Borough Market

Summer has finally arrived. This week, the weather has been sitting around the high teens to low 20s. But on Saturday, it was a beautiful 25 degrees, and best of all, Bern and I survived this crazy week and a half, and we get the weekend all to ourselves to relax. He was oncall the previous whole weekend, meaning he was working 12 days straight. Some days, he wouldn't get home till ten or 11 at night.

So we headed to the famous market, which is only 10 mins walk from our place. The hussle and bussle of the place really lifted our mood, and the produce that were sold (mainly food, wine and sweets) were truly amazing. If you are a lover of food (like I am), then this is a place not to miss when in London. My only advice would be to come mid morning as the crowd becomes quite unbearable by noon. Plus, you might have to queue for 15-30 mins to get food! But be warned, things are not cheap here..

So the tour of the market started with the Spanish store. Beautiful jamon being sliced off the bone, chillies and garlic everywhere, and the smell of chorizo sausages cooked on the barbie was so tantalising that we quickly purchased a chorizo burger. The burger was made of good sourdough patties and in it was a chorizo sausage cut in half, roasted Piquillo pepper and rocket. Simple, but quite yummy.

Not quite satiated after the burger, we found a Swiss store selling Raclette and Cheesy Toasted Sandwich. This sandwich was so cheesy and greasy, it made me a little bit sick. For 5 quids, better to stick with the chorizo burger.

For dessert, I would have loved to get a pastry/cake from one of the many pattiseries at the market, but that cheesy sandwich really ruined my appetite! I'll just have to come back another time. So instead, we bought two punnets of the juiciest English strawberries...

In this pic are the things we bought from the market. English asparagus is suppose to be the best in the world, and Bern has been going on and on about it, saying we really need to try it. That bunch of asparagus was 5 quids! (almost 10 Aussie dollars...which I thought was ridiculous). I also purchased some heirloom tomatoes, and that big ugly, knobbly-looking one was 2 quid on its own. The really tough thing about this market is that they do not label the prices well, so you do not really know how much it is until you get to the counter. I used the tomatoes to make a panzenella salad. The little package in the middle contains 50g of foie gras and black truffle pate, the best buy of the day. Truly indulgent, but so delicious.

The market also sells a variety of wild mushrooms and tomatoes.

 We both really enjoyed the market and would definitely go again.

Me in my element (Stacks of gruyere cheese in the background)

Which one??? which one??

Bern in his element...

The rest of afternoon was spent browsing at the British Museum which will be in another post. But the thing that caught my eye most was the English tea served at the museum cafe! Haha... I am so sad. Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Weekend in Bath

Bern and I had our first holiday and weekend getaway. Bath, Somerset is a beautiful city that is about 1 1/2 hr train from London. It is named Bath for its historical landmark, the natural spring Bath which was built by the Romans. Bath is the only natural hot springs in the UK.The Romans felt that the springs must be from God and they buit a temple to worship the goddess Minerva. The Bath house was built near the temple, and there is a dedicated spring/bath for the goddess Minerva, and no one was allowed to use it.

However, the Celts were already using the springs prior to the Roman invasion and they were worshipping the Goddess Saulis. Hence, the Bath is also known as Aqua Saulis. A very beatiful and quaint place, with many of the buldings made of limestone.

The Abbey

The beautiful gardens in Bath

The streets of Bath

Bath is also known for, of all things, buns. The Bath buns according to Wikipedia is "possibly descended from the 18th century 'Bath cake'. References to Bath buns date from 1763, and they are still produced in the Bath area of England. The original 18th century recipe used a brioche or rich egg and butter dough which was then covered with caraway seeds coated in several layers of sugar similar to French dragée. It is said to have been devised by Dr. William Oliver who was a doctor treating visitors who came to Bath for the spa waters. He later invented the Bath Oliver biscuit, when Bath buns proved to be too fattening for his patients with rheumatism." Hilarious!

The Sally Lunn Buns, however, is said to have originated in Bath with the arrival in 1680 of a Huguenot immigrant called Solange (Sollie) Luyon who brought her native skill and worked at a Bath bakery - this bakery is now known as Sally Lunn's House and the original recipe buns are available for sale or consumption in the dining rooms. Sally Lunn is a corruption of her name and the bun became a very popular delicacy in Georgian England as its taste and lightness allowed it to be enjoyed as a sweet or savoury dish. This is all according to Wikipedia....

Bern and I had a taste of the Sally Lunn buns. Mine was topped with a cinnamon butter, while Bern had a savoury one, topped with stew. To be honest, it was just a soft bun, nothing that special, if not for its historical value. The dining room we were in was called the Jane Austen Room. She apparently lived in Bath for a few years of her life.

We also caught up with my cousin Sharon, who is studying architecture in Bath.

And with every trip, inevitably, pigging out! Bern and I had a lovely dinner at a little French Bistro called La Barrique which served food in Petit Plats (little dishes) to share.

Bern has a big week coming up with being oncall on Tuesday, the entire weekend an the following Friday. So, it was nice to get away when we could...

To both Mums, happy belated Mother's Day! It was a shame that we could not celebrate it with you but we look forward to seeing you guys real soon!

Love,
 Bern and Jo

Bank Holiday

Where do I start? London is so beautiful! Definitely a postcard city... and the weather cleared up for most of the afternoon allowing us to explore. We had yum cha (or Dim Sum as it is called in UK and I think the rest of the world except Australia) with Bern's colleagues. I will let the pictures do the talking, and these pics definitely do not do London justice.

Chinatown, a must in every city I guess.

Leicester Square

Trafalgar Square

The Queen's Gardens at Buckingham palace

Spring tulips

Big Ben

The Eye on the Thames

A Subway Mascot! Anthony, this one's for you!

The tower bridge at night

Today, I will be out and about with a list of things to do, one of itis to get myself a Lebara mobile phone plan! Cheap for international calls, I've been told....

Sunday in Kent

After a good night sleep, I was ready for my first day in London. However, the weather was miserable. Wet and cold, I have brought the Melbourne weather with me. We braved the wet weather and chill, and decided to visit Bern's cousin and Uncle Raj in Kent. Sindy and Cyrus have two beautiful kids, Alex (aged 8) and Charlie (aged 4). We took the train in, and Cyrus was kind enough to pick us up from the station. We did a big shop up for our pantry at their local Sainsbury. I managed to also purchase a Gressingham duck (? apparently a cross between a Peking and Mallard) which was really exciting! I was told to try it out by some friends if I could find it.

We then had dinner with the family at a Nando's a  local shopping centre followed by Krispy Kremes for dessert!

Sindy, Alex, Cyrus and Charlie

Alex and Bern

Uncle Raj and I

Reunited

Hi everyone! It is so good to see Bern again after 3 weeks of being apart. My flight from Melbourne to London was uneventful, one of the very few trips that I was not sick/throwing up. Etihad airlines is not bad, but not as good as Emirates.

Getting out of immigration was a bit of a pain especially when carrying a Malaysian passport despite having a legit UK visa. I was interrogated for a bit, but they let me go. When we got back to the apartment, I crashed in bed for a few hours. The photo above is taken outside our apartment, which is in Shad Thames. Behind us is the Tower Bridge.

London is so pretty! I ca't wait to explore it further...

We are really excited to be here, but at the same time missing everyone in Melbourne heaps. I will continue to post pics and stories of our journey on this blog. Please feel free to comment, it would be lovely to hear from all of you!

Lotsa love, Jo Jo