London Calling!

Say hello to Big Ben! It is one of the world’s most iconic images, and certainly one of the most photographed as well. It was all part of a great London adventure, which ended in a greasy food debacle!

More on that in a moment. First, time to settle in and see the sights. And if you are in London, you have to say hello to the Tower of London, which is nestled amid some of the most modern buildings the city has to offer:

And of course, the London Bridge isn’t nearly as nice as what people THINK is the London Bridget: it’s actually the famed “Tower Bridge”:

OK, it may appear that the English have let things go a bit, but it is actually a gorgeous bridge set next to a beautiful park, where we filmed one day – here I am with terrific On-Air Talent Alison Haislip…

It was all part of a TV special being filmed in London, and we all had a terrific time, because it is an amazing city with great people, fun places to explore, and great backdrops for filming…here is a shot of Alison doing standups in front of Westminster Abbey:

Another terrific On-Air Talent, Kevin Pereira was there as well, filming a fun bar segment with our London Correspondent, Alex Sim-Wise…

Oh yeah, I was there too…I admit I take a lot of pictures, but everyone puts up with it. I also had the chance to travel to Tokyo with Alex, who is a true pro to work with…I’ve posted some of those stories already, and there are more to come…

In addition to filming every day, I got the chance to taste some of London’s best food, starting with a traditional Sunday roast with Yorkshire pudding:

And of course, with traditional British food there must be a traditional English beverage…

The Cock, Indeed!

Here is where I ate this great meal…and yes, the name of the place is funny:

The Seashell of Lisson Grove!

My son Jeff was with me, and I dragged him to my favorite fish ‘n’ chips shop in north London…The Sea Shell of Lisson Grove….as you can see he wasn’t that impressed…

I, on the other hand, was impressed as always by the terrific fried fish…The Seashell is just one of a number of great London restaurants that serve up a classic order of fish and chips…

You see, there is nothing better than traditional fish ‘n’ chips, and The Sea Shell made them better than anyone…

What’s tragic is that, just two days AFTER I took the picture you see below, the restaurant was heavily damaged in a kitchen fire…

After being closed for repairs, I am happy to report that The Seashell is reopened and serving up great fish ‘n’ chips again…

Going Underground!

Of course, when in London you travel on the “tube”, the underground trains that help you avoid driving in London, which is something you NEVER want to experience…

Make sure to “mind the gap”, because the Tube is an easy, inexpensive and fun way to get around this amazing city…

I also went to London with my daughter Jessica – this was different than the trip we took to Tokyo, when she joined me for work…and was surprised to find a “very unique” burger sign:

That trip was terrific, but this trip to London was just for fun – and we wandered many classic London streets like this one:

We were on the prowl for London’s famed street markets, like Camden Town, Notting Hill, and this one at Covent Garden:

My Street Food Debacle!

It was at one of these London street markets that I had my street food debacle…it all began when I came across this street food vendor:

They were serving delicious deep fried shrimp and crab claws – that’s right, DEEP FRIED SHRIMP AND CRAB CLAWS…boiled up in this fiery cauldron of grease:

Of course, I just had to have some, and so I ordered a freshly fried container of them – perfectly deep fried SHRIMP AND CRAB CLAWS:

It was a great deal, about five bucks for an ample-sized container of fried shrimp and crab claws, with a delicious spicy mayonnaise….look at how delicious they look!

I loved them! THEY WERE SO GOOD! As you can see, they were very busy, the chefs were making a ton of them, and they always had a ready supply for anyone who came by…

I enjoyed them SO much that an hour later I asked my daughter to go BACK and get some more with me! Right, nothing wrong with getting one more order of FRIED SHRIMP AND CRAB CLAWS, right?

London Calling Again!

As I walked up, this time we were approaching form the other direction, and I found myself BEHIND the cooking tent…and I noticed something…take a look at the picture below – notice the stacks of white boxes at the top of the picture?

As I walked up to them, I saw that they were sitting outside in the sun, in direct sunlight, and water was draining from the boxes into the gutter…yes, they were thawing their shrimp and crab claws in the hot sun…and then I looked at the box labels:

SECTIONED AND FORMED SHRIMP PIECES AND CRAB PARTS, MADE FROM WHITE POLLACK!

Yes, I had been enjoying NOT SHRIMP AND CRAB CLAWS, but the sectioned and formed paste comprised of pollack, egg white, seasonings, binders and chemicals…all formed into little cute shrimp and crab claw SHAPES…sure, they were shrimp and crab claw FLAVORED…and they were sitting outside:

melting in the sun all day…

And you know what? Since I’m in typing these words now, I lived through the experience just fine, so I say you pay your money and you take your chances, and you end up with much better anecdotes for sharing later! My daughter had a good laugh, we bought a bunch of cool stuff at the street fair, so I say: fry me up a sequel anytime, London!

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