Farmer's Market and an Old Find, Salad Kicks, Where to Get a Decent Knife?

We're having an intense and lovely time here in London. Phil is missing the intensity and extent of strenuous physical activity that is normally the center of his lifestyle, but he is the most wonderful, charming, delightful companion: it's a privilege to introduce him to my family members and old friends. And it has been a continuing delight to meet up with wonderful old friends whom I haven't seen for three years or more, to see their kids growing up into fine young people, see more of them having bought houses, taken off in their careers, or discovering that they need a change of career. And the bedrock of that friendship, that is still strong, firm, sure and loving even without regular get-togethers or much in common in our daily lives.

There were no farmers' markets that I knew of in London three years ago, except maybe the Spitalfields market mostly for traders. Now, it seems like they are a thriving and vibrant scene. I went with my mum to the Alexandra Palace market, near her home, on Sunday.

[Blogger's giving me problems again refusing to upload some of my photos, but]  I was excited to see so many beautiful apples and pears. And those are_figs_ second from right on that front table! We got some and I've eaten a couple: my first figs in over a year (man, those fruitarian days I used to eat so many figs)...

Not a huge market, but plenty of stalls, produce, humanely-raised meat and eggs, goat cheese, olive oil, an awesome-smelling stall of chocolate truffles, food and drink vendors, ethnic clothing...

I was impressed by the variety of greens and veggies available, including shiso and jerusalem artichokes, that I'd never seen in England outside of Chinatown before.
And I found an old favorite that I used to love buying when I lived in Berkeley and haven't been able to find since:

Aged, fermented black garlic. Sorry I'm not a great photographer, but if you look to the left of the shaft of the head of garlic, you'll see a peeled black clove. Shiny, black and gorgeous texture. It barely tasted like garlic at all: almost a chocolatey note to it.  Back when I lived in Berkeley and thought I loathed garlic, I loved it then - even garlic haters can enjoy it. It was expensive just for two small cloves, but worth it!

Although my dad and brothers will hardly touch salad, my mum loves any and every salad that I make. She even loves my spirulina/soaked-dried sunflower seeds/sea salt/nooch sprinkle! I went on a bit of a salad-making kick today. Marinated mushroom medley with green onions/lemon/balsamic vinegar/olive oil/sea salt:

Massaged salad of purple kale, chard (that I bought labeled as 'spinach' at the farmers market!), savoy cabbage, leek and olive oil/apple cider vinegar.

Marinated cauliflower with curry spices and lemon zest (no picture); Cilantro pesto (or coriander, as I'm calling it here in England) with cashews, coconut oil, leek, peppermint, lemon juice, a dash of cayenne pepper and a whole bunch of cilantro.

Spread some of the pesto on a sunflower/flax/chives cracker I brought from home, top with the marinaded mushrooms: instant mini-pizza!

I'm really a terrible photographer...

I'm suffering from a dilemma in terms of wanting to get some nicer accoutrements for my mum's kitchen. I'm used to a nice, big, heavy chef's knife, and it felt funny doing so much chopping this morning with a little, dull serrated knife that has been around since I was 7, on a cutting board that has been in the house since before I was born and is now thoroughly concave, maybe better potential as a metate than as a cutting board... And the knife sharpeners... I remember when my brother got them when we were teenagers they were great, but 15 years later they actually don't make any difference to a blade at all!

Not my usual neat, thin slices...
But aside from the etiquette and potential awkwardness of getting something for my mum's kitchen that she might not appreciate (I might think it's an improvement but she might be quite happy with status quo), I don't know where I would go to get a decent knife or cutting board here! The local stores in my parents' neighborhood have almost all bottomed down to the common denominator of '5 pounds and under' stores, cheap and obsolescent stuff, and that's not what I'm after! And I'm a terrible shopper, the big, posh stores downtown intimidate the heck out of me and turn me into an involuted blitherer.

Any suggestions?