Meals: A round-up

I woke up all ready to post a bit about my stop to see Big Ben, Picadilly and the Thames -- but it seems I've forgotten the cable to my DSLR, where the loveliest of my London photos are lodged. So you'll have to content yourselves for now with a round-up of my food photos, most of which I've taken with my phone.

Up first: The first plane meal I had, following that delicious (and greedy) pizza at SFO. Virgin Atlantic -- lovely all around as an airline -- served up chicken korma as an option for Monday evening's meal, and I thought it was delicious.

Chicken korma with rice, daal and a bit of fried onion, flanked by the hip, purple Virgin Atlantic plastic cutlery.

Next, in London, I sought out the obligatory meal of fish and chips (and pint). I'd 'borrowed' a Frommers ebook on London from the San Francisco library, and the closest fish joint to Westminster, where I was spending much of my day, was Rock and Sole Plaice on Endell Street. I'm typically a Lonely Planet devotee, so this was my first experience with Frommers -- and it did well. Battered cod, recommended by one of the fry guys, arrived in a huge portion with an equally massive mountain of fries, all of which seemed to dwarf my cold pint.

Battered cod with delicious tartar sauce, fries with vinegar and salt and an Efes pilsner.

I could eat only half of the fish -- and even then, I blame it for the necessity of parcels at afternoon tea. I met my old friend Anna at the National Portrait Gallery's restaurant, where we mulled over all that's happened in the nearly five years since we'd seen each other while also taking in 180-degree views out over the city. It was lovely, but you'll have to take my word for it, as I was too jet-lagged by then to remember to take a photo.

The parcel, however, I remembered to photograph in the midst of my flight to Bombay. I'd finally regained my appetite -- and after devouring the chicken with coriander and dahi, I also ate the orange spice cake, which had been so beautifully wrapped as a foil handbag, as I sipped my chai.

Empty food containers, including one that contained chicken with coriander and rice, one of dahi from Sussex, and one of kulfi. 

The lovely tinfoil parcel, before I destroyed it to get to the orange spice cake.

Finally, last evening, I got to dig in after dinner to a treat dropped off by a neighbor: handmade chocolate dessert cups, filled with strawberry-flavored whipped cream and topped with a fresh strawberry. This dish had the potential to be overly sweet, with all that strawberry syrup, but the chef had done it just right.

Homemade chocolate fruit cups.

And with all of that food posting behind me now, I absolutely must go and have my morning tea. I'm feeling famished all of a sudden!