It's Fun to Eat at the Y-M-C-A!

It's finally here, my post on the Indian YMCA! This place rocks my post-dollar-to-pound conversion-friendly world! It's affordable, the staff is recognizes me AND it feels like I am eating straight from my mother's kitchen...well not THAT good but pretty darn close.

The Indian YMCA offers breakfast, lunch and dinner 7-days a week. I've yet to eat breakfast there, but I can only hope for puri's, yellow potatoes and chai. Okay let me have some expectation management, but I bet its good.

In the last two weeks, I've been lucky to see some visitors from the States, Nancy and Cassie. Nancy is my sister's colleague who came to London to do some venue shopping for a work conference. Cassie is my friend from college who was able to work out of the London office during the week so she could fun it up with me on the weekends in London. Naturally, I had to take both of them to the monument of all monuments. The tourist attraction of all tourist attractions--the Indian YMCA!




I've included some pictures of our food experiences. Is your mouth watering yet?

Haircuts

Right now, I am growing out my hair a bit for the big Fanny Pak wedding, but I am thinking this do (on the left) post-wedding:



I love it!

No Vegetable Day

Many of you either met or remember me talking of my dear friend Nick. Nick passed away a few years ago today and to honor and remember him, I refer to today as No Vegetable Day.

Nick and I met at Cherry Creek High School at the end of my junior year. We quickly bonded over our passion for politics and liberal social views. I remember the many nights we'd be up late talking on the phone about anything and everything related to history and politics. We both went to the same university and of course Nick studied History and I studied Sociology and Political Science.

After graduating from Boulder, he went to law school in Denver and I moved to San Francisco. At the time my parents were still living in Denver and they told me, after he passed away, that he would stop by and visit them regularly to check-in and see how they were doing. That's just the type of person he was. He did countless kind acts throughout the day and never expected a 'thank you' or recognition. He just did and its so admirable.

In some ways, I feel like I am following Nick around the globe. He lived in DC for a summer and also traveled to Ireland, falling in love with Galway. And now, I too have lived in DC and have/will travel around the UK.

So why No Vegetable Day? Nick was known for many quirky qualities--one of the reasons why we hit it off! Of these, included a disgust for vegetables. And by vegetables, I mean most things found in the produce aisle. I have no idea how that man pooped! He was notorious for eating fat with fat. In fact, Nick was the person who introduced me to eating fries with mayo, which I found absolutely disgusting at the time. So I've decided to honor my dear friend with a day dedicated to burgers (no lettuce or tomatoes!), fries, and cakes. This shouldn't be too difficult to do in the UK!

Needless to say, I miss him dearly.

Cassandra Full of Grace

I am so excited to see Cassie in about two weeks!! She is visiting London the last week of March--lucky for her, she has an office in London she can work out of during the week. I am super excited to have her here in London. Of course, I plan to take her (and everyone else who visits) to the Indian YMCA, my jobby-job, the Whitechapel exhibit AND she gets to meet my classmates because we are having a social that week (planned by yours truly). Yay!

Cassie is also sweet to bring me:

1. Trader Joe's brand Peanut Butter (crunchy and smooth, unsalted)
2. Orange Dulce Tea by Mighty Leaf
3. Chipotle in Adobo Sauce
4. Microwaveable popcorn

Woot woot!

To See: Our Struggle: Responding to Mein Kampf

The San Francisco Chronicle wrote a story about a really interesting exhibit, Our Struggle: Responding to Mein Kampf at The Contemporary Jewish Museum, which is housing the exhibit until June 8th. I would love to see this if I were in the area, unfortunately, I will be about two months too late. I am sharing it with you in hopes you will check it out. Here is a bit more background on the exhibit and reactions from holocaust survivors.

Would love to hear your reactions if you decide to visit.

Peep To It

I think its some sort of annual DC tradition to have a contest based on Peeps--the Easter bunny-shaped candy that comes in yellow, pink, purple, etc. Peeps are chefs, prisoners (Guantanamo Peep) television stars! It's quite hilarious and very entertaining. Either Cassie or one of her friends are submitting one based on this years DC's Snowpocalypse (aka Bad Snowmance). Didn't they do a wonderful job?











Here are some more pictures of Peeps from last year's contest:










Its so cute and wonderful and creative that I've decided I want to take part in it one year!! How fun would that be? I'm adding it to my list of life goals! What would I do? The Golden Girls has already be done. Maybe My So-Called Peep? Peep Jovi? Oooh!! I could turn all my friends into Peeps --but nobody would get that really. How funny would "Fanny-Peep" be? Okay I am rambling.

Office Space, Part I

As promised, I've included a few pictures of my new jobby-job's office space. I still have more pictures to take, but here's a little sneak peak. Isn't it beautiful? I also got a shot of most of the staff. One of the pictures at the bottom is of the floor--it's pretty fun. Enjoy enjoy!