March Madness

Ok - so it's been AGES since I've updated  the blog.  Long story short, we've been super busy with work!  So yes - it was March Madness with work and Chad trying to watch as much of the tournament as possible (and staying up until 2 am to watch some games)but we managed to fit in some fun!  Here is my March update and I'll follow up with some April highlights!  

My friend that I used to work with at KPMG in Columbus, Karen came to visit for a couple weekends while she was in town work.  We had so much fun with her here and got to see some sites in and outside of London!

So Karen loves London and spent some time studying here in college.  She knows so much about the city and the country - way more than me and I've lived here for a year and a half!  Anyway, her first weekend here, we walked around our neighborhood and of course, the Borough Market!

We had some great weather and it was fun for us to have a visitor!  

The next weekend, we did a day trip to the coast.  We spent the day in Brighton; it was a good to see another part of England.  The weather was nice to walk around but too cold to get in the water!  Here is a photo I took along the beach.

And another of Karen and I with the Pier in the background!

Oh - and here is a close up of the beach - no sand just rocks!!  Ouch!

The Brighton Pier is the place to been in town - there are several places to pick up a bite to eat and there is a carnival at the end.  Might I add that it freaked me out a bit because the rides are so close to the edge of the pier.  Check out the merry-go-round!

Thanks for coming to see us Karen - it was so fun!

We also had a wonderful dinner a the Fat Duck, a world famous restaurant outside of London.  We went there with a few of Chad's friends from work and it was amazing!  It was an interesting experience to say the least.  We did the tasting menu and they have you try all this interesting food and they use special techniques to make their food.  Here are a few pics of what we tried (oh and you can't use your flash so the photos aren't all that great)...

They use all your senses when you eat - you try different smells, tastes, and even listen to the sounds of the ocean when you are eating one of the courses.  It's also visually beautiful food!  The one above was a moss board that they covered in dry ice to create an effect.

So this is a dish they are famous for - snail porridge!  It sounds all wrong but it was really good!

This was a pretty desert that had sorbet and also a douglas fir and and mango puree.

This is also another famous dish - it's called Nitro-scrambled egg and bacon ice cream on a piece of caramelized bread and tea jelly on the side.  Again, it sounds so weird but it was yummy!

And here is the group photo - we were the last table to leave that night so they let us finally use the flash!