Adventures in London: Issue 66

There is a Gaelic proverb that says "Monday is the key day of the week." The key was this was going to be a whirlwind of a week. To be honest, I don't know where to quite start. I guess a good place would on Monday..

Monday started rather rough, but I was convinced by (aka they were not taking 'No' for answer), my brother and sister to make a trip to Brentford to join the "Awesome Orson Foursome" for pub quiz night. I was looking forward to "date night" with One Tree Hill, but I also needed a night away from it all and Brentford was just what the doctor ordered.  It was good to catch up with the family, chow down on some Nando's chicken, and "answer" a few questions. Did you know...

• The Penny Black stamp came in use in 1840?
• The Bank of England was founded in the 17th century?
• Ben Hur the movie won 11 oscars?
• The 1964 Summer games were held in Tokyo?
• A shark is referred to as a "bonnet head" creature?

Well we apparently did... and we have the winnings to show for it. Really should have just retired from the earnings. 

Maybe if we all did decide to retire from our earnings I could have avoided Tuesday - aka the day I found myself in the A&E. I was not feeling right the entire day, but things progressively started to worsen as the close of the day neared. Cutting a long story short, I took a taxi and went to the A&E. I had a number of tests performed (blood test, 2 ECGs) and waited and waited. Around 10p I was moved to a cubicle where it looked like I was going to spend the night. I had even more blood taken and waited even more hours. Finally, after 8 hours of waiting I was told that I did not have a heart attack and my bloodwork was normal (phew..not that i was worried about that). What was not normal however was what happened that day. My heart is working about 85% the way it should. Would be great news if this was high school history or college philosophy, but being the high maintenance person that I am, I expect my heart to work 100% the way it should. Before you all start getting worried...there is nothing to worry about. I am taking care of things - have gone through plenty of exams while being here so its being sorted. I have another round of tests tomorrow and an appointment with the cardiologist this week to discuss next steps. It's no holiday, but I'm certain its nothing that cannot be solved. 

On Saturday, a bunch of us went out to celebrate Oktoberfest in London. Big E found an amasing beerhouse that was holding german style Oktoberfest and organised tickets for us all to attend. Now, I know what you are probably thinking, but rest assure, I went to enjoy the company of my friends and delicious German food. A tip for anyone going to Austria or Germany - Leberkase can be described as meat loaf... it is not exactly the meatloaf we all love to eat. Instead it is..well its liver. No other way to put it. It is tasty for about the first 3 bites, but then not so much. I did not have this, I ordered spatzle which brought me back to our Austrian ski trip. Not that I want to go skiing again, but did miss that dish. Good thing I don't need to travel all the way to Austria for spatzle (phew!). 

So for it was a night of good food, good company and good dancing!! It was well worth leaving the flat and missing X-Factor. Good thing the Sky+ recorded it so I was able to catch up!! 

But before I get into that. Sunday night I had the sincere pleasure of meeting my uncle from India for dinner.  I absolutely love the fact that I have seen him twice now in the past 4 months!! It was not a long visit like his previous one, but any time with him will always be cherished. Am throughly looking forward to visiting India in December. Just need to sort out my itinerary. 

So onto X-Factor since I am sure that is what you all are just dying to read about. This week was BIG BAND - so each of the acts performed a classic big band song. Below are my favorites, may have been easier this week if I just recapped the performances I did not enjoy. Should say, Stacey is not in my list, but that is not to say that she had a bad night. I just did not enjoy her performance compared to the others this week. 

THE GIRLS (mentored by Dani Minogue)

Rachel Adedeji: "Proud Mary" Beyonce version

Rachel has found herself in the bottom 2 for the past 2 weeks, so the fact that she's pick herself up and is still fighting is amasing. She has re-invented herself and she sounds amasing. Personally I question if we are seeing Rachel's true personality or what she thinks will connect herself with the voters. Who knows...but good on you for staying strong. 

Lucie Jones: "My Funny Valentine" by Ella Fitzgerald 

I think Lucie has the sweetest voice of the girls. She did a brilliant job with this song. It is one my favorites, so I am glad that she did not kill it for me. 

THE BOYS (mentored by Cheryl  Cole)

Joe McElderry: "Sway" Michael Buble version

I definitely would not call little Joe sexy in any way. Nor would I think Joe and Latin flare would go together, but he pulled it off. Thought he sounded great and the dancing was not entirely uncomfortable to watch. I like this kid a lot. 

THE OVER 25s (mentored by  Simon Cowell)

Olly Murs: "Bewitched" by Steven Lawrence

Olly is certainly having a grand time on that stage and it shows. For the show opener, he kicked it off on a good note. Extremely entertaining.

Danyl Johnson: "Feeling Good" Muse version

Without question, Danyl is blessed with an amasing voice. That said, the discovery of his OFFICIAL WEBSITE is simply too much. You have not won the competition, stop acting like you have!

THE GROUPS (mentored by Louis Walsh)

Miss Frank: "That's Life" by Frank Sinatra

And they're back!! The Miss Frank that we all adored are back. So please that Graziella did her rap. It is what makes them unique!

Should mention, to the shock of the country - Miss Frank was voted out this week :-( :-( 

Well, I am off to bed! Hope you all are well. Thank you for writing back and letting me know how things are. I truly appreciate the response and the support you've provided. 

Miss you all and love you more

xoxo

T

Adventures in London: Issue 65

To all - I wish you a DIWALI MUBAARAK!! For those of you who do not quite know what Diwali is all about, well I am probably the last person to give an "education" lesson as I associate Diwali with eating sweets, going to temple, but below is my grasp of the Diwali celebration.

Diwali, aka the other "Festival of Lights", is a major holiday in the Hindu religion. It is a time of candles, fireworks, gifts, and sweets. The holiday celebrates the goddesses Kali and Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, and is generally a 5 day celebration. In case you are wondering...here are the 5 days:

• Dhanteras (15 Oct): On this day you exchange (or just buy) silver or gold jewellery as a way to welcome wealth and good fortune for the year to come. The ladies of the household also create a powder design "rangoli" at the entrance of the door as a welcome to Lakshmi.
• Kali Choudas (16 Oct): This day celebrates Kali - the goddess of Power. The story for this day is a demon was killed so the day overall celebrates good overcoming evil. Where my family is from, we offer a puja to Hanuman, the monkey god to protect themselves from all the dark forces in the world.
• Chopda Pujan (17 Oct): This is a day of new start for business - so celebrating to both Lakshmi and Gunesha are performed to kick-off the new account year.
• Bestavarsh (18 Oct): This is the most important day as it marks the "New Year" for Gujarati's (where my family is from). This is the day we celebrate a new beginning with new clothing, jewellery , sweets, dry fruit, and the exchange of gifts. Bestavarsh is an auspicious day for shopping, new ventures, openings of homes/businesses - - well you get the point.
• Bhaibeej (19 Oct): The last day celebrates the "bond" between brother and sister. On this day, the sister performs an aarti and prays for her brother's long life. In exchange for that, he gives her a gift.

I was looking forward to celebrating Diwali this year...had the entire celebration planned out, but like many other things my plans were interrupted by other obligations (i.e. the joys of work). On Saturday, rather than throwing a Diwali party, I went to Tooting (the mini India neighborhood nearby) for mithai and a thali of diwali food. I think I may have gone over board with the sweets, but I could not resist buying one of each. Must admit, they were not as satisfying as I would have liked, but it quenched the desire.

Instead of throwing a Diwali dinner with a menu that would have battled Mom's, I decided to go for the low-key option and go out for dinner with the London family. My grand idea was to go for Brasilian BBQ. I know I know I know...that is a 100% sacreligious I realise! Not quite the Diwali celebration, but it was good to have the family together for a all you could eat meat buffet. One of our friends is from Brasil (yes the American have expanded outside of the country...we even have allowed the Thai and English to join - we unfortunately lost the Aussie), so she made sure that we got the finest meats first! I do not recall the last time I ate so much meat (will be avoiding meat for a couple of weeks now). That said, I made sure that I left room for creme caramel - - so delicious. It is weird, I am not a sweet tooth person in any which way, but once Diwali comes around...I cannot seem to get enough.

So onwards to the topic of the weekend...X-Factor!! This weekend was all about the Divas! The results show featured performances by Cheryl Cole and Whitney Houston. Both were amasing, but I liked the performance of Cheryl more. The song is nothing special, but the performance was amasing. I read a stat that said that Cheryl got 2x the viewers than Whitney.... can't compete with her. She truly is an British institute. Anyway, here are the highlights...

THE GIRLS (mentored by Dani Minogue)

Lucie Jones: "How Will I Know" by Whitney Houston

Not the best performance and she is a bit pitchy in the first half, but she had fun with it. She took a chance with an upbeat song, and it worked overall for her.

Stacey Solomon: "At Last" Beyonce version

Stacey definitely wins the personality of the show. She is truly adorable to watch and hear. Not only does she have an amasing voice, but she is a darling kid (did I just say kid?!?!). I don't think there's a video that covers some of the remarks she makes to the judges...

THE BOYS (mentored by Cheryl Cole)

Joe McElderry: "Where do broken hearts go" by Whitney Houston

It is hard to believe that he is so young. I don't think there is a song choice that Joe would not be able to pull off. Makes no sense, but I think he would have been able to pull off the "Bleeding Love" song. More to see from him

THE OVER 25s (mentored by Simon Cowell)

Danyl Johnson: "I Didn’t Know My Own Strength" by Whitney Houston

Still not convinced with him, but I thought he did a good job. It was a daring and smug move on Simon's part with the song selection, but Danyl without question has a powerful voice.

Olly Murs: "Fool in Love" by Tina Turner

I like Olly on his first audition. He lost it for a bit in my eyes, but he is back. He is a bit "broadway", but he is good. He has the looks, voice and moves...cannot go wrong. Too bad he is an Essex boys - haha!

Well that is the X-Factor recap!! Hope I can get some of you into the show remotely..

Miss you all dearly and love you more.

xoxo

T

Adventures in London: Issue 64

This week has been all about counting down to the weekend! I was supposed to go to the O2 to see the NBA game (Bulls vs Jazz), but as you can guess - work got in the way and I had to miss out. As such...it was all about the weekend! This weekend, I took a trip to Whitstable, UK. Whitstable is a small little fishing town in the North Kent coast, located 60 miles from London and 6 miles from Cantebury. It is a quaint little fishing port that is famous for its oysters --- oh that's right, I said oysters.

Given our luck, the restaurant that we wanted to go to only had a booking at the counter, a hour from when we went there, so it was off to explore the town a bit. Unlike our experience at Oxford, Whitstable was an absolute delight to walk around. Okay..I should be fair. Oxford is a lovely town I am sure, we just went hunting for the wrong neighborhood and unattractive part of town :-)

Finally we made it for our booking at Wheelers Oyster Bar, a small restaurant established in 1856. In the time that we were there the restaurant was packed and a number of visitors were disappointedly turned away as there were no room to seat them.

We were definitely lucky to get the last seating available at the place as the seafood was out of the this world. Simple and basic, Wheelers offered fresh and refreshing food to its diners. The great thing about the restaurant was the "no-hurry", eat like you're at Mom's atmosphere. We started with a round of Guinness Battered Oysters and crab cakes. Not being entirely satisfied, we ordered a round of Whitstable oysters. We had the desire to keep eating...just hard to resist when the food is so delicate and fresh. It was my heaven.. oysters every which was your heart desires - what more could you possibly ask for (well there is plenty, but it works for dramatic effect).

The weekend also marked the start of the live shows of X-Factor. From now until the end of the year, each weekend will be dedicated to X-Factor. I have been throughly impressed by how the entire country stops for X-Factor. Even the pubs air the show when it is live. So what is this whole X-Factor phenomenon you ask?

X-Factor is essentially Brittain's American Idol with a twist. Created by Simon Cowell, X-Factor is a singing competition where millions of hopefully singers are filtered to hundreds that will make their way to "Boot Camp" From there the top 24 acts (in X-Factor you have both solo and group peformers) go onto the judges houses. I should add, in X-Factor each judge (there are four), mentors a group of performers. The groups are divided into the following categories: The Girls, The Boys, The Groups and the Over 25s. At the judges house, each act (6 for each judge) sings for their chance to make it to the live show. Only 3 make it to the live show.

To celebrate the start of the live shows, Powers came over for X-Factor taco night!! To put things in context, American Idol is definitely a hit in the US with nearly 30 million viewers (representing approx 10% of the population). X-Factor on the on the other hand had nearly 15 million viewers with its last season - representing 25% of the population. Where American Idol has seen the success of Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood and Jennifer Hudson its 9 years, X-Factor has Alexandra Burke, Leona Lewis its 5 seasons to air. Still hard to say which shows outputs the most successful selling artist. There have been plenty of American Idol winners that have been forgotten, whereas with X-Factor and the battle for the Christmas Number 1, there is much more of an embrace from the country. Guess it comes down to the fact that the US presents a challenge with a VERY diverse population.

So apologies, but please come to expect more updates on the events of x-factor. Right now here are my favorites (in no particular order).

From THE GIRLS (mentored by Dani Minogue)

Stacey Solomon, age 19 from Essex, mother of a 18 month boy.

Live Show 1 Video: "Scientist" by Coldplay

She is adorable. Listening to her voice you would not think she was a singer, but once she starts - it is amasing. Impressed.

Lucie Jones, age 18 from a small town outside Cardiff Wales.

Live Show 1 Video: "Footprints in the Sand" by Leona Lewis

She won me over in her auditions when she sang "I Will Always Love You". She is incredibly talented, but the test will be if she can sing something more upbeat.

From THE GROUPS (mentored by Louis Walsh)

Miss Frank, a group selected by the judges at Bootcamp to compete in the top 50.

Live Show 1 Video: "Who's Lovin You" by Jackson 5

This group is unique. I personally was not a fan of this song, but in their performance at the judges house - they were amasing.

From THE BOYS (mentored by Cheryl Cole)

Joe McElderry, age 18 from South Shields student

Live Show 1 Video: "No Regrets" by Robbie Williams

I had forgotten about Joe. Remembered him as the boy from Cheryl's hometown. Totally forgot that he had an amasing voice. He is going to be the dark horse of the competition.

From THE OVER 25s (mentored by Simon Cowell)

Danyl Johnson, age 27 from Redding

Live Show 1 Video: "And I'm Telling You" by Jennifer Hudson

He is good, but there is something about him that I do not like. As an artist and singer though, he is definitely talented. He seems to be a clear favorite, but I am not a 100% with him.

Well...that is it for me. You can be certain that I will keep you updated on the events of X-Factor weekend. My worry however is what will I do when I go home...will miss out on 2 X-Factor weekends!!! Oye!

Miss you all - love you all more

xoxo

T

Adventures in London: Issue 63

Before I get into the events of the week, let me first start by saying...

HAPPY

BIRTHDAY

MOM!!!

I wish I could be there with you to take you to Hiro's and crossgates to see Julie & Julia..just hold out for a month and I will take you - how does that sound :-) Would probably be better if I bought my ticket. Don't know why I am so reluctant to purchase my ticket for home. It is not that I don't want to go, just need to change the theme of the weekend - no longer "marathon weekend". I am going to have to come to grips with the fact that this marathon is not happening, but that is not going to stop me from celebrating my nephew's 2nd birthday!!!

So back to this week. It was a rather crazy work week with client meetings and commitments. It at times like this when you learn the most about yourself. It's funny, when things are going well people never stop to evaluate why things are going well. Companies/ people never stop and think, "you know things are going well - let me evaluate why it is so I can continue this feeling." Instead, we wait until things are in crisis mode to re-evaluate the performance or our behaviour. For me, I had some re-evaluating to do. I allowed myself to get too comfortable with my friends around here and snapped at them. With new friendship, this is something you don't do as they don't know whether this is the real you or just a bad day. I regret snapping, but through it, it made me realise the person that I am. I don't want to be that person that snaps at people when work is stressful or when I am not well, etc. It's not me...I was having a day, but that is no excuse for the behaviour.

This weekend I visit Oxford for the day. My friend had to do some work there, so I decided to join and worked as well in a coffee shop. Oxford is such a cute little town. We spent the day walking around (note to self for the next time bring a guide or look up what there is to see). We were searching for a brasilian BBQ restaurant - when we finally found it we discovered that they did not open for dinner until 1800 (leaving us 2 hours) to roam around. We went into the cute shops and ethnic food stores. Finally after the hunger officially kicked in we stopped for a light starter at a mediterranean restaurant with a cute greenhouse "outdoor" seating.

It was a nice change of pace, granted it was still a work day, but I was happy to be outside of London. I definitely want to go back to Oxford and actually see the sites. Will avoid the brasillian restaurant (as it was not that tasty and good) and the street, compared to what the town has to offer, was the most scenic.

The rest of the weekend was spent watching X-Factor (will have to explain this to you another time), logging even more hours and eating authentic Brasilian cuisine. Cannot say it was the best weekend, but it was definitely a change from the ordinary.

I hope you all are well and enjoying the fall weather :-)

xoxo

T