Author Archives: Grace

Rib night!

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Sandra and I thought that we haven’t been out for a set of ribs in a while so we dragged Jules and Pat out to Blubeckers in Ruislip. If you recall Blubeckers is a chain of restaurants/pubs which Sandra has claimed has the best BBQ Ribs ever.

Blubeckers is a very popular venue – even booking a week in advance we were lucky to get a booking for tonight and we had to give the table back within two hours. Still, Jules and Sandra at least are pretty efficient eaters so we still managed to fit in three courses tonight!

As I found last time I came to a Blubeckers the menu is actually pretty good and the food that is delivered is equally up to the task. Tonight I started with an absolutely gorgeous creamy seafood chowder that came with light fluffy warmed baguette. I actually would have been quite happy to have a main meal version of the chowder it was so good. Pat also went for a liquid starter with his French onion soup. He cleaned it up pretty quickly. Jules and Sandra had some battered prawns which looked pretty scrumptions.

At Blubeckers ribs come in sizes of Light, Classic and Legendary. We all very wisely chose to go for the Classic ribs which are about the size of a normal set of ribs. It was more than enough especially when accompanied by a big bowl of chips (which I didn’t even get anywhere near finishing) and coleslaw. The ribs were as tender and delicious as I remember though now thinking about it they are less BBQ ribs than stewed ribs though the BBQ sauce it comes with is pretty damn good.

Somehow we all found room for dessert though I don’t know how. I’m thinking I won’t be eating for at least 24 hours after tonight!

alice in wonderland not so wonderful

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I’d been looking forward to seeing the new Tim Burton directed Alice in Wonderland for ages constantly checking the Imax website for the release of tickets to the opening day. I shouldn’t have bothered. The movie was a great disappointment and even being shot in 3D didn’t save it any from an entertainment value.

Ironically I’ve read that Tim Burton said he felt that the original Wonderland story was like a series of events that all happened to centre around a girl wandering around from one weird character. He said he never felt a connection emotionally and therefore in his version he wanted it to flow more like a story. Unfortunately I didn’t feel that he’d succeeded in his goal.

From the beginning I didn’t feel that the story flowed. It felt terribly disjointed and I didn’t feel any kind of emotional connection with any of the characters, except perhaps for Helena Bonham Carter’s Red Queen – and she’s supposed to be the evil one! Alice returns to Wonderland as a 19 year old, 13 years after she first visited, and it is told that she’s the only one that can save the white kingdom from the red queen’s clutches by killing her Jabberwocky. Alice doesn’t remember any of her previous visit and stumbles from one character to another trying to do what I don’t know. She just seems to be led around by whoever she meets and therefore I cannot understand how suddenly toward the back end of the movie she has formed strong relationships with those on the white side such as the Hatter, Absolem the Caterpillar, and Chessur.

Even taking the characters individually I didn’t find any of them appealing, except perhaps the Bandersnatch, who is supposed to be this scary horrible creature but actually turns out to be rather sweet: Alice was impolite and imperious, the White Queen was affected, Dormouse was irritating, and the Hatter, though admittedly supposedly mad, was way odd.

From a stellar cast and director I was definitely expecting more. Ho hum.

dance3

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Quite possibly one of the strangest dance performances I’ve seen in a while dance3 tonight is part of a series of performances showcasing up and coming choreographers. Just imagine letting your, well imagination, running crazy without censure and that is pretty much what we got tonight. Sometimes dance is just as baffling as art! and if I’m honest I didn’t always get what was going on tonight at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.

dance3 featured three performances. First up on the bill was Tom Dale’s Cabin Fever. A single man writhed and wiggled about on stage. Expressing the state of mind he was both elegant and plain odd. For some reason I could think only of a zombie though he didn’t move with the gracelessness you normally associate with the living dead. Perhaps my impression was influenced by the Surviving a Zombie Attack book I’ve been reading lately.

Second up was Passing Strange and Wonderful. Interestingly there was no accompanying music or soundtrack to this performance. It was like watching a conversation between two friends or lovers as represented by the physical as the couple on stage moved and eased they way around and away from each other. The lighting in this was particularly smart which I think was important in the absence of the engagement of other senses like our hearing.

The finale was left up to Claire Cunningham and José Agudo’s 4M2. How to describe this piece – they used the LCD screen, the spoken word both on a soundtrack and from the performers themselves, and a number of pauses, including one for around about 5 minutes where both the audience and the performers simply stared at the screen. Of the three performances this was definitely the most energetic and engaging, despite the long pauses. Like Passing Strange and Wonderful this involved two performers dancing along and with each other.

You’ve probably realised that despite the three paragraphs above I haven’t really described what went on stage. That’s because I found it quite inexplicable – this is the kind of show that needs to be experienced in person. Its a great example of contemporary dance.

You have to admire how the performers left themselves totally vulnerable to the judgment of the audience and for that at least they deserve our respect, even if I didn’t always understand what was going on!

Anglesea Arms

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For ease of simplicity 1 March has always been heralded as the first day of spring though technically I don’t think its Spring until the middle of March. Still, there were signs that London is starting to thaw out a little. We had a lovely lunch in the beer garden at Anglesea Arms. It was even warm enough, under the sun at least, to sit in just a short sleeved top though I note none of my fellow diners, all English, felt quite brave enough to follow me. Heh heh.

The Anglsea Arms is not a typical pub. Priding itself on daily revolving menu it features such interesting offerings such as a Pint of Prawns; Pigeon, Foie Gras Salad, Pomegranate, Greens; and Pink Veal. I was feeling the Broccoli, Feta and Almond Tart:

Yummo! And what a lovely way to spend a glorious day!

Mirela visit London

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It has been a long time since I’ve last seen Mirela – gosh it must have been Madrid in June last year and that was only a very fleeting visit. Since then she’s left Madrid, gone to work at a summer tennis camp in the States and then gone back to settle back home in Greece (moving in with her boyfriend to the new apartment that her parents built her) so a lot has happened. Further I don’t think she’s visited London since November 2008.

Although February is probably not the best time for someone who loves the sun and warmth to visit London at least the weather for her this past weekend has been fairly lovely. Especially on Friday when I took the day off from work to spend with her traipsing around London.

In every conversation that we’ve had since she booked tickets to come visit London the very first thing that comes up is Crispy Duck. Her flight was delayed coming in on Thursday night so we didn’t end up leaving Heathrow Airport until just before 9pm. We were both absolutely starving by then so we made our first stop one of my favourite local Chinese restaurants: New Fortune Cookie! We didn’t even bother stopping at home to drop off any luggage – lucky she packed relatively lightly. I love the staff at New Fortune Cookie. I don’t know if they recognise me, I do get take-away and eat-in quite often, but they are always ready to greet me with a friendly smile and friendly service. I also don’t know if they remember Mirela visiting last time and her total obsession with the hoisin sauce they serve with the crispy duck. It was rather amusing! The crispy duck went down an absolutely treat that’s for sure.

This weekend with Mirela wasn’t planned at all which is very unlike me as most people know! But because I also had to consider Sabrina’s plans, one of Mirela’s close uni friends, it was a bit hard to organise anything such as tickets to an event or even to organise drinks. But I think it worked out okay.

As I mentioned Friday weather was absolutely lovely. We started off with coffee for Mirela from Starbucks before walking down Kensington Church Street to get to Giraffe for brunch. Mmmm … love their English Breakfast. Even the vegetarian version, which is what Mirela had, isn’t too bad.

After brunch we headed up the Babylon Roof Gardens for a peak, a quick drop by some of the shops and then it was off to the Tate Modern to meet up with Fabrizio, another of Mirela’s Uni mates. Interestingly this guy never works and has spent most of his 30+ years at school! He has recently decided that he wants to move to Spain somewhere. To do goodness knows what but hey – he seems happy.

The current installation in the Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall is Miroslaw Balka’s giant grey steel box which is in essence a vast black dark chamber. Its supposed to represent aspects of Polish history (the artist is Polish). Supposedly the experience creates a range of “sensory and emotional experiences … provoking feelings of apprehension, excitement or intrigue.” Er … it was literally a big box (think huge container van) with no lights on inside. We walked up to it, into it, fumbled around, got to the back and then walked out again. Mirela, who can cannily imitate a barking dog, entertained us by displaying her skills and as a result a bunch of teenage girls ran screaming out! Anyway, if a big vast black box sounds like you’re kind of thing you have until 5 April to visit.

Another meal that Mirela was keen to have was sushi. It was kind of awkward timing at 3pm by the time we ate – we returned to HiSushi which was okay but as they were nearly closing down we were pretty much rushed to order our food.

After heading back to my place for a bit of a rest, we’d been walking for quite a few hours by then so we were rather weary!, we headed over to Sabrina’s house for a night out in South Kensington. After a couple of hours mucking around at Sabrina’s we stopped at Carluccio’s for dinner, which as usual even at 10 pm was heaving (we had to wait about 20 minutes for a table”), and then headed to Vendome for some drinks: 3 drinks for £30 – ouch!

Vendome was more bar than club – its quite a small venue with plenty of seating around – so it was quite relaxed but it was filled by what I imagine to be a typical South Kensington crowd. Music was not too bad but quite mainstream. We managed to dance the night away but with the bar closing at 1am it was an earlier end to the night than I was expected. As it turned out it nearly took me two hours to get home anyway – it didn’t help that I was quite a little bit tipsy …

On Saturday we all woke up a little worse for wear – we only had three drinks each at Vendome! But we had planned on a pretty quiet day of shopping at Westfield so it wasn’t supposed to be a demanding day. We made the mistake of trying to lunch at Westfield right in the middle of lunch time. Sabrina was craving Nando’s but the line for it was massive. To be fair the line for most other places was the same. We must have waited nearly an hour – I didn’t think we’d make it we were so hungry!

Surprisingly we actually lasted the whole day in Westfield though Mirela did have a few naps:

Ha ha. Just kidding! We did also spend quite a bit of time admiring the hot guys at Hollister – couldn’t believe there was a queue to even get into that store!

Sabrina then cooked us some dinner at her home:

On Sunday all we had time for was to say goodbye to Mirela. A quick visit but one that we appreciated. Its only now that she’s gone that I’ve realised how much I’ve missed her!

Blood Brothers

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I’ve heard that Blood Brothers is a pretty big production though that wasn’t enough to get me motivated to go and see it. When I heard Mel C was going to star in it, celebrity chaser that I am, that changed my perspective completely and it was suddenly on my to do list.

Almost spur of the moment Laney and I decided to go and check it out. We got an awesome deal because for £25 we got tickets to the show and a two course meal. The meal was unmemorable but the show as pretty good. Even better our upper circle seats were upgraded to some pretty decent seats in the grand circle!

As for the show, it was at time sad/depressing but also funny. It tells the story of twins who are separated at birth, brought up in totally opposite economic environment but whom fate keeps bringing together including falling in love with the same girl. It is very tragic.

The cast were good with Mel C in particularly being excellent. She had a strong voice and acted her party very well. The only negative was that she seemed to be signing the same song over and over (the number what mentions Marilyn Munroe). The man who played one of the twins, Mickey, played his character fantastically from when he was a seven year old until his character’s death in his mid-twenties. They were well supported by the other actors though the character Eddie, Mickey’s twin, was a bit annoying. The dude that played the shadow/compare was plain scary though, again like Mel C, seemed to be singing the same song.

This show has been around for a long time but I reckon the set and the play itself could do with a bit of slight updating. Otherwise it was a good way to spend a couple of hours.