Sunday lunch

The British have a lovely tradition of making big roasts with vegetables and delicious homey desserts on Sunday afternoons. It is a tradition I very much want to pick up, so Andrew and I have been doing some research in preparation for our first Sunday lunch at home next weekend. Two Sundays ago we went out in search of Sunday lunch and ended up at a French restaurant that does the traditional English lunch every Sunday because that’s what everyone wants to eat. We had a really delicious meal with rose wine, nice bread and butter, mushroom soup, roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, steamed carrots and parsnips, cauliflower cheese, horseradish sauce, and apple crumble with custard. Damn.

Last Sunday, we went to The Stag, a local gastropub (that is a pub that does really nice food, too). We had a similar meal, Andrew going for the beef again while I chose lamb with mint sauce. The starters were different, too: I had a goat’s cheese salad and Andrew had prawns in Marie Rose sauce. It doesn’t get much more British than that, folks. We had a decidedly non-British dessert, too: tiramisu; but I think we’ll go full-fledged British for our first homemade lunch.

We’ve been watching our Jamie Oliver DVDs and reading his and Nigella Lawson’s cookbooks – or cookery books, as they say here – and getting geared up for Sunday. We’re heading down to London early on Saturday morning to get supplies at Borough Market. And, we have guests: Sara and Sally, who are studying in the UK this semester. Hooray!