Church's Footwear Service

Casual suede Church's brand shoes - The culprit

A little bit of a rant today. During my last trip to London in January I picked up a pair of high end shoes to replace a pair of sneakers that were both out of fashion and destroyed. After a few recommendations from my fiance, who as you all know knows more about shoes than most I decided on a great pair of casual suede leather shoes from Church's Footwear.

Church's Footwear began as a family shoe making business in 1873 and built up a remarkable reputation as  some of the finest men's shoes coming out of England. They received such wide acclaim that they became James Bond's (Pierce Bronsan era 1995-2002) go to shoe. Know for their extraordinarily high quality, and classic men's styling they became a well known gentleman's shoe.

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Luxury Elven Heels

Frontal view; goat suede on the sides,
sheep leather for the upper and tongue
and rawhide lacing.

My fiance has completed another set of shoes, and this is one of my favorite designs to date.  They incorporate goat suede and leather made from sheep. This is her first boot style heel, but I think it came out great. The first thing that came to mind, much to her dismay, was that they look like elven shoes. I may be a bit biased, but honestly I don't think these would be out of place a shelf at Saks or Nordstrom selling for a few hundred dollars.

 

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Epic Lunch of Champions

Salmon box from the Hare & Tortoise restaurant

I've been on a bit of a sushi kick the past few days, going to various Japanese restaurants around the area. Yesterday I found myself at a place called Hare & Tortoise. It's more of an Asian restaurant than strictly Japanese with quality Thai, Korean, Chinese, and Japanese dishes filling the menu.

This time I ended up ordering one of my favorite Japanese dishes; a salmon box. It consists of 2 salmon nigiri (salmon laid on top of a ball of rice), 6 salmon maki (the salmon sushi rolls), 3 pieces of salmon sushimi (just pieces of salmon with nothing else), and a salmon temaki or handroll (salmon, cucumber, salmon roe, and rice wrapped in a cone shaped seaweed.) It looked so good that I had to take a picture of it (seen to the right.)

It makes for a very fresh and filling lunch which doesn't leave you feeling stuffed and bloated afterwards. Even for those who haven't had sushi before it's a good starter dish.

Ghost Bike

Ghost Bike in London

Wandering around in East London today and spotted this fitting reminder of a fallen cyclist; a ghost bike. I've seen these in a few other cities such as New York, and even Denver and they're always a chilling reminder of the constant danger of being a cyclist in a major city. Be safe out there.

School of Life

Near where I'm staying is a little store front near Russell Square called The School of Life. The shop sells a small number of books and gifts and also displays information about all The School of Life's services and programs. Beneath the shop is a classroom where small classes are held. According to the "school's" website the school offers a variety of programs and services concerned with how to live wisely and well, addressing such questions as why work is often unfulfilling, why relationships can be so challenging, why it’s ever harder to stay calm and what one could do to try to change the world for the better.

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It's Good Enough

Spotted this today while wandering around. If it's good enough for them then it's good enough for a post.

Goodenough College: Central London

Interesting landmark in central London

Entrance; which is under a hotel in central London.

There is an amazingly fun venue near where I'm staying called Bloomsbury Lanes. It's an old American style bowling alley with old time American eats. They offer a few different menus all with traditional bowling style fare; burgers, pizzas, wings, classic ice cream milk shakes served in a glass with 2 straws. I know I should be eating more traditional British cuisine, but I'd be hard pressed to find a place like this even in the US.

It's more than just a restaurant though. They offer 8 lanes of large ball 10 pin bowling at a rate of something like £4 per game. Apart from the bowling they offer private karaoke rooms suitable for groups of 6-30 people (haven't experienced this however as I'd rather not break their equipment with my terrible singing. )

Equipped with state of the art old skool bowling shoes.

Add all this together with live bands 4-5 days per week and this is the place to be if you're bored with the London pubs which fill up as early as 4pm and generally have the same feel no matter what part of London you're in. If you ever find yourself in central London this place is a must to balance out the regal tourist destinations of the city.

Crispy Ducky in Chinatown

Crispy duck and some fixings

Whenever I travel to London I always make it a point to visit Chinatown. The restaurants there are very authentic and reminiscent of the local restaurants of Hong Kong and China. My trip wouldn't be complete without having my favorite Asian appetizer; crispy aromatic duck. This time I stopped at the Four Seasons restaurant in the heart of Chinatown, who are said to have the best in all of England. I'm not sure if this is true or not, but they do make a really tasty duck.

This dish is very similar to Peking duck for those who are familiar. The duck is first marinated with spices, then steamed until tender, and finally deep fried until crispy. This leaves an amazingly low fat and deliciously crispy skin on meat. In most restaurants here the server brings the duck (whole, half, or quarter size) directly to the table on a platter and uses a fork and spoon to shred it into chunks. Accompanying the duck is a bamboo steamer filled with thin flour pancakes similar to soft tortillas, fresh cucumbers, and a plum sauce similar to but a bit sweeter than hoisen sauce. You're basically left to the task of assembling the given ingredients to your liking, like a make your own taco night. Spread the sauce on the pancake, add a bit of duck and vegetables, wrap and enjoy a mouthful of bliss.

New Barefoot Kicks

On days when I have to do a bit of walking or hiking my dressy Chruch's brand shoes however fashionable don't quite cut it in the endurance comfort department. Just the other day while doing a bit of shopping I spotted the Merrell Trail Glove at a local outdoors store.

I've been keen on the "barefoot running/walking" fad since the release of the Vibram Five Fingers shoes. Unfortunately my footwear design studying fiance considers them the most hideous footwear on the planet short of anything made by Crocs. Luckily there exists a few alternatives; the Nike Free shoes, Vivo Barefoot shoes, the Feelmax shoes. The pair I've been sporting are the Merrell Trail Glove in the ninjaesque black/molten lava color scheme.

It does take a while to get used to the way you walk/run in them, it shy's away from the heel toe action we're all so used to and encourages a more flat running stance, which should help lessen impact injuries and improve your posture. The whole concept of barefoot running/walking is to go back to a more natural running style, which makes you feel more at one with your surroundings but also helps take the strain off your leg muscles.

The strawberries taste like strawberries, and the strasberries taste like strasberries, and then pineberries taste like....umm pineberries?

In my previous post (strasberry post) I wrote about a limited edition Dutch fruit called the strasberry sold in Waitrose stores across the  UK. I arrived in London yesterday and visited a Waitrose on my way from Heathrow. To my dismay according to the grocer at that particular Waitrose they have discontinued the strasberry. Apparently Waitrose likes to feature only one designer fruit at a time this time of year.

Like the strasberry mentioned before the pineberry has the same genetics as the common strawberry. Also like the strasberry it was rescued from near extinction by a small group of Dutch farmers within the past few years. It seems these dutch farmers have become quite bored with the common strawberry and need to experiment a bit.

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Strasberries..not strawberries, strasberries

I spent about a month in London last year in May. I spent some time seeing the usual sights such as the London Eye, Big Ben and various other touristy things. One of the most memorable aspects of my visit however were the strasberries. Shown at left they have the shape of a raspberry, but the texture of a strawberry.

It's a bit difficult to explain the taste of these little fruits. The best way that I can think to explain them is that each one is like taking a bite out of the most perfectly sweet strawberry you've ever tasted with just a hint of tartness. It's like an explosion of amazing flavor in every bite.

Apparently it was a near extinct type of wild strawberry which was discovered by a Dutchman a few years ago. I spotted them at Waitross (a midrange UK supermarket chain) during my stay. According to the grocer they are only in season and on sale between April and July which makes it a fairly short time for them to be available. They weren't the cheapest fruit on the shelves either at something like $6 for 1/4 lb. I'm heading back across the pond soon just in time for strasberry season, if any of you are as well I highly recommend trying these amazing little fruits.