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Posts Tagged UK

Hunting High and Low

May 24

Posted by val in Trips, UK | No Comments

Liverpool, UK

Radio City Tower, The Williamson Tunnels

Radio City Tower rising above Williamson Square

Radio City Tower rising above Williamson Square

While Liverpool’s main draw from a tourist standpoint is that The Beatles lived there, there is a wide variety on non-Fab Four things to see and do there. The best way to truly see and appreciate Liverpool is from above and below. From above, there’s no better vantage point than Radio City Tower. Originally called St. John’s Beacon, it was designed as a ventilation shaft for St. John’s Market and completed in 1969 (presumably John Lennon should have been able to see it from his house). Similar to structures such as Toronto’s CN Tower, The Space Needle in Seattle, Reunion Tower in Dallas and San Antonio’s Tower of the Americas, the tower featured a revolving restaurant and an outdoor observation deck. Eventually these were closed, and the platform at the top was occupied by Radio City 96.7. The tower had closed for renovation but was recently reopened for tours on weekends. It had been the tallest structure in Liverpool until being replaced by West Tower in 2008. West Tower features the Panoramic restaurant on the 34th floor with a commanding view, but be forewarned that dinner will probably run you the equivalent of front row tickets to a Paul McCartney concert, whereas Radio City Tower will only set you back about £6.25. Read the rest of this entry »

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There’s Always Room

Mar 8

Posted by val in Asia, Europe, Tasty Animals, USA | 6 Comments

Gelatin

United States, Great Britain and Asia

Coffee jello at Durgin Park in Boston

Coffee jello at Durgin Park in Boston

Oh, poor misunderstood gelatin! Anything resembling gelatin has been given the name “jello” by Americans (“jelly” by the British), although Jell-O is actually a trademark of one brand of commercially available gelatin. Gelatin in its pure form is clear and practically tasteless; it is typically manufactured by boiling down the bones, connective tissues, organs and the hides of cattle, pigs and/or horses in order to extract the collagen (sounds tasty, doesn’t it?). Surely you remember as a kid when mom boiled that ham for a New England boiled dinner, popping the remains into the fridge – when that door swung open the next day, voila! – gelatin. Serving just the gelatin became popular way back in the late 1800s, although it required the aforementioned cooking down process or buying dried gelatin sheets and purifying and reconstituting them, which quite frankly was a pain in the gluteus maximus. Commercially available powdered gelatin made dessert preparation easier because of two men – Peter Cooper who patented the process of powdering gelatin, and Charles Knox who created and marketed a pre-granulated gelatin. Pearle Wait (who bought Peter Cooper’s patent) added flavoring to the powdered gelatin in 1897 and began marketing it as Jell-O; Knox became known for his unflavored variety. To this day Jell-O (which was manufactured by General Foods) and Knox are both Kraft Foods brands, with Jell-O so popular that the governor of Utah declared it to be the state snack (take that, Illinois, with your stinkin’ popcorn). Read the rest of this entry »

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Toast’s Best Friend (Or Worst Enemy)

Feb 15

Posted by val in Europe, Tasty Animals | 3 Comments

United Kingdom
Marmite

Marmite - Love it or Hate it

Marmite - Love it or Hate it

Over the years, I have had the pleasure and opportunity to savor unusual food from across the globe. I have enjoyed guinea pig at at a table where the other diners didn’t like the way the entree was looking at them; I have delighted in the rich, buttery taste of the spiky and odiferous durian, while others were gagging in the bushes. To this day people wonder what is my kryptonite, my gastronomic achilles heel. Surely, there is some food-like substance that has the power to ruin my breakfast. Your honor, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, let the record state that for the murder of my taste buds, I find the defendant – Marmite – guilty as charged. I’m sure I am going to catch some flak from some of my British counterparts for this, but this is to be expected. In fact, the official Marmite web site is split into two sections accessed from the home page – one for folks who love it, the other for those who hate it. Hate seems like a harsh term, but it adequately describes those who intensley dislike this crime against nature disguising itself as food. Marmite is a spread for toast that is the by-product of beer production; it is a sludge-like substance made from yeast extract. It has the consistency and stickiness of molasses and the taste of salted crankcase oil from an engine run for 100,000 miles. I don’t really have a point of reference here, never having salted crankcase oil, but I’m willing to bet I’m right. Read the rest of this entry »

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Address to a Haggis

Dec 6

Posted by val in Europe, Tasty Animals | 3 Comments

Windsor/Slough, Berkshire, UK
Haggis (Waitrose Supermarket)

A delicious Macsween haggis from Waitrose supermarket

A delicious Macsween haggis from Waitrose supermarket

Although I had been to the UK many times before, I had never tried haggis; I seriously felt I was missing out on something. I was in Slough, UK to interview a candidate for an open position in the company I worked for at the time, and mentioned the omission in my list of unusual food after offering him the job. To get to the Slough office, I boarded the Number 81 bus, passing through the Brunel Bus Station (just like on the opening of the British version of “The Office”). For anyone who has not been to Slough, it is a city just east of London that has been appropriately replaced in the NBC version of “The Office” with Scranton, Pennsylvania. William Herschel, the astronomer who discovered Uranus was not born there, but he did die there. It was deemed such a miserable city that the BBC did a mini-series as a social experiment called “Making Slough Happy.” Slough is like a small Midwest industrial city trapped in the 1970s – there’s a Slough Museum on High Street that could take up a tidy little 10 minutes on your lunch break. It is probably best known for the bleak John Betjeman poem, “Slough.” Read the rest of this entry »

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It’s Elementary!

Nov 24

Posted by val in Trips, UK | 2 Comments

Westminster, London, UK
The Sherlock Holmes Museum

Entrance to the Sherlock Holmes Museum

Entrance to the Sherlock Holmes Museum

When was the last time you went looking for a fictional place? 742 Evergreen Terrace, Springfield (Texas)? 1313 Mockingbird Lane, Mockingbird Heights (Midland, TX)? How about one of the most famous fictional addresses of all time – 221B Baker Street, London UK? For aficionados of Arthur Conan Doyle’s “Sherlock Holmes” novels, this address is akin to Mecca. In 1990, a former Victorian rooming house somewhere around 237 Baker Street in London was converted to the Sherlock Holmes Museum. The actual location where 221B Baker Street should be doesn’t exist, perhaps intentionally by Doyle so that people reading the stories back in the late 1880s wouldn’t flock to the address like crazed groupies and paparazzi (as they do now). The current location was officially given the address by the city of Westminster in London, which probably drives the mail carriers nuts. Getting there is half the fun, since many Londoners don’t believe it exists. Ask for directions and you may get, “There’s just a storefront there,” or “There is no 221B Baker Street.” The easiest way is by the Underground (Tube), taking the Hammersmith and City Line to the Baker Street stop. You’ll know you’re there when you see Sherlock Holmes profile baked into the tile lining the station.

The cluttered desk of a busy (fictional) mind

One of the very realistic dioramas on the top floor

Approaching the building from across the street, you notice the large sign over a modern storefront reading “Sherlock Holmes Museum.” A wave of disappointment may wash over you since we’re talking about a bookstore and gift shop. As you get closer, several things start to fall in place. For starters, a blue circular metal plaque was attached to the front of the building, similar to historic plaques throughout the UK used to designate residences of famous people. In this instance, the plaque reads, “Sherlock Holmes, Consulting Detective, 1881 – 1904). To the left of the gift shop/bookstore is a black wooden door adorned with old-style lanterns and the number “221B” lettered on the transom window. Life has truly imitated art. Upon entering, you are instructed enter the gift shop through the inside door on the right to purchase your ticket; you still may anticipate being admitted into a warehouse-like back room with displays about Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle. When you are directed to go back out the shop door and go up the stairs to the right, you realize that the game is afoot. Read the rest of this entry »

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