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Published: March 26th 2008
There is a theory that the minute an antipodean steps foot through Heathrow 5kg swoops in from the cosmos and affixes itself permanently to your backside. I have to disagree, rather I think the Heathrow injection hides for a couple of months then launches a sneak attack on your middle as the spare tyre of indulgence. While the lower half gets by with the extensive walking the UK requires as part of everyday life, the stomach expands in a direct proportions to the amount of time spent eating, drinking and sitting doing the eating and drinking.
Needless to say, despite fighting valiantly against this evil (but much discussed) phenomena, I feel the kgs creeping on and for the life of me can't work out why. Could it be the 'out 5 nights a week' lifestyle, the pub after work, the Sunday pub lunches, random drinks and the odd dinner? OK, even with my ability to ignore the obvious, I admit they probably contribute and the 15 minute walk to the station, odd nights of dancing til the early hours and rare traipse around the common or some foreign city aren't enough to save me, but I think I can at
From Pudding Lane
The old bakery district and the starting point of the Great Fire of London ... guess someone burnt the breadleast try to shift some of the blame!!
In my eternal quest to meet people and generate a self sustaining social life food has been an important element (and let's face it ... I loooovvvveeee food!). One thing about London and the UK is trying to get used to the differences from home. It's awful to compare, but you can't help yourself when you are craving familiar tastes or looking for an old favourite, but from those odd discussions friendships and fun can follow.
At my very first social networking adventure back in January I got talking to Lynn, a girl from Singapore about Laksa of all things. What I didn't know then was my quest for an authentic tasting Laksa (and someone to share it with) would pay unexpected dividends in the form of what is now known as
The Eating Extravaganza!! From those humble beginnings it has evolved into a monthly search for authentic tasting food of differing cuisines which takes us all over London. Us, being myself, Lynn and the third muskateer our Scouser token male, Michael, who turns up when and where we decide, lets us order for him and keeps us laughing. The
numbers have now started to grow as others want to get in on the action, however we are seeing a pattern ... somehow Michael is only happy if new recruits are female!
February was Singaporean/Malaysian near Gloucester Road (central) and yes Laksa was on the menu. March was supposed to be Korean in Finchly Central (north), but despite taking a booking our chosen restaurant wasn't open so we trawled the streets looking for an alternative and lucked into a wonderful, traditional chinese place - no idea what it's called, but if you drive down Finchly High Street and find a Thai place called
Pad Thai - it's the chinese place across the road and it's fabulous! April is to be Vietnamese and to keep up the diversity it's south to Brixton (and yes mum it is safe ... kindof).
In case you think all we do is eat and drink ... you'd be wrong ... we also go on walks about food! A couple of weeks ago as part of our adventuring we did a walk from Monument to Borough Market (a mecca for foodies which nobody who comes to London should miss). The walk talked about the
history of central London - the bakers, the fish markets, the food - and once it was over we got to run around and sample the tasty treats before finding a pub for conversation (had to fit it in somewhere!)
Life is good with new friends like Lynn & Michael ... we even shared an Easter dinner party together at Michaels (I had to trek to Zone 5 on the North side ... geez the lengths I go to for friends!) and have big plans for future outings and events!
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