The Magic Cafe and Comma

When I was trying to find a recipe and link to chef Anjum Anand's website the word Ayurvida came up again. I first came across it a little while ago on the Pukka tea website. Basically it's an Ancient Indian Science that makes a connection between what we eat and our well- being. I got hooked into the Pukka website trying to work out which my dosha, imbalance is. It's really tricky because I see aspects of my personality in all three dosha's! I initially thought of course I must be blessed with the vata dosha, I'm creative aren't I?....but then there were aspects of that dosha I didn't recognise in myself so looked at the others....I still don't know. But it really intrigues me....

...and then the lady sitting next to me in the Magic Cafe was reading a book all about it.....I should have asked her shouldn't I?

I'd gone there for a big mug of white tea (I've progressed from green...!) and a delicious piece of homemade fruit cake with a thin layer of icing topped with crystallised ginger..all for £2.50! I love the atmosphere in the Magic cafe....it's vegetarian and has a real 70's hippy vibe. It's always busy with a lovely homely, laid back feel. The furniture is recycled and I think the paint probably comes from Orinoco. The walls are bright orange, the ceiling dark blue and I think there's some burgundy somewhere. There is a real hotch-potch of furniture from sofa's by the window to big old dining tables and chairs ranging from horrible reproduction Victorian ones to office chairs....honestly.....It really is ugly, not at all cool....but that kind of makes it cool...it doesn't matter it's just a really warm place to go.

On Saturday lunchtimes they have live music playing from one until two by the upright piano. It ranges from really good to quite bad. You often have to share a table but that's half the fun you meet some really interesting characters in there of all ages. There are often lots of children and older people, retired lecturers and writers, young trendy people writing on their laptops or doodling and artists from the Magdeline Road studios which are just down the road.

Then I found a lovely new shop round the corner on Iffley road called Comma. They sell amazing printed stuff by British designers like Rob Ryan and Gemma Correll who painted an amazing mural for the opening in November. You can link to it here or watch her doing a similar one below