We're up to day 3 now, and I'm really beginning to forget what happened on each day. I'm having to rely on the order of the pictures to help me remember. (Getting old can really be a pain!)
Day three was a family day. We all went to Ken's sister Marjorie's house for a big dinner.The girls and I met members of Ken's family we had only previously communicated with through the mail or Facebook, or not at all. It was nice for the girls to get to meet and spend time with some cousins.
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| All I said was, make stupid faces...Carly, Chris, Toni, Jane, Emma, and Ivy. Notice the decorations. There was an American flag too. Ken's Dad was American and sisters Diane and Marjorie actually spent part of their childhoods in California. |
We don't really live near many relatives, so the only cousins on my side they have ever met are my cousin you may have read about
HERE, and a couple of her kids, my other cousin Bobby you may have read about
HERE,and Emma has met my sister's daughter,who you may have read me refer to as
Unsentimental Niece. They know Ken's sister Gloria's sons because Gloria and family have visited occasionally over the years, and they got reacquainted with Chris on this day, and met his soon to be wife.
It was a nice day. Marjorie worked herself to pieces making things nice, and cooking.
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| Please sit down and just be with us Marjorie! |
She made some delicious roast potatoes and Yorkshire puddings, (which are actually kind of like hollow popovers. Ivy makes them alot at home.),and sister Gloria made a nut roast, which went wonderfully with the potatoes and veg gravy Marjorie had made.
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| My plate. This is before I found out there was Yorkshire pudding! |
There were other foods for the not so vegetarian inclined (Like Ken!)
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| Hey! Ken's got pudding! I want pudding! (The round thing in the upper right.) |
All the sisters were very careful about reading all ingredients and making sure there were plenty of vegetarian foods for us while we were there.
I was outside photographing old family photos, and inside they were apparently starting to serve the trifle for dessert...
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| Two trifles, one vegetarian, and one not. Thanks Marjorie! Trifle is layered and consists of lady fingers or cake,(soaked with alcohol or not.), fruit,gelatin, custard (The British type, which is sort of like rich vanilla pudding, but not quite.), whipped cream, and candied cherries on top.Ken hasn't made one for a few years, but he does make it. One year he made a trifle for Emma's first grade class, so they could experience something Emma did at Christmas that was different from them because she is half English. It was so nice, with little British flags on top and everything. Getting into the car I nearly dumped it and it got all mixed up! I felt so horrible! |
...when there was the sound of ice cream truck music. It didn't click with me until Ken heard the musical tones of the ice cream truck and came tearing out of the house.
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| The Mr. Whippy van! |
For years Ken has talked about Mr. Whippy ice cream, and how he would love to share some with the kids. It was a fond memory from his childhood, (and let's face it, probably his adulthood too!), and something he wanted his kids to experience.
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Ken wasn't the only one who wanted a Mr. Whippy. Niece-in-law Toni, (on the right.), apparently has a weakness for it too!
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| Ken, Emma, Ivy, and Toni : 99's all 'round! (Except me. I got something with chocolate sauce of course!) |
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| A '99' is a Mr. Whippy with topping and a Flake chocolate stuck in it. Flake is one of Ken's favourite chocolates. Mr. Whippy was sort of like a cross between whipped cream and ice
cream, and much softer and fluffier than American 'soft serve', which,
let's be honest, probably has little or no dairy products in it. |
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| Ken was as happy as a little kid. He had wanted to share this with his kids all their lives. It may not seem like a big deal, but it meant a lot to him. |
Marjorie was worried he wouldn't eat the dessert she had ready and
wanted him to wait. "We'll do it later." she said. I'm glad he went on
though, because it turned out to be the only time we saw a Mr. Whippy
truck. (And it was vacation: we splurged and ate Marjorie's desserts
too!)
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| For dessert Marjorie outdid herself : two trifles AND chocolate AND coconut cakes. |
It was a long, full day, but I was handling the time change pretty well at that point. It was fun talking, and getting to know Ken's family better. It was cozy with all of us in the enclosed porch as the sun went down, and sad to see the day end.
Ok, I'm getting to the toys. Give me one more day and I'll be showing you Pollock's famous London toy shop, among other fun things.
All the food looks so delicious! The ice-cream too, great that your husband could share it at last! It's been years since I've been to Pollock's Toy, I'm curious to see if it changed much over the years or not.
ReplyDeleteAll the sisters are good cooks. I'd love to have another go at those roast potatoes and gravy! Pollock's was much smaller than I expected. This was the shop in Covent Garden, and not the museum shop.
DeleteThe food looks fantastic, especially those cakes! Yummy!
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to Pollock's toys. It sounds like a great place to visit in London (I hopefully find the time to visit it next year)
Everyone looks like they are enjoying each other. The food looks delicious. Seeing the houses reminded me of one of my favorite British shows. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteWhich show is that?
DeleteKeeping Up Appearances.
DeleteAh. I've seen that. Ken's American stepmother loved that show, but but the main character reminded me of her!
DeleteI've been reading some doll stuff but just had to comment on this - I can't imagine years without Mr Whippy ice cream!! I never knew it wasn't a thing in the States.
ReplyDeleteHope you had a great time on holiday! :)
We have nothing like Mr. Whippy. All these years I assumed it was similar to our American 'soft serve' , but it's nothing like it. Ken and the girls love soft serve, which is a smooth 'ice cream' that is probably mostly, if not completely dairy free! It's very sweet and when it melts it's like thick, sticky white sugar water. To me, Mr. Whippy was very much like whipped cream in texture and taste. The main difference was that it was firmer than whipped cream. (That may be because even our whipped cream has had a lot of the fat removed! Ok, plus it is frozen!) It's hard to describe to Americans: imagine whipped cream that has been frozen, and yet is still soft and fluffy.
DeleteI definitely agree with the firmer whipped cream description. My partner is not a fan of whippy ice cream at all and that's one of his chief complaints about it - though he loves Cornish ice cream and that's mostly clotted cream and just as sickly. All in all I think it justifies many ice cream taste tests, here and abroad. For research purposes, of course.
DeleteOh, of course! And do you need a research assistant? Because I'm sure I'd be free for that...
DeleteOh boy you had 99s!!! It's all making me a bit homesick.......But it was brilliant that your hubby was able to have his Mr Whippy icecream whilst you were in the UK. My son has recently moved back to the UK after 11 years living with us in Spain and one of his first 'purchases' was a 99 on the seafront at Worthing, near Brighton on the south coast of England :)
ReplyDeleteAww! I'll have to tell Ken that!
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