Saturday is for puttering around town... Lying in very late, reading the newspaper over breakfast with the sun streaming in through the kitchen window, then signing more papers at our estate agents / Strolling down Tottenham Court Road, popping into This Is Furniture, BoConcept and Heal's appraising the merits of different styles of wardrobes, sofas and beds to fill the extra space our new house will have / Eating delicious chargrilled bacon cheeseburgers and fries with garlic mayo at Hamburger Union / Being dazzled by the colour and scale of Shirana Shahbazi's photos and paintings at the Barbican / Crying buckets at the viewing of complex Korean family drama Family Ties by Kim Tae-Yong, also at the Barbican as part of the Korean Film Festival / Walking by the new house and feeling fuzzy, warm and gratified at seeing not just how quiet the area is on a Saturday night and how great the house looks, but by the big, bold Sold sign outside it too / Eating only big bowls of grapes, plums and clementines for dinner while catching up on the thrilling Arsenal v. Man Utd game on Match Of The Day.Sunday is for puttering around the house... Lying in very late, then breakfasting on toasted crusty white bread with melting slices of smelly Camembert and sweet as can be blueberry jam / Doing laundry / Vacuuming / Dusting / Cleaning floors / Planning the week's dinners - moussaka, tom yun goong, lamb and apricot stew, chickpea and spinach curry - then shopping locally for groceries / Vegging out with creamy Lindt milk chocolate and a chick flick movie Dinner With Friends, not feeling guilty at all while M is sweating it out at the gym / M cooking ahead just as my parents used to do every Sunday - boiling chicken wings into chicken stock for the tom yun goong, slow cooking the tomatoes and grilling the aubergines for the moussaka, part-cooking the lamb for the stew - to save time after work (he gets so much pleasure out of cooking, lucky for me) / Lunching on Heinz tomato soup and crusty white bread with lots of butter melting on top / Eating M's sea bream with fried potatoes and spinach for dinner / Catching up with parents on the phone / Watching old episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm on DVD while eating lemon cheesecakes.
How has your weekend been?
12 comments:
Puttering is always nice :)
I'm exciting the new food hall is open. Will find myself in there post haste looking for yummy stuff!
You choose a very subtle way of telling us "the house" has gone through - SOLD sign out front.
You know how I always go on about how much you fit into one day. Well, when you say you woke up early, does that mean 7am? :P
Saturday I sent in my CV for a part time admin job at the US Embassy. And today my Mum and I went to a cousin's birthday dinner at a Turkish restaurant. I had grilled kofte. Turkish chili sauce is delicious, ever had any?
Great minds...
- Went to the new John Lewis food hall as well, in my case Saturday morning since I happened to be passing. Quite nice all told.
- Was addicted to Hamburger Union's halumi burger, so have had to quit cold turkey.
- Was a Barbican and saw Shahbazi exhibition.
- Bought a pumpkin at the market, though I haven't cooked it yet. Instead cooked a carrot soup with curry powder and coconut milk.
Now to start the week...
Cheers,
BB
What did you think of the John Lewis foodhall? I was pretty disappointed that I couldn't get any buttermilk there, making it less well-stocked than the average Waitrose. I like watching old episodes of CYE at breakfast time, and Hamburger Union is the best place for casual burgers in London, hands down! Your weekend has been fulfilling as usual, even if it's in a puttering sort of way.
Have never been to Hamburger Union - would you recommend it?
Olivia: SOLD yes, but still subject to contract (we need to see the survey first to ultimately decide whether we will buy it). What is Turkish chilli like?
BB: How are you going to cook the pumpkin? Tonight, we're having pumpkin in a lamb and apricot stew.
Tommy: I really liked the Food Hall because, though it didn't have as much choice as Whole Foods Market, it's very convenient for me as I work centrally and it's far better than anything nearby. Whole Foods Market and Waitrose both have a better wine selection but I liked the Food Hall's cheese room. The meat and fish counters were also very good.
Southways: As burger joints go, you can't beat the Fine Burger Co, but Hamburger Union, Ultimate Burger and Smollensky's are all really good for fast, cheap, quality eats. Mind you, I don't turn my nose up at the odd MacDonald's now and then so really, who am I to judge ;-)
Oh boo. I hope it does come through.
Turkish chili is hard to describe, even harder than Peruvian chili, which by the way is MUCH more deelish and aromatic. Try as I might, I could find nothing of it online.
I think both are ground and bulked up with something, including coriander leaf and possibly other seasonings - but overall very fresh, not all hot but rather like very spicy salsa.
hey!! I so know what puttering means now :P I loved your post PH. And come weekend, I always wonder, 'what PH must be doing / cooking/ or what places she must be checking out today...? i wish to live as much as you do. I am learning still. you are an inspiration. :)
I've been having some pumpkin anxiety. The last one I bought I put into a paella, but first pan roasted it with some curry powder. This one, I'm not sure. It's an imposing presence, this pumpkin sitting on my kitchen counter... BB
Childwoman, thank you...
Anyone here can help BB with her pumpkin anxiety? ;-) BB, what about pumpkin soup with creme fraiche and toasted pine nuts and lots of crusty bread; or a simple but satisfying pumpkin curry with coconut and chilli?
BB, there are a lot of Keralite recipes that use pumpkin. I made one last weekend with pumkin and black eyed peas called Olan. If you are interested in Keralite food, I would just type "kerala recipe pumpkin" in google, which is how I found the recipe for the above dish.
Thanks friends for helping me through my pumpkin anxiety. Indeed, the problem is that I can't think of any recipes my mother used to make using pumpkin. I'll google a few pumpkin curries, indeed, Kerala is not a good idea; I'll try it out.
This does remind me that one my fav dishes out there is the pumpkin curry at Busaba Eathai.
Well that settles it. This will be my cooking for Sunday and my food fantasy of the day while I'm munching on my crackers!
Cheers,
BB
PH,
Happy Diwali to you and your family.
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