Columbia Road

On Sunday I took Sarah Rhode's suggestion for an outing to visit Columbia Road Flower Market, then wander down to Brick Lane and Spitalfields. Although the day was icy and overcast, turning the corner to see the flower market immediately brightened up my day!

Columbia Road Flower market

Columbia Road is a small street but packed with personality - little vintage stores, bespoke jewellery, coffee shops and bric-a-brac. Wandering along I found this cute shop....only to discover it was Jessie Chorley's!

Jessie Chorley shop, Columbia Road

I have been reading about Jessie for some time now, through Selvedge and other magazines and articles and was entranced by all the wonderful things she has made for sale. I started to talk to the woman behind the desk, and wouldn't you know, it was Jessie herself!

The wonderfully creative Jessie Chorley

We had a great chat and I immediately donned my Cultural Ambassador hat and asked her whether she had ever thought about coming to Australia to teach workshops???  Lets keep our fingers crossed.

After such an unexpected delight in my day, what better to top it off than a walk down memory lane (for me and my previous life in London) by coming across this stall selling traditional Portugese tarts.

The best Portugese Tarts this year.

My friend, Barbara Rogers, myself and my husband have a long running tradition of finding the best egg custard tarts anywhere in the world.  I believe these rate 11/10.  The pastry was incredibly crisp and flaky, the custard was thicker than usual (but, to be honest, not warm which is of course one of the important points to be awarded) however considering it was probably only 3 or 4 degrees at this outside stall, they can be forgiven.  Besides, not only did I buy one, but turned abruptly around as soon as I had finished devouring it to buy another.  I did not succumb to the "5 for 5 pounds" deal...that would be overkill, and no amount of quick walking that day would ever compensate for it!