Cinco de Mayo

One of the banes of my existence has been the lack of good Mexican food here in St Andrews. And I feel like I can use that to speak for the UK in general. If you want Indian, the UK is great. Apparently Mexico is too far away (and what with it never being colonized by the Brits) to get good (or even adequate) Mexican food here.

But, with it being Cinco de Mayo, the most American of Mexican holidays, many of us here take it upon ourselves to do the best we can and recreate the flavors so many of us Americans are craving.

It's funny what you miss when you're half way around the world, isn't it?


Sarah and Kate making food. Mmm, homemade guacamole...


Guacamole, nachos, shrimp, black beans that were finishing up on the stove so not in the picture, and the always classic Cinco de Mayo staple -- Corona. The classiest of beers.


The bright idea to make churros. It's apparently a three person job to fill the ziploc aka piping bag.


They didn't come out quite churro shaped... but still tasty.

I could've eaten an entire bowl of Kate's guacamole. Seriously, just give me a spoon and I'd be set.

Actually, maybe I should just make that for dinner tomorrow night. No shame in doing that if no one's watching, right?

Tastes Like Home

Ah, spring break. That glorious time where students forget that they have work due soon and pretend that they are carefree. I'm going to take a couple of days and pretend I'm carefree!

Part of that carefree needs to grab some motivation to go to the grocery store because I am quickly running out of food. In an attempt to once again put it off, it left me scrambling to figure out what I had to eat in this place. Which then I remembered... I'd been sent grits in a care package. I could make breakfast.



For those who are not from nor have visited the southern US, grits are basically coarsely ground corn that when combined with boiling water forms a thick porridge. And it is amazing.

So I had grits and toast and it was like I was tasting home at that moment. All I'd need is some country ham and if I closed my eyes, I'd think I was home!

But it was surprising to me that food made such a difference when dealing with a little homesickness. It's amazing what grits, or American lemonade, or a Reese's cup will do. I needed that little taste of home more than realized, and the smile that ended up on my face from that little bowl of grits? Well, the Tesco can wait one more day.