An Excursion South Of The Sewer
I ventured well past the big sewer this morning, travelling underneath it on the Overground, through the Thames Tunnel to New Cross Gate station. The other side though, was far from dry.
Rain and Few Bus Shelters South of the Sewer
You can tell too, it’s South London, as the bus stops don’t generally have shelters. It also always rains, when I go there.
My destination was the cafe called With Jam and Bread.
With Jam and Bread in Lee Green
It was good and the gluten-free orange, chocolate and almond cake, I had with my coffee was excellent.
From my point of view, the cafe has another advatange. It has its own bus stop both ways, so is easy to get to.
The Highbury Corner littleWaitrose Just Gets Better
It’s now got goat’s milk and St. Peter’s beer and look at these two images of their free-from shelves.
It’s certainly a better selection than some of their bigger stores, with a very good selection from their range of gluten free products, like biscuits, cakes and bread.
The only products I can’t get are things that are heavy with a long shelf life, like beer and cleaning products, but I get those delivered from the Waitrose at the Angel, after buying them in-store. Incidentally, I haven’t used on-line shopping for groceries since I moved here.
A further point, is that later tonight, I checked the High Holborn littleWaitrose and the goods stocked and the layout of the Free From area, appeared to be the same or virtually so.
If this is a policy, I like it, as it means I can pick up a snack by just asking where the shelves are located. Assuming of course, that they haven’t run out.
So what would I change in a perfect world.
1. Waitrose usually has the EatNatural breakfast museli with buckwheat, whereas I prefer theone with vine fruit and have to buy it from Sainsburys.
2. The St. Helen’s Farm Goats Milk Yoghurt is not available in littleWaitroses.
3. There is no gluten-free beer in littleWaitroses. But I get those in once a month with the toilet cleanser.
In other words, I can live with that. But just as the goats milk has now turned up, I feel that if too many complain, adjustments to the stocking policy will happen.
Peruvian Gluten Free Food At Camden Lock
I had lunch at Camden Lock today, after the horse had passed through.
It was a rather tasty grilled chicken, with a vegetable salad and rice. Judging by the size of the chicken breasts she was cooking, the birds were probably the size of rheas. But they were very tender.
Sorry about the thumb in front of the lens.
C wouldn’t have liked them. Note the broccoli, which was her least favourite vegetable. Except for cauliflower that is! Mine is pak choi, as I got so much in hospital in Hong Kong.
A New Coffee Stall On Islington Green
I walked through Islington Green today and there is now a coffee stall at the opposite end to the statue of Hugh Myddleton.
Giddy Up Coffee Stall On Islington Green
The guy running it is Australian, so it would appear, what with my physio and the chiropodist, the area now seems to have an increasing number of businesses, with Aussies in charge.
EggsMilkButter Is Now Open
EggsMilkButter, the cafe opposite my house, is now open.
The cappuccino was excellent and the wi-fi connection was strong. Although, it is just a few metres too far away to connect to my own router, but that is down to geography and my wi-fi.
EggsMilkButter Opens Tomorrow!
I’ll soon have a nice cafe opposite for coffees and snacks called EggsMilkButter. It opens tomorrow.
I wish them every success.
Has London Got Friendlier?
Every Sunday morning, I take the Overground to Shadwell, where I switch to the DLR and go to Royal Victoria station, from where I get the Emirates Air-Line over the Thames to the O2. From there, I go to Canary Wharf station, where I have a late breakfast in Carluccio’s. This was my intension this morning, but I left my Oystercard behind, so I took the Jubilee line from Canning Town station to get to Canary Wharf. I’ve done it now perhaps six or seven times and it allows me to get a good view on the mood of London. Today everybody was very chatty and there was a generally friendly mood.
This wasn’t the first time, that I’ve noticed this upbeat mood on a personal level in recent weeks. One particular feature, is that I’ve had more talks with black people lately, than I’ve ever had in my past sixty-odd years. Could it be, that the Olympics is helping us to live together better, as in fact we all have more common interests, than those things that divide us?
In one instance, I walked away from a bus, with a black woman about my age, chatting about our health problems, both of us remarking that twenty years before, we’d have probably not said a word.
If this is the legacy of 2012, I’m all for it! Or is it just that finally we’ve developed a modern society?
Drinking My Way Back To Health
I got severely dehydrated in this house, due to the high solar gain , which caused temperatures of over thirty with zero humidity.
On the One Show on the BBC a few weeks ago, a guy from Loughborough University, suggested using milk as an electrolyte to help athletes recovery. Searching the Internet, found a few serious papers on the subject from reputable Universities. Since then, I’ve been drinking a couple of glasses of goat’s milk each day and my various pains and bad throat seems to have calmed down.
Last winter, I didn’t suffer to the same extent, but I did remark to a doctor, that I felt cappuccinos helped.
Obviously, the air-conditioning is helping too and the temperature now is about 24°C with about a 50% humidity.
The Best Restaurant For Coeliacs In The UK
For my birthday yesterday, my son took me to Arbutus in Soho for dinner with a couple of friends.
It was the usual high standard and everything was immaculate as usual.
I must have been a dozen times or so now, including twice for lunch this year and it never fails to delight with some unusual ways of cooking. Last night I had peas in a puree with roast vegetables as a starter, followed by rabbit, which was one of C’s favourites. The rabbit was accompanied with a little cottage pie in a ramekin dish, containing the vegetables and some small pieces of meat, probably from the legs of the rabbit. Now that is a simple idea for a dinner party, where the main dish is say a leg of lamb. In which case you’d use some lamb mince in the pies.
I’ve said that this is the best restaurant for coeliacs in the UK and it may well be. But there are few restaurants in the world, that do gluten-free food as well as Arbutus.
Arbutus isn’t cheap, but for a special occasion, say before seeing a show in Shaftesbury Avenue to celebrate a wedding anniversary, it must be unrivalled. C and I went a couple of times after seeing a matinee on a Saturday.
One thing they do is sell all the wines in 25ml. carafes. This cuts the cost and if you’re incompatible in terms of wine with your partner, like I am with my teetotal son, you can indulge your taste.
The restaurant is also very easy for me, as I just get a 38 bus to Chinatown and walk up Frith Street. Sadly last night Transport for London, didn’t provide one of their New Buses for London. I shall be complaining!
Wot! No Potatoes!
I bought an egg and potato side salad in Waitrose this morning for my lunch today.
Wot! No Potatoes!
I’d half put it on the plate, when I noticed it had lots of tomatoes and no potatoes.
I was in the Islington branch today and showed them the photo. They gave me another one, which I’ll have for lunch with some smoked salmon.
The Anonymous Widower 