AN ENGLISH MINI-BREAK

Recently, I had four days to kill at the end of a London work trip, and someone recommended the wilds of the north Norfolk coast as the perfect mini-break. Hiring a car, I headed for Cambridge for a dose of uni nostalgia and history, 

beer, and a bit of a punt. 

I snuck in the back of St John’s College, 

to see how it’s really done, 

before wandering through the town centre. Above is the famous Bridge of Sighs.

But my real destination was Norfolk’s Holkham, a tiny village clustered around a large estate home, 

with the added lure of its famous beach (cue last scene of Shakespeare in Love, Gwyneth roaming across said sand) and big reputation as a foodie mecca.

The Victoria is the culinary destination of the region, and serves a pretty mean fish pie. But it is The Globe Inn in Wells-next-the-Sea, that dishes up effortlessly lovely fare. Though the region is famous for Cromer crab, it wasn’t on the menu that day. There was seafood risotto though... 

... followed by a gorgeous lemon poppyseed cake, which I was inspired to recreate here, now I’m home on the other side of the world. 

Lemon Poppyseed Cake

125g butter, with extra for greasing tin

1 1/4 cup caster sugar

2 tbsp poppyseeds
1 lemon, zested
3 tbsp lemon juice

2 eggs, beaten

1 1/4 cup plain flour

1 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease and line a 20cm diameter cake tin. Cream the butter and sugar with electric beaters until light and fluffy. Add poppyseeds, lemon zest and juice and mix well. Add eggs and mix well. Sift flour and baking powder and add in batches alternately with the milk. Pour mixture into tin and smooth the top. Bake for 10 minutes, then turn down oven to 170C and cook for a further 55 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Remove and cool cake on a rack.

If you want icing, use 1 lemon (zest and juice) and mix with 225g icing sugar until smooth, or dust with icing sugar and serve with cream.

Back to normal (read: more regular) programming in the next couple of weeks. Looking forward to hunkering down, and cooking some hearty winter fare. 

TOKYO DAYS

Stumbling upon a cherub on the streets of Ginza is very Tokyo. Amid all the cool architecture and sleek design there’s a lot of cute. Or in this instance, whimsy. But back to cute for a minute... pooches never had it so good.

If you can stop for a minute and not be bowled over by the crowds...

...look to the sky.

Around Shinjuku, Ometsando Hills, Shibuya and Ginza, the skyscrapers are things of beauty. Ginza is Tokyo’s 5th Ave, with the luxury brands flaunting their prestige. The Hermes building (below) is entirely made from glass bricks,

and Abercrombie & Fitch, takes eight floors of teensy tiny shorts and crisp shirts, not to mention the scent of aftershave being pumped through the air con to waft over all the beautiful people, to say Tokyo, we've arrived. I've heard it said the scent is meant to be subliminal promotion. Allegedly you, and everyone you encounter till you next reach a shower, will be reminded of the A&F brand. For my money, the staircase makes the statement rather better. 

The department stores elevate merchandising to art.

And the food halls, too. The is Mitsukoshi department store before I was told to put down the camera.

And this is afternoon tea, courtesy of Isetan, one of Tokyo’s grandest department stores.

Sunday afternoon in Harujuku gives new meaning to pulling a crowd...

and the Harujuku girls are still flocking, though this time I saw none as grand as these I came across in 2009 (pardon the time travel, but you can see they are worthy of it).

For an afternoon of kicking back, we decided to go enjoy hanami (flower viewing) at Yoyogi park...

with a few thousand others. The first weekend of the season, and one week off its full glory, hanami is a huge event in the calendar year for the Japanese. Emerging from winter, the first burst of spring weather and the party is in full swing. But it's full bloom and its fleeting passage that everyone is holding their breath for. And no wonder because this, below, is merely the prelude.