London Calling

Looking through past pages, I found my notes that I had scribbled from our trip to Europe last May and thought it would be a fun little journal entry... so voila!

"London

May 16- We got to the airport around 4pm for our 620pm flight After awhile we are told that the flight is going to be cancelled We decide to give Susan a ring and stay with her..just get out of Indy is all that matters- We end up making our connecting flight! Running thru Logan airport in Boston and knocking down security barriers we board the ginormous plane. Dinner was served at midnight. It consisted of pasta with lots of cheese, salad, water, brownie, and bread. To go with our 25$ snack purchases at the Indy airport before we left. We arrived at 10am London time.




Yeah! Took the Piccadilly line to south Kensington, got a bit turned around and then found our hostel. Astor Hyde Park. Amazing. Gorgeous building--- but we were on the fifth floor with no elevator, dead tired and jet lagged, hungry and now climbing these stairs with all of our luggage. Damn.



Plopped down and then headed back out. Albert's hall and statue just around the corner.

Over to the London eye, Westminster, and big Ben

Hop back on the tube to see the tower of London. Now this is a treat. Grabbed a flat white at EAT, a chain that is everywhere in London. Why is it that their coffee over here is so much better? Oh yeah...cause it's all hand pressed and organic milk... Got our tickets to the show and began our tour of the tower.


Our tour guide was amazing! So funny and well spoken. Very entertaining. We checked out the tower bridge, bloody tower, crown jewels etc.

Back to the hostel area. We met Kelly and Josh from Denver, super nice Christian fellows. Went out with them Wednesday. Ate breakfast at the hostel- coffee and cereal- Headed out to the science museum, Harrods, Buckingham palace for the changing of the guards!



Down to Westminster abbey, back to big Ben, then over to the eye and went up, it is about thirty minutes of a flight around the city in a giant clear egg.

Things are getting costly.

All walking so far. Off to follow the Thames up to the Tate modern, the globe theater,

and grabbing lunch at a falafel place. So delicious! Josh and Kelly bought our lunch, so sweet! Large baguette with falafel, hummus, pepper and good stuff.

Crossed the millennium up to st. Paul's cathedral. There were so many kids, and English seemed to be the rare language. I heard more French, German and polish than anything else.

After st. Paul's we walked around the area for a bit, stopping to pay fifty pence for a potty break and then over towards Trafalgar square.

There was a protest going on with tons of people from Africa dressed in African attire, and here comes the rain. It started to pour. And pour. And pour. We wound down Kensington road back towards Hyde park. About 18 some miles walked in a day. Highly justifies the dinner ahead.

We tried going over to queen arms, a pub we heard about, but we didn't feel cool enough to enter so we kept going.

A block over was a little pub that looked super authentic and then written on the outside was "vegetarian" fish and chips! Since we didn't want to really eat fish..the whole getting sick on vaca doesn't sound too good, we were glad to try it.


We ordered the recommended beer on tap,. It started with an "h" and was long like hammer something...and the fish was beered battered cheese blocks. I Gladly ate. then up to Piccadilly and ate at maozs vegetarian.

Thursday we took off early to catch the bus to stone henge. We missed it and so we got tickets to the next one..four hours from then. We got on the tube to Soho, grabbed an egg and Crest sandwich from pret a manger and a flat white and latte...so good...food makes me more sane. Then over to the humming bird bakery.



Gorgeous little cakes, tried the red velvet.

Absolutely amazing.

Back to the hostel, then back the to Victoria train station. Got on the private tours bus up to Salisbury - about two hours, beautiful countryside. We were so tired though that we were both asleep half the time. Arrived through a little town, with mushroom houses!! Then aaaaaaaaaaaaa



Stonehenge all mystical and such....and now a tourist hotspot. Very much a worth while trip.

Had a coffee with a currant scone with jam and clotted cream.

Got back on the bus and back to London

Tried hauling ass to the jack tour but got lost and missed it by ten minutes .."

Babycakes NYC in LA!

Guess who's back...back again..

BABYCAKES NYC!!!!

When we were in New York, we went to Babycakes, and all vegan cupcakery that is God's gift to anyone vegan, or has allergies to soy, dairy, eggs, and other yuckies.

These are the kind of signs that I like to see. Especially next to doughnuts.

A nice selection of doughnuts, salted caramel, lemon coconut, chocolate dipped, pumpkin, maple, powdered blueberry..and more chocolate...



I had to opt for the red velvet though of course. And no disappointment in my selection. If it is good enough for JLo, it is good enough for me! Yeah, that is right, there was a nice little letter on their bulletin board from the lovely singer about how she loved this shop!



And for the hubs, it was the pumpkin filled pumpkin doughnut. A heart shaped pumpkin doughnut with a pumpkin pie filling...talk about richness! Even with two little pastries, they had to be spaced out through the day and washed down with some Spanish Lattes from Urth Cafe..another AMAZING place...only THE best coffee shop in all of LA according to Yelp.

Tony's Darts Away

Now where else can you go, where you can eat a huge vegan sausage AND help save beagles from a Russian lab testing facility?

Tony's Darts Away. That's where.



This little random bar is over on Magnolia and has over 40 taps of California craft beer, delicious vegan and non-vegan sausages (for those who have not crossed over yet), fresh salads, and tasty snacks, with a revolving selection of daily specials.



Last Monday, they were donating half of the amount from all vegan sausages sold to help get out 40 beagles from an animal testing facility, so I knew that this would be a good excuse to get out of the house.

Brando had the Vegan Tailgate Dog, a vegan beer brat topped with brown mustard, griddled onions, and sauerkraut. How kissable can one get?!


Panjabi Po Boy?? Who knows that it was really called, I forget, but it was a flash-fried coconut cutlet on a fresh-baked roll with curry vegenaise, fresh lettuce, griddled onions and peppers, topped off with a mango chutney. oh my freakin gawd this is awesome. I will be back.
Oh wait, just kidding, I remember Punjabi Po'Boy..I was close.




It was only noon since we went, so we weren't ordering any of there fancy schmancy nautical beers, but we were intrigued later by some sweet Leninade...

Porto's Bakery & Cafe

When you ask someone in Burbank where they should go to get a treat, the answer is always. "Porto's"

I can not believe that it has taken me this long to finally go to a place that is like heaven and only a short trip from home!

A pastry shop that originally started in Cuba and worked its way into Southern California, this place is a gem!



No matter what time of day you go, there is ALWAYS a line, waiting eagerly to get tasty, buttery, flaky croissants, cookies, and more.

We waited patiently to make our selections and I totally panicked and just started naming things when I got to the front!

Ordering two HUGE chocolate croissants, cookies, pear danishes, a coconut macaroon and blueberry muffin, I thought that I would have spent a fortune, but it only came up to $7.50!!



They have everything from sweets, to savory cheese balls and veggie sandwiches. However, for breakfast it was all about the sugar!

Everybody Loves a Good Taco

Living in LA has its perks. Incredible Mexican food..incredible food in general. Perfect weather. And an endless amount of things to do.

Love in LA.

Ch'en and I have been hitting up Runyon with Margaux a lot lately, so we decided to go back to Christina Ricci's 'hood and hike around Griffith.

All that hiking works up an appetite so we needed to pick up Derek and have him show us some good places to grab some bean infused bites.

We traveled over the pine tree laden hill and rolled down onto La Brea to Tinga. A wee little store that was perfectly decored and had some amazing menu items.
Opting for the black bean and goat cheese quesadillas I was definitely pleased with my ten dollar purchase.

Watermelon juice, horchata, or lime juice. All three please.

Brandon got the same, paired with a horchata...while Derek got some meaty tacos and a dirty horchata



...random side note too on the perks of LA. Seeing people from good movies and shows you like and ordering dirty soy chai's...nice to meet you Matthew Gray Gubler...
Ok, so back to Tinga...GO! It's awesome...and then follow it up with a trip to Amoeba and a free show put on by the Bo-Keys.



Now time for Zumba class!