Oxford Introduction

We took a day trip to the neighboring city of Oxford.  But this would be the first of many trips.  It was extremely cold on this day and we took our dog with us, so we didn't see a lot of the city, but I got the flavor.  Oxford is lovely as it still keeps it village like charms, but it is a proper city rather then a tiny village, but it is not so big that it is overwhelming like London.  As the good season slowly but surely approaches I will have more posts from excursions here.  

A bit macabre, but the small cemetery with ornately scripted, obviously old headstones was enchanting

McDonalds here and the ones I saw in France are quite understated as they are required to blend in, note the dark green color as opposed to the bright red normally used on signage

We happened upon a covered farmers market type area....we stopped and had some lunch here

The game here was obviously fresh, I had never seen the birds displayed like this before

Chocolate Goodness

Ahhhh....learning the metric kitchen....butter is also sold in grams here

 So I have finally gotten around to cooking things other then my usual stand-bys and thus am taking photos for my blog again....all in my new Anglo-Saxon kitchen!  This dessert is from the Barefoot Contessa and was very rich, like a cross between a brownie and pudding.  Fairly easy and the results taste like you put more effort into it.

I am consistently impressed by the quality, taste and freshness of the eggs in England.

One big reason cooking is starting off slowly...I had to purchase all new pots and pans for my induction cooktop....it is fancy, heats very quickly and easy to clean, but I still prefer good old gas.  Also I miss my old pots....just like old friends I left behind in California....sad.

But I still have these friends with me!  I love reading books on my iPad, but will never give up my real cookbooks for digital ones.

Sift your cocoa powder and flour as your 1/2 pound of butter melts on the stove....I wondered if this should have been a Paula Deen recipe when I saw the butter content.

Beat your four eggs and sugar together....alas another kitchen item I am living without now, my KitchenAid since I need a voltage converter to run it here, or I could purchase a new one for the equivalent of like $600!  Hint to companies that sell products globally....make them dual voltage!

After beating the eggs and sugar for like 7 minutes....mixture needs to be very thick.

Yes these old friends made it to England....this dessert calls for a bit of Chambord if you are wondering what alcohol has to do with this.... 

Chambord is optional, but not to me as well you need seeds scraped from a vanilla bean....but I cheated and just used the extract as I couldn't be bothered to go shopping for this ingredient on a Sunday night.

You must prepare a hot water bath for your prepared dish to bake in

How the mixture had to bake in the oven in its hot water bath

Final result....crispy shell with molten chocolate inside....yum

Don't forget to serve this with vanilla ice cream!

Pub Grub

So if you are wondering what I have been eating since moving to England, fear not, I will be posting recipes from my new kitchen shortly, but when we go out the selection is not exactly wide, as we are out in the country.  But the selection of English pubs is good and we have tried a few thus far.  This past weekend we went to the area of Charlecote (where the Queen used to have a summer home.)  We had lunch at the Boar's Head pub, good beer and fries (I mean chips) so it was dubbed "good."

A peek a boo view of the Charlecote church

Pub entrance

What you can always find in England....good beer

Fish, chips and peas 

My husband had a sandwich with fried egg (note eggs here in the Midlands are excellent as most people own their own chickens)

Charlecote has a beautiful gated park that is home to herds of deer (as pictured in the distance here)

Sunday Upon Avon

Random car parked with random sheep wandering onto the road

Trying to get out and about when there is sun, we took a day trip to visit an old windmill near the village of Chesterton.  And later onto Stratford Upon Avon for a beautiful walk.

Sheep hanging out right off the road

Windmill from afar

A telephone booth, I couldn't resist the tourist picture

While the barges seemed shut, I had never seen such a thing, food and such sold off a barge sitting on the Avon

Art gallery barge, again on the Avon

A sheet of ice remained on the Avon, where some birds were walking about

Lots of families out, feeding bread to the birds who live on the Avon

Old English store fronts

The High Barn

The High Barn sunrise

So it has been quite a while since I have posted.  Well, that is due not to the lack of inspiration, but rather lack of time and just pure laziness.  But, I do feel in this instance I have some justification as from the first of the year I have officially relocated to a new country and this past week started my new job.  Coming from the past three months of basically being a gypsy living in a combination of the US, England and Italy I had to get my life back on a regular schedule.  So from the beaches of Orange County and suburbs of Los Angeles I am now here in the Midlands of England....big change!  While the landscapes are quite different they are still beautiful non-the-less.  Here a few pictures of the rental home we are living in, "The High Barn." (Houses in England either have a house number or in our case a house name, cute eh?)

Our house name plate

Entrance to the High Barn (we live in a collection of barn conversions, so no not all this is mine to clean!)

Side yard of The High Barn

Some type of berry....have no idea what it is, but you don't eat it....pretty though

Courtyard of converted barns

The High Barn front

Converted garages

Backyard of The High Barn

Our neighbor has three very well fed sheep, who aren't quite as nimble as the farmers sheep behind our yard