The VERY FIRST THING I bought in London was a lemon blueberry cupcake and a rhubarb almond cake topped with meringue from the Nottinghill Ottolenghi. No joke. I wouldn’t joke about such things.
My rapture at these desserts was in NO WAY influenced by the fact that I haven’t eaten any sugar (nothing – no honey, agave, cane sugar, artificial sugar or any other processed sugar!) for the last six months. Well, okay, maybe it was influenced a little. When I started not eating sugar, I reserved the right to have special treats if I was in a foreign country. You know, to make myself feel like it wasn’t a forever thing. At the time I had no travel plans. Lucky me that I’m unexpectedly in London!
Since I’m a complete sugar addict, I will be promptly resuming no sugar when I return to the States. But, oh! Ottolenghi was truly a sublime way to break my fast! I’ll have to check out their cookbooks when I get back and see if I can in some way recreate my treat for my family.
Not only am I a sugar addict, but I’m a toy snob too. I can’t control myself from passing by a good toy shop! Honeyjam was not a disappointment. You can see the shop from Portobello Road and it was like a magnet, pulling me in. I did manage to walk out of the darling store without anything but it was very, very hard!
I only had an hour to sprint down the market road while ballet class was in session. I saw a few shops selling Scottish woolens, but alas, no Wallace plaid was to be found. Lots of stalls selling British china, silverware, antiques, a few crocheted linens, and brik-a-brak. I’m sure that there was a lot that I didn’t see, but it definitely was posh tourist central. No great deals to be found by me.
Except for the glorious Ottolenghi. Worth every pence.
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