Bompas & Parr launched the British Museum of Food as a pop up, opening for three months from 23rd October to 23rd January. I decided to pop along before it closes and found it to be delightfully quirky and before I forget the staff were incredibly helpful, happily explaining the various exhibitions so that I could fully engage with them, I had a brilliant time.

We start with a video of the Bolus experience, just to get you in the mood. The lucky couple next to me were sat in massage chairs which flung them back into the chair in unison as the film moved on, the startled lady passenger and I shared a glance before we both burst into spontaneous laughter.

We then move onto the serious act of chocolate eating, I kid you not. In this cubicle there are four rooms and with pen and questionnaire in hand one enters each cubicle, closes the curtain, eats a chocolate button whilst listening to the recordings and then records bitterness, sweetness and creaminess of the chocolate. It was brilliant.  As a woman that worked in market research for far too many years, I loved the concept and I’m not going to say anymore lest I spoil the research.

Next was the butterfly room, I know butterflies and chocolate together, who designed this exhibition, they were genius!  At this point I am getting giddier by the minute, I am having such a good time. There is the interesting side of the butterflies acting as pollinators in various parts of the world, but all I am seeing is the pretty, pretty butterflies. 

I have no idea what has happened to the white balance and its been impossible to correct, there were some interesting lights and lots of condensation.

Then there are a selection of historical and beautiful menus which were just lovely to read through, I am very partial to the idea of trying a goldfish in a bag. 

The prison menu was quite an eye opener.

There was food as art, I thought this knitted breakfast was incredible.

(Collaboration between Jessica Dance and photographer David Sykes)

But this set of four galleries, well, they are made out of Gingerbread!  On hearing this I laughed out loud as the memory of my Christmas gingerbread flashed before my eyes. Incredible aren’t they.

(Gingerbread and Candy Art Galleries by Henry Hargreaves and Caitlin Levin)

So although this is just a pop up and will close shortly the good news is that they are looking for bigger premises to open at the end of the year, so keep ’em peeled, I’ll definitely be going back to see what else they have done with the place.

Boxpark is a Pop-up mall right in the middle of the East of London.  It opened in 2011 and is intended to only last 5 years. It is constructed entirely out of 61 shipping containers which have basically been bolted together to form a mall with space on the upper deck to allow for customers to relax and enjoy the many restaurants, bars and music, it is open until late at night.  I imagine being in the middle of Shoreditch with its younger vibe, it is the place to hang out.

I loved these boxes, identical, but yet so different from each other, I love the edginess, the youth and the vigour of the merchandise, it just makes you smile.  I hope you enjoy these photos as much as I did taking them. And if you can do go, I intend to go back for a good long wander around with hubby, possibly partaking of a beer or two.

Time is a very valuable commodity, even when there are no discernible strains on it, it seems to drift away often without one really noticing.  It is easy to get nothing done in a day just by tottering around the home or surfing the internet.  Having noticed that my years are adding up I need to plan to get the most out of what ever I have left, which includes getting fitter and feeling better and for that I will need to work harder than I have been doing.

Hence the use of my weekly planner by Lollipopdesigns.being used as my meal planner – with activities and excursions tagged into the last two columns. It will be hung in the kitchen thanks to its useful hanging hole and I’ll be able to quickly refer back to what I should be doing or eating whilst drinking my morning coffee.

The other advantage is that by taking the time to go through some of my vast collection of recipe books ‘at the same time’ as planning the weeks meals, I will cook a few new to me meals and whilst watching intake it’s always good to make every single tasty calorie count.

Already it is working, one Caesar salad, made from scratch was absolutely gorgeous.

On one of our walks around London we came across St Paul’s, it was dark and drizzly and the way St Paul’s loomed out of the darkness sent shivers down my spine.

The tiny rain drops giving an ethereal feel

and a great feeling of illustriousness.

We trotted to the front and were wowed by St Paul’s majesty.  I’ve seen St Paul’s in the daylight but at night it really is magical.

Borough Market is a huge food market underneath the railway lines, hop off at London Bridge Station and follow the signs.  If you happen to be a foodie and who out of us isn’t these days, it is a haven, although one I can only indulge in occasionally.  As much as I love their exceptional home grown and international produce my bank manager would rather I was a little more circumspect, but at Christmas time, one can spoil oneself just a little and I suspect a mid January pick me up wouldn’t be a bad thing either.

The atmosphere is lovely, (apologies about Christmas decorations after Twelfth night) especially at Christmas, but spring, summer and autumn are pretty exceptional too.

Wending one’s way underneath the arches is just magical.

With the loud clankety-clank and screeches of the trains above you.

Good bread

ripe cheese

and sweet figs make the simplest yet most decadent of meals. 

With a lovely selection of dried fruits to add to your Christmas table,

along with a lobster or two!

 

We stopped at our favourite oyster seller, the smell of the sea having drawn us in,  to enjoy a couple of Native oysters a piece – so difficult to come by.

And one day I will make something with quinces, I think their notoriety of being difficult to cook with as they require a long and slow cooking time has scared me off.  Perhaps this winter I will get around to trying them.

I tend to finish my trotting around London by heading to Picadilly, it’s an easy tube ride home and not too difficult to get a seat.  If I feel like pausing for a while and do a spot of people watching I head to Kahve Dunyasi a Turkish coffee house that is a vast space and has a great ambiance.  For roughly the same price as some of the more well known franchised coffee shops which abound everywhere one can treat oneself to decent coffee or hot chocolate, (the coffee comes with a chocolate spoon!) gorgeous cakes, absolutely delicious ice creams and the most delicious of macarons.  They have chocolate chefs making their signature chocolate creations including chocolate covered Turkish delight, a piece given with every Turkish coffee, marzipan, truffles and dragees.  There are savoury dishes too that help prevent too much of a sugar rush, the quiches are delicious.

It is a lovely, accessible place to stop to pause for a while.

We have had a lovely long holiday hubby and I together, it has been wonderful to walk around London ooohing and aaahing at all the pretty Christmas lights, window displays and prettily dressed shops.  Today is the last day we can delight in the festivities, although I have to say that I have fairy lights adorned about my home on a permanent basis, they are just too pretty to tuck away for a whole year.  So let me leave you with a final glimpse of London in all its Christmas finery. 

A few days before Christmas hubby and I caught the train down to Warwickshire from London to celebrate my Dad’s 80th birthday.

It was wonderful to see such greenery on such a clear blue day. 

Soon we were bantering like only daughter and Father can do, – he’s giving me stick about putting the light on! – I’m giving it all back!  It is wonderful to see him in such fine form only a few weeks after his open heart surgery. He has to take it gently for a good few weeks yet so the party was as gentle as it could be, just a loving embrace from his family.

We had party food, bubbles and Cake!  And very nice cake it was too.

And later when everyone had left, I took a few snaps of them cuddled up together reminiscing about good times.

Dad is a natural story teller and he can remember his exploits from long, long ago, most of which involve scrumping or why he got the cane!

And how he had to write out a hundred lines “I must not throw projectiles at people in The Blundells” as he’d been caught throwing a snowball at Mum!

Hubby and I had spent a lazy day resting up after a couple of very long days when we decided that we really needed to blow the cobwebs away before celebrating the New Year, so we decided that a trot around Richmond Park was in order.

Hubby wrapped up against the blowiest and coldest day of the winter so far, an earth shattering 10 degrees C.

Me as usual feeling the cold just a tad more than hubby, making good using of my scarf as caulking rather than mere decoration.

And then we saw them the Parakeets flying home to roost into the trees behind us, chattering and squawking very loudly as they flew past.  I love the way they almost party in the air as they twist and turn and almost tumble as they fly, its most amusing. 

And I wish we had arrived earlier to make better use of the light, as it was fast approaching dark by this point.
Not only that but a front that was going to be very wet was fast approaching. We had had a good stretch of the legs for an hour and a half so made our way back to the car, in pitch blackness towards the end and just before the heavens opened with the wind gathering speed, it was absolute bliss.

Today is my beautiful son’s birthday.

I love the magnificence of your beard with the gingery streaks, the chestnut in your hair being an almost carbon copy of my own.  It will be a sad day when you go into industry and you have to make a decision as to whether the company your with will be able to understand your love of the beard, which it has to  be said is nearly a life form of its very own.

I also very much love your sensitivity and mind of great complexity, your ability to understand problems much greater than I’ll ever be able to understand and how during conversations you are prepared to break down an idea into bite sized pieces just so that I can understand, rather than leave me frustrated and in the dark.  It shows great compassion for us lesser mortals of a more limited educational level and I love you for it.

And I love that you have such a strong bond with son no.1.  One never knows how that relationship is going to pan out, one hopes of course, but sibling rivalry is what it is and one can only hope.  I’ve never had the slightest doubt that you were best friends and I see your relationship deepening over the years and that makes my heart sing.

Happy Birthday my sweet boy, and in the words of Banksy ‘Don’t forget to eat your lunch and Make some Trouble’.

Love always,

Mum

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