Adventures in London: Issue 136

Relatively speaking it has been a low key week. Had my weekly Glee night on Monday. Monday marked the 10th Monday and thus the end of my Monday fast. They have not been easy and I have had to start over a couple of times due to forgetting it was Monday. How did I manage in college to do no meat/alcohol on Thursdays?! On Tuesday I went for a quick run after work. It was nothing big, but just enough to get me back into the swing of things. I have purposely taken time off from running, but I have worked on my weight and diet so I am ready to get back into training mode. I miss it if I am honest! I like having a regime or programme to follow..shocking I know. I like processes and structure ;-)

Never would have thought that I would ever say this, but here we go. On Thursday I went to
a show at London's Fashion week at the Sommerset House. It was an interesting event a bit less chaotic than I thought it was going to be. The show itself was approximately 45-60 minutes. There were a handful of our dresses that I actually liked. Some of the collections were beyond me and I could not understand how they were deemed fashion. Afterwards, we roamed around the grounds shopping at the various 'stalls' set up. I managed to find myself a cute top (bright flannel plaid shirt) from one of the stores at the event. It was certainly an experience shopping and roaming around the area, but I was pleased to get away and go for dinner at Christopher's. It was not the night that we were expecting, but it was one that I will always cherish.

Friday was moving day...our last day ever in 40 Strand. The morning was pretty much spent packing up last minutes belonging and a few quick meetings before we exited the office for the last time. It was kinda sad leaving the office. There are some good memories in that office, but more to be made at CSG. Reminds me of the night before moving from Worldwide Plaza in NYC - - that night was a mess.

We decided to go out for lunch as a team. How else would you spend the afternoon off - - yeah we could have gone home, run errands, gone to the gym, but an afternoon of drinking and eating is what we wanted to do. It is rather endearing (and sad) that our team love spending so much time together.

I have been absolutely GLUED to the ICC 2011 World Cup of Cricket this year. On Saturday whilst packing for my trip to Lisbon I watched the India vs England match in the background. I thought it would have been more of an event here, but when Six Nations rugby is on...cricket is not much of the sport. While England was at bat, I went for Sunday Roast at the Stonehouse near Clapham Common. It was a cute find...I had driven by the pub before but forgot it existed. Anyway, while we were there, my uncle kept us informed of the final overs of the match. I really wish the pub was showing the match live as it was a brilliant match. They ended drawing, but it was an intense match 'watching' on the BBM. People must have thought we had lost the plot screaming and cheering to a BB screen whilst football and rugby were playing on the TV screens.

The rest of the day was spent packing for the week long conference I have next week in Lisbon. Going to be an interesting trip!

Hope you all are well

xx

T

Adventures in London: Issue 135

What is Valentine's Day?! Saint Valentines day (or Valentines Day or VDay to most) is the day to 'celebrate' love and affection between two companions. The day actually has some historical significance and is not just a Hallmark holiday or cheesy 2010 movie. St Valentine's Day dates back to 496 AD established by Pope Gelasius for martyrs named Saint Valentine. In 1969, it was removed from the Roman calendar of saints by Pope Paul VI. The day itself remain as a day on which lovers express their love for each other through the exchange of flowers, chocolate, and cards (hence the Hallmark holiday). The bigger your gesture on this day the stronger your affection. If you buy flowers on the 13th or 15th or heaven forbid on a random day in June..doesn't count. You are only in love if you have exchanged presents on 14 Feb. Thanks Geoffrey Chaucers for associating this day with romantic love in the High Middle Ages!! THANKS! Personally when the notion of courtly love vanished Valentine's day should have vanished as well! It is a useless day, unless you are Pat O'Brien and that day is your birthday.

On the infamous day, a friend of mine and I decided to make the most of it and went to see Priscilla Queen of the Desert. Nothing like an evening with campy drag queens to celebrate the Hallmark day :-)

I had no idea what to expect from Priscilla except that it was going to be a grand time. Not my general cup of tea, but the show was certainly entertaining. I don't know when the trend to create a show around popular songs started, but the formula works; Mamma Mia, Ring of Fire, Merchants of Bollywood, Priscilla prove that you don't need original music to make a brilliant and success Broadway hit!!! That said, RENT will always be my number one musical!

I may not celebrate V-Day, but that did not mean that I was not going to miss up on celebrating the evening at the theatre. Before going to the show we went to the Dean Street Townhouse for a pre-theatre meal. the Dean Street Townhouse is well on Dean Street in SoHo. It is sister restaurant of The Ivy. Both restaurants relish is a delicious menu and high style dinning atmosphere. There is an elegance and 'special feeling' when you dine at either place. Hard to get a booking so if you are in town and fancy going we will have to plan ahead. And whatever you do, don't bring your blackberry to the table, they are not allowed :-)

This week has been a social engagement marathon. On Tuesday, I went over to North Greenwich to see my cousin and his parents who were visiting on their return from India. It was a low key evening overall - - nothing like some family time with a home cooked meal. I cannot describe it, but there are certain mannerisms in our family that you will only find in our family. I wish I could describe it, but this once I cannot. It makes me realise how special we are and the bond that we share can never be replaced.

On Thursday the company 'celebrated' our departure from 40 Strand with a cocktail hour followed by our last free bar. We are not moving far, just a 10-15 minute walk to Covent Garden, but from the looks of it it is going to wicked. It will mean a change of working style as hot desking is encouraged and we are to follow a complete clear desk policy (no laptop, pens, paper, etc) left behind. Should be interesting :-)

On Friday to close the hectic week, the girls went to Arc for happy hour. Nothing like wine, pizza and dancing to wrap up an amasing, but manic week. Good thing the weekend is going to be just as manic.

The Bensons were in town for the weekend so we had plans to meet up on Saturday for lunch. We met up at Gaucho off of Regent St for a quite afternoon catching up. I really did not think the lunch choice through (as Gaucho is best known for its Argentine beef selection), but it worked out to be a lovely and tasty lunch. It was good to spend a few hours catching up with old friends. It is always lovely seeing the two of them. Amasing the difference in mood from the last time we hung out.

I spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in a pub playing scrabble with a friend. Thanks to my iPod I am learnt how to finally play scrabble. I know I know...but what can I say. I just never played - had a deluxe version of it and all, but never played.

After spending a couple of hours playing and chilling out in the pub, I added dish #10 to the list - veggie soup made up of potatoes, leeks, celery, spinach, shallots, butter beans, broccoli and cauliflower. I had never made soup before, but from watching various episodes of Come Dine with Me, I thought I would give it a go. I did not make it complete pureed so it was a little chunky which was nice. Making soup is rather fun and let's face it, its healthier than eating turkey roll stuffed with blue cheese and stuffing wrapped in bacon.

Despite being knackered from the week, on Sunday a trip to Bluewater was required. Bluewater is absolutely insane...in a good way. Both times that I have gone there have not been sufficient enough time. You really need a full day if you are going shopping here.

It was a successful trip. I am sure I could have done more damage (to my and AH's credit cards), but thankfully the mall was closing and we needed to go.

It has been a manic week, but thankfully it is over. Weeks like this are nice from time to time. I don't know how I used to keep this sort of schedule up when I lived in NYC - - having social engagement every night of the week is exhausting. Hopefully the next couple of weeks will be a little low key.

Hope you all are well and had a lovely Saint Valentines Day - - however you spent the day.

xx

T

Adventures in London: Issue 134

I added dishes #7 and #8 to the list....only 45 more to go. Dish 7 was blue & cream cheese stuffed jalapeno peppers wrapped in bacon. It is a 'stolen with pride' recipe from Little Wib and Si and boy was it delicious :-)

Dish 8 was a bit more complex invention; turkey steak roll 'stuffed' with blue cheese, fresh garlic, spinach, and stuffing all wrapped in BACON! Anything wrapped in bacon just has to be good!!! How can you go wrong?!

I am rather enjoying this NY resolution. I look forward to my Monday: new dish and Glee nights. I have even convinced a friend of mine AH to play guinea pig to my concoctions.

To reward myself for the 5K run I did at lunch time, I was was itching for a post work drink. Ironically so was Diamond. We met up for a spur of the moment happy hour celebration at my favourite Champagne Charlies (boy will I miss my local watering hole when we move).

It was a nice catch up with Diamond. We are both adjusting to our new roles at work. It is hard position to be in when you don't have a solid work plan and are more on the developing side of things. Granted her and I are developing VERY different products, but it is exciting. We are learning....everyday is about learning and exploring a new facet of the digital space that you never knew existed. I am all about how to measure and monitor it and Diamond is all about how to sell it. Between the group that we have here, we should start our own media boutique company. Wouldn't that be something?!?!

On Friday, I went to what has now become a fortnight gathering for drinks and dinner at Salisbury. The Salisbury is your typical English pub, high ceilings with a quaint old feel. Why do I like this pub...well they have quenched my desire for burgers. Not eating beef has been challenging from time to time, but when you find a pub that serves bison and venison burgers is my new favourite watering hole. It was a lovely evening hanging out with new friends chatting and laughing over a delicious meal and scotch. Really what else could you ask for from a Friday night. Generally not one to go out on Friday nights, but if it is with the right crew and delivers on good food and drink my rubber arm can be twisted ;-)

On Saturday, AH and I made a trip to Hampstead Heath to enjoy the 'sunny' weather. Well that was the plan anyway. Instead by the time we reached the park (due to a tour of London for a pink shirt) we were greeted with hails and rain. Thankfully this did not last long so we were able to walk around the wet and muddy park - - which also meant a wet and dirty dog. Any and every mud patch that was in the park, Tye found and made sure to roll around in it. Not really a dog person for that reason, but you cannot fault a dog that is having fun. Hampstead Heath is beautiful. I wish I had come here prior to taking Mum here as I could have showed her the Parliament Hill and the amasing views of London. Was also rather wicked to see all the kite fliers!! You could just site there for hours people watching and enjoying the views. Shame for the wet and muddy grass...next time.

That evening we went to Corrine's 3rd annual VDay party. It was my first time attending one of her legendary parties. I thought I had thrown parties and been to a party, but I was mistaken. For her VDay party, Corrine hand paints champagne flutes for each of her guest with their names on it. We are not talking 4 flutes...we are talking 4 dozen flutes (which is also the number of cases of champagne ordered for the bash). If the flutes were not enough, she had a spread of both savoury and sweet foods including deviled eggs, chicken wings, cupcakes, cookies, brownies, chocolate covered pretzels and being Corrine - - nothing was ordered in. I test ran dish #9 - black forest sticky balls which is chocolate and cherry sticky balls in a cherry brand syrup sauce. I knew this one was going to be a risk and it was. There was something in the flavouring that did not work, but will not give up on my themed sticky balls!

The following day we all celebrated our 3rd annual CNY dim sum gathering. We changed it up slightly and went to a new dim sum restaurant near Baker St. I was a bit skeptical... you know how much I love change - especially when it involves food. That said...who was I kidding!! This was Bren and Si -- of course they wouldn't let us down!! This new place (sorry I have forgotten the name), was absolutely lovely and the food was out of this world. Just like every year, the dishes kept coming and coming. No matter how many times we groaned that we were full, we still continued to eat. I was slightly bummed this year that Si and I could not get our traditional order of tripe. Once again...not eating beef strikes again. That said, I am so pleased that my BBQ dumplings are made of pork...those are just pure heaven in a bun.

Well on that note, I wish you all the best.

Miss you and love you tons

xx

T

Adventures in London: Issue 133

This week marked my first business trip with a trip to King's Hill - - to where?! Yeah exactly! It was an adventurous day. Was not planned that way, but after a productive client meeting and on our train journey back to the office things went downhill. We were stopped for a 15minutes when speculation of why we were stopped started to surface. Our worst nightmare - - there was a human under the train. Heart wrenching yes...but really annoying! There was no direct way back to London, so we were in words stuck. a 40 minute journey took us nearly 3 hours to return to the office...making what was supposed to a very productive day a really frustrating waste.

Thankfully that was not the tone of the rest of the week. Friday came marking Natalie's birthday celebrations. A night that could have gone wrong (i.e. no venue planned), turned to be absolutely brilliant. We went to this un-marked bar next to Kafeteria. The name is escaping me right now, but the bar had a 1920s prohibition feel to it. It was underground, darkly lit bar with own whisky, rum, vodka cocktails from the era. If you ordered a bowl you were given a good ole fashion punch bowl with tea cups. We were tempted, but could not agree on a cocktail. What I did agree on was a whiskey cocktail with honey and lavender. Does not sound nice, but honestly a GREAT drink. The next time you are over, I will try and recreate this (or we can go and find the bar again).

It was a chill Friday birthday celebration filled with lovely cocktails, tasty food and great friends....wait I think that is what we did last year too. Nat always has a way of finding unknown classic cocktail bars with a memorable menu.

I am really in awe that we are onto celebrating our third round of birthdays together. I remember when I first moved here, we considered each other our family away from family. Nearly three years later we truly have become a family - - a family of misfits mind you, but a family nonetheless. A lot has changed in the last 2 1/2 years; we've gotten married, we've had our hearts broken, we've gotten engagement, we've found new loves, we've gotten new jobs, we've moved, but the constant in all that is that we have all been there to support one another.

On Saturday I met up with Pat at Fox & Anchor a quaint gastro pub near Smithfield meat market. Now that Pat and I no longer work on the same account we don't have an excuse to catch up during the day time so it is nice to have our 'date nights' to catch up. We have never really hung out near smithfields, I have always been tempted to wake up at 0400 to see how they unload the meat trucks, but 0400..who are we kidding. I barely woke up for country-fest on the Today Show. Anyway. We spent a couple of hours hanging out and chit-chatting. It is actually nice that we don't work on the same account anymore cause it allows us to focus on the other happenings in our lives. Not really the party until its dawn night, but it was exactly what we both needed and wanted.

On Sunday I was delightfully surprised with an invitation to go for a CNY Malaysia meal to celebrate our friend's Chad last night in London before he moved back to Vancouver. You are probably wondering what we are doing. We are tossing Yu Sheng or prosperity toss. You toss the salad higher for a prosperous career and a sweeter love life. It is a lovely salad of raw fish (salmon), fresh shredded vegetables and sauces.

It was my second time at Rasa Sayang. The first was before my India-Malaysia trip so I had no idea what we order. This time, I knew what we ordered, but no memory as it was one delicous dish after another. Highlights were roti canai, chicken satay and green beans with chili. Honestly anything on that menu is worth a taste...it is like my own Kapitan here in London :-)

It has been a random week, but one that finished on a high note. It was nice to catch up with some old friends and new ones. It is sad that Chad had to move back to Vancouver...such is life when you are finished with your graduate studies and require employment. All the best Chad!

To everyone else, I hope you are well. Miss you dearly

xx

T