I taught them to cook vidya4 - Flipbook - Page 22
20
Autumn Term
‘Rubbing in Miss. Does your boyfriend know how to do it?’
Gavin smirks at the answer but most are just pleased to take
this tasty pudding home.
Mark
Mark and I met during Freshers’ Week at Bristol University. He
and his flatmate Sid hatched a get-a-girlfriend plan and invited
newly arrived students from my all female hall of residence to
tea. It worked for both of them. Meeting Mark was a moment
from Mills and Boon – a tall, dark, clever, handsome man with a
car. His ancient, convertible baby blue Morris Minor with a red
interior trim was a great attraction.
Mark left university a year before me to work in London and
I followed after my degree and we linked up again. He’s got a job
selling wine and spirits around central London pubs – he says it’s
to get experience before an international job with the company.
But for now our evening date can find me perched on a bar stool,
ordering his latest drink promotion. The most embarrassing
campaign so far is for the French aperitif, Lillet. He has no clue
that this is the name of the popular sanitary tampon and I cringe
when I have to ask the barman ‘Can I have a Lillet, please?’
Eating out and food shopping are our favourite weekend
pastimes and London has such diverse communities with street
markets to explore. Soho street food stalls spill with new fruit
and vegetables – mangoes, avocados and guavas which I’m eager
to try. Then on to Lina Stores in Soho, our favourite Italian
delicatessen, to stock up on dried and fresh pasta and hunks of
Parmesan cheese. The aroma of hams and salamis hanging from
the ceiling hooks and the smell of freshly roasted coffee hits you
as you open the door. Chinatown for a quick dim sum lunch and
a hunt through the busy Chinese grocery shops for hundred year
old eggs, rice and dried noodles, soya sauce and big bags of spices.
And anything weird that catches my eye. Brixton street market