For the past two weeks I’ve been having thick slices of Sonoma’s walnut and fig bread for breakfast. It’s great with some gingered marmalade, or a piece of goats cheese. I find I tend to go through phases of having the one thing for breakfast. There was the eggs (every which way) phase, the yogurt ‘n’ granola one, and the oatmeal phase which usually lasts for the whole of winter. Right now, it’s decent bread with decent jam.

Over at Spitoon, Andrew recently had a go at my wheaten bread recipe, so I thought I would give his Walnut Bread dough a bash …and a pummel. Over the kitchen counter. With my bare fists for at least ten minutes. While I tried to think of something angry. Which didn’t really work because I had Sigur Rós playing at the time and it was too soothing.

Nevertheless, the dough rose with great enthusiasm, and now I have two craggy, walnut-studded, donut-shaped loaves – which for some reason I find very evocative of hernia pillows or neck braces – to tide me over a few more breakfasts. I love the smell of the rye and the amount of walnuts in the loaves. I’m not one to snack on walnuts on their own, but they taste great in breads or tossed through salads. And having once shelled a whole bag of walnuts, and only managing to yield maybe five unblemished nuts, I now also have great respect for a perfectly shelled walnut.

It was on a recommendation that we chose to eat at maze on our fourth day in London. The idea was to have lunch, then meet a friend for coffee, and later catch the train to Reading to visit Spencer and Sarah. After reading the address wrongly and finding ourselves in Grosvenor Place, not Grosvenor Square (not quite located next to each other, unfortunately!), we eventually made our way to the restaurant, were seated, and had the menu explained to us.

I quite like the concept of maze. There’s an a la carte menu as well as a tasting menu, where you can select any number of smaller dishes (prices ranging from about £7 to £10) you want to try. We picked four savoury courses and three desserts. The highlight for me would have been the eye-catching desserts – especially the Peanut butter and cherry jam sandwich with salted nuts and cherry sorbet, and the Textures of pear with Chocolate millefeuille. The most interesting savoury dish we had was the B. L. T. : layered tomato jelly and bacon cream in a martini glass with fried bacon and onion rings, and a lettuce veloute that was poured at the table. Nice flavours, though the lettuce veloute was eventually masked by the other stronger flavours as you worked your way down the glass. The spiced Orkney scallops were also very good. I can’t remember what the scattered crunchy bits were, but they were tasty, as was the dark blob of peppered golden raisin puree.

At this point I wish that I could say maze was a-maze-ing, but it wasn’t. It was nicely presented, good food (and quite rich despite the small portions), served in quite a good looking room, but it lacked a little something (in comparison to the other restaurants we visited) that I can’t quite put my finger on. If the service had been warmer, it might also have made that extra bit of difference.

From Grosvenor Square, it was on to Clapham, and Macaron where we were to meet Donal for coffee. Macaron was also on my list of places to visit, upon recommendation. Perhaps it was because it was a Sunday, but the range of sweets available at this shop was quite small, and later I left feeling a bit disappointed, considering all the hype surrounding this place. (Although, if the hype is more about the £7 loaf on the shelf and the kitschy-but-cool outfits of the waitresses, then I’ve approached this place with the wrong expectations.) Still, we managed to select some pastries to fill a box for Spencer and Sarah – the nicest of which was the caramel eclair.

The train trip to Reading seemed to take forever. We managed to get on a train that stopped everywhere, but once we reached our destination, Spencer picked us up and it was a quick car ride to their house, where we got to meet the kids (Adam and Thomas) for the first time, and caught up over dinner.

(A quick tip for if you ever find yourself in Reading : apart from the music festival, it is also home to LegoLand!)

Unfortunately we missed the last train home from London Bridge station, and got our first taste of the after-hours public transport system. The system is actually not that bad, if you know what to do and where to go : the night buses come every 10 minutes or so. The frustrating thing was that no one working at the station seemed to know anything… or didn’t care. Either way, we finally rang the phone number on a train brochure (using B’s Sydney based mobile phone) and got some much needed information. Two hours and two buses later, we were home.. slightly frayed around the edges, but home.

maze
10 – 13 Grosvenor Square
London W1K 6JP

Macaron
22 The Pavement
Clapham
London SW4 0HY

(There’s a cute version of Macaron’s lemon tart here on Flickr)

Next : Day 5 : Tate Modern, pork pies, a bread machine and an umbrella, Le Gavroche.

I love my Vegemite and grew up on strawberry flavoured Aeroplane Jelly, but if there’s one thing I’m completely un-Australian for, is my inability to embrace the sun. Shade and sweet water, that’s me. Yet, if you were at Bondi during the weekend like I was, I’m sure you would’ve agreed that the beach was a sight to behold. Hundreds of glistening bodies on sun-drenched sand against a backdrop of deep blue water and cloudless sky. I slapped on the hat, slopped on the sunscreen and just stood there, marvelling.

Being at Bondi on a day like this, always reminds me of Jaci. She’s a complete sun lover, having grown up on Lord Howe Island. She probably owns 20 bikinis, whereas I haven’t laid claim to one in more than ten years! I tried going swimsuit shopping last summer and failed miserably.. they were all funny shapes with weird cutouts and too-much-going-on prints. Where have all the plain cossies gone?

Anyway, here I was at Bondi, feeling a little overdressed in jeans and singlet, meeting Mir (who actually drove to Bondi, brave girl) so that we could do the Bondi to Bronte walk and check out Sculpture by the Sea. I don’t usually manage to get to this annual event because this is the busiest time of the year, work-wise, but miraculously I was off for the weekend and didn’t want the opportunity to pass me by.

The pieces with a sense of humour, such as the hand sculpture this year, are usually pretty popular with the crowds, as are the large tactile installations which the kids love. My favourite sculptures this time round were mostly the recycled ones. The submarines/boats, for example, and the dogs that were composed of objects like table legs and bicycle seats.

Mir and I ended the day with a couple of scoops of gelato from nearby Pompei. Sugary relief, from a disgustingly beautiful sunny day.

Sculpture by the Sea 2006
Bondi to Tamarama coastal walk
2-19 November