The Weather
Currently while slicing:
Eating: blue-goat cheese & toast - a yummy pre-dinner snack!
Drinking: orange juice with a drop of cherry grenadine
Entertained by: Documentary Ants on a Shrimp - interesting food docu-story I found on Hulu about the Copenhagen-based restaurant, Noma.
In the past few weeks alone, Illinois has gone through a mood-swing of weather changes. We’ve seen everything from hot, rooftop-deck-approved weekends to torrential downpours of either rain, hail, and a few scattered tornadoes. As I left work, I noticed that today’s cold haze with specks of rain in a bright sky.. I hurried to my car, plugged in my phone and flipped on Ed Sheeran’s new album on Spotify. His song “Nancy Mulligan” sprung out from the speakers, and in the parking lot I was transported to a time and place of similar sight and sound. During the summer of 2006, I was lucky enough to escape to England for a three-month long study abroad program. At this time, London was going through a long drought which was uncommon from their typical year-round rainy weather. Although the days for the most part were dry, the sky however still appeared this dismal grey hew. I lived in the large three-flat Thoresby House that was shared by roughly 20 or so housemates (imagine MTVs Real World show style but with an RA on site 24/7), and the weather never kept us from going out to explore the city. We became staple fixtures at the local pubs near the Angel Tube station near us, and we’d devour local flavors such as fish and chips, shepherd’s pie, scotch eggs, Chelsea buns, and bacon butty (which is literally just a pound of bacon and some crusty rolls) - all polished off with a tall London Pride ale. The brighter days, we’d catch the train to Hyde Park and bring with us bottles of wine we’d scavenger on 2-for-1 Tuesday’s from the local market down the block, bring bagfuls of snacks, and enjoy mixing in with the locals (although we tended to stand out when we’d toss an American football around).
All of this rushing in - memories from so long ago that spanned a few short months - in the matter of a second.
Here it is... the Thoresby House...
..and an embarrassing 10 year old photo I dug up on Facebook of me cooking potatoes in the house kitchen... must have been a rainy day at least once!
