Burgers for Breakfast

What can I say?  Gearing up for winter by pulling out the air conditioners, doing some laundry, pulling weeds, raking leaves, maintaining the grills and the next thing I know, I want burgers for breakfast.  Gotta love the smell of a grill being fired up.

Fish & Chips

Sorry, I was too hungry and forgot to take pictures of our humble but fantastic dinner of Britain's famous meal. I think what makes fish & chips really good here and in Ireland is the fish and oil are fresh, and the batter is light but crisp.  It probably helps if you get the fish & chips from just a fish & chips shop, too. That is what they specialize in along with anything else fried.  Our restaurants at home don't even touch the flavors and freshness of what I have had so far in the UK.  Although the chips usually aren't fresh cut potatoes, for some reason they are just fine.  Everything gets wrapped up in paper and even with a bit of moisture, the batter on the fish holds up well.  The shop asked if we want it showered in salt & vinegar before it is all wrapped up and we say yes! with excitement.

We drove into Frimley as the Wednesday fish truck was not in the neighborhood.  Dale and I popped into the Railway Arms for half pints of Youngs Special Ale as we waited for our cod & chips order.  When we arrived for our takeaway in the steady rain, there were three other customers.  After our half pints in the slightly dodgy pub, the fish and chips shop was jammed with customers.  Other items they fry are real chicken nuggets, sausages, saveloy (a highly seasoned sausage common in English fry shops) and other fish like haddock, skate and roe.

I actually found the link for the fish & chips shop while writing this post.  Their description of why their food is so good was a guess on my part from devouring it last night.  Kims Plaice is exactly where we got our takeaway and the gentleman in the picture is who served us up with a smile and a laugh.  Brilliant!!

Surrey, England with the Bemis's

I have been in England since Thursday visiting the most fabulous couple in the world.  I have been playing house in Surrey County and it is really hard.  We are packing and cleaning for the upcoming move to another home in the County.  To gear up for the week, we relaxed at a few gastro pubs.  These pubs still have the feel of pubs but they also have sections that have the feel of fine dining.  This past weekend we had a quick dinner at the Horse & Groom in Guildford while Nathan was fencing.  Cory and I had pizzas and Dale ate the Chicken and Leek pie.  Local ingredients are big over here, too, so everything was made fresh and the pizzas were similar to our artisan pizzas in the states.  And it happens to be Cask Ale week ~ how convenient.  28 September to 7 October.  Our pints were Red Fox, Doombar & Bombardier. 

Saturday, with a full moon, we did the mountain bike pub ride (or race if Cory is leading).  We had dinner (fish & chips!!) and pints at the Rose and Thistle.  We rode to the Olde Wheatsheaf, Ye Olde White Hart, then the Embers Inn's Crab & Dragon.   All the beers I drank were traditional English cask red ales.  When Dale reports home from work, he will have to fill me in on the pints we had.  I know we had Young's Special Ale, Doombar and Nichols.

Okay, I need to get back to packing ~ maybe I will have to open a bottle as I am knackered and hoping for some cask ales later.