Foodie Saturday

Today's Saturday and we've been finding that during the week we work on getting ready for so-called real life here in London, and on Saturdays we play a little. The day started out sunny, so we decided to head to Hampstead Heath. On our way to the rail station, we spotted this fantastic tree,

and when we looked to see what street we were on, we realized we were on our friend Jonathan's old street. (We had also just left Fiona's old street and were within a one-minute walk from the street where Gerald was born--suddenly London seems quite small.) Almost as soon as we arrived in Hampstead, the sky turned grey, then dark grey, then black. I managed to snap just one pic (more waterfowl) before the rain started and we retreated to the high street,

where food beckoned. We were going to try a sandwich shop in a small lane off the high street, but then we both spotted the familiar green and blue design of Parisian street signs . . . in Hampstead? When we went to investigate, we discovered a tiny crêperie stand. I had the galette complète (mmm! buckwheat!) and bob had ham and cheese. "I should have had something more adventurous," he said while watching the different crêpes being made, but his must have been yummy, because he ate it very very quickly.

After lunch, we remembered we were out of coffee and decided to get some of the good stuff. On the way, I noticed this odd sign in the Leicester Square tube station:

Tube humour. It kind of made me feel nostalgic about being on the NYC subway! Back home again with some purchases, once again posed on our kitchen counter:

Monmouth Coffee is amazing. We had trouble deciding which beans to get and when we asked one of the staff for advice about two of their numerous kinds, she described them and then offered to make us samples, if we had time. If we had time! She took small amounts of beans from both bags, ground them individually, then brewed about a medium cupful of both. While we tasted both coffees, we noticed other customers staring at us and our samples, probably wondering how they could get so lucky. It was a good thing that we tasted both, because we immediately preferred one over the other and bought a pound, er, 500 grams--and for not much more than our favourite beans in Vancouver or Seattle. Oh, and maybe you're wondering what's in the unmarked white packages beneath the coffee?

Cheese!--but not just any cheese. You can buy Neal's Yard Dairy cheeses in Vancouver too, but we wanted to check out their shop and we weren't disappointed. Here are the two that we bought:


Tiny slivers, mind you, but extremely delicious.