Meat Market...a little slice of America in Covent Garden!

Happy 4th July to all my American friends out there and also my American loving friends! 

I'm bringing you this post out of sequence of events because I'm just too excited by this place and want you all to go eat there because it's AMAZING!

I had read about Meat Market on quite a few blogs over the past few months, they opened back in May and they hail from the same people that created Meat Wagon and Meat Liquor so I just knew it was going to be an awesome place to eat! 

I had read about crazy queues so we decided to be super prompt and arrive just before they opened at Midday on a Saturday - this was a great idea on our part because it meant we had the place to ourselves when we arrived, I could take photos galore and our food came super quick! 

I absolutely loved every detail of this place, from the metal cages they store all the condiments in....

to the alphabet magnets dotted all over the place...

and even the jokes on the ice machine!

They have a whole lot of signs, most of which are pretty amusing.  I enjoyed this one the most...

and they have a chalkboard of converted veggies! Now that is impressive...

and then we come on to the menu! Ohh the menu, how could I choose between a chilli dog and a burger? Chilli dogs are my fave! but I had heard their burgers are similar to In-N-Out burgers so I just had to give them a try.

I ordered the Black Palace burger which was every bit as delicious as it appears in the picture below! It was a double patty filled with gherkins, melted cheese and ketchup.  The last time I had the pleasure of eating an In-N-Out burger was over 7 years ago so I can't really remember it well enough to compare but Mara had some just last summer and definitely felt like Meat Markets burgers were the winning burger out of the two!



She ordered the Dead Hippy burger! smothered in Dead Hippy sauce which is a mix of ketchup, mustard and mayo and we shared these amazing corn puppies on the side! They are essentially mini corn dogs without the sticks hence the puppy name! and I could have eaten these by the trayful!



We also shared a 'side' of chilli cheese fries but check out the size of it! The portion sizes are awesome for the prices and I felt like the overall meal was definitely great value considering just how tasty everything was! If you don't like things too hot maybe skip the chilli fries...they made my eyes water! but they were so tasty I just had to keep eating them!



Of course no American meal is complete without a milkshake.  Unfortunately the only flavour they had was vanilla which is a little boring in my book, but it was such a good vanilla that I was actually won over! It was nice and thick, just how I like them and the vanilla flavour was so creamy and delish!



All in all, Meat Market is amazing and if you live in London and haven't been there yet then why not! I will give you advance warning that this meal filled me up so much, I literally couldn't even think about food for the following 6 hours...and if you know me that's pretty unusual! I even turned down free sweets and free Krispy Kremes in Selfridge's because I was just that full! but after we went back to Mara's and had a lie down, we were both making plans about when we can go back and stuff our faces again! 

A Thanksgiving Celebration!

In 2 days time it will be Thanksgiving.  My family and I celebrated this past weekend since we all live in different places and couldn't be together on Thursday and we had decided on a little family get together to celebrate my brother in laws birthday.  We had a great time, with tons of delish food! and what was even better was the way that everyone chipped in to help - I wish I had taken a picture of everyone in the kitchen all hands on deck!

Of course no mormon celebration is complete without a bit of Shloer! It wasn't quite as cool as the Root Beer I was drinking last Thanksgiving, but it wasn't all bad! 

England let us down on the Turkey front.  Apparently supermarkets only bring them in fresh in December in preparation for Christmas so we had to make do with two chickens! It wasn't quite the same but they certainly were tasty thanks to Arne and my mom make the platter look pretty! 

This is the table in all it's glory, laden with food! 

There were tooo many side dishes to even take pics of, but here was the creamy corn that I whipped up...

and yes, that is purple mashed potato! By rustled up all the potato dishes...roasted, sweet and the famous purple mash! It is not artificially coloured, the potatoes used were really purple! 

Mara made a green bean and roasted onion casserole and we had mini sausages and stuffing too! 

Here's the birthday boy himself...

and some of the sisters...

and me and By...totally excited about the feast that was ahead of us! 

We rounded off the day in the only way we Jones' know how...with a dessert bar! only this was a pie bar! especially for Thanksgiving! We had Key Lime, Banana & Chocolate Cream, Apple pie pops, Mini Pumpkin pies and mini S'mores pies...quite a feast! If you want to check out some of the pies in detail you can see them here.

Pulled Pork Loving!

This week has been a week of farewells as we say our goodbyes and head off to Bangor.  On Thursday night it was a St.G's girls night of pulled pork fun at Red Dog Saloon with...

Nats and Caz...

Jay-dee and Jo...

and Lauren and Amys.

I was pretty excited that everyone decided to join in and order pulled pork, even those that were slightly hesistant at first (Amy!) eventually admitted it was really tasty! 

How can it not be? it's pulled pork! 

These are mine and Jade's 'we loved pulled pork' faces.  Clearly I was a little more excited about it all than she was! 

Yum! 

This summer living between London and Milton Keynes has been the nearest I've lived to Harpenden for 7 years!!  so it has been really nice to be able to see lots more of these girls than usual and we have had alot of fun.

I'm sure going to miss them.

My future home...Penmaenmawr: full of mountains, a beach...AND an American diner!

So a few weekends ago we returned to Bangor to start our house hunting again.  Around the same time as this last year we went and did the same.  You may remember I was less than enthusiastic about Bangor itself, and the houses we viewed were terrible.  I wondered how I was ever going to live there.  Luckily, my crazy job offer came up in the Caribbean and we managed to put it off for a year! but here we are again nearing September when Byron and I are both going to be back to being students and we needed somewhere to live!

It was an interesting day, pouring with rain...and I'd left behind a very hot and Sunny London! the first two properties we looked at were uninhabitable - literally! Things were not looking good, and then we stumbled upon Penmaenmawr.  It's a cute little seaside town just 10 minutes outside of Bangor.  It has just a handful of shops...but would you believe it, an American diner called Perry Higgins is one of them!!

I believe it was meant to be! It's probably the only American diner in the whole of North Wales and what are the chances of it ending up in the little village where we were going to view our final property! Lucky for us it was an absolute beaut, with sea views out the front and mountain views to the back! I did want to take pictures and share them with you but Byron suggested since our blogging content might be a bit thin on the ground come September, since North Wales isn't the most hip and happening place, that perhaps I should save that for when we actually move! So for now I'll share with you the awesome diner that we ate at!

It was called the lazy dollar and everything was super bright and shiny - I loved it!

Somewhere along the line someone decided serving milkshakes without ice cream would be a good idea! It's not, certainly not for an American diner so that was slightly disappointing! and certainly not for a milkshake enthusiast like myself...

but the food was amazing! We had these chilli bean and cheese paninis.  Again, a rather odd thing about the diner was that it was vegetarian! A rather new concept to me for an American diner, no burgers or hot dogs etc...! but we enjoyed our food all the same!

The highlight of course, as always with me, was dessert! You may or may not know that I'm the biggest Key Lime Pie fan ever, possibly only 2nd to my mom!! and so I was pretty excited when they saw they had this on the menu! It couldn't quite compete with the best key lime pie ever that I had whilst in the Caribbean! but for North Wales it wasn't too bad at all!

I had to snap a patrotic pic with the flag! whilst thinking of my sisters who were enjoying the real deal over in California!

So if you ever happen to find yourself in Penmaenmwar, and you pass this funny little antiqute shop with a diner attached on the side be sure to stop by!

We snapped this awesome view as we were leaving the village, I'm not sure that little ice cream man was going to get too many customers that day, it was kind of chilly! but By liked how funny it looked out there in the middle of nowhere! and we are excited for all the mountain walks/walks on the beach we are going to get involved with!

Less than 4 weeks to go! So I'm making the most of the shops and restaurants in London and I also shared a super fun touristy weekend with my American friend...photos coming soon!

I wish they all could be California...diners!

You may have noticed there's been a break in all the Mexican eating around here.  For the past few weeks I have turned my attention to the other cuisine I love: American - in an attempt to make up for the fact I'm not in California right now with my sisters eating the real deal!

Last week we hit Bodean's for some pulled pork and A&W and also Lucky 7 for some double thick milkshakes.  This week I arranged to meet up with two of my uni friends, Nicola and Leanne, for some diner fun at Ed's.

I haven't been to an Ed's diner since I was about 10 so it's been a while! I feel like so many other slightly 'cooler' diners have popped up in London over the last few years that I sometimes forget about Ed's so it was nice to go back.  If you're looking for the classic red bar stools, red booths and jukeboxes at every table then Ed's is a fun pick...plus I totally LOVED that the majority of songs we heard all night were Beach Boys! However, it is worth noting it would have been even more fun if the individual juke boxes actually worked, rather than just being for aesthetics. 

One of my biggest dilemma's of the night was whether to go for a milkshake or a root beer float as I'm such a fan of both!! Leanne and Nicole are big Oreo lovers so it was a no brainer for them and Oreo milkshakes it was, for me I decided at the last second to go for a root beer float...since you can't find A&W on just any restaurant menu I always feel like it would be wrong not to order it when it presents itself! I made a good choice!It was a very generous helping of ice cream and it brought me that little bit closer to California!

For the main course I ordered a chilli dog with fries.  It was pretty good, but not the best I've ever had...but all in all the root beer float made up for it! and a great night was had by all!I'd probably be more inclined to go back to places like The Diner, Lucky 7 or Eagle Bar Diner in the future over Ed's especially since we went to the one by the Trocadero in Picadilly Circus and The Diner and Eagle Bar are both within walking distance from there.

Also, last week I spotted the Big Easy while on a bus going down the Kings Road.  It definitely looks like somewhere I want to try very soon!

London loving: the perfect weekend

Last weekend Byron and I shared a perfect weekend in London...and of course it had to start with some A&W!! Poor By is stuck in Milton Keynes all week long whilst I 'live it up in London' and he is left to just hear of all the yummy places I've visited and see the pictures on this blog which isn't so fun for him!! so this weekend it was his turn to join in on some of the action!

I knew for my rib loving husband there was no better option for dinner than a night at Bodean's.  His tray arrived piled high with slaw, fries and a half rack of ribs - yes that's right, that is a half!! how anyone could eat a whole is beyond me!

I had to go for pulled pork, I was intending to try something different from the menu but you just can't beat it and I certainly wasn't going to risk missing out on my pulled pork fix!

Root beer makes me insanely happy!

I snapped this little shot as we were leaving, it really is a tasty and happening place to be on a Friday night!

We decided to be tourists for the night and it was quite a warm evening (until we got down next to the Thames and the breeze made it rather chilly!) so we decided to take a stroll down by the river.  We loved seeing everything lit up (check out Big Ben in the background!)

I love the lights of the London Eye from this angle!

By was messing around with a long exposure, I like the effect it creates on all the lit up buildings in the background!

Here I am, pondering how awesome London living is whilst on the bridge!

and you've gotta do the London Eye pose.

How awesome is this picture!!! The South Bank was buzzing with tourists and excitement the night we were there, we even saw a wedding! and it made me so happy to be there and to be a part of it...I love London!

So as you know...last weekend was our british Summer, we're probably not going to get another sunny weekend like it! so we definitely wanted to make the most of it! We cycled up to Hampstead Heath...if you ever want to get fit fast I recommend this bike ride, the beastly hills just kept on coming!

but when you get to see views like this it's all worth it! remember I told you I'm obsessed with the Gherkin? I got a little over excited when I realised I could spot it in the distance here!

and we brought a little picnic along complete with yummy treats from Gail's deli and homemade cheesecake brownies!

Our little polka dot picnic rug from Dunelm Mill has come in quite handy this summer!

Yes I'm wearing jeans, it was cloudy when we woke up!! but inappropriate clothing aside we had an amazing afternoon basking in the sunshine!

Next up, we headed to Brick Lane for a bit of East End action. I have been wanting to check out Kooky Bakes forever, they have an amazing array of delicious looking goodies!

From bounty and tropicana whoopie pies to peanut butter cupcakes...these guys know how to pack some calories!

I had a peanut butter whoopie and By had the chocolate and coconut one, they were sooo yummy !

We also browsed around Spitalfields and By was loving snapping all the quirky people we saw along the way!

The food markets on Brick Lane are completely incredible! From Ethiopian to Brazilian to Thai to Mexican to Caribbean to Malaysian to Chinese...they really have it all!  It was more than tough to make a decision!

but By went for the old classic Pad Thai, and I got a duck wrap with hoi sin sauce which was amazing!!

I love how fun everything seems in the sunshine! Ice cream vans on every corner...

shirtless riders taking advantage of the barclays bikes!

and oh yes we found our street!! which was fun...

and I leave you with more squeals of excitement...as we turned the corner from Braithwaite Street and got this amazing view of the Gherkin! I love how full circle we had come since seeing it as a spot in the distance from Hampstead Heath to being right on it's doorstep!

London...how will I ever bring myself to leave you!