Well, not much has happened in the grand scheme of things over the past 11 days, except that my life has become increasingly focused on my academic obligations as I have three research papers and a presentation due in the month of April.
But on a more interesting note, I feel I have broadened my horizons significantly in one area of my life in the past 11 days: cuisine. This is really one thing I love about London: if you want to go out to a restaurant, you absolutely never have to go to the same restaurant twice if you don't want to. However, if you want to, you can do that too... which is the case with me and this Indian place called Motijheel that I've already mentioned in previous posts...love it. So examples of my new cuisine experiences:
#1: Carey brings back some Turkish food after babysitting for one of our professors one evening. I tried some chili... and couldn't feel my lips for about two minutes, but it was tasty. Had a lamb kofta which is a like a lamb burger... sort of. It's a lamb patty in a pita with all sorts of turkish spices and some veggies. This was soooo tasty! But my favorite was definitely the baklava. For those who don't know, Baklava is a pastry dessert thingy, and usually associated with Greece. But I found the Turkish baklava to be wayyyy better than the Grecian version. So yes, a good encounter with the Turkish food.
#2: Carey and Allie convince me to go eat sushi with them one day after a long day of class. Now, I'm not gonna lie, I was a little nervous about this but they assured me that there was mild things that I could eat. I wasn't nervous about the flavor because I traditionally like all things Asian (in terms of cuisine like chinese, japanese, thai, etc), but I wasn't too keen on the idea of raw fish. Also, it should be noted that I am not so accurate or skilled with a pair of chopsticks...I think it's because of my small hands.....Anyway, so the place we go is called Yo! Sushi Bar. Very modern: a small metallic conveyor belt circles the entire restaurant with little plates of different sushi rolls and you just pick up what you want. So first, I start off with some California rolls: which is cream cheese and cooked crab. very mild. also very tasty. Then I get a little braver and try the prawn on wasabi rice (prawn is shrimp and it was cooked too). verrry tasty, but I don't think I have ever met a shrimp I didn't like. Then I got really brave and tried the tuna roll thingies, don't know what they're officially called, and I'm gonna go with they weren't cooked but you couldn't tell! they were as tasty as all the others! all in all, it was really a good experience for me and I would definitely go back. and soy sauce makes it all better, just fyi.
#3: Allie's parents were in town this weekend and graciously offered to take a few of us out to dinner with their family. We had reservations at this French Vietnamese restaurant called Bam-Bou and specializes in Southeast Asian cuisine, look it up online if you have time. The place was absolutely beautiful and we had our own private dining room. Here's how my dining for the evening went: I started out with some steamed and sea-salted edamame, commonly known as soybeans. And you just suck the actual beans out, you don't eat the pod as well. Then for a starter (appetizer), I had some prawn spring rolls. In merry ole England, shrimp are called prawns, don't ask me why. So the prawn rolls were verrry tasty and came with a chili nuoc sauce which made them even better. Thankfully, I didn't have to use the chopsticks for these. For my main dish, I had a pan-fried sea bass with a ginger slaw and egg fried rice. So, let me set the scene for you: fish and chopsticks and I'm not stellar with the chopsticks. The fish is so tender it falls apart so the cutting isn't a problem but the grasping is hard work lol and being hungry Allie's younger brother Charlie and I raise the white flag and get forks. Needless to say, there was nothing left of my sea bass, it was absolutely delicious. After we had all finished our main courses, Mr. Roberts insisted that we get dessert. And being that there was 8 women at the table of 10, no one refused. I chose the poached pear in a plum wine sauce with cinnamon ice cream. Pears aren't even one of my favorite fruits but these were probably the best I've ever had. And cinnamon ice cream!! I wish they sold that by the tub....well maybe I don't lol as that would be no good for my figure :). All in all, it was a fantastic meal and definitely the best I've had while in London.
On a different subject, the play that we saw this past Wednesday evening for our Contemporary British Theatre class definitely deserves a mention in the blog. The production was based on all of Poe's works, but mainly "Masque of the Red Death" and therefore so entitled. Upon entering, we all had to put on white masques, and if you found the cloak room, you got to wear a red cloak as well. This is based on "Masque of the Red Death" where the plague is running rampant the Prince hosts a ball for all the nobles in which they are hiding in his castle (in our case a warehouse) from the Black Death. Audience members had the privelege of exploring the ethereal and dimly lit warehouse, styled as a castle on the inside, and see Poe's stories such as Fall of the House of Usher, Ligea, the Tell Tale Heart, etc. being acted out. It was like we weren't even there but could see the stories unfolding as if it were the first time they'd happened. You could follow the actors as they moved throughout the house and the storylines progressed, or you could explore on your own and fall into different storylines as you stumbled upon them. I'm not going to fib, I was a little creeped at first, but as I got more into the storylines and started seeing more actors, the fear subsided and I started having a good time. So I climbed through fireplaces and secret passageways through mirrors and dove through coat racks to find secret corridors. It was a great experience. Lauren and I, usually hand in hand lol, managed to follow the entire storyline of the Fall of the House of Usher, which was performed really wonderfully. After having been in this dream world for almost three hours, people everywhere started ringing bells and telling us "This way hurry! hurry!" We were herded like cats, very fast cats, to a dark and silent corridor... and then there was a flash of red light and we were led into the ballroom for the finale. The final scene of the Masque of the Red Death....and yes, of course, the Red Death (dressed in black) showed up and the show ended (read the story). Then they raised the audience from their crouched positions and had a ball, literally! Live band and dancing all around! It was a good night out and I would definitely do it again... especially since I would know what to expect and could explore the other stories more adamantly.
I think that's all for now. And by the way, it's snowing here today. Yes, snowing. As in 35 degrees and large albino brain chiggers falling from the sky (I put that in there for you fahza!) The weather here is as strange as Kentucky... it was 60 degrees and sunny on Thursday and it's snowing on Sunday morning... very strange indeed. Hope you all have enjoyed this post(aka Kendall's break from paperwriting because she really doesn't want to write her papers). P.S. It's one month and two days until I come home! Get ready!!!!! Love you all!
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