Chips (aka Crisps)

We were talking to the kids about planning a trip to the US (watch this space...), and Lily asked if they have crisps there. In the States, we refer to crisps as chips (which are thick cut french fries in the UK). I told Lily that yes, there are crisps in the US, but the flavors may be different than what she's used to.

That got me thinking about the differences in flavors, and I thought I'd share what seemed strange 2.5 years ago when we first arrived.

photo from wikihow.com

According to statistica.com, the top flavors of chips in the US last year included the following:

Plain
BBQ
Sour Cream & Onion
Salt & Vinegar
Cheese
Jalapeno


Those are all varieties I've tried before (and Ruffles Sour Cream and Onion are some of my favorite), and they probably all sound familiar.


I remember the first time we went into a convenience store in the UK, looking for a few staples to keep in the cupboard. The first thing I noticed was how the British like their meat-flavored crisps. That seemed really odd at the time, but having tried several varieties, they're actually pretty tasty.


A few common meat flavors are:

Roast Chicken (these actually taste like juicy roasted chicken)

Bacon (they're good, but don't taste like the bacon we're used to)

Prawn Cocktail (it took me 2 years to try these. They don't taste like shrimp so much as cocktail sauce, but they're not terrible)

Beef/Beef and Onion

Ham/Roast Ham/ some variation of this


There are also many flavors that are suitable for vegetarians:

Cheese and Onion (Lily's absolute favorite, and they're very good)

Tomato Ketchup

Marmite (hard no)

Thai Sweet Chilli (one of my favorites)

Salt & Vinegar

Ready Salted (which is plain to Americans)

Worcester Sauce

Paprika

Some kind of cheese and chutney


I'm not brave enough to try them all (I'm looking at you, ketchup, paprika, and Worcester), but it has been sort of fun and interesting to try different kinds. Last year there was a seasonal goats cheese and thyme flavor by Tyrrell's, which I loved. I think that Walker's has the most popular varieties (at least that's my impression), but we do also have Lay's and Pringles here. Also a small selection of Doritos, though Cool Ranch is known as Cool Original (due to the fact that ranch is not a UK institution like it is back home).

There's a brief and lighthearted overview of my experience with potato chips in England. Lily might be disappointed not to find Walker's Cheese and Onion crisps in the Midwest, but I'm sure she'll be willing to try new kinds. 😊

Pancake Day

Today is Pancake Day in the UK (commonly known as Fat Tuesday in the US), which is the day before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. Making pancakes is one way to use up rich foods like eggs, milk, and sugar, since it is traditional to give these up for Lent.

Now, we're not talking about cakey American pancakes here. These are generally more crepe-like, and can be loaded with sweet or savory toppings. I ordered a ham and cheese pancake from our favorite little sandwich shop today, and it was very nice.

Across the UK, pancake races are held in various towns and villages. Participants with frying pans race down the street, tossing and catching pancakes in the pan while running. Now, I haven't heard anything about a pancake race near us, and I may have sought out more info had I not forgotten that it was Pancake Day in the first place. Maybe next year.

I'm working on several posts at the moment, since we just got back from our first holiday (yay!). So stay tuned for our exciting trip to Barcelona!

More Food

We finally have wifi, yay! Now I can upload pictures again with abandon (that day in the life post sucked up all of my data when I wrote it).

Anyway, we've had the chance to try a few more foods since my last post about it.

Last time, I'd mentioned that I wanted to try tea, a traditional English breakfast, and pub food.

Well I've had a lot of tea. I'm not a hot tea drinker really, but it's definitely one thing that's done better in the UK! I have a box of Yorkshire Tea at home, which I like with sugar and a bit of milk. I've also ordered tea out, but I have not yet done the full afternoon tea service with tiny sandwiches and cakes.

Lunch at a tea room with my girls

English breakfast. Well, I can't say that I've ordered the full English, but I've had most of the components. I've had the bacon, eggs, sausage, and toast together, along with sauteed mushrooms sometimes. I've had the grilled tomato with different foods, and I've tried the black pudding. Well, sort of.
We went to a small plates restaurant for dinner one night, and bravely ordered the fried cake with black pudding and duck (& something else but I forget what). It wasn't gross. It was okay, but I don't know that I'd order it on its own after that.

Do I look excited or scared?

And pub food. We've tried this category many times now, and love it. We lived in a pub for a week, so we ate there nearly every night. Our favorite was the steak and ale pie (I love a meat pie), served with chips, peas, and gravy. Also worth a try were the bangers and mash, which are sausages with mashed potatoes. And sometimes gravy. Yesterday I tried a cottage pie, which is minced beef covered with cheesy mashed potatoes, served with chips and peas, and more gravy. And this country does gravy right. Thick and full flavored, sometimes with bits of onion. Great comfort food.

Bangers and mash served in a giant Yorkshire pudding

Cottage pie

Bangers with bubble and squeak

Oh yeah, the bubble and squeak. This is a mixture of mashed or crushed roasted potatoes with leftover vegetables (typically cabbage, but can be a mixture of anything). It's made into a patty and fried until brown. The one I tried was really good, and I'll have to try to make it sometime.

On Sundays, many restaurants have a Sunday roast. This can be pork, beef, or lamb, and is served with roasted potatoes, vegetables, and gravy. And a Yorkshire pudding (made of a batter of milk, eggs, and flour). We've tried this mean once so far.

The last thing I'll touch on here is what the kids like to eat. There's not a lot of mac and cheese on children's menus here. Their favorite thing by far is fish fingers with chips and peas. I don't eat peas, so I was surprised at how much the kids love them. Lily also loves bangers with chips and peas, and every now and then they will have a burger. But there's really nothing too out of the ordinary on the kids menus.

What should we try next? Matt is voting for haggis in Scotland. I think I'll go for something a little more tame.

Let's Talk Food

Since we haven't found a place to live yet, we've had to eat out every single day. Not that we're disappointed, since we love trying new foods and new restaurants. I think we were most excited to sample the fish and chips, Indian food, and desserts.

The first full day we were here, we headed out to dinner after Matt got home from work. We kind of have an early bird eating schedule (and have been made fun of for it), so we were surprised to find that restaurants don't typically open for dinner until 5:30 or 6:00. Well, we were hungry, so we went to the only open place we could find (besides McDonald's, we did refuse that!). 

An American-style steakhouse. Womp womp. Well, the food still tasted pretty good, and we laughed at ourselves for eating before the old people.

I did have an English cider

Since that first day, we've had Indian, Thai, and Turkish, to name a few. Everything we've had so far has been really good. One of our favorites has been fish and chips, especially on evenings when we can tell the kids will not behave well in a restaurant.  We've tried two of the three highly recommended places in town, and I can't decide which is better. 

Melts in your mouth!

Sorry, I don't have any poetic descriptions of the taste of everything. And I always forget to take pictures of food (not my normal thing). So the only food photos I have are the fish and chips above, and...

This giant naan. So the perspective makes it look bigger than Clara, but it probably was almost as tall as she is! 

We've also tried a couple of chain places - Pizza Express and Wagamama. Both were also very good, and of course, the kids loved them. 

Next on my list to try is pub food, tea, and a traditional English breakfast. According to Wikipedia, an English breakfast consists of, "bacon (traditionally back bacon), fried, poached or scrambled eggs, fried or grilled tomatoes, fried mushrooms, fried bread or toast with butter, sausages, and baked beans. Black pudding, bubble and squeak and hash browns are often also included."

Image via seriouseats.com

Holy cow, that's a lot of food! I haven't yet decided if I'll be brave enough to try black pudding (aka blood sausage). If I can work up the nerve, I'll post about it!