England 2014

We are in Jolly Old England for a week on holiday. We are having a wonderful time. Below are some of my first impressions and memories.

First misconception is the language. The British speak English, Americans speak American. The words look the same. They may even be pronounced the same, but the meaning may be entirely different. Here there are prams, not baby carriages, highways are carriageways, trunks are boots, hoods are bonnets, gas is petrol, trucks are lorries, subways are tube or Underground, first floor is actually second floor (it goes ground, first, second), etc.  Right off I learned not to look for red Exit signs, instead look for green Way Out signs. And "Mind the Gap" meant watch your step.

The British are even more confused about the metric system than we are. They buy their beer in pints, but their petrol in litres. They measure small things in centimeters, but roads in yards and miles. I don't know about weights, but lorries are weighed in tons, but how much is a ton?

London is a huge town full of people. It is very old and the streets and layout of the town reflect that. You need to remember that when England was settled you walked from village to village. Therefore the towns were close, 1-2 miles between villages. It didn't matter which direction the paths went so you just went straight. There was no planning commission making sure everything would work out in neat straight lines and square blocks.

Fast forward to today and those paths are now streets. The villages have all grown together into one huge metropolis. Streets meander here and there. Every passage is named, even if it is only an alleyway because there will be flats (apartments) located off of it. Streets start and stop for no apparent reason. Building numbers start at 1 and go up the street, Even on one side and odd the other. It doesn't matter that 50 is across the street from 71 or 131.

London is used to visitors from other countries that drive on the other side of the street. Every intersection has the words "Look Right" or "Look Left" painted on the street to remind us where the traffic is coming from, quickly. We have learned to wait for the "Green Man" signal to cross streets, even though many natives cross when they feel like it. London did install many map posts around the business districts for the 2012 Olympics for all the visitors. They are great.

The people of England are very polite. They treat everybody as if they were Royal guests. My goal is to bring some of this niceness back to the States. Even the buses are polite. We saw one bus being towed with the sign "I'm sorry, I'm out of order."

If you are looking for a water fountain to get a drink, just forget about it. Haven't seen one yet. Restrooms are toilets but you go to the loo, not the toilet. Expect toilets to be either upstairs or downstairs, and rather steep stairs at that. Same with kitchens at pubs, never on the same floor as the eating area.

The food has been fantastic. Different than the States, but you need to expect that when traveling. After all why travel if everything stays the same. We have enjoyed the traditional English breakfast of sausage, bacon (ham), eggs (scambled or poached), mushrooms, toast, croissant, orange juice, coffee or tea, and baked beans. Yes baked beans. They are a breakfast item. No idea when and how that started and who was first, Americans with hot dogs or British with breakfast.

Cicely has discovered a rule of affordable restaurants. If the glasses are already on tables covered with linen, we don't need to look at a menu, above our price range. Pubs are more our style. The general rules for pubs are 1. Find your own table, 2. The menus are on the table, 3. Go to the bar, order and pay for your food giving your table number, 4. Enjoy your beer, 5. Repeat.

If you require Bud Light or Coors Lite, forget it. I have seen Budweiser listed at one pub, but never Lite beer. Here you get ales, stouts, ciders or bitters. I've discovered I'm an ale or stout kind of guy. Bitters and ciders no. 

Note about the food. Chips are french fries (actually makes as much sense), a crisp is a potato chip, a biscuit is a cookie. You put mayo on your fries or you may use ketchup. HP sauce is for everything.

Our credit cards are mostly out of date in Europe. We still use swipe cards and the Europeans now use chip cards. Hasn't been a problem, except ours don't work in the automated machines. I have learned to let cashiers know right off that it is a swipe card. The really sharp ones assume they will be swipe once they hear our accent.

And the accent. I love listening to some of the barmaids talk. I wish I had recorded some of them talking to each other. I had a hard time not laughing at them and the terms they used with each other. The British think all Americans sound the same, just like I think all British sound similar. 

They don't understand where Nebraska is, but that's OK, I don't understand where all their counties are either. I just tell them I'm frrom the middle of the States and they nod OK. They are shocked when I tell them how few people live in our area and that Lexington at 10,000 people is a larger town in Nebraska.

Next post will be about our trip to the East Midlands where one branch of my family originated from.

Eating our way across the South, Part 1 Going East

The past couple of weeks Barb and I have been on the road, literally. By the time we got home we logged over 3,550 miles on our Ford Edge and passed through 12 states. On the way we have been eating very well, there will be many trips to the YMCA after we return. We drove to Durham, N.C. to visit my brother, but we took our time visiting friends and family along the way. We have tried hard to not eat at any national chain restaurants, unless they featured southern specialties.

Our first day we made it as far as Hartsburg, Mo., to stay with my sister and her husband. That night we dined on venison and wild turkey. The next morning we headed to Nashville via I-70, 64, 57 & 24. We had planned to eat at a Bob Evans, a southern staple, at Mt Vernon, Ill. However, construction at that exit changed our plans and we headed on down the road. Thanks to the iPad we decided to get off interstate at Benton, Ill. We went past all the typical fast food establishments and went downtown. The Franklin County Courthouse sits in the town center at the intersection of three state highways and the streets around the courthouse have become a roundabout.

One of the small shops around the courthouse housed a coffee house called The Buzz. For those familiar with Lexington, it was a slightly larger version of Madeline's. They have 7 or 8 sandwich choices, 3 soups and 4 or 5 salads on the menu. You can mix or match any of them for a great light lunch and according to Barb the coffee was excellent.







From there we headed on into Nashville to meet one of Barb's college friends for supper. She had a couple of suggestions, one downtown and one out by the airport. We decided against the downtown restaurant since it was close to the Ryman Auditorium, which was hosting the Grand Old Opry that night. We also discovered that Justin Bieber was having a concert downtown as well. So we headed to Monell's at the Manor, a southern family style restaurant in an old southern mansion. The food, atmosphere and company was great. As guests arrive they are seated at large dining tables. Food is served family style and passed around the table to the other diners. We dined with four college students and a couple of visiting engineers. Food included three salads, 3 meat choices, 5 vegetables, plenty of biscuits and cornbread, topped off with banana pudding for dessert. All was great.

Saturday we drove on down to Chattanooga to see Barb's cousin. Dinner was at a small pizza house on the north side of the river which is being redeveloped. We also went sidewalk shopping and took a trip across the Tennessee River on an old bridge.

While at Konnie's we enjoyed a pork dinner with a roast vegetable plate, breakfast brunch and finally Sunday night was everybody for themselves. Somehow we expected a great pork meal from a former Nebraska Pork Queen.

Monday morning we moved on to Asheville, N.C., to tour the Biltmore House. Lunch was at the Biltmore Bistro on the grounds around the Biltmore House. The tour of the house was fantastic. For those who don't know, the Biltmore House is the largest house in America with 250 rooms built for George Vanderbilt in 1895. These include 43 bathrooms, 65 fireplaces and a 70-foot tall ceiling in the dining room. During the 42-room tour we were reminded several times of the PBS show "Downton Abbey." While the gardens in the winter are fairly low-key at Biltmore House, locals and others who have visited assure us they are nothing short of fantastic during the spring and summer. But even in winter the Conservatory just below the main house is filled with plants and we did enjoy the orchids in bloom.

Supper that night was at a local Greek/Italian restaurant, the Apollo Flame Bistro. Again we enjoyed great food that is different than we can get at home. Barb had a gyro combo and I had the pasta combo. Yum.

Tuesday morning we shopped at Biltmore Village, a quaint shopping area designed by the same architects who designed the Biltmore House. The highlight was oil and vinegar tasting. For those of you scoffing, you really do need to try this sometime. We brought several bottles home including chocolate balsamic, which is out of this world when drizzled on vanilla bean ice cream. Lunch was at the Village Wayside Bar & Grille, which is in the old train station. We were told we had to try the onion rings, great choice.


Tuesday night we finally arrived in Durham, N.C. I'll talk about the Durham food scene in the next segment.

Snow Coming, again

    This sounds like a doozy of a storm coming our way the next couple of days. Luckily for us we are on the back edge of the snow, only predicting 4-6 inches here. Iowa and Missouri could get really dumped on. What really concerns me is the cold and wind.
     Tuesday is to have a high of 3 with 30-40 mph winds, not a day to be outside. This is the kind of weather that really is troublesome to livestock owners. You have to provide fresh water and feed even on those extreme days, and keeping water open is horrible.
     I get to call the tire people this morning. They were out the last snow when I had a flat tire on the payloader while scooping snow. I went to move it yesterday to put our flatbed trailer in the shop and it is flat again. They won't be too happy since it is 15 now, but it is only going to get colder and we need it to move the snow later.
     Today my schedule is pretty light, after last week. Tomorrow I sign up at FSA for the government program for 2011. With the current high prices for farm commodities it is hard to remember the reason we have a farm program. The goal is to have a safety net for framers to keep them in business so there will be enough food to feed everyone. 15 years ago the farm program saved us and now we are in good shape. Without family farmers our food supply would not be possible.
     Even with the almost record high farmgate prices paid to farmers, food is still cheap to Americans. Most of the price consumers pay is for labor, processing, packaging and trucking after it leaves the farmers hands. So a doubling of price to farmers may only mean a few cents per loaf of bread.
     So bundle up, protect your skin when going outside and thank a farmer when having a hot bowl of soup.