So I've been terrible at giving updates and thank you to those who have been calling me out. Sadly though I'm tired and I don't know if I have much in me. But I have some good news on the food front and I can let you in on my very drunken, but fairly quiet 4th of July.
This will be somewhat Memento style as I'm going to tell you about tonight first and go back to the 4th of July. Thursday nights are a big drinking night here and everyone from the office pretty much rallies for at least a few pints at any number of the local pubs. Just to paint the picture of how easy it is to get drunk here, there are approximately six pubs all within fifty yards of our work: Dizzy's, Fine Line, Monument, The Walrus and the Carpenter, Britannia, and The Folly. I'd say we go to Dizzy's the most, only because it's the closest, followed by the Walrus because it's the coolest looking and furthest from the office (less work people). Tonight we chose the Walrus, which I like because I literally live right above it. The weather today has been crap...rainy and windy with a side of freezing cold. We huddled in the alley next to the bar to drink our pints (everyone drinks outside here, even when it's raining) and as people started to leave, the idea was thrown around to go to a place called Bodean's for BBQ. I was immediately skeptical because if there is one thing this town has shown me is that it gets all food wrong. Everyone said it's amazing and I agreed, mainly because some good ribs sounded amazing.
We walked int the restaurant, which was only a two minute walk to my place, and I immediately fell in love. The first thing I saw as I walked in were three different TVs, all playing different baseball games and one even had Pardon The Interruption (it's on ESPN for those who are unaware). American sports, how I missed you. They had the Colorado/Atlanta game on right above me with PTI on just across from us. I knew immediately that I was going to love this place. They have all American beers and all things BBQ. I ordered a plate of baby back ribs, BBQ chicken and pulled pork. I'm not saying it's the best BBQ I've ever had, but it hit the spot. Everything was just about right, the sauces were amazing, and the view of Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser arguing over whatever they were talking about absolutely made my night. The pulled pork was easily the best and I wish I had about three more plates of it. This was easily the best meal I've had the whole trip. After a hefty meal and a lot of complaining about how full we all were, we called it a night and I headed home to say hi to anyone who is still reading this blog.
So the funny thing is that I was supposed to go to Bodean's on the 4th of July. They apparently to a big party with buffets of ribs and what not, but I was having a hard time convincing anyone to come. I was talking a big game on Monday and explained numerous times why and how Americans celebrate the 4th of July. The problem is that it is just a Monday here and the British could care less about some random US holiday. No one cares that it's a big day for Americans. Thankfully I was able to convince two guys from my team to come out, but it was not going to be the big party I was hoping for. Nevertheless we ended up having a pretty good time. We went to Dizzy's just across the street after work and to my surprise they were serving bottles of MGD. I of course insisted that we only drink American beers and after a little bitching from the guys they agreed. We had a few rounds and drank there for at least a couple hours. The funniest thing I've learned since coming here is that Europeans apparently don't know about twist off beer caps. The bartender was struggling to pop the caps off the MGD bottles and I just grabbed one and twisted it off thinking I could help. Literally the bartender and the two guys I was with had this shocked look of "how did he do that?" I wish I had played it up more, but I showed them the groves on the bottle and they were stunned. It was like I taught them magic for the first time. It's the little differences here that I think are the most fascinating because our countries are so similar.
We ended up bar hopping all throughout the Aldgate section of town (east of downtown London) and it was honestly the most dead night I've seen since coming here. I think it might have been a mini protest to the 4th of July, possibly because all of the Londoners didn't want to deal with drunken Americans such as myself starting U-S-A chants and singing "America: Fuck Yeah!" I don't blame them, but it was still pretty tame. I tried to pick up the pace of the party and switched to jack and cokes, like I do, but it was more of a last ditch effort. All in all, I ended up having a good time hanging out with my coworkers. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't be having as much fun as I am and I owe them all big for that.
That's pretty much it for this week. I figure in my next post I can tell you all about last weekend in Bath and my trip to Canterbury, which will be this next weekend. I'm going to watch some TV now and pass out because I am seriously full on some delicious ribs and pulled pork. Goodnight and happy belated 4th of July to all of you. I hope you all had a good one.
No comments:
Post a Comment