Visitors

At the end of August, Scott's mom and brother came to England to visit us on the front end of their two week European holiday. I think Grandma Cris & Uncle Matt enjoyed the one-on-one time with little Miss Crosby just as much as she did! Although we didn't do much sightseeing due to Crosby's nap schedule and early bedtime, we spent lots of quality time at home so Crosby was in her element, giggling, smiling and cooing away for her special visitors.

Grandma Cris & Crosby using the computer to skype with Grandpa Craig back in the US one morning. Crosby seems to know her way around the computer already - scary!!!At lunch at a local English pub - Uncle Matt and Grandma trying to keep Crosby entertained before our food arrived.Afternoon play time with Grandma Cris.Snuggles with Grandma Cris while Crosby was sporting her baby Uggs (a gift from some friends in Australia - straight from the source!) on a fall-ish day.All smiles with Uncle Matt!

Barbados

I am very behind in updating our travels from this summer. August seemed like a whirlwind! We first had a lovely week in Barbados, then Scott went to the US for nearly two weeks, and then Scott's mom and brother arrived a day after Scott returned for a week's visit. It was a busy time to say the least - going from single parent duties with a jet lagged child to preparing, hosting, cooking, etc. for visitors. By the time September arrived, I was ready for another week in Barbados! Luckily we had a great time in the sun while we were there, so we really enjoyed our trip and made the most of the rest and relaxation at the start of the month.

We went to Barbados to attend the wedding of our friends Beth & BJ who live in London. They had a destination wedding so we decided to make a week's vacation out of it. It was terrific. Not only was the resort lovely and beautiful, but the guests who were attending the wedding were all there for more than just the weekend, so we had a nice time meeting their friends - half of whom were from the UK and half of whom were from the US (and mainly Chicago). Scott & I commented that it felt like our two worlds - our UK life and our US life - were coming together in one place, so we really enjoyed it. Crosby probably loved it the most because she was the only baby who was in attendance for the vacation within the crowd of wedding attendees. To say she received a lot of attention, was an understatement! Luckily she was well behaved and relished in all of the cooing over her.

Our little beach baby! Hanging by the pool on our first afternoon on the island.

Our first full day in Barbados. Scott & Crosby on the balcony of our room at the resort.

Ahh, our lunch view every day....

And my favorite lunch sandwich I had a few times on the island - a flying fish sandwich. Apparently the flying fish is a local favorite and it was tasty!

How Crosby spent her days...on a beach chair, topless, with her stuffed animals. What a life!

The stretch of beach on which the resort was located is apparently one of the nicest on the island. Apparently Beyonce & Rihanna were walking on this very beach the second night we were there. Fancy, right?!?

Although Crosby liked the beach chairs, the ocean was clearly not her thing!

She was even a sport and hung out at the poolside bar with Mom & Dad during happy hour...

But clearly she partied too hard and was asleep by dinner time!

Another day of too much partying on the island for this little babe!

While Scott enjoyed some reading on the balcony of the room, Crosby snoozed in her stroller like a perfect baby.

Swimming in the pool was most definitely one of her favorite parts of this vacation. She loved her little inner tube floatation.

Even without the floatation, she loved the pool.

Such a pretty sight every day.

Relaxing just like Dad under the couch cabana chairs.

The new Mr & Mrs - BJ & Beth at their lovely wedding ceremony near the beach! Congratulations to the happy couple - we were so glad to be there to celebrate!

A Baby in Barbados

We spent the other week in Barbados and it was Crosby's first time to go in the ocean. We thought she would love it, since she loves the pool. Boy were we wrong! As you can see, our sweet (normally very calm daughter) was almost hysterical when Scott tried to take her into the ocean.

Maybe on our next beach vacation she'll like the ocean better...or perhaps she's just like her Mom and likes the beach, but doesn't like the mess of the sand, so she'll happily stay by the pool!

Crosby does Oxford

Today Crosby & I took a little road trip down to Oxford for the afternoon. We had lunch with my cousin and her boyfriend but before we went to lunch we took a brief stroll around the city since it was a lovely day outside.

Crosby in Oxford. Maybe someday in about 20 years she will return here as a student, and I'll have the photo to say "remember when..."

How quickly that feeling fades....

My little stinker baby tonight who is still wide awake at 10pm from jet lag! After she spent an hour screaming in her nursery, I finally brought her downstairs with me, but am making her rest on the couch in the hopes she will soon fall asleep.

Just a few days ago on Monday, we returned from a lovely relaxing and very nice holiday in Barbados and yet somehow the feeling of being completely relaxed and at ease seems to be fading all too quickly.... Nearly 36 hours after we touched back down in England, Scott turned around and flew back to the US for work, leaving Crosby & me here for a bit. It's amazing how quickly all of the laundry from our vacation has formed a huge mound, how tiring it is to be dealing with a very jet-lagged baby who is completely off schedule (and as a result I am off schedule since I was up with her at 11pm, 3am, and 6am again last night/this morning!), and how much I need to do to get things in order for our visitors we have arriving nearly 24 hours after Scott lands back in England next week! Temporary single parenting is part of what I knew I would encounter with Scott's job over here since he is traveling more frequently now.

However, these are most definitely the times when I do wish there was not an ocean between my family and me so I had someone near enough to come visit while Scott was away, or that I could go visit them without enduring a transatlantic flight.

Flying with an Infant

We have encountered many people already who continue to say something along the lines of "I cannot believe you are traveling with an infant!" While, yes, traveling with a child is VERY different and more consuming than traveling solo or just with the two of us, it is part of why we loving living abroad so we would be silly to halt our explorations now. Besides, we hope that if we start traveling with Crosby at a young age she will learn to be a good little traveler as she grows up. At 6 months old, she has already logged over 16,000 miles in the air. I am not sure I logged that many miles in my first 10 years of life!

This past week we went to Barbados to attend the wedding of some (American) friends who live in London. They had a destination wedding and we thought it was a perfect excuse to make a vacation out of it! Since we were not able to just leave Crosby with Grandma & Grandpa near by due to the ocean in between us, she traveled with us. Plus, I am not sure either of us wanted to be away from her for a full week, so we knew she would come with us for this trip; she's still too little to be away from us for too long.

It was almost easier to get to Barbados from the UK than it would have been to get there from the US. We had a direct flight from London Gatwick straight to Barbados. The airline choices were either Virgin Atlantic or British Airways. Unfortunately, we are a United/Continental family, so we didn't have status on either of those airlines that flew to Barbados. We decided to give Virgin Atlantic a shot since we had heard good things about them.

Traveling with Crosby at 6 months old was more difficult than it was at 3 months. Of course I didn't realize how easy it was at 3 months until we flew at 6 months and realized in retrospect, it was a piece of cake at 3 months because she didn't do much at all! While I am sure 6 months is easier than it will be at say 1 year, she is starting to be interested in more things, so sitting still is not always as entertaining for her as it used to be. That being said, Crosby is a terrific traveler so far. She doesn't scream on the planes, she deals well with the pressure of the flights, and overall she is really a good baby. We are very lucky. We also travel with anything and everything we might possibly need in order to be prepared (or should I say I travel with it all since somehow my carry on ends up being Crosby's bag!), so I would like to think that part helps a bit too.

Overall, I am not sure about the hype around Virgin Airlines. We thought it was ok, but now find that having status on one airline carrier makes it difficult to fly any other airlines since the service levels are not as high as they are when you are a preferred customer. While Virgin did offer the complimentary bassinet for babies under 19 lbs, they would not confirm it in advance like Continental & United did for previous flights. Plus this bassinet was basically a cardboard box with plastic lining.

Virgin does offer these nice little welcome bags when you board the aircraft, similar to the business class kits that are offered on other airlines with eye masks, socks, a toothbrush, toothpaste, etc. so that touch was nice. Scott let Crosby play with it all and even dressed her in the gear before putting her in the bassinet!

As you can see, Crosby filled up the entire bassinet, so this was our last transatlantic flight to request and use one of these. She really didn't sleep on this flight because the straps that attached this bassinet to the tray that came down from the wall, were in her face when she was at the bottom of the bassinet. A different set up than the other bassinets we have had where they attach directly to the wall and do not have straps over the main parts.

So, most of the flight was spent on either Dad's lap or Mom's lap. Luckily, Crosby was entertained just by watching the images on Scott's tv screen.

And then when the flight attendants handed out pretzels, Crosby played with the bag for a long time. It made noise and crinkled so it appeared to be a fun toy for her.

The flight was not full on our way over so she even got to sit in her own seat for a while which she enjoyed. Her little stuffed lamb sat on her tray so he didn't get lost.

Finally after about 6 hours of being awake during the flight, she finally got some sleep on Dad's lap!

Let's hope Crosby's good flying record continues for a long time into her future.

The Food Adventure Begins

Today Crosby started solid foods. I gave her sweet potatoes as her first food. As you can see, her reaction was not one of immediate love....

It was rather difficult to capture her very vibrant expressions but I was laughing with each bite she tried to eat and then spit out. You would have thought I were trying to feed her dirt with her uncertainty of the food!

Baby Food

In less than just two weeks Crosby will be six months old and it will be time to start introducing solid foods into her diet. I cannot believe she is nearly 6 months old! I remember thinking I had so much time before I introduced her to food and here it is upon me now. Some people do introduce food a bit earlier to their babies (between 4-6 months) but we have decided to wait the full 6 months because there are some dairy, fish, and egg allergies on Scott's side of the family and my sister was just recently diagnosed with celiac disease. While there is no way to prevent Crosby from inheriting any of these genes that could cause the allergies, I have been advised that breast milk only for the first full six months is the best shot at protection against such issues. So, I have stuck with it and hope it is giving Crosby the best start at a good healthy diet.

We are headed on another family holiday soon and so as soon as we return from that trip, I will begin the food adventures. In order to prepare for Crosby's first foods, I have been scouring the shelves at the grocery store and doing quite a bit of reading online. When I took Crosby to the pediatrician back in the US (at 3 months of age), the doctor gave me this leaflet as a guide to introducing foods into Crosby's diet:

There is quite a list of items to avoid - some until she is ONE year old and others to avoid until she is TWO years old. The other bit of advice listed there (and also given here in the the UK) is that babies should be introduced (early on) to only one food at a time, most especially if there is a history of allergies in the family. I have seen various advice on the "wait time" in between foods - anywhere from 2-4 days before introducing the next "new" food is what I have read.

Now comes the confusing part for me. Here in England, I have not found any plain baby food at the grocery stores - just one food item at a time in baby food form. So, unless everyone makes their own baby food, how is it possible to introduce just one vegetable or one fruit at a time???? (*Minor exception - Ella's organic pouches have just released plain apples, plain pears, and plain mangoes)

As seen at my local grocery store:

The Plum Brand foods - no plain foods there - all mixed varities!

Ella's Kitchen offers a mixed strawberry & apple pouch as a "first food" which is another point of confusion for me since the US pediatrician said no strawberries until age 2. Here, a first food is between 4-6 months. Confusing, right?

And then beyond the "First foods," come the stage 2 foods which are more like little meals for babies. I never thought about the foods in the US before until I started looking at the foods here. These baby foods seem to be very culture specific.

Hence the Fish Pie with mash (very British) and the Beef Stew with Spuds. Sounds like pub fare to me!

Annabel Karmel is considered to be one of the baby food "experts" here in the UK. She is widely known and her books are all over the baby shops and bookstores here. After reading her website, I am now just more confused on which standard I will follow for introducing foods to Crosby. As a prime example, the first photo from my US pediatrician says fish should be avoided until a baby is over 1 year of age. However, Anabel's website has this recipe and information under the foods for 6-9 months age:

It’s important to encourage a liking for fish early on. This Salmon Puree baby food recipe is quick and easy to prepare and combining it with root vegetables is a good way to introduce fish to your baby. Oily fish like salmon, trout, tuna and sardines are especially good as they contain omega-3 essential fatty acids which are very important for visual and brain development. Tinned tuna however does not contain omega 3s only fresh tuna.

Ingredients

200g carrots, topped and tailed and sliced
125g salmon fillet, skinned
60ml orange juice
40g grated Cheddar cheese
a knob of butter
2 tbsp milk

And of course then the baby foods contain fish and other items that I am not sure are in US baby food....

Personally I am a bit disgusted by baby food. My thought is that I don't eat meals out of jars or little packets, so why would I want to give my baby her first foods from them? Fish or lamb sitting on a shelf in a packet? Can it really be that healthy?

So, I am making all of my own baby food so that I know what goes in it and can control the quality of food she eats early on. It is simple to make and I have already made and frozen: peas, sweet potatoes, pears, apples, and mangoes in anticipation of Crosby's first foods. This way I can also introduce one food at a time to ensure we are able to catch any food sensitivities when they occur. There is no guarantee but I hope I am giving her the best start possible. Plus, I want my little girl to be a good, healthy eater which I think includes lots of fresh fruits, vegetables and proteins. We will forge through this next stage as best we can but it is a bit confusing that different countries have different advice for such tiny people. I guess both are probably right and wrong to some extent - after all, both countries continue to grow their population so something is working!

Buckingham Palace Tour

Yesterday my friend Holly & I went into London for the afternoon to go tour the Buckingham Palace State Rooms. The palace only opens for tours once a year while the Queen normally heads north to her residence in Scotland for her summer holiday.

Since this summer season is quickly approaching the 3rd anniversary of our arrival in the UK, I was determined to see the palace state rooms before we leave the island! Scott really did not have a great interest in going to see the palace rooms and luckily Holly's husband wasn't as keen on it either, so we decided to make the journey ourselves.

We booked our tickets in advance (such a key point - allows for VERY minimal queuing) and so we were able to basically walk right up at our specific time slot and began the tour of the state rooms.

So many interesting things to learn about Buckingham Palace beyond just browsing around at the magnificent splendour inside. Buckingham Palace is Queen Elizabeth II's official residence, and has been the official London residence of Britain's sovereign since 1837. The state rooms at the palace have been opening to the public for just the past two decades, since 1993, after a fire at Windsor Castle. Initially the summer opening was a way to pay for the damage at Windsor Castle but the tours have become so popular that the Queen has continued it every summer when she goes to one of her country homes for about 8 weeks.

Buckingham Palace has 775 rooms!!! These include 19 State rooms, 52 Royal and guest bedrooms, 188 staff bedrooms, 92 offices and 78 bathrooms. Buckingham Palace is not only the London home of The Queen; The Duke of Edinburgh, The Duke of York, The Earl and Countess of Wessex, The Princess Royal and Princess Alexandra also have private offices and apartments located within the Palace. Unfortunately we did not get to see these private bedrooms and offices but the state rooms that we did see were quite lovely indeed. No photos were allowed to be taken inside the palace but I did get a few outside...

Everything from the entrance, to the exit, to the temporary restrooms and temporary gift shop were set up specially for the Summer Opening of the State Rooms.

In the gift shop at the end of the tour, mini wedding cakes from William & Kate's wedding were available for purchase. Apparently the British have fruitcake covered in fondant at their wedding for their cake. Not my choice of a cake, but then again I am not British!

The temporary gift shop at the end of the tour.

Holly & me at the end of our tour - the back side of Buckingham Palace.

The highlights from our tour of the state rooms included: Seeing Kate's wedding dress, veil, shoes, tiara, earrings, flower bouquet, and the wedding cake (I wonder if it were a replica cake though?). We also got to see the red room where many of the "official" photos of William & Kate were taken at the palace after their wedding ceremony. It's pretty cool to me to think that whenever I see that photo of them in the future, I will remember walking in that same room of the palace when I went for a visit! The other bit that stood out to me was a "secret door" that the Queen uses to enter one of the state rooms - a short cut for her from her private residence area. After taking the main tour now of the state rooms, I think it would be really cool to tour the back hallways and private residence areas of the palace....but I guess everyone else would want to do that too!

Traveling with an infant

Last week we took our first family holiday abroad. Yes, we did already go back to the US with Crosby so it wasn't her first international trip, but this last week was our first vacation where we were not going to stay with extended family, etc.

Before Crosby came along, Scott & I had been maximizing our time off of work to travel as much as we could while we have been living over here in Europe. We have grown to love traveling more than we ever thought we would. We knew our travels would not cease once we had a baby, but we did recognize that we would probably slow down a bit since traveling with an infant is not as easy as just traveling with two adults. Luckily for us, Crosby seems to be a good traveler - she is quiet on the airplane, the pressure of the flight doesn't seem to bother her too much, she doesn't have car sickness while driving on windy roads, and she seems to be interested in her new surroundings so she likes to take in the sights in new places. She is still at a good age where is "portable" and isn't eating food yet so it is a bit easier on us for now.

The one part that has changed and that is not as portable is all the GEAR that comes along with a baby. How does such a little being require so much stuff??? In reality, we do not bring that much extra "stuff" for Crosby but on this last vacation we could see the difference when we rented a car. With a car seat, stroller, baby, plus all of our luggage, we knew we would have to upgrade the size car we needed for the week.

Beyond the car seat and stroller, the other "gear" items required on this trip included: a travel cot/"pea pod" for a sleeping location (the house we rented only had one baby cot and there were two babies so we needed an extra bed for one baby - it can double as a sun shade for baby since it has UV protection), an inflatable swimming ring for the pool, baby bjorn carrier, a baby monitor, two baby bottles, bottle brush, sterilizer bags, and of course an assortment of baby clothes, burp cloths, bibs, and more.

While the gear is much greater than we have been used to for travel purposes, it is manageable and we are slowly learning what is necessary and what is not. The part of this trip that was not expected when we thought about traveling with an infant was the airport and airline issues we encountered this time around.

The day we flew to France, we went to the airport in advance of our flight and proceeded through security as we usually do. We are pros at pulling out our liquids and knowing what will set the alarms off, etc. So in advance of the scanning machine I told the security agent that I had breastmilk in a cooler - bottles for my baby. These are completely legal to bring through for flights and I have already been through three major airports (including this airport, BHX, which we were going through again!) and have never had any problems with Crosby's bottles.

After our bags and items went through the scanner, we got pulled aside for further inspection. (expected since we were traveling with milk for a baby). The security guard asked me to taste the milk. [a side note - the UK will ask you to taste breastmilk, but the US will NEVER have you taste it because since the US is such a litigious society, you could poison your own milk and then sue the airport for having them ask you to taste it! Insane.] After I tasted it and all was fine, the security agent noticed the freezer pack I had to keep the milk cool. The agent then proceeded to tell me I could not keep the freezer pack and it was considered to be a liquid so it would have to be thrown out. I questioned this response because I had already flown THREE times with this freezer pack and it was never questioned and furthermore how was I supposed to keep the milk cold for baby Crosby without it (plus it was a special pack made to keep the bottles cool)? SHE didn't care. (I really thought it was 10 times worse since the agent was a WOMAN and had to have had some compassion). She told me freezer packs were only allowed for medicine and milk was not medicine so she threw it out, in front of me. It took Scott to almost pull me away to not completely loose it over this issue. There are so many reasons I was upset about this interaction and way it was handled but I was most upset about the milk I was carrying potentially going bad before Crosby could consume it.

Fast forward to the week we returned from our trip. I was frantically searching online for information regarding the rules and regulations for taking breastmilk on an airplane. Apparently the TSA in the US has a very clearly stated policy about this topic on their website: breastmilk is considered to be in the same category as medicine, so freezer packs ARE ALLOWED. In researching this topic, many women have said it is best to print out this specific site to show to security agents if you encounter any problems when traveling. I will do so for my future trips within the US, however I could not find such information for the UK policy. Consquently I am writing a letter to the airport team to inquire about this topic. I also called Medela - the company who makes the breastpump and freezer pack - they were GREAT! I told them about my experience and they sent me a new replacement freezer pack for free and are looking into the airport guidelines for me.

As if the start to this trip didn't cause me enough of a headache with the security screening debacle, then we went to board our bmi baby flight and we surrendered the stroller and car seat at the gate to be gate checked. I inquired with the flight attendant as to when we would be able to collect the items when we landed. Her response was "at the side of the airplane when you land." Because I had a weird feeling about things, I grabbed the baby bjorn and put it in my carry on bag just in case. I was glad I did! Sure enough, we landed in France and had to board some buses and were shipped to the main terminal where we had to walk for eons to get to baggage claim....all WITHOUT our stroller for the baby! And then amazingly enough this happened AGAIN to us on the way back from France to the UK and we had the same responses from the airline staff again.

While the airline staff didn't seem to know their own policies regarding gate checked items, the airplane was also ill-equipped for babies. Unfortunately we learned the hard way that although bmi baby airplanes are always filled with families (and lots of babies!), they are not baby friendly. NO BABY CHANGE in the bathrooms. Why??? The airline attendant said to me "I know it's silly but sorry, we just don't have any." She offered me the jump seat where the flight attendants sit, which was very nice but unfortunately kept flipping up and so it was not a very secure space to change a baby.

I knew traveling with a baby would have its own set of challenges but these were not the expected kind. Needless to say, I am composing a few letters of feedback for the airport and airline to inquire about these issues encountered....

Ziploc: Why France and Not England?

We have just returned from a week's holiday in southern France and while the holiday was positively lovely (more on that later), I was surprised with a find in the grocery store in France: ZIPLOC BAGS! Why does France have them and England does not?!?!? Do the French like to store their items tightly and the British don't? I was so surprised to find actual ziploc brand bags on the shelves in the supermarket that I had to take a photo just for proof....

They had a HUGE selection - gallon size, snack size, quart size and more! Maybe someday England will catch on to this great idea too....

A Birthday for a Super Dad

This week we celebrated Scott's birthday. It was his first birthday as a Dad so I decided that the birthday cake theme this year would be "Super Dad," since of course he is a great Dad (and husband too!).

My littlest pastry chef was busy that morning icing Scott's ice cream cake! Unfortunately Crosby did not stay awake long enough to eat the cake and blow out the candles because Scott had a late night at work.

When Scott did get home, he opened his gifts. No, the big case is not a rifle gun, but a set of monogrammed grill tools from his in-laws. We will all benefit from his use of this gift!

And then we had his favorite - mint chocolate chip and homemade chocolate ice cream cake! A super birthday for a Super Dad!

Online Grocery Shopping

This past winter I embarked on a new adventure...online grocery shopping. I had heard about this idea of ordering your groceries online and then having them delivered to your house soon after we arrived here in England but I never felt that I wanted to try the service because I love going to the grocery store. I could wander the aisles for a long time (and sometimes I have done so!) and I enjoy looking at all of the products, especially the British products over here. I like to see the various placements, packaging of products and more.

However, the thought of having to go grocery shopping when I was going to be home with a newborn started to panic me a bit. Before Crosby arrived I kept thinking about the out of town visitors we would be having right after the baby arrived and I kept wondering how I would manage to shop for them and for us, with a newborn in tow, when the grocery store is always such a zoo by us? Because of the driving differences, I knew our house guests were not going to be willing to drive out to the store at a moment's notice - plus, they don't know how to get around over here. So, I decided that it would be worth trying the service before I "needed" it to see how it was, and then if I liked it, I would continue on with it for the first few weeks after the baby was due to arrive.

Well, I tried it and I fell in LOVE with this service. I have been so pleased that I do not have to fight the parking lot mess at the big retail park by us on a weekly basis to do my shopping for food! (the parking lot woes with a baby in tow will be covered in another post) Plus, I don't have to spend the money on the petrol to get to and from the grocery store either! The groceries now come to me.

I order them from the comfort of my living room, I then select my delivery time slot (an hour's window), and then voila, on the day and time of my order, a nice delivery man in a fancy delivery truck shows up at my house and unloads the grocery bags for me. He even walks them into my kitchen if I want him to do so.

The nifty part is that when the groceries arrive, the bags are color coordinated so I know which items go in the freezer (Green bags), which go in the fridge (red handles), and which items are to be left out for the cupboard area (purple handles). Genius!

The one challenge with the online grocery shopping ties back to the English language. As an American shopping online at a British grocery, I sometimes cannot find what I am looking for. I have become to realize that when I was physically shopping at the grocery store I knew where the item might have been located within the store, but now when I am searching for it by name, I do not always know the proper name of the product.

Some examples:

dishwashing soap = washing up liquid

diapers = nappies

tomato sauce = passata

tomato paste = tomato puree

sour cream = soured cream (not a huge difference, but interesting, isn't it?)

popsicle = ice lollie

garlic powder = garlic granules

zucchini = courgettes

chips = crisps

french fries = chips

I know this service is one part of British life that I have already become attached to in a very short period of time. I am surprised that this concept is not more popular in the US, given that there are so many customer service centric stores there. Hopefully by the time we move back, our local grocery store will have adopted this concept because I would sign up again in a heart beat!

Red White & Blue

Happy 4th of July from our littlest American!

Although we are not having the day off and fireworks here in England, it is a nice sunny day with a bit of humidity - very fitting for the 4th of July. Thinking of everyone back home in America!

The Fish Finger Sandwich

The longer we live here in England, the more food I find that I think I will actually miss once we move back to the US. Shocking I know since the English are not known for their food, but there really are some good treasures to be found over here.

The most recent food item to be added to my favorite food list is the FISH FINGER SANDWICH. This sandwich is typically found in a pub, usually on a lunch menu and really there is nothing fancy about it but I have fallen in love with it. I have ordered it quite a few times at one of our local pubs, and although they claim to make homemade fish fingers, I am still a bit skeptical about that part of it.

Tonight, I decided to embrace the fish finger sandwich at home to try something new for dinner. While I did not make my own fish fingers, I did make these hamburger buns from scratch for a homemade touch.

Basically, the fish finger sandwich is just a "bap" (aka a sandwich roll) with tartar sauce, fish fingers, and then tomato and lettuce on top to make it a hearty sandwich. Some may say places like McDonald's sell fish sandwiches....and maybe they do - but I think this one is best eaten at the local British pub around the corner.