGLAND

A different Midsummer – Wyndstock

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While my friends and family back in Sweden ate pickled herring and drank several aquavit I celebrated midsummer in a more British way. Together with my friends Gaby and Laura I went to Houghton Hall in Norfolk to attend Wyndstock –  The Country House Party.

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When I arrived on Friday evening my friends were already there, so they showed be around and we had some wine in the bar tent and enjoyed the bonfire. Then off to bed only to be woken up by torrential rain and we found out the hard way that the tent we had hired from the organisers was not waterproof. Luckily the weather improved, tents were repaired and we actually got a new (waterproof) tent for the second night.

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On Saturday after breakfast we went on a tour with the game keeper in the deer park which was quite the sight.

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At midday we got to go into the house and look at the new exhibition Houghton Revisited. For the first time since Catherine the Great bought Robert Walpole’s (the first British prime minister) art collection it has been returned – on loan – to Houghton Hall where he used to live. 

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After lunch (a nice paella with chicken, chorizo, squid, prawns and mussels)…

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… we had tea and cakes. People from the local parish sold baked goods they had baked themselves. It was quite the spread! 

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We had a lovely cheese scone to share and a cake slice each. Gaby had glutenfree carrot cake and Laura and I had a delicious chocolate cake with both cream and frosting.

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In the evening dinner was served either at 7pm or 9pm, we had the earlier slot and although it was well organised we were pretty disappointed by the food. The starter was just about OK, the maincourse dreadful but the brownie for pudding was actually delicious. We still managed to dance until pretty late and watch the fire works. And it was so nice with a dry night’s sleep. On Sunday we left after breakfast to get back to London for afternoon. Despite the weather I had a great time and although Saturday supper was pretty bad the food was otherwise quite nice and everything was very well organised.

Jubilee Weekend

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In Britain we have a nice long weekend ahead, to celebrate the Queen reigning for 60 years; a diamond jubilee. There are lots of things happening in London to celebrate this; a flotilla on the Thames, street party on Piccadilly and a festival in Battersea Park among other things.

Food wise British classics will be in focus and I am quite excited about finger sandwiches, scones with clotted cream, jugs of Pimm’s and a nice gin & tonic.

The most funny food thing happening around the Jubilee must be the special edition of Marmite, called Ma’amite. Click on the picture for the link to an article.

A little trip to Canterbury

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Last weekend when Maria and Daniel were visiting we decided to escape rainy London for a day and got on the train to Canterbury in Kent. Kent always remind me of home because of all the rapeseed fields – love it.

When I lived in England the first time around (ten years ago now) I lived in Kent, not too far away from Canterbury so I have been there quite a lot, but not for a few years. Apart from the fact that it was nice and sunny and it felt like we were abroad, it is a very cute town with old gates around the town centre, a famous cathedral and university.

We had a look around a few shops, had lunch and went to the cathedral. Sadly we couldn’t see it all because of a Sunday service, but what we saw was really pretty.

Cliveden Manor

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We spent the weekend in Buckinghamshire where my boyfriend is from. It was sunny, 30 C, no wind and wonderful to breathe fresh countryside air.

It was his mother, Elieen’s birthday on Saturday so we went to Clivenden Manor during the day to have a look around, then stopped at a pub for a drink on the way home, and in the evening we cooked a nice meal for her. We used recipes I have written about before, but it was sooo good this time, I have to post it again with the new and improved instructions.

Recipes will be posted the following days, but today I give you some more nice pictures of the Manor.

The Blue Bicycle, York

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York is a small town and that means a smaller selection of restaurants than larger towns, naturally, but because we are used to all the restaurants London has to offer, we decided to cook ourselves for most day. One evening however we visited the Blue Bicycle which was mentioned on Via Michelin’s website.

The restaurant was charming in its interior design with red walls, blue glasses and colourful china. The menu was both intriguing and rather boring.

There was no ordinary bread basket instead we got a little clay pot each with a bread baked in it. A nice touch. And so wash the baked garlic to have on it. The bread was nice and crusty on the top, but a bit too doughy in the bottom.

Christopher chose French onion soup for his starter, which was nice but not fantastic. The bread on the side was really nice though and would have been better than the bread in clay pots to start the meal.

I chose a crayfish, spring onion and gruyére bonbon, which turned out to be a large croquette with these three ingredients. It was crispy on the outside and had lovely melted cheese on the inside. Unfortunately the rest was mainly mashed potatoes and it only contained one crayfish. A great idea that lacked in execution.

Less potato and more crayfish and spring onion would be the way forward. And a vinaigrette instead of just oil with the salsa and salad would have been a lot fresher.

Chritopher chose the steak for his maincourse which looked lovely. It came with new potatoes, fried cauliflower and a mustard hollandaise. Till varmrätt beställde Christopher biff med nypotatis, friterad blomkål och senapshollandaise. Biffen var lite för välstekt för att vara blue-rare men var ändå god.

I chose seabass and got two large fillets on my plate together with a giant fondant potato that was very nice. The sauce was roasted garlic and quite nice and the fried ball was some kind of olive mash that to be honest was a bit weird in taste. I would have prefered some fresh vegetables instead.

We were way too full to have dessert (I had to leave quite a lot of my maincourse) so we decided on a walk to digest the food.

I don’t think the restaurant was all bad, even though I am quite critical in my review. This seem to be one of the better restaurants in York and it was very popular. Around 15 people was turned away while we were there and we got the only walk-in table for the evening. I do think the restaurant has potential. It was nice inside and they certainly can cook, it is more when it comes to creating daring dishes were it doesn’t really work. I think a more traditional approach with English and French well-cooked food would work better.

The Blue Bicycle Restaurant
34 Fossgate
York, YO1 9TA
Tel: 01904 673990

A drive through Yorkshire

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One of the days we stayed in York, we rented a car for the day and drove out to the countryside. The first stop was Fountain’s Abbey, a well preserved old abbey cared for by the National Trust.

Our initial plan was to stop at a few different places along the road and maybe go for a walk, but it was raining heavily most of the time, so we had to eat our picnic inside the car and rush out to take pictures and then straight back inside.

It stopped raining (for a little while) just as we pulled into the village of Hutton-le-Hole so we could have a look around.

Despite the weather, we really enjoyed driving around and seeing more of the county and its wonderful nature. It was moors filled with heather, sheep everywhere and winding roads.

The city of York

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We have spent Monday to Friday this week up north in York, the English city that was the capital during Roman times, which you can see evidence of all over the town.

York is a small, but very cosy town, with lots of old buildings and narrow cobbled streets. We had a look around the city and went for a walk on the old city walls, made a visit to the museum where we learned more about the history of York and the amazing Minster. We also wanted to visit the Treasurer’s house, but we had completely missed the fact that they were closed on Fridays, the day when we intended to go. Oh well…

We rented a flat instead of staying in a hotel or B&B, because we wanted to be able to stay in if we wanted to. He priority with this trip was to rest, sleep, unwind and recover from a busy summer, so sightseeing was secondary.

The flat we rented was really nice and close to the train station which meant that we could walk everywhere. It also had a TV (which we actually don’t have) and it was actually really nice to watch crappy day-time television. The flat also came with a DVD-player and a selection of good DVDs, so we stayed in most nights.

After a few days among super friendly people, fresh air, colder more autumnal weather, it was really nice to come back home to London yesterday.

York

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The picture is borrowed from http://www.designmeawebsite.net/web-design-york/

We’re off from work this week and are staying in York until Friday. I am very much looking forward to it. To  go for walks in the countryside and on the moor in wellies and a quilted Barbour, breath fresh air and look around the town.

It is only a month ago since we got back from a week in Sweden, and although that was wonderful as always, it is not relaxing in the same way a ‘real’ holiday is. So that is why this week will mean a lot to us. We want to have lie-ins every morning, decided on the day what we want to do, stroll around the streets and go to the pub and relax with good food.

 

A weekend in the country

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The countdown to our holiday has begun. It is two weeks until we go home to the South of Sweden for a week. Can’t wait!

So it was great to prepare for our holiday with a mini break in Bucks with Chris’s mother. We got there by train on Friday, quite late, and only had a glass of wine and a chat before bed. The next day we had a nice lie-in and decide to venture out despite of the terrential rain. We went to  Waddesdon Manor, the home of Ferdinand Rothschild. There were plenty to see inside so we could escape from the wetness outside.

The manor certainly had grand interiors with marble, gold inlay on the walls, several drawing rooms and magnificent chandeliers. I enjoyed the layed tables and the china nad silver services the most. We also had a look in the wine cellar, where they keep some of the family wines.

The weather improved in the evening and we could even have a barbeque. We had foodto feed an army for just the four of us, and I am still impressed with how much we managed to eat.

As a starter we had a lovely salad with peaches, mozzarella, parma ham, crema di balsamico, honey, chives and chopped almonds. After that we tucked in on steak, chicken kebab, tuna, burgers and sausages with plenty of salads and garlic bread.

We ate and ate because we decided to skip dessert, but of course it came out anyway. It was summer pudding, which I’ve never had before, so I had to try it. I think it is safe to say I have not felt fuller in my life!

Yesterday we spent the day watching golf (Christopher) and looking through recipes (me) and just chilled out as you do on Sundays. Eileen had made a proper Sunday lunch with toad in the hole, roast potatoes, gravy and lots of different vegetables finished off with an apple crumble. Lovely!