Borough Market - Pt. 1

I would kill kittens to have a market like Borough Market in London near me. Ok, maybe not kittens, but I would sacrifice something!

Borough Market is located in Southwark on the southern side of the Thames River in central London and specializes in wholesale and retail sales of fruits, vegetables, and fine foods. It has been in operation for 2000 years - yeah, that's three zeros - and covers 4.5 acres! It’s open for retail business Fridays 12-6 and Saturdays 9-4. It should be at the top of your tourist list if colorful displays of produce make you squeal and pitch a tent.

My Fat Ass Also Ate...

Ploughman’s lunch with Brie, cheddar, baguette, chutney, potatoes, and pickles. Sorry, the light was very low as this was in an underground tunnel at Gordon’s Wine Bar in London. Very good. Have a bit of this and a bit of that.

Asparagus and mushroom pie bought from a stall at Borough Market in London.

Paper dosa with mala kofta at Diwana in London. Very Good.

Sticky Toffee Pudding (My new favorite dessert.) at a pub in Edinburgh.

Spanish tortilla with olives and various salads in Edinburgh.

Vegetarian haggis, neeps, and tatties and a wee dram at Tass in Edinburgh. Haggis is just meat, onions, and oats – not as gross as you imagine. The veggie haggis was just lovely.

Goat cheese tart with papaya chutney at The World’s End in Edinburgh.

Pasta with olives, eggplant, tomatoes, and zucchini at the pub in the Kintail Lodge Hotel in Sheil Bridge, Scotland. One of the tastier meals!
Toast and jam, fried egg, tomatoes, and mushrooms. My only full English breakfast, thank god, at a B&B in Ratagan, Scotland. I like tomatoes, but not warm and for breakfast. I don't like fried eggs.

Malaya curry at Prince of India in Portree, Isle of Skye. The strangest and worst curry I’ve ever had. It had pineapple in it and was extremely sweet. My partner’s Masala curry was even sweeter. Stay away from this place unless you like a cup of sugar in your curry.

Penne pasta with tomato sauce, leeks, and red pepper. Self-made and eaten at the Dun Flodigarry hostel on the Isle of Skye. Very good.

Natto and burdock sushi and inari in London

Vegetarian tartiflette from the weekend French market near Swiss Cottage Station in London.

Vegetarian Ambledown pies from Get Real in the frozen food section of the grocer. Very good.

Red Thai pasta salad with eggplant and peas from a news stand in Chelsea.

Moroccan fruity couscous from Marks and Spencer. Very good take-away.

Fire roasted balsamic veggie burrito from Giraffe in London.

Umm...I'm currently eating salads.

UK Grocery Shopping

I love shopping in different markets, looking at, and tying new foods. I’m a sucker for packaging. Yeah, I’m a consumer – a hungry one.

This is my bounty from my shopping trip to the store on my first day in London. I ate this stuff, too!

Cucumber
Halloumi cheese – Where have you been all my life? More on this later.
Kiwis
Red currants – Yummy in my cereal.
Fruit and nut bar
Tagliatelle pasta
Rice Dream
Baba ganoush – Addictive.
Tomatoes
Camembert cheese – This smelled like hell for some reason and was thrown away after a few days of opening the fridge and accusing the other person of committing foul acts.
Green olives – I used to hate these. It was really the salt I hated. I now like green olives
Primavera sauce – They have loads of good sauces ready to go. Don’t feel guilty for our frozen food/no cook society. Theirs is not frozen, but still no cook. It’s called “Ready Meals.”
Chocolate and raspberry puds (GÜ has sleek, sexy packaging that sucks you in. Pud is short for pudding.)
Orange juice
Dried figs
Chips – More on this later
Box of fruit bars
Small pitas
Dried fruit flakes – Also yummy in my cereal.
More chips

The UK Sandwich Diaries

There’s a take-away sandwich culture in the UK that is not present in the US. Packaged sandwiches are everywhere – grocers, news stands, coffee shops, and even take-away sandwich specialty stores.

It’s fast food, but generally good and freshly made. These sandwiches aren’t the scarey egg sandwiches in the 7-11 or greasy fast food sandwiches, but more like a sandwich you’d pack for your lunch. They are fattening, though. This is due to the cheese that is in almost every sandwich.

I was trying to think of what lunch item to compare it to in the US, but couldn’t come up with anything. Fast food hamburger? No, it’s not found in as many places. Maybe a muffin? That’s found many places, but millions of people aren’t grabbing just a muffin for lunch. It's the UK's own sandwich revolution, I guess.

When not grabbing a sandwich to go and faced with ordering a sandwich, I found a few words that mystified me.
Bloomer - soft white loaf of bread.
Sarnie - slang for sandwich.
Bap - round soft bread usually smaller than a loaf.

So, here are the sandwiches I ate…


Feta, tomato, red onion, cucumber and greens with a yogurt mint spread on sundried tomato bread from Eat in London.
Bean and tofu patty with mango chutney and greens on ciabatta from a vegetarian stall at Borough Market in London. ( I shared the sandwich. I don't have man hands. Although, mine are rougher and more calloused than his.)
Brie, sundried tomatoes, herbed mayo, and mixed greens on wheat bread from Pret a Manger in London.
Lincolnshire vegetarian sausage panini with baked beans, egg, and mayo on the Great North Eastern Railway from London to Edinburgh. This is a full English breakfast on bread and was very good.
Mixed cheese and red onion on oatmeal bread from Tesco in Edinburgh, Scotland. Disgusted with fat content, I opted for the "slimmer" that day. Tesco is my least favorite grocer and this was my least favorite sandwich.
Cheese, olive, and pesto panini in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Caerphilly and three-leek sausage sandwich with carmalized onions at a pub in Edinburgh, Scotland. I, too, wondered what the hell caerphilly was. It turns out it's a cheese originally made in Caerphilly, Wales.

Egg mayonnaise sandwich with cucumbers and tomatoes on a seeded bun shaped like a shamrock from O'Briens in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Cheddar and coleslaw sandwich on multigrain bread in Pitlochry, Scotland.

Babybel cheese and coleslaw on a roll - with the best view at the Dun Flodigarry hostel (Highly recommended) on the Isle of Skye!

Veggie burger with cheddar, mushrooms and tomatoes at a cafe in Portree on the Isle of Skye.

Mature cheddar with mayo, salad greens, and sweet pickle on malted grain bread from a newsstand at the airport in Inverness, Scotland. Very good.

Brie, grape , and cranberry sauce with watercress and mayo on oat and cranberry bread from Marks and Spencer's Simply Food stores and eaten at Queen Mary's Garden in Regent's Park in London. Very good. In fact, the best take-away!
Aged cheddar with pret pickle (sweet chutney), greens, and tomatoes on wheat bread from Pret and eaten in Green Park in London.
Wensleydale cheese and caramelised carrot chutney with watercress and wild rocket on whole grain bread from Marks and Spencer in London and eaten on the plane back to the States.
Cheers, UK sandwiches!

I'm Back

I departed with a song, so I’ll return with a song. Substitute the word fat for back and that’s how I feel.

Eating out every day and not getting my daily exercise at work (even though I walked many miles each day) has left me feeling flabby. I’m putting a moratorium on cheese and am vowing to eat more fruits and vegetables. It’s amazing what two weeks of pure gluttony can do!

I’ve got about 300 pictures to download and sort through, mail to read, work to do, cat to console, etc. So, give me a little while and I’ll post something edible.