more britishisms

feel poorly

bunged up

lurgy



see if you can guess what inspired this post... achoo.

tredive-femte fødselsdag i københavn

a few weeks ago, s asked me what i wanted for my birthday. on a whim, i said "let's go somewhere...like edinburgh?" the next thing i knew, i had an email from him saying:


"...we're definitely going away for your birthday. Plan to be at Heathrow for a 18.00 flight on the Friday."


oooh, exciting! it turns out that he is very good at keeping secrets, and it was not until the day before we left that i had any clues about our destination, other than that i would need a passport.



photo taken on s's iphone at heathrow before departure


he wrapped his old scandinavian guidebook as a valentine's/birthday gift, and told me we were going somewhere "in there." he provided a few more clues: the weather would be colder than london, but only by a few degrees. there probably would not be snow. i should be ok in normal shoes; no need for heavy boots. by my powers of deduction, and some help from google, i ruled out oslo, stockholm and helsinki based on the weather alone. and sure enough, when i got to heathrow terminal 3, the only 18.15 flight was bound for...


...copenhagen!



outside the rådhuset/city hall



inside the rundetårn/round tower



den lille havfrue/the little mermaid


copenhagen is a lovely city. it feels a bit like amsterdam with the water and boats, but the streets are wider and more spread out. the buildings have a more european feel to them than the ones in reykjavik did.



boats on nyhavn quayside



christiansborg and slotsholmen, the seat of the danish parliament



view of the rooftops. the bridge to malmö, sweden, is just visible on the horizon.



changing of the guard at amalienborg slot/royal palace


we spent most of the weekend wandering around copenhagen, finding new streets and gazing longingly at all the pretty danish design. as usual, the weekend was over far too quick. one more destination to add to the list of places to visit again!


thank you, s, for taking me away!

happy valentine's day!

some sugary, buttery sweetness for your thursday viewing pleasure!

¡ay caramba!

to the untrained eye, this is simply a bad photo. perhaps a bit yucky, even. but this represents what i hope is a growing movement toward making london feel even more like home.

this, people, is a made-to-order grilled chicken burrito with black beans, cheese, lettuce, rice and salsa. in islington.

two guys who met when they were working at skype decided to open mucho mas, a mexican restaurant in angel, my old stomping grounds. although i was doubtful at first, i welcome the efforts of anyone who knows that salsa is not ketchup. my happy verdict?

it was goooooooooooooood.

nearly on a par on with cactus and gordo back home - i give it extra marks for liberal use of lime and real, fresh, spicy, salsa! imagine! - but they need to work on the portion size. it was one bite too small.

why does it make me so happy that there is mexican food in london that is not wrapped in the unholy yellowness of an old el paso box? isn't it obvious? i am still thinking about this burrito days later. that must be a good sign.

i hope mucho mas catches on, and the guys choose clapham common or wimbledon for their next shop. oh - and a special request: spinach tortillas, por favor!

pancake day

today is a big day:

it's super tuesday in the states.

it's carnaval in rio.

and it's pancake day in the u.k.


ok, the second two are essentially different ways to celebrate the same thing, but i've never been part of either one. however, i'm in favor of any reason to eat sweet things, so pancakes it is! luckily enough, my sister sent this awesome crêpe pan for xmas!



in honor of barack obama, i'm calling these cancakes. watch the video.