Culture vulture and amateur chef

Two things keep me busy at the moment. Post having to balance football, Wimbledon, cricket and more, two things is manageable. They are the red pluche and food.

A big wish came through last weekend: with friends Ilse and Heather I went to see the Bolshoi ballet. Ilse is now spoiled forever as this was her first ballet, Heather used to be a pro dancer herself and saw it in that light. I just love ballet and was stunned by how good this company is. Unbelievable.

Two days later, Ilse, her parents and I joined the Arab contingent in Kensington. While we ate our pre-theatre dinner at a local Italian, we were entertained by two fat blokes with a fat car, boot open, who were handed bags full of designer clothes by the ladies they accompanied. Not once or twice, but four or five times. Business as usual in the rich parts of London in August, when many Arabs come here to shop, sometimes bringing their own cars from Dubai and the likes. It's a phenomenon that makes for great people watching. Anyway...the whole reason we were there was the Royal Albert Hall, as we had tickets for the Prom. I knew 3 of the 4 composers that were played that night. It's probably a good thing I didn't know the 4th as his piece was just awful! Nothing a three year old with the right tools couldn't do, we all thought. Weird avant garde noise. It was the premiere of that piece, the composer was there and half the crowd absolutely loved it. Rave reviews in the papers the next day too. Ah well.... Let's just say it wasn't for me. A half empty RAH on a Monday night by the way, turned out to be great for prommers who like to listen to their music horizontally. Several people were lying in the proms area as there was so much floor space. A funny view, from our balcony.

Coming up next on the culture front are Sondheim's Into the Woods, Shakespeare's As you Like it and Noel Coward's Design for Living. Plus I got tickets for Classical Spectacular. Slightly tacky but they do some beautiful pieces and play very English songs at the end.

Then food. Since I moved here, having access to proper supermarkets, I have completely rediscovered my love for cooking. At home I usually can't be bothered thinking ahead on a Saturday, and my local Albert Heijn is just that....an Albert Heijn. An inflated 7-11. Here, the abundance of great products make I enjoy preparing my own food more than ever. Throw in a website I discovered last year by a girl who does fashion and food equally well, and I eat like a king. The past two weeks I have made fantastic mozzarella and halloumi based salads, grilled organic chicken with lemon time and other stuff, squid salad, nice pastas, thai style tofu and what have you. At work, I am already thinking about that night's meal and popping down to Waitrose on the way home, I know another nice meal is on the cards that day. Life is good.

Fun OD

When a weekend was so good as last, you want to make the memory last forever. Last weekend my old friend Sandra came to see me, and we just had the loveliest, most relaxing time. Nice dinners, snugged up on the couch reading, a long walk in Greenwich Park, dim sum lunch. And Enron.

The play / musical, a bit of both really. Somehow we got upgraded from limited view balcony seats to the front row. A good start. And it was incredibly well done. The decor was spot on. The cast was so good I thought I could just have a chat with the lead actor about mark to market and other finance stuff. I just completely forgot they were actors. My friend works in the sports industry and knows nothing about Enron, accounting standards and the role of the auditor, but she was equally enthousiastic about the play. Which is a big thumbs up to the writers.

Yeah! Theatre!

Ah, the joy of having theater nights to look forward to.

On Saturday, Dutch friend Nynke and I will see Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. I saw it before and absolutely loved it. Bought better seats than the £10-you-can-see-most-of-the-stage-if-you-tilt-your-head tickets that I had last time.

And in April, another friend is visiting, and Sandra and I will see what Enron is all about. It had rave reviews so am very much looking forward to seeing it!

Both shows are afternoon shows so we can indulge in some of the fab food London has to offer in the evening. In this case Hakkasan and Harwood Arms. The former is one of my fav restaurants in London, awfully stylish and amazing food. The latter is a gastropub that was awarded a Michelin star this year. It still has pubquiz nights on Tuesdays and the most expensive main is less than 20 quid. How good is that?!

Laughs and more laughs. And Matthew oggling.

When I read Private Lives was premiering in the West End in March, I asked my workvriend Viv, sitting opposite me, if she wanted to come along, and bought tickets straight away. That was back in November. Months flew by and all of a sudden we found ourselves in the Vaudeville Theatre yesterday, three days after opening night. Private Lives was written by Noel Coward some 80 years ago, but its themes are timeless. Kim Cattrall and Matthew Macfadyen were brilliant, the jokes were endless, and we had a fantastic night taking it all in, feeling enormously alive. A brilliant Saturday night.

Summer life

Summer life to the full, although the weather gods don't always realise it's summer. Leave work at a reasonable time, and go to gym or meet friend for dinner. Or both. That's pretty much been the last weeks. Throw in a bit of comedy and Sondheim's A Little Night Music and you're all up to speed with my life. Nothing exciting, just lots of happiness. Almost done at current client, so will have to brave the rush hour tube again soon. No more fanastic canteen. No more hottie sitting accross my desk. No more walking to the gym straight from work. But first....out for turkish food in Angel tonight with American friend and her Chinese friend. Surely to be followed by cocktails. As it would be wrong not to...

Australia weekend

Priscila Queen of the Desert and Ashes. Jason Donovan (who ages very well, I might add) and Ricky Ponting (who I would love to lynch right now). A night at the theatre with friends. A day in the stadium in Cardiff with fellow cricket fans and a day at home glued to Cricinfo. Ah, and don't forget that glass of Australian viognier I had this arvo. A great weekend full of Australianness, but damn....that draw against England hurts.

Fun packed weekend

Man, this weekend was awesome. Fri nite Chantal and I had dinner in a wee French place near Covent Garden that's been around for fifty years and where the staff speak french. It was a very early quick theatre menu as we were going to see ballet afterwards in the ROH. Seven Deadly sins with Martha Wainwright singing, Mats Ek's Carmen and the amazing Dance Grande Vitesse, that Chantal wasn't too fond off, but I had been watching with open mouth. Loved it. A quick glass of vino in the pub afterwards was all we could fit in before taking the last tube home.

Yesterday I went to Borough Market to buy some veg (and unplanned Turkish Delight, damn Cranberry stall staff) and orchids. A one km swim (44 laps) in the arvo was enough to knock me out for the night.

This morning I went to the gym in preparation of my four course lunch at Foliage, a michelin star resto in the Mandarin Hotel. Thanks to the credit crunch you can now get some amazing deals in those places. I had scallops, sole, john dory and a calvados with apple sorbet dessert. Small portions accompanied by beautiful wines and nice bread. Food heaven. Heather and I had dressed up for the occasion, Trang had kinda missed the type of resto. Lucky girl still looks amazing in a garbage bag I'm sure so no frowning wait staff. Just a beautiful afternoon, great food, great convo, and great views of Hyde Park. Reality is going to kick in hard tomorrow!

Stuff

Leonard Cohen gig, England-Australia @ Twickenham, another dinner at the Commonwealth club, Annie Leibovitz exhibition, Manon (a ballet) , Donovan Frankenreiter gig and a daytrip to Brighton. All in the next two weeks. How exciting!!

Shows

Ever since I saw 'Zeldzaam' aged 13 or so, I have loved musicals. In Holland I saw Les Mis twice, loved Aida, went to see Saturday Night Fever as my musical teacher had the lead role, and saw Miss Saigon. All fine and well, once I got used to the songs in Dutch. But London is just a different league. Before I moved here I saw Bombay Dreams on the day my nan had died, which made it hugely emotional and even more memorable. I also saw Chicago and We Will Rock You. All by myself, was generally here to see friends who weren't into that thing. Whenever I have friends in town myself however, I love it when they suggest to see a show. With Canadian Danielle I saw Wicked, with Italian Marianna I saw Les Mis, and Thursday I will go see Avenue Q with American colleague Heather. Don't think my Dutch friends are too keen on seeing shows... Avenue Q didn't appeal to me at first, but friends who saw it were raving about it, so I'm sure I'll love it too. It seems to be Muppets meets Sesame Street for adults. Update on Friday!

Knackered

What a rollercoaster of activities and emotions.... One of my best friends visited me Friday to Sunday. Loads of talks as she is going through a rough time, nice dinners, Les Miserables and a long walk along the Thames. As soon as I'd dropped her off at Can Wharf, Frank was there to visit. Another walk along the Thames, a walk in Greenwich park and dinner. Twenty past nine and we were both in bed, too tired for words. Monday morning I left early to go to the Dam and I only just got back. Lovely being back in the home office. I got the best welcome possible, everyone was so excited to see me! And likewise of course. Dinner with some of the guys from the team, and an intensive meeting today.

And on the way home from the airport I had the best taxi ride ever. The old cabby was so super super friendly. He asked where I worked, and when I said London Bridge, he immediately knew the company. 'You guys are the only ones making money at the moment!' he said. Then we got into a whole discussion whether accountant or consultant was a more interesting role, both agreeing it was defo the latter. Almost home, he asked me if I was from Northern or Southern Ireland. He was not amused when I said I was Dutch, he really felt ashamed. I assured him I took it as a compliment, and really, the Irish are such lovely people you can barely insult someone with that. Finaly he gave in. We talked a bit more about accents and dialects and I was home. We then talked for another five minutes, until I really, really wanted to go inside. A lovely end to a lovely trip.