Author Archives: vicentesf

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About vicentesf

Exploring life one meal at a time. Cause I'm not a foodie, I just like to eat!

Avocado and poached egg – The Breakfast Club

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Avocado and poached egg - The Breakfast Club
With fresh chillies and lime on toasted multigrain bloomer, and chorizo. £9
The Breakfast Club, London ENGLAND

Omg, this is not what we expected! Is this a normal English breakfast dish? We were surprised to be served a couple pieces of toast covered with a huge pile of guacamole topped with a poached egg, lol! We almost burst out laughing when it came to the table because it was so unexpected. It tasted ok enough. The avocado could have been seasoned a bit more though. The chorizo was optional and I’m glad we added it because it made the plate more substantial.

Juices - The Breakfast Club

Slow Boy juice: apple, carrot, orange, ginger. £4.10
Orange juice. £3
Mmm, the Slow Boy juice was very tasty as was the orange juice. They juice everything to order so it was nice and fresh!

Chinatown gate
Chinatown gate. I was surprised that compare to San Francisco, London’s Chinatown was super small! Huh.

English countryside wedding in Suffolk!

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Suffolk wedding food

The “Skelly” wedding was absolutely beautiful! My “adopted” English family is full of ridiculously kind, funny, and wonderful people and I was thrilled to be able to join in their celebration. They held the ceremony and dinner in the couple’s backyard. They had purchased the property a few years prior and had built the luscious garden from scratch. They’d also undertaken the enormous task of restoring their house to its original detailing which included wattle and daub construction. And all this by themselves!

The ceremony was probably the best I’ve ever witnessed. It was small and intimate (I’m used to large, formal Catholic weddings in huges churches with hundreds of people). The wedding was beautifully officiated and everything just seemed SO genuine and heartfelt. I think I cried 5 different times, lol!

Suffolk wedding food
The wedding food was delicious! The majority of the dishes were actually prepared by family and friends. The wedding couple had tasked some individuals to bring certain dishes. Wow, I would not have guessed that the food was homemade! Everything tasted amazing and were beautifully presented. They also had little labels with the dish and the cook’s names in front of each serving plate. It was super cute!

Skelly wedding
So I learned something new. Apparently, the English call large tents marquees. It took me a couple seconds to figure out what they were talking about, lol!

Wedding bar
They converted one of the shed to a little bar. Cute!

Wedding bar
Inside the shed bar.

Wedding kid zone
They also created a play ares for the kids.

Suffolk wedding
Family and friends gather before the ceremony commences.

Lamb meatballs with gravy

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Lamb meatballs with gravy
Served with hummus and white rice.
Sitges ES

Mmm, I love lamb meatballs. And these were covered in a yummy gravy, score! The meatballs were tender and super flavorful, and the gravy tasted great with the rice and even the hummus.

Church of Sant Bartomeu and Santa Tecla

Church of Sant Bartomeu and Santa Tecla. This is the most prominent building along the Sitges waterfront and I think it’s quite beautiful!

Afternoon drinks at Covent Garden – Laduree

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Afternoon drinks at Covent Garden - Laduree

Laduree rose champagne. £12.30
Chablis domaine de Varous 2011, France. £8.50
Laduree, London ENGLAND

I think it’s funny that we didn’t go to Laduree in Paris. The ones in Paris just seemed so touristy and a bit of a turn off. Instead we randomly walked into one in London during a warm afternoon stroll through Covent Garden. The restaurant looked inviting and relaxing with it’s crisp white table cloths and cushy upholstered chairs. So we sat outside to enjoy the sunny weather.

Our visit was peasant enough. The service was friendly but a little erratic and slow at times. The menu did say that the champagne was “Served with salty petits fours”, but we never received any. Lame! So was Laduree worth all the hype? I’d say no.

Laduree menus

Laduree menus.

Paella vendor
Paella vendor at Covent Garden market.

Full English breakfast – Cote

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Full English breakfast - Cote
Two free range eggs, bacon, pork sausage, tomato, mushrooms and toast. £7.50
Cote, London ENGLAND

This was our first breakfast in London this time around and I was not impressed. My eggs were overdone; I asked for over-medium. Is that an American thing and that’s why I can’t get it properly cooked anywhere else? If I knew, I would just order my eggs scrambled or poached. I also haven’t gotten used to English bacon and the weird squishy sausages they have here. I really don’t want to sound like I’m complaining because the food was decent, but after having eaten in Paris for the previous days this was a bit lackluster. 🙂

Wheat toast and butter - Cote
Wheat toast and butter.

Black Dog Campaign statue
Black Dog Campaign statue, Soho Square. Our hotel was in the West End so it was great to be near this quaint green space.

Breakfast plate – Dolce Sitges

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Breakfast plate - Dolce Sitges
Spanish tortilla, Iberico ham, sausage, scrambled eggs, hazelnuts, cheese, toast, orange juice, coffee.
Dolce Sitges, Sitges ES

The breakfast buffet at Dolce Sitges was pretty kick-ass! This was only one plate I ate, but they definitely had much more to offer. We were unapologetic about loading up on breakfast before heading out for a day of sightseeing, hehe. We paid for it, right? And I felt like we would burn off the calories anyway. One downside to eating SO much breakfast was that I missed out on some food opportunities while touring simply because was still full. #touristproblems 🙂

Iberico ham legs
Iberico ham legs. This was a first! I’d never seen carving stations like this before where you can order as much ham as you want and the attendant will carve it directly off the leg. Now that’s what I call “cut-to-order”!

Aspall cider – The Fat Cat

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Aspall cider - The Fat Cat

This was the first time I’d tried Aspall Cyder and it was delicious. It’s made in the same county where the bar was located so I thought it was cool to try a local product. And even better that the product was alcoholic, lol! The English can definitely drink but I was up for the challenge.
The Fat Cat, Ipswich ENGLAND

We came to Suffolk County for a wedding and stayed with family in Ipswich. I’d never been to Suffolk before so I was really excited. We took the train from London and it was great to see the beautiful English countryside. The Suffolk visit was blisteringly quick – we arrived on a Friday night, attended the wedding on Saturday, then went back to London on Sunday morning. It would have been nice to spend a little more time to explore the quaint surrounding areas. Maybe next time!

Suffolk wedding
The outdoor wedding was held at the couple’s beautiful countryside home. They set up everything in their garden (which they had built and planted from scratch only a few years prior). I was amazed at how lovely everything was and felt fortunate to have attended.

Grilled baby squid

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Grilled baby squid
Served with steamed vegetables.
Sitges ES

Ugh, I can’t remember the name of this restaurant. It was located inland in their downtown area near(ish) the train station. Oh well. The food was pretty good though and the service was excellent. Our waitress was very sweet and helfpful. We sat outside in their back patio area and had a wonderful meal. These baby squid were adorable and tasty too! I would have enjoyed a different side than the steamed veggies though.

Crostini and Luis Canas rioja

Complimentary crostini with roasted peppers and cheese. Luis Canas Crianza 2007, rioja.

Casa Bacardi Sitges
Casa Bacardi Sitges. I thought it was weird to have a large Bacardi tasting room/museum in Sitges, but I’m usually clueless about most things. 🙂

San Miguel beer – Parrots Pub

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San Miguel beer - Parrots Pub
Omg, this spot was SO perfect for people watching. Calle de Marques de Montroig is centrally located and packed with all kinds of pedestrians visitng from everywhere. It was also nice to take a break from walking around and to cool down in the shade with some beer. I thought it was awesome that they served Filipino beer, so we had to order some! 🙂
Parrots Pub, Sitges ES

Sitges
Looking towards downtown Sitges from the Dolce Sitges Hotel. The hotel is situated up on a hill and surrounded by a golf course.

Crispy apple turnovers – L’Epigramme

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Crispy apple turnovers - L'Epigramme
Croustillant de pomme au caramel. Feuille de brick, apples, caramel sauce, toasted almonds, powdered sugar. Entree/Plat/Dessert option 28€
L’Epigramme, Paris FR

This was a perfect ending to a perfect meal! It was quite large so I’m glad we only had this one dessert and could share. I enjoyed that the pastry wasn’t overly sweet and that you could wipe up the rich, dark caramel sauce to your liking. The puff pastry was wonderfully thin and crispy and the apple filling was warm and delicious. Thank you L’Epigramme!

Petit Palais
The Petit Palais, City of Paris Museum of Fine Arts. I loved how they painted (or covered) the ionic columns in different colors. 🙂

Foie gras terrine – Dolce Sitges

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Foie gras terrine - Dolce Sitges
Fruit preserves, toast points, side salad.
Dolce Sitges, Sitges ES

This was SO good! I think they really skimped on the toast points though considering the large slab of the foie gras terrine, lol. Oh well, I made do. 🙂

Art nouveau clock tower

Art nouveau clock tower, Placa Cap de la Vila. The narrow streets of Sitges provide a surprise around every corner!

Provencale galette – Breizh Cafe

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Provencale galette - Breizh Cafe
Onion confit in cider, tomatoes, ham, anchovies, raw milk gruyere cheese, sunny side up egg, herbes de Provence. Galette made with organic buckwheat from Brittany and local eggs. 12,50€
Breizh Cafe, Paris FR

Wow, this galette had a combination of some of my favorite things! And it just looked SO scrumptious and beautiful. I definitely enjoyed devouring this delicious packet of food. NOMS!

Biere blanche Lancelot - Breizh Cafe
Biere blanche Lancelot. La bout 33 cl 6€

Caramels - Breizh Cafe

Caramels. Complimentary with check

Jardin du Luxembourg
Jardin du Luxembourg. I really loved the combination of flowers that they used throughout the gardens. They were an eclectic mix of unrelated plant families, but they looked beautifully together in both form and color!