As I Xi It v2.3

This post is a bit out of sync, but the week before the trip to Stonehenge, I was on a roadtrip with some chums around Brittany, France. I had to pack light due to negotiating the transfer between Gare du Nord to Montparnasse in Paris and had read that there was a fair bit of walking up and down corridors so only took the G11 with me. There were probably two instances where I really missed my DSLR – shooting the insides of churches with an ultra-wide angle and a kestrel perched on a menhir with a telephoto.

It’s been a couple of weeks since France and I can’t remember precisely the day to day details of it which is probably a good thing since it’ll keep this post at a reasonable length. There seemed to be lots of eating, especially huitres, moules et frites! It’s got to be said that they’re really rather fond of their fruits de la mer in Brittany. In Cancale, Xiao and I shared a massive platter. In Perros-Guriec, I had a great meal, moules for my first starter, lobster for my second starter, steak and chips for my main course and a slice of far Breton for desert. Mmm… it was all very tasty. I do believe that we were the last to leave the restaurant that night, they were pretty much shutting up shop while we were still lingering there.

The other thing Bretons seem to be quite fond of are menhirs. There were lots and lots of menhirs, tululi, dolmens and all those prehistoric mysterious relics.

I guess if I had to sum Brittany up, it’s just full of oysters, mussels and menhirs. Ooodles and oodles of them.

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Here’s a timelapse I did while having breakfast with Xiao up in Roast at Borough Market. Fairly busy, even if it was post Christmas.

A View from Roast from Xi on Vimeo.

Here, Watson demonstrates how he likes to eat a sunflower seed.

How Watson Eats Sunflower Seeds from Xi on Vimeo.

While in the supermarket in Helsinki, Wingkit and I came across some Finnish versions of British/American favourites.

First up, Domino’s which are basically Oreo’s. These were vanilla with a toffee centre. The biscuit bit was crunchy, as expected and a bit lighter in shade of brown than Oreo’s and a bit sweeter I think overall. Quite tasty, but then most chocolate biscuits are.

Oreos

Jaffa cakes

I think I have potential as a food photographer.

Wonderful

I saw this and just had to share! I’ll be serving these up at my next function.

Click me!

On the left is the lasagna Anja, Xiao and I made when were were in Germany earlier this year to visit Anja and her cows (mooooo!). On the right is the lasagna Anja (and John?) made last Saturday when I went over to theirs for dinner.

Lasagna Germany consisted of cream cheese with spinach filling with some sort of bechamel sauce and cheese topping (probably gouda). Lasagna UK contains beef mince bathed in a tomato sauce with the bechamel sauce and gouda topping (still think it would’ve been better with cheddar). Both lasagnas were mighty tasty, but there was the odd crispy bit from undercooked lasagna sheets in the latter.

The other day I popped into Walkabout for dinner in Covent Garden. It’s an Australian pub decked out in Australian regalia and they have some great burgers on offer.

I had an ultimate springbok burger. Three layers of meaty springbok with two giant onion rings towering above a salad and side of chips all for only £8.95, a bargain! The springbok had a nice, dense, gamey taste and texture and it was a touch smokey in flavour.

The onion rings were much bigger than your average onion rings and the batter stayed on once you bit into it unlike lesser quality onion rings where the onion just slides out when you pull your teeth away. My only complaint is that I wished there were more of them.

I found this via The Consumerist – Click here!

It’s simultaneously funny and creepy.

They’re my new favourite thing to eat with a mug of tea. First there were 10, now there are 4. They’re of dutch origin, a layer of caramel sandwiched between two layers of thin waffles. If I could only eat one thing for the rest of my life, these would be it!