Yes, I am a Francophile… obviously. However, I forgot to mention something.
I’m also an Anglophile. In fact, I have it BAD.
Fortunately, I’ve never had to choose sides in a time of war.
Give me Taylors of Harrogate Yorkshire tea, an eccles cake, and an episode of Doctor Who, and I’m the happiest girl in the world. (If Doctor Who isn’t airing, then I’ll take several episodes of the property show ‘Location, Location, Location’ as a consolation prize.)
I also love yorkshire puddings, sponge cake with custard, bacon sarnies, Scottish shortbread… the list is nearly endless. It isn’t all about food, though I could certainly go on for ages.
There’s music (David Bowie, PJ Harvey, the Pet Shop Boys)… literature (Shakespeare, Hardy, Lord Byron, Shelley, Mary Shelley, Douglas Adams, Elizabeth Gaskell, the Bronte family)… and many films and television series that continue to impress me. (And, Hello to Jason Isaacs!)
It’s far easier to find British things here: films don’t have to be subtitled, recipes are easy to read, as are books. My French isn’t good enough to be able to comprehend all those things without translation, though I have stumbled through a few things with the aid of my dictionary.
So, I’ll take a cup of tea with that pain au chocolat, please et merci. 
I have always loved the simpleness of British – yorkshire pudding, shortbread, mac and cheese.
What will I do now that I’ve declared myself gluten intolerant?
Ah well, there will always be tea, with milk!
Do you know for sure you are gluten intolerant? How unfortunate, especially given all the delectable British foods that are wheat-based.
There are various flours that you could use in place of wheat, and surely some would do just as (or nearly as) well as wheat. I’ve had mac and cheese with rice pasta, and it’s not too bad. I just don’t like the fuss of cooking rice pasta because it takes longer.
Tea with milk is my drink of choice, summer or winter. Preferably the Yorkshire blend, but I’m also quite fond of Tetley’s Earl Grey Vanilla, and Betty’s teahouse blend.
Betty’s teahouse blend? Where do you get it?
My favourite tea of all time is Harney & Son’s Hot cinnamon spice.
Betty’s can be found here: http://www.bettys.co.uk/
(the Tea Room blend that I drink is here: http://www.bettys.co.uk/product/Bettys-Tea-Room-Blend-Tea-Bags,19201,27.aspx )
I don’t know that it’s available anywhere locally. A friend of mine near York gets me some every once in awhile. It’s quite lovely tea.
I’m not very fond of most teas that are flavoured; the Tetley’s Earl Grey vanilla is the exception. Is the Harney & Son’s tea a black tea, or herbal?
I also have to order Hot Cinnamon Spice online. It comes in black and herbal, caffeine and decafe.
The website is http://www.harney.com/
My little write up is http://suzannestengl.blogspot.com/2011/07/hot-cinnamon-spice.html
And now I will look for Betty’s . . .
Looks tasty!
The Yorkshire blend can be had at any of those ‘British pantry’ type shops here in Calgary, but the Betty’s seems to be online or in their shops in the UK only. However, the price doesn’t seem to be too bad (though the shipping is a bit pricier than I would like.)
Jason Isaacs of Capital City fame? Good choice, though I always preferred William Armstrong, but Isaac was probably better eye candy.
What’s he doing these days?
The very same!
He did a six-parter mini series of Kate Atkinson’s ‘Case Histories’ recently, playing Jackson Brodie, and of course he was the devious Lucius Malfoy in Harry Potter.
And he’s in a film with Taylor Lautner, though I haven’t seen it or really paid much attention to that.
Taylor Lautner?? Surely Jason can do better than that….
I haven’t seen Abduction yet. Maybe once it’s on DVD…