French Market

Oxford seems to organize some kind of market or bazaar in Gloucester Green every week. The week before last it was a farmer's market, this past weekend the French got a turn. I had a lot of reading to do and then went to London so couldn't get around to putting up a post; here it is now. Mostly, it was all French sweets and pastries, not that I'm complaining. I got to use my French with some real, live French people for the first time and I bought what turned out to be some really terrible wine. Here are some pictures.Je veux manger beaucoup de bonbon!

And while I'm putting up pictures I've neglected, here are some more for you, Dad.

Oxford Farmer's Market

On my way to class today I passed by Gloucester Green, a little tree-lined square on the western edge of central Oxford, and the weekly farmer's market was underway. Since I finally got a bike and can get places more quickly, I had time to stop. I got some strawberries and some really creamy goat cheese. Next week I'm going to go prepared with cash, because it looks like the place to go for produce that's cheaper and higher quality than the stuff at the stores. It's taken me a little while to get used to how small all the fruit and vegetables and the grocery stores here tends to be. I guess it's because Europeans aren't as cavalier as Americans are about genetically modified foods and pesticides and fertilizers and all that. I'd like to say that their produce tastes a lot better as a result of their prudence, but I think, generally, the grocery store-bought stuff here is about on par with what I'm used to back home. The food at the market however looked great and I guess there is something to be said for getting to feel all quaint and old-worldy when you buy your strawberries.

Here are some pictures. Be sure to look at the crazy purple cauliflower.


Speaking of fresh food. it's not just at the farmers market. There's a huge apple tree and tons of blackberry bushes growing wild on our street. A few days ago we picked a bunch of them thinking it would be a frugal way to get our fruit.

I used a bunch of the apples and berries to make a really great crisp. My roommates have all made me self conscious about taking pictures of my food so I don't have any thing to show you, but if you want to make one (and you should) here's a link. If you do make it, I'd recommend doubling the topping and going easy on the zest, unless you want it really lemony.

I need to go now. I want to get alot of reading done tonight so I can do some biking or maybe go to London this weekend.

Practical Affairs

Today being Lances first day in the country, we headed out to get him provisioned with his necessaries-- food, cleaning stuff, and what not. I'm beginning to recognize the drawbacks of being the first to arrive and thus the most familiar with a place because it feels like I've spent most of this week getting either my self or newcomers set up, guiding them around town to grocery stores, post offices, etc., etc. I suppose it's good to be able to help; I know I would have loved to have a friendly face and a little guidance when I first got here. I am resolved, however, to make it to the Ashmolean Museum tomorrow and to avoid doing anything practical whatsoever.

We did stop for lunch at one of Oxford's most scenic spots, St Mary's Church, off the High Street and in Radcliffe Square. A few of the buildings were being worked on and there were some ugly scaffolds up here and there. I'll save posting pictures for a time when I can get some that do the Square justice. There was, on the other hand, nothing to complain about with respect to our food, which we ate in the Church's graveyard cum patio, which may seem a bit morbid until one realizes that there is hardly a square inch of Oxford where someone hasn't been beheaded, burned at the stake, or otherwise martyred or mutilated (remind me at some point to go into more depth about the medieval hazing rights of Exeter College. Oh, what the heck...It turns out that prior to the 17th century, incoming freshman at Exeter had the skin on their chins removed by the long, purpose-grown, thumbnails of their upperclassmen, and then were forced to drink a pint of salt water with their raw faces held out to an open flame. Pretty grim, huh?) So, like I was saying, the food was great.

I had a curried ginger split pea soup with spinach and espresso, which, by the way, was the first to pass my caffeine deprived lips since leaving America. Working at Starbucks has turned me into a disgusting brat.
This me and Lance at lunch making our 'delicious' faces. You probably don't want to eat with us.
I showed him the way to the gorcery after eating, where we ran into our Shimer professor, the esteemed Stuart Patterson, PhD. Kate and I had a chance to talk to him about our upcoming Oxford Tutorials--after all, I am over here to learn stuff I guess--and he gave me some very cool news. Stuart has been in contact with the currator of the Ashmolean Museum and he thinks he may be able to get me to spend some time handling the their collection of Renaisance optical devices for my Archeology of Vision tutorial. I don't want to get my hopes up, but It would be amazing to get to work with the actual historic devises my research has been on. Lets all keep our fingers crossed. Here we are on Cornmarket street. Not the most flattering photo; it looks like I'm spacing out and Stuart must be talking to Kate about her tutorial, which by the looks of it is on Popeye the Sailor Man.
Back at the flat, Raya, who has turned out to be an amazing cook, made us a salad, chic pea stew and a traditiona English Chocolate Pudding for dessert, or what the British call "sweet."

Another Shimer Student Arrives

Lance, another friend from Chicago, got in today. He'll be staying in the flat downstairs. We had him up for tea and 'Traditional English Food' beans and and toast.

This of course is a photo of the beans, and not Lance. I figure people are probably at their least photogenic after 12 hours of traveling, so I've held off. I'll be sure to get some pictures of us all up soon.

Sorry for the short post. We're going to head out to the city shortly. There is a beautiful church in Radcliffe Square that I discovered yesterday which looks like it allows visitors into its steeple. I think a bird's-eye view of the city would be a really great introduction to Oxford for Lance, as well as Kate and Raya, who have yet to see much. I'm sure I'll get some great pictures for you all as well.

I'll post some more this evening.

New flatmates and a bit of the High Street

Raya and Kate, two of my fellow students as well as my new flatmates, arrived from Chicago this afternoon. They seemed in higher spirits than I was when I first got here and I think there is probably something to be said for traveling with a friend. I had some time to kill before they got in from Heathrow, so I spent I little bit of time exploring the central High Street, which is one of the more bustling commercial quarters of Oxford.

First, I paid a visit to The Oxford University Press Bookshop. A few people know me well enough to understand that this was a semi-religious experience for me.

Mecca:

This shop stocks the full catalog of the Press's books in print. Amazing. The following is a sight so wonderful, that in my drab days shelving the literature section as book clerk at Borders, I only dared to imagine something like it in moments of wildest fancy. Behold: a comprehensive and exclusive collection of the Oxford World Classics, perfectly alphabetized. Rapture.

The only thing that was a bit depressing about all this was the prices. Most things here are more expensive than in the States, given the abysmal exchange rate. Books, however, at least at the Press's shop, are more that twice their price at home. I'll need to start buying books for my courses beginning next week, and I'm starting to think it might still be cheaper to have them sent from home. Ugh.

Anyway, all that book browsing made me hungry. Back on the High Street, the place is strewn with tons of neat little cafes, bakeries, soup shops and coffee houses. Oxford, I discovered in my reading this morning (A Traveller's History of Oxford, Tames 2003, mildly sardonic, informative, and not at all a tourist guide--I recommend it), was home to the first coffee house in all England back in 1650. In 1654, the second English coffee serving establishment was opened, also in Oxford, and it remains in operation today. The Queens Lane Coffee House, as it's known, is also where I happened to stop for a snack. I didn't know its story at the time, and while I'd like to think it was my keen eye for historical detail that drew me inside, I have to admit that it was really the giant cookies in the window.

You may note that they added cream to my coffee. I always take it black, however, I have a bad habit, born of a desire to seem obliging and not an American jackass, of simply saying "Yes" when the British ask me questions using words or idioms I'm not immediately familiar with. Admittedly, this is a bad strategy, especially given the fact that often, judging by the looks I get, the questions put to me often don't warrant a "yes" or "no" response. So when the barista (do they call them that here?) asked me if I wanted my coffee white, this brainiac said, of course, "Yes." How hard is it to figure out that "white coffee" means "with milk?" Way to blow it, Iverson. I also inadvertently bought a 7 pound car charger for my new cell phone in a similar fashion, which should work well given that I don't think I'll be in a car once in the next 12 months. Who's a jackass now?

After Kate and Raya decompressed from their flight a little, we went out to a pub in St. Giles street called the Eagle and Child.
The food was really good, not at all the pale, bland fare I was prepared for. I had a brie and cherry tomato (toMAHto, as they say) tart on a bed of fresh spinach and cucumber salad and a pint of local bitters. Easily the best meal I've had since I've been here. I wanted to take a picture because it looked quite nice, too, but I thought maybe Raya and Kate were to tired to be quite up to my camera shenanigans.

Also, the Eagle and Child turns out to have been the favorite drinking spot for J.R.R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, and the other Inklings. I can report on no hobbits or suspect wardrobes. Sorry.

Preparatory to Anything Else...

...I'm eating as much Mexican food as I can before leaving the States.

Behold the black bean vegetarian taco with homemade guacamole.

Ok, so chipoltle soy protein and organic tomatoes doesn't exactly pass as authentically Mexican-- I believe it's actually traditional fare of the illusive and little-understood "White Kids in Pilsen," traditionally eaten en route via Vespa to an Animal Collective show-- But, oh man, it's good.

Last time I was in England, I don't think I saw one Mexican place. In fact, I don't think I really ate anything that didn't involve some combination of tinned beans and toast.

Keep checking in to stay posted on my adventures with British cuisine.