Won’t you guide my plate tonight…

Fins eat a lot of reindeer so naturally, I had to try it while there…

It was a reindeer wrap with a pepper cheese sauce, bleu cheese with  nut syrup and linden berries.

How cute was the little bleu cheese reindeer? And for the record it was AMAZING bleu cheese. 

I’m not a huge fan of peppercorn sauces which was what the “pepper cheese sauce” tasted like to me.  The reindeer was very similar to deer meat, was very tender and tasted pretty good.

I thought I’d feel really guilty when we went to the reindeer farm the next day, but I actually felt even better.  The indigenous Sami people that practice reindeer husbandry rely on meals like these for their livelihood.  Circle of life, people.  Circle of life.

Best meals in London

Our sweet, sweet friends, S & V, had us over a couple of times for dinner.  S served up a yummy Thai stir-fry and V went all out with a winter vegetable soup, fresh mackerel from the  fish monger and a German apple pie from scratch…

Then our last meal together we headed to one of their neighborhood joints, for BBQ.  Yes, real BBQ!  As two girls from the South, I can’t tell you how much we miss BBQ.  Those pulled pork sandwiches were tender, authentic and just what these girls needed before heading to Asia.

We can’t thank them enough for the hospitality, awesome company and delicious food!  Miss you guys already!!!

Lebanese

The great thing about living in an International city like London is the diversity of food choices.  As an American I’m used to choices.  We rarely ate the same cuisine two nights in a row.  Okay, that is a lie because I am a big believer in leftovers, but you get my point.  One night Mexican, the next Italian, then Japanese, then Chinese…again, you get the point. 

We’ve had Lebanese a couple of times here in London and need to definitely find a Lebanese place in Atlanta. 

I love the big bowl of veggies served before the meal…

which goes perfectly with my must-have hummus.

Jules deemed the grilled baby chicken with pinenuts (is it really a baby???) the best chicken she has ever had…

I went with the lamb shwarma that night and think I prefer the Greek style a bit better although the meat was very tender…

The desserts are always nutty and flakey…

and thankfully the one I loved the most was the one Jules like the least. I love when that happens!!

Swiss Miss

We realized at the airport we were about to leave Switzerland without having any Swiss chocolate.  Jules went on a mission to find and brought me back some dark chocolate…

I’m going to go ahead and take the leap that I don’t have any Swiss readers and say- it wasn’t that good.  We have a friend from Belgium who has given me Belgium chocolates over the past few years and I have to say they blow the Swiss out of the water.  Way out.

Hmm?

Do they just call it “onion soup” when you eat it in France? It was the soup du jour at the restaurant we ate at for lunch in Chamonix so we didn’t find out…

The French and their floating bread in soup habit really makes me heart them that much more.

Thank you, Chinatown grocery!

We’ve eaten some amazing food around the world and it’s sad when we have to say goodbye to favorites without knowing if we’ll ever have them again.

We lucked out at a Chinatown grocery store and found our favorite Filipino snack…

Mangos from Cebu are the sweetest fruit on earth and are oh-so-delicious! Score!

tea for two and two for tea

Okay, it was really just tea for one since the Wife didn’t care to have any.  Lovely sunshine, tea and some custard pie…

makes for a pretty nice little English afternoon.

Moon Festival

We celebrated our 2nd Moon Festival this year. Thanks to London’s great Chinatown, we enjoyed a delicious meal with our friend from China who introduced the holiday to us last year.

Creamy tofu with mushrooms…

I’ve always thought I only liked firm tofu, but this stuff was heavenly. We also had some very spicy fish with vegetables…

And a couple other dishes, but by the time they arrived I was too busy eating to worry about photos.

And of course we ended the meal with some moon cakes…

I love, love, love being able to share in holidays with our international friends!