It’s now 11:15 p.m. and my iTunes is on shuffle mode, and how disturbing is it that I am loving a song whose refrain is “I see you baby, shaking that ass – shaking that ass.”
Well, I never claimed to have any taste in music.
We had a great weekend – a busy Saturday and a lazy Sunday. Balance in all things
On Saturday, after my always-highly-anticipated 12 noon step class with the world-famous (well, maybe not now, but surely one day) Julian, Jon and I met at Angel and decided to visit Borough Market for lunch. I really can’t remember the last time we went there by ourselves. Not that it’s better or worse without friends in tow, but it is definitely different. We felt like we were seeing the market like first-time visitors, rather than as people who go there once a month to show it to guests.
The Brindisa chorizo guys are kind of wearing out their welcome, I think. The line crawled, and it’s not like it was ever a particularly speedy line. How do all these people know about the Brindisa chorizo guys? Still, I waited, and yeah, the chorizo line was long, but the sandwich is still definitely worth the £3.25. The spicy, salty, juicy chorizo balanced by the cool, crunchy, bitter arugula and sweet, slick red pepper on a freshly-toasted roll dripping in olive oil – mmmm. Definitely still the sandwich to beat, even if it’s not a secret.
Jon and I tried a very good Thai chicken wrap from the Fusebox across the street from Brindisa (gotta do something while waiting on line). The chicken is crispy on the outside and juicy and tender on the inside, and it’s grilled fresh, right in front of the Fusebox shop. The chicken gets wrapped in with crunchy greens and a nice sweet and spicy peanut sauce. Totally worth the £3.50, so a good option to keep in mind when next I am tired of the chorizo guys milking their fame.
Encouraged by our trying out this “new” ready-made food, we tried a few others, which ranged from incredibly gross (i.e., the allegedly “New Orleans style” oyster po’ boy sandwich from the Wright Brothers Oyster & Porter House). Costing an outrageous £4, the four meagre oysters are battered and fried fresh (good) but then drowned in a sauce that tastes like thousand-island from a bottle (nasty). And then the baguette on which the oysters are served is tough and stale (the worst). Nothing delicate or fresh about it. So Jon and I picked out the four oysters, tried to savor them, and then tossed the rest of that giant, hard baguette slimed in bright-orange sauce. Avoid at all costs.
You’d think we would just get another Thai chicken wrap or maybe wait on line again for another chorizo sandwich. But we figured that after such a miss, the cosmic balance of eating justice meant we were bound to find another hit. Plus it’s been over a year since we tried anything new at the Market. So we walked over to an Indian stand that seemed to be doing brisk business. It looked like a family-run gig, and the grandma-looking lady seemed to be running a tight ship. So we ordered a chicken tikka wrap, and I guess I was hoping it’d be like the lunches I’d grab in DC from Naan and Beyond. But in fact, the wrap was a flour tortilla (i.e., not naan), and the chicken inside was just dry and flavourless. No amount of chilli paste and coriander is going to mask that kind of dryness. Another £3.50 down the drain.
Well, at least we tried. Borough Market is still a great place to go for ingredients, but my feeling is that a lot of the ready-to-eat food is not worth the money.
Jon and I had a nice time wandering 
around the Market and spotting some of the new openings (e.g., Fish! has started a fish & chips stand and Roast does takeaway salt beef sandwiches that were, according to Jon, delish), and then we walked along the South Bank to enjoy the mild weather and catch the Thames River Festival.
In front of the Tate Modern, there were flamenco demonstrations and a group offering a go on a trapeze for £7 a pop. So Jon decided to give it a try. He had to wait forever because of course each person trying the trapeze gets a lot of individual attention, so it’s not like the line moves quickly. I won’t tell you what happened, but let’s just say Jon’s not joining the circus anytime soon.
On Saturday night, we threw a party with Jane and two other friends. Well, more like we rented a room at a pub and asked people to come by. And the party really worked out. Lots of people came, and the room had a nice buzzy, crowded feel, but still comfortable. It was a little too warm in there, but otherwise, I had a great time. Cathy, of course, was there, and I caught up with Tai and Daphne; Sam and Jamie, Trent and Tanya, and Cheryl. Jill and Emmet came by after their dinner plans, as did Chloe and Steve, even though the Tap was already darkened by then. We closed the place down, leaving around 2 a.m., which annoyed the pub workers, I’m sure, given that last call was at 1. But we were having such a great time, and the evening definitely left me with the warm and fuzzies. It really amazed me how many new friends I know. I love it.
An American in London 