It’s all part of his effort to experience full cultural immersion via cuisine. This has led to his discovery that, in England, not all puddings are dessert. At a York bed and breakfast he got quite edgy in his selections, sampling Black Pudding for breakfast. The ingredients are pretty simple: pig’s blood and herbs. (Aagh!) He took a couple of courageous bites as I looked on in disgust.

That adventure makes an earlier choice of kippers – salty smoked fish – and eggs for breakfast seem almost mundane. He ate the entire serving as I tried to concentrate on my porridge (oatmeal).

We notice that baked beans and/or mushy peas (just as they sound) seem to be available with pretty much anything, up to and including lasagna. Umm, lasagna and baked beans? And, everywhere in England, the ubiquitous chips (French fries) are available. They are very good and quite addictive. In the end, we don’t really have to worry about strange flavors because anything and everything is washed down with cups and cups of tea.

My better half has video footage of tea shop display windows with their array of sweet cakes and other goodies. It’s a love story in the making, or should I say baking.

All I could do was laugh and take the picture!