Tze's special tour of London - revisited

I thought it would be good to revisit Tze's special tour of London and take new pictures of older me. We started out having a quick breakfast at Pret a Manger and then hopped onto the Metropolitan and Jubilee line to head into the city.

Got off at Green Park and head towards Buckingham Palace to see the Queen... or rather just the changing of the guards.

As it was constantly raining, they cancelled the changing of the guards and they marched on back to where they came from. Ah well...

Besides marching around, they also stand around. Poor sods... It must suck to have to stand like that in the rain and cold.

I tried it too... But at least I was smart enough to stand inside the booth and out of the rain! Go me!

Just in case you were wondering, I did NOT get arrested in London. Maybe next time...

This is my typical "British person" pose - equipped with an umbrella, jacket, scarf and stepping out of a phone booth... Actually, who uses the phone booth anymore? Everyone has a mobile phone!

Here's old Big Ben... It is actually the great bell of the clock but people usually extend it to refer to the clock or clock tower itself.

We walked pass Westminster Abbey too and Kevin helpfully pointed out that Princess Diana's funeral was held here.

We ended the tour in Trafalgar Square but this time, I didn't climb on the lions. It was all fenced up anyway in preparations for the NYE celebrations...

So... I don't think I look that much older, do I? Do I???

Renewing my love for scones with clotted cream and jam

I can go on and on about how much I love scones with clotted cream and jam. This is something I really miss about the UK. Ever since I went to the US, I dream about these little things and I finally got to have them again!!! On NYE, we drove up to Burford, The Cotswold and parked the car and head straight to Huffkins Tea Room. I was so excited at this point in time that I would have ordered everything on the menu if there weren't anyone to control me.

In the end, Tze and I shared a triple decker club sandwich that had chicken, bacon, and the works and it tasted so good! Why can't I ever make sandwiches this good? We shared a sandwich because we knew we had to save some space for the pièce de résistance - the scones!

It was a good thing I remembered that I like the fruit scones (with raisins) and not just the plain ones. So we managed to make sure we got the fruit scones. It was "gently warmed" as per advertised in the menu and my heart almost missed a beat when I saw it. Kevin knew he shouldn't get in between us and the scones so he opted for a bakewell tart.

So, step 1. Order the fruit scone with clotted cream and raspberry jam.
Step 2. Slather on the clotted cream generously. You can run 10 miles after this. Then, slather on the jam on top of the cream.
Step 3. EAT!

This is my satisfied face. It was just as good as I remembered it to be.

We ordered a lardy cake too but it didn't arrive and we were too full to have it by that time. We got one to-go so that we could try it. Tze told me it was just like a yummy cinnamon bun. Mmm...

I was on a "scone-high" after that. So satisfying!

My spur-of-the-moment London trip!

I didn't expect to be doing much during Christmas and NYE for 2009 but after an idea was put into my head, I bought a ticket to London to visit friends and family. I am glad I did. It was a refreshing break to just get out of the States for a while and enjoy the Christmas lights on Oxford Street and stroll down Carnaby Lane.

I enjoyed this trip so much because I wasn't in any rush for anything because I have been there before. I was also really happy to have met up with so many people and had lots of good food! As you know, good food = happy me. It rained quite a bit when I was there but then again, what else is new? What a wonderful end to the year....