And It Feels Like Home

Be a daily do gooder

2012-01-01T10:49:00.000Z

I left my camera at my cousin's, so I'm going to be a bit tardy in my posts until I get it back. In the meantime, here's a picture I took a couple of months ago of some people doing good by shopping a local market in Hackney, which leads me to my new year resolve:

Instead of making a list of new year's resolutions that I abandon in a few months, I'm going to try to do something different this year. We live in an era where many people think that posting something on facebook is actually doing something. Pip over at Meet me at Mike's has started a campaign called: Be a daily do gooder. It's encouraging people to do something concrete.

Click on this post to read the rest and get the link.

She's suggesting to do a good thing every day of this year, not in an annoying "look at me I did good" kind of way, but more: "Look how fun doing good things are," or more likely in my case: "Bear with me while I explain how making a pie from scratch and selfishly eating most of it yourself is good."

Read Pip's post and join me in my year of good things.

Goodbye 2011

2011-12-31T23:10:00.002Z

It's time to put away all the holiday fripperies. I'll see you all next year.

Mushrooms are springing up all over Shoreditch

2011-12-30T15:35:00.001Z

Here's another of Christiaan Nagel's creations.

A mushroom grows in Shoreditch

2011-12-29T15:04:00.000Z

Christiaan Nagel puts his pieces in places that somehow seem organic, as if they naturally sprouted there.

Subway tile

2011-12-28T21:44:00.000Z

I love finding design details in unusual places, like this embossed tile in Wandstead underground station. It's not painted over. That's obviously how it was designed, as a subtle reminder of the London Underground symbol.

If you're squeamish about cats avert your eyes

2011-12-27T16:48:00.000Z

He thinks he's people.

The day after

2011-12-26T22:20:00.000Z

Looking at this, it's hard to believe that I clean as I cook. One of the many nice things about living in England is that the day after Christmas is a national holiday: Boxing Day. It gives everyone the chance to recover and clean up after Christmas, to shop the sales, and just plain old relax. Since Christmas was on a Saturday this year, that meant that Monday and Tuesday were holidays too.

Merry Christmas Rudolf

2011-12-25T20:54:00.000Z

I was so busy cooking that I didn't take a picture of my own, so here's a photo of the cats' dinner. If you'd like to know what I served the humans, click on the photo to see my £50 menu.

Appetisers
Crack dip with plain tortilla chips
Pear and Stilton crostini
Cheese board with Carr's water crackers

Dinner
Tri-colour salad
Roast turkey - free range
cranberry sauce
gravy
stuffing -- choice of vegetarian or sausage
Portabello mushrooms stuffed with Stilton
Brown butter almond Brussels sprouts
Roasted parsnips and carrots
Roasted potatoes

Beverages
Raspberry liqueur
Irish cream
Wine -- brought by Cathy and Mark

Dessert
Christmas cake
New York cheesecake with whipped cream and raspberries - made by Sarah

How not to decorate a Christmas cake

2011-12-24T23:14:00.000Z

From the Ladybird book of cake decorating. Why use nasty Christmas cake decorations when I have a lovely Playmobile nativity scene?

My friend Sarah came over on Christmas Eve and helped me decorate the Christmas cake. We couldn't restrain ourselves, and had to taste a piece before decorating, but I thought the end result can out all right despite the missing piece. What do you think?I've received a lot of positive feedback from foodies on this, and the photo has been re-posted various places, but it turns out that people were impressed because the metallic dragees are illegal in California.

Click on the photo to see how it looked before.

Homemade Irish cream

2011-12-23T11:04:00.000Z

Experiments with homemade festive drinks continue. I made this for a party and it was a great hit -- cheaper yet much better than Baileys. I already had the whiskey and vanilla extract. All other ingredients were part of my £50 shop:

1 cup condensed milk (1 can)

1 cup double cream (for my American readers, extra thick whipping cream or Bavarian cream will work just as well)

1 cup whiskey

1 tsp vanilla extract (use the good alcohol-based not the nasty oil-based extracts popular in the UK)

1 tsp instant coffee

Combine all ingredients in a blender and and blend on high until ingredients are combined--about 60 seconds.

Pour into a sterilised bottle. I bought mine at the moonshine section of Wilkinsons. If you're giving this as a gift you can use a decorative bottle, after sterilising it with boiling water.

Enjoy.

Art exhibit or nativity?

2011-12-22T22:28:00.000Z

Though it looks a bit like the launch of a new perfume, or a pop-up cocktail bar, this nativity at Covent Garden was a cross between art installation and traditional creche. The outside was so fantastic that I expected great things inside. I was disappointed to find a film projecting images of a modern nativity scene.

If you'd like something more traditional, click on the photo to see Covent Garden's giant Christmas tree

And, of course, I had to take a picture of the the sparkly decorations inside the market.

An impulse buy

2011-12-21T22:28:00.000Z

I'm finished with Christmas shopping and only bought one impulse buy, this tin of biscuits from Fortnam and Mason. It's a small version of the Fortnam and Mason and a music box. I was tempted to keep it myself, but good sense prevailed.

Christmas feasting for £50

2011-12-20T10:14:00.000Z

The task of staying to a budget of £50 for all of Christmas dinner, plus Christmas Eve and boxing day continues. By comparing prices and limiting the amount of food I bought and the places I shopped, I managed to do it. Here's a picture of are all my ingredients, including the Christmas cake made from a Mary Berry Christmas cake kit bought at half price for £5. I feel the need to emphasis here this is was not a cake mix, but a kit were all the ingredients, including including brandied fruit (v. expensive when bought separately) and marzipan, jam and royal icing to frost it with. I price the cake ingredients separately before buying the kit, and they would have cost £15. How did I do it? The only concession I made was to buy a frozen turkey instead of a fresh one. It was £6 cheaper I'm a vegetarian, but you can't have meat eaters over for Christmas dinner and serve them tofu--or worse yet, Tofurky. However, I'm quite concerned about the way animals who are raised for meat are treated, so it had to be free range. That was my biggest expense. I made everything from scratch and stayed away from Waitrose. I bought a few sale items-such as the cake kit--but only if they were on my list.

More festive lights

2011-12-19T10:11:00.000Z

This one is even nicer. I noticed a strange phenomena this year. As expected, Oxford street was extremely crowded. However, it was eerily quite. People were shuffling along, concentrating their mobile phones. As soon as I noticed this, I realised that about half the people on the street were doing this.

That's the stuff of sci-fi horror.

Festive lights on Oxford Street

2011-12-18T10:23:00.000Z

Postage is getting so expensive that I did all my shopping for my family in the US online this year. There's something wrong when the postage is more expensive than the gift.Anyway, since the things that must be bought early are taken care of, this is my first chance to venture out into the frey. I don't really like Oxford Street, but the lights are lovely!

A bit more decorating for Christmas

2011-12-17T21:51:00.000Z

I've had this clothes rack/bit of plumbing hanging around for about a year, so thought I'd put it up for Christmas. The height is a bit unusual, but I think it works.

Homemade raspberry liqueur

2011-12-16T23:10:00.000Z

As part of my resolution to be thrifty, I've decided to make my own liqueurs for Christmas. This recipe makes enough to fill two wine bottles. I bought mine at Wilkinsons, but you can re-use bottles as long as you sterilise them with boiling water. I'm taking it to a party.

I saw this made on television and tried to replicate it as closely as possible.

I started with two quartsof raspberries. The original recipe used fresh, but I had a bunch of frozen so I used that.

I added a pint of fresh blackberries to give it a fresh flavour.

I covered added enough water to cover the berries, then heated the water over a medium flame until the berries melted.

Then I added a pound of sugar and stirred the mixture until the berries melted.

I ran the mixture through a sieve. As you can see in the photo, I used a large spoon to push all the liquid through.

I added half a bottle of vodka to the berry liquid.

Pour into sterilised bottles and let it sit a couple of days before drinking. Apparently the mixture gets more alcoholic the longer it sits.

I already had all the ingredients, except the blackberries, which I bought for £1. So far that's my total Christmas spend. Since I want my fresh ingredients to be fresh, I'll buy the rest next week.

Grotto in the ghetto

2011-12-15T18:09:00.000Z

The grotto at Wood Green Mall is the saddest I've seen this season. Adding insult to injury, the pieces of paper on the boxes say "empty wrapped package".

Surely Shopping City can do better than this? It's bad enough that the flagship store is Primark, but to perpetuate this down-at-heel image at every turn does our high street no good.

Update. This photo made it into Shit London.

Christmas decorations and more superscrimping

2011-12-14T02:43:00.000Z

I wanted to buy a wreath exactly like this at Borough Market, but it was £12 so I restrained myself. It paid off. I bought this from one of the fruit & veg stalls on Wood Green high road for £6.

Winter not so wonderland

2011-12-13T15:36:00.000Z

The first time I went to Winter Wonderland I thought it might turn into a nice Christmas tradition, but it was actually quite horrible and I ended up getting into a screaming argument with my brother and abandoning him and his family to find their own way home.

I forgot about my previous heinous experience and went back again this year. It was horribly crowded and all the booths had crappy-ass tat. The rides were bog-standard carnival fare, but horribly crowded with every manner of rowdy teen. It was worse than Halloween at Knotts Berry Farm.
Ted said to me: "No one really like this, do they?"

This year's Christmas tree

2011-12-12T18:54:00.000Z

When I was young we used to go to the Christmas tree farms that grew under the high voltage electricity farms in Southern California. The land was were the railroads used to be and was unusable for anything else. We'd pick a tree. A worker cut it down with a chainsaw and my dad tied it to the roof of the car. We'd have a lovely fresh tree that would make the whole house smell fresh and Christmassy, and the trees growing throughout the year would add oxygen to the air of a smoggy suburb.

I love a fresh tree.However, trees in London are cut down somewhere else and transported to lots around the city. Those that aren't used are just dumped. They don't tend to be very large. I don't have a car so transporting the size of tree that I like is problematic, anyway. You can hardly take a seven foot tree on the bus, and cab drivers just refuse to do it.

So I've ended up with a plastic tree. I was considering also getting a live one in a pot this year, but sanity prevailed. Anyway, here's my tree.

A superscrimpers Christmas

2011-12-11T11:10:00.000Z

I've set myself a budget to only spend £50 for food this Christmas. This is to include an organic free-range turkey, and all the food for Christmas eve, Christmas day and boxing day. I'm looking forward to the challenge.

To do this I'll need to make a lot of things from scratch. It would be easy to do this in a cheap and nasty way, with frozen veg, box mixes and other nasty processed food, but my plan is to make the nicest food within my ability.

As every superscrimper knows, the first step to bountiful frugality is to start with what you have. After cleaning out my larder, fridge and freezer, this is the food I already have that I'll base my Christmas menu on. You'll notice that I found a box of stuffing mix in the larder. It was only 50p! No wonder people buy it. The expiration date on it is 2013 hmm.... I'll mix it with my special homemade stuffing and no one will know the difference.

Nativity in a neighbour's garden

2011-12-10T20:42:00.000Z

I snapped this photo on my street walking back from the neighbourhood party. It was a nice evening, I wasn't on the winning team and I was even unlucky with the tombola, but the food was nice, my enchiladas were all eaten and I was happy to meet a few people I didn't know yet. Even Ted enjoyed himself. He spent the evening chatting with an American who lives in Germany.

This neighbourhood is shifting slightly. I'm not hoping for gentrification. Hipsters add nothing to a community, and those annoying people with the big prams who call themselves yummy mummies would never come over the hill from Crouch End. However, I'm happy to be running into more like-minded individuals, those who care about the environment, history, books and movies that are out of the mainstream. In other words, people who can speak coherently.

Festive food: authentic enchilada sauce

2011-12-09T00:46:00.000Z

Our neighbourhood quiz night and Christmas party is tomorrow, so I'm making enchiladas. We don't use canned enchilada sauce in this house. Real enchilada sauce only has thre ingredients: Dried New Mexico, a pinch of salt and water. It takes some soaking times but is dead easy to make and people will gobble it up.
First take the stems off a bag of New Mexico chilies. You'll need at least 10 chilies.

Take out the seeds and put them aside. They can be used later if the sauce needs more heat.

Open up the dry peppers and scald them on a hot pan or griddle.
Then cover with boiling water and soak overnight.
The next day, blend the peppers and water.
Run the sauce through a sieve, then simmer the liquid until thickened.
Add salt to taste.
If the sauce is too hot, add a little flour, if it's too mild add a few seeds and spin in the blender.

Organising for Christmas: before and after

2011-12-08T19:43:00.000Z

Before

I want to make sure I don't overspend this Christmas. Of course a stingy Christmas would be miserable, so I think I can still enjoy a lavish Christmas buy making as may things as possible, and not buying doubles. The first step is to evaluate what I already have, so I need to clean out the larder.

What a mess!

And there's a bunch of stuff in here that's not food, or even kitchen-related, such as that paper shredder

After

My after photos might not look that much tidier, but this is after I bought the dry goods I needed for Christmas.

Most importantly, I now know what I have, where to find it and what I don't need to buy. I found five containers of salt and six bottles of vinegar, surely enough to last through next year!

I even have room for the liqueurs -- and the Christmas cake I just made.

Another Christmas activity that needs to be done early

2011-12-07T13:44:00.000Z

Christmas cards.

Obviously, I didn't get my act together early enough last year. When I got out my supplies to see what I needed to buy, I discovered a cache of cards that were written and addressed already. A quick walk to the post office and the job was done and dusted! Though it may seem a bit disorganised if they happen to be dated last year.

Escaping from the cold

2011-12-06T20:45:00.000Z

I had to get some ingredients for the enchiladas for our neighbourhood Christmas party, so I got up extra-early and went to Burough Market. It turns out that most of the stallholders don't come until 10 o'clock. It was cold so I bought a cup of coffee, but that didn't help much.Luckily Southwark Cathedral was open.

I went inside and found a brass band in an early-morning rehearsal. It was one of those unexpected nice moments that come along when you least expect them. I sat it the warm church and thought of my dad, who was a brass player, while I listened to Christmas music.Apparently, there's been a church on this site since AD606, perhaps earlier. Please excuse my dodgy picture. You have to buy a photography permit to take photos inside the church so I was taking sneaky photos.

My first Christmas cake

2011-12-05T10:01:00.000Z

You know the drill. Click on the photo to see the whole story.

No countdown to Christmas is complete without baked goods, so why not start with a Christmas cake? I've eaten many in my life, but never made one myself. I think I've suffered fear of fruitcake, but also, it has to be made ahead of time and cured in brandy.

This year -- in my new organised state of mind, I decided to make Mary Berry's Christmas cake.

The instructions were easy to follow, yet complete, right down to the parchment lid I now know is necessary for an even bake.

Here it is out of the oven and ready to be cured in brandy for a couple of weeks, at least.

Plain wrap brandy

2011-12-04T02:08:00.000Z

I needed some brandy for my Christmas cooking, especially the Christmas cake, so I stopped by Tesco on the way home. All the grannies had been there before and grabbed up all the good stuff. This is all that's left, in a PLASTIC bottle. Aware that my window of opportunity is closing--that cake's got to be made in time to cure--I bought it anyway. Hopefully it will be fine for cooking.

The joys of a period property

2011-12-03T01:52:00.000Z

Not all Christmas prep is fun. This is the third time this year the plumber has come and broken a hole in the kitchen ceiling to fix the plumbing between the floors. The house was built without a bathroom--baths were taken in a tin tub in the scullery--so the plumbing is not organic to the architecture. I'm convinced that's why we have so many problems with the bathroom pipes.

After a couple of weeks of leaving the beams to dry, our builder came and plastered up the hole, then left it to dry for a couple of days before painting.

Now it's clean and fresh for Christmas, and most importantly, an Arctic wind is no longer blowing into the kitchen. Hopefully we've fixed all leaks now!

Of course the wires for the lighting were soaked, so this temporary shade will have to do until after Christmas.

Festive graffiti

2011-12-02T22:56:00.000Z

What better than a giant turkey to get you ready for the festive season? I think this is done by ROA, the same artist who does those giant rats in Shoreditch. Does anyone know?

Get out the advent calendars

2011-12-01T16:30:00.000Z

This year the cats have their own advent calendars. Each window has a small cellophane bag with a couple of pieces of freeze-dried meat in it. The type of meat is printed on the bag in German. I feel the need to say that I didn't buy them. They were a free gift with purchase from the people I buy cat food from. It seems that Germans are even more pet crazy than the English.

And then we have the advent calenders for humans. This is the first year since I moved from San Francisco that I've got it together early enough to take them down from the attic before Christmas eve. I'd forgotten I had so many. One hasn't ever been opened. I may give that to my nephew next year.

In the interest of limited space, I decided to dispense with the naff cardboard sets they came with a go free form. Here's one...

...and here's another.

I've also mashed all the scenes together, along with a nativity set and a few other relevant holidays.

Making a list

2011-11-30T12:34:00.000Z

I've decided to get organised for Christmas this year. You can see how well this is going, since I'm posting this late through the magic of Blogger. I've actually been doing instead of blogging, so some of my tasks are done already.

The first step is to make a list. I always seem to miss doing the things that need to be done ahead of time so this list has already helped me avoid that. I'll post them as I complete them, though not necessarily in this order.

Here goes:

1. Make a list -- ha done!
2. Get out the advent calendars.
3. Make Christmas cake.
4. Fix some lingering bits and bobs in the house.
5. Winter-proof.
6. Christmas cards -- I've got a load written and addressed left over from last year. Please forgive me if you get one of these and think it's tacky.
7. Start tree early -- I'm on the fence about the environmental impact of a real tree vs. my plastic one in the attic.
8. Clean out pantry and fridge ready for Christmas baking
9. Christmas baking
10. Make a lush Christmas dinner on a budget
11. Buy and wrap presents
12. Make food for x-mas parties.
13. Make time for friends and family and go to parties. This may seem like a no-brainer, but I often become so exhausted or disorganised that I miss some events.
14. Get all the decorations out of the attic and put them up.
15. Clean the house.
16. Make special treats.

I'm supposed to have enough things so I can do one a day on the run up to Christmas, so I'm a bit short. Things will come up, plus some of these items will take several days to complete.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

2011-11-28T22:46:00.000Z

The decorations at Westfield East are quite nice. The sky is clear and blue but it feels festive.

Christmas tree at Brunswick Centre

2011-11-27T13:00:00.000Z

It's beginning to get a bit festive everywhere.

All my postings of Brunswick Centre may give the impression that I live close to it. I don't, but it's about a 15 minute tube ride, which make it my most convenint, yet not closest, Waitrose to shop at.

First Christmas windows of the season

2011-11-26T12:44:00.000Z

Shops probably all do their windows at the same time, but this window display at Heals is the first I've seen this season.

The Shard O'Glass

2011-11-25T15:40:00.000Z

Here's another picture of The Shard. Every time I see it. construction has massively progressed.

An English Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T15:22:00.117Z

To see all the photos in this post click on the pie.

I grew up celebrating special days in a way that was foreign to everyone around us, so I always find it strange when people get perturbed when a holiday they grew up with isn't celebrated in other countries.

I love Thanksgiving. Even though we don't get a day off here, I always make something close to a Thanksgiving dinner on the proper day. Sometimes that means a turkey but sometimes, as a vegetarian, I don't always feel like cooking a turkey. The fact that this is not a traditional holiday here offers a bit of flexibility.

I had to go all the way out to Barnet today so I didn't have time for the full-on feast, but I thought it would be nice to at least make a pumpkin pie. Fresh pumpkins seem to be few and far between this year, so I stopped at Waitrose to pick up a can of Libby's pumpkin. For my San Francisco readers, Waitrose is similar to Andronicos. It has a good American section and is the only place I can find something as exotic as canned pumpkin.

At the front of the store a student with a California drawl shouted "Happy Thanksgiving everyone!" Then she shrugged and turned to the friend she was with and said: "They just don't get it."

What was everyone supposed to get? She was standing in a shop that had a Thanksgiving display. That wasn't the only craziness I saw. In the poultry aisle another American was crying and shouting at the manager "How could you run out of turkeys?"

Umm....it's Thanksgiving afternoon. Shouldn't that bird have already been in the oven for a couple of hours?

I bought my canned pumpkin and made my pie.

Waitrose also had fresh cranberries so I made cranberry sauce.

Of course, by then I was committed to making a full on dinner, so I made stuffing.

Served with quorn for the vegetarian.

And organic free-range chicken breast for the meat eater. Notice how the meat eater didn't pile his plate full of everything at once.

No playing

2011-11-22T08:04:00.000Z

Get to work!

Quilting class

2011-11-16T22:18:00.000Z

I've been going to a quilting class with Haringey Time Bank.

Our first project: A banner for Time Bank.I highly recommend Time Bank to all locals. It's a great way to get to know people in the neighbourhood, and you can take all sorts of classes for free in exchange for volunteering a bit of your own time.

Turning words into pictures

2011-11-15T22:56:00.008Z

Since this blog is mostly photographs, a visual image of my most used words seems appropriate.

Looking at the words, it's a pretty good indication of what I blather about. You've probably noticed that the words I use most often aren't very fancy. Perhaps I should broaden my vocabulary and try again in a couple of months?

If you want to make a word cloud of your own blog I did mine at Wordle. Click on the picture and follow the link to try your own.

Occupy Bloomburg

2011-11-14T20:44:00.000Z

A large group of Occupy people have moved to the park across the street from Bloomburg. I stumbled upon then while walking through the city. They're very organised. As you can see from this photo they have a rota. They also have a library, a communal cafe in a large mess tent and what looks like solar-powered bathing facilities.

Big society at the Big Green Bookshop

2011-11-04T11:45:00.000Z

David Cameron's idea of Big Society has been much maligned lately, and rightly so. However, the real concept seems to have piqued the interest of a few social researchers,

A professor in Dublin and a former Haringey councillor conducted an academic study on community engagement in Haringey. They wrote a book about it and held a launch party at the Big Green Bookshop. I'm quite interested in this subject, especially since the book promised a comparison of social engagement in the east of the borough with the west of the borough, so I went along.

David Lammy, MP from Tottenham came and spoke, as did the authors. It was a good night out. While some of their ideas are a bit academic, I got the chance to speak to each of them individually and gain some insight about mobilising a community that would otherwise be apathetic.

The Shard is coming along

2011-11-02T20:44:00.000Z

Click on the photo to see the full image.

Take courage

2011-10-25T00:07:00.000+01:00

Housing near Burough market is expensive but it hasn't always been this way. It used to be the site of workhouses, factories and hovels for the poor. Perhaps this building housed some sort of philanthropic or religious organisation. I don't know, but I suppose that signs like this were meant to give hope to those in desperate circumstances.

Wandstead clinic

2011-10-24T01:02:00.000+01:00

I've recently discovered Wanstead a part of London that where could consider living. Is used to be part of Essex, but that must have been a while ago because it now has a London post code.

Look at the local doctors' office. It may look fairly ordinary from afar, but the details are very good: slate roof, wood sash windows, and none of the dodgy plastic signs the NHS is fond of.

A rare peek inside the Brunswick Centre

2011-10-22T21:41:00.000+01:00

The Brunswick Centre is one of those experiments in brutalist architecture popular in mid-1960s London. It was meant to mirror the Georgian terraces it replaced but in a modern context, in concrete. The general consensus at the time wasn't so flattering, but now it's a Grade II listed building.

It's right next to Russell Square station -- prime real estate, but it wasn't always that way. It was planned as a private mixed-use development, but the developers couldn't attract enough buyers, so it was sold to Camden council and used as council housing. It still is. Only 80 out of 400 tenants exercised their right to buy so it's still mostly social housing. It fell into disrepair and the shops on the ground floor were shabby and by 2000 most of the shop spaces were unoccupied. But then, the building experienced a Renaissance. Waitrose became the anchor store and other various boutiques and restaurants followed.

As part of the Bloomesbury Festival, the residents' association was giving tours. I jumped at the chance to get a rare glimpse of the residential side of the building. Here's our tour group listening to the tour guide who's a resident.

Here's an interior "boulevard," wide enough for a milk truck. It was immediately apparent that these are coveted apartments. All communal areas are spotlessly clean, and no one is loitering in the hallways smoking of acting menacing in any way. Most of the residents have lived here for years.

Here's the community centre/ meeting place.

And of course, on of the best things about living here is the view of Bloomsbury.

Signs at Berkley Square

2011-10-21T00:49:00.000+01:00

I don't understand how some councils can get it so right while others are abysmal. Look at the signs in the picture. They're informational to all -- even those who can't read -- yet they're understated and blend with the surroundings. If this was in Haringey, the signs would be ugly, garish and plastic.

Toasters in Shoreditch

2011-10-20T00:12:00.000+01:00

I should know who the artist is, but don't. Can anyone enlighten me?

A taste of olde England

2011-10-19T12:40:00.000+01:00

As you can see by the prices I didn't take this photo in London. I love going out to villages where traditional food and customs are still run of the mill, like this butcher and bake shop in Kent.

Sometimes gentrification isn't bad

2011-10-18T10:43:00.000+01:00

Click on the photo to see the rest of the quote.
I bang on about conservation areas and plastic windows so much that I get a bit of a reputation for being a recidivist. I'm not. I truly believe that modern done well is very nice, and is the sign of a world-class city.
The Thames is a good example of this. In the olden days it was the sewer of London. I suppose this wasn't too bad for the first couple of hundred years when the population was small enough that the tide could handle the effluent and the ocean could absorb it. But by the Victorian era, the stench became unbearable. In the summer of 1858, the smell of untreated sewage became known as the Great Stink. It overwhelmed central London so badly that that government ground to a halt when many people left.
The Thames was filthy even in my mother's lifetime. She and her sisters used to always warn us away from the river with tales of dead dogs. Apparently my youngest uncle fell into the river once as a boy and everyone was amazed that he didn't sicken with a deathly illness.
Needless to say, property along the river was not desirable. Building housed the very poor, then later the type of factories that Dickens has forever ingrained into the psyche of the Western world. I remember some of these derelict buildings when I was little.
It's the opposite now. The warehouses, factories and workhouses that are left have been converted into posh flats for the new yuppie, the hipster. Most of the rest was replaced by multimillion pound apartment and office buildings, or restored into tourist attractions, like the Globe Theatre.

Boy bunting

2011-10-17T00:36:00.000+01:00

I bought some bunting to use at next month's market, also fairs and other bunting-related events, such as Christmas. Click on the picture for more.

It's called boy bunting. I'm assuming that's because some of the common bunting themes--pink flowers and Hello Kitty--are left out.

Local market at the Big Green Bookshop

2011-10-16T09:51:00.000+01:00

Here's my little corner of the market this month. Click on the photo to see my wares.

The lady next to me was selling South American sandwiches. They looked delicious.

I brought out the old chestnuts this month. I've perfected the recipes and they sell out. Here are the carrot cakes.

and peanut butter cookies. I also made Tollhouse cookies.

Brunswick market

2011-10-15T15:18:00.000+01:00

I'm back at Brunswick Centre again. There seems to be a market here every weekend now. Less than 10 years ago this centre was derelict. Now it's a bustling destination for shopping and eating in pleasant surroundings. Haringey council should take note.

Graffiti or sign to a comedy club?

2011-10-14T21:15:00.000+01:00

I can't tell. Something about it seems a bit commercialised, though.

Building the revolution: Soviet art and architecture 1915-1935

2011-10-13T21:34:00.013+01:00

The Royal Academy of Arts has a new sculpture in its courtyard, from its exhibit on Soviet Art and Architecture.

A herd of bunnies

2011-10-12T16:12:00.010+01:00

At Spittalfields Market. I've been trying to get a photo of these for months, but usually there are a herd of people all over them. You may say that photos are more interesting with people in them, but there's something about how these rabbits are scaled that make it difficult to get a good angle when hipsters--or children are sitting on them. They just block the bunnies.

Birdhouses in the park

2011-10-11T20:44:00.000+01:00

I noticed these birdhouses nailed to the trees in one of the many green squares of Bloomsbury. It gave me the impression that this little park is loved and well cared for, a nice feeling in these times of austerity. But then, it is Bloomsbury. I doubt that the people living around this patch of green are feeling the pinch.

Graffiti in Shoreditch

2011-10-10T09:36:00.000+01:00

Ben Eine is gone and this has replaced it. It's a bit of a hot mess, but I suppose that's the nature of graffiti. Does anyone know who the artist is?

Who says craft has to be cutesy?

2011-10-08T19:10:00.030+01:00

I went to the Renegade Craft Fair at Truman Brewery this weekend. It was just a happy accident. I happened to go to Brick Lane on exactly the right day.

Click on the photo to see inside, and to see one of the things I bought.

I saw this in Brighton about a year ago but was too shy to ask the price so it's not exactly an impulse buy. It's a sentiment I really should live by!

Cat on a mat

2011-10-07T23:52:00.005+01:00

I like the way the shadow frames her.

iSad

2011-10-06T23:36:00.015+01:00

It was business as usual in the Apple store today, but loads of people gathered outside to take photos of the growing shrine to Steve Jobs. Some people left flowers, notes and an apple with a bite taken out of it. I suppose the photographers wanted to pay respect in some way, or maybe just remember the moment.

First postmark

2011-10-05T14:56:00.019+01:00

I love living somewhere with historic reminders around every corner. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that I love history.
Unfortunately, I never did well in the subject at school. It was always presented in such a boring way, with long lists of dates and dry facts to memorise, even in primary school. I remember going to the library and getting caught up reading biographies and other stories behind the facts, but I never remembered the dates I was supposed to, and did badly on tests. It's a pity that no teacher recognised the greater knowledge I picked up with my incessant reading.
Anyway, some foolish strangers on the street laughed at me when I snapped this, as if I was a tourist taking a silly photo. So many people are like that, not appreciating the history that surrounds them.

A sunny house on a rainy day

2011-10-04T23:02:00.010+01:00

I'd like it better if it didn't have those awful plastic windows. If the house is lucky, maybe someone will put proper windows in someday.

Hidden muse

2011-10-03T14:46:00.013+01:00

Hidden down an alley in a muse in Notting Hill is Alice Temperley's workshop, right next door to the Museum of Advertising. I like the way it's decorated.

Teddy made them

2011-10-02T17:34:00.002+01:00

This is one of my favourite Sunday lunches: veggie tacos with Quorn filling. They were made with the last of the tortillas from Borough market. I really should learn how to make corn tortillas myself.

I made the rice.

PostIt space invader

2011-10-01T19:12:00.011+01:00

These are springing up all around London. I imagine an army of bored office workers, ordering extra PostIt notepads.
Click on the photo and look at what happened when a facade was added to the building next door. The builders covered up half the Goodge Street sign.

Volunteer tomato plant yields fruit

2011-09-30T10:24:00.001+01:00

Here it is. The volunteer tomato plant that sprung up in my front garden has produced fruit. They appear to be cherry tomatoes.

Meet the new chav

2011-09-29T21:41:00.002+01:00

The urban fox has become demonised. I like this saucy reminder that he still has some charm. Does anyone know who the artist is?

Union Jack cart

2011-09-28T12:28:00.011+01:00

Spotted at lunchtime in Mayfair. I see a lot of these carts in old photos. They seemed to be used by street vendors selling tat or food, but not in places like Mayfair. The paint job is nice in a shabby sort of way.

Sign spotted in a tower block

2011-09-27T12:23:00.009+01:00

Yes, it's stating the obvious, but I like the explanatory style. It's a bit softer than: "Do it or else." I don't know how well it works, but there was no rubbish lying around on the day of my visit.

Old Shopfront in Hackney

2011-09-26T09:46:00.007+01:00

Many parts of Hackney went straight from poor to gentrification, so they weren't touched by the plastic window brigade in-between. Sure this looks ugly at the moment, but a few small changes could take it back to its original shopfront.

The Museum of Everything - at Selfridges

2011-09-25T21:50:00.037+01:00

The museum of everything has a special exhibit at Selfridges is well worth a visit. This show features hundreds, perhaps thousands of pieces grouped into magical collections in a warren of small rooms. And I don't use the word "magical" loosely.

It's one of those exhibits you have to visit more than once, just to take it all in. Click on the photo to see more.

I don't think many of the artists, if any, had formal training so I suppose you could call it outsider art, but it's more that that. I found myself dumbstruck by the glimpse some of these pieces gave me into another place and time, another way of being or simply a different point of view. I suppose that's what all art does in some way, but today art is so often commercialised that this was a refreshing change. What's more amazing is that all the artwork was created by people with physical and developmental handicaps.

I was aching to take some sneaky photos but signs in every room threatened £1,000 fine for photographs. I had to settle for taking a picture of the window display.

Bon Secours convent

2011-09-24T22:12:00.008+01:00

A convent--or perhaps convent school--no more. Development is in full swing. I hope they keep the sign above the door.

Spitalfields graffiti

2011-09-23T10:03:00.004+01:00

Does anyone know who the artist is?

Crazy crowds at Westfield East

2011-09-22T22:00:00.022+01:00

Although I like Westfield, San Francisco, I hate Westfield, West London, so I don't know what possessed me to go to Westfield, East. I suppose I was curious to see what all the fuss was about and to compare East with West. Plus it's only a short train ride from Dalston, so it's much more convenient than going all the way out West. And what's not to like about a mall that's connected to the underground tunnel? It's so Manhattan before 9/11.

I think I went too soon, though. It opened last week but the crowds are still crazy!

In case the first picture doesn't look crowded enough, here's another view. Click on the photo to see more.

A Day out of the office

2011-09-20T21:46:00.032+01:00

Most companies in England hold events called "off sites." They're meant to give employees a day out of the office to bond. Perhaps it involves a little training, perhaps a state of the union address. They vary.

This year we spent the day painting a community centre near Woolwich Arsenal. It was a nice change of pace and we went to a local pub for a drink and dinner afterwards. Here's a few of my fellow employees at the pub.

And here are a few painting.

Graffiti at Hackney central

2011-09-19T22:37:00.019+01:00

New artists are popping up everywhere. Does anyone know who this is?

Something weird is happening with Blogger. It keeps hiding my text on the main page, so if an idea seems incomplete, click on the photo to read more.

Worship at the local cinema

2011-09-18T20:37:00.071+01:00

This reminds me of something that happened when I worked for the Medicare department of a health insurance company in San Francisco.

Click on the picture for the full story.
I conducted orientation sessions. My group of members were all over 65 so they always had questions about their healthcare coverage, plus I'd hold the meetings at restaurants and serve a free breakfast or lunch, so my meetings were well attended. Of course, I always sent out reminder notices and called the people who were signed up to attend.

When a larger company took over the one I worked for we held extra large orientations, inviting all existing members. We knew they would have lots of questions so we anticipated a large turnout. We even rented out a local cinema to hold the seminars. When I contacted the central office to get a list of members to send my invitation to, I was told, "Don't waste your time with that. We do it all centrally now." I felt a twinge of worry, but told myself not to be a control freak.

When the day came, I went a little early to set up and was surprised that no one was there already as usual. Eventually one man came through the door. When he realised there was a free lunch on offer he called his sister-in-law and neighbor, so I gave my presentation to an audience of three. It was the smallest meeting I ever gave -- in the largest location.

A weekend brunch

2011-09-17T20:15:00.017+01:00

I've finally figured out how to poach the perfect egg so I could make Eggs Benedict properly.

And Eggs Florentine for the vegetarian. There's only one Florentine because I'm slimming.
The secret to perfect poached eggs is to stay away from all those poachy accouterments. I crack the eggs into a ladle, then slowly tip them into lightly boiling water with a tiny bit of vinegar in it, to stop the eggs becoming stringy. When the egg white goes opaque, I lift the eggs out with the same ladle and put them on a paper towel to dry. It really is that easy.

From the top deck

2011-09-16T20:51:00.008+01:00

View from the top of of the bus on the way to Spitalfields.

Small cottage big garden

2011-09-15T23:12:00.006+01:00

This is one of the many reasons I love Deal, in Kent. It's still got all those weird little quirky things that people who live in other countries think England is full of.

Cute advertising

2011-09-14T16:47:00.000+01:00

The connection between the hippo from Moomentroll and bathrooms and kitchens is not clear, but maybe that's why I like it.

The story of my life

2011-09-13T23:19:00.005+01:00

And a funny sign I saw outside a pub. Click on the photo to read it.

Brocant at Deal

2011-09-12T10:07:00.074+01:00

Deal, a lovely little seaside village in Kent holds a brocant festival twice a year. It's not to be missed. Click on the picture if you want to see more photos.

Both times I've been to Deal, I've noticed strange little old world things, the type of thing considered typically English by people in other countries. I'd put this hurdy gurdy in that category. Note that it's been towed to the sea front behind a pickup truck.

Here's the man behind the curtain.

Deal is made up of loads of narrow alleyways and cottages with much of their original features left intact, but that's not why we went there.

We went for the brocant fair...

...for the junk.

However, this chanteuse was a highlight too.

Noisy food

2011-09-11T18:13:00.023+01:00

On a hot day like today, it's nice to sit down for lunch at an open air cafe. I don't care much for eating on the street in the middle of London, so the next best thing is a cafe that has a nice open feeling, along with large open windows, like Guerilla Burger on James street.

We went there, only to discover that it's been turned into Giraffe Cafe. The menu seemed to be pretty much the same. They've even kept the same decor. However, the music was so loud that we couldn't carry on a conversation or talk to the wait staff. On top of that, a Mariachi band started playing outside the restaurant across the street. I'm not kidding. As you can see, the road is narrow, and the doors were open, so all in all, it was a loud lunch.

Atkinsons carillon

2011-09-10T23:09:00.017+01:00

Every Friday there's a concert played by the carillon in this bell tower on Bond street.

I've walked past this sign many times but never paid attention to it until I was lucky enough to leave work in time to hear the somewhat churchly music. Atkinsons has been replaced by Salvatore Ferragamo but the bells ring on.

Fashion's night out

2011-09-08T23:20:00.029+01:00

As part of Fashion's night out, all the West End retail held a party in the streets.

My photos don't really do it justice but here's the portable bangle bowling alley Hermes put up. Rupert Sanderson set up roller disco, while many other shops hosted bands and DJs such as Queens of Noize who DJd at Stella McCartney.

Police action

2011-09-06T23:37:00.000+01:00

These police vans drove by Piccadilly Circus this evening. There's nothing remarkable in that, except that the door was open on one of the vans while it was moving.

I came home and scanned the news online, but nothing was mentioned. Perhaps it was just an exercise?

Facadism in progress

2011-09-05T16:42:00.012+01:00

Another example of modern facadism. When done well, I think it works. Most likely, I won't have the chance to go into this building to see the end result, unless it becomes a public building like a pub.

Sunday at the boot

2011-09-04T20:09:00.021+01:00

Going to the boot is my favourite way to spend a Sunday afternoon. This one is held in the parking lot at Battersea Technical College. A local church holds services in the school auditorium while the boot fair's going on. It's lovely to hear the choir as you shop.

Blue Mushroom

2011-09-03T13:14:00.000+01:00

Here's another one of the Christiaan Nagel's mushroom sculptures in Shoreditch. Apparently, he put a bunch of them in the Serpentine in Hyde Park, in honor of the royal wedding.

Documenting the obvious

2011-09-02T11:02:00.000+01:00

You can't throw a rock in Mayfair without hitting a commemorative plaque, further proof that the West has always been richer and more prestigious than the East.

Of course the rich also understand the importance of creating a desire for history and heritage, and therefore the value of their real estate.

Foxy Loxy

2011-09-01T23:19:00.006+01:00

Spotted on the street in Deal.

Horse drill

2011-08-31T23:31:00.011+01:00

I ran into this herd of horses on my way to the office. The riders were each leading two horses. I think they came out of the Saville Row police station.

Pop up antique shop

2011-08-30T23:49:00.010+01:00

I went to my regular lunch spot at Berkley Square only to find that half of it had been taken over by a giant temporary structure. I like flowers on the wall, though.

Enchilada fest

2011-08-29T23:47:00.000+01:00

Avocado enchiladas, cheese enchiladas, chicken enchiladas and crack dip.

In search of Mexican ingredients

2011-08-28T21:56:00.018+01:00

In honor of a cousin's engagement, I'm having people over for dinner. First stop: Borough Market to pick up some corn tortillas. Corn tortillas in regular grocery stores in the UK are really flour tortillas with a bit of added corn meal. They turn into a gummy mess when you try to make enchiladas out of them. And there's no such thing as a Mexican grocery store. I keep thinking that I should open an American Grocer in Wood Green, but it's all a pipe dream.

Anyway, I ran over at lunch, but couldn't remember where the Mexican booth was. Luckily I found it just as I was going to run back to work.

Fruit and veg stall

2011-08-27T21:36:00.002+01:00

Wood Green High Road. A cynic would say that it's obviously Wood Green High road because of what's partially hidden behind the bus.

My feral cat

2011-08-26T22:25:00.000+01:00

Well, he used to be. Not anymore.