Tales from the Cob

“switched on” london February 15, 2007

so this week was the “switched on” london lighting “event” (for lack of a better word) at the pool of london…and wanting to put off my paper for just a while longer, i decided to go sunday night. i suppose a more legitimate pretence would be i am an architecture buff and this “event” featured some of the best lighting designers in the uk and their work on various buildings around the pool. i nearly froze my butt off but it wasn’t anything a fried egg sandwich and hot cocoa couldn’t fix.=)

most of the lighting installations were pretty subtle…for instance the tower of london was unaltered except for the prisoner’s entrance which became red. the city hall/egg looked like an alien ship that changed colors continuously (alliteration!) and the HMS Belfast had blinking lights on the missile launcher/guns thingmabobs to make it look like it was shooting. i’m sad they didn’t do anything to the tower bridge, that would’ve been awesome. p’raps next year. i wish they had done this one this year…i like the glowing orbs floating in front of tower bridge!

one liners:

YAY! jasper fforde’s Next Among Sequels is coming out on my birthday!! this semi makes up for the fact that the Harry Potter release missed my bday by 2 days. ah well…

because i’m immature, i find it funny that british people call sandwiches “butties,” as in a chip butty or a bacon butty…it also sounds kind of cute too i guess. i’m sure they find tons of american words questionable.

i’ve noticed that british people are very pro-couples. i read somewhere that britons don’t usually date around that much, preferring to settle down in a long relationship. everywhere i look people are always in pairs, holding hands. i hardly see single people…i guess except during rush hour and on weekdays.

last picture, i promise! i just like how the tree is so inky it looks like a void…kind of like that optical allusion where you see either 2 people facing each other or a vase…or it could just be me…

London by night December 10, 2006

sometimes i think london is prettier at night time…case(s) in point:

take the big ben…during the daytime it’s pretty nice looking, but once night falls, something about the lighting, the greenness, the stark details of the clock face illuminated by the backlighting…it makes it look unreal, like an illustration from a storybook. it always makes me feel like flying around it and i never knew why until i told jessica, she said it was probably due to the influence of peter pan lurking somewhere in my mind…which is probably true, but weird because i don’t think i’ve ever watched peter pan from start to finish..oh well anyway, my point was that the tower by night is so much more captivating…

i probably have 20+ pictures of the tower bridge by night, i’ve been there so many times…but it always looks nice…it’s amazing what alittle strategically placed lighting can do. and to prove just how deeply i’ve been indoctrinated in the ways of Disney, this reminds me of sleeping beauty..well more during the day because the bridge railing is painted baby blue and the scrolls and stone towers remind me of the castle at Disneyland. And, if you look hard enough it looks like there’s a pelican or some bird thing sitting to the left of the right tower..random…

i wanted to do at least one christmasy thing in london, so when jessica came to visit on thursday, we decided to go to the Christmas Tree lighting at Trafalgar Square in front of the National Gallery. But we got there kind of late so we couldn’t really see anything…if you squint you can kind of make out the crowd of people…and the not-as-impressive-as-i’d-thought Christmas tree…but what it lacks in festivity and color, it makes up for with height i guess. Anyway, sad story time, throw another log on the fire! Since we couldn’t get a good viewing place, we decided to line up to try to the see the Prince and Princess of Norway walk by. So there we were, waiting patiently in back of the security guards who have cleared a nice, little walking space for them. But coordination was obviously not their strong suit because when the royals came, their body guards decided to burrow through another patch of crowd so our strategic position in the front turned into a back row view of nothing. but it was funny becuase even the security guards holding us back looked severely confused, and a tad sad, like “hey! we spent all this energy keeping people back to make this nice little walking space for you and you decide to go somewhere else…” but yah, the best look i got was the back of the princess’s head..apparently, she has long blonde hair -_- and all this time, while the poor choir was trying to sing festive christmas carols at the top of their lungs, the bells of St-Martin-in-the-Fields decided to come on and all but drowned out their poor voices. at least they tried! my hands froze to the point where i thought they were never going to be revived. But at least i saw ONE christmas tree lighting in London!

technically not night time but it was too pretty to pass up. blur in the middle courtesy of a bird furiously flapping its wings to take off right when i decided to snap the picture-_-

buckingham palace in the distance. and midflight-bird-free!

The hunt for grilled cheese November 26, 2006

So the hunt for Bill’s famed grilled cheese at Borough Market finally commenced today after 3 weeks of indecision, chronic laziness, and “i blame the weather” (but really still laziness)…i finally dragged myself to Borough market on Saturday to look for the stand…and FINALLy found it behind the Cathedral, surrounded by people. but it wasn’t long until i had my paws on my very own sandwich (pictured above missing a corner because i coudln’t wait until after the picture to take a bite =)) And thennnnn, after a couple of bites, disappointment slowly set in…maybe i had expected too much…maybe i played it up too much…maybe i had set it up for disappointment…I mean it was still yummy…bread buttered and toasted to perfection sandwiching a mound of gooey, melted cheese with bits of union…happy in an artery-clogging way…it was good, but not in the “editor of gourmet magazine declares this to be the best of london and countless food bloggers agree” sense…i thought it was kind of salty. maybe my taste buds just have high standards or are spoiled or just plain weird…but yah, thus ends my adventures to track down the sammy.

Also went to the Swedish Christmas market…i think if i were swedish and homesick or just hungry for tastes of home, i would’ve been in heaven. except i’m not and i can’t read swedish so i didn’t know what most of the foodstuffs they were selling were.. there were some artsy craftsy stuff (including a very awesome looking spoon with holes in it for straining olives) but ultimately i controlled myself and came away with nothing but a small bag of swedish fish as a souvenir. i’ve always wanted to try swedish fish…

Covent garden!! where eliza doolittle first meets henry higgins in “My Fair Lady” or something..I don’t really remember the film that much..anyway that scene was in front of the pillars, not in the market…i think…but the pillars looked kind of drab and sad so here’s a picture of the inner market instead =) I spent the ENTIRE afternoon looking for a peacoat but to no avail. i think i’m cursed and i’ll never be able to find a peacoat..i seriously looked everywhere in covent garden and then wandered over to oxford st. and regent st…if i coudln’t find it there, i don’t think i’ll ever be able to find one *sigh* oh well…on the bright side, i found ben’s cookies!!!! i first had them in Oxford with Jessica and i thought they were only an Oxford thing, but i guess not…i probably looked stupid, celebrating and smiling weirdly in front of the stand by myself…they didn’t have my chocolate and orange flavor, but the dark chocolate chunk wasn’t half bad =) i’m convinced these are the bestest cookies ever…well maybe not EVER, but they are super yummy. was also stopped by an evangelising malaysian today at covent garden..seriously, i think i have a look that just makes them talk to me, and once they hone in on me, i kind of hesitate for a second and that second is all it takes for them to catch me and reel me in. so i said i didn’t have any money and walked away after a couple minutes of politely listening but thennnnn as i’m leaving covent garden who do i run into but the SAME EVANGELISING MALAYSIAN…so i’m like “crap..great…i go out of my way just to avoid hiim only to run into him again” so i’m like “er, i think i have a pound….” and surrendered it. i guess i’ll just put that down as my good deed of the day..although i’m not really sure what cause i just supported -_-

hm, i was going to go on about Thanksgiving, but i think i’ve gone on long enough…it’s already past thanksgiving anyway so a couple more days won’t matter…

more market hapiness November 5, 2006

Woke up not bright and too early to go to the flower market on Columbia Road. It was so cold, my hands felt like they were going to fall off at any moment. Ok, that sounded morbid. There weren’t that many stands, but each one was crammed to the brim with plants… heads of radicchio to orchids…porcupine plants (of which I am now a proud owner)…bouquets of every shape, size and color… cotton plants…tulip bulbs, weird, exotic looking plants that could pass for animals/creatures. ( i noticed that i have a lazy tendency to just list things =) )I wanted to buy a small Christmas tree, which was only £2 , but I think I’m going to wait until it gets closer to December because I can’t seem to sustain a plant for longer than 2 weeks before it gives up and dies. My porcupine’s top already collapsed…it looks pathetic. I also wanted to get a winter cherry plant, but there’s no point since I’m going home in about a month (yay! I’m going to be home in about a month!!!!) .maybe I’ll wait until I come back in January. it can be my rebound plant after my porcupine dies…it was pretty bustling, with all the vendors hollering deals at the top of their lungs…one guy was selling 12 pots of lettuce for 5 pounds, which I thought was pretty good…except I didn’t know what I was going to do with 12 heads of lettuce…

The flower market wasn’t that long so then we headed over to the Old Spitalfields market, which has artsy fartsy (read: expensive, but cool) stuff—block printed tee shirts, hand made bags, beaded jewelry, vintage clothing, eclectic furniture. Actually I already came here once but the last time, it was raining and I had the porcupine in one hand, the umbrella in the other, trying to jostle through the crowd..it wasn’t fun. The porcupine plant almost got wiped out a couple times. this time though it was sunny, and we got there earlier so the crowds were that bad. I saw this realllllllyyyyyy extremellyyyyyyyy me-ish green cordoroy one strap bag, the kind you sling over one shoulder..but alas it was £30 . THIRTY!! It hurts just saying that…bag, I wish you were cheaper.

Oh yea! The first place we went to was actually brick lane market, but when we got there it was practically deserted. So we came back after Columbia market. Their speciality is supposed to be bric brac… but I didin’t know how random it would be. Some parts were actually kind of shady. A guy’s entire stand would consist of like 2 pairs of worn shoes, a screw driver, a cell phone charger, a doll with one eye missing, an old camera, and like a leather jacket or something…I am suspicious..i wonder if they stole all this stuff…(ok, now i’m just being mean…) but how/why else would they have such a random range of used goods??? Very sketchy…so yah, didn’t stay too long there lol…

tis guy fawkes/bonfire/fireworks night!! I actually spent the entire day yesterday thinking it was guy fawkes day so I was kind of bummed that I missed all the fireworks. but it’s actually today so yay =)

kernels…

Look who I found at the Spitalfields market!!

It’s hippo/motherlode’s cousin this side of the pond!!

i think my left tear duct is bigger than my right…it’s odd.

Borough Market October 20, 2006

went to Borough market today, as my title gives away… but i forgot to charge my camera batteries so no pictures to share *sadness*. and likewise, did not spot any famous chefs who have been spotted shopping there…i think i am a celebrity repeller or something. I have lived in LA all my life, Westwood for the past 2 years..and i have yet to see anyone remotely famous..not even any C-listers…such is my sad fate. oh well.there are better, more important things in life than being a celebrity magnet. like almond croissants! i had my first almond croissant EVER today from Flour Power City bakery..it was insanely good…moist and flakly..you can still taste a hint of the liquor they dipped it in…the inside was kinda gooey (in a good way of course) and happy. it was heaven in croissant form, and only £1.50. Also got a large slab of brownie, 1 lb of dried peaches (also insanely good, nice and chewy…like a dried apricot but somehow more satisfying, go figure), a baguette to go with a small container of pesto i got…but the crowning glory was the almond croissant. Now i need to go on an al-ssant tasting trip, to make sure that the Flour Power City one is indeed the best, and not just worshiped because it’s the first one i’ve ever tried. At the market there were also meat pies, sausages…more cheese than one could ever hope/wish to encounter….dried fruit of all kinds, white truffle (which i’ve always wanted to try, but do not have the wallet for)…even mushrooms as big as my head (no lie), alligator meat…ostrich eggs…and of course your normal, everyday, garden variety fruits and veggies, but yah! everything under the sun!

In other news…

i think i made a discovery the other day, i don’t think people here say “bless you” when someone sneezes. When i was in the library last week, someone in the same aisle sneezed so without thinking i said bless you….only to be met with a blank/slightly confused stare . Maybe he was confused about something else completely unrelated to the blessing incident…or maybeeeee i came off as an traveling evangelist or something. Only instead of preying on unsuspecting people door to door, peddling my brochures, I was trying to convert unsuspecting library-goers by blessing them -_- i mean it’s not COMPLETELY out of the realm of possiblity. Just a few days ago there were these Chinese bible study people handing out fliers in class. anyway, just thought i’d share…

i saw two pigeons on the hammersmith and city line the other day! they got off at aldgate east, just as i was getting on…it would’ve been fun riding the tube with pigeons.

the cheapest pigeon from Foy’s pigeon supplies: $60 (or you could catch one) One way tube ticket $6
Having a meg ryan in You’ve got mail moment (the one when she sees a butterfly on the subway and wonders where it’s going): priceless
…i think i was the only one really excited about it though. p’raps it is a more regular occurence than i’d thought.

Exile from tv land

I can’t believe JEFFREY won Project Runway. WHYYYYYYYY how could he have won!…granted I didn’t watch the second half of the season (ok, that’s why, Erica, now go away) fine….also saddened by the fact that I won’t be able to watch the second season of Top Chef or Nigella Lawson’sshow on Food Network. FN, how I miss thee and the second season of TC is actually being set in LA =(

I want to see Flags of Our Fathers.