A British Thanksgiving (Yet Again!)

Back in 2011, I started a travel blog hilariously titled View the Liew in the Queue about my adventures at King's College London. In a whirlwind, I visited Windsor, Brussels, Oxford, Cambridge, Paris, Bath, Barcelona, and Amsterdam. And while all of those were beyond amazing, the true treasures were the experiences I shared within the tiny dorms at Stanford Street Apartments. It was there that we all came together - British, American, Italian, and more - to celebrate a Thanksgiving feast. Stephen somehow managed to cook a turkey, I learned how to fry onions for a green bean casserole for the first time, and half of the dishes weren't even remotely close to what would be served at Thanksgiving back in America...and it was all so perfect. We made little pilgrim hats to wear, ate until we wanted to sleep, and made memories that will last a lifetime. Three years later, and my blog has grown up quite a bit. It's shifted to the more mature (and boring) amandaliew.com, but has much better photos if I do say so myself. Beyond that, my friendships from KCL have stayed stronger than I could have imagined - the Brits made an epic both-coast-visit in 2012 where we reunited with the other Americans who were scattered about, Max studied abroad in America in 2013, and Stephen and Sarah came to NYC in 2014. Finally, it was time for things to come full circle with a trip back to London & yet another memorable Thanksgiving. I'm so beyond lucky to have these people in my life - who would have imagined 3 years ago that we would have become so close? Though my trip was short, we managed to jam pack everything possible: Camden Market, South Bank, afternoon tea, and of course just good catch up time. In contrast to my typical vacations where I plan an itinerary for every second of the day, the purpose of this trip was to see my wonderful friends. For Thanksgiving itself, Stephen spent 2 full days cooking and somehow made 18 dishes...for 11 people. It was unbelievable! At one point someone said "I'm so full...but I want to keep eating!" to which I responded with "Welcome to the American way!!" It was truly perfect.

London's Bluebird Cafe

Sometimes simplicity is all you need. I didn't have many things on my check list for my British Thanksgiving since I have already been fortunate enough to cross all the major sites off of my checklist, but the one thing I did insist on was grabbing some afternoon tea! Rather than go for a multi-tiered tea experience (while quite lovely isn't exactly an "everyday" event like Americans seem to believe), we decided to take a little trip out to the ever so quaint Chelsea to visit Bluebird Cafe. For an affordable £9, we ordered the a Tiny Tea which came with homemade scones and a delicious assortment of jams and clotted creams. It's amazing how something so simple could be so satisfactory, but the meal was just that! We all agreed the scones were some of the best we had ever had (a much higher compliment coming from the Brits as opposed to myself!) and we asked for jams upon jams to try them all out. The courtyard seating was lovely, even with the chill of November, and each table had blankets available to keep yourself cozy. The only downside of the experience, however, was the terrible service - and I don't say that lightly. We were routinely forgotten by all staff members (waiters, hosts, busboys alike), and had to ask 3 or 4 times for each item - it was all quite odd and we couldn't help but wonder if something had happened for them to all be so off their game. Nevertheless, for the price and scones, I would probably deem them to be worth a second chance!

where the californian breeze blows

 My fascination in the ocean isn't in the color, the roar, or the strength, but in its endlessness.

Snapshots from my road trip up the Californian coast. As the winter seemingly gets colder and colder in New York City, I'm finally returning to these gloriously sunny photos and reminiscing about bare feet, californian breezes, and sunshine that never stops. For more details on my trip and FujiInstax shots, check out my previous post "thirty eight."  

The Photograph Collective: Stop Playing With Your Food

Project #4 was an interesting one: Shoot through the eyes of a child. I chose to take a break from the heavy topics and look into something a little more adventurous! For the project in it's native habitat with its critiques, please check out The Photograph Collective. “Stop Playing With Your Food”

For this project, I decided to take a whimsical approach and have a little more fun than I typically afford myself with photography. So often children are told to stop playing with their food, yet to me it represents an imagination and an excitement that we often lose as adults. I decided to make subjects of colorful candy and to bring them into an imagination setting by contrasting light & dark. I’ve always been fascinated and amused by how children can have a one-track-mind and wanted to focus attention on items that are normally not given much thought. Additionally, I chose to inject a little bit of my own childhood into the way I styled the food. I was quite the mini-adult growing up and was very particular about organization. Every day at lunch i would set out the perfect placement of my juice box, my entree, my snack, and even my napkin before I began eating. I wanted to reflect that child’s play is not always messy and chaotic, but can look different for each child depending on their imagination.