Borough Market, London

Created with flickr slideshow from softsea.

With nary a Dickensian street urchin, bell-clanging leper or 'Oliver!'-esque flower seller to be seen, Borough market makes up for it by being a foodie paradise. Located near London Bridge, this glorious market is host to a vast array of fresh fruit, veg, meat, game and fish sellers, not to mention the army of artisnal food vendors. They'll be only to happy to talk to you, as well as provide you with samples to taste. I went for a wander one Saturday morning and ended up with bags of blood oranges, custard tarts and bramley apples. Oh, and a slice of chocolate cherry cake, some mead and a curry.

I spent far too much money there. So will you if you do it properly. Go take a look.

Links:

• Borough market's Flickr group (awesome shots in here): clickety
• How to get there: clickety
• BM's website (sign up & you get recipes, news & information on what's available): clickety

Billingsgate Fish Market, London

"Nah, mate - turn around and head back to Canary Wharf. Cut through the shopping centre - the shops will be closed but it's open, if you know wot I mean - and on the other side is a road. Go left out the door and follow it until you get to an overbridge. You should see the market on the other side of the road. It's huge, you won't miss it. You'll know you're not far off when you see the seagulls hanging 'round. Ha, fucking seagulls, ha ha!".

The last part of his comment turned out to be an invaluable tip.

Thanking the security guard manning his barrier arm on this cold, far-too-early part of a Saturday morning, I walked back to the station to try out his directions. I was you see, a bit lost. I'd been up since well before the crack of dawn, travelling from Surrey to London with the aim of visiting the Billingsgate fish market, the largest of its kind in the UK. Getting here was the easy part; finding the market was anything but.

River Cottage Canteen, Axminster

Somewhere out in that vast, cold, English wilderness lies my lunch. That's not to say it's waiting to be trapped, shot or enticed into the back of a windowless van; it's actually in Axminster, which is pretty much wilderness country given the length of time I'd spent holidaying recently in the hubub of London. Axminster, located in Devon, is home to the River Cottage Canteen, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's eatery, offering nosh made from goods and produce sourced from both River Cottage HQ and its locale, the south west of England. I'm a big fan of the lad, and wanting to see what was on offer, found myself seated on a train with my sister, hurtling across Britain's cold bottom for a spot of lunch.

Merry Christmas!

Have a fantastic day tomorrow, bless :)

The White Lady Pie Cart

Where do you go in Auckland when you feel like a late night scoff? One place in particular has satisfied the growling bellies of many a drunk, clubber, shift worker, insomniac and combinations thereof over the past few decades. And it's not on Twitter...

Happy Hanukkah!

Meet Dan and Gwen. Dan is a local lad; Waipawa born and raised, he's the former owner of a ferocious looking beard, is very well travelled, and in the course of his journeys, met Gwen. Gwen is an American (from Seattle), Jewish and has seen more of this great planet than compatriot Sarah Palin is ever likely to. We were talking at work one day about December and Christmas, when she mentioned that the season for her is experienced a little differently than your average kiwi.

Under Construction

Hello! The blog is undergoing a makeover, minus the Ty Pennington shouty-megaphone bits - I even have a proper web site designer doing the work! The preliminaries look brilliant and once revealed, I'll fill you in on all the background - it's going to look fantastic! I've a few posts to put up before that though, looking at jam and Aunt Daisy, Hanukkah, butcher's blocks and another way of cleaning pans! But those will have to wait, for I'm off to town for some last minute Christmas shopping before starting work at the restaurant. I'll fire off a Christmas post afterwards but till then, have a good day, be civil to each other, and spare a thought to those less fortunate than yourselves - in fact, do more than that; give them something, whether it be food, cash or your time. Bye for now...

Merry Christmas!!

May your Christmas be full of love and happiness - merry Christmas, everyone.