brindisa man sandwich.

Chorizo sandwich with piquillo pepper and arugula from Brindisa at Borough Market. Onboard The Boat. This is what Haarlemmerstraat looked like at 11am, a little too early for lunch. Which is too bad, because Hollandaluz was setting up to sell chorizo sandwiches. A comparison would've been tasty.

total fox.

I know this photo is kind of Nessie-ish, but really, it's true: the creature next to the green spherical thing is a big-ass fox. In the backyard here at Crouch End. He (she) then proceeded to leap up on to the fence and tiptoe his (her) way across the backyards looking for something to plunder. Moments later we saw him come back the same way with something rodent-oriented in his mouth. Quite surprising, the whole thing: the fox's size (way bigger than a coyote) and obvious wildness vs. the population density of this neighborhood. Don't know how he (she) does it, but it totally explains the Sounds Of Unpleasant Death I heard in the middle of the night a couple days ago.

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martha @ tate.

everybody dies.

As promised, we ate at St. John Bread and Wine Tuesday night. Below, in order: Rock Oysters. Slip Sole with Monk's Beard. Potted Rabbit. Ox Heart with Chickweed and Pickled Walnut. Ham and Wild Dandelion. Suckling Kid, Chicory, Anchovy. Custard Tart with Prunes.

I liked most of the food, some quite a lot, but indeed it wasn't All That, miss Z, or life-changing in any way (except that I ate someone's heart). It was really basic stuff, borderline boring.

One problem was perhaps that the evening's menu didn't have that many challenging-sounding things on it to begin with, and even less by the time we got there. I'd popped by earlier in the day to look at the menu since I was in the nabe, and this is what it looked like at noon:

So, for example, the afternoon's Monk's Beard, Anchovy & Duck Egg had been replaced by Slip Sole & Monk's Beard, and this was the most disappointing dish of the night.

Highlights for me were the ham and the ox heart. And the rabbit. Could eat those again today. Fish and especially dessert were disappointing. And the room, which I liked the look of, was loud, loud enough to where it became a bit difficult to comfortably converse...which wasn't so awesome.

Overall, though...I liked the food, and am thinking about dropping back in today to try one more thing if I end up in the neighborhood. A big Sorry to all you animal participants, and thanks for giving it up.

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unrelatedly.

no. 10 chinese restaurant, london.

OK, this has been the best meal I've had in London so far (and I haven't had a bad one). Spotty internet access prevents me commenting further at the mo. Below: "crushed cucumber with garlic and chili oil". It wasn't really crushed. Below below: dry-cooked duck with Sichuan pepper. £13 not including Tsingtao. I didn't even order off of the white specials board; these dishes came off the Sichuan pages at the beginning of the menu.

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breathing tube.

Bhel puri again yesterday, along with a rasa vada on the left. This time I was at Sagar in the West End, and...it was good, but not as close to my Atlanta memories as Diwana from Saturday. Another good South Indian lunch, though, and under £10.

Below: sign outside a pub in Brixton, which I did not venture inside. In fact, I had a pub-free day yesterday. I know, amazing.

After Brixton, I had a couple of hours to kill, so I got off the tube in Islington with no map and no clear plan. And then walked in almost the right direction for about 2.5 hours. Which was mostly pleasant, except for the last 45 minutes or so during which my feet nearly went on a transport strike.

I did see the most visually-appealing McDonalds ever:

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Tonight, dinner at St. John Bread and Wine with the birthdayish girl and her manly man. The menu looks veddy iiiiinteresting, boss.

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out in the streets.

I went to Electric Avenue today. Don't laugh, but I didn't know there was an actual Electric Avenue until I was standing on it today. C'mon, I can't be cool all the time.

And here's what it looked like.

Basically like a very big and more urban, African, and food-centric Dappermarkt. Which sounds great, right? But I was kind of disappointed, I guess only because we have a large West Indian population in Amsterdam, and this was kind of shockingly similar. And remembered Brixton being edgy as fuck the last time I was there. It probably was.

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Martha is almost four and a half years old. The things that have come out of her mouth in the past couple days are killing me, completely. the last one was, "Mummy, may I water the courgettes?"

I hope to have video soon.

monday monday.

I just realized today that babies make me a little nervous because you can't talk to them.

Note to self: Borough Market is open again on Thursday, this should be part of the plan.

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Above is Crouch End. And below is a set of sensible groupings, strictly for my reference, although if you'd like to join me, you're welcome to.

Victoria line to Warren St, then Tottenham Court Road heading south

Mr. Toppers, 10 Moor St, Chinatown.

Quinto Books, 59 Charing Cross Rd.

Sagar, 17 Percy Street.

National Gallery, Trafalgar Square.

any line to Liverpool St heading east

Rough Trade East, Old Truman Brewery.

Brick Lane Market.

Green & Red, 51 Bethnal Green Rd.

Lahore Kebab House.

Victoria Line south to Brixton.

Brixton Market

Picadilly Line south to Earl's Court or Victoria Line north, change in Green Park

No 10.

home bodies.

So, after a day of banging around from farmers' market to Hampstead Heath to Highgate, back to Crouch End for shopping, Kenny made Jamie Oliver's cauliflower risotto, and it was awesome. I'm going to rewrite the recipe at some point for simplification's sake, but here it is as Kenny made it. You should make it too, it's really good, perfect for an adventurous vegetarian palate.

tiptoe.

These photos were taken from the train last Friday, heading south to Hoek van Holland.

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the giggly pig.

Sausage sandwiches from The Giggly Pig and basbousa at Alexandra Palace farmers' market. Parliament Hill @ Hampstead Heath. A pint at The Wrestlers in Highgate afterwards, a nice pub.

I'm actually dying of hunger at the moment b/c I took the day off from eating (though I did taste some samples of the sausage: merguez, classic, and something called wow wow, all good). Cauliflower risotto from Jamie Oliver's Italy cookbook is on the menu for dinner, cooked by Kenny, which promises to be a good thing.

bung hole.

Sierra Nevada Torpedo at The Rake @ Borough Market. A great, great guitar shop called Music Ground on Denmark St. in Soho. Please don't let me go back there. A Krispy Kreme somewhere on High Holborn Street. I didn't try one. A ukulele battle at a pub on Charing Cross Road. The one guy has a pink ukulele and the other guy is drinking a strawberry beer. A pub called The Bung Hole.

Still running around pretty non-stop, I'll do a post using complete sentences when I get a second.

londontown.

Boat. Borough Market. A photo of Kappacasein, "the cheese sandwich guy" next to the cathedral, which is actually two or three girls. Regardless, along with Brindisa's chorizo sandwich, this is supposed to be one of the "must-try" things at the market. Of course, I didn't try one. Bhel Puri.

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