Biking

I got my bike (cycle) in March and I've been biking to work and back ever since. I also use the bike to get around town if I'm going to places like Waterloo. My longest ever ride was from Russell Square to New Cross Gate. I haven't done any biking apart from the regular work run for a while, so I was glad of the chance to cycle to church yesterday. The only problem with South London, however, is the number of hills. And yesterday's route seemed to mostly involve going uphill :P I tend to write my directions on a map  - no posh GPS or Satnav, sadly - which usually means that I get lost at least once on a new journey :D The most memorable part of yesterday's ride was when, after steadily going uphill for sometime, I looked at my directions and found I had to turn right onto Langton Rise. I did wonder whether that meant that it rose. And it did :P Steeply :P

The fair's back in town

Benson's fun fair visits Brockwell Park in May and August in Bank holiday weeks. I was thrilled the first time I saw them to watch a proper fair setting up. There were caravans and trailers with.....
*pauses to jig along to Armstrong's Spooks*
....as I was saying, caravans and trailers with all the stuff to set up rides. We went last year (2009) with Aunty Hazel. Such fun! It was the first time I had cotton candy in London. The only sad thing about the fair was that the best ride (or so I considered it) was a massive bouncy slide...and only kids were allowed on it :( but we did go in the Bumpem/Dodgem (depends on how you look at them) cars. Aunty Hazel belonged to the former category. She had such fun going round in circles, ramming us at every opportunity :) :) I still haven't taken Great-Aunt Betsy to the fair...maybe this weekend :)

Satchmo

Did you know Louis Armstrong's nickname was Satchmo? Check wikipedia for the details. Anyways, apart from Joe (Prashant) giving himself a sore throat on the road with an Armstrong impression, I went on a jazz revival yesterday. Lots can be said about Louis, but my all time favourites are when he teamed up with Danny Kaye in Five Pennies - When the Saints and Lullaby in Ragtime are ab-so-lute-ly brilliant!!! Also Spooks :) Spotify them, or look them up on youtube when you have the time.

A Japanese date

I love having dates with my husband...with his work schedule, we rarely get to go out. And this was particularly special because I recently found out, thanks to a colleague of mine, that there's a place in London that makes Okonomiyaki. It's a Japanese dish I had when we were in Osaka. And the taste of it has stayed in my head for 10 years. So we finally got a chance to go there on Saturday. After a walk through central London (including a rather sweet cupcake at Ella's in Covent Garden) we reached Abeno Too, the restaurant (http://www.abeno.co.uk/) and had to wait 20 minutes for a space around the bar. The restaurant had made brilliant use of their small space (central London is ridiculously expensive for business) by having people sit around 3 sides of a triangle, with the chefs working through the middle. Bags and coats were put in spaces inside the seats. Once we were seated, we ordered a Tokyo Okonomiyaki and a Pork Om-soba. One of the guys soon came along to make the Okonomiyaki on the hot plate in front of us. Okonomiyaki is a delicious omelette-type mix of cabbage, dough, veg, meat and more. Once cooked, it's decorated with yoki (?) mayonnaise, okonomiyaki sauce, seaweed and fish flakes. So yummy!!! The Tokyo one had pork, shrimp and prawn for the meat. The Om-soba had pork and noodles inside an omelette wrap. *happy sigh* I was so thrilled to be eating Okonomiyaki again. And my man was happy to be introduced to something this nice.
And I never cease to be amazed by the food in London. We were discussing the number of kinds of cuisine we've had since we came here...so many!