Canal Lock in Action

There is a canal that runs quite close to our place and we love taking walks there. On this particular trip we caught one of the locks in action.

Boats sitting in the lock while the water is still raised

What I missed recording were the long boats entering the lock and the top gate being closed at the start. Then in the video clip you can see the lower gate being slightly opened > the boats sinking in the lock as the water drains > the water level in the lock reaching the same level as the water in the lower part of the canal > lower gates being fully opened > boats sailing off into the sunset.. well, not quite..

Kudos to the genius who invented the first lock over 2000 years ago!

Postscript on the Salmon

I don't want to harp on about Wing of St Mawes again, but the smoked salmon was fantastic! Lovely lingering smokey taste. Will definitely be getting some more of this stuff next time I order. And that's all I have to say about that..

Look at my Mussels! *flex*

Had given up on finding fresh seafood to cook at home. All the places that sell fish and other sea faring critters that I have come across have sold either frozen (and sometimes thawed) seafood or smelt really fishy (in a bad fish kinda way) and looked unhygienic.

So what do you do when you really want something but can't seem to source it locally? You buy it online! I am a big fan of buying things online. I don't do it often, but when I do, I am most usually very happy with the result. After perusing a few online fish shops I decided to go with Wing of St Mawes. Why? (I hear you ask..) Because:

1. They had the best selection of seafood. Though they don't stock the elusive razor clams which I have been wanting to have again ever since my first time here.

2. They had the best looking website. This is really an Adam criteria, but in this instance I think a clean, fresh and professional looking website instills more confidence as would a physical fish shop of the same description.

3. They claim to sell fish LANDED DAILY. That's already fresher than fish you could hope to buy in a shop.

4. They sell FRESH, not freshly frozen, fish and other seafood (unlike several other websites). They even sell live crab and lobster, that's how fresh it is!

Being my first purchase and all, I decide to test the waters with some mussels, it seem like middle ground between fish and crab/lobster. They were a great price too and by that I mean they were around Sydney prices - only £4.50/kg, that's about $9AUD. Having put in my order before 10am, I anxiously awaited their arrival the next morning..

They arrive mid morning in this relatively clean and non-smelly styrofoam box..

4kg of mussels and 250g of super awesome looking smoked salmon which they threw in for free as it was my first purchase. You can also see some ice packs in there to keep everything johnny coool..

And they were live! They always say you should cook with live mussels and these babies certainly were.

'Nother freebie - a teatowel

So far so good! Was very happy with the packaging and the product. I'm sure the mussels could have lasted a fair while in that box. They charge £7 delivery for orders under £100 which I find preferable to the alternatives - spending a few £ on public transport getting to and from the fish shop for "not as fresh" fish. Or there's Billings Gate, which I hear is the big fish market that's only open from 4am - 8am or something ludicrously early like that. Considering cost, time and effort, £7 for delivery is worth it don't you think?

I'm happy to report that the mussels were very tasty. Half were done in kind of Provencale style and half in a kind of Thai Green Curry. I say "kind of" as I "kind of" made up the recipe as I went along. Anyway, it doesn't matter as I didn't make them tasty, these guys would've been just as good steamed by themselves and eaten with lemon, salt and pepper.

Now I'm looking forward to trying that smoked salmon!

Wing of St Mawes

http://thecornishfishmonger.co.uk/

Moving House = Ikea

Have been on the lookout for a flat with a bit more space for a while now and am happy to tell you that the look is now over! While it came furnished with the essentials, there were a few bits and pieces we still needed to pick up which meant IKEA TIME! For the real Ikea experience you must:

1) buy some furniture

2) buy kitchen utensils / folding laundry baskets / and similar things that you didn't know you needed until you saw it at Ikea (and it was so cheap anyway so what's the big deal)

3) eat Ikea food! Yes, I'm talking about you Swedish meatballs, Hotdogs, Swedish cake-biscuit things and all of your friends.

After accomplishing 1, 2 & 3 we came home with..

The sheets, pillows, quilt and covers on the bed and the desk & chair 

and the white drawers.

Here's our open plan kitchen

and roast garlic chicken w/ stir-fried asian greens & mashed potato that I made in said kitchen and just wanted to show off.

Living area with small balcony..

firemen doing some training next door.

We'll Always Have Soseki..

Wow, it's kinda hard to start the blogging again after a break. As such I had to dig into the events archive to find something inspiring and what I found was photos of Soseki.. 

About a month ago we had dinner with Michelle and Dylan at a Japanese restaurant called Soseki, situated right next to the Gherkin. I'm talking you look out the window and it is right in your face. You know I think every single pane of glass is curved on that building? Yet there are still windows that open. That's pretty cool right? Anyhow Michelle headed off for some more traveling on the weekend and we didn't get a chance to say goodbye, so I'll just say "Soseki" instead..

"The scallop is really sweet" - Michelle

Sashimi, Tofu Soup, Egg Custard

Sushi, Radish Salad

Caramelised Pork

I'm struggling to remember what flavour sorbet this was, I think it was blood peach. I do remember that it was very good though. Truffles were also very good also, except the green tea one.. but I don't like green tea so it was probably good for green tea lovers.

All these pics were taken with the iPhone 3G which struggles in low light. Hopefully you can still make out the raised hutches in this photo which Michelle tells are are little private dining rooms! You climb a ladder to get into them and then sit on bamboo mats apparently. Cool eh?

Needless to say the food was very artistically presented. Colour and composition was amazing. Food was light and delicate (though possibly a little too light??). We all agreed that £30pp for this 10 or 12 (I can't remember) plate meal was well priced but wouldn't pay £60pp for it which is what it usually costs.

Soseki

20 Bury Street

London

EC3A 5AX

020 7821 9211

Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince!!!!

It rained, it poured, it even hailed.. but we still made it to a fan-filled Leicester Square last night to check out the stars strut their stuff on the red carpet at the premiere of Harry Potter 6. 

Draco Malfoy!

Luna Lovegood!

Nymphadora Tonks!

Dean Thomas!

Fred & George Weasley!

Ron Weasley!!

Harry Potter!!

Helena Bohnam Carter!!! I mean, Bellatrix Lestrange!!!

Crazy-eyed fan!

I'm just so darn excited about this next HP! The HBP was probably my favourite book of the series so I've high expectations for the movie. Have already pre-bought tickets for next Wednesday when it opens in cinemas and am eagerly awaiting......

We Remember The Time

There was a time when I though your name had to be Michael to be a world wide superstar. Think early nineties and recall Michael Jackson and Michael Jordan. A few days ago, one of those giants fell. If I didn't know better, I'd think that Michael Jackson was British from the way that the news of his death was received here. People were dubious that he (or any person) could pull off 50 concerts at the 02, now we won't even see 1. 

On Friday 26th of June, fans gathered at Trafalgar Square to pay tribute to the King of Pop. Some mourned his passing, most celebrated his life, though all were there to Remember The Time..

Jamie's Italian & Oki-Nami at Brighton

Continuing on from my last post..

After icecream on the beach, Dylan, Adam and I met up with Michelle and friends at Jamie's Italian restaurant in Brighton. To our surprise, Jamie turns out to be Jamie Oliver! We only had coffee at his new restaurant as it was around 3pm, but plates of food around us definitely looked worth coming back for. So after a stroll around Brighton shops and a cpl of pints we headed back to Jamie's only to find a long queue out the door (we didn't book earlier as they don't take bookings). It would be a 1.5hr wait for a table! Stuff that! It was already past 8pm and we had to drive back to home afterwards too.

So we back-tracked to a Jap place we past earlier called Oki-Nami. To be honest, we chose it because it had cool lighting and a nice ambience. The food, most fortunately, turned out to be just the kind of thing we liked too - Japanese tapas, if you will.. 

Didn't think to take photos while we were there but here's some from their website:

Glowing pastel neon lights that drew us in.. (note the awesome way the lamp shades light up)

Now try to imagine this at night.. 

Food was well presented as you'd expect from a Japanese restaurant. 

What you wouldn't expect, and what we didn't know at the time, is that this place is co-owned by DJ Norman Cook - aka Fatboy Slim! Not that that made the food taste any better. I reviewed Oki-Nami here in case you're interested in what we ate.

All in all, a pleasant end to a pleasant day.

ps, the drive home only took around an hour.

Jamie's Italian

11 Black Lion Street

Brighton

BN1 1ND

012 7391 5480

Oki-Nami

6 New Road 

Brighton

BN1 1UF

012 7377 3777

Brighton Up Your Day!

Has been awhile between posts, not because life has been boring but because we've had a number of OS visitors! Hopefully I will get around to doing a catch up post about that soon. 

Today however, I wanted to share some photos of our outing on Saturday - Brighton - my first trip to the beach in England. A trip to Brighton on the train takes around an hour. We opted to drive even though we knew that it would mostly likely take even longer, which it did. Almost 2 hours on the way there! Traffic was crawling south out of London and Dylan suspects that Tom Tom didn't take this into account when routing the fastest way to the freeway. Despite this, I'm glad we drove rather than train'ed as it's much more scenic and entertaining.

So this is Brighton beach:

Brighton Pier (there's a theme park at the end of it!)

The walk along the beach is filled with things to see/do/eat

Like fish and chips! I'm not a die hard fan of this dish, but if fish'n'chips always tasted this good then maybe I would be..

HAD to have one of these after..

Chillin' on the beach (with my icecream)

Baked Euphoria

I must say real estate agents have it very easy back in Sydney compared to the London variety. Today we met with 3 different agents at their respective offices only then to be chauffeured to properties they shortlisted based on our criteria. None of this business where you rush to each "open house" only to get there 5 mins before the inspection closes only to have the agent tell you you're too late!

All in all it was a very long and tiring day. We did find the perfect apartment.. but in the wrong location. It wouldn't have taken much for it to have been the right location, perhaps a nice cafe near by.. a park or a quaint little pub.. a patisserie.. tree lined street with Victorian terraces.. am I asking for too much, people?!!??!

*sigh*

Despair not though, for valuable ground was made on the afternoon tea front today!

The interior of the Euphorium Bakery - I think this picture is the best description I could give.

Broccoli, blue cheese, mushroom & mascarpone brioche - £2.40/£2.90 (take away/dine in).

I thought it was more tart-like rather than brioche though, but whatever. Tres good in every way except perhaps calories.

Carrot Cake - £1.80/£2.30. Not that terribly exciting to look at (but when is it?) though very pleasing to the taste buds. Not too sweet, moist yet fluffy.

 

Mocha - £1.90/£2.40. It's not often that I find a Mocha I really like, but today was one of those rare occasions. Lovely dense froth followed by (dare I say) perfect proportions of chocolate and coffee in a smooth, velvetly consistency. 

Euphorium Bakery

202 Upper Street

Islington, London

N1 1RQ

020 7704 6905