off to market

The London trip seems a million miles away these days but every now and then I get a little pop of memory and something I ate or saw from our travels leaps into mind.

In particular one day keeps coming back.  It was a Saturday when I went to the Borough Market and then met up with a new friend Gigi at the Bermondsey street fair in South London. It was just an all round brilliant day. The sun was shining, the markets were booming and bustling, tables piled high with loaves of bread and wheels of cheese. Brownies, cakes and turkish delight were in bacchanalian abundance, as well as tables of heirloom tomatoes and other wonderful produce.

I was a little overwhelmed by it all at first until I had an epiphany a few minutes in when I realised I didn't have to eat everything then and there, I could buy food to be enjoyed later. So I bought some brownies and cakes to take to Kristian and his mate Nick, who were working hard at the design fair in Earl's Court, and ate figs and cheese as I wandered round the stalls.

Luckily I didn't indulge too much at the market because Bermondsey Street was a whole other experience of Hog Roasts, country style fare and curiosities. Gigi and I met up with some of her friends, who had two of the cutest kids I've ever seen and proceeded to enjoy the most surreal few hours at the fair. There was a dog show, a kid show, a street performer dressed up in the manner of an extremely pregnant Victorian woman, who would periodically scream as if in labour and then launch at people to "give birth to them" through her dress. If that sounds weird, it's because it was. Luckily by this point Gigi and I had consumed a few beers so it was sort of bearable/ entertaining.

Quite a day indeed. The photos don't do it justice really but then again I think some of it is probably best left to the imagination.

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street moments

Greetings again! It's quite surreal to realise I've been back now for almost a month! Coming back to Earth has been a bit tricky and I'm still wading through a heck lot of photos and trying to get my head into Sydney and this topsy turvy spring weather and work and things. Still, there is something lovely about extending the trip feeling for as long as possible....

I was a bit like Alice in Londonland during our trip. I couldn't see enough. Everything was fascinating and magical: from misspelt, ardent graffiti to abandoned street cakes to little folk, spotted at the vibrant and loud Columbia flower market. I loved hearing the flower sellers there yelling out prices to the passing crowd, or in one vendors case giving good weather advice: 'Don't be a wally, grab a brolly, two pounds a bargain!'


There's something to be said for really looking at a place and retaining that sense of childlike wonder about the little details. Looking up and down brings into view a whole new world. I'm hoping to keep my travel eyes in place a bit longer and re-discover some of the little wonders of Sydney too.

Next up the promised food and markets!

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unexpected and wonderful

Well hello!

It's hard to believe I've been to London and back since my last post. What a trip - surprising, inspiring, vibrant, overwhelming - London was unexpected and wonderful and almost impossible to reduce to any one experience or moment.  Here are a few of my first impressions:

What an amazing city! London greeted us with blue skies and sunshine and so in the early few days we picnicked in parks and walked our legs off. We stayed in an apartment in Bethnal Green, which is near Shoreditch and Brick Lane in East London and was very vibrant and villagey. I loved that you could walk for fifteen minutes in any direction and encounter so many vastly different neighbourhoods, architectural styles, people, food....

One morning we walked for an hour or so from our apartment across town to Clerkenwell to find a shop, which sold nuts and bolts of all things, and accidentally stumbled across the best coffee in London from a tiny, little, Italian cafe in Hackney, and all because I needed to find a loo.

I think that is always my favourite way to explore a new city - no real agenda, no plans, just wander.
And what a city to wander in!

The above pics are from Bethnal Green, Brick Lane, Millenium Bridge, Carnaby Street, Shoreditch, Bloomsbury (British Museum), Hampstead and Bethnal Green again (where I had a 'how much is that doggie in the window?' moment).

Looking back over my photos from the trip I've realised I've got quite a few bakeries, shopfronts and markets to share with you too but for now it's good to be back home and also back here. I've missed this space while I've been away and missed you guys too. Hope all is well where you are.

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the other side

Learning to live with a little chaos is a skill I struggle with a fair bit of the time. I'm often caught up in looking down the road in an attempt to try to prepare myself for what (I think) is coming. But life has a way of reminding you that no matter how hard you try you can't control everything - sometimes it helps just seeing things in a different way.

I came across a wonderful story recently that captured this idea:

There is a young Buddhist man who whilst journeying home comes to the banks of a very wide river. He stares hopelessly at the great obstacle in front of him and ponders for hours how to cross such a wide barrier. Just when he is about to give up and continue on his journey away from the river, he sees a great teacher on the other side of the river. He yells out to the teacher, 'Oh wise one, can you tell me how to get to the other side of this river?"

The teacher thinks for a moment, looks up and down the river and yells back, "My son, you are on the other side."

Life can surprise you by showing you something beautiful or unexpected and changing your perspective on things even when you least expect it.

On the weekend, in the midst of some truly chaotic weather outside and swirling emotions inside, we went for a walk down to a dog park nearby and simply sat and watched a bunch of dogs frollicking around in the grass. It was joyous to watch and I felt rejuvenated by seeing those dogs scampering around enjoying their day. It made me realise that finding beauty and joy in the world is always possible, even when it seems unlikely, and that it can be a choice to see it. That in itself is a reassuring realisation I think and one that can be grasped during difficult times.  A good coffee, a call from a friend, blooming magnolias, apple crumble for dinner - these can all help light the way.

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best of british

How was your weekend?

It was amazingly warm here in Sydney so, after washing just about everything in the house, we got out and about for a few good walks around the neighbourhood, where I spotted gorgeous magnolias and fun murals.

And it seems I've become rather affected by the London Olympics, if my weekend baking is any indication. On Saturday I met up with a friend for coffee and cake at a cute little place on Norton Street and once the topic of cornish pasties came up there was no turning back.  They were going to be on the dinner menu one way or another.  My distant British heritage kicked into gear and, after a brief discussion on preferred ingredients including Alissa's recommendation to opt for pastry of the short-crust kind over the puff variety, it was on. I'll admit that I didn't use a recipe because sometimes on a Saturday night after a few glasses of shiraz that's how I roll but there are plenty of good ones out there, like here or here (Delia's pie version).  If you own a copy of Stephanie Alexander's The Cooks Companion you just know there's going to be one in there.

We ate our pasties with lashings of tomato sauce whilst watching the basketball and gymnastics and adding our own enthusiastic commentary to the proceedings. Then on Sunday, needing only the merest slight nudge of a suggestion from Kristian, I went and whipped up a batch of scones and then we ate a few of them somewhat guiltily in front of the marathon.

I have a feeling I'll be doing a lot of walking to work this week to compensate...

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a morning walk

On Sunday Kristian and I went to Natty's cafe in Stanmore, which has hands down pretty much the best breakfast trifle I've come across in a long while. It is delicious: crunchy, creamy, fruity, not too big and amazing value. If you haven't been already, clear your calendar for next weekend. Afterwards, we went for a long walk around our neighbourhood and talked about ideas and projects and marvelled at the changing leaves. Not too many days left of Autumn, so I'm soaking up as much colour as I can and pondering this quote in anticipation of the coming Winter months:

Au milieu de l'hiver, j'ai découvert en moi un invincible été.
In the midst of winter I discovered within me an invincible summer.

~Albert Camus

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small pleasures

Sometimes I feel like I'm a whirlwind of activity, constantly rushing from one thing to the next (or thinking about a million different things all at once - what I am doing, what I should be doing, what I want to be doing). I need to intentionally take the time to s l o w  d o w n .  .  .

Recently I've made the change from coffee to tea, a rather big deal for someone who has been a long time coffee drinker, and I have been finding that it has helped even me out. There is something more restful about tea, more contemplative.

I've also tried to start taking more pleasure in small, simple things. I have a tendency to get the winter blues and whilst it's not winter yet I've been trying to focus on the beautiful things about the changing season to try and keep positive - colourful leaves, getting out my favourite cardigans and scarfs and drinking lots of hot beverages out of fun cups, such as my favourite Austen above. When enjoying a nice cup of tea out of this mug I like to pretend I'm in an old-timey tea house in Bath spotting gallant chaps dashing in from the rain. Mmmm...

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a day off

Friday was the first day in ages when I didn't do housey stuff or work or anything remotely work-like. It was heaven. My mum and I had a day trip out, a surprisingly Ferris Bueller-y day when I think about it. We headed out to the Art Gallery to see the Picasso exhibition, compared notes on whether a 3/4 full flat white was stronger than a piccolo latte (they were about the same) ate lunch in the botanic gardens, chatted up a storm and watched the passers-by, something I feel like I only really make time to do when I'm overseas.

It was so refreshing to act like a tourist for a day in my home town. And besides some of the most enjoyable things to do in Sydney don't cost a lot - grabbing a coffee, finding a park bench with a view, discovering interesting architecture in hidden courtyards or lying on the grass. I don't think I've done nearly enough lying on the grass this last Summer, so hopefully I can get some more in before the weather gets too much cooler.

I hope you had a lovely weekend folks. Here's to the sunny days continuing this week.

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the island pt 2: wildlife

One of the most wonderful things about our trip for me was becoming so much more aware of my natural surroundings. I was like a child excitedly pointing out interesting plants and spotting baby terns sitting on tree branches as we cycled past each day on our way to the beach.

A few wildlife highlights:
- making friends with our Woodhen neighbours in the back garden of our apartment
- encountering a chilled out herd of cows on a forest walk to the other side of the island
- baby bird spotting
- dodging the intricate webs of the Golden Orb spiders
- encountering a reef shark on our second day as we swam in the shallows (I far too calmly insisted it was a Kingfish until Kristian spotted fins).
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morning walk

Inspired by Handmade Romance's fabulous sign spotting, I recorded a few wonderful things I spied on my morning walk to work. Most exciting of which I think may have been a fantastic little cafe discovery in Cafe Hernandez. It's tiny, filled with paintings and has a piano in the corner. Oh and it sells coffee and delicious things featuring chorizo.  Need I say more...

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