Deauville Dispatches: Oxford Town

I'll thank Bob Dylan for the title I robbed from him and thank my lucky stars that what I encountered in Oxford, U.K. was absolutely nothing like the situation he described in Oxford, MS. My stint among the great minds of this beautiful place was far too short, but Maggie and I were still successful in filling it with tons of excellent experiences. For one thing, I don't know whether it's because I had been spending so much time with people from home or simply because it had been four months since I was last in the US, but I really was craving some good old American comfort foods. Luckily for me, England was able to oblige by providing me with deliciously thick milkshakes (obviously I picked Reese's), Chipotle burritos in London (kind of obligatory since I was with Maggie), ribs, and, finally, several packages of the blessed cups themselves. Yum!

creamy deliciousness

Amazing life choice. It was such a religious experience for M and me that we chronicled it with an absurd number of photos, but I thought I'd spare you that madness...for now.

This photo is notable for many reasons: 1) you can see a real double decker in the background 2) M's wild and wacky burrito eating method is now in the public domain. Watch out world!

They had taken away our dishes by this point, but this is from our rib dinner with Maggie's friends from Worcester.

Of course, Maggie and I also took advantage of all the delicious English food that surrounded us as well. We had several notable meals, but the three standouts were:

#3 Meat Pies and Cornish Pasties.
Sort of like pot pies without the pot, these were an ideal meal for us as we walked through the various colleges of Oxford.

This is actually more delicious than it appears here

#2 Formal Hall in Worcester College.
I was lucky enough to experience the most Harry Potter-like experience of my life here at Oxford: Formal Hall. Essentially, all Worcester students interested in a tasty meal get dressed up in their hip length black robes (similar to those worn by students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry) and line up along long tables similar to those pictured below.

There is much cutting up and chatting as the students wait for the professors to arrive, but once the grumpy matron in charge clangs the door open everyone immediately stands at attention as they file in. An incredibly long Latin grace is pronounced, and then there's a loud scraping of the benches as everyone tries to sit down as gracefully as humanly possible in their skirts and dress clothes. And then the fun begins. Unlike in Harry Potter, the serving dishes don't magically fill with food the moment everyone sits down, but everyone is served very well nevertheless. The night I was there we had a delicious avocado and goat cheese concoction as an entree (starter to you folks), duck for the plat principal (one of my new favorite meats), and a lovely mango delice for dessert. Most excellent. One non HP element of the meal was that it was BYOB, though Marge and I made do with the water they provided for us. Let's just say that I was very sad that I was leaving Sunday morning and thus wouldn't be there for the next formal hall.

#1 Cream Tea.
Honestly, how could I go to England and not enjoy tea time? My Aunt Beth warned me before I left that I should be sure to visit THE ROSE (the greatest tea shop ever) early in my trip since I would probably want to return. Boy was she correct. Maggie and I went twice and both times we had the classic cream tea: the tea of your choice and two scones served with clotted cream, strawberry jam, and one happy little strawberry. Life changingly amazing.