Creative Carrots and Crazy Camden

Hello Everyone!

In the spirit of that wow-it's-finally-Fall feeling, I give you this post about a kitchen triumph and an outdoor London excursion.

Because Fall is all about root vegetables, squashes, and mashed potatoes, here is a picture of a delicious concoction I produced with carrots, parsnips, brown sugar, cinnamon, eggs, and some other ingredients!  The recipe I was loosely following deemed it a souffle, but whatever came out of my oven certainly did not fit that description.  I blame the fact that Boston University has not bothered to properly stock our kitchens with proper cooking supplies.  Since I didn't have access to an electric mixer, the eggs were not filled with nearly enough air, nor did my mashed carrots and parsnips have any type of smooth texture that they were supposed to have.  Nevertheless, I will have you know that it was heavenly and my friends thought so, too.

As you can see half of it was gone before I could even take a picture of my culinary masterpiece!  To tell you the truth, the biggest challenge in our kitchen (besides the lack of cooking utensils) is figuring out how the ovens work.  First of all, they are in Celsius, so you better know you're temperature conversions before you start.  Secondly, the settings (bake, broil, etc.) are not written in words .... no, that would be too user friendly!  They are these obscure pictures that make you pray that your chicken doesn't magically come out rawer than it was when you put it in.  For this reason, most people prefer to use the stove tops or the microwave (which are also a whole other can of worms).

I guess this is good practice for our upcoming Thanksgiv-ukkah feast at the end of November.  Yes, ladies and gents, Hanukkah starts on freakin' Turkey Day this year!  Haha .... and you thought Christmas was premature when you start hearing those catchy jingles the day after Halloween!  In any case, everyone on my floor is very excited to have a banquet of turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, latkes and jelly donuts.

Exterior of the Camden Market

Speaking of good food, my trip to Camden Town had plenty of it!  Camden Town (yes, everything in America really is named after places on this side of the pond) has lots of outdoor markets, shops, and places to eat.  It's known as a very hipster part of town, and I guess the multiple tattoo parlors attract the edgier individuals, but there are all kinds of people there.  (And when I say "all," I really mean it!  It felt like being on the Tube during Sardine-Travel-Hour .... just outside.  It was pretty crowded.)  We ran into French people, Germans, Swedes, Spanish, and even some Israelis!

Fun fact about the Markets of London:  Camden Market, just like Borough Market, Oxford Street, Holborn Market, etc., was once a specialty market for the consumers of London.  When London underwent a huge expansion in urban life (as a result ofg the industrial revoltuion and urbanization), Markets were set up around the edges of the city, each one with a particular good.  You went to one for meats and fish, another for textile goods, and another for flowers, etc.  Today, there are remnants of each market's specialty, but for the most part they are spaces for specialty items and homecooked recipes.

Look at the size of these donuts!

The shops in Camden town were selling everything imaginable: leather goods, clothing, accessories, art, jewelry, food, etc.  One vendor had donuts the size of your face!

Good thing we didn't buy one because it would have taken all six of us to finish one.  I don't know if you can tell, but behind the man in the picture is a booth with oranges hanging from it - the man there was selling the freshest and most delicious orange juice I've ever had.  We sampled homemade fudges, curries, fondues, and fresh fruits.  I capped my visit to Camden Market with an extremely smooth and rich cup of hot chocolate ... yum!

Camden Town canal

Some of my favorite non-food items included clocks made from flattened liquor bottles, pocket watches, leather wallets and purses (because who can say no to leather) hand-bound leather journals, hand-made shoes with excellent designs,* and masks and hats with pretty sequins and feathers.**  However, the most interesting vendor was actually an American artist, from Small Town, Illinois, who made twisted versions of took our favorite fictional characters - fairytale characters, comic book superheroes, etc.  Some of the images he had were really messed up (e.g. zombie Winnie the Pooh), and while I acknowledge the creativity, I would never buy one of them to hang on my wall.  Regardless, he also had some really cool scenes of London, many of which were photographs cleverly manipulated with Photoshop (e.g. a tidal wave crashing over Tower Bridge).

Old cameras and typewriters!

Part of what made Camden Town so charming was its water canals!  I imagine Venice has a similar look.

I hope you enjoyed this post, and I will do my best to blog again soon.  It all depends on how rapidly my research on British abolition and emancipation progresses.





* I wish I snapped a picture or two of these shoes because words cannot adequately describe how amazing they were.  Sometimes words escape me when I'm confronted with fabulous shoes!

** They even had those HUGE feathers that ladies used to put in their hair when going to a ball!  I actually asked the clerk if I could just have a feather, he looked confused, and I didn't really get a response .... my hunt for one thus continues ....