London, Baby!

Someone else's birthday is definitely cause for celebration, and a couple of days ago, one such event was brewing down in London. I knew I wanted to bake some sort of sweet treat to take with me, but after my cake shenanigans, I thought it would probably be best to make something I'd made before, something that had turned out good.

Therefore, it was time for another batch of Korova Cookies. This time, I measured out everything with surgical precision, with my new set of spoons. I even used the correct ingredients this time, with no substitutions (except for my carob bits!). The end result was a cookie even more delicious than I thought possible. I had a go at making icing to go on top of these cookies, but I didn't have the right kind of sugar, so it didn't work too well; well enough to stick my chocolate buttons (aptly named "whizzers") to the top.



London is a great place to discover new fooderies, especially around Soho. I took my camera with me with the intention of trying out as many of them as possible, and posting some of the photos here. Unfortunately, every time a bought myself a plate of delicious food, I completely forgot about my camera and all that was on my mind was devouring the food!

Beetroot was first on the agenda. Usually I like to get myself a box of food from here, but I am always too full afterwards for desserts, so on this day, I went straight for the chocolate cake, and a cup of soya chai to wash it down with. The chocolate sauce topping the cake was gorgeous, although the cake itself wasn't as good as I'd hoped, tasting a bit too salty (the now familiar sign of too much chemical leavening).

Chips in the Montague Pike were certainly nothing to write home about, so moving swiftly on to my evening meal, I opted for an all-vegan Tai buffet. This food is about as filling as it gets - for £4 you can pile on the tofu until you can barely move. Bargain. The curry dishes all tasted pretty much the same - there are only so many ways you can dress up tofu and TVP. I've got to admit I'm not even a fan of giant lumps of protein, especially when they have been doused in soya sauce for hours. Too salty for my taste.

Another place I visited during my weekend was Vita Organic. This was a new venue for me, as I didn't even realise it was suitable until I asked, but everything there was delicious - lots of nice chunky vegetable dishes, albeit quite pricey.

I didn't make it to Mildred's, which is a shame, as it was the main one I wanted to try out. I also didn't get time to sample any of the goods at Neil's Yard.

On the cooking front, I've made a couple of dishes in the last week, including an this impromptu curry.


Today I went to a cook shop that I've never seen before, and found myself a nice cast iron pan for a bargain price of only £10! Not bad for a couple of kilos metal. I tried it just now, to make Isa's Punk Rock Chickpea Gravy, to go with some spinichey garlicky mashed potatoes, and some fried mushrooms and courgettes. I was expecting everything to taste of rust, but luckily it all tasted fine. It didn't look pretty though, so I didn't bother with a photo!