Whilst in London Town...

This is why the British have a reputation for being so polite. I'd argue that they are no more polite than people anywhere are. Their signs are just written more politely. It's the word whilst that gets everyone. I can't stand the word, myself. It's more awkward than while, which rolls trippingly. The origin of whilst is in fact late Middle English, from WHILES + -t, as in against. (This is from the dictionary in my computer, which has proven an invaluable resource for me.) But whenever I see whilst written, I'll just say while in my head. It's kind of a jerk thing to do, but you gotta look out for number one, right?

Last night, I had a stellar dinner with Joedi, Rob, and Artur. We went to a place near school, called the African Kitchen Gallery. It was nearly as small as my room, with only four tables (I found out later there was a whole downstairs), and the menu was quite small as well. However, the food was fantastic. we started off with some plantains, which came with some sort of coriander (maybe?) dipping sauce. Then Joedi and I split the African Delight (more plantains, in a tomatoey stew thing), black beans in chili sauce, and some great rice. Oh boy, was it good. And spicy, too. Near the end of the meal, we were all wiping our noses incessantly, as the spice had opened up our sinuses. Made for a very pleasant dinner. They also brought us these little balls for dessert, though I have no clue what they were. They were good, though, and I ate them. Boy, did I eat them.

Finally, I went to the Primrose Hill Farmer's Market yesterday. It's part of a greater-London collective of farmer's markets. There wasn't tons there, but it was very nice and quite reasonably priced, as well. There are several of them throughout London (as previously implied) and some of them are quite large, from what I gather. I think I'll try utlizing those from now on. The produce is cheaper, it's grown in the UK (and within a 100-mile radius of London), and it's organic.

Because, see, I've got issues with the organic movement, as it were. I'm willing to believe that organic produce is better for you and for the environment. My problem is that all the health and environmental effects are negated when you're shipping grapes to the UK (or Lansing) from South Africa. Planes are major, major polluters. So my new goal is to try to limit myself to UK-grown produce. I might still buy bananas, but I'd like to see how viable this is.

You think I'm crazy, don't you?