London Cakes and Brekkies

I’ve had complaints. Several, in fact. About the dearth of food pictures from my very recent London trip. I want to assure you all that I did, in fact, eat. Morning, noon and night. And in between. Everything in sight. Especially Asian food (which is hard to come by in Toledo) and, of course, CAKES.

I wasn’t as conscientious as usual about taking food photos, but I did come away with some. Here’s a selection:

An adventurous Chelsea bun, with blueberries inside and pistachios on top, devoured in a new (to me) cafe in East Finchley. My friend had a delicious chocolate almond cake.

At a Brazilian café in Cleveland Street. And yes, the board with the cake AND the chocolate truffle was mine 🙂

A café in Belsize Park.

A bakery in Highgate

I just had to home in on those jam doughnuts on the bottom right… and they were every bit as delicious as they look.

Let’s finish off with some breakfasts for those of you who prefer savoury fare. After all, this is what the UK is famous for 🙂

Eggs Benedict

Drooling…?

Salamanca – Food First!

As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, I spent last weekend in Salamanca, a town with more history than you can shake a stick at. There will be photos of stunning buildings etc. in due course, but – and this will surprise no one(!) – I’m putting the food pics up first:

Let’s start with a round of pinchos, which is essentially the same as tapas.

The one in the middle is called “jeta”. It’s a colloquial word for face (as in “mug”). As for the dis itself, it’s pork snout, oink! 🙂

But what Salamanca is most famous for in the food stakes is this:

Jamón!!!

And here’s the nice man cutting some for us 🙂 Pricey stuff, but so worth it…

This burger was divine…

Nice wine display 🙂

Who’d turn down such an evocative invite for afternoon coffee?

Not me!

Chochos Tipicos de Salamanca
“Chocho” has two meanings: sweets/candy and… erm… fanny (beaver, if you’re American).

My Thursday Treat

What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger. That’s my philosophy, and I’m sticking to it.

On Thursdays, I meet up with my intercambio pal Noelia in a little Moroccan tea house, and café con leche just won’t do. I mean, why have bog-standard coffee when you can have a chocolate-sprinkled pagoda…? And it’s not just what’s on top that matters, but what lurks beneath. Yesterday it was a double shot of amaretto. Sometimes, I go for rum 🙂

Gives you a heart attack just looking at it, doesn’t it…?!