Good Grub and Eating Humble Pie in London

Hi there lovely blog folk.  I am well and truly back to reality after our trip to that there London Town.....sitting here covered from head to foot in paint!  I'm on annual leave now and trying to get as much painting done as possible, apart from getting some paint I haven't been out of the house at all.  Most unlike me not to skip off to the beach :)

Anyway I'm not going to show you photos of me painting, far too boring, instead I will share some of the photos from our trip.  A while ago in one of my 'Cooking the Books' posts I shared a recipe from Yotam Ottolenghi 'Plenty' which you can find under 'Gluten Free' on the side bar.  I love his style of food so I booked lunch at Nopi.  Oh my goodness it was delicious!  We had lots of little dishes to share, they printed me off my own gluten free menu which I could keep (yes I am that sad) and even the bearded one enjoyed it.  It's made me even keener to cook more of the recipes from his book, even though they have a gazillion ingredients!

On Sunday we were planning to go over to Camden Market but it was 'chucking' it down and I was still feeling a little fragile so we headed over to the V & A.  It is such a beautiful building with the most amazing exhibitions.  I had read about the Alexander McQueen exhibition Savage Beauty, now I'm not one for fashion, my dress code is usually scruffy old jeans. When I see the fashion shows on the television I usually mutter something along the lines of 'looks ridiculous'  but I have to eat humble pie now.  Having seen the clothes 'in the flesh' as it were, yes they are completely mad but WOW.  The hours and the skill that has gone into the costumes is mind blowing (yes I'm getting totally carried away just thinking about it)  They were cleverly exhibited, accompanied by evocative  music, fantastic lighting, it was like going to the theatre and an art exhibition all rolled into to one.   His talent will be missed.   If you get the chance I would highly recommend it.  Here a little film about the exhibition. (We were not allowed to take photos)

 Sadly lack of time and energy meant that I missed a lot of the rooms in the huge building, but here are some photos of beautiful objects that caught my eye as I wondered around waiting for our time slot for Savage Beauty.

As I said, it was chucking it down but I will share a photo of one of my favourite statues in London (including raindrops on my lens)

and also a local jogger?!

The end of our trip was spoiled by a most unpleasant experience on the train.  We were in the 'quiet carriage' when a group of drunken idiots got on and proceeded to use the foulest of language including sexually explicit, vile conversations and throw beer around the carriage.  The train manger told them off once after someone complained, and then disappeared for the rest of the journey as they continued to cause mayhem (as he probably knew they would).  We have written to complain, which they answered with a list of excuses, and saying we should have moved.  No! Why should we, they should have been thrown off the train!   I fail to see why on earth they would allow people who were obviously drunk and already causing trouble on the station to get on the train in the first place.  There should be zero tolerance to this behaviour.  I'm a pretty tough cookie and I was with the bearded one, but if I had been travelling alone I would have felt very intimidated.


Normal service will now be resumed, no more trips planned for a while.

Chickpea xx