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.

Weekend

Mary is here, the Six Nations are starting and I am about to cook a lovely meal with fresh fish and veg from Borough Market. What more could a girl want?

London life

At St Helen during Open House Weekend
Originally uploaded by Gypsy Saskia

Well, was I too busy working to have a life at first, the last two weeks I was too busy having a life to blog.

Kaat visited me for a weekend, and we did loads of relaxed walking around East London and Angel. The church on the photo is the largest surviving church in the City. Great Fire and Blitz haven't brought this baby down, though the IRA managed to do almost just that in the early nineties. This is next to one of my clients and one of my fav places in the city. Old churches and the modern Gherkin (in background) and glass office buildings are an inspiring combination.

Last weekend Zoe and I visited a Comedy Club on Leicester Square. Great way to spend a Fri nite after a busy work week. In a few hours I will be off to the Dam again for a fun filled weekend of friends and relo's. If only I could bring the gorgeous London sun!

Hakkasan

Before I had even moved to London, one of my best mates had insisted I'd visit this place. I knew I would, but not for just any occasion. My brother's visit last week was special. So I booked Hakkasan. It's supposed to be a great place for celeb spotting, but we were focussed on the food way too much. And the wine menu. And on calculating how many taxi receipts one would need to be able to expense a £ 1450 glass of whiskey. Hakkasan has a michelin star, and man, does the wine list rub that in. It fell from the 17th to the 36th place on the best resto's of the world list that was announced yesterday but is still considered one of the UK's best restaurants.

Soooooooooo....my expectations were high. And wow, my expectations were exceeded. Great staff, great wine, and the food...just amazing. So refined. I just loved everything from the plates to the interior to the desert. Definitely a place to go for a special occasion. Just be aware: if you want the £ 140 peking duck with beluga, you will need to order 24 hours in advance.

Hotel Saskia

One of the great things of living abroad, is having friends over, and spend more time with them than normally in the Dam. And Hotel Saskia is busy the coming months. A snapshot:
10-12 March, cousin Michiel and his gf
13-15 March, Mary
17-18 April, bro and gf
29 Apr - 2 May, colleague Jaap and gf
25-27 May, Sandra

And I am not only having friends over, I have some trips planned as well!
30 Apr - 4 May, Lisbon with Heather and Trangh
23-25 May, Copenhagen by myself
23 December - 15 January, Australia, visiting Ems and Caroline and hopefully a trip to Tassie with Ems

And those are only the foreign trips, excluding Amsterdam! On top of that, there are Oxford with Zoe in March, cricket in Kent with Remy and Nicole at the end of August, and a trip to York with Zoe somewhere in between. Something tells me my camera will be used a hell of a lot the coming months!!

Boring babe

Another week gone. A partly fun week, as Elena stayed here for two nights. But a boring week otherwise. Work, gym, sleep, or work, read, sleep tend to be my standard days. Next week won't be any different. Even my weekend will be gym, read, sleep, although am meeting friends for Dim Sum on Sunday. I just so want to go on holiday. In less than three weeks I will be in my beloved Bangkok. And when I come back, I hope to be a re-energised, not so boring babe!

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.