We had an ioL day, and in our very own (Brockley) neighbourhood even! ioL is what we've termed “Idea of London” days...these are the kinds of days that people think you have when you say you live in London. We last had one about six weeks ago...a day when we went into Central London and while Carrie got a posh haircut in Covent Garden, Gryffin and I saw the latest contemporary art show at the Hayward Gallery, then we met up for a breezy lunch at a little place right on the Thames, then strolled down past the London Eye and over the bridge by Big Ben before heading home—all in beautiful sunny weather. So yeah, not the NORM for us around here, but alas there are some of those days and this was one of them. The BBC London forecast had a picture of a little cloud with sunshine marks for today—the only day this side of two weeks without a cloud and little raindrops, so we decided to walk to our local Farmer's Market. With the stroller and uneven sidewalk, it took about 45 minutes, but the walk was nice and we got to talk the entire way. When we got there I was immediately impressed that not only were their the usual natural foods and veg stands, but lunch stands as well. Gryffin ran around while Carrie and I took turns watching her and checking out each stand. We stopped at a lettucy cart and got some of the most aromatic/spicy arugula (here called Rocket) I've ever smelled and tasted. Jess the stand girl, noticed Gryffin meeting another 2 year old by dancing around each other and she turned to me and said, “Wouldn't it be great if adults greeted each other like that?” and I enthusiastically said “Yeah” and the two of us flailed our arms around while circling each other saying our names and how nice it was to meet the other. She didn't do this with the rest of her customers but as far as I'm concerned she's got a customer for life (or as long as I'm in London). Check out the video of her recipe for tomatoes and rocket...
| | So we picked up some rocket, lettuce, cherry tomatoes, black olives, eggs, an two cheeses: a brie/Camembert and a “black bomb” which is an aged cheese for 2 years in a black ball of wax, which tastes like an intense cheddar but at room temp. spreads like buttah. Only 2/3rds of this loot made it home because at the end of an amazing afternoon we plopped down on the grass and had an impromptu picnic...divine. As we ended the circular route around the stands we came upon our good friends Katia & Dinam and their sleeping baby of almost 3 months Anaua (Uh-now-uh). It was so lovely to see friends and we had a nice chat between keeping our eyes on our run-around girl. |
Before leaving we decided to get lunch from one of the hot food stands. As I approached one that said Banh Mi to my thrill I recognized the women running it as the very same ones Jamie Oliver featured on his best of Britain show. Yum! These ladies did NOT disappoint and they even let me try a half pork and half catfish banh mi...delicious.
Here's the photo I took and the video of Jamie's segment on them...
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We headed back home via our local park so we could hit the playground for Gryffin and as she fell asleep on the way, we stopped at the bowling green to watch the bowlers. It was a come and see and try it out day, so they let us lounge and brought us a cup of tea while Gryffin slept in her stroller...glorious. When she woke, we headed up the hill to the playground and they were having a festival with music and vendors and a parade. A bit overwhelming but fun, we strolled by and got Gryffin to her weece (swing) and I bumped into another good and recent friend from Goldsmiths, Sara and her daughter Maya. We shared our rocket and bubbles with them and let G have a few turns on the swing before heading home, stopping midway on the grass for that picnic and reaching our flat by six.
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We've promised ourselves to visit the farmer's market whenever there is another Saturday like this. And with the gorgeous tomatoes I bought, I think there is another BLT in my near future...yum. In addition to the good that the walking did our bodies, having G in the stroller both during her nap and while she was awake gave us lengthy fairly uninterrupted time to just talk to one another. Outside of the picnic, this was my favourite part of the outing.
[Ps. For more pics of our ioL day, check out our "Photos" page.]
[Ps. For more pics of our ioL day, check out our "Photos" page.]
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