Asparagus. Sure, it's out of season here, and it makes your pee smell funny, but damn it if it isn't delicious grilled. I've had markets on the mind lately, and am seriously considering paying a visit to Köln for that city's Christmas markets. Any of my friends reading this are probably rolling their eyes, since I say the same thing every year, but I don't care. They can, as the locals say in Köln, kiss my poopenfaarten. That said, I'll probably end up staying in London, where there's no shortage of Christmas related commerce...and skating rinks. Has anyone else noticed the superabundance of ice skating opportunities in the capital this year? One can hardly find a London landmark unburdened by flailing Frenchmen on cheesecutters (those are what we call children's skates in Canada; pretty clever, right?), and it's getting a bit out of hand, particularly as England is hardly a country known for its winter sports. There are outdoor rinks at the Natural History Museum, the London Eye, the Tower of London, Somerset House, Hampton Court, Canary Wharf, and Broadmoor, I mean Broadgate. And those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head. There was a photo of a Yeoman Warder on skates in yesterday's paper, and he looked absolutely debonair as he glided across the Tower of London's ice, his robes trailing in the breeze and his hands elegantly clasped behind his back as he surveyed the landscape. Probably not the most effective guard against a daring daylight robbery of the Crown jewels, but nobody's tried that gag for ages, so I suppose he was quite right in not worrying.
Will any of you be lacing 'em up this winter?
