To Market! To Market! To Buy a Fat Pig...

It's Wednesday night...we all know what that means...I went to the market today!

It was SO fun! This morning, Claire, Justin, Ryker, Nicolas, and I awoke with the sun to venture down to the Gloucester Green open-air market. Ryker brought his 50 Liter backpack to fill with the groceries that we were certain to buy. When we walked outside, we were shocked with the change of weather that had occurred overnight. This was what a bleak Oxford winter felt like. Snow and rain mixed together, a slight wind, and puddles, puddles, puddles. We were freezing. At one point, I was certain that I was getting frostbite!

When we arrived at the market we were absolutely ecstatic on what we found. Produce, beef, cheese, fish, bread, spices, books, trinkets, desserts, coats, scarves, gloves, everything you can imagine was sold at the market. Claire and I started out buying produce: potatoes, clementines, mushrooms, onion, fresh garlic, strawberries--everything was very inexpensive. We then ventured over to a few other booths browsing the old, hard-back books. Claire was quite taken with a set of Thomas Hardy novels, and I am definitely regretting my decision to leave without an Agatha Christie novel in tow. Nothing like snuggling up on the couch with a great murder mystery on a cold, dreary day. I won't make this mistake next week! After leaving the bread, we found a man selling bread. All sorts of shapes, sizes, and colors of Polish bread. We selected a huge loaf of brown bread, and then made our way to the fish stand. We had decided that we wanted to try cooking salmon, so we located the fish and purchased a pound and a half. Since it was so expensive, Ryker pitched in a couple pounds in exchange for being included in the meal. Eventually, Ben also got in on the deal by contributing green beans and rice.

Side Note: One aspect of the market that I found interesting and odd was that everything was weighed in pounds (lbs) rather then the UK unit of kilograms. Though strange, this worked in our favor as Americans because we had a better understanding of the amounts that we were purchasing.

On to the meats and cheeses! The lady at the stand explained that because of the rainy weather, she was not able to bring the entire variety of meats that she usually brings. So we bought some bacon and two types of cheeses: mild cheddar and jalapeno cheddar. After placing all of our groceries into Ryker's large backpack, we went on our way, stopping at the covered market to visit Ben's cookies and the butcher. I had a triple chocolate cookie again, but this time, I bought a cup of cold milk for 50p. It complimented the cookie perfectly! I was in heaven! Finishing the cookie, I discarded my cup and napkin and headed to the butcher. We picked up minced beef for burgers and tacos as well as chuck steak for Beef Stroganoff. On our way out of the covered market we passed another, more expensive butcher who sold "organic meats." There were entire sides of beef hanging from the ceiling. As we turned a corner we noticed a shopping cart right next to us with a side of beef just laying in it. Seeing the skinned tail just made me a little sad...then I thought about how delicious that must taste!

By this time we were absolute icicles and decided to head back to the houses. On the way, I ran into the small Sainsbury's to buy a few ingredients for the Beef Stroganoff as well as some deliciously rich chocolate milk--no doubt the BEST chocolate milk to ever pass my lips. Finally, we were able to retreat to the warmth of our cozy home. Claire and I cooked hamburgers with jalapeno cheddar cheese on toasted brown Polish bread for lunch. It was spectacular. By the time lunch was finished we headed to class in House 9. Afterward, we enjoyed a relaxing afternoon doing homework and napping.

Before we knew it, it was time to cook dinner. I didn't really know what I was doing, because our resources are limited, but I did the best I could to make a lemony salmon. It turned out really well! I'm not going to reveal my secret ingredient because I haven't yet decided if this recipe will be called, "Stephanie's Secret Lemony Salmon." It was the first time I'd ever made up a recipe, and it was really fun. I was very proud of myself! I can't wait to make it back home--I think my mother will be very proud of her young apprentice...at least, I hope so! My apologies if I'm boasting a bit, but I'm just so excited about it!

Now, I'm stuffed. The Internet has not been working since about 11:30 last night, so finally, almost 24 hours later it is kind of working. I'll take what I can get!

I'm hoping the weather clears up for tomorrow. I do not have class or anything, so I'm hoping I can go explore this amazing city and take some pictures!