Cheers Internet!

Hi internets, its been a while. Have you missed me? I think that I’ve missed you more.

Scenario: Me thinks my blog had turned into this little elephant in the corner of my living room. It was so cute; with it’s pretty pictures, gold framed borders, and sassy recipes. Awww so freaking cute! But instead of feeding my cute little elephant in the room, big wordy meals, all I did was take pictures of more and more food that I made, neglecting the feedings and then DAMNIT. I starved my elephant, it was emaciated. How terrible am I? It was this happy cute elephant in my living room and SHIT, well shit.

Realization: Oh crap haven’t written in a while. MUST FOCUS. I need to think about what is important to me. Food, I love food. FOOD FOOD FOOD. It’s what I spend all of my hard earned money on. I take endless pictures of what goes into my stomach. I read magazines solely devoted to what I love. I buy cookbooks just because they make me drool. I work hard to ever-complicate my dinners just because I saw an ingredient that I swore could be put to use somehow. I even work near food! GET BACK ON TRACK WOMAN. Food will always be there, your fingers typing endlessly, will not be...unless you make them. Crack that whip, get that monkey to hop back on! 

Where to start GildedGrease, where to start? Right! GOT IT! My holiday. So I just took a vacation by myself to “The Europes” (as I say with a funny smile). Apparently when you are just in the U.K. people tend to not exactly think of themselves as from “The Europes” so much as just a separate cellar-temp ale drinking, sarcastic, chill -Island society. I found out that I’m quite okay with that. Do as the locals do. Especially- do not be the terrible American tourist that they all think I am going to be. “What a twat” they’d say. NO mustn’t be an American twat. Get in the “queue,” look to the right first when coming to an intersection, say “yes please” when they offer you Ribena and drink the whole glass even if it tastes like Kool-Aid. (In London, they’ve already taken care of the traffic-twat problem, they’ve written, right on the pavement, which way to turn your head when you get to a street’s edge. God how I love the British.) Any who immerse yourself in the land and kindly tell them you are American even if they went for Canadian on the first go (as to not offend.) HAHA British peeps, I’m half Canadian. But come on, I don’t get a freebie here, I don’t live in Canada, it’s just my mum. But, once those first syllables come out “Ah-mer...”  I’m fucked. But I did my best to be the good one. The one who is from the NorthWest, the one who is really not like the rest. Not to boast, but overall, I made out well. Funny thing about the Brits, they are not keen on using my whole name. DANIELLE. No need, I love how they all say DANI way more. I wasn’t really that attached to it anyhow. It’s just been around since...hmm 1986. Over time few have managed to make me smile using it, yet up until three weeks ago, “Dani” it is folks. 

Where was I? Lost fantasizing about my days immersed in the home of gilded shit, pub-culture, chippys, whiskey flights, free AMAZING museums (I saw the flippin’ Rosetta Stone! Followed by some Van Goghs, Rodins, and a stuffed Malabar; yes a giant squirrel!) and castles, oh castles! Right...I ate some FOOD (my love) while I was traveling through England and Scotland. Prior to my trip, people had warned me of the cuisine. Just pub food, terrible, etc etc. Well guess what peoples of my Ballard world? I will take that extra walk to a local haunt or that step into an oddly lit grocer, I will not eat shit! Well unless it’s the second “bonus” meal I received on the nine-hour flight back. I ate that crappy cheese and brown relish-spread sandwich only because I didn’t want to bust into my supply of “Twiglets” until I reached U.S. soil. Really though, people, I ate well the entire time of my travels! From the bangers and mash to the hot custards to the haggis. Its was all good. I was definitely fortunate to visit with my recently-relocated Canadian cousin and her Manman. We were able to cook while on holiday! One of my life’s joys is to ACTUALLY grocery shop, then cook said intended meal. Getting to roam through a British grocer...be it a Tesco, Sainsburys, Asda, Morrisons, or the posh Waitrose...I was in foodie heaven. Also when traveling alone you find yourself faced with the predicament of...do i ask for table for one every night? or do I grab some to-go and park my tired-from-walking-all-day ass on some grass over-looking gorgeous Edinburgh? Inevitably I found myself interchanging both options throughout my travels. GildedGrease get ready for some lovely foods of the U.K. Stay tuned...

Cheers, GildedGrease