Willesden Green

Since moving to the UK, Heather and I have started a new ritual of collecting all of the lost change that we can find. It’s amazing how much money is lying around. I’m not talking about money in our house or car, but money on the street, on the floor in shops, or in train stations. Every September, we count up the “found money” and put it towards a nice dinner out. To add to the thrill of finding the money, we have a special piggy bank that we put the money in when we find it.

We have named this pig, Willesden Green. Heather started the insanity. One of the underground lines that she takes to work terminates at the Willesden Green station. The recorded announcement states, “This train terminates at Willesden Green”. It is said in this wonderful sing-song English accent, with the pitch going up on the “Willesden” and back down again on the “Green”. So now when money is found it is appropriate to repeat the “Willesden Green” mantra.

There was a bit of a sad incident this year. After taking the money from the pig, I pushed his cork back in, and he split in half! He broke into two almost symmetrical pieces. I couldn’t believe it had happened; it was almost as if Willesden was protesting the removal of the money that he had been holding for us all year. I promptly glued him back together again before Heather got home, knowing how upset she would be if she saw Willesden Green split into two pieces. This year we had a grand total of £27.29, a total that I had almost guessed exactly (my prediction was £27.32).

The second part of the story goes like this. Back in the old days, when we lived in SLC, we had a favourite restaurant. We would go to this restaurant every Friday, almost without fail. In the summer, and when the weather was nice, we would walk (it was almost 3 miles from our house). The restaurant, on the corner of 1500 east and 1500 south, is called Mazza. It is a Lebanese restaurant and it is owned by one of the nicest guys I have ever met (unfortunately, he is not so nice that he would give us his recipes before we moved). Every week, I would order the same thing, the chicken kabob sandwich with a side of hummus. And when I was extra hungry, I would get a side of fries too. It is almost impossible to put the beauty of this sandwich into words. It has big chunks of tender chicken, delicately spiced, skewered and then roasted over an open flame. It has fresh tomatoes, and Mazza’s own special pickles. It is put together on a toasted French roll, and seasoned with a beautiful pink aioli sauce. I would dip this beautiful sandwich into the rich smooth hummus that I got on the side. Heather, also being a creature of habit, would get the same thing every week. Her drugs of choice included a large side of baba ganoush, and a large side of potato harra. Baba ganoush is a spicy, smoky dip made from egg plant and potato harra is a fried potato dish consisting of chunks of potatoes, Anaheim chillies, garlic and a slew of other magical spices. Since moving to England, there has been a void in our hearts and stomachs where Mazza once resided.

This void may have finally been filled. Heather is moving to a position at a new library and this library happens to be in a neighbourhood filled with Middle-Eastern restaurants, one of these restaurants happens to be a Lebanese restaurant called Balbac. When this restaurant was discovered, it was a no-brainer that this was to be the place where we would spend our “Willesden Green” money. One of the beauties of this restaurant is that it is remarkably affordable for London, so our £27 really went a long way. The waiter / cook must have been astonished by the amount of food that we ordered (and then promptly consumed). Since it was a special occasion, and our first time in this restaurant, we really went all out. And although the dishes weren’t quite up to the incredibly high standards set by Mazza, they were all really good. We ordered: a falafel sandwich, a chicken kabob sandwich (almost identical to the on at Mazza except it was in a wrap instead of French roll), baba ganoush, potato harra, hummus, fries, and Lebanese salad. Our table was completely covered with plates of food and we were left with £7 in change! We may not make it to the restaurant every week since it is in NW London and we live in SE London, but we will be dining there often and London will feel a bit more like “home”.

JE