The Water Poet, Shoreditch

The long-neglected Quest resumes today after a two month break with a visit to The Water Poet in Shoreditch.

We've walked by this pub a number of times, each time planning to lunch. Better late than never!

Joining the today are Darren, Andy, and Neil,the latter two both making a Quest debut. Everyone else left us for the holiday weekend.

You can check out the The Water Poet's online Sample Sunday Lunch Menu, but I've posted a photo of the actual menu from today to the left.

Dishes Ordered: (Pictured left to right):

• Roast Sirloin of Beef,  roast potatoes, parsnips, cabbage, carrots, yorkshire pudding, and real gravy
• Roast Chicken Breast, onion and mixed herb stuffing, roast potatoes, parsnips, cabbage, carrots, Yorkshire pudding, and real gravy
• Beer Battered haddock fillet, chips, creamed peas

      

 

Observations: (collective and individual)

• Large screen TV in Dining Room = Bad (Darren)
• Large screen TV in Dining Room = not Bad (Neil)
• The food was good, and I liked the half cabbage (Darren)
• The cabbage hunk in unwieldy, but OK  (Andy)
• I tend to lean towards pro-eggplant cuisines rather than pro-cabbage (Neil, whose meal did not include cabbage)
• The meat had a bit of fat on it, which I like, and the veg were nice (Andy)
• This pub is much bigger than it looks from the outside (Darren)
• Biggest Yorkshire, ever.
• Waitress has a cute outfit, which encourages my environment score of 3.5 (Andy)
• Fish  and Chips was above average and oddly shaped in a good way... triangular; not sure where inside the fish this cut comes from. (Neil)
• The service was good, and the venue was nicely decorated. (Franc)
• The mushy peas were interesting in a good way and a bit nutty (Neil)
• The fish batter was a bit heavy and Crisco-ish (Neil)
• My chicken was delicious (Franc)
  

On to the scores: (awarded on these guidelines)
Our Updated Map of Eats:
*note: All Pubs visited including today's are noted with their scores in parentheses, with the larger map in the widget on the right

View The Quest for the Best Sunday Roast in a larger map

US Embassy Passport Services and Extra Pages

The Line for US Citizen services was much shorter when I was leaving

With the next trip less than three weeks away, I could no longer delay on getting new visa pages in my Passport.

The US Embassy's website indicates that one can obtain new pages with a two week turnaround  by sending one's passport by mail, which wasn't going to work for me because getting my visa to go to China will take four days.

I rang Passport Services and learned that one may have Visa pages added same day if one shows up between 830-11 am and if one can evidence that the expedited service is necessary by providing a ticketed itinerary and evidence of a visa appointment at a Foreign consulate.

Today, I went for the new pages. Here's how it all played out

New Pages!

0840: Arrival, place mobile phone collection into Embassy-provided plastic bag
0841: Commence queuing 
0945: Queuing Ends. Security Check.
0950: I am assigned number P36  by the security desk
0953: P36 is called to Window #1. I hand in my passport and am advised to take the bill for services over to Window #9. When I point out that there is no payment receivable, I learn that the receipt has to get to Window #9 somehow, and that way just happens to be yours truly.
0958: I make payment of 0 USD at Window #9 and receive my receipt. I feel wonderfully frugal.
0959: Waiting commences 
1020: Embassy-wide announcement of the discovery of a suspicious package in the mail room. The waiting masses are undaunted. No one leaves in fear of their lives. It seems that they all have concluded that the odds of death (minute) are better risked than the odds of needing to queue up again to get back in the room (highly likely).
1050: Waiting ends. P36 is called to Window #5. Passport returned, complete with snazzy new pages, which don't match my Passport, strategically replaced right before the introduction of biometric requirements in 2005.

Now to get my travel visas...

New Kitten - 11 weeks

While a bit off topic, everyone likes baby animal pictures, right?
She's now eleven weeks old, and we will be picking her up on the 12 of June. We won't be naming her until we get to meet her.

Of course I ate it!

I found this picture in my phone today.

+ 1 Office Vending Machine in NYC
+ $1.00
+ No Sense of Self Preservation
= Big Texas Cinnamon Roll

I am an Ameristuff Mule

Yet another airport line!

In the spirit of my last posting, it seems worthwhile to note the many things I've ferried from the US to the UK.

Yes, I am also an Ameristuff Mule! This time, much like during my flight over, I have no haul because I was so busy working there was never any shopping time.

Anyway, here's a list of items I have been asked to bring to the UK from the US over the past few years:

• Ziploc
• Peanut Butter - ex: Skippy
• Peanut Butter - Natural
• Pretzels
• Lucky Charms
• Fruit Roll-ups
• Cat Scratching Boxes made from cardboard
• Krispy Kreme Doughnuts
• Crystal Light
• Candy Corn
• Kiehls Products
• Nestle Crunch
• PS3 Games
• Swedish Fish
• Jack Daniels Sticky BBQ Sauce
• Maple Syrup
• Mitchum Ladies' Gel Deodorant

I am a Britstuff Mule

Newark, Ahoy!
My first name doesn't fit on the ticket ..

As I find myself embarking on another trip to NYC, it occurs to me that there is another aspect to visiting home:

Being a Britstuff Mule.

This particularly comes to mind because this trip is such that unless you work at my office*and* are involved in the project that I'm resuscitating and expected to present on Thursday, I probably won't see you. Thus, this is my first trip from London to the US *ever* where I've not had goods.

So, as I wait for take off, please enjoy this list of items I have been asked to bring to the US from the UK over the past few years. I'm sure this isn't all of them...

• Marmite
• Angel Delight
• Fox's Ginger Crunch Creams
• Murray Mints
• Marks and Spencer Tights
• Boots E45
• Frazzles
• PG Tips Tea
• Terry's Chocolate Orange
• Marks and Spencer Percy Pigs
• Blue Dragon Sweet Chili Sauce
• Chelsea FC kit
• Jaffa Cakes
• Robinson's Pink Juice
• A Starbar - just one
• Maynard's Wine Gums
• Ribena 

(I've also included a photo of a haul from a 2007 business trip... that bedspread is the Ritz's not mine!)

New Kitten! (soon)

This is a picture from her breeder...
Yes, her ears are supposed to be that big.

Things have been seemingly quiet here since the volcanic disruption, but really, we've just been having a bit of downtime in preparation for a busy summer.

It will busy summer that will include a kitten!

We chose her last weekend, and in the picture to the right, she is seven weeks old. We will travel to Norwich to meet her later in the month, and she will come home with us around the 12th of June.

New kitty (we're not committing to a name until we've really met her) is a Cornish Rex, which is a breed with very short fur and generously sized ears. The breed is popular with allergy sufferers because the short hair makes for easier maintenance.

Expect a lot of kitten pictures in the near future. I may not be able to resist turning this into a website of full of them, but I'll do my best. After all, we've got trips to take, roasts to eat, and much to snicker at.