Cooking in a holiday flat

I have had plenty of time today to prepare for the week, get some food delivered from the local grocery and familiarize myself with the kitchen in our studio.  Why so much down time on holiday?  Well, it was always part of the plan to travel slowly and give the Tweens ample time to do school assignments most days.  But at the moment I have a sprained foot giving us extra rest.  Last night I scoured the Web for a coupon and created the list for a delivery of groceries (plus shoe inserts and foot brace) that arrived just as expected and at a great price.

This dish was made last night from easy ingredients from the corner market.  The veggies are presliced and mixed together but still fresh and crisp.  Boil the linguine, steam veggies, toss with butter and garlic then top with cheese. Much healthier and cheaper than always going out but still simple in the  mini kitchen with no oven or much of anything really beyond kettle, one burner and microwave.

It will be even simpler to feed us now that I have had a lay-up day to plan and prep after the nice driver brought all of these easy to fix ingredients:  

                            

Crystal Palace

Last night, after trekking from the city center on the afternoon train to our flat in the quieter suburbs, we had our first UK grocery shopping adventure.  I love their prepackaged food that has so few ingredients all clearly listed, especially since I have a limited kitchen for these 2 weeks, without all the ingredients needed to cook fresh.  The simple quiche for dinner and this morning's farm-fresh toasted bread and butter with fruit and tea were either all really high quality or we are just easily impressed.  I have to go back to the store today because the kids miss the "full English breakfast" of beans, eggs, potatoes and sausage that the hostel served both mornings we were there.  Personally I couldn't eat it but they are hooked and it keeps them fueled for hours.

It was lovely to get a full night of deep sleep with no church bells, sirens, traffic or other city noises.  The tweens woke me up with squeals this morning.  They opened a window to release a ladybug and saw not one but two red foxes in the garden.  This flat is wonderful.  It is on the edge of a huge park, Crystal Palace Park, in what used to be the Great North Woods of Winnie the Pooh fame.  This beautiful Tudor house is on a hill with great views all the way to London and it is visible in Pissaro's painting "Fox Hill".  All of those clues should have prepared me for the wildlife but it was a great unexpected surprise.

We are spending the day catching up on school work and getting settled in to our temporary home.