Adventures in London: Issue 114

We started talking about this weekend a good year ago, we bought our tickets in May, and finally the weekend came! It was our highly anticipated Oktoberfest weekend in Munch, GERMANY to celebrate Big E's hen do :-)

Now you may be thinking, what is up with celebrating October in Septemer?! Well a brief history for you. The 16-18 day festival celebrating Bavarian culture dates back to 1810 to mark the wedding ceremony of King Ludwig I. Today, the festival welcomes 5+ million people from late September to the first weekend in October. On this weekend Munich welcomed 6 American ladies from London (it was always a joy explaining where we all were from).

Friday was a GORGEOUS day, so we spent the day bike riding. It was a great way to see the city. We biked around the scenic English Gardens, stopping every so often for a bavarian beverage. I cannot remember the last time I rode my bike...must have been back in NYC with Molly Beans. Thankfully this bike ride did not include dodging taxi cab doors and buses. It did however involve avoid hitting the tourists whilst trying to snap a photo (tip: don't bike and photo if you have a SLR - - nearly crashed 3 times). It was such a beautiful day in the sunshine, laughing, eating pretzels (pretzels are the donuts of Munich - not quite the same, but German donuts are not as tasty as the Barca D&D), and drinking bavarian beverages.

Post-dirndl shopping (cause who doesn't need a dirndl in their wardrobe), it was off to the Hofbrauhaus for dinner. I am generally not a fan of German cuisine (unless it is my godmother's cooking), but after a few visits to Austria and Germany, the cuisine has grown on me. The key is learning what to order in German - kaiser spaetzle, fladlesuppe, and the bread basket..deliciousness. The HB restaurant was massive...stretching over four floors the beerhall restaurant was a pure party indoors filled with dirndls, lederhosens, litres, sausage and bavarian songs and dancing.

After eating way too much, a few of us made our way to official Oktoberfest grounds to check it all out. For LL and Big E, this was their second time on the grounds. For KV and I, this was our first.

How do I go about describing Oktoberfest?

It is a grand carnival. Seriously! You walk on the grounds and are welcomed with carnival rides, games, sausage huts, and beer tents. Now when I heard the phrase "beer tents" - I thought just that. A really big tent outdoors. Yeah...no! The 'tents' are actually proper halls that can fill thousands of patrons. The thing to note is that you don't want to actually sit on the benches. There is a reason why everyone stands on the benches to dance - - makes a fraternity house floor clean enough to eat off of.

Saturday morning marked our day to officially explore the joys of Oktoberfest dressed in our lovely dirndles. Don't well all look so cute and authentic?! I quite liked my dirndle. Not really the outfit to wear at Thanksgiving dinner since it doesn't have much give, but I can see myself sporting the look again. Be-careful of the next event you invite me to, you never know what I will be wearing :-)

Unlike Friday, Saturday was anything but sunshine and clear blue skies. Instead it was marked by rain clouds, cold weather and grey skies. Not really the best weather to spend the day outdoors, but we made the most of it. That is what we all do after-all isn't it? Make the most of what has been served to you.

With carnivals, comes carnival games!! Just like all carnivals this one was filled with ring toss, baseball throws and gun shooting!! Yup!! They had a target range there. If you have ever watched me play Buck Hunter, you know that I was thrilled by this and found any chance to play a round (or two). Did not win anything major, but did get a couple of silk flowers and a key chain. Was just getting the hang of the gun at the end of the day. NO! I did not spend the full day shooting. Only played three times (Friday night, Saturday afternoon and Saturday evening). What did we do the rest of the day?!

We danced, we met new friends, we ate, we drank, we danced, we ate, we danced, we drank....well I think you get the pattern. Munich is a great place to meet people. Made me realise how much I miss talking to random people at the table next to you, or line for a pretzel. You don't get that in London. Brits like keeping to themselves so mingling and meeting new friends is a tasking effort at times. If you happen to spark conversation with someone, 84% chances is that they are not from England.

Anway! Back to Munich!

I am in love with Munich. It is such a great city with a joyful vibe to it. I just need to work on my German and then I could move there :-) I am kidding....not thinking of moving anywhere else in Europe. Munich is definitely one of my top 3 cities in Europe. We did not get to do many cultural events and site seeing, but from what we saw, I definitely have a desire to return to explore the city some more.

It has been a lovely weekend with the friends and meeting new friends. Big E, I am so happy for you. Thank you for allowing me to share in your special weekend. Looking forward to the wedding.

You will always be my Big E!

To everyone else, I am hope you are smiling :-)

Miss you all and love you more

xx

T

Adventures in London: Issue 113

The afternoon started out so well. I woke up to a clean flat (many thanks to my cousin for staying late to help me clean and put away the leftovers). I went into SoHo to meet up with Powers for brunch. After brunch I went to a cafe to write (yes I have started writing again). It was a great afternoon and then it went all wrong. All I ever wanted was balance. I am not a person who just walks away - perhaps I should be. I believe in people and I care about them. Not saying that others don't, but some people find it easy to push people aside, to dismiss a bond that you share with someone. In any relationship (work, friend, romance), there has to be balance. Relationships cannot work if you don't have it.

Relationship. That is a interesting word. What does that exactly mean? According to the oxford dictionary:

Pronunciation: /rɪˈleɪʃ(ə)nʃɪp/ noun - the way in which two or more people or things are connected, or the state of being connected

I am in a state of mind right now where I am questioning ALL my relationships. The one I have with work, with my family, my friends and romance ones I have had. How do you know what is true anymore? How do you know what is worth fighting for? How do you know what is worth your effort and what is not anymore? In the law of economics, there always needs to be an equilibrium if not you fall into either a deficit or surplus and one party has to suffer before equilibrium is restored. Just need to have faith that equilibrium exist. Whatever you put out there will come back - whether it is in the short run or long run.

Changing topics!!

On Tuesday I went to Hi Sushi in SoHo with Diamond. It had been over a year since she and I went out on a "date" to catch up just the two of us. We order the all-you-can eat sushi buffet and destroyed it. It was tempting to go for another round of sushi, but we decided not to. It was probably a smart decision as we were both suffering for sushi overdose when we left the restaurant. I adore SoHo. It reminds me of the west village back in NYC; great vibe, lovely restaurants and always something new to try and experience. You never bore of walking around the neighborhood.

Speaking of trying new places, on Friday after the running club social, a bunch of us went out for a Malaysian dinner. On a side note, I think I am going to qualify for the "attends everything except group run" award. We went into Chinatown for Malaysian. I really have no idea what we ordered - TinSing does all of our ordering when we go out. It can be a booked restaurant, but he some how works his magic and we get a table. Minutes later it is filled with loads of delicious food. It was such a lovely night hanging out with my running buddies.

What followed the next day is unbelievable. I had past by the Garrick theatre a couple of time and saw adverts for Lynda Carter At Last. Not really know what the show would be about or any idea that Lynda Carter sang I emailed details of the show to see if others would be interested. I am actually really pleased that there were no takers. I did something new and went to the show solo. Why? Well for me it was my night with Dad. He was a fan of Lynda Carter - - or rather Wonder Woman. I remember Mom being "displeased" when she came home one day to find me watching re-runs of Wonder Woman on Sci Fi. I never really watched Wonder Woman nor did I grow up watching or listening to her. So why then did I see the show? To be honest I don't know really. Just felt the desire to see the show. Sounds flaky, but I honest felt that this was something that Dad and I were doing together. I did not feel alone once and for the first time, felt like he was with me.

It is a good thing he was, as the concert was truly amasing. What does Lynda Carter sing? A mix of everything really. She has a sultry jazz voice so much of her songs are the classics with some of her own thrown in there for flavour. It was an intimate concert in which she chatted with the audience between songs.

After the show a number of people stayed behind to chit chat with the band. A bunch of got into talking and well cutting a long story short, I got asked to join for the post show dinner at Browns. Yup, who knew that one of my go to restaurants in London would also be the place I would meet Lynda Carter. It was an interesting evening to say the least, but one in which I was not phased by (much). Best "father-daughter" date.

Hope you all are well.

xoxo

T

Adventures in London: Issue 112

When I first went to Gordon's the one person that I thought of and wanted to take there was Granny. Two years later, I had the great pleasure of sharing a cheese platter and some wine (well i indulged with some port for the good ole days). There was a tube strike today in London, so we were lucky to get a table inside the "cave." Gordon's is a cherished place of mine. I have shared some great moments there, but the top now will be spending the evening there with Granny. We have know each other for 10 years now and have been through a lot together over those years. I am blessed that after all this time, we can just pick up where we left off. That is true friendship; you let some one in, you share your life experiences with them and you are there for one another.

These past couple of days, I got a taste of what it is like when I come back to NYC for a visit. I couple back for a handful of days and as such only get to spend a handful of cherished hours with my friends catching up. Not ideal, but you take what you can. We used to spend days together, lived together and now a handful of face-to-face hours, a 15 minute phone call or a skype date is how you spend time together. Amasing where life takes you and how some people will always be in your life. Doesn't matter where you are or how much time has past - there are some people that are true friends. I am blessed for such friends.

On Thursday, we celebrated Rosh Hashanah dinner at Natalie and Adam's. For those of you who don't know, it is the Jewish New Year. For those in London and know...that means matzo ball soup & BRISKET! And where there is brisket, there is the homemade brisket sauce.

It was a lovely evening enjoying good friends, food, stories and wine. I love it when we all get together. It is weird, but I cannot remember the last time we all went out to dinner in a restaurant or hung our at a pub. Not saying that we don't at all, but I sorta like that we would rather have a home cooked meal than dine out all the time.

Speaking of home cooked meals, on Saturday a bunch of us celebrated Ganesh Chaturi (aka the birthday of Lord Ganesh). Probably comes to no shock to any of you, but I made WAY TOO much food. If it were not for my cousin showing up early, I would have had another 4 dishes to the menu. What was the menu exactly? We had chicken tandoori bites, steak bites with bloody mary sauce, chicken samosas, lamb kebabs with a cucumber and mint yogurt sauce, cucumber and chutney sandwiches, cous cous salad and old bay shrimp pasta salad. Oh there was also homemade salsa and some indian snacks. For the main meal I made pao bhaji and served a selection of indian burfi for dessert. It was a great night with a selection of friends from the "crew" to the running club. I am glad that everyone made it and had a lovely time. It has been over a year since I hosted a party, so I am glad that my first one back turned out well. Don't tell anyone, but I cheated and hired some help before hand to clean the flat and to help me cook. It is the only way forward!

Well on that note, I wish you all well.

xoxo

T

Adventures in London: Issue 111

What an interesting pleasant week it has been. The week started with a bank holiday on Monday (i.e. the day off). I was supposed to go to Whistable with LL, but the weather did not look like it was going to be on our side so we decided to do dinner her new flat in North London (yup yet another friend who has moved up North). I wasn't really in the mood to go out, but rather pleased that I did as it was nice to get out of the flat and spend the evening with a friend. It has been AGES since LL and I went on a "date" so was nice to have a home cooked meal and have some good ole fashion girl talk. It makes me wonder at times how lovely it would be to have a flatmate or live with someone. There are moments when I wish I had someone to come home to or cook Sunday breakfast with, and then there are days when I am glad that I don't have to share my living room or TV with anyone.

It is funny how things workout sometimes. I was scheduled to have dinner with my cousin. Whilst waiting in a cafe, I got notification that he was running late and that my manager from NY was in town. The timing worked out that I was able to catch up with LDS for a quick drink as his hotel was just around the corner from where I was. It was nice to catch up with LDS. We chatted about work for a bit, digital analytics and then quickly moved on to his kids and life here in London. It was good to catch up with an old friend and reminisce about the MS NY days. We have both come a long way. Me probably more so than him and it was a good reminder of the path that I have travelled to date to get to be where I am. I needed a little bit of reminding. My cousin met us at the hotel and after a quick drink we made a move to Oodle Noodle. It was a great night filled with some heart touching conversation and eye-opening discussions. I am so pleased and thankful that tonight worked out. It has meant a lot.

To kick off the weekend, Kiehl's had thrown a private event at their flagship store in Covent Garden for the running club. They were launching a new outdoor line and they allowed us into the store after hours for some skin care consulting, product testing and cupcakes. Not a bad way to spend a Friday night right?! It had been some time since I had been to practice so it was nice to catch up with members of the club and meeting the runners on the other nights. After the event, we went our for a couple of beers and then I was keen to call it a night. I hate to admit it, but I cannot stay up late anymore. All those post-30 rumours are sadly true. Life just slows down. You have to too. Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining. I am happy to slow down...some paces are not meant to be sustained.

On Saturday, I had the great pleasure of having dinner with my best friend from NYC. How grand!?! Granny and her Mom were visiting London for a few days. Not going to lie, I was rather chuffed ever since I got her email saying she was going to be in town.

Saturday the three of us caught up over dinner at PJ's pub in Chelsea. It was a top night of chatting, reminiscing and living in the moment. I am so pleased to have the time with Granny here in London. I wish I had looked up a place to eat, but must say that I quite enjoyed PJ's and would certainly make a trip back for their steak tartare. Rather odd to order a plate of raw meat, but I truly love it.

It has been a truly top week. It has been filled with moments and nights that I will cherish.

xoxo

T