Dear London Town

After a peaceful sleep in Plymouth, we woke up to a gorgeous view of Plymouth Sound and the Hoe. A quick stop for breakfast and gas and we jumped on a very short ferry ride to go from Devon to Cornwall.

Beautiful, winding roads lined with trees were conquered by the curve hugging wheels of our Mercedes while TomTom shouted directions to us.

We saw a sign for a castle, so drove up a narrow road to find Restormel Castle, a stronghold for the Black Prince. Located just outside the village of Lostwithiel, it was used as a miniature palace to provide lavish accommodation for the Dukes of Cornwall and his guests. Now in ruins, only a small part remains.

We cut through St Austell and went south to the fishing village of Mevagissey in search of lunch and fudge. We found both, successfully. I had a huge bowl of mussels in a white wine and cream broth, while B had an amazing salad of handpicked crab and boiled potatoes. Both were delicious.

The town of Mevagissey itself is quite small and touristy. Other than a few small harbor-side restaurants and gift shops, the town does not hold much attraction other than its small town charm. Between dodging seagulls, we wandered in and outside the shops where I picked up some pirate themed items for the niece and nephew. B bought a selection of fudge, including a Scotch fudge that gave me a toothache from its sugar content.

Next, we retraced our route back into St Austell in search of the local brewery, where we sampled some ales and purchased a selection before heading toward the coastal town of Tintagel.

Tintagel is where King Uther Pendragon and Igraine conceived King Arthur. The castle is long gone, but for a few ruins and rocky outlines of where homes or rooms once stood. On the beach below, the Atlantic breakers crash against the cliffs and into Merlin’s Cave. The whole experience, while filled with many steep steps, was a bit magical. (Being a total fan of Disney’s The Sword in the Stone, I got a bit excited when we passed Arthur’s Stone as we left town. Too bad it was already closed.)

Rounding out the evening was a lovely curry dinner, complete with surprise entertainment from the townsfolk. We watched as couples whizzed by – one riding in a wheelbarrow, while the other pushed. Each team was dressed in themed outfits. From Star Wars and Top Gun to men in womenswear and green-faced zombies, we watched as each team ran at full speed down the road. The race ended with a large group of men pushing a bed frame decked out like the car from The Flintstones.

We drove back early enough to enjoy more of the beautiful Cornwall countryside as the sun set.

We are in the car (hello, Mercedes) and on our way to Plymouth. So far we’ve seen lots of nice country and Stonehenge.

More to come…

The Big Lunch is an annual event that takes place across the country. I was unable to participate last year, so I was excited to be involved this time around. The website helps locate lunches in your neighborhood. You can start one if you feel there is a gap, or join someone else nearby. I joined a group called Latitudinal Cuisine, a supper club that prepares foods based on a latitude marker.

Longitude 199 East means we’re about to enter our third century of scans, and feels like we’re already racing back home to 0. The stream of local latitudinal fare’s still way non-mainstream; We start our cooking trail at the Cook Islands, 15 tiny volcanic islands and atolls covering 2.2million square kilometres of the Pacific Ocean. Mangaia is notable for its abundance of coconuts (zzz) and pupu (sic) – the snail shells painstakingly threaded into its famous ‘eis’ neckbands, while pukapuka, like our group, is renowned for its beautiful girls No kidding: the US once claimed sovereignty over many of the islands under its 1857 guano act – paraphraseable, pre-Rumsfield, as ‘your shit is my shit.’

Further North Jarvis island was mined for just this poopoo prize. Its sole resident committed suicide in 1883 and the island is now uninhabited, “unincorporated and unorganised.” The adjacent Line Islands stretch over 2,000 km from the confetti of Kiribati (or Gilberts) in the West towards Hawaii. Kiribati has its own London & Poland on Christmas Island Though one of the world’s poorest countries and dependent on exports of fish and coconut, the former has also been home to all sorts of hi-tech developments, from the laying of the Pacific cable to Japan’s current development of a Spaceport. J. Maarten Troost wrote the autobiographical “The Sex Lives of Cannibals” here. Smiling whilst dancing is generally considered vulgar here.

And then, at last, as we alight on mainland Alaska, we find our 2nd US state: the nineteen moments of Hawaii (once Sandwich), where everyone greets each other with love and their traditional feast is called a luau. Like so many of these gorgeous Pacific islands, Hawaii seems to exemplify our Latitudinal travels, blending tourism and agriculture, its islands awash with macadamia, papaya, coffee beans and drinkers. Martha says she’ll join us with her hula later.

Avarua or Arorangi, Hanapepe or Honolulu, Kekaha or Kilauea, who’s hitching a Shoreditch ride with us?

So there I was at Shoreditch Church and enjoying a beautiful day of sunshine and a whole lot of strangers – the nicest strangers ever. While they weren’t all from my neighborhood, they were all frequent participants in the Latitudinal dining scheme. Everyone brought a dish inspired by one of the countries on the 199 marker, which meant lots of fish, fruit, salad … and a surprising lack of SPAM! Each person had an opportunity to talk about what they brought, ingredients, cooking methods, etc. Everything was good, but my vote goes for the slow cooked chicken legs. Tasty!

Photo via Latitudinal Cuisine

I made an ‘Alaskan’ salmon and dill dip, which I spread over some salad leaves, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and served with lemon on the side. The dip is quite good and easy to make. The recipe follows:

1 (14 3/4 oz.) can salmon, drained <- I had fresh packaged smoked salmon from M&S
1 c. dairy sour cream
3 tbsp. green onions, chopped
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp. dill weed
1/4 tsp. salt
Dash bottled hot pepper sauce <- I did not add this because I did not have any on hand

Photo via Latitudinal Cuisine

I also made Hawaiian nut loaf. It took a bit more than the 50-60 minutes it stated on the recipe, but other than it being quite crumbly, the taste was good.

Ingredients
* 2 eggs
* 1/2 cup butter, softened
* 1 cup white sugar
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/8 teaspoon salt
* 1 (15 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained
* 1/3 cup chopped walnuts

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, cream together eggs, butter and sugar. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt.
Stir the flour mixture into the egg mixture. Fold in the pineapple and nuts. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean.

There were a lot of wonderful dishes to try and everyone was so nice. It really is a great event and such a nice way to meet other people. I hope to meet up with the Latitudinal group again as they continue to travel the world culinarily.

London – Eating & Drinking – Restaurants – Polynesian – Eating & Drinking – Pubs & Bars – Bars – Cocktail Bars – Eating & Drinking – Pubs & Bars – Bars

I have heard of Trader Vic’s before, but had no idea what to expect. When I stepped through the door and was greeted by Polynesian statues, I got the giggles – this would be fun, I thought to myself!

As I walked down the stairs, there was a mix of decor – from the carpet that seemed like it belonged in a Ruby Tuesday’s to the coral, shells, tiki men and … oh my gosh is that really a canoe filled with fruity cocktails?!

Indeed, folks! This place is full-on themed from the walls to the staff. It seemed out of place for the location, but the clientele was easy on the eye!

They had a great bar and the staff was very attentive. I cant say much about the food, as I only had a (pretty decent) BBQ rib, but this place could be a whole lot of fun for a party.

London – Eating & Drinking – Pubs & Bars – Pubs

I rarely get out of the ‘ditch, so a trip to Clapham – SOUTH! – seems like a trip to the country. Thank goodness it’s only just a 30min ride on the Northern line because I cant wait to go back!

The Avalon is a lovely, large pub with huge tables outside for large groups to gather. There’s seating inside and a dining area just beyond the main pub area.

Our gathering sent us straight out the back into a large garden space. I’m impressed with the size of it because it went back much farther than seemed possible.

There is a large grill outside and since we were there for a grilled meat class, it was the perfect venue for a sunny summer evening.

With plenty of Pimms to get me going, I popped on an apron and helped put some mince rump burgers on the grill. They were huge! Once cooked, we dressed them up with salad and creams and munched while our second course got going.

Next up was peri-peri chicken. We watched the marinade mix in the food processer before getting generously massaged onto the massive butterflied breasts. Served up with some salad – delish!

Our final tasting was Cumberland sausage – blanched before grilling! This might have been the best trick I learned all night – cook your sausage then grill them just to get the skin nice and carmelized. Truthfully, they were perfect!

I checked out the menu, gazed at the other plates passing by (especially the desserts) and declared I needed to come to Clapham more often – with friends – to Avalon!

Check out my review of The ‘Avalon’ Gastro Pub – I am katmabufay – on Qype

In my attempt to blog more regularly, I have added the WordPress app to my iPhone. This is my first attempt. I thought I’d show you my £5 loot from Columbia Road today. Four bunches for a fiver and a bunch of lilies from Lo’s purchases.