Pomegranate

Another gift greeted me at my desk when I arrived this morning. This time one of the gals at work, Tamara, brought me this special pomegranate tea. It's not the tea I like because I have never sampled even a bit of it, but I happen to get a kick out of the tall glass container it comes in. Tamara drinks this stuff all the time and I told her once how cool the glass was so she got me my very own! I laughed for several minutes.



My mirth was soon squelched by the news of RIFs (reduction in force or redundancies). The first department hit was IT. My friends Jill and British Jeff did not escape the scythe swinging around company wide. It made the day very stressful.

Even though I brought my lunch from home, I agreed to go out with Jeff and Tawnyia just to escape the bad juju vibes at work. It was a welcome respite. We felt better talking more freely offsite about what was going on and shared news of others we knew who suffered the cut. Unfortunately, I had a clear view of the people being escorted to the HR section. Sigh.

I received another pleasant surprise in my personal e-mail. It was a thank you note from Anna across the pond. They enjoyed the pictures I sent her family. She also shared some charming tidbits about her babies. It was very sweet indeed.

Dianne/Possum left me a voicemail an hour after I talked to her about meeting her for lunch tomorrow. She was RIF'ed four weeks ago and is about to receive a formal job offer in the mail tomorrow or Monday as a result of her second interview with the same company this week. I am so pleased for her.

The rest of the afternoon sped by with a relieved tone after we received a company wide note from our CEO "explaining" strategic changes and whatnot. It read well that's all I can comment on it because it doesn't deserve any further consideration.

I called British Jeff on my way home and conveyed my sympathy. Typically Jeff, he had been having pints and was giving his I don't give a f*** attitude. He is a hardy man and can weather anything. Did I ever tell you about the time he had back surgery without any anesthetic? I felt better after talking to him and we will get together soon.

Shopped for some comfortable new shorts and colorful shirts to wear on my new walking gig starting Saturday and picked up some treats for Cabal. Drove home and had a light dinner to offset the dinner I had last night with Myrna. I had been depressed yesterday. An hour of IM'g with Yummy uplifted my spirits enough to make me want to go out so I called Myrna...Turning in early tonight.

Pomegranate

AGOL Takes UK: Chocolate & Champagne

My personal and major objective today was a chocolate run. There was no way in heck I was going to land tomorrow without buying some Cadbury and Galaxy chocolates. My ride home from the Trampa airport depended on it!

Waitrose was to be my source for trafficking chocolate to the US. Around a dozen chocolate ingots weighing 400 grams each and packages of other Cadbury and Galaxy varieties plus three oddball packages of McVitie's Digestive Biscuits came to £45 pounds or $90 worth. The AGOL doesn't play around with her chocolate. Friends and family were being gifted with chocolate.

Yes, there is a picture of the treasure, but you will have to go to Yummy's site to see it on the grocery checkout conveyor. Poor thing. He had never seen so much chocolate purchased at one time. Has he ever had an American Halloween? Didn't think so. Even I must admit it was bordering on obscene, but I didn't care. I just had to get it on the plane.

We dropped the chocolate treasures home before going out again to The Lanes to visit Riddle and Finns for lunch. Not risking any choco meltdown. Too much was riding on their safety. Ha!

Yummy had heard good reviews about Riddle and Finns and we had put it on our mental list of places to try a week before. Here was our chance to sample it since dinner at The Saint was still hours away. Seafood here we come.

The entrance was quite nice and the inside simple with white subway tiles on the walls. The dark wood tables were set quite high. Lunch was almost over so we were the only ones inside. Our order was taken right away and the waiter extremely pleasant and personable. He served us slices of bread with little ramekins of smoked mackerel pate, garlic mayonnaise, horseradish, and onion in vinegar with a side scallop shell filled with butter. What a great way to start.

We had ordered the specials scribbled in chalk on the outside sign. Our starters were the same: crab and feta salad. For the main course, Yummy had Haddock and Chips and I tried Poached Brill with Fennel. Downed with wine, everything was delicious!

Walked around a bit before heading home for an energy nap. Tonight required alertness for all the fun to be had...

Anna, Anton and everyone's friend, Brian came to pick us up. Brian was specially invited into town earlier in the week and we were lucky to have him on a Friday. I found out he was flying to Raleigh, North Carolina the next day about 15 minutes after my plane's flight to Trampa.

We visited two pubs before heading for The Saint where our reservations were secured by Yummy. This Party of Five was definitely starting to get really fun. Did I hear sirens? Just kidding.

I won't enumerate the menu, but suffice it to say everything was great. We all had starters, main course and sinful dessert. A bottle of champagne was popped open for our celebration, liquid gold was poured into our glasses garnished with raspberries. It was indeed heavenly. My time here started with champagne and Yummy felt it fitting to end with some more. What a sweetie! Wine came, too.

Smiley friends: Anna & Brian


Yummy & Anton: Best friends doing their impression of The Clash: Fashion Calling.


Getting happy: Anna, Brian and party crasher, Sean.


Sprinkles & Yummy having had too much sun and now getting striped with wine.


Drinking heaven garnished with a raspberry.


There was a surprise -- a party crasher named Sean. His partner had gone off to get drunk pre-celebrating his 40th birthday. We invited him over and gladly he was fun. Another surprise was Anton remembering him from his school days. Sean didn't remember him, but they had mutual friends he recognized. It was a small world. The evening was wearing and we invited Sean along to our next and my last boozer on this trip.

We took cab rides to The Eddy to complete our beer sandwich. This pub and others will have to deal with the smoking ban taking effect July 1, but for tonight it was smokin' in more ways than one. Loud, but recognizable music played when we came in. Beer-thirty was enjoyed by this (now) Party of Six!

Midnight crept in. It was time to walk home for most of us. Hugs all around. These were good people to meet and a blast to hang with...Too much to drink to think seriously about organizing my things. Of course, I can start packing in the morning before I leave. (Gulp!)

AGOL Takes UK: Chocolate & Champagne

AGOL Takes UK: Foodgasm

Today's goal seemed for us to work an appetite by wandering around Brighton for the English feast Anton was preparing for us this evening. This dear man had set himself a goal to prepare a proper English meal for me to experience weeks before I came over.

We had a light lunch in Kemptown at this restaurant called The Saint where the atmosphere was warm yet simple chic and the food was a feast for the eyes and the tummy. Here Yummy had the Fried Squid as seen below on top of a green salad with basil oil and a cream sauce and I had the Beetroot Risotto topped with Parmesan cheese. Holy Moly!

His was followed by a Fin of Skate (fish) with mashed potatoes and veg which was delicious and I had Smoked Salmon on top of a green salad and small potatoes (akin to the fingerling variety). We chose seafood for lunch so it wouldn't compete with Anton's roast beef. We decided to go for it and split their Apple Tart Tartin served with vanilla ice cream. Very nice.





Brighton is full of small to medium shops. I am used to the "big box" store mentality in the US. Flitting in and out of these shops was a joy. There is no big commitment to spend some quality time in the stores to see everything even though some of them have multiple levels.

One of the shops I tortured Yummy with was the UK version of Pier 1 called Pier. The packaging and item selections were too similar not to mention I found my Ginger Peach incense and candles on the shelves. Yummy has been probably dreading my forays into these shops with good reason.

Today he learned and didn't know he needed tablerunners, but no none made it home. He did buy stone tea light holders from Habitat at Churchill Mall as well as a chic white ceramic canister style uplight from a lighting store. Poor honey, he's that much closer to creating a candlescape (a manly one of course).

We visited my first official British grocery store, Waitrose as opposed to the Marks and Spencer location just a stone's throw from Yummy's home. He calls M&S his larder because it is so accessible for light shopping. The produce seemed more vibrant at Waitrose and the variety was incredible. Several items I've never heard of or seen. I totally dig that. The aisles were wider than American grocery stores. I didn't get the sense of urgency for marketing in a US grocery store where every inch is precious real estate for product placement. It was a very pleasant experience...

And now for the pièce de résistance -

Yummy's best friend, Anton, is a foodie extraordinaire. We have almost the same amount of cooking tools which I can respect and his seven-burner stove made me green with envy. It was obvious when Yummy and I arrived that he was hustling. He was like a bee buzzing around the kitchen and delicious smells were wafting everywhere. This man was cooking everything from scratch and it was fun to watch. Yummy teased me that the whole thing was like porn for me. He may have the slightest point. I didn't care because I was too busy enjoying my version of adult entertainment and getting turned on.

Yummy took mischievious delight in informing Anton of where we had our lunch. Oh, great. I get to follow that! was Anton's response. More digs were dispensed by Yummy to our host while he began to perspire from working diligently in his kitchen. I thought he was going to wait until after dinner to let him know. Devilish thing.

Anton's Main Menu
Roast Beef (from a special butcher)
Yorkshire Pudding and Beef Gravy
Roasted Potatoes Finished in Goose Fat
Peas and Organic Carrots
...followed by
Wine with Cheeses and Water Crackers
Roquefort (Yummy's favorite cheese), Tellagio ("what Brie wished it was"), Goat Cheese, and White Cheddar
...and for dessert
Steamed Spongecake with Treacle topped with sinfully rich English Custard

I took as many pictures as I could without getting too embarrassed. For me it was an event I wanted to capture. The following are my food porn pics for your enjoyment. Anton's lovely wife Anna came home from her pilates session and helped finish cooking and plating everything.

Master Chef Anton at the helm.


I used horseradish cream on my roast beef and tasted heaven. This is the best roast beef I have ever had in my life. It melted in your mouth it was so tender!


Anna is so pretty and a lot of fun.


Goose fat on the potatoes rocked and the beef gravy on the Yorkshire pudding was delish!


Veggies were still steaming in this picture.


Let me say a little goes a long way with this spongecake. The portion that Anna is seen slicing here was more than enough. It was so sweet I could almost feel my teeth crack from the Lyle's Golden Syrup used. The grated lemon zest cooked in cut a bit of the sweet taste and the English custard did, too. This was food for the gods.


All four of us were as full as ticks. More wine was still being passed around even after the coffee was served...Anton has an impressive record collection which he let us sample on his pimped out stereo system. Old school turntable. It brought me back. Music played while we ate, but now we were really listening to punk beginnings and some old London sounds as well as 80s tunes. I loved it. Yummy and Anton took turns giving some background history on the music.

It was a very impressive evening at Anton and Anna's and I was very appreciative of the effort and generosity in making the meal happen. Tonight's meal was definitely one for the AGOL annals of food. Great food with great people. It doesn't get better than that!

AGOL Takes UK: Foodgasm

AGOL Takes UK: Meeting Yummy

The AGOL has landed...

Seeing the sun on the horizon while flying was a weird feeling, but only because I wasn't expecting it when I woke up from a short snooze. Very soon I was seeing English coast and spans of green land with bright gold patches of canola fields as I landed into Gatwick Airport. The scenery reminded me of Wisconsin, but it was definitely English with the pastoral theme. I could see clusters of buildings where little towns were located, other similar clusters peppering the countryside. British Airways provided a smooth landing to a very smooth flight...

Like rats in a maze, we passengers shuffled along the walkway to Immigration. I filled out my forms and shuffled again this time in a Disney-type queue weaving us around each other while waiting to be called upon by Immigration. The lady who called me interrogated me in a too intimate manner that was not to my liking. I played along because my bladder urged me to and I needed her to stamp my passport so I could empty said bladder.

Trying to locate my luggage was just another part of the game. I finally hustled to the BA counter and was told it would be on Carousel 5, but I only heard crickets when I arrived at that carousel. It looks like it had never been turned on. How lovely. I turned around to be greeted halfway by a BA employee who asked me if the suitcase he was toting was mine. He answered for me, "I can tell it is yours. You have a big smile on your face." Thankful, relieved and anxious not to be any later, I made my way to real air.

Peter/Yummy knows that I have crowd blindness that befalls me sometimes and I made it clear that I may not see him, but he had assured me that all I needed to do was put one foot in front of the other and he would get me on the way out. I didn't even have to concentrate that much; I picked him out right away.

It was like opening a present seeing him for the first time in person after months of e-mails, IMs, skype conversations, text messages and phone calls. We had sent enough pictures of each other, but seeing the real person was a treat. It turned out that he was late too since he went to the wrong terminal first, but thanks to immigration chickie, I was still later than Yummy for our meeting.

What seemed like a flash, I found myself riding the train to Brighton next to Yummy. I couldn't decide whether to talk to Yummy more in my nervousness or gaze outside and feast my eyes on the land passing by. I managed to do both, I think. Too nervous to commit everything to memory apparently. The surprise in gazing outside how the land reminded me of drives in Wisconsin.

We arrived at the Brighton train station and hiked it up the street where his home is tucked in. I was caught by the big lily display near left of the door. Long stems rose in the front garden not to be outdone by the fuchsia blooms by the gate. Pictures of the lily blooms below.

Yummy opened a bottle of champagne and we made mimosas with orange juice. We laughed much and later he made us a hearty breakfast which was a nice first meal on English land. Time flew and we found ourselves gathering our gifts for his godson's Oskar's first birthday being held at a park.

Children & Chinese...
My recent forays into children's parks in the Trampa Bay area couldn't even hold a candle to this park. My God. The grass undulating around the sloping park and around the trees was absolutely beautiful. The children's slides and swings were not surrounded by rubber floors or ground rubber tires. It looked normal instead of an industrial accident for kids.

Meeting Yummy's friends after hearing about them and talking to them a bit on the phone was great. They were a happy bunch and were very active with their own kids on the equipment. I liked that part a lot. Below are pics of Oskar's big sister Klaudia (Yummy's goddaughter) with her paternal grandmother and another pic with Yummy's best friend Anton and his son Oskar. I was intrigued by his new ride.



The party disbanded and we walked with the birthday boy to his house and shared more champagne with the family. By this time, the day was starting to get to me a bit and Yummy took mercy on me and we went home and ordered Chinese. Let's just say Chinese food is not the same on every continent, but it was still good. Day One in England with Yummy receives five smooch marks out of five.

AGOL Takes UK: Meeting Yummy

Around Town

First order of business today was getting my hair colored and trimmed. I needed to feel more like AGOL again. When I arrived at the salon, the energy had changed considerably. The furniture had moved and she was offering more services. Some kind of good feng shui occurred here and I was very pleased. My hairdresser Michelle was in fine spirits, too!

Michelle just went through a much needed divorce; found out later today from Kristey that she was trying to get back with him. I don't get smart women sometimes. Her aunt had stopped down and administered a 10-day treatment of acupuncture -- a treatment I had been begging Michelle to get since allopathic medicine hadn't helped her get better. A lot of it was her negative emotions manifesting in her body.

My hair had been nicely touched up and Michelle cutting it when I received a surprise call from His Royal Yummy. I feel like an idiot during these surprise calls because I get all googly and marshmallowy. What a sap! I usually walk around with brass ones. I instantly turn into mush with Yummy. We were making a skype date today. I had afternoon plans and he had evening plans so were trying to sort it out. We agreed on 6pm AGOLtime/11pm Yummytime.

I was a bit unnerved for it seemed the salon had quieted down and began listening to my end of the conversation. Even worse, I got all teary-eyed after the call and I looked at Michelle and said to her, "He's so nice to me." She replied, "But you're nice to him." To which I iterated, "Yes, I am always nice, but he's so nice to me." She knew what I meant. It is difficult to find a man who is genuinely nice and who treats you nice, too. I was on a marshmallow cloud the rest of the afternoon.

From the salon I had to rush home and freshen up for my lunch date with the girlies at this tiki bar by the beach about 35 miles from my apartment. It was a quick drive on the weekend and most of it was highway driving. I met Kristey, her neighbor Traci and Myrna, who will be staying with Cabal for week one while I am with Yummy.

Tawnyia had been text messaging me while I made my way around this beach bar. She also reminded me that her husband wanted me to sing his birthday song to him. I called Jeff on his cell and sang Maligayang Bati in the car just before I entered the bar. He was happy that I continued this tradition that has been going on for years. Other people have requested the same tradition of having their birthday song sung in Tagalog...

When did it turn so hot? The sun was reflecting horribly from the pavement and the gulf waters just several yards away from us. We sat under an umbrella outside enjoying some breeze, but it was still warm. Even the margarita drink didn't cool me off so I switched to cola.

The girls were subdued maybe because of the heat. We talked about my upcoming UK trip with Kristey grilling me on what the emergency number was for 911 there. I must be the only one not worried. Usually I am freakish about these things, but they've taken over. It's not like I am going to Mexico or Morocco. I still love them for caring though.

My timing home was sooner than anticipated so I texted Yummy to let him know I was home since he wasn't online yet. He called me from the pub he and his friends were in. I was treated to another talk with lively Anton and this time with Anton's wife, Anna, too. I enjoyed the way she spoke, very English-y. Yummy teased me that I should start hearing different English people speak now so I would get used to it. Hmmm.

We talked for a short bit later right before Jeff and Tawnyia picked me up to go their studio space downstairs at the art (old cigar) factory in downtown Trampa . There was an art show and live performance art going on upstairs which we investigated and only became mildly interested in before returning to our own fun. Here are some pics I took tonight.


(Jeff & Tawnyia's Studio Name. Dig it.)


(Art happens here! Loved playing with paint tonight. Second room behind for kilns, equipment and supplies.)


(Very pretty. Tawnyia made this tonight. It was a custom order for a gal at work.)

Didn't get home until 12:30am. I wasn't feeling tired until I started sending these images from cell phone to my e-mail address for uploading on my bloggie. It was a good day spent.

Around Town