What a Cuppa!
In Preston new records for the largest cup of tea (400 litres) and largest tea bag (60kg) were set, and in Camden Lock the longest line of pizzas ever (285.5m) was created (who comes up with these categories?).

Elsewhere, Anita Schwarz thought her dreams of bringing the 'most beer steins carried' record back to Germany had been cruelly shattered after she managed to carry 19 giant foaming mugs only 40 metres, but the adjudicating powers created a new category in recognition of her efforts and she is now the official record-holder for 'most beer steins carried over 40 metres – female' (they really are making this up as they go along ...).

Also in Germany, 5.4 litres of juice was extracted from grapes by treading in just one minute by teutonic treading titan Martina Servaty, beating Belgian Tijs Vandoorne into second place for the coveted (and imaginatively named) 'most juice extracted from grapes by treading in one minute' record.

And in New Zealand, two separate records concerning the time taken to peel and eat kiwi fruit fell - the 'fastest time to peel and eat three kiwi fruits' is now, officially, 36.91 seconds (an astonishing average of 12.3 seconds a fruit) and the world's 'fastest time to peel and eat a kiwi fruit' now stands at 16.15 seconds, both feats achieved by Alastair Galpin (that's 16.15 seconds for a single fruit? Hang on a minute ...).

Source:OFM

Go to Market
Above: Divine salt beef main with a mustard sauce. Below: smoked haddock with a Hollandaise sauce and the most scrumptious mash with herbs. Below: grilled fresh mackerel with roasted red peppers and a tomato sauce (it was all too tasty for words!).Most likely the best restaurant in Camden, serving fresh and delicious British fare, Market Restaurant (43 Parkway, NW1) is the place to be at lunch. The menu changes daily and you can get a two course lunch for a tenner. Buying a horrid salad from a chain with a banana and a drink costs almost the same nowadays. Went there twice in the last three weeks and each time I wasn't disappointed.

I also heard through the grapevine that they won an award from the Observer Food Monthly's magazine but I have to still Google that article and find out what it was for. If you want something other than dodgy market food or chain sandwiches take a break from hectic Camden Market here, I highly recommend it.

Both times I was too full for sampling the puddings but am sure on my next visit will have to squeeze one in!

Berry strange

Walking along the canal from Camden Market to Little Venice on a sunny afternoon (Mother Nature has blessed us with a bit of sunshine these past few days) I noticed lots of lovely blackberry bushes, the one strange thing about all these bushes was that there were loads of berries still on them. The berries were past their date of consumption and most of them were dead and all shriveled up. But not just a few spare ones that bloomed late, there were thousands of them. Why were so many berries that would make lovely treats for anyone walking along the busy canal, left unnoticed and uneaten?

I am not an expert but maybe… people either a) didn’t know that these were edible –as they probably never picked fruit/berries off a tree or bush ever (which is sad) or b) they weren’t sure if they were poisonous (again not being able to recognize basic fruit –sad) or c) they were a bit weary of eating berries from the side of the canal –probably only buy food from supermarkets. Who knows? There is not much pollution from the boats floating by at 2km/ph and there are a lot of people that walk and cycle along this path so not sure exactly why they were all left there. Another reason could be that with the terrible weather we have been having no one has really been stopping to pick berries but instead trying to rush home out of the rain.

On my first visit, there was an old man walking towards me and he was happily picking and eating the few remaining berries, as I was from the opposite direction. I was doing it half heartedly so there was plenty for him to eat when he went past, but when I passed him, he had cleaned those bushes so well there was none left! I then walked along the canal a few days later and there were absolutely no berries that were edible. Am sure that man took the last of them… well, at least someone enjoyed them!

Boat BBQAnother grey & rainy day in London. Thought I would look at some Greece pictures to remind me what the sun actually looks like. Found this one of our tiny bbq aboard our hosts' boat Jade. I wonder where Jade is sailing now? The last I heard from our lovely hosts Shirl & Pete, they were in Mykonos. Oh the life...they have been sailing around the world for the last 6 years!

We had a bbq'd fish one night that Pete caught in the strait of Messina, on their jouney from Sicily to Greece. I can't remember what it was called but it was delicious - it was so large they will be eating it for a while to come.

Well back to London grey weather, went to a great restaurant called Market, in Camden yesterday, for lunch and had two courses for a tenner - will write about that later, off to find a sun bed or a job in Greece :)