England March 2013- Gluttony Part Two

I'm not a fan of Kentucky Fried Chicken. It's a vile American fast food chain. However, KFC is a very different thing in England. Unlike our local KFC, which is little more than a run-down take-away shack, the KFC in Newbury is more like a snazzy Starbucks outlet, complete with stylish cafe lighting and tables. More important than the cosmetic differences, is the Zinger burger. Sadly, the Zinger burger is not offered at KFC in America.

Dan hyped up the Zinger Burger so much, that I had to try one on our trip to England.

Three Zinger burgers please!

Finally, it's time to try this Zinger Burger.

KCF in Newbury.

Spicy, yummy goodness.

The Zinger burger is good. Real good. If it was offered in America, it would be a compelling reason to stop at KFC. The magic in the Zinger burger is the spices. I can't handle super spicy foods, but this gives just enough kick to be really tasty and balances with the mayo.

On second thought, I am really relieved that this isn't offered in America. I don't need any additional fast food favorites to tempt me!

I spent the afternoon with Dan's mom in the nearby town of Hungerford and we went to two very cute restaurants.

The first was a place called Rafters Cafe, located in the attic of an antiques arcade. We went for tea and a snack, before checking out the antique booths.

To get to the cafe, we had to walk to the center of the arcade and climb two separate flights of stairs, weaving through all sorts of merchandise haphazardly crammed in narrow aisles with low ceilings. I felt like Alice exploring Wonderland.

Signs for Rafters Cafe

Cute sign for Rafters Cafe

A tea cup hanging on the wall.

The entire building was very old with low ceilings and uneven floors. Lots of character!

The interior of the cafe. Notice the wood railing, very old!

The second set of stairs leading to the cafe

We ordered a pot of tea and shared a hot cross bun. To be honest, I had no clue what a hot cross bun was, despite playing the song for my third grade violin recital. The actual bun is far superior to the children's song, although, I bet I got it stuck in your head. You're welcome. It was delicious, kind of like an English Muffin with warm currants.

My cup of tea.

Tea

Hot Cross Buns, Hot Cross Buns, One a Penny, Two a Penny, Hot Cross Buns. (those lyrics don't really make a lot of sense)

Rafters menu and sugar bowls.

After checking out the antiques and strolling around Hungerford, we ate a late lunch at the Tutti Pole. It was a gloomy, rainy day and a bowl of tomato- basil soup with crusty bread hit the spot.

Delicious Tomato-Basil soup.

Art at the Tutti Pole.

The Tutti Pole.

You're probably wondering about the quirky name, right?

A Tutti Pole is a long staff decorated with flowers, oranges and ribbons and is associated with Hock Days. Having origins in the medieval period, Hock Days traditionally occurred a few weeks after Easter and was a time when money was collected for the local church. This tax was collected in various light hearted ways, including the Tutti Men.

Two men dressed up in coats and top hats would walk house to house with their Tutti Poles and collect both coins and kisses from the women. Today, the town of Hungerford still celebrates the tradition and although they no longer collect money, the collection of kisses still continues!

Coming soon...my encounters with antiques, ducks and telephone booths in the beautiful town of Hungerford.

Movie Review- Oz the Great and Powerful

My second theater experience in England was very different from my first. Dan and I went with his five year old daughter to see Disney's Oz the Great and Powerful at the Vue Cinemas in Newbury. In contrast to the theater at the Corn exchange, Vue is a megaplex in a modern building.

Here is the town view from the enormous windows in the lobby of the cinema.

A big thanks to Dan's parents for not only treating us to the movie, but splurging for the upgraded seats. The seats that we had were reserved seats in the dead center, best spot in the theater. The upgraded seats were not only in the best spot, but they were wider with more leg room and plusher. Very nice!

I read many negative reviews about the movie and went in thinking that I was going to hate it. It was the only movie appropriate for Dan's daughter, so it was the only option. I didn't love the movie, but it was much better than anticipated.

The problems first...

It had way too much CGI, especially early on in the film. It was unnecessary and just didn't look very good. The movie nearly lost me at the start, because I really didn't like the entire set up in Kansas. It was stylized and bizarre. Although it set up the characters, it didn't seem to mesh with the rest of the movie.

Loads of Corny bits, especially in Oz with the Munchkins. This is one of those movies that's aimed directly at kids and not at families as a whole. It does have some dark scenes, but Dan's daughter wasn't frightened at all. It doesn't look like it from the trailers, but this is a movie for kids. It was a bit like (although a tad better) last year's abysmal Snow White movie, Mirror Mirror. I feel like it's always a bit of a failure when a family movie isn't enjoyable for the entire family.

The movie lacked the creativity of The Wizard of Oz. One of my favorite aspects of the 1939 movie, was when Dorothy and the gang go into the Emerald city and it's like this whole self contained world. The movie didn't have a good sense of place. The world of Oz was just a CGI fest.

For a movie with so much going on, there was a distinct lack of urgency. When Oswald first arrives in Oz, he just quickly accepts the fact and acts like everything that is happening to him is completely normal. Maybe because it's a kids movie and there are a lot of characters and plot to cram in, but it seemed like everything that happens to the characters is accepted very quickly and they move forward. Most bizarre is Mila Kunis as the Wicked Witch, she starts out as a sweet and good character, but is transformed into pure evil with the quickest turn around. She has a motive, but it happens so fast that it's hard to buy.

We didn't see it in 3-D, but it easy to see every single 3-D gimmick. This movie is very gimmicky.

There was some stuff that was well done. The movie is well cast, although clearly all of these actors probably wish that they could have the paycheck and leave the movie off their resume.

I liked the tie-ins to The Wizard of Oz, such as having the same actor play a character in Kansas and also in Oz. Although, I felt like Mila Kunis should have played the woman that Oswald seduces at the carnival, as it parallels her situation in Oz. This was a story inconsistency to me.

I have not read any of the Oz books, but I liked the origin story for the wizard and the witches. It worked. It would have worked better in a movie aimed more at adults. It could have been darker, like my favorite Oz movie, Return to Oz.

I thought that the movie ended with a nice moral. The wizard is not a very commendable or likable character for a majority of the story, but it ended on a positive note, a story of friendship, courage and right over might.

Ultimately, this movie had the nuts and bolts in place, but could have been made more thoughtfully. It was lacking enough to make it hard to recommend to anyone over the age of ten.

England March 2013- Gluttony Part One

One of the stereotypes about England that I heard repeatedly, especially when I mentioned my upcoming trip, was that the food is awful. I am here to dispel that rumor, as a majority of my meals during my vacation were wonderful. In fact, the first restaurant of the trip made the best ham sandwich that I have ever eaten. EVER!

I spent an afternoon touring the town of Newbury with Dan's mom and she took me to the cutest cafe for lunch called the Teashop by the Canal. I ordered a ham sandwich on granary bread. The key to making this sandwich so superior was the liberal spread of heavenly onion chutney. The onion chutney was so delicious, that if allowed, I would have grabbed a spoon and eaten it straight out of the jar. Speaking of chutney, if any stereotype might be true about English food, it could be that they have an abundance of chutney/jams/jellies. It works for me.

The Teashop by the Canal

Teashop by the Canal

inside the teashop, very cozy

Tea!

Dan's mom pouring the tea

My rose petal tea

My amazing ham and cheese with the fabulous onion chutney.

Dan's mom ordered a vegetarian cheese sandwich

Later the same night, I had dinner at a restaurant called The Newbury, located right in the Newbury town center. I would best describe The Newbury as a Gastropub, great food with an upscale, yet warm vibe. The location has undergone many incarnations, including a nightclub with purple walls. It was packed on a Saturday night, especially the bar area. On the recommendation of Dan's sister, I ordered the Fish n' Chips, which ended up being a wise choice.

For dessert, I had lavender ice cream with shaved honeycomb as a topping. So good!

Dan's mom had the vegetarian pasta.

Dan's dad had lamb.

My fish n' chips with peas.

Monday was the coldest day of our trip. Freezing. We took Dan's kids to the park, but didn't last more than twenty minutes before needing to warm up inside. We took a warm-up break at the Cafe Rouge that is located in Newbury's new outdoor mall. It snowed as we had coffee and cakes.

3/15/13 was Red Nose Day in England. This is a day of comedy to raise money for AID's relief in Africa. Everywhere we went we say promotions and advertisements for the day.

The interior of Cafe Rouge.

The exterior of Cafe Rouge.

The interior of Cafe Rouge.

The adults had carrot cake. Yum!

The kids had Red Nose cakes with a portion of the proceeds going towards Red Nose Day.

I ate too much to limit it to one blog post. Stay tuned for more England food reviews.