Fish 'N Chips with Mushy Peas

A couple times since I've arrived I have tried to have fish and chips at a pub. Because it does seem like a very English thing to do!

Once, they were out of fish, of all things! Another time the fryer was broken.

Last week Melissa and I went into Reading, with a few "things to do" on our list.

First things first, Starbucks for a cup of coffee. A plain old cup of coffee is not easy to find here, and not something every coffee shop has, believe it or not. Most cafes serve coffee drinks that are based from espresso. Even harder to find... cream for the coffee. Starbucks has what they call "filtered coffee" AND cream. So. Yay!

After coffee we went off to try to locate me an inexpensive rain coat for working in the woods-which we did find pretty quickly, at maybe the third place we tried.

Next stop, was the Reading Museum...

This is my friend Melissa waving at me!

Reading Town Hall... and a couple details of brickwork, windows. The architecture and work-manship here are exquisite...

 (http://www.readingmuseum.org.uk/) where Melissa wanted to see the newest exhibition by a local Reading artist Robert Gillmor.

This is one of his pieces - of a partridge. And right this moment I am wondering if that was the type of bird I saw during the train-ride to Bore Place, and not pheasants after all? The exhibit was wonderful, we both thoroughly enjoyed it... lots of early pencil, pen and ink and watercolour works in addition to his specialty, linocut prints.

Next on the agenda, was a bite to eat. We decided to try a pub that was between the Museum and the bus stop where we'd be collected by Stuart later, O'Neill's.

Dining out in a pub here is an entirely different experience altogether than I am used to. For starters, you place your food order at the bar and pay for it right then. Usually your table has a number that you give to the folks behind the bar when you place your order, but here, the tables were not numbered. (Just when I think I have got the hang of things here I seem to run into the 'exception to the rule'!) Instead, they gave us each a wooden spoon with a number on it, when we placed our orders.

Our spoons and the caddy they bring with the cutlery and condiments-pretty much the standard way of doing things at most every pub we've been to so far. The folks behind the counter then deliver the food when it is ready. One thing that is so difficult to get used to is that there is no tipping! I mean, these folks do bring you food and drinks, and at the end, no tips. This is hard to wrap my brain around, and every time I walk out of a pub it just doesn't feel right to me! But, you know what they say, "when in Rome..."

Melissa, feeling a little embarrassed at me being such a "tourist"...

So, finally I got my fish and chips (french fries) with mushy peas (slightly mashed, cooked peas)...

And after I'd taken 3 pictures of my food trying to get a good shot of the peas with no glare Melissa made me put my camera away and eat my lunch... it was yummy!