Manchester Christmas Markets

Hopped on a train this morning, and then another train...and then another train... (due to some cancellations, delays, and break downs) and then finally made it to Manchester to check out their Christmas markets. They had several markets spread throughout the city center, split into German markets, French markets, etc. We took a stroll through all of them, admiring the fancy cheese, festive arts and crafts, sweets and treats. It was so cold though, that we ended up spending most of our time in pubs along the way, drinking mulled wine and spiked hot chocolate to keep warm.

Mittens and booties for sale in the German market.

German treats and candies.

The obligatory touristy shot.

Manchester's town hall.

Funky German wall clocks. The egg and bacon one is my personal favorite. 

Chocolate covered fruit! Something about chocolate and strawberries just goes so well together...like peanut butter and banana or cheese and apple. It just works. 

Roast beast.

Creepy looking Santa sitting on the town hall.

Hope you were good this year kiddies cause if not, SANTA'S COMING TO GET YOU!

0_0

Marmite

On a side note, I tried Marmite on toast this morning and it is vile. A consistency of molasses and a sickly salty flavor, seemed more like something I would feed someone I didn't like, than an actual food. Funny fact, their slogan is actually 'Love it or Hate it' so I don't feel so bad. Just go to their website and you get to pick for yourself!

As another side note, I tried Branston pickle relish today and loved it. Sweet and lovely on a cheese sandwich, might try making my own when I get back...or just being lazy and buying a jar.

Another Cheese Post

Yes, yes, I know you're probably all tired of me talking about cheese (well, maybe except my aunt Jennifer) but here is another one anyway. The boys went out to see a documentary so I planned to stay in and get some work done. Instead, I ended up conversing with their parents about capitalism, consumption, the art of horror films, the belief in souls, and the meaning of life, over a cheese plate and wine. Quite a good night actually.

From left to right: brie, gorgonzola, blacksticks blue, kit calvert wensleydale, and lancashire. The lancashire was by far my favorite. 

There was also sausage, peppers and cucumber, oatcakes, poppy seed crackers, table crackers, and white and brown bread rolls. Oh, and wine, of course. I'm definitely going to buy a bunch of different types of cheese when I get home and plop myself down with a bottle of white, some french bread, and pretend to be as civilized as I felt this very evening. 

Well, off to bed and Manchester tomorrow!!

Frolicking Around the English Countryside

Today we took another traipse through the farms around Lancaster. It was the 'Forest of Bowland', although it is not really a forest, but an expanse of farm land. Apparently the word 'forest' was used to describe the king's hunting grounds originally.

The church nearby. Home to an award-winning gate. Yep, you heard me, GATE. Picture of said gate featured later. 

The award-winning gate..

..the plaque describing its award for creativity.

And at the end of every countryside walk, there lies a pub. I recommend the cider.

A Rustic Kitchen

At the request of my mother, here are a few more photos of the 'rustic' kitchen I mentioned before. There may be more to follow, as well as some of the rest of the house, as I find its aesthetic quite inspiring.

The Holly and the Ivy

Was asked to put a few branches of the holly we collected along with some Christmas bits and bobs, and turn it into a door decoration. Here is what one year at the Alberta College of Art, Design and Macaroni picture-making taught me....

A couple pine cones, some ribbon, twine, holly, random bits of bush and tree, and Christmas baubles...

...a bit of manual labor...

...and ta da!! 

We actually ended up flipping the ribbon the other way and hanging it upside down (so with the large bits of fern at the bottom) but you get the idea.

On the Hunt for Holly

So I have arrived safe and sound in Lancaster after a bit of a train misadventure involving a lorry crash on the tracks and a lovely wait in a tunnel. The family I am staying with live in an old complex of buildings that used to be an insane asylum. Their particular house belonged to the warden, or whatever his title would have been, and therefore, did not physical house the 'crazies'.

The frosty view from the kitchen window.

I love their rustic-looking kitchen. Big, heavy pots and pans, proper handmade brooms... God I can't wait to have my own kitchen....(but really, I think I'd settle for a shared one at this point, as long as it were clean...)

Notice the Delia Smith cookbook in the background. I will be assisting in cooking Christmas dinner, along with the two boys in the family, so any ideas you have for a traditional British Christmas dinner - I'm all ears!

The view from their front door. Lots of hills, covered in snow... Looks like I may get a white Christmas after all!

Lancaster is a lovely little town, from what I've seen so far, which, to be honest, has mostly been hillsides and the inside of pubs, but still. Its rather cold here too, even with my fluffy jumpers and authentic wellies.

The front of the building complex. Theirs is a section of this building (no, its not all of it.)

Today the weather was quite snowy and made driving far distances difficult so we decided to simply go for a walk in search of proper holly for decorations. I've never seen proper holly before and despite the wicked wind that swept across the hill, I was excited to do something that seemed so quintessentially 'Christmasy'.

After a brisk walk up the hill.... a holly bush!

Apparently the bigger and brighter the berries, the worse the winter is expected to be. Great?

....aaaannnnddddd SHEEP!

'kay so who's reminded of the Diablo Secret Cow Level from these staring sheep? Just me? ...Buller?