Sunday, June 14, 2009
Food for Thought
I've just noticed that it has been a few months again since I've blogged my thoughts on food, which is giving me some serious food for thought. Why is it that some evenings I can't wait to go online and share what I have eaten, seen and thought that day and others I don't even think of thinking? It's certainly not due to a lack of wonderful food in London. On the contrary.Since I last logged on to this space, I have discovered a cornucopia of new foodstuffs and eateries. The Asian greengrocers on Roman Road, for example, have been an endless source of new things. I've had some lovely Alphonso mangoes the other day. They are in season at the moment and the perfect accompaniment to cereal, yoghurt or, simply cut into cubes, a glass of iced tea on my sunny balcony. I've also been eying the plantains. I love fried ripe plantains - much sweeter than the green variety often served in Caribean places - but have not actually bought any yet. I have had some Afghan pomegranate, which is great for the taste buds, my health and my social conscience as it gives the population a true alternative to this most destructive of crops - the opium poppy. I have so far shied away from the the vegetables. I really have no idea what they are and have been too embarrassed to ask. Every time I'm in my little veg shop I make plans to ask next time. And every time I chicken out.
My Saturdays are now also filled with a new market routine. For a few weeks, I so acutely felt the loss of Temple Bar Market that I could not get myself to find a replacement. Then I ventured out to Borough Market, which I used to love in my previous life as a visitor to London and which I thought would become my new haunt. Unfortunately, while the choice of food is amazing and the prices mostly OK, I did have the impression that it was loosing its soul under a mass of tourists. Nice on a Friday, a no-go on a Saturday, so no longer an option. So Waitrose took its place. Not that that has much soul, but at least it doesn't have as many visitors. And then I read about Broadway Market and decided to give it a go. It's a leasurely 10-minute cycle ride away from home, it's got the same sort of farmer-ly, homey, but somehow forward-lookingly lefty atmosphere as Temple Bar Market and the perfect mix of stalls, shops and cafés for my needs. OK, it has no real farmers like Jenny, but I love the organic pork belly, the home made brownies, the apple pick'n mix (all of which I will photograph and describe in more detail next week) and, most of all Ca Phe VN, a Saigon-style street café selling the most amazing beverages I have tasted since I had my fist Macchiato at the Algerian Coffee Stores in Soho about 5 years ago. It's sweet and bitter and strong and uplifting. Great hot or cold. I sound like a press release... I think I should stop now and wait until next week's Broadway Market picture special. That will make my point better than a thousand words.
In fact, I think I am nearing a thousand words and have not even begun to answer my original question as to the reason of my frequent disappearance. I suppose the answer is multi-faceted. I work too much, so I don't have much time for blogging. I get home in time to blog or to cook, so I have been opting for the latter. Another reason is my dark kitchen. taking pictures of the outcome of my cooking adventures is difficult there, so I would really have to take my dinner out onto the balcony for proper lighting. Another is London, which gives me so much to see and do that even when I have time to cook, eat and blog, I tend to spend it running around the city. And yet another is human nature. If I let my routines slip, it's hard to get back into them. So I will make no promises, but I have every intention to get back into the habit of blogging. Maybe with a slight delay, maybe with some weird pictures, but I will be back. "Yeah, right!" I hear you say. "I belive that when I see it." Well, I guess we'll all have to wait and see.
Christine at 9:59 pm
