Chriss.mas ♥ i.e. how to fall in love with London in a week

London gave me so many extraordinary food eperiences that I could, literally, write twice as many entries dedicated to London-related delicacies only as I have managed to write so far. Don't you worry! I'm not going to do that as I'm perfectly aware that my modest audience has some other s... to do than decipher what 'that cracked 24-year-old big head with high self-esteem and low blood glucose level* meant'. Still, there are two or three more entries yet to come (come on, I can't waste all those pretty pictures ;)). The one about Christmas is obviously the first one so that you can make use of the last bits of the Chrismassy atmosphere, which, as I discovered today, has now started making me sick.

24th: Before I left I asked myself if I wouldn't miss my mummy's cooking. A deep-fried carp, pierogis, borsch with uszkas (Gosh! The last one sounds gut-churning... though tastes mouth-watering), vegetable salad, pickled herrings in sour cream, and most importantly... croquettes. All in all - it is a great part of what Christmas Eve is about. I didn't answer back then as I usually don't answer when I ask myself questions ;) Yeah! That would be strange, your peculiar creature - to answer ;D Instead, I can answer now and with all the honesty I admit I didn't miss it a bit. No wonder! When we called my daddy and wished my parents all the best for Christmas I asked my mum quite clearly and alludingly (not to say forcingly) to spare some of these babies mentioned above for me so that I can taste a bit of Christmas in January. What a cheeky monkey I am! ;) But really, how could I possibly feel like I was missing out on something I can gorge myself on every 24th of December? That wouldn't make any sense at all. So it didn't! I relished sushi instead (wish I could remember the names to share with you). It was still fish and it was still a meatless meal, although I can't remember if I abided by the no-meat rule the whole day... Probably not beacuse this is usually what happens on Fridays - I feel, all of a sudden, like kiełbasa or bigos... Well, I am a woman, tell me I can't watch football and the next second I become the most staunchest fan of Manchester United screaming 'score!' with a beer in one hand a packet of Lay's in the other on Saturday evening... Leaving Magda Gessler, 'Agent' or 'Friends' aside. (Please, don't tell me not to watch a footbal match - I couldn't stand it ;)).
Anyway... thanks, Vas for this delicious Christmas supper with no Bethlehem star on the sky but with a lot of sun on the plates. BTW, I would never pay this much money for this little food no mater how artistic, posh, healthy, omega-3-fatty-acids-loaded and upper class it is ;p

our stylish Christmas supper


25th & 26th: Ok, but what about the rest of the feast? Bigos, kiełbasa with horseradish (take it after my father), roasted chicken (actually all kinds of meat available within a few kilometres from our house**), Greek-style fish (is it really Greek?). As a matter of fact I didn't give a bugger about it as, again, I treated myself on Italian Melanzane alla parmigiana ;D (Shit! I feel like (a) I'm going to become a polyglot once I move to London! Also hope (b) I won't absorb kcalories and kilograms as quickly and swiftly as I wish to absorb the languages and even more of British accent ;) And definitely, (c) I will turn into a big-headed bitch with the best body throughout the UK, the cutest boy ever and all these Prada bags, Hilfiger shoes, Louis Vuitton dresses and Bulgari jewellery nobody in my hometown is able to afford).
What was magical about this one is the fact it was prepared by a real Italian guy who had to spice it up a bit with a shot of vodka between one toss of pizza dough and another (Chriss saw him do it) and who said that the wine I asked about was neither too dry nor too sweet but just about right. Which actually tells me he knows shit about wine, yet somehow (probably by accident) this one appealed to my taste, which, anyway, is not that sophisticated, let's face it.

My juicy Melanzane with Christopher's crunchy Capriciosa and Our summer wine


Sweets (always a different story): That was about proper food but what about improper sweets? Back at home we baked Snickers (which, this year, apparently wasn't as good as ours - chapeau bas! Christopher ;*), there was moist poppyseed cake, soft gingerbread and the creamiest cheese cake ever. Can anything beat that? I dare say... Cadbury®! ;) It certainly isn't mummy-like but maybe this is the very secret why it is so special. Not even a super mum could make it with mere household appliances. I was (and still am) wondering why it isn't available in Poland? They*** have got the whole range of chunkies, roses, buttons, caramels, eclairs, flakes and even heroes ;) You may imagine my facial expression when I had them in one place at some point. Opened and tried all of them. We both did (It's so good to share the guilt ;)). Chechnya children? No, Polish imigrants ;)

Mummy, look what Santa brought me! :)

So, if one asks me if I could feel Christmas this Christmas I must deny. A bare-faced lie doesn't make any sense (in public - even less). Yet, I felt loads of love and tenderness which any Christmass cookies, delicious mixtures or best-prepared meat couldn't make up for it in thousands of years. My first Christmas in London and I feel completely bewtiched. Well, they say the way to man's heart is through his stomach :) But this is about the city. Chriss got down to the very bottom of my heart and filled it completely in the number of other manners ;D


*not at all because I'm short of 'truly irresistible Belgian cookies' by the co-operative® (which basically, taste so much better back at home were thay were miraculously born than in Poznań - I guess they don't go with the salty tinge of sadness and longing). I'm short of the sugar of my life:
[C]rispy on the outside
[h]orribly tender on the inside
[r]eally juicy
[i]rresistibly yummy
[s]crumptiuous (I've just learnt a new word) with every bite, sip, lick or suck ;)
[s]trong with an enduring aftertaste****

** yes!, my daddy also gives in all the Christams shopping rage and my mum professes the pawn-but-splurge-to-show-off theory.

*** soon it's going to be 'WE'

**** the riddles must be the influence of 'Agent' and the follow-up asterisks - of articles on lexicography