Reasons to be cheerful

I may have been up until 2 in the morning trying to fix my computer and recover 4 years of potentially lost work, only to find that it was all because there was an errant DVD of The Calamari Wrestler inserted in the drive, but there's still tiny, tiny cupcakes!

Cake

Tonight I went to the Harbour Grand in Fortress Hill, and ate cake. There was a buffet there in honour of a friend's impending baby, but since, as with every buffet in Hong Kong, there were mounds of meat, I felt like I was being deprived by my inability to feast on the available food.

Year of Eating Differently (104): Cotton Cafe, Berwick Street

The sign at the door says to mind the step. What is ambiguous about this is that you mind the step as you walk in from the street, not realising there's another step to trip across as you step up again into the restaurant. Thankfully I didn't land face first in somebody else's lunch; not sure if I recovered or not. Had an avocado melt, which is really a panino, but a bit dirtier; avocado and swiss cheese stuck in a panini toaster for a few minutes, but slathered on the outside with butter. Somehow this was much heavier on the filth-factor than other panini I've eaten - well done. They offer chilli hot chocolate as well - not sure about whether that's a good idea or an incredibly dangerous one - but did have a piece of pear and ginger chocolate cake, which was very good indeed.
Went back to the office, found that my date for the night had gone home sick and thus I'm without company for the evening. Possibly that's justice for yesterday's post, but it is the 14th of February...

Year of Eating Differently (52): Patisserie Valerie, Old Compton Street

Time to wander south again; I haven't been to Old Compton Street since the disappointment of Paul all those weeks ago. Wandering down the street, I was a little worried at the possible eating venues. Play 2 Win arcade? No. Adult erotica? No. But luckily, was enticed by the window display of Valerie's. Whatever the food tastes like, the whole wrapping up your piece of cake in a box with a ribbon on it is hard to fault - it fills me with nostalgia for the over-the-top packaging in Japan, and makes the meal feel like an early birthday present.

Sadly, in a rush to leave early today for Sweden, so couldn't sit down to eat. Instead, I've brought an artichoke tart and the cake back to the office, to consume here. Feeling the need for hot food, there's a quick excursion to zap the tart in the microwave first, and then the tasting can begin...

It's good. Could have been hotter, and would have been better if not placed in a paper bag so that some of the topping fell off on the way back, but artichoke (and olive and caper) is a good way to have lunch. Pastry not quite as crisp as I might have liked, but that seems a small quibble here. The sliced onion forms a good, slightly acidic counterpoint to the artichoke, or possibly the other way round. Could do with some pepper though, I think. Or maybe it's just an attempt at being mellow.

On the downside, you're presented with so much cake, marzipan animals and every other constituent of an afternoon well wasted, that it's a shame to have to retreat to the office.
Anyhow, will spend the remainder of the afternoon with my face smeared with cake, going 'ummgggfgrhhh?' at anyone questioning my existence, and then it's the train to LHR in the not too distant future...

Year of Eating Differently (39): Konditor & Cook, Curzon Cinema, Shaftesbury Avenue

So, I've been away for a few days in Donegal, doing advanced research into blending Guinness and Heineken, and thus hardly felt like eating at all today. The loooong journey home didn't help much either, nor did the continual dry retching. But then again, there's no other in-flight entertainment on Ryanair, so maybe I was doing my thing for everyone else's benefit.
But back on the quest for novelty in food - this time, down to the cinema at the bottom of Soho, the furthest south I've been yet. Feeling rather sick afterwards - a very rich sandwich of pesto and mozzarella and aubergine, which was good, but possibly rather ambitious after the weekend. That, combined with a huge piece of chocolate cake with vanilla icing that felt like it was almost an inch thick, has left me struggling with the world. Only another ten and a half hours before Monday is over, however...

Year of Eating Differently (32): Starbucks, corner of Soho Street & Oxford Street

Very tired, very hungry today - probably a mistake to have more than a pint of beer last night after climbing. Shambled into work, felt starving hungry by 11.30. Thus an early trip to Starbucks.
On the positive side, the hot chocolate is good. Better than the insipid stuff I've had from Cafe Nero and Eat recently. On the negative, the panini took forever to arrive, probably because they were attempting to get it up to radioactive temperatures. Didn't really taste of anything apart from a burnt mouth.
Cake: Starbucks have gone downhill since they got rid of the ginger muffin. The apple cake is like eating some kind of packing materials that were stored near some apples once. And the whole damn thing costs too much. Nine pounds something for a panini, two bits of cake and a hot chocolate? Ho-bloody-ho.

Year of Eating Differently (16): Foyles, Charing Cross Road

A day behind on the eating plan, I suppose, due to taking Friday off with Being Ill. Ah well. I'm not posting pictures of me eating soup at home. Sorry.

So, Foyles. Or rather, not the bookshop itself, but the cafe on the first floor. Aubergine and mozzarella baguette, and, (a first since this started) the bread is actually decent - crusty crust, and soft, fresh bread inside. Nice. Haven't eaten aubergine since I can remember, so that's also another plus point, and it's no more expensive than surrounding places. The ambience is nice too (who doesn't like bookshops? Furthermore, it's a bookshop that doesn't play music, unlike the slightly unpleasant Borders over the road, which seems to assume that books must be so dull that you have to have canned music blaring away while you browse.) but unfortunately I had to head straight back to the office to sit down (crashing from drinking a giant latte at Cafe Nero this morning - bit of a tactical error, that).

Anyway, sandwich is great. But better was the cake, which instead of being factory packed like everywhere else (think of that awful bit of shortbread from establishment 13 last week) does a good semblence of being homemade. A jaffa cake, no less - a sponge cake slathered with chocolate icing, and with a smashing orangey bit inside. Spirits lifted, back to counting planes...