Day 2 – F**k me, that’s hot curry

After the extensive travel from the day before, I wanted to stay local. But of course, I also wanted to cross some items off my (fairly short) list. Today was the day to get some pie and mash, and satisfy my craving for a decent, hot curry.

As is fairly normal for Europe in May, it was sunny and really nice. I think there is no better time to visit Europe (certainly England) than in May. It was certainly good to be properly rested and in clean clothes again.

Colour coded recycling

The day started out in a fairly mundane way, but also interesting in its own way. We took some old appliances (VHS player, kettle) to the local dump so they could be recycled. As it was a saturday, it was fairly busy, but what really impressed me was the number of different categories for recycling. There must have been 10 or more different types of things from textiles to cloth to small appliances and so on. Its certainly a far cry from the paper-plastic-metal-glass approach seen in the US.

After that, and seeing just how much more gas/petrol is over here, I was driven over to my sisters flat. Being in London, its fairly modest, but still nice. Astonishingly expensive, but of course location is king.

Sarah's flat is on the top floor

Her modest flat cost more than my first house which is 2-3 times larger. Although admittedly in New Jersey, about 90 miles from NYC. We walked into the main shopping area of Croydon, which only took us a few minutes as she is basically right there. On the way, I saw “Fairfield Hall” which is a large(-ish) venue where I saw various acts in the 70s and80s. On the 26th Jools Holland is there. Walked through the Queens garden and past the old town hall building. They look so nice when you are from out of town, although it was clear nobody there really notices them.

Loads of large red buses driving around, in addition to cabs, really underscored just where I was. London, erm, I mean Croydon. Well, it is only 15 minutes away from central London on the train.

The menu at the pie and mash shop. Light covers the "pie and mash" one. I love the "mug of tea"

By now it was noon-ish and I was getting hungry so we went to one of the last remaining “pie and mash” shops in London. It’s very much a “delicacy” unique to London, and I suspect might even be specific to South London. There used to be one in Waterloo, but apparently that one closed a while back.

So what the heck is “pie and mash”? and why does it matter? Well, its certainly not bad food, although it’s also not something you will find at many restaurants. Basically, its a meat pie (beef) with a couple of scoops of mashed potatoes. What really pulls it together though is the “liquor”. Its basically a green (yes green) thinnish sauce made of eel juice and parsley. Wait, what? Eel juice? Why yes. Its made from eels because they are/were pretty much the only source of fish in the Thames for many years.

Behold! pie and mash!!!

The pie and mash shops also sell various eel-related food products, such as jellied eels and stewed eels. Yum. Its a very down to earth place with wipe clean tables and lots of local character. Old photos of the cockney “pearly kings and queens” adorn the walls.

They have huge whisky bottle sized bottles of malt vinegar, some with chilis in them. Splash the vinegar on the liquor and enjoy the meal. I did and it was good. Very good! And yes, I had the double pie and double mash. Hey, its once every 5 years…

After that we wandered around Croydon. Hit the Forbidden Planet shop (nerdy sci-fi) as well as an HMV store where I picked up some CDs. Being in London really brings home the amazing cultural diversity here and in particular underscores the lack of it in Arizona. Hardly surprising, but still noticeable.

Wandered around Marks and Spencer, which used to be a clothing store/department store with some food. Now, it seems to be mainly food. Some really nice looking stuff too. Especially the bakery.

After we finished in Croydon, we went back to Sarah’s flat where I did some snowboarding. You know, with Shaun White and using the Wii fit board. They even have a level where you can snowboard in London with the houses of Parliament in the background. While there, also made arrangements to meet family and friends later in the week. Despite having a strict no-agenda agenda, I’m starting to think I need to put together a list of places and people so I don’t miss anything.

A lovely place to sit, drink a beer and do not much else...

After the snow boarding, we went back home and sat in the back garden drinking beer in the late afternoon. Oh, and I finished off the remaining Scotch eggs. Beer and nice weather on a lazy afternoon, is there anything better?

Well I suppose the knowledge of good food coming later.

Which brings me to the curry.

Stephen knows I loves me some hot hot curry, so we did a take-out from a local restaurant. There are many levels of hotness to curry, Vindaloo being the traditional “hot” one.

But in the words of Yoda, “there is another”.

Lamb Phall curry

This is the fabled “Phall” curry. Its basically Vindaloo but even hotter. According to Stephen its only eaten by drunk people on a dare. Well I wasn’t drunk (much) but I certainly wanted to try it. I did and was good. It actually was very very very hot, probably the hottest food I have ever eaten. It was not amazingly flavourful though, so next time I suspect I’ll go with a hot Vindaloo.

Shortly after I started to eat it, my head went into sweat mode, a sure sign of decent spicy food. Yum. All I can say is I’m glad we had the naan bread.

A sweaty Simon attempts to cool his mouth with some beer. Yum!

After that I went to Stephens flat where we watched some boxing matches on pay per view with his friends. I’m not particularly into boxing, but it was a chance to meet people and enjoy some beers. Some people lost, some won. After that, more beer and eventually a cab ride home at 2am. Ready to start the day again.