Seeing my downstairs neighbor from the apartment building in England on Monday brought back so many fond memories. The trips to town to shop at the market. The beautiful displays of all kinds of sweets at the local pastry shop. The walks down the canal to Pop’s Antique Shop located in a 400-year-old building. Such a time of youthful innocence and joy.

When Hubby #1 had a night off, we went out for breakfast in Newbury. We usually ordered what we called a grill which consisted of an egg, a banger (short fat sausage), smoked streaky bacon, mushrooms, baked beans, and toast. Sometimes we met Cindy and her husband at the White Swan…a local pub down by the canal where the wild swans swim. We’d order a Cornish pasty and a pint. More often than not, Cindy and I had a Baby Cham…a light and sweet champagne-like drink.

There is a dish in England called Toad-in-a-Hole. It’s traditionally made like a casserole with fat, savory sausages peeking out of a batter. I rarely go to that much trouble so I make Egg-in-a-Basket every once in a while from my homemade bread. It’s a great way to use bread when it’s still good but it’s just a little past its prime. Today I’ll make French Toast because the bread is nearing the point of being stale. 

I can’t say the food in England was all that great. There were a lot of boiled dinners. We didn’t have much money so we ate a lot of things like Hamburger Helper and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches. There was a BX on base where we shopped. We could find food there from the states that we were more familiar with. But there were things we bought at the open air market like meats….usually chicken and lamb. Beef was pretty hard to come by. Besides, the meat over there tasted funny to me. Probably because it was grass fed without antibiotics.

The pastry shops were to die for. I was pregnant when Cindy came from the states to live with her husband downstairs. The displays of cakes and tarts were mind boggling and I wanted to try everything. That’s probably why I weighed 190 pounds and had a 5 pound baby. I always wanted to go back to England to live for a year or so. I don’t know if I’ll ever get the chance to do that again, but I have wonderful memories of the two years I lived there in ‘73 and ‘74. 

Have any of you lived in a foreign country? For how long? Where was it and what was your favorite thing?

💚

“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”   ‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭10‬:‭31‬ ‭ESV‬‬

***Gratitude Journal***   
Today I am grateful for the memories I’ve made over the years. They will sustain me in the coming years when my short term memory becomes less reliable.