A world of food!

Mike left our house yesterday and was heading back to Southampton with Abbie today so he hadn't been at home when we arrived back last night. Sophie had decided to cook the three of us an Indian feast on New Year's Eve, so she needed to go and get the ingredients. Keith had bought some of the items she needed, but there were specialist foods she wanted so I suggested a new World Foods supermarket in Northampton. She was supposed to have been going to Leicester with Vikesh today, but he wasn't feeling well and wasn't able to go.

We were up and out by 10am, and driving into Northampton in gloomy December weather. It was grey and cold, and not nice at all! The new supermarket had taken the place of a Lidl and catered for all kinds of nationalities, but mainly Indian and Polish. 

As we wandered along the aisles, I saw fruit and vegetables I'd never heard of before! Sophie was able to get kulfi ice cream, and a mix for Gulab Jaman, sweet dumplings served with syrup. She also bought a Falooda mix which is a kind of yoghurt drink with vermicelli and basil seeds. I was so interested in everything and could have spent hours in there, but Sophie wanted to get home, have a coffee and then go to Leicester to get the rest of the things she needed.

Keith elected to stay at home, as he was hoping to go and see Sileby play this afternoon, so Sophie and I set out following Googly's instructions to get to Leicester. Once in the city, we saw signs for The Golden Mile and we were able to park outside an Indian restaurant that Sophie wanted to go to for lunch, which was near several Indian shops.

We first went into a supermarket and Sophie bought vermicelli to go into the rice, some biscuits that I wanted and a box of Gulab Jaman that had already been made, and just needed heating up. If it hadn't been for her relationship with Vikesh, this was an area I'd never have considered visiting! We went into another shop to get more things she needed, and then we crossed the busy main road to go to Sharmilee, where they sold barfi, samosas and lots of Indian sweets. Here, she bought four vegetable samosas, barfi and chutneys.

Our last stop before lunch was a true Aladdin's cave of everything you'd need for the home... and more! There were statues of Indian Gods, flower garlands, decorations and homeware. I treated myself to three beautiful stainless steel bowls for rice, an ornate wooden incense holder and a new pink and grey marble pestle and mortar.

We took our purchases back to the car and went to Mirch Masala for lunch. Sophie did the ordering and chose a Thali each - two vegetable curries with rice and accompaniments. The food was great but the lentils in a sauce brought back memories of eating them every night with boiled rice in Nepal!

Once we'd eaten we set Trish to take us back home, and she directed us through the centre of Leicester and past the racecourse. It was a lovely route home and we went straight through Market Harborough, too.

Back home, Keith had gone to the football so we unpacked our purchases and relaxed. Outside, the weather hadn't improved at all and was still wet and windy. This period of unsettled weather is now Storm Henk!

Keith arrived home looking frozen, so we put the heating on and relaxed. He had prepared a corned beef, potato, onion and bacon dish which was perfect on such a cold winter's night. We decided to relax in front of the television rather than play Scrabble and ate later than normal, owing to our lunch in Leicester!

Manhattan cocktails made with our French walnut liqueur