The Olde Ship is jolly good!

It’s often been said that English food is bland, tasteless, and boring. As we found out on our honeymoon, however, it’s simply not true. Actually, English cuisine just tastes so familiar to the mainstream American palate. Meat, potatoes, overcooked vegetables, fries (ok, “chips” in English parlance), lots of gravy! In any case, we were feeling nostalgic for England. Why? Who knows? Maybe it’s the fact that we just got two Christmas cards from our distant relatives in Exeter and Devon. Or maybe it’s just because our honeymoon in England two years back was such a proper jolly good time and the memories of the trip randomly came back into our heads. Well, no matter, because we needed no excuse to have a proper English meal.

It’s often been said that English food is bland, tasteless, and boring.  As we found out on our honeymoon, however, it’s simply not true.  Actually, English cuisine just tastes so familiar to the mainstream American palate.  Meat, potatoes, overcooked vegetables, fries (ok, “chips” in English parlance), lots of gravy!  In any case, we were feeling nostalgic for England.  Why?  Who knows?  Maybe it’s the fact that we just got two Christmas cards from our distant relatives in Exeter and Devon.  Or maybe it’s just because our honeymoon in England two years back was such a proper jolly good time and the memories of the trip randomly came back into our heads.  Well, no matter, because we needed no excuse to have a proper English meal.

The Olde Ship in Fullerton is the real deal, or at least as real as it’s going to get Stateside.  It’s staffed by real subjects of the Queen and really does look and feel like the countless pubs we visited while during our honeymoon.  For being in California, where we’re pretty accustomed to themed but obviously fake facades on many buildings, this one looks and feels like England, both inside and out.

Was it good?  Is the Queen Mother’s favorite color baby blue?  Of course!  Ed had steak and kidney pie with a Newcastle, and as you can see here, Ed enjoyed it VERY much.  So full of meat and gravy goodness.

Here’s Ed admiring the dish he’s about to eat:

The excitement is building…

And a closeup:

That’s some grubbing!

And what about Carrie?  There was no way she could say “no” to fish and chips!  That was definitely our favorite pub food while we were in England.  So, here’s Carrie smiling with excitement:

And the closeup.  Mmmmmmm….

It’s good!!

We wish we had pics, but there was a pirate party going on in the bar.  No kidding.  There were about 30 adults all dressed as pirates.  And we’re not talking cheap and cheesy costumes; many of these people went all out!  They were singing Christmas songs with lyrics adapted to the pirate lifestyle.  It was surreal, and we never did find out what the occasion for the pirate party was.  Or, maybe they’re actually pirates and this was a normal, usual night out for them.

In any case, we highly recommend a visit.  It’s super fun, and the food is undeniably authentic!

Holiday Baking, round one

I can’t help myself. I really like to think that I am helping keep traditions alive in this modern world by doing a little baking during the holidays. I don’t get crafty often, but I do enjoy perusing Martha Stewart (gasp!) magazines at Christmastime to get inspiration for fun ways to wrap up baked goods. I usually end up tweaking things a bit though to put my modernist aesthetic on it. I just finished round one of Baking 2008 this morning: Mini Gingerbread & Pumpkin Bread loaves. The tags were inspired by the Periodic Chart of Elements, because I thought Gingerbread and Pumpkin Bread are elements of the holidays. I just like having fun with it.



A little bit of bragging … and a lot to be thankful for.

Because Ed is such a modest guy, I am taking the liberty of spilling the beans on a very exciting thing that happened two weeks ago. He was in Germany visiting some of his European clients … BMW, Audi, Porshe, and Volkswagon. During his meeting at Volkswagon, the one of the directors was so impressed with Ed and his extensive knowledge that he asked Ed to return to Germany this week to be a Keynote Speaker at the Global Volkswagon conference in Hamburg! It was a really big deal. Such a big deal in fact that we ALL (all = family & every friend who heard about this!) insisted that he return to Deutschland to make his presentation.

The downside? The conference was during Thanksgiving. So we made the best of it. We got together with all of our parents the weekend before an had a lovely dinner at the Facey Parents house. Afterall, there was no way my mom was going to let him go without her stuffing this year!


That’s Dad carving the duck my mom made.


Our awesome parents with Ed!

Thanksgiving Day was delicious as usual, but we definitely missed Ed. The happiest part of the day was when I got a call from Germany …

And of course … here is me with my family!

Each year, I feel like the holidays get better and better. I am so thanksful for my wonderful family & friends!

p.s. Ed’s presentation went great! He’s on his way back from Germany as I write this!

Dad’s 60th is a success!

Today we celebrated Carrie’s Dad’s 60th Birthday with a bang! He has been planning this extravaganza for a long, long time – and our family was lucky to reap the rewards of his plan! Basically, we all checked in to the Disneyland Hotel on Monday night, enjoyed a delicious dinner at The Storybook Cafe, and woke up early this a.m. to go to the park. As hotel guests, we were granted access to the park an hour earlier than the general public. Then, at 5pm, we headed over to Goofy’s Kitchen, for a buffet dinner and party with some dear friends. It was a blast. We get to spend one more night here at the hotel, and tomorrow we’ll return to the park for another complete day of fun! Lucky us.

We’re beat, so it’s off to bed for us … but check out the album for Day One of the extravaganza!*

Dad’s 60th Birthday

*11/6/08 – the album now has photos from both days. Enjoy!

Out with a bang!


So we had to finish off our fab adventures in Buenos Aires with a proper culinary sendoff. So what better way than to finish it off at El Bistro, the in-house restaurant at the renowned Faena Hotel + Universe?

What’s Faena? Well, Alex Faena is sort of the Donald Trump of Argentina, but with considerably more taste, style, and flair. The Faena Hotel’s interior was designed by none other than Philippe Starck, one of our favorite designers. On many of our vacations, we’ve sought out his hotels – we’ve been to the Clift in San Francisco, the Delano in Miami, and now Faena in Argentina! Ironically, one that we haven’t visited is the Mondrian, which is right in our backyard in L.A.

Anyways, this was one stylin’ and upper crust meal. We’ve seen chefs prepare “foam” on Top Chef & the Food Network all the time, but this was the first time we got to actually try not 1, but 3! – during this meal (in between courses). And, as you can see above, the space is striking. It’s ornate, but nearly ALL in white with red accents peppered throughout. And the food and wine? Exquisite. Here’s a sampling of the amazing setting in which we dined:

Oh, as a little bonus, after dinner we walked outside the hotel and saw a monument to Juan Manuel Fangio, one of history’s greatest racing drivers and of course an Argentine. His heyday was in the 1950s when he drove Formula 1 for Mercedes-Benz. Here’s Ed posing next to the statue.

We leave first thing in the morning, returning back home. Buenos Aires is a most captivating and gorgeous city, one that will remain with us for a long time. Adios, Buenos Aires!