Carnival time in London

August 2016

It was with a heavy heart that I said my goodbyes to dad and Sophie, our trip finally over. I would never forget my time in the Greek islands with dad, something I had been wanting to do for many many years.
Soon we were travelling again, them to New Zealand, and me off to England, to spend a week with more family, this time Yannick and Necia! It was nice to just relax and stay in once place for a bit after all our constant travelling. Bbqing was now firmly part of our traditions, so we rather enjoyed having another one (with Prosecco of course!)

After doing some Googling on events in the area, I discovered the Notting Hill Carnival, London's biggest street party. Taking place on the last weekend of August, it's well worth wandering down to view at any time on the day. It's free, and street dancers and parade floats congregate on the streets creating a joyful chaos. 

Originally celebrating caribbean cultures and traditions, it's now one of the biggest street parties in Europe, and full of costumes and music from many different cultures. 

Feeling a nostalgic of our recent trip and with delicious Greek food still fresh in our minds, we replicated it at home. Not only did we make our own hummus, but also our own pita bread! We enjoyed this thoroughly, accompanied with feta, veggies and Necia's recipe for battered courgette like we had tried in Greece - it worked impressively well!

On the subject of food, a trip to London isn't complete without a meal at Pizza Pilgrim! As usual the pizza was delicious, but for me it was the drinks that were the highlight this time! First I discovered that at this glorious restaurant, they had soda water on tap! On tap! Out of the wall! Like magic! 

It was in this moment that I decided one day when I have a house, I am going to have a kitchen tap that only dispenses soda water. It will be amazing (I might have a slight addiction). 

I also split an Aperol Spritz with Yannick as he generously offered to get once since I had never tried it. The fashionable summer drink of Europe, this low-alcohol content drink is made with soda water (my favourite), aperol, prosecco and a slice of orange. It had a strange sort of taste, and wasn't all what I expected; sort of bitter, but also refreshing, I can see why it's popular, but don't really get why people rave about it. Still it was good to try! Now I'm up with the hip people and such, yo. 

My last culinary experience before exiting London was at a rather lovely market that only took place once a month and was well worth the trip (though if you want good market food, a trip to Camden Lock market is always worth it!) There was so much good looking food it was torturous to pick (how the donuts called to me!) I ended up trying pulled pork for the first time and realising I had been missing out all my life! Pulled pork is, as it turns out, disgustingly good.

With that foodie highlight to complete my whirlwind London trip, I headed off to see my best friend Joy and help her and her partner move house. It was stressful to say the least, trying to fit too much furniture into a smaller house was like tetris with armchairs and became a bit dire. However we managed in the end (even if it did take us three days to figure out how to turn on the oven!). Mission accomplished, I began to organise for my first house-sit; but more on that later.