I Scream for Ice Cream!

Finally, we know the source of Neapolitan ice cream!

Either that, or the crazy half-man, half-woman villain from the old Gordon West Batman series has been visiting Yorkshire and having fun sawing livestock into pieces and reassembling them.

A Windy Day

I really enjoy getting outside and going for walks, but I have a harder time than most tackling the longer and more strenuous trails. So I'm always on the lookout for places for Bill and I to go and enjoy, especially when the weather is nice. I had heard about an old quarry site that has been turned into an artistic lookout point on top of a hill in the middle of the Dales called the Coldstone Cuts. It's a lookout point as well as a jumping off point for walks that could be either long or short. A few weeks ago the weather was lovely in town, so I suggested we go out there and see what the day brings us. 

A bit windy

Alas, the weather was quite a bit different 5 miles out of town: quite blustery! Some would say closer to gale-force winds! The photos were all taken at the top of the lookout, so the wind is at maximum velocity and you can see it was indeed strong. However, I must point out that even walking up the hill to the lookout point was a challenge as the wind was against us and bitter cold. 

A bit cold

The wind was so strong, it kept almost whipping my glasses off my face! And when I smiled, I had to smile "hard" because otherwise the wind whipped my cheeks around like an old babushka was pinching and shaking them. Seriously. And I basically had dreadlocks by the time we made it back to the car. Not pretty.

Holding on for dear life!

It was hard to see with the wind lashing at our eyeballs, but the camera shows the view of the old quarry was interesting if not necessarily beautiful.

Coldstone Cuts quarry

The view of the Dales on the other side of the lookout had the winds at our back, so the view was a bit easier to appreciate. And it was much prettier, in my humble opinion!

Yorkshire Dales as seen from Coldstone Cuts

Walking back down to our car the wind was at our backs, which was great for our eyes but meant that we were literally blown down the steep, gravel path. After our harrowing, 30-minute (and less than a half-mile) walk, we decided we were done. 

Off to the pub for Sunday carvery we went - two orders of pot roast & Yorkshire puds (puddings), please! And, of course, a couple of pints.

Wishing Trees

The Lakes District northwest of us has a great deal of scenic beauty.  The arboreal setting with its many lakes and rivers reminds me a bit of the Ozarks and the Mark Twain National Forest back home in Missouri where I grew up.  It's a prime UK destination for serious walkers (think backpacking).  Very pretty.  Here's a couple of shots, but they don't really do it justice:

While misty and damp, we were glad to see it before the trees all leafed-out this year.  We were able to see the curving lakes from many angles.

We also finally ran across a wishing tree - something we had been told about, but hadn't seen for ourselves.  From a distance, it looks like this:

You have to squint to see the corrugated-looking trunk in the smaller images here - but it's studded with coins!  Getting closer, you can see what is going on here:

If only we had had a U.S. Quarter to use!  Regardless, our wish was driven with love and brought a tiny piece of hope when it was needed.

Gal-Pal Day Trip to London

Several of the women I've met while living in England have become good friends. A few of us decided we'd take the train down to London for a day of art, food, shopping, and more food. There may have been a glass of wine or two involved, as well.

Blurry photo of all four of us on the train to London

We left our local train station at 9:04 and arrived in London at 12:30. Our main destination was to see an exhibit of Chihuly glasswork in the Halcyon Gallery in Soho. I had never been to the Soho district in London; it was a lot of fun walking past the Channel, Louis Vuitton, Ferragamo, etc. flagship stores that are so high-end you'd expect to see a Kardashian or Oprah walking out of them at any given moment. I mean, they're really the only people who can afford to shop in these stores, right? 

Regardless, we made our way to the Halcyon Gallery without too many stops to look at our map. And the Chihuly glass did not disappoint. 

Ceiling full of Chihuly glass

All of the artwork had names, but I don't remember them, so I've decided to give them my own names in this blog. I hope Dale Chihuly doesn't get mad! :-)

Chihuly glass... I shall call it "Blue Trumpet!"

Chihuly Glass... "Yellow Orangey Seashells"

Bill and I went to the Seattle Chihuly gallery and got to see lots of his artwork a few years ago. This collection was by far smaller than the one in Seattle, but no less impressive. 

Chihuly glass... "A Whole Lotta Red"

Oogling the Chihuly

We had lunch at an honest-to-goodness Mexican restaurant!! I was SO excited about this part of our trip. I ordered the bean and corn salad and it did not disappoint. I ate the whole thing - even the tostada shell. YUMMMMM!!!!

Wahaca's corn and bean salad

We also visited a store famous for their high-end textiles and ready-to-wear clothing. Their signature fabrics are so soft and gauzy, I can't imagine it would be easy to sew. And at £20 per yard (about $35), I don't think I'll experiment with Liberty's fabric! They also sold scarfs, but the cheapest was £60 (about $100). As souvenirs, I bought two Liberty-print handkerchiefs for £22 - they're big enough to tie my hair back, tie around my neck, or around a purse/handbag. And they're super-cute without breaking the bank!

Liberty of London

Clock arch near Liberty 

After checking out Liberty's we had plenty of time to walk around and enjoy Picadilly Circus, Leicester Square, and grab not one, but two dinners! :-) 

Street in Picadilly Circus

Picadilly Circus skyline

We stopped at one restaurant for a glass of wine and an appetizer, but their liquor license wouldn't let us drink without purchasing a main dish. So, we ordered one pizza for us to split and enjoyed our yummy beverages of choice. About an hour after we left that location we found a different place for dinner and had a proper sit-down before our 3+ hour trip back home.  

Chinatown gate near Picadilly Circus

A nerd like me cannot be at London King's Cross train station without attempting to catch the Hogwart's Express at platform 9-3/4. Alas, I am a muggle (and 30 years too old) and didn't make the cut into Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Sigh... 

Off to Hogwarts!!

The train home was, nonetheless, eventful. I won't go into the details (too hard to do it justice), but let's just say the long, late-night train ride with a drunken gay guy who wants you to deal him into your card game was a hoot. A bit awkward, but a hoot!

The Tippy Top of the York Minster

Two months or so ago I received an email from the folks at the York Minster (where I volunteer) which asked if I wanted to see the new statue of Saint Peter. This opportunity was open to the hundreds of volunteers, but you had to call and reserve your spot, as the spots were first come, first serve. I though 'Sure, why not?' and called to get my name on the list. 

On the day of my visit to the statue, I showed up and the gal at the desk told me to go to the east end, near the scaffolding, next to the lift (elevator). Wait - the scaffolding OUTSIDE? Yes, outside. Before I knew it, I was wearing a hard hat and going up the blue elevator (pictured below) to the tippy-top of the York Minster. ON THE OUTSIDE!

York Minster scaffolding and blue elevator

I don't even like going up a ladder, so being this high up was quite an accomplishment for me. I took the picture below as I got off the elevator on the ninth floor and you can see how high up we were. The scaffolding consisted of 2 X 4s that had about a 2 inch gap between them; not big enough to fall through, but big enough to see through. I took the photos in this post while white-knuckle gripping my iPhone & hoping I didn't drop it. Thankfully, the phone and I made it down in one piece! 

View of York from the ninth floor of the scaffolding

Looking up through the scaffolding, our tour group full of volunteers could see the gothic spires that top the Minster.

View of the Minster's gothic spires from the top of scaffolding 

The new statue of Saint Peter took four stone carvers a full year each to carve. St. Peter is the patron saint of the minster and this statue replaces the medieval statue that was in major disrepair. We noticed that the legs were smaller in proportion to the torso, which in turn was smaller than the head. Our tour leader (also a volunteer) explained that this was done intentionally so that when viewed from the ground, St. Peter looks proportionally accurate. 

New Saint Peter statue

We took the scaffolding stairs one level down and took a look at the "green man" at the foot of the statue. You can learn more about architectural green men by going here:   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Man

Green man just below Saint Peter statue

We had about ten more minutes before the tour was over, so the leader asked us if we wanted to go up the scaffolding stairs to the tippy-top to see the view and some gothic spire sculptures. All but one rather queasy gal (holding onto the scaffolding for dear life) opted to go up. I was very near queasy, but when will I ever get the chance to do this again? I braced myself and climbed up and up. 

At the top, there's still a lot of scaffolding, but no green mesh so you can see quite a bit. In the picture below you see the central tower and several of the gothic spires in the distance. 

View of the Minster's central tower from tenth floor of scaffolding

The spire closest to us contained the historic disease sculptures. The tour leader is pointing (in the photo below) to the plague doctor sculpture. During the plague in the Middle Ages, doctors wore beak-like masks filled with herbs to ward off the smell of the dead and dying. To the left of the plague doctor you can see a woman with boils (zoom in to see a boil on her armpit) and next to her is a mad man. 

Disease sculptures on gothic spire

Another picture of the disease sculptures is below. The mad man is to the right, and sadly, I don't remember what the other two sculptures are depicting. I was focused on trying to take a few good photos while not dropping my camera, not bumping into the others on the tour, not tripping and falling, or, you know, causing a general catastrophe! 

Disease sculptures on gothic spire

Here's a guy giving you a raspberry!

A Medieval raspberry?

And a guy mooning half of the city of York! Who knew these were up here? Why did the medieval sculptors take so much time working on such intricate carvings that no one could see without climbing up the walls? 

A Medieval mooning of the enemy

Before climbing back down to the ninth floor lift, I got a few more photos of the city and its minster. I knew this vantage point would be one I'll most likely never see again. It was exhilarating, beautiful, and scary as hell all at the same time! 

Another view of York from scaffolding

Central Tower and another gothic spire

Once back on solid footing I called Bill at work. I think I talked a mile a minute describing my 30 minutes on the scaffolding. My adrenaline eventually wore off, but it took quite a while. I can't believe I, the gal scared to climb a ladder, was basically on the roof of the minster. Yay, me!!

York Minster: front spires & central tower (no Gothic pointy bits on top)
I was on the back of the minster looking at the back spires & central tower

Happy Pi(e) Day (AKA March 14 or 3.14)

Apparently, March 14th is Pi Day. Bill says next year will be extra special, as it will be 3.1415, but I digress. 

Pi day is a thing around Bill's work and last year everyone brought in a pi(e) to share with their co-workers. Bill asked me to make a pi(e) for him to take because last year he didn't know the drill and therefore didn't bring a pi(e). He said most folks brought fruit pies, so he thought it would be nice to take something savory. His favorite sandwich of all sandwiches is the rueben, so he asked if I could make some sort of rueben pi(e). After a bit of research online, I decided I could at least make a valiant effort!

Short crust pastry with thousand island dressing

I tried to make short crust pastry from scratch for the first time, and that was an absolute fail. I had to run out to the store and quickly purchase a portion of short crust pastry. Thankfully, they have things like that around here without a bunch of creepy chemicals laced throughout. 

Stuffed with corned beef, sauerkraut, and swiss cheese

With the short crust pastry rolled out, I added layers of thousand island dressing, swiss cheese, sliced corned beef, sauerkraut, and more swiss cheese. 

Add a decorative top crust & sprinkle with caraway seeds

I rolled out the top layer of crust and had just enough extra dough to make a Pi symbol for the top. Brushed on some olive oil and caraway seeds and it was off to the oven! 

Voila! Rueben Pie!

The end result turned out pretty darned good, if I do say so myself! I wish I had delivered the pi(e) to Bill's work with the remaining thousand island for a dipping sauce, but a first time recipe can always be improved!