And so this is Christmas - Borough Market was massively busy in places on Saturday morning. The queues for Neals Yard and Ginger Pig were reminiscent of scenes from the bad old days of the eastern bloc by 9 am. Friday was much worse, by all accounts. Other stalls, like Booths were possibly quieter than usual - in the early days of Borough Market the last weekend before xmas prompted scrums and punch ups to get to the sprouts and the parsnips. The success of box schemes in the last few years seems to have given people an assured source of good vegetables so the panic confines itself to meat and cheese. So we joined in.
We started at Neals Yard where the queue was already round the corner by 8.45 but it was good natured and much entertained by the lorry trying to get down the narrow street without hitting the cars parked on both sides. He got stuck half way - don't know how it ended but the police had arrived by the time we were leaving with our bread, milk and cream - the last tubs left in the entire market - and a sizeable hunk of stilton - £15.20
Next was Ginger Pig where the queue, if anything, was longer so I left the lovely boyfriend at the end of it and set off to find the other things on the list. He eventually picked up a magnificent hunk of rib roast and some bacon and eggs and got little change from £60
First I bought a big bag of King Edwards from the xmas market £2.20
Then I went to Shellseekers and bought sweet pale pink prawns and, on the spur of the moment some brown shrimp to have potted on xmas day - £6.20
Conitnuing the fish theme I bought a small tub of smoked salmon after consuming a large slice generously offered by the woman on the Irish stall - £4
Then to Furness Fish and Game for a glistening piece of fresh salmon fillet - £5.50
Next to the Italian mozzarella stall for two balls of buffalo and a sheet of parma ham - £7.70
I do love a pork pie so I bought one from Mrs Elizabeth King's stall accompanied by cheery wishes for a good xmas - £4.50
By this time my sweetheart had been served and so we went off together first to Booths for parsnips and brussel sprouts, onions and tangerines and lemons - £5.20
Carrots as usual from Total Organics as well as a can of chick peas - £2.20
In Brindisa I bought a jar of char grilled peppers called piquillo - £4.60
Can't be a party without Italian cheeses so we went to Gastronomica where, for the first time ever, the size of the suggested pieces was smaller than I had in mind - it was still early and they too had nearly sold out. I had hoped for rochetta but there was none so I settled for a piece of parmesan, a good hunk of a creamy goat/sheep mix, a round of slightly fermented raw milk and a piece of quite perfect pecorino - £15 the lot
And then we were done here - and it was still only 10.15 am - possibly a record. Total spend was a lot - £128.30 - but we had a week of serious eating ahead of us and we were looking forward to it all. Next week we shall have good intentions.
We started at Neals Yard where the queue was already round the corner by 8.45 but it was good natured and much entertained by the lorry trying to get down the narrow street without hitting the cars parked on both sides. He got stuck half way - don't know how it ended but the police had arrived by the time we were leaving with our bread, milk and cream - the last tubs left in the entire market - and a sizeable hunk of stilton - £15.20
Next was Ginger Pig where the queue, if anything, was longer so I left the lovely boyfriend at the end of it and set off to find the other things on the list. He eventually picked up a magnificent hunk of rib roast and some bacon and eggs and got little change from £60
First I bought a big bag of King Edwards from the xmas market £2.20
Then I went to Shellseekers and bought sweet pale pink prawns and, on the spur of the moment some brown shrimp to have potted on xmas day - £6.20
Conitnuing the fish theme I bought a small tub of smoked salmon after consuming a large slice generously offered by the woman on the Irish stall - £4
Then to Furness Fish and Game for a glistening piece of fresh salmon fillet - £5.50
Next to the Italian mozzarella stall for two balls of buffalo and a sheet of parma ham - £7.70
I do love a pork pie so I bought one from Mrs Elizabeth King's stall accompanied by cheery wishes for a good xmas - £4.50
By this time my sweetheart had been served and so we went off together first to Booths for parsnips and brussel sprouts, onions and tangerines and lemons - £5.20
Carrots as usual from Total Organics as well as a can of chick peas - £2.20
In Brindisa I bought a jar of char grilled peppers called piquillo - £4.60
Can't be a party without Italian cheeses so we went to Gastronomica where, for the first time ever, the size of the suggested pieces was smaller than I had in mind - it was still early and they too had nearly sold out. I had hoped for rochetta but there was none so I settled for a piece of parmesan, a good hunk of a creamy goat/sheep mix, a round of slightly fermented raw milk and a piece of quite perfect pecorino - £15 the lot
And then we were done here - and it was still only 10.15 am - possibly a record. Total spend was a lot - £128.30 - but we had a week of serious eating ahead of us and we were looking forward to it all. Next week we shall have good intentions.
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