Summer BBQ's

We love to BBQ!  We BBQ at least two or three times a week.  As you can imagine with all that grilling comes the need for quality tools.  When I was appraoched by the manufactureres of Cave Tools BBQ Tools and asked to do a review of one of their BBQing tools I was more than happy to do so.

I was given the choice of tools to review and because I genuinely HATE the grill brush we had, I decided to review the Cave Tool Grill Brush.

My complaint about the brush we've had is that it doesn't last!!  The brush shown above we have had just since the start of Summer 2015 and you can clearly see the wear in just a short period of time.  The bristles of the brush are so short and literally break off when used.  Literally little pieces of wire break off!  It makes me crazy!

The Cave Tool Grill Brush is the complete opposite of my horrible brush!  The bristles are double the length and not a single piece breaks off!  

The only complaint about the Cave Tool Grill Brush is it's a bit too flexible.  When scrapping the grill the brush bends a bit too much, but even so, I prefer the Cave Tool over my other wooden handled brush hands down and have already tossed my old yucky brush I hated into the trash!

If you are interested in some great grilling tools, the people at Cave Tools are kindly offering all my readers a 20% off coupon!  Just visit Amazon and enter promotion code XNTLKUOV.

Happy Grilling!

One Year Ago Today.......

One year ago today my adventures in London continued...........

On the agenda for today was another guided tour.

The first stop on our tour was to the beautiful St. Paul's Cathedral.  This was especially exciting for me.  I could remember being a young girl and watching the wedding of Princess Diana and Prince Charles on television.  Watching Diana walk down the aisle was breathtaking to my young girls mind.  Then to find myself many years later walking down that same aisle and seeing with my own eyes the detail and beauty with in the walls of the cathedral made me feel giddy.  Honestly......giddy!  Like I wanted to jump up and down and say look at where I am!!

Unfortunately there was no photography allowed inside the cathedral, so all my photos are of the exterior.

Our next stop on our tour was to go see the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace.  This was something my sister had really wanted to do.  Unfortunately our tour guide SUCKED and we missed the event!  These were the best pictures we were able to get.

Following our misadventure of seeing the Changing of the Guard, we proceeded to enter Buckingham Palace for another tour.  During July and August the Queen opens up the state rooms to the public.  This particular year on display was many family photos and memorabilia chronicling the lives of the children in the Palace.  

Following the tour of the State Rooms, we made our way out in to the gardens in the back of the Palace.  It was fun walking where kings and queens have walked for hundreds of years!

The next stop on our agenda for the day was to head to Piccadilly Circus.  And oh my.....it was a circus indeed!  It was so hectic and crowded and busy and hectic and just plan overwhelming!

We had lunch at Jamie Oliver's restaurant.  It was good, but paled in comparison to the delicious Italian food we had had the day before.

After lunch, my sister and my niece headed back to our apartment for a much needed nap, while my other sister, my sister-in-law and I headed to Kennsington and Hyde Parks for a little stroll. We were awe struck by the Prince Albert Memorial.  It is absolutely HUGE!

Over all it was another fun filled day!

One Year Ago Today............

One year ago today I woke to another London morning.  My traveling companions and I had another day of adventures planned.  

The first item on our agenda was to walk across the London Tower Bridge, which was just one block up from our rented apartment.

The architecture and detail on this bridge is magnificent.  I'm disappointed my pictures do not show the true vibrancy of the blue painted details.

 

After walking crossing the bridge we made our way to the Tower of London.  As I've said before, I'm a total history geek, so to walk into this place was a complete and utter thrill for me.

Our first stop once inside the walls was to see the gorgeous Crown Jewels.  Unfortunately no photography was allowed inside the room, but I'm sure it's just as well.....no photo could truly do them justice!

Of Course we had to stop and admire the active guard on duty outside the building where the Crown Jewels are housed.

We also paid our respects at the memorial marking the site where Anne Boleyn and countless others were beheaded.

We saw the home where Anne Boleyn lived prior to her marriage to Henry VIII and the church where her remains are buried in an unmarked location. 

All throughout the grounds there are these monkeys made of metal wire, their significance I do not know, but they were interesting to look at.

After our time at the Tower we made our way out in to the streets of London to go exploring.  Of course we had to chronicle this with a photo in an iconic red London telephone booth.  I have to admit, this was not the most pleasant experience!  The inside was disgusting and smelled so badly of urine it made me gag!

We eventually made our way to a small Italian restaurant down a little back alley, called Giuseppe's Ristorante Italiano. Walking in, we felt like we were walking into an old mobsters hideaway! However, it was seriously THE BEST Italian food I have EVER had!! And the owner actually came out and served us lemon-cello!  It was FABULOUS!

Following our delicious meal, we made our way across the street to the Borough Market, an open air market full of various vendors.  Although there was much to purchase, we only ended up purchasing a bottle of wine, or maybe two.

After the Market we stopped at a small little grocery store, which had an escalator which I found both odd and fascinating!  We don't have grocery stores like that in California!  Then we made our way back to our rented apartment for a relaxing evening in and get rested for our next days adventures!