Adventures with Kake

On Monday I had Ecuadorian lunch at El Rincon Quiteno in Holloway, then went shopping for Burmese groceries at Mum's House in Wood Green. After that, I trundled across to Walthamstow to have a half of locally-brewed beer in the Olde Rose and Crown before grabbing a quick bite to eat at Priya (RGL review to come) and then getting a bus down to choir in Leyton.

On Tuesday I cleared a backlog of admin stuff and had another (failed) bash at making almond burfi.

On Wednesday I went to the Ledbury in Notting Hill for ewan's birthday meal. The food was good, but the service was completely lacking in rhythm and terribly slow. superpitching and I left before dessert because it was getting on for midnight (and we'd sat down just after 8pm).

On Thursday I was in pain.

On Friday I tried to sort out some of my photos from the Ledbury, but there appears to be something weird going on with colour profiles in one or all of: Snow Leopard, the GIMP, Firefox, Preview, and Safari. (Yes, I know the default gamma has changed — I always used to set my gamma to 2.2 anyway, so I doubt it's that.)

On Saturday and Sunday I slept. A lot.

On Monday I had an East London adventure! I started off fairly centrally, with lunch at Rochelle Canteen in Shoreditch, then wandered eastwards, taking photos for RGL along the way. I'd intended to stop for a break at L'Oasis, but it was closed (I found out later that it's closed for good), so I went to the Wetherspoons instead for a 30p pint of lime and soda.

Next, I got the Tube up to Upton Park, where I wanted to hunt out the Quality Foods branch I'd heard about. I found what I thought was it (and later confirmed the address was right), but it really didn't look too brilliant so I didn't bother going in. Maybe next time. Instead, I wandered across to East Ham and had a decent enough dinner in Thattukada (RGL review coming soon) before getting the Overground to Leyton for choir.

I have forgotten what I did on Tuesday and Wednesday. Probably just work.

On Thursday I went on a Metroland adventure! First of all, I went to Willesden Green, intending to have lunch at Sushi-Say, but alas it was closed. So I went round the corner to check out Taste Malaysia, but it was also closed. I ended up having a not-entirely-satisfactory fishcake in the Queensbury. But then it was back on the Jubilee Line, to change to the Metropolitan Line at Wembley Park, to change to the Chesham shuttle at Chalfont & Latimer.

And then I was truly in Metroland. ewan has described Chesham on RGL as “a bucolic village in Buckinghamshire, far outside London and only connected by the Metropolitan Line”, which is a fair enough assessment. The main reason I was here was to visit the Queens Head, a Good Beer Guide pub which needed a proper RGL review, but my research had also revealed the presence of a bookshop (which I browsed around in but didn't buy anything from). Not only that, but on approaching the bookshop I spotted a couple of pubs, the Misty Moon and the Cock Tavern, which I of course had to try out. Then on the way to the Queens Head, I saw that the George and Dragon had reopened, so I had to go in there as well. By the time I reached the Queens Head, it was getting late, and a few sums revealed that there was no way I was going to get to Waterloo in time for the book group meeting I was supposed to be going on to — so I sent ewan a quick SMS and headed back to Willesden Green to meet him for dinner at Sushi-Say (who initially said they couldn't fit us in since we didn't have a booking, but relented and squeezed us in anyway when we made it clear we were prepared to wait).

On Friday I did some work and then cooked saag and prawn patia for dinner.

On Saturday I overslept and missed the Tube Walk (but I did really need the sleep). In the evening I made saag aloo with the leftover saag from last night, and also did baingan ka bhartha to go with it. Then I killed my laptop by knocking a glass of wine all over it. Argh.

On Sunday I mourned my laptop and ate pizza from Cucina.

I worked. And then I worked some more. After eight days straight, I took Saturday off (though I didn't go and do any of the fun things I had planned, because I basically wasn't up to it), and today (Sunday) I am working again.

The end is in sight, though, and the money is kind of useful, and the thing I'm working on today is quite interesting.

Still, the only thing of external interest to report from the past week is that I made cookies.

On Monday I sorted out photos and did some wikignoming as prompted by badgerbag.

On Tuesday I did a big pile of work.

On Wednesday I went to Hendon to have lunch at Atari-Ya (v.g.), then popped into the Greyhound for a half. I then headed to Earl's Court (stopping off at Hampstead for a pint at the Olde White Bear) to meet bob and have excellent Sichuan dinner at Number 10 restaurant.

On Thursday I did a big pile of work.

On Friday I went to Colindale to have lunch at Feringgi Bay and pick up some Chinese pastries from Wonderful Patisserie.

On Saturday I did a big pile of work, then ordered a not-very-satisfactory takeaway from Jasmine Garden.

On Sunday I went out to play with the tubewalkers! We walked from Euston Square to Great Portland Street, then had a swift half in the Albany, then walked around for ages looking for a bus stop (no Jubilee Line), then walked from Finchley Road to Swiss Cottage, had a swift half in Ye Olde Swiss Cottage, then escaped to the Clifton for better beer and some food.

If anyone's wondering why there hasn't been a things I did last week post recently, it's because I wasn't very well and it was too depressing. There will be a new and exciting one tomorrow!

On Monday I had lunch at Han Kang, a decent Korean restaurant just off Oxford Street, then took some of the RGL photos that I'd been putting off because the places were all inside Oxford Street department stores (example), then went on a mini pub crawl around Bayswater with Richard.

I have forgotten what I did on Tuesday. Probably just work.

On Wednesday I had lunch at Madsen in South Kensington and bought some expensive cheese at La Cave à Fromage, then headed over to Richard's place to play Rock Band. We had a break in the middle to go and eat some not-very-good roast pork at the Coach and Horses on Kew Green.

On Thursday I went to the pub with bob and others, specifically the Prince Regent on Gloucester Road. We tried lots of the food, and found some to be very good (the steak) and some to be very bland (the spinach soup).

On Friday I did loads of work and also made pork chops with rice noodle salad for dinner. I might even have done some washing up as well. What a good Kake I am.

On Saturday I went on the Epping to Theydon Bois Tube Walk and took some photos, including one of an unidentified flower. Do you know what it is? On the way home I stopped off for a drink and a snack at Parade in South Woodford.

On Sunday I fixed stuff on the Discworld MUD and made braised sausages for dinner.

On Monday I went to Wimbledon — not to watch tennis, but to take photos for RGL. I discovered what I think may be London's steepest lime-and-soda price gradient while I was there; £2.70/pint at the Brewery Tap and 50p/pint at the Rose and Crown 115 metres down the road. Then I went to choir.

On Tuesday and Wednesday I mostly did work.

On Thursday I went to L'Autre Pied for lunch with ewan. Unsurprisingly, given it has a Michelin star, the food was pretty good. (I took some photos of the food and would appreciate comments on whether I've over-processed them...)

After that, I did the Tube Walks I missed out on the weekend previously. I was also going to go along Oxford Street and take the photos I've been putting off for months (mainly because they're inside buildings), but it was so hot I couldn't face it. I retreated to the Coach and Horses, which has aircon and reasonably-priced lime-and-soda.

The reason I didn't just go straight home was that later on I was going to the first meeting of the Reading Matters/Savidge Reads book group, on the top floor of Waterstone's on Piccadilly. We're going to be meeting on the first Thursday of every month, and take it in turns to pick which book to read. Kim of Reading Matters wrote up tonight's meeting here.

On Friday I tried to work, but it was kinda hot again, so I pathetically knocked off early and drank gin.

On Saturday I braved the lack of Jubilee Line, and headed east to Leytonstone to have a bit of a sing of the third paragraph of Cornelius Cardew's Great Learning, an avant-garde piece for voices and instruments based on Ezra Pound's translations of Confucius' work of the same name. There were only six of us, but it was actually quite fun.

We're performing it this Saturday, 11 July, at various venues around Leytonstone including the old Woolworths and the Green Man roundabout. Come along if you like — there's lots of other Leytonstone Festival stuff going on during the day, and I will doubtless find myself in a pub at some point.

On Sunday I fixed stuff on the Discworld MUD.

On Monday I visited Upminster, the very end of the District Line! I had lunch at La Grolla, a decent enough Italian restaurant. I also popped into Swan Books, the Essex Yeoman, and the Crumpled Horn; and then I took a photo of the windmill. I'm still not certain what Upminster's hidden gem is; possibly it's Swan Books, which had a book about Romford pubs that I nearly bought for ewan.

The excitement did not end there! I headed back towards East Ham on the District Line, with the intention of trying another of the Indian cafes on the High Street, but realised en route that I could stop off at Barking and go to Chennai, a South Indian cafe/restaurant in the same chain as Lewisham's Madras. I enjoyed the food at Madras when we went there, so was expecting good things from Chennai. The food was just fine here, too, as it turned out, though the staff did seem quite bemused by the presence of an actual customer.

Then I went to choir. It was awesome, as choir always is. We're singing Bach's St Matthew Passion in March next year, apparently. It takes three hours to sing, but this is a nice, sensible, relaxed choir, so we'll be stopping for dinner in the middle. I approve.

On Tuesday I went to the Isle of Dogs! I visited the Pepper Saint Ontiod, in the company of ewan, and then headed around the dock for dinner at Byblos Harbour. On the way back to the Tube station, we popped into the North Pole to satisfy Ewan's curiosity. Or perhaps his completism. Or perhaps just to have some beer!

On Wednesday I took some photos in Hammersmith (and briefly popped into the Ruby Grande to shelter from the rain) before heading over to Richard's place to spend many hours playing Rock Band.

On Thursday I took advantage of being in West London, and went to London.pm sushi at Makoto, then headed down to Brentford to take a couple more photos and drink beer at the Magpie and Crown and O'Brien's. Finally I headed up to Northfields to meet aca and many others for tasty South Indian/Sri Lankan food at Papaya.

On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday I did loads of bugfixing and stuff on the Discworld MUD. This might be considered slightly overdoing it — but on the Friday I moved from the Ramtops domain to the Guilds domain (where I will be working on witch stuff), and it was all very very exciting, and very hard to stop doing stuff. (superpitching — this is the geeky thing I mentioned.)

On Monday I went to Fulham to take some RGL photos. I also had a very nice vegan lunch at 222 Restaurant. Then I got the Tube all the way over to East Ham, where I had dinner at Chennai Dosa before heading on to choir in Leytonstone.

On Tuesday I went out for dinner with lozette, bellaphon, and MsMarmiteLover to Ganapati in Peckham. It was even better than the last time I went there.

On Wednesday I went down the Northern Line to take some more RGL photos. I went down to Tooting and had lunch at Sree Krishna, then worked my way back northwards, popping into the Jackdaw & Rook and the Nightingale on the way. Then I got a bus from Elephant and Castle over to Surrey Quays, and met claudacity, bob, flick, and drplokta at Whelan's for a drink before dinner at Royal Palace. Royal Palace is the place I went to a few weeks ago that has a Chinese-only menu; luckily, claudacity can read Chinese, so we managed to order a vast and delicious spread of dishes, all of which we polished off happily.

On Thursday I went to Camden for london.pm dim sum at Yum Cha. I then dragged Richard around on a mini pub crawl before getting the Tube down to London Bridge to meet bob and the other usual suspects for Mongolian food at the Horseshoe Inn.

On Friday and Saturday I did loads of work to make up for all the fun I had earlier in the week.

On Sunday I joined in the Discworld MUD Bugfix Sunday.

On Monday I went to choir and sang music by Elgar and Freddie Mercury. I went there via East Ham this time, since I've given myself a project of trying out all the small Indian restaurants along the High Street. I started with Hyderabadi Spice, where I had a very good biryani. (Haven't written the review yet since I need to go back and clear up some confusion over their billing practices.)

On Tuesday I was inspired by a Shaun Hill recipe to make seared scallops with lentil sauce. I used leftovers from the dhal I made last Tuesday to make the sauce. It worked pretty well; I hadn't been sure it was possible to sear frozen scallops without overcooking them, but they turned out fine.

On Wednesday I went for an epic two-hour dim sum lunch at Dragon Castle with amuchmoreexotic, thekumquat, and the quatlet. Then amuchmoreexotic and I headed south down the Northern Line to take some RGL photos and visit some pubs in Clapham. We then met up with ewan and mjg59 for drinks at the Tooting Tram & Social followed by curry at Radha Krishna Bhavan.

On Thursday I looked at the Tooting Tram & Social website to see which other pubs in their chain (Antic) we didn't have yet on RGL, and realised there was one near Liverpool Street, which is a short bus ride from me and technically on the way to the pub I was meant to be going to later. So I summoned some london.pm people and went and checked it out. It was subterranean, and rather noisy despite being deserted apart from us and the staff. Turn the bloody music down a bit! Then I went on to the Pakenham Arms to meet the lovely (and post-exam) superpitching. Other friends turned up too!

On Friday I mostly sat around going "ow, my womb". doop persuaded me to order a takeaway from Everest Inn in the evening.

On Saturday I worked, and on Sunday I rested.

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