We decided to begin a collection of the pub signs, many of which are really lovely. Some are self-descriptive (such as the clientele they serve(d), or the location), some are more like mini works of art. Here are a few from Carshalton, in southern London.

Location, location—-near the train station.

And guess what sport they used to have here, in these two different pubs?!

These were grouped with the yucca roots and the rutabagas. Called boniato, they are a kind of knobbly, purplish sweet potato, by the looks of it, and are quite heavy and hard. So, out of curiosity, I bought one to try.

It is indeed a kind of potato. It’s a creamy color inside and the taste is not as sweet as a sweet potato, or a yam. It’s also fluffier and drier than the yellow or orange-fleshed sweet potato. It has a rather subtle flavor, so I think one should go easy on the seasonings.

The Boniato or tropical sweet potato has a number of other names—Batata, Camote, Cuban Sweet Potato—and is a member of the morning glory family. It is thought that the boniato was cultivated as early as 1000 B.C. in Columbia and Peru, and then moved through Central America and the Caribbean to Florida. It is very popular in South Florida, especially among Hispanics, and is available year-round from Florida, where it is grown mostly in Miami-Dade county.

They are also very popular in the Caribbean where they are often prepared with pineapple.

Peel, slice and boil some boniato in water until just tender. Drain and layer in a greased baking dish with slices of fresh (or tinned) pineapple, ending with pineapple on top. Pour over about 4T melted butter and bake at 350F for about 20-25 minutes.

Yum!

Orlando, Florida:  “Harry’s Big Adventure: My Bug World” was at Orlando Science Center through January 1, 2012. The exhibit, which opened September 24, 2011, studies the habitats, sights, sounds and ecosystem of insects, and how insects affect the environment and humans, and features the “host” Harry, a Chinese praying mantis. There were interactive displays and a chance to taste bug-based snacks.

It was all jolly interesting, but perhaps the most fascinating was the big screen across which many projected butterflies were flitting. When someone stood in front of the screen, creating a shadow, the butterflies would settle on the shadow’s shoulders, head and arms. An illusion, as you feel as though the butterflies have in fact landed on you! It’s what we’ve always wished for at the St Louis Butterfly House—a special feeling satisfied here by technology. We can almost believe these creatures are real.

You can check earlier articles on the special Butterfly Exhibits at the St Louis Butterfly House. There they have started a new tradition with the March Morpho Mania displays. We were able to attend the first 3, but missed the one this year (#4), unfortunately. As people walk around the Butterfly House they all always wish that the gentle creatures would land briefly on them.

http://viviennemackie.wordpress.com/2008/04/07/march-morpho-mania/  (1^st annual)

http://viviennemackie.wordpress.com/masterpiece-of-the-week/march/

http://viviennemackie.wordpress.com/2009/03/24/more-march-mania-in-the-butterfly-house/ (2^nd annual)

http://viviennemackie.wordpress.com/2010/03/10/more-marvelous-morphos/  (3^rd annual)

It’s about a great guitar exhibition that we saw at the Orlando Science Center, called “Guitar: The Instrument that Rocked the World”—really a lot of fun.

Read it via this link— http://www.justsaygo.com/travel-stories/guitar-exhibit-heads-to-louisville —but below are some extra photos not in that article.

Enjoy!

St Pancras Railway Station in London is one of the main gateways into the city and into England, so naturally they want to welcome the Olympics later this year—-hence the huge Olympic rings at the end of the platforms.

This recently-renovated railway station, famous for its lovely Victorian architecture, was opened in 1868 by Midland Railway. When it opened, the arched Barlow train shed was the largest single-span roof in the world at the time.

Since 2007, it has been called St Pancras International as it also has a special terminal area for the Eurostar train services to Continental Europe. On our last trip to London, we traveled from Paris to London, return, on the Eurostar—an amazingly comfortable and efficient trip, so I think that we will seriously consider never flying into London from Europe again.

St Pancras Station is also linked to Kings Cross St Pancras tube (subway) station and a bus station, so with a good public transport map it’s possible to get to almost anywhere in the city from here. There is also a large shopping complex, restaurants and hotels.

Chicago’s O’Hare Airport is one of the world’s busiest, always bustling, always crowded with throngs of people rushing somewhere on all those planes landing and taking off. Think labor-intensive, energy-intensive, polluted skies and high noise levels.

That is…until the Chicago Department of Aviation (CDA) partnered with a number of local organizations to make a concerted effort to try and improve the situation and make the whole airport environment more “green” (both literally and in terms of environmentally-friendly practices) and sustainable. They developed a bigger plan to manage and save water and energy—such as recycling waste water, capturing rain water, installing solar panels, using wind turbines, planting roof gardens, among others.

We find one example of this philosophy at the O’Hare Urban Garden in the mezzanine level of the ORD Rotunda Building, Terminal 2, Concourse G. This opened pretty recently and really is a quiet little green oasis in the great airport cacophony. It’s a small space, but we find it surprisingly restful sitting up there at comfortable chairs and tables set out, overlooking the bustling corridor crossroads below and the airplanes taxi-ing outside.

This is an aeroponic garden—a new concept to me, and I’m sure most people—cutting-edge and environmentally-friendly, developed by CDA and HMS Host Corporation. It produces local, all-natural, pesticide-free produce for airport restaurants close by in the terminal. Some of the plants we see are swiss chard, basil, purple basil, cilantro, dill, parsley, chives, bibb lettuce, gourmet lettuce mix, hananero peppers, edible nasturtium and viola flowers, thyme, origanum, red lettuce and green beans. All yummy!

Aeroponics is a method of growing plants in a water and mineral nutrient solution without soil—a method that provides year-round cultivation; a higher yield per square foot; needs no weeding; uses about 2/3 to ¼ less water; and is typically less expensive.

The information board tells us that this is the world’s first vertical aeroponic garden inside an airport terminal. 26 plant towers are suspended above a 20-gallon reservoir of nutrient solution that is internally pumped through a self-sustainable planting tower. Each vertical Tower Garden holds 44 plants and occupies a small 30-inch circular base. This vertical farm technology uses a small fraction of the space it normally takes to grow the same plants outdoors in the soil.

Seeds are first planted in small cubes of natural rock-based fiber, and then bathed in warm, mineral-rich water. When the seedlings reach a certain size they are transplanted to the Tower Garden and the plant roots are misted with a nutrient solution called Tower Tonic.

It’s fun to learn about this new technology and to see all those green, growing things in such a congested urban setting, and great to know that if you buy a meal at one of the nearby restaurants you may be eating some of these fresh plants.

Go O’Hare!  (Thanks to Rod for these pics)

The Art of Good Taste, with master sculptor Mercedes Strachwsky.

Two remarkable miniature sculptural landscapes at the Orlando Science Center give new meaning to the word “Incredible”, as in “truly hard to believe”.

So realistic that it’s hard to believe that they are not ‘real’ but fashioned by hand.

“The Art of Good Taste” is a set of two intricate sculptures highlighting some of Florida’s most beautiful natural features. On first seeing them, we thought they were made of paper mâché or plaster of Paris perhaps. But, in fact they are actually made from edible ingredients.  The information board introduces them thus: “Can you believe it? These sculptures aren’t just in “good taste”—they taste good too!” 

This sugar art display is called a “Show Cake” and includes 1,020 pounds of powdered sugar, 240 eggs, and 120 pounds of royal icing. If we compare that to most cakes, which use about one cup of sugar, two eggs and 8 ounces of icing, the amounts seem rather daunting. Even more mind-boggling is the time it took to create them: two years for the “Show Cake”, as opposed to between 30-60 minutes for a regular cake.

The information board also tells us that “Mercedes Strachwsky, of Oviedo, Florida, meticulously researched every fish, tree, plant, and shell you can see in this work of art. She then drafted a set of plans and artist renderings showing what the finished sculptures would look like.”

Take a look at the pictures to get an idea of the detailed realism in these lovely creations—for example, tiny, perfect water lilies; small frogs and larger manatees; palm trees and Spanish moss; wild grasses and swamp lands; bulrushes and rocks; caves and sea shores, with a lighthouse and house; shells and sea anemones; pelicans, alligators and turtles; dolphins and even minute shrimp. It is, indeed, a microcosm of the local Florida flora and fauna.

Note: the sculptures are all in a glass case, so we can look but not touch or taste!

The Orlando Science Center is a fun place to visit, especially with kids, and has many other interactive exhibits.

LOCATION: 777 E. Princeton Street, Orlando, in Lochhaven Park, overlooking Lake Formosa. The park area also has the Orlando Museum of Art and the Mennello Museum of American Art.

HOURS: Thursday-Tuesday 10-5. Closed Wednesdays, except during Orange and Seminole County school holidays. Also closed Easter Sunday, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

ADMISSION: $17 adult, $16 senior and student, $12 youth 3-11. Parking $5.

More information at www.osc.org

Croissant Gourmet brings a taste of French cuisine to Winter Park (a small up-market town north of Orlando)

Opened on March 7, 2008 by brothers Francois and Philippe Cahagne, the Croissant Gourmet soon became very popular.  The brothers, trained in France as patissiers (pastry chefs), personally oversee all the items on the menu. Drop by for a coffee and a decadent pastry, or stop for lunch—hot and cold sandwiches (on croissants), quiches, various salads, sweet crepes.

We’ve been for both coffee and a pastry, and for lunch and can definitely recommend a stop if you are anywhere in the area. The weather is pleasant most of the year, so you can usually sit outside at the few tables on the sidewalk.

120 East Morse Boulevard (just off Park Avenue), Winter Park, FL.

For hours and other information go to

www.croissantgourmet.com

As part of my (new) series on Christmas trees around the world, here is an interesting version, thanks to my friend Ronelle Baker, in Johannesburg, South Africa. She wanted a small tree with only ‘goodies’ and trinkets made locally, so scoured local markets—said she spent a small fortune at the Bryanston Organic Market, but that it’s well worth it. Note that the tiny tree is made of metal—the local Africans are so very good at handicrafts and do marvelous metalwork (as well as beautiful beadwork and pottery, for example).