oeufs en cocotte

'ouefs en cocotte' is a classic french dish and is named after the dish in which it is cooked. ouefs en cocotte are perfect for individual eats as an egg is cooked in a ramekin. you can customise the egg by adding veggies and some kind of creamy or rich element like butter, a full fat soft cheese like boursin or cream. i wanted something light with a colour profile that says spring - soft yellow yolks paired with something green, so i choose to include some grated courgettes sweated in a little bit of olive oil. for seasoning i added a bit of paprika although i imagine a bit of the iranian spice sumac would add a nice tartness and some flaky salt. 

spuntino

spuntino

spuntino is a cosmopolitan sophisticated diner. it is also the intersection at which new york meets london. it’s façade is almost industrial and is somewhat incongruous in the middle of the gritty sexiness of soho. that industrial theme is felt inside as well with high ceilings and earthy tones giving this otherwise small space a feel of openness. credit definitely goes to nifty utilisation of space! there is a rectangular u-shaped bar seating that seats around twenty people and a small table in one corner. we were lucky to beat the queue by about fifteen minutes as the pace started to pick up around half six.

koba

pajeon

trying to eat dinner on a friday night in soho without out having to queue for at least half an hour is virtually impossible. o and i tried byron, busaba, wahaca and dong san in poland street but with no luck. eventually i dived into the nearest newsagent to get a snack whilst o called up colbeh to see how long the wait would be. it was a curt phone call that ended in no luck there either. at this point o was ready to give up and go home but i wasn't. i was thinking of places where we could eat in islington when o suddenly suggested goodge street. 

we did a quick recce of charlotte street and goodge street eventually settling on koba. we were seated promptly after being told that we had our table till half nine. koba is bare simplicity and the staff are excellent and attentive. we started with dehydrated hand wipes. the tiny capsule sized compressed napkin grew about an inch in hot water after which we used it to clean our hands. 

my fondness for korean food is recent. i first ate it when my dad introduced me to it in pakistan in the late nineties and at that point i didn't take to the mix of sweet and salty or to the sharpness of pickle and the heavy slick of garlic that some dishes have. now i love trying it and wish i had someone to talk me through the cuisine and where i can find authentic korean in london. 

i picked a pajeon to start with. it is best described as a thick pancake made with rice flour, green onions and sea food. koba's pajeon came piping hot and had a light melt in the mouth texture. there was a generous amount of shrimp in it. the dipping sauce that came with it was slightly sweet. o and i polished this of rather quickly. 

i had japchae as my entree as i love noodles. the noodles in japchae are made of sweet potato cornstarch and are the colour of glass when cooked. texturally, they are slightly chewy. i love the meeting of sweet and savoury in this dish with a hint of sesame and the crunch of vegetable. the thinly sliced beef made it quite substantial. o had one of the bibimbaps which came in a hot stone bowl and was given a furious stir by our waiter when o agreed to some chilli. 

on the side o had beer whilst i had ginger tea which aside from being liberally sweetened with honey was made even more interesting with the addition of some pine nuts in it. i'd definitely like to come back to koba but the next time for the bulgogi and korean barbecue.

for dessert o and i popped into yog. this was to make up for o's snog craving which he had been deprived of since we couldn't find a place to eat in soho. we had the pom yog as there was no chocolate yog. i have to say i had to search for the flavour of pomegranate which to me was evident only in the pale purple-pink tint of the yoghurt. it tasted more like a plain frozen yoghurt to me and if i think of it as such it was good, especially with the chocolate coated seeds. 

whitecross street market

go was in classes second week of march to prepare for his cfa (chartered financial analyst) exam. his version of the acronym is much less kosher as it involves expletives and rude terms. his classes take place in the city near moorgate. the monday that he started was commonwealth day. as this is a privilege holiday for me i decided to meet my other half at whitecross street market for lunch.  by half past noon the street was full of professionals standing in long queues waiting to be served for lunch. there is quite a wide choice - vegetarian, indian, mexican, italian, spanish and middle eastern to name a few. i was quite tempted by the venison steak sandwiches. although i told o he should go ahead and get whatever he wanted to he decided to have the same. i sometimes don't understand why he lands up having things that he isn't very keen on. he doesn't like sandwiches or anything un-toasted. he much prefers hot things. 

making a basic white spelt loaf

spring has arrived. everywhere i go trees are breaking into blossoms. last weeks shy wavy green stalks have broken into yellow and buttercup daffodils. below them in ranks are the snow crocuses. up near highbury the magnolia blossom trees have little white buds. soon they will be in bloom too. i could smell freshly cut grass in the air in the morning. 

daffodils

spring is my favourite time of the year in london. it erases the length and despair of winter. so much so that sometimes i forget that there could have been those incredibly short days. this year i have seen spring in a different way. a yoga teacher of mine (way back in november) said to me that we must look upon winter as a hibernation, as a time for resting and recharging because come spring we all emerge into a dance of life. there was something about the connections she made between the seasons and concepts of rest and rejuvenation that have made this spring so much more.

today made me happy. 

it made me want to make something basic and simple. 

it made me want to bake bread. 

believe it or not i have never baked bread myself. i have done so with my mum when i was a little girl but once i moved out i never managed to get round to it. i guess part of it was the magic of baking bread with mum. i miss helping her cook. i miss the smell of yeast dough. and i miss the little knotted french rolls that she would make effortlessly. i figured in the spirit of spring i should bake and start a new memory.

i had thirty two to myself as o is out so working in silence i mixed together white spelt flour, salt, sugar, yeast, water and oil to make a basic loaf. kneading the dough reminded me of reading m k fisher who wrote '[breadmaking is] one of those almost hypnotic businesses, like a dance from some ancient ceremony. it leaves you filled with one of the world's sweetest smells... there is no chiropractic treatment, no yoga exercise, no hour of 

meditation in a music-throbbing chapel that will leave you emptier of bad thoughts than this homely ceremony of making bread." 

i couldn't agree more.