CAMDEN LOCK MARKET WITH HOLLY - 09/05/15

 We got to there at around 11'o'clock, it was looking a little grim weather wise; a bit windy and grey, alas, the bright, bold and impressive shop fronts on the walk to the market distracted us from Camden's cloudiness. As impressive as some of the shops are that are down the initial strip, I will say a lot of it is discerning and rather repelling 'tourist tack' - BUT! That is to be expected of such a popular and well-known area of London. NONETHELESS - once we saw the infamous sign (you know the one)... 

Admittedly, thankfully, the sun had decided to make an appearance when this was taken later in the day...

We felt gurd. 

I can hardly remember how we made it into the market, it felt like a maze - but not in a frustrating disorientating way, but in a impressively intricate way. Nooks and crannies, cobbled paving and people, lots of people. Holly found a cash machine and through finding that we stumbled across the FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD. First we spotted Honest Burgers, which I've heard nothing but amazing things about, but we wanted to resist going for something similar to what we had the last time we went out, so tried to nonchalantly walk past. Then, as we were about to make a left turn I looked to the right and spotted something I had come across on Instagram beforehand; something we had completely forgotten to remember...

I MEAN. R U HAVIN' A LAUGH OR WOT. 

How can this be a thing?! HOW. In a world chock full of considered aesthetics and thoughtful design, there sits an unassuming pile - a PILE - of cronuts and donuts advertised by laminated signs in a standard font held on by bulldog clips in Camden. THIS is simplicity. THIS is simply giving the people what they want; a mountainous heap of fried perfection, and I say that with most sincerity, because after having eaten what I bought (photos pending, don't worry) I can honestly say they were faultless and amazing and perfect and heavenly and amongst the best things I have ever eaten in my life thus far. 

After this we realised that the time had come - lunchtime to be precise - and we were going to have to decide what we wanted; we were going to have to pick from all of the mouthwatering market stalls that were offering oral explosions. In my previous post I mentioned a stall I had found out about called 'Chia Foods' and about their chicken and halloumi specials, so, after wandering through wafts of sizzling bagels, gourmet cheese toasties and pulled pork we decided to go with what we had planned - especially considering it was one of the healthier options, and we weren't being necessarily healthy with our other pickings. Oh hai carrier bag filled with cronuts. 

It really was delish. The chunks of halloumi were parcels of joy for the mouth, and the mix of garlic aoili and honey mustard yoghurt dressing that the lovely guy serving us suggested us trying only heightened the enjoyment. Super fresh, filling and nutritionally satisfying it was definately a ruddy good choice. 

At the front of the stall were four big bowls of colour; avocadoes in one, vibrant cabbage in another, mixed salad leaves and juicy red cherry tomoatoes coated in quinoa - I opted to have them all and to be honest I'm not sure how the guy even, well, wrapped it, it was absolutely bursting at the seems! 

After finishing our lunch we headed further into the market, wanting to explore some more. We found an entrance leading us past harrowing hedgehog bags, stalls selling copious amounts of rings and jewellery until we found a cute t-shirt place that held our attention for 15 minutes. We carried on weaving through the lanes until they spat us out back where we began. 

We had past Yumchaa on our exploration of the market, popped our heads in and looked around a little, and agreed we'd go back and be adventurous. I saw that they had a matcha latte on their menu, so wanted to go back and try one to see what all the - much instagrammed - fuss was about. Holly was also feeling a little adventurous and went for a raspberry frozen tea which she ended up not being toooooo keen on - BUT ATLEAST SHE TRIED OK.

Um.

I'ma be honest. It was...alright. It was...drinkable. It was, mmm - odd. I don't know. I mean, Maybe I was being naive expecting it to have coffee in it aswell, but, for those who don't know; its just Matcha powder and milk. It wasn't the worse thing I've ever had, but, I don't think I'll be having it again any time soon; its one of those, you know. But Yumchaa itself was super cute, really shabby chic and stripped back and simplistic, and although Holly didn't like what she ordered, I thought it was quite nice, so it wasn't too much of a disappointing experience. 

We stumbled across the stables market a bit further on and wandered around there, finding a really interesting clothes shop stocking up and coming brands, and spoke to a very passionate guy who owned one of the brands stocked in the shop. After we had finished we made our way back to the station, wanting to go in a few shops along the way. We went into the mecca that is Urban Oufitters, and spent an absolute age in there looking at everything - especially the books; which is our joint favourite thing about Urban. 

We both convinced eachother (quite easily I might add) to buy a book each - I had to choose between 'Eat Pretty' and 'How to be Parisian wherever you are' and Holly ended up going with 'Its not how good you are, its how good you want to be.' There were 2 books we picked up that I have thought about a lot since we were there, this was one of them; 

Super super super sweet; this book was filled with little illustrations on each page of what there is to be happy about, and they included silly little things like; the smell of bacon in the morning, or if its raining outside and your in - stuff that you couldn't think of on the spot. Such an endearing little pick me up, and such a bright and cheerful shade of yellow. I love yellow.

The other book was 'Get shit done'; which had motivational quotes on each page, ones that made you actually think and feel differently. Although you can find a motivational quote or saying at the tap of a screen, sometimes its really nice to have something physically and tangibly written in front of you; sometimes it helps me to really see and fully comprehend what is being said. 

Technology can become stagnant when I'm looking for a sense of refreshment.  

Proudly perched on my shelf; I finally have it! I can't wait to start reading this. Jolene Hart herself (well I hope it was actually her!) commented on my instagram post which I thought was really lovely! 

All in all I had another amazing day out, and already cannot wait for the next. All this exploring London malarkey is getting highly addictive, its so exciting and I really do love seeing parts of the city I haven't seen before and experiencing it all. I honestly am getting to the point where I just want to go somewhere every single weekend! We are pretty certain that next time (in the next week or 2) we are gonna hit up Shoreditch; its way overdue and we are so very game. 

*scurries off to obsessively research every inch of East London...*