19 January 2014: A Sunday Roast

Today, two of my friends invited me to get roast with them. I wasn't quite sure if roast was a slang term for lunch or if it was roast beef or something, but I still happily agreed to go. As we walked to the bus stop, I learned that in England, it's traditional to have a roast beef or roast pork dinner mid-day on Sundays. Since I haven't had real beef since I was in Cleveland (Unless we want to count whatever was inside of my pasty or that Whopper I had at the airport in Charlotte), I was more than excited.

When we got into town, we walked a bit until we found Melton's. When we walked inside, I smiled a bit. As cliche as this is going to sound, it looked just like the movies about British restaurants. Instead of checking in our reservations with a greeter at a desk, we walked up to the bar near the front of the restaurant and told him that we had a table for two o'clock. We also ordered our beverages at the bar before we sat down (although I only got a water).

When we got upstairs, the three of us ordered some roasts (Amy and I got beef and Fiona got pork), then talked for a while until our meals come. I loved getting to know my new friends even better. We talked about our jobs, our families, similarities and differences between our countries...you name it, it came up. I'm really starting to feel like I'm not such a stranger in this new country.

Then, in a moment that can only be described as magical, our meals arrived. The table fell silent as we each received our meals. on my plate, there were a few pieces of real actual meat, some cooked potatoes, gravy, and a large puffy pastry type thing with gravy all over it. She then put out a bowl of cooked carrots and cheesy cauliflower. I felt like I've never eaten anything so nice in my life. I mean, don't get me wrong. I'm having a lot of fun eating sandwiches, instant noodles, pasta, and microwaved baked potatoes. But it was SO refreshing to have an actual proper meal.

After we were finished with our meals, Amy and Fiona both ordered a sticky toffee pudding. I'd never had a "pudding," before, unless you count the American kind that comes in a little Snack Pack cup, so I ordered one as well.

I was not disappointed. We each got a dish that had a scoop of toffee ice cream and a large molten hot sticky cake-like item. It was super sweet, but not so sweet that it was inedible. None of us could help but smile as we ate the extremely rich and filling dessert. I somehow finished it down to the last bite.

When we left the restaurant, we took another route back to the bus stop. At one point, I turned my head, and there was a castle, like, right there! I keep on forgetting just how historical York is. You're just kind of going about your day, when suddenly: history!

I'm still smiling from that roast. It's amazing what one good meal with a couple of good friends can do to a girl's spirits.