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
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