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It’s kind of like being lost in space, though instead of a great nothing-ness there’s a great-too-much-of-everything- ness. Well Ok, so it’s the opposite, but still I had to make the comparison.
This stimulation overload can drive you mental unless you know how to see it. I think I am recovering from the mental…at least I have managed to recognise it and am now detaching. Detaching in a way that I can be a part but not be sucked in.
This isn’t easy.
My first instincts were rage – I mean how could you not have rage!
The coffee’s crap everyone is in your face the busses and tubes and trains smell funny people are always in a hurry, and did I mention that the coffee is REALLY crap.
Where’s the solace?
I was about to spontaneously combust and I am surprised that I haven’t witnessed others do it around me.
How do they keep going?
(notice I didn’t say keep it together, who knows what their inner turmoil is!)
So yes back to the question.
The answer is I’m not sure – I mean do you have an answer? Me personally, I have started to see things, I mean really look at them.
I saw tube rage the other day and the energy was intense and really awkward – made me laugh after all the anger it dispersed.
I have been disgusted many a time too.
Someone will sneeze into their hand – polite – then put that germ ridden hand on the leaning pole – where a million other Londoners are grabbing for dear stability. EWWW!
It is funny.
I guess laughing is the only way.
I mean who am I going to complain to anyway? That thought is ridiculous in itself.
I haven’t managed to calm my own rage on the subject of other people, interestingly it is STUPID people, talking too loudly on public transport. I don’t want to know about who they think is fit or fat or what a sad sad day they had today!
I can tell a sad song just as well as the rest of them.
So what do I do?
I can’t really laugh – I just look like a moron. So I stare.
It makes me feel superior.
Angry but tough.
I guess that will do for now.
Further to my pho gripe, I am continuing on my never ending search.
In fact the very same day that I published that last item, I went and bought myself one…it was rubbish, the meat was grey…yes grey.
I tasted it and boy was it…errr, I think interesting is the most polite way to put it.
Oh and to top it all off there was no side of lime or Thai basil…I should have seen it coming.
Yes, I only have myself to blame.
I figure, ‘Bugger this – I’ll make my own!’
So I did
And I was really impressed with the result. The only ingredient I was missing was the nuoc mam…but it’s the star anise that was the real star of the dish.
So here’s the recipe, give it a try, it takes a bit of time but that’s all in the simmering. It is super easy to make and I highly recommend it.
PHO – Serves 6
Ingredients:
250g beef Sirloin
500g rice stick (Noodles soaked in warm water for 20 mins)
1 spring onion finely sliced
115g (cup) bean sprouts
bunch coriander
bunch Thai basil
2 limes quartered
hoisin sauce, nuoc mam (to serve)
For the stock:
1.5kg oxtail trimmed of fat and cut into pieces
1kg of beef brisket
2 large onions
2 carrots peeled and chopped
7.5 fresh ginger chopped
6 cloves
3 cloves garlic
6 star anise
2 cinnamon sticks
30 mil soy sauce
salt
nuoc mam
METHOD:
Stock: put the meat only into a deep pot and boil for 15 minutes to blanch. Strain the water rinse the meat then put back into the pan with all the rest of the ingredients for the stock except for salt and nuoc mam add 3litres of water and bring to the boil. Once it’s boiled cover and simmer for 2 – 3 hours.
Remove lid and simmer until the stock has reduced to about 2 litres. (approx 1hr)
To serve:
Soak the noodles and drain when soft.
Cut the beef sirloin against the grain.
Heat up the stock and season with nuoc mam and salt.
Divide the noodles into the bowls, top with spring onions and thinly sliced beef (raw)
Pour over the boiling stock and it will cook the beef.
Put bowls of herbs and limes and sauces on the table and allow diners to add extra flavour as they like.
Enjoy.
I am still experiencing winter here in London…and I believe I will be doing so for quite some time.
So I guess it is no wonder that soups feature high on my I-want-to-eat-it-now list.
I have always been a firm believer that soups are a special kind of food and that all soups have some sort of medicinal quality, even if that quality is such that it transports you back in time to when mum was cooking for you. A good minestrone does that for me.
But this isn’t about nostalgia, it’s about a craving for a filling no nonsense soup. Sure, I may have just said no nonsense but the soup I am talking about, when done well, has such a delicate mix of flavours and is both fragrant and hearty.
In Australia, I was never far away from a good Pho, with China Town and King Street New Town so easily accessible and being fortunate enough to live in a city that has restaurants that really do care about what they put into the food preparation, I never thought twice about it. A good dish of almost anything isn’t too hard to find in Sydney – why is it I realize this now that I am in London?
I digress.
Back to cravings, and Pho. Where to get a good pho? It’s not an easy question to answer. Sure there are a lot of restaurants available that say they have it, but do they even know what it is?
I found myself in an eatery at a shopping centre, ordering up a pho and what did I get? Well it was beefy and noodley, but there was no slice of lime or sprouts or basil. I was beside myself. And I couldn’t taste any of those amazing woody spices in my broth either, it appeared as though I had been served a bowl of lies!
I thought maybe this is it, this was how the English did Vietnamese, I may as well give up now and start eating bangers and mash and just not look back…but I am too stubborn for that.
I just started to go to more eateries.
Someone served me a soup that wasn’t even called pho and was more like a Chinese short soup minus the short. Well, it was OK, but not what I wanted. I didn’t actually find what I wanted until I stopped looking. And of course it was right in-front of my eyes. There is a little eatery that has a tacky appearance – so it wards off the big crowds which is great – but has a little something called PHO.
It was real this time, ok, it wasn’t as good as what I may have tried in Vietnam or Australia, but you know, what Dorothy says “I’m not in Kansas buddy” – or is it Toto?
Anyway, it was an honest pho. With the trimmings, thank you. It’s opposite Clapham Junction station, but promise you wont tell anyone – I need to be able to get a seat after work.
If you want a fancier Pho, there is another I have found. It’s in Camden Town and far enough away from the lock that you can find a little solace, but still close enough for you to fuel up pre or post shopping. Nam An. This is a really great little Vietnamese restaurant and I highly recommend it for a night out. The interior looks amazing and the menu extends well beyond the humble pho, I even ventured into tasting some fresh rice paper rolls which did not disappoint, but to be honest I was only there for I thing.
And I was satisfied.
Pho with all the trimmings.
If you have any recommendations do tell. It is one of many of my life long quests.
Pho
Nam An Vietnamese
Camden
14-16 Camden High Street, Camden Town, London, NW1 0JH
Good Morning Vietnam
St. John’s Hill
Opposite Clapham Junction Station.
I am still experiencing winter here in London…and I believe I will be doing so for quite some time.
So I guess it is no wonder that soups feature high on my I-want-to-eat-it-now list.
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It’s easy to do and really easy to do badly.
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Three things need to need to be present in the dish at the same time; freshness, crispiness and mushy peas, some lemon and tartare never goes astray either
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Another of my favourite streets in Clapham (London) that has gone festive...
Sure it can't compete with the grand designs of Carnaby Street's decoration,
Carnaby Street...The best of Christmas 07
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Chelsea
Ahhh Chelsea, designer shopping with a village feel and just a hint of snootiness! I love it. It calls me out whenever I have an hour or so to spare and its shops have bewitched me, even the patisseries are begging my waistline to relax…and at the excuse of Christmas it has – another piece of pannetone anyone?
But it’s really the shopping I want to talk about and more importantly the evil yet delightful way it seduces your credit cards and your ability to spend spend spend. People have told me to satisfy my self with window shopping and I laughed, boy did I laugh. Then it hit me that I just may have to do just that
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So far, the answer is yes.
I haven’t been away from home for long so I am staying open minded…with a heavy bias on home, and that being Australia
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27 Posts dating from October 2006
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