New City....Familiar face

London being a big city is home to quite a number of Perthians/Perthites....so yesterday I caught up with Minh and we hung out for the day. I got to know Minh and her bro when they started attending the church I go to back in Perth quite a number of years ago. We'd kinda lost contact over the years but when Gav mentioned to me that Minh was now living in London we organised to catch up and explore the city together.

So I met up with her at the train station and we made our way to Borough Markets. I'd been told by Gav/Chris that there is heaps of things to eat and try there. So armed with an empty stomach Minh and I decided to check out what was on offer. Borough Markets is a bit like our grower's markets back in Perth but with HEAPS more food....and by food I mean all different types of homemade food. We wandered through the many stalls trying bits of cheese, dips, relishes and taking in all the mouthwatering smells that were wafting through the market. After walking around and seeing Minh buy a falafel and another thing to eat, I decided that the first thing to try was an ostrich sausage burger. I know it sounds weird but boy was it good especially with horse radish over the top of it. The sausage didn't taste fatty and the meat was very lean. Besides selling fresh meats and vegies they also had fresh seafood and Minh suggested that I try the fresh scallops which were lightly pan fried with bacon. For GBP4.5, it wasn't cheap but you got 3 very plump scallops pan fried and served in a scallop shell and they tasted sooo fresh and juicy that I could have really gone back for more.

Falafel and Ostrich Sausage Burger

Fresh Scallops Pan Fried with Bacon

The markets also sell quite a lot of desserts, freshly made pastries, chocolate coated raisans/peanuts, turkish delight (YUM)...the list goes on!!! We filled our bellies and then headed back into the city to go to Buckingham Palace and the National Gallery. Armed with chocolate and turkish delight goodness we decided to drop these off back at the apartment or else Minh and I (well mainly Minh) would end up eating it all.

After the quick pitstop at the apartment, we walked towards Jubilee bridge, which connects us to the city when it started to rain and then it started to pour....and then it BUCKETED DOWN with rain. Both Minh and I had these puny yet strong umbrellas but we were still getting wet so we sought shelter under an overpass with a couple hundred other ppl who were trying not to get wet. In the end we canned the idea of going to see Buckingham Palace and the National Gallery due to the crazy weather and we went for a coffee to have a think about what other options we could do. So in the end we decided to go shopping and Minh took me out to this GIGANTUAN Westfield out in the 'burbs. We just mainly window shopped as this was more to get out of the rainy weather. It was fun catching up and hanging out with Minh, and really cool to see familiar face in a new city.

Cheesy grins on the train