Foodie in London

I have been away for a few days visiting family, so this is the first chance I have had to write anything in a while. I scheduled all the previous 3 posts, so I could enjoy my nice “relaxing” break. There was no time for me to relax as I spent the whole time with my niece who I just met for the first time and cooking a weeks worth of meals for my brother and his girlfriend as with a new baby they don’t have much time to make healthy meals.

Not that I mind at all. I LOVE spending time with my beautiful little niece and I love cooking and making sure people are eating healthily. But, I must admit, I need a holiday now I am back. Good job it is only 8 weeks today until we go away.

My family live just outside of London, which is where I spent most of my time, but I had to go via London to get there and back and that is where I was meeting friends before I got my bus back. London has some of the best restaurants, cafes and supermarkets in the world, so being a foodie it is not surprising that during my very quick visit to London, most of the time was spent buying food or eating food. In fact, I only had 2 hours in London, so we all went to Whole Foods to pick up lots of food and then we went to Hyde Park to have a little picnic.

I love Whole Foods. Both the times I was backpacking in the States, I always made sure that was where I did my shopping. It is expensive, but they have so much amazing stuff that we don’t get over here in the UK, until Whole Foods opened over here. But, there are not many stores over here, so I only get to go when I am in London, so I make sure that I stock up.

Their selection of cakes is amazing. As much as I wanted to buy them all (to eat in moderation, of course), I am glad that I wasn’t able to get them home on the bus, otherwise I might have spent a lot more than I already did.

Unlike most other supermarkets here in the UK, Whole Foods have loads of ready cooked foods, so you can pick up a quick and healthy meal during your lunch break, or to take home after work if you don’t have time to cook. There is satay tofu and a broccoli salad on the right that looked incredible.

They also have this massive sushi selection which I did well to avoid, except to buy some edamame. It is great that more places in the UK are doing brown rice sushi.

I have never seen so many different types of nuts in a supermarket. You can just pick up a bag and make your own selection.

The grind your own nut butter section is pretty cool too, but you guys know how easy it is to make your own nut butter, right?

It’s not just about health foods here – look at this selection of chocolates they have. If you are going to treat yourself, do it right! I bought 4 pieces and brought them home to share with Dave, my husband. I can’t actually remember what they all were, but the best one was the dark chocolate truffle. The rest were a bit bland to be honest. They look a lot better than they tasted.

I have never tried a macaroon before, so I went with this caramel one to try. I really have been missing out – they are very good. A strange texture and VERY sugary, but good for a once in a while food.

This walnut vegan brownie looked far too good to resist. It was incredible fudgey and decadent, but I could only eat a quarter of it – which is a good thing.  The rest is in the fridge and I will spend the rest of the week eating it.

I have tried coconut water before, but didn’t really like the taste. But, I want to like it, so I bought this flavoured one to give it another go. I haven’t tried it yet, but I will let you know how I get on with it.

Little bits of these bounce balls were being given out as samples in the Store and the promotion definitely worked as straight after trying them, I put them in my basket. They are slow releasing natural energy balls with only a few ingredients and no artificial preservatives. They both taste really good as well. They are a bit too big for one person for one snack, but I can halve it and eat the rest another day. I will do a proper review of these soon.

The salad bar in Whole Foods is HUGE and for someone that loves salad, I was in heaven. I didn’t even see the hot food bar and once I noticed it, I walked straight past it as I couldn’t put any more in my basket. This salad was pearl barley with a roasted red pepper sauce, topped with flaked salmon, beetroot, purple potato, carrot, fennel, grilled tofu, feta cheese and cucumber. Such a tasty salad.

I couldn’t go home without taking Dave something. He loves fudge, so when I saw this, I knew I had to get it. I have never seen honeycomb fudge before. He is saving it for a special occasion.

Chilli enjoyed his present too. Wouldn’t it be nice to be so happy with a paper bag?!

It was really nice being in London for the run-up to the Olympics. It is VERY busy, but there is a nice atmosphere and it makes me proud to be British.