On the Chopstick Trail: London

I'm becoming a blog slacker! I'm disappointed in myself. It's been too long (despite the fact that I know exactly who my blog audience is, and how very few you are, I like to write something every week). Anyway, I can try to explain my absence by using London as an excuse: last week Rosa played hostess for 5 days and was an extraordinary London guide. While I gawked at the amazing shoes parading around, and ate Korean food at a constant rate (on 3 different occasions), she managed to ensure that I saw a great deal of British culture, too.

We saw a great play. We also saw some great museums, in particular this exhibit at the Tate Modern. We randomly happened upon a collection of gold pillboxes, among other things, at the Gilbert Collection. That was cool because museum-goers are provided with an enormous magnifying glass to inspect all of the microscopic decorations.

This is Rosa, using her glass to look over something-or-other.


Because Rosa has the good fortune to live in a neighborhood nicknamed "Little Beirut", off the Edgware stop, I was able to convince her to come to a hookah bar with me. Don't worry, Mom, it's not addictive. I don't think.


I made sure to enjoy as much non-Italian food as possible. That included a trip to Borough Market, which is basically an endless array of food samples. We indulged in many things that I cannot find in Bologna, such as cheese-y potatoes:


And pickle juice (there are pickles in there, but they're pretty much overwhelmed):


Rosa particularly loves the marinated garlic cloves, which really don't leave an aftertaste - they're a miracle:


But, if I'm really going to get into a food discussion, I should say that the Korean food really hit the spot. Particularly Asadal, which took three days to get into. (on Thursday night, a 2 hour wait!) However, we were given lots of love despite the fact that in my language confusion I accidentally responded to the waiter in Italian. (My English was at times painfully error-filled throughout this trip, which is depressing, considering that my Italian is not anywhere near perfect!) Our waiter seemed baffled by the fact that we knew how to order and eat our food - do British people not appreciate Korean food enough? I finally got into his good graces by ordering cinnamon punch, which is one of my all-time favorite beverages.


After laughing in disbelief, he brought not us only cinnamon punch, but two free Korean cookbooks! ("If you love Korean food so much," he said, "you should learn to make it.") I need to get started. If only Italian supermarkets sold things like soybean paste and Chinese cabbage.