Arrivals!

[podling]

So teapot_farm is here! Yay!!! The flight was long... 7 1/2 hours, but she got to see Greenland out the window, which kind of made up for it. Customs apparently were a breeze, she got asked tougher and more probing questions attempting to get through security at Gatwick than she did here. Funny how things change, yet remain the same. And so then eventually I showed up to get her. I totally should've gone back for my car first, I know better now. Taking the Airtrain and NJ Transit is a total bitch with luggage. You'd think I'd know better, it's not like I've never done it myself. But well... I don't generally go on flights that are that long and I often travel fairly light. Anyway, so she's all jet-lagged and camping out at my house now. Anyone desiring to speak to her should call there. Oh, except I might've turned the ringer off on the phone. Um. Ho hum. I'll fix it later.

Anyway, it's fab that she's here and stuff. And there's still stuff to do! There's an art festival in New Hope this weekend, and she's not been to Philly yet, and she so needs to go to the Amish market, as well as a mega-huge grocery store. Maybe Costco too. Nothing says scary more than that. Well, perhaps the Palisades Mall, but that might scare her too much. She's refusing to go see Shark Tale though. Damn her!!!

Anyway, if anyone has any ideas for what I can introduce my oh-so-British friend to, do let me know.

Comments

[toratigris.livejournal.com]

Take her to a place that serves really good pancakes. :)

Tell her I said hello!

[podling]

I will totally tell her!

And the pancake thing could be hard. I mean, the diner has good food, but I'm not overly fond of their pancakes. Though she did like the diner last time, so... yeah. There's a place in Princeton that has pretty good pancakes, but it kind of freaked me out (I'm just saying, if they're going to serve banana flavored maple syrup, they should say it somewhere. I'm not opposed to it, but I like having a choice.) and there's always a sizeable wait to get in. So sad. Oh! But there's a place near me with a breakfast buffet that I've meant to go to. I should see if that'd interest her.

I actually want to take her to a Cheesecake Factory restaurant. I mean, nothing says scary american food better than that.

Okay, babbling now. I will tell her you said hello though!!!

[tanaise.livejournal.com]

I've never eaten at a Cheesecake Factory. Does that mean I'm unamerican?

[podling]

Yes. As well as unpatriotic and against God's Plan (tm). You will be deported immediately. Thank you for asking.

[toratigris.livejournal.com]

Banana flavored maple syrup? Huh. Yeah, I'd prefer if they warned me about that, too. You should have seen the "nuclear strawberry" (my name for it) syrup they served at a diner in Tucson. It was seriously a day-glo fuchsia color. Scary. But at least the color was a warning!

Anyway, apparently pancake mix is tough to find in Britian, too, because she was saying she couldn't find any, so I sent her three kinds.

Hmmm. Then again, maybe she's tired of pancakes now. *g*

[podling]

Oh yeah. They have that "nuclear strawberry" stuff at IHOP. I don't know that I've ever really felt the urge to put it on anything though. Did you, um, try it?

But yeah. astrophysicat used to go to that place all the time and never noticed the banana flavored syrup because she always had banana pancakes there. sidruid and I were both vaguely disturbed by it though.

Sadly, I'm out of pancake mix at home, so I shall have to serve her something else. Or buy more. Hmmn. I'm sure she'd appreciate seeing me use my huge pancake pan that can make 8 pancakes at once.

[toratigris.livejournal.com]

I did try one little taste of the "nuclear strawberry" (I was not about to put it on my pancakes, though). It basically just tastes like highly sweetened fake strawberry -- a lot like a strawberry jolly rancher.

8 pancakes at once? Does it require more than one burner, or is it the electric kind? My mom uses her very very old electric waffle iron (obviously, with the flat plates rather than the waffle plates in it), and can cook 8 at a time (four on each side), but I have trouble picturing a single round frying pan holding 8 pancakes! Wow.

[podling]

It uses two burners and is rectangular. It also has one corner that's folded differently so if you were cooking bacon on it, you can easily get rid of the grease. It's such a fabulous griddle pan thing. You should come visit, I'll make you pancakes on it!

[toratigris.livejournal.com]

Well, I have an aunt and uncle who live in New Jersey (I just saw them last weekend for the first time in years) that I would love to go visit (and have been invited to), so I'm hoping to work out some way to visit the New York/New Jersey/DC area to visit them and see friends and so on. So it might actually happen, though it won't be for several months. :)

And if I do, I'll put in a special request for pancakes from your nifty griddle. *g*

Poptarts

[madpiratebippy.livejournal.com]

All my european friends went nuts over Pop-tarts. I don't understand the appeal, but as far as I know they're ordering them online and having them shipped to Germany and Holland.

Some things are strange. Very strange. I would have thought that someone who had grown up with real Crossonts and Nutella for breakfast wouldn't be able to eat Poptarts, much less become addicted to them. Wonders will never cease.

Personally, I'd take her to a really rocking burger joint. But then, a really good burger or chilidogs with a Sam Adams, and root beer floats for desert is my image of American Food.

Re: Poptarts

[podling]

Yeah, it's tough because when I eat out I'm usually eating a kind of food that though americanized is not neccessarily actually american. Some variety of asian cooking is usually right up my alley. I'd take her to Bugaboo Creek (because as far as random theme restaurants go, it's hysterical) but there aren't any nearby.

And then the other odd thing is that it's hard to know what will and won't be different. When I was in the UK, I was really rather thrown by the common things rather than the weird ones. I mean really. They sell Old El Paso taco products. I'm not making this up!!! There are definite differences with many products, but Domino pizza in England is just like Dominos here. It really does depend on the country though. It's near to impossible to get Oreos or instant pancake mix in France, for instance. And Pizza Huts in Paris are a different kind of eating experience.

So. I guess I just will make random suggestions to her and see what she goes for...

[piratejenny.livejournal.com]

I'm all for the Palisades Mall. I need someone to be more scared of it than I was!

[podling]

We'd probably have to do that on Sunday if we were going to go. I'll suggest it to her tonight. I think she'd get a kick out of the fake outdoor restaurants actually.

[silme.livejournal.com]

I was going to suggest if you're heading down towards Philly, take her to the King of Prussia Mall. It's the second largest mall in the United States after the Mall of America -- at least it used to be. I know it scared Ian. ;)

All the usual Philly touristy stuff is good -- Liberty Bell, Elfreth's Alley, Independence Hall. Definitely South Street. Manayunk. Jim's or Pat's? The Italian Market. Do you mean the Amish market in Reading Terminal? Or are you heading to Lancaster County? I know Ian was impressed touring about Lancaster County. New Hope is always good. :)

Hey, I was born in Philly. What can I say? (Imagine me saying this in a strong Philly accent. ;) Say hi to my native city, and tell it I'll be there in December. :)

Say hi to Gill too. One of these days we'll get back to Brighton.

[podling]

Hee. I'll tell her you said hi. :)

We're definitely heading to Philly to hang with crowyhead and we'll probably do some funky store shoppingon South Street. I haven't been there in *years*. Which is weird, given how often I go to Philly, but still.

But so she said no to the Liberty Bell already, but thanks for all the suggestions. I was actually just going to take her to either the Amish market nearby or one that's kind of near New Hope, though now I'm not sure. :)

I've never been to the King of Prussia mall either!

[silme.livejournal.com]

It's a big mall -- it's actually two malls sort of connected together -- King of Prussia Mall and the Plaza at King of Prussia. Huge retailing experience, and, if I remember correctly, there's a Cheesecake Factory in its outer ring.

I used to get free cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory in '99 because one of my yearbook editors worked there. I found the meals not fabulous, but a lot of food for the money -- and the cheesecake was very yummy. :)

[silme.livejournal.com]

Oh, and remember Manayunk! :)

[juanfandango.livejournal.com]

The Met. And the sleazy hot dog vendors.

[podling]

But she already knows what I look like, what kind of challenge would *that* be??? ;)

[vgnwtch.livejournal.com]

The Met and the Gugenheim. And the NYC subways just because. And central Philly down to the docks, especially South St, and also to see the Liberty Bell, etc. And a NJ diner, because it's An Experience. The historical stuff around here never gets looked at properly - I found all the American War of Independence (Revolutionary War - it's just there were so many in Europe that we needed a different tag for yours) fascinating; I really liked the way Morristown does it, with the little visitor's centre and the chap in Jockey Hollow being a soldier of the time (this was years ago, but he was damn good). I also really enjoyed the tour of the Princeton campus, complete with the quad it ripped off from Corpus Christi college at Oxford (my cousin fell around laughing, as CC was his college), but also with lots of cool commentary. The Delaware Water Gap. The Pine Barrens. The Jersey Shore.

Of course, I'm just one Briton, and amongst the 63 million of us, there may be slight variations in opinion. But Pop Tarts are still utterly repugnant, as are Twinkies and Peeps and fluffernutter sandwiches, I don't care what anyone says.

[podling]

Peeps!!!!!

Yes, she's a big fan of the Omega Diner. And thanks for the suggestions! Smoochies!!!

And when are we going to get together??? Oh, would you like to meet another British person? You'd like her, I think (not because she's British, just because she's fab)... :D