Valentine's Day | The Diner - Soho

Being in a foreign country is hard enough on its own... and factoring in the idea that you're going to be away from family and friends during holidays definitely sucks!  Luckily for me.. I had an amazing group of people to share my Valentine's Day with and had all of the love I could ever ask for!

My day started out with an amazing surprise from one of my best friends from high school!  Flowers, chocolates, and a teddy bear = sweetest gesture ever!  It's nice knowing that they haven't quite forgotten about me yet while I'm over here in London!

 With such a great start to my morning, I was wondering how my day could get any better!  Well, just so you know, it did! My lovely Valentines, Manuella and Emily, who are also my roommates, and I decided to go out for an amazing brunch date to a cute little place that Emily had found online!  All we knew is that it had American-style breakfast, and that's all that mattered!  There were multiple locations, and we decided to go to the Soho location.

Once we got there we were immediately excited by the charming atmosphere of the restaurant!  Not to mention the fantastic music they were playing there... yes, they played Johnny Cash AND Queen... I was already smitten with this place before we even got our food!  They had a great variety on their menu, and had way more than just breakfast foods, but we all decided to order breakfast type foods because we were just too excited about them not to!

For our meal I went with the French toast and scrambled eggs with a glass of apple juice, Manuella ordered pancakes, eggs, and veggie sausage, while Emily went with the banana pancakes (with peanut butter) and scrambled eggs.  The food looked amazing when it came out, and I was slightly upset that my stomach wouldn't be able to handle me ordering every single thing off of the menu!  However, my french toast was absolutely delectable, and the other girls would say the same about their meals!  To finish off our Valentine's Day brunch date, we all HAD to try some dessert.  I went ahead and ordered a chocolate shake, Emily got a peanut butter and chocolate shake, and Manuella went with a scoop of strawberry ice cream.  We all had to try each other's desserts... it was a must... and they were all sooooooo good.  The shakes were so creamy and had chunks of delicious chocolate in them.  I can't even write about this meal without my mouth watering all over again!  YUM!

It was so good that we even talked about going back that same night for supper... Obviously you have to go try it if you're ever in the area, and definitely try one of their shakes!  They're amazing.. you won't be disappointed!
 

Honest Burgers | Portebello Road

Coming from Nebraska, I am a complete burger addict!  So as soon as I saw another blogger review Honest Burgers on Portebello Road as one of the best burgers she's had in London, I knew I had to go and try it out for myself! Let me tell you, I am sure glad I did!  The food was amazing!

Adorably designed menu!

Both myself and my friend Rachel started off with the onion rings, because how can you resist onion rings when they're on the menu?!  We also got a side of the chipotle mayonnaise, per the recommendation of the amazing waiter we had! The mayo had just the right hint of spice to give a nice tang in your mouth to go with the onion rings!  Very pleased that he recommended that to us! 

Delicious Onion Rings with Chipotle Mayonnaise

For the main meal I decided to go with the "Tribute Burger" - to describe it in one word I would have to say... heaven.  It was a beef burger with bacon (you can't have a burger without bacon.. its sinful if you do) American cheese (USA right?!) burger sauce, lettuce, pickles and onions.  I got the French's mustard on the side because I'm not a big fan of mustard.  It was cooked to absolute perfection and everything on it merged perfectly together to create an absolute party in your mouth with every bite!  The chips that came with the burger were a fantastic addition that made a lovely guest to the party that was already in full swing in my stomach.

Tribute Burger with Chips

I HIGHLY recommend going to one of the Honest Burger joints around London if you're every in the area!  You won't be disappointed!

Castles, Bars, and American Fare

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

The last couple of weeks have been absolutely crazy for me here in London!  Each week we are going on sponsored excursions with our program provider, going to new clubs, bars, restaurants, etc., and still going to classes each week!  I've already been here for over a month and am in week 4 of classes!  The time is just completely flying by!  Here is a short recap of what I've been up to!

Stratford upon Avon & Warwick Castle:
Two weekends ago a very large, touristy-looking, group of American students ventured out to see the birthplace of Shakespeare and to see Britain's Ultimate Castle - Warwick Castle.  After grabbing my Grande Caramel Frappuccino, with extra caramel and cream (it was going to be a long day) I was ready to spend two hours on a coach until we arrived at our first destination.  While in Stratford upon Avon we walked around the town, toured Shakespeare's original family home, took the touristy photographs that everyone must have, had a lovely lunch of fish and chips, and then finished part 1 of our excursion stuffing our faces with large amounts of chocolate truffles.  We then got back on the coach and headed to Warwick Castle.  Once at Warwick, we were all blown away by the breathtaking views that the castle provided.  Of course, we had to climb all the way to the top to fulfill our inner "Disney princess" needs and act like we were longingly waiting for our Prince to scale the side of the castle and come rescue us.  Yes, this was completely necessary as all we have in Nebraska is cornfields.  The castle was definitely one of the highlights of the day, followed only by the fact that right outside of the entry into the castle there was a Ben and Jerry's ice cream vending machine!  I'm still trying to figure out how to get one of those in my house back home.... (Side note: if you haven't noticed yet, I have the most intense and ridiculous sweet tooth in the world.  There will definitely be a lot of mentions of the amazing desserts I have while in London throughout the rest of my blogs)

Canterbury & Dover Castle:
This past weekend we once again loaded up a coach with the same large and touristy group of American students and headed to Canterbury and Dover Castle.  Once in Canterbury we toured Canterbury Cathedral and then continued sightseeing around the town. We then headed to Dover Castle where we would finish up our excursion for the day.  The castle again was the highlight of my day, because while we were there we were able to tour the war tunnels under the castle!  Being the history buff that I am, this was definitely my favorite part!  The tour was also very interesting and informative as they used technology in each of the rooms to tell the story of the Dunkirk Evacuation during WWII.  I would highly recommend visiting there if you haven't yet!

 The rest of my week consisted of going out with friends, staying in with friends, and getting my America on.  During the week a group of us girls decided to head into central London and give the Ice Bar a try.  Even though it is a little pricey, it is definitely worth it for the experience if you've never been to one!  Besides the absolutely adorable poncho type cloak things you get to wear, your selfie game is absolutely ridiculous while you're in there!  You also get to drink out of glasses made of ice and look like the most adorable, cold, little eskimo ever!

This week was also Super Bowl week, so there was some definite American nostalgia coming through.  Since its such a large American tradition, we decided that we needed to do typical "American" type things all week!  This included going out for dinner at Chipotle and getting our delicious fill of Tex-Mex.  There is nothing better than having a slight taste of home when you're thousands of miles away!  Speaking of which, there is also nothing better than getting a care package from your parents, especially when the majority of it is food from back home!  Ramen, Mac and Cheese, and jerky... made my WEEK!  Anywho... Super Bowl Sunday came around and unfortunately it was quite a let down for a few of us American girls... considering we mainly watch the game for the commercials... we found out quickly that when it is broadcast through BBC, they show British commercials, not the million dollar, 30-second spot, American commercials.  Total bummer.  The only good part left for us to enjoy was Bruno Mars absolutely killing it during the half-time show!

So there you have a very brief overview of what I've been up to for the past couple of weeks.  So whats next?  We have another excursion to Bath and Stonehenge this weekend, and I'm also planning on visiting a few restaurants that have been on my London list.  Possibly Honest Burger on Portebello Street, any of Jamie Oliver's restaurants (I plan to visit all of them while I'm here), and any where else my stomach decides to lead me!  I also plan on doing some light ice skating at Canary Wharf before it closes (that could be grounds for some serious live action tweeting, giving you a play-by-play of the injuries I incur while skating! yikes!)

I will now leave you with a montage of pictures I've taken over the past couple of weeks!  Enjoy!

Ice Bar Princesses!

Care Package from home!

Starbucks.... #thatsnotmyname