A version of Pasta Caprese for 2

There are so many woman who blog wonderful food with step by step pictures.  They inspired me to start blogging a few months ago.  Then I decided that blogging from my kitchen was less fun then blogging my travels.  But the harvest of tomatoes & herbs from my garden convinced me to take some photo of the lunch I concocted today.

First chop up around 2 cups of garden fresh ripe cherry or plum tomatoes.

Roughly dice a medium size shallot.

Combine tomatoes & shallots in a large heat proof bowl.

Chop some parsley, to taste.  You could also chop basil at this point.

I didn’t chop basil today as I already had some stored with olive oil & cubed fresh mozzarella in my fridge.

Keep the cheese cubes nice & cold in the fridge until later.

Cook & drain 4 ounces of whole wheat pasta.

Add warm pasta to the bowl with tomatoes, etc.  Gently mix.  Now you can add the 3 ounces of cold mozzarella cubes, which it my case were pre-mixed with basil & olive oil.Mix and taste.  Add any salt or pepper that you might think are needed.  I added about 1 teaspoon of an Italian vinaigrette.  (Many Pasta Caprese recipes call for lemon juice & I didn’t have a lemon on hand today.)  Plate the resulting warm pasta dish & enjoy!

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A different look at Gloucester England

When we go to Gloucester it means heading to the Cathedral.  And yes we did walk that way & make a trip to the Cathedral gift shop.

Stone carvings above the west door of Gloucester Cathedral.

But we went down to the water front, or docks, on this May 2010 day.  It is a spiffy area with shops, cafes, museums, & some old warehouses plus new buildings offering condo living with beautiful views.

We also stopped into the modest Mariners Chapel.

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London & All the Queen’s Coaches

The British make bets on everything including elections.  And what an election this one was.

The main purpose of this particular day in London was to visit the Royal Mews & to view the Queen’s Coaches.

Always Oxford

We always end up making at least one stop in Oxford during our trips to England.  Two reasons: 1-Even though Amazon.com can supply my husband’s book & CD habits he still likes to visit Blackwell’s in person. 2-Several of the Colleges have good choirs with evensongs performed most days of the week.

This trip we went to New College, perhaps we went twice. (Memories fade.)

Speaking of Oxford and singing.  We stopped into a pub near New College, nothing special just a part of the Young’s chain.  When my husband returned from placing our order he had this sign to place on our table so our food would be delivered correctly.  I had to hold back my giggles & refrain myself from launching into … Bottles of Beer on the wall!

Sheffield Millennium Gallery

The Millennium Gallery at Arundel Gate in Sheffield England has very nice exhibits, a good museum shop, but most of an unassuming cafe with great food.

On our last trip my husband ordered Fish ‘n Chips while I enjoyed two lovely crispy fish cakes, or they might have been salmon cakes (too long ago to be certain.)

It was a fairly long train ride from Sheffield back to our trip base in Bristol but I always take reading material.  I also play with snapping photos through the windows of the moving train.  An interesting site that we visited on an earlier trip is the Church of the Crooked Spire, Chesterfield Derbyshire.  This trip we just went by it on the train.  I think I succeeded with the photo below.  (Love the sky.)

Some Time in Truro

Another day in Cornwall.  This time we are checking out a cathedral that we have never visited before.  After a walk from the rail station to the center of town it is time to stare at stain glass windows & other such cathedral fixtures.

Salisbury, England

We came in on the train on the same drizzly day that  we had visited Exeter.   We have been to Salisbury numerous times so this was a quick stop to just revisit a few spots (or shops!)

There were some beautiful blooms in the parks.

Quick Visit to Exeter, England

We stopped by on a typical drizzly English day.

Having visited the cathedral in the past I didn’t take too many photos.

A native son of Exeter, Richard Hooker, 1554-1600, stressed that the English  church should be  moderate, somewhere in-between Catholicism & extreme forms of Protestantism. Local birds however do not appear to take his theology very seriously.

Anyone who knows me realizes that what I take seriously, especially on a rainy day, is finding a cozy warm spot for lunch.

My husband opted for the plain cheese pizza while I indulged in some tasty shrimp.