Yesterday was election day in the UK. The day itself was pretty low-key. I went to the gym in the morning and walked around a bit in the afternoon (it was quite a nice day -- for London weather, anyways). In the evening, I went down the street to the Farm Collective (a small store that sells food made entirely from local farm products), and I got my usual Angus beef pie with mash and gravy... and mushy peas. Mushy peas have been a recent discovery although I've seen them quite often on traditional British menus. It's pretty much peas mashed up with some milk, butter, and salt (a lot like mashed potatoes). But there's something about them that's just sooo good. The mushy peas at the Farm Collective use less butter/cream, and I think they add a touch of mint... Ultimately, they're radioactive green in color but delicious!
In the evening, I met up with Cate, Holly, Beth, and Matt to watch the election night coverage at the Waterfront (the King's College student bar). Abbey was working on her final paper and was absent most of the week. Anyways, we got a couple snakebites (1/2 cider, 1/2 ale, and a splash of blackcurrant syrup) and found the perfect booth to see the TV... also we were right across from this guy who looked surprisingly like Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher from Star Trek). We were able to see the exit poll results before the Waterfront started to become really, really crowded. It got uncomfortably hot very quickly, the noise made it impossible to follow the election, and the people made it very difficult to even SEE the TV. Cate, Holly, and I ended up leaving around midnight, when only 3 seats had been declared (to the Labour Party).
This morning, we found out that it's a hung Parliament. We are all hoping David Cameron doesn't become Prime Minister, but it's not looking so good. In my opinion, there is something about David Cameron that makes him very unlikeable. A note here on British elections... people don't vote for a candidate, they vote for a party. David Cameron is a Tory (Conservative), Gordon Brown is the Labour Party candidate, and Nick Clegg is a Lib Dem (Liberal Democrat). To be honest, none of us support the Conservative policies, but it's even harder to believe the support David Cameron's gotten. If he does NOT become Prime Minister, we're going out for a celebratory pint.
Today, I met up with Cate and Holly to go to the gym (yes, again). Abbey was too exhausted from her paper-writing (she handed it in and is now done for the semester), but afterwards, we all went to the Borough Market. I love Borough Market so very, very much. As it is, I want to move to the UK, but Borough Market just reaffirms this. Today, I had an ostrich steak baguette with onions and cranberry sauce. I liked it a lot more than the kangaroo burger from a few weeks ago. We were walking around afterwards and got free samples of Turkish delight. I've heard about it before in books although it sounds like a made-up candy rather than something that actually exists. I've never really enjoyed candy. For one, I've never really liked the texture of most candy bars. When I watched Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory as a child, there's one scene where the kids go to the candy store ("The Candyman Can" song). After that, all real-life candy was just a bit disappointing. It's too sweet and always sticks to my teeth and the roof of my mouth. Turkish Delight, on the other hand, was chewy but not sticky and not unpleasantly sweet. I bought a sampling of flavors (yes, yes... free samples work on me), so hopefully I'll find one I like...
You can watch the whole movie here.
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I love Turkish delight. Personally, my favorite flavor is rose.
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