Pinch *ouch Pinch *ouch

I got my ideal job. As in, my ideal job. Being superstitious I won't say anything until I start, and that's next week, but I'm still pinching myself.


We celebrated on Monday at the local gastropub. There seems to be a gastropub in every neighbourhood and I'm not sure if the gastronomic means anything but the ubiquitous hamburgers, fish and chips and jacket potatoes that all pubs serve, delicious as they can be. The Havelock Tavern is a quiet pub (ie, they could do with a little background music) and was full on the Monday night. The food is simple but well done. My plump salmon, smoked haddock and leek fishcake was served with a perfect spring salad of rocket, fresh peas and shallots. Dani's chicken, chorizo and mushroom casserole was tender and scrummy. Sadly our shared cheese plate was supermarket-basic.

***

Yesterday I went to Whole Foods in Kensington. It was some kind of hell, as in I couldn't decide if I loved this temple to expensive, opulent good food or hated how much of it there was. It's the size of a department store, where you can hand-pick your eggs (hen, quail, duck, ostrich) and by the shimmering fish counter you can pour yourself a chioce of four different seafood soups to eat with cute wooden eco sustainable carbon-neutral spoons. That is if the dozen soups upstairs aren't enough. After about an hour I had to leave and buy a pair of shoes to recouperate (beige, patent, Zara, mid-heel).