Turkey, Foggy London Town, and Snow

View from my window at 9.00 am this morning.

BREAKING: It snows here.

This morning I woke up and looked out my window to find SNOW! Totally stoked. Then a little later I went outside and, after almost eating it like five times, learned that pretty snow also means icy sidewalks. Still, snow!

Kenny left on Sunday after a moderately action-packed week in which we both tried to do work but ended up doing fun things instead like watching Firefly, trying restaurants, walking around Oxford, and visiting London. This slacking required me to complete about a week's worth of research in the last 48 hours or so in order to get my literature survey done in time for my supervisor to look at it today. But more on that later. First, fun!

I wish we had floating candles.

On Tuesday Kenny, Meagan, and I went to Thanksgiving Hall at St Cross. For Hall basically think Hogwarts Great Hall but without house-elves. Or if you're in ADPi think Monday night meeting but with good food and courses and servers. Actually just think Hogwarts; that sounds way better. So Hall happens every Tuesday, but just for all the Americans the menu last week was Thanksgiving themed (mostly): corn chowder, turkey and mashed potatoes with gravy and cranberry sauce, and little mini pumpkin pies with whipped cream for dessert. Pretty good, but I still cried a thousand bitter tears thinking about the stuffing and gravy we usually make at home. Unfortunately, my tiny flat kitchen isn't really equipped for any serious culinary endeavors, so this is the most Thanksgiving we got. On the other hand, Kenny got to experience the fun Latin prayer and other Hall stuff, though he apparently thought our Master (think Head of House) was terrifying because he is strict and British.

The Eagle and Child, home of "the inklings"

Speaking of food, we went to a bunch of restaurants last week so Kenny could experience some traditional Oxfordian cuisine. We had Sunday roast at a pub on High St, fish n' chips and shepherds pie at The Eagle and Child (that's the famous one where Tolkien and C.S. Lewis used to chill and think deep thoughts when they went here), and even knocked off a few more items on my Great Ethnic Food Quest list, with surprising success. I have to admit that I couldn't resist taking Kenny to The Mission, the "Mexican" restaurant here, just to see his reaction. It was worth it for the expression on his face...I think that was the first time I've ever seen Kenny NOT finish a burrito. Priceless.

Dim sum at Shanghai 30's

But now for the success stories: on Wednesday we went down to Cowley and ate at a little family-run Greek place called Santorini (yes, as in the island). I had my doubts at first because there were only a few people (actually only 2) when we went in (to be fair, it was only a little before 6pm) but MAN this place was good. Kenny and I both had souvlaki and baklava and it was delicious, probably the best Greek food I've had outside of Greece, and even in some parts of Greece. Then on Friday afternoon we doubled our success at Shanghai 30's, a cute little Chinese restaurant across from the Christ Church meadow that does dim sum in the afternoon. I had been eying this place for a little while since I heart Shanghai-style Chinese food, but my scarring experience at Cafe Opium (soggy rice! the horror!) had kept me away. I knew this place was legit though when Kenny walked in first and the host assaulted him in Mandarin (Ni hao!). Sometimes I think I keep that kid around just so I can eat bomb Chinese food. Just kidding, Kenny. Anyway, we had beef and broccoli (small portion but delish) and I think three kinds of buns/dumplings, one of which was filled with CUSTARD. Yum. They make you pay for tea, but restaurants in the UK are stingy even with water, so I guess I can't expect too much. Also, no xiao long bao, but I guess I'll live, because otherwise this place was pretty awesome, definitely the best Chinese food I've had in the UK.

On Saturday we finally made it up to London, and it was about frickin' time, since I haven't been once since I got here in September. I know, pathetic...but the library, it calls. It was cold, but we bundled up and I wore my NEW HAT (that's right, I own a hat now...it's exciting stuff). We started our day in the British Museum, gazing upon the oh-so-stolen Elgin Marbles and decrying the stupidity of the Ottoman Turks who decided it was a smart idea to use the Parthenon as a gunpowder magazine in the seventeenth century, resulting, predictably, in the big hole in the middle of it. Thanks a lot, Turks. Or should I say, Jerks. Oh...burn. Seriously, though, you guys blew up the Parthenon.

Kenny and I (and my hat) outside the British Museum

Also: possibly highlight of the British Museum. Okay this is a large diversion, but bear with me. As some of you may be aware, about two+ years ago I had the opportunity to spend two full days wandering the British Museum while I was waiting for my UCLA summer program to begin. So flashback to 2008: I am chillin' (like a villain, obvi) in the Greek vase portion of the BM, when I run across this vase (yes, I still have the photo evidence from 2008):

Obviously (as anyone would) I think, "Ah, what I lovely amphora depicting Herakles and the Erymanthian Boar." But when I look down to the label, I see this:

"Herakles and the Chimaera"? That is NOT a Chimaera. It's a frickin' boar. An Erymanthian boar. Obviously (as anyone would) I fly into a rage about the mislabeling of historical artifacts in a reputable museum, and of course, believing it is my civic duty to rectify such sloppy curating, I inform one of the docents that the label is wrong AND fill out a comment card detailing the problem before I leave the museum. Potential crisis averted, I hoped.

Well this time when I walked through that exhibit, I kept my eyes peeled for the offending amphora. When I found its case, I looked at the label:

Obviously my camera work has improved since 2008

Noooooo!!!! It was the same! My efforts were all for nothing! But then, I looked up:

Yes! Yes! That is indeed a chimaera! It turns out that the label was not wrong, the vase was wrong. Basically what I'm saying here is that I saved the British Museum. You're welcome, world. You're welcome.

My scholarly heroics aside, after we left the BM we headed to Covent Garden for some lunch. The tube station and the market were ridiculously crowded, but it was very festive. We found a little table inside the Punch and Judy pub and Kenny ate a platter of tiny meat pies with gravy.

Leave it to the Brits to celebrate the season with a Rudolph topiary.

Kenny inside the market at Covent Garden

Next stop was Harrods, which was amazingly Christmasy and crowded. We went up to the Pet Kingdom and saw the puppies, laughed at the stupidly expensive designer clothes for children, admired the sweets in the food halls, got macarons at Ladurée, and generally enjoyed the ridiculous atmosphere of luxury. As we were going up the Egyptian Escalator at one point, an opera singer in evening dress just stepped out onto one of the balconies and started singing an aria. What other department store does that happen at? Answer: none. Harrods is awesome. After Harrods we were pooped so we headed home on the bus and packed Kenny up to leave the next morning.

Gift baskets in the Food Hall

Christmas ornaments filled with chocolates...yum.

Christmas decorations in the Harrods Arcade

That, unfortunately, is where the fun ended, because once Kenny peaced out, I had to complete that 1500 word literature review of recent criticism of the 1590s epyllia my supervisor wanted this week in short order. I basically spent all of yesterday bouncing between libraries, and thank goodness the Lower Cam was open again--if any of you were following the news in the UK last week, there were lots of student protests of tuition raises and a bunch of students occupied the Radcliffe Camera, shutting it down for like two days.

Students protest at the Rad Cam (pic from BBC)

I somehow scraped together my lit survey and met with my supervisor early this evening. We chatted for about an hour about some ideas for where I wanted to take my dissertation, and I think we were both happy with what we came up with in the end, which is to focus on mortality/immortality, love and death, the tragedy of youth, and possibly rivers in the epyllia. Sounds romantic, right? He told me to have a "jolly Christmas" but also told me he wanted 2-3,000 words on what we talked about by 2nd week of next term. I'm starting to think this man is a slave driver.

To make things even more exciting, I now have to get back to work on my C-Course essay that I have been neglecting in order to work on my dissertation stuff, so I predict that the next two weeks will see me firmly ensconced in the EFL.

On the bright side, though, it SNOWED last night!

KQ

Bûche de Noël ready for Xmas in a bakery window in London