The Seven Wonders of Food Halls

Today I'm happy again. I like to jot this down quickly so I can document this fact and figure out what it is that causes me to be this way. I've noticed the malaise has sort of lifted and happy days are more frequent, but today wasn't anything special. I lounged about the apartment most of the morning, went to Oxford Street to a bank only to find out I can't open an account if I'm here less than 6 months, then went exploring. I went to the flagship Marks and Spencer, which is an upper class grocery, and focuses more on prepared boxed salads or chicken dishes or pot pies, etc. All very visually appealing. I saw some lovely and fresh looking salmon and a million other things I'm going to write about once I get a tape recorder or something to document it all. But the real joy came from the Selfridges food hall, which is also another giant department store, like Marks and Spencer. This food hall was amazing, with separate deli style glass cases of Moroccan, Lebanese, Japanese, a cheese section, a grilled section, a meat section, a smoked fish section, a gelato stop and a raw oyster bar. There are also a few little restaurants: Yo Sushi, Square Pie, a pot pie shop, Eat, a prepared sandwich and salad place and some rail grill or something like that. They have every kind of oil and pasta imaginable and nut butters and spices galore. The produce area is a bit small, but I got some cherry tomatoes from Italy that look like ruby red baubles you might hang on a tree. Again, I will document it all later. This is just from memory, which is on total overload right now. Still to go: Fortnum & Mason, Harrods and John Lewis' food hall.

I almost forgot, I got some bread that almost brought me to tears. From a local English farm. Spelt sourdough, if you can imagine that. With fresh Euro butter. I'm not a bread person, but I was singing when I ate this.