YouTube Playlist

London is definitely a vegetarian friendly city.  I created a playlist on YouTube (for an assignment!) with some great examples of the vegetarian options available all over the city.

YouTube Playlist

Upper Crust Baguette Sandwich

Borough Market

One of the best things about traveling is finding the local food markets, then tasting and buying from local food vendors.  The Borough Market in South London is one of the oldest and largest markets in the city.

There are plenty of vegetarian foods available to make just about any meal one could want.  There are also vendors selling pre-made vegetarian foods to eat while shopping.

Our assignment for the day was to take a photo and to edit it to black and white and then add a splash of color.  Here's what I came up with...

2 Days, 3 Restaurants!

In my first two days in London I have eaten at three quite different restaurants.

Raavi Kebab Halaal – Tandoori Restaurant

125 Drummond Street - Near the Euston Tube Station

Punjabi food made fresh daily.  Good selection of vegetarian dishes, but not as many as in other Indian restaurants.  Main vegetarian dishes are £4,45-£4,75 (about $8.00).  Naan was also good.  Mango lassi was thick and delicious!

                                                          Saag Paneer, Mutter Paneer, Naan and Mango Lassi

Eve's Cafe

108 Great Russel Street - Near Tottenham Court Tube Station

When I asked the owner about vegetarian options, he was more than willing to show me what he had made fresh that day.  I ended up choosing the special, pasta with mozzarella and roasted vegetables, which was excellent!  For £5,50, it made a nice lunch.

The Marquis Cornwallis

31 Marchmont Street - Near the Russel Square Tube Station

Great introduction to British food at this trendy London pub.  There were a couple vegetarian option on the appetizer list and the main course list.  The sides offered more no meat options, including the Baked Mac and Cheese.  My Veggie tort was an amazing mix of flavors and although it was a little pricey (£12,00), it was well worth it!

Food!

After careful consideration and the realization that I actually want to enjoy writing this blog, I've decided to change the focus to something I find more interesting - food! I'm not sure why it didn't occur to me before to do this but I'm glad I figured it out now!

As the new title of the blog hints to, this is not just about food, but about vegetarian food. I've been a vegetarian for over half my life and have had many interesting experiences when traveling related to what I will and will not eat.

When I lived in The Republic of Georgia, they were so excited to show me how to make khinkali - a meat filled dumpling and a Georgian favorite! I didn't have the heart to tell them that not only did I not want to make them, I wouldn't eat them either. They would see it as a great insult, so I rolled up my sleeves and plunged my hands into the ground meat product. They were so proud of me and kept calling me kargi gogo (good girl)! When it came around to actually eating them I was able to tell them I had already eaten too much food and would take some home with me. Surprisingly, this worked!

Although some people have told me they think that I am missing out on some great flavors and experience with such a limited pallet, I have found a way to make it work. I have nothing against eating meat, I just choose not to.

While in London I hope to discover what vegetarian options exist in restaurants and in grocery stores.  There will be reviews, recipes and of course a lot of photos of food!

Video Editing Exercise

My attempt to embed a video into the blog...



I shot this video at the National Aquarium in Baltimore.

Audio Editing Exercise

My attempt to embed an audio file to the blog...


Podcast Powered By Podbean

Music Information:

Attribution

Photo theme: Window like
by Antony Raijekov

ccmixter.org/files/zeos/2905

CC Attribution

Photo Editing Exercise

Making sure I can edit and upload photos to the blog....

Original Photo

Cropped Photo

Saturation

Brightness

Facebook and Twitter and Blogs! Oh my!

People sometimes do things they never thought they would do, in order to do something they have always wanted to do.

I have always wanted to go to London and this is what I've done to make that happen:

I enrolled in Wayne State University's Master of Library and Information Science program.

I applied and was accepted into a study abroad program through Florida State University.

I enrolled in two classes for the summer term – Digital Media: Concepts and Production and Social Media Management, both taking place in London, England.

I created Facebook, Twitter and several other social media accounts.  

And I started this blog.

Since graduating from the University of the Pacific with my Bachelor's degree I have thought about going to grad school.  

Since I returned to the United States after two years of living overseas, I have thought about going abroad again.

But I never thought I would take a social media class and I NEVER thought I would join any social media sites or create a blog!

Although I have grown up in a tech-world (I’m only 31!), I have never been attracted to technology like most of my peers. It was only a few years ago that I got a cell phone! Friends and family have tried for years to get me to join several different social media sites to no avail. It took an opportunity to study in London to do what none of them could!

Because I have never had an interest in social media, taking a social media class never even occurred to me. But since staring my master’s program I have come to see technology in new ways and am gaining an appreciation for it that I have never had before.  Librarianship is changing and I have seen firsthand the positive impact that technology, and specifically social media, can have on libraries and library patrons. 

It is for these reasons that I am enrolled in two classes that will challenge me in ways nothing else has. Luckily, I will be learning this in an unconventional classroom environment – London, England!


In order to prepare for the classes, I have had to test the capabilities of my computer and my mind!  My next three blog posts will be exercises which attempt to embed photos, audio and video files into the blog.  I have spent hours working on this, asked for help and looked up numerous tutorials and am still not sure it will all work properly!

Let the adventure begin!