Author Archives: Grace

Stomp

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Rache has been trying to organise a group outing to Stomp for some months now but something has always gotten in the way like lastminute losing the booking, dates clashing, tickets not being available etc. but finally we made it. Our tickets were in the nosebleed section but we still felt like we were part of the action. In fact any closer and I think I would have come away with a really big headache from the noise.

And Stomp is certainly noisy but in a good way.

Stomp is a dance group whose signature move so to speak is to use the body and objects to create a musical and rhythmic performance. Starting in Brighton nearly 20 years ago Stomp has toured all over the world and spawned numerous productions. I could understand the success having witnessed tonight’s show. It’s the type of performance that can be universally enjoyed. You don’t have to try to understand anything and in fact there is hardly any speaking to even listen to so all you have to do as an audience member is to sit back, relax and enjoy the show.

Stomp is composed of a series of pieces innovatively using all sorts of ordinary items including brooms, buckets, chairs, inner tubes, garbage pails, dust, poles, rubber tubes (not just rhythm but also musical tones), voices and even kitchen sink (or three!) There was also matchboxes, lighters, rubbish, and plastic bags. Somehow it all worked though I don’t know how.

There is high energy throughout with some crowd involvement, humour, and jumping all around the stage. Impressively no one person had a specialty and they all seemed to be able to pick up the rhythm and movement as required (though the really hot black acrobatic guy and the dance leader did have special roles.)

Though Stomp for the most part is an explosion of sound the ability of the cast to modulate the sound levels is pretty remarkable. But it wasn’t just sound – it was a very physical performance with things being slid across the stage, people sliding across the stage, items being thrown from one person to the next. The perfect sense of timing was astonishing to witness.

If there was one negative to Stomp it was that despite the ingenious use of items and the great physical aspect of the pieces each set had a sort of sameness to the performance. Its not that it all looked or sounded the same but there was an almost monotony to the show as we moved from one piece to another. Normally there will be a natural break – in musicals it will be a bit of speaking, in plays a scene change etc.

Overall, it was a thoroughly enjoyable show and great for a night out.

Laney’s Leaving Do

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Sometimes a leaving do is the best place to meet new friends. Strange huh?

Tonight Laney had a leaving do to say a temporary goodbye to people as she swaps the British winter for the Australian summer. I’m slightly jealous of the tan she is no doubt going to come back with!

At any rate at least she’ll be back in Feb next year so even though I’ll lose a playmate for a few months at least its not for longer term like the lot that left in October! As I haven’t really known Laney that long I’m still getting to that stage of meeting her friends … the night started off reasonably civilized:

but then this:

and then this (I don’t know how Jonny didn’t break his back lifting me):

then this:

Yeah – it was time to go home before things got really crazy. 😉

No. 5 Cavendish Square

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Whenever you book through toptable and review your meal you earn points which can contribute to a total which you can use to spend on a free meal. No.5 Cavendish Square is one of the third restaurants on offer at the third tier (in effect for one free 3 course meal you would have to book and review at least fifteen restaurants or get a load of bonus points!

No. 5 Cavendish Square is a restaurant located on the first floor of a hotel hidden in a street behind Regent and Oxford Street. The room is very dark and I guess being a hotel restaurant justified the small number of covers (about maybe 30 or 40 seats that we could see?) Though we had booked for a respectable time of 7pm the restaurant was empty when we arrived (and it didn’t get much busier by the time we finished eating.)

The awards menu is also their set menu (2 courses for £20 or 3 for £25) for those interested in dining. Food is Italian and you actually get quite a decent selection with about six starters and six mains. The dessert selection comes from a cart which you can see on your way in.

The meal starts with a sliced French bread stick and tiny Italian bread sticks along with olives, olive oil and a particularly hot salsa delivered almost immediately as you sit down. So we were off to a good start (though some butter would have been nice too but that’s just me being greedy. Heh heh.) We certainly took full advantage of the bread even though I tried to resist!

For starters Sandra selected the Lemon marinated Scottish salmon, with rocket and quail egg Salad and I, spotting the pork belly, tried the Millefeuille of asparagus and pecorino with crispy pork belly. Both were served on a black square dish which made my dish almost pop didn’t look quite write in showcasing the salmon. Taste-wise I had no real complaints.

Our mains seemed to arrive almost as soon as we’d finished with our starters: Grilled fillet of Sea Bass with mixed mushrooms and new potatoes for Sandra and Calves liver, butter and sage with pak choi spinach, raisins and pine nuts. I’m not saying the dishes looked appetising but I feel that a little more effort could have been made with the presentation. Especially with my liver but maybe I’m just being fussy. Both tasted alright though, like the presentation, nothing exactly made my tastes buds come to life either with the newness of the ingredients or a wow taste factor.

We could have passed on dessert but since it was part of the meal we both went for it. Our waiter wasn’t very good at reciting what was available and actually this was a little reflective of the service we received tonight: though polite throughout I felt it was a little inattentive, like the waiter just couldn’t be bothered. Actually that’s a bit harsh – the head waiter seemed to act like he couldn’t be bothered whereas another more junior waitress who served us was friendly and helpful.

Dessert wasn’t fab but served its purpose for that sweet ending to the meal:

Overall I was expecting much more out of this restaurant both from the fact it costs more top table points for a free meal and also from the reviews given. It was good value for money because we were on a deal but I’m not sure the meal was worth £25 for the three courses we’ve had. I’ve definitely had better value for money at higher quality restaurants with better service and, dare I say, nicer food. That’s not to say it was completely horrible, just completely average.

Is it that time of year already? Oxford Street Lights Switch On

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Christmas seems like it comes earlier every year.

The one event that I’ve never been to during my time in London is a Christmas Lights’ Switch On at Oxford Street. It was pretty exciting though the streets were seriously crowded. Sandra and I got there for 5.30 and even though the lights weren’t being switched on until 6.30 the closest we could get to the stage for the switch on was about 50 metres away. Just as well they had giant screens!

This year’s celebrity switch on was hosted by Jason Donovan and Harriot Scott from Heart Radio 106.2. The celeb to switch on the light was Jim Carrey (!) but before he came on there was also musical support in the form of the Sister Act cast, Peter Andre (we didn’t see either of these two perform) and then Taio Cruz and the Saturdays.

After the lights were switched on with not that much fanfare actually. At the end of it we all participated in an attempt to set a Guinness World Record: for biggest ever Christmas Carol sung (led by Andrea Bocelli.)

Hello Elvira, Andrew and Elsa

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15 months ago Elvira and Andrew with Baby Elsa left the UK to return to live in Australia. They are back briefly in London to sort out Elsa’s passport so tonight we caught up for dinner. It was great to see them but it was interesting to hear that they found that settling in Australia was taking some doing. Mostly it had to do with the fact that it was hard to find people who could relate to their experiences in the UK. I could kind of understand what they mean – sometimes people who haven’t come over to live in the London get this glazed look on their face when you talk about life over here. I get the sense that they are seriously considering coming back here! However, there was some other news – they’re trying for a second baby. Yay!

Women of Rock

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Straight from the airport to the Royal Albert Hall I met up with Rache to attend the Women of Rock concert. The concert was being held in support of the annual PINKTOBER program to raise money for breast cancer research. This year’s recipient was the Caron Keating Foundation. With a giant cast of performers we were very surprised to find that the Hall wasn’t full at all. We were seated in the upper circle but usher came along to ask if we wanted to upgrade our seats. We decided to stick to our seats as we had the “front” row so wouldn’t have anyone in front of us to block the view.

Performers and presented tonight included Jamelia, Gloria Hunniford, Nerina Pallot, Zoe Lucker, Bananarama, Vanessa Phelps, N – Dubz, Lilia Kopolova, Escala, Kate Thornton, the Cast of Mamma Mia, Caprice, Joss Stone, Melinda Messenger, Carrie Ellis, Janet Ellis, Sharon Corr, Angela Rippon, Mel C, Hamish Dodd, and of course the legendary Bonnie Tyler.

It was a fantastic night. Great performances especially from Joss Stone (she performed with no shoes!) and Mel C. Bonnie Tyler was a bit rought at first but soon hit her stride. Escala were dramatic and Jamelia brought it – what a hot outfit, what nice legs!

Photos from the red carpet:

Photos from the performance:

Basel, Switzerland

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I joined some new friends, Laney, Mei, Jonny, Jo, Kwok, and Ruth, on a weekend trip to Basel this weekend though it does turn out that I actually met Ruth about a year and a half ago at another friend’s (Amy’s) Girlie Day which is also where I met Laney for the first time too – though I’d forgotten about it!

So strange how I’ve ended up meeting up with them both again.

Why Basel? Well, it was promising to be a fairly cheap weekend away with cheap flights on ryan air and a stay in a hostel so since I hadn’t planned anything for the weekend and I hadn’t done a quick and dirty weekend away in a while I thought why not.

Other than booking flights and accommodation we had absolutely not plans or itinerary at all – which is especially unusual for me as I generally cram as much as I can into a trip and this requires quite a lot of planning. It was quite relaxing to have this kind of freedom. Thanks to the good company I had a fantastic time.

Photos photos photos.

When? Last weekend of October 2009
Why Go? Museum Jean Tinguely, Three Countries Corner
Weather Cool but fine
Surprising Find Three Countries Corner: A point where three countries meet – France, Germany and Switzerland

The Experience

We arrived into Basel at a reasonable time quite early in the evening on a Friday. As Basel lies quite close the German and French border the airport itself is split into the German and French half. The physical representation of this border (a big giant steel fence) as you walk out of the airport is a very entertaining vision. Shame I forgot to take a photo!

We stayed at the YMCA only five minutes walk from the central railway station in Basel. I was very pleasantly surprised with the place which was very modern, clean and with plenty of storage. Because the YMCA wasn’t full they were also very good at letting us have the room to ourselves even though for our second night we only took up five of the seven beds (with Kwok and Ruth heading off Saturday morning to continue their journey through Switzerland.)

Friday Night

Since the night was young we started off by exploring the town. We discovered that it was first weekend of the Basel Autumn Fair which turned out to be this massive celebration (a right first granted on the 11 July 1471 to the Mayor to hold an Autumn Fair in perpetuity.) The Fair was spread out over several squares – each featuring some pretty cool rides and the usual carni games and food. It was fantastic. And the rides! So much fun! So quickly did my euro disappear! So quickly did I nearly get sick! Ha ha! But best of all – we got to eat sausages for dinner AND breakfast (yes, we came back the next morning for some sausages … hey – its a great hangover cure!)

After visiting several squares we headed back to the YMCA to get ready for our night out. There are quite a few clubs in Basel though finding the particular one we’d chosen, NT-Areal, ended up being quite an experience. We rocked up to where we thought the club was and found it looked kind of half residential half warehouse. Not hearing any pounding bass or seeing any people at all (it was about midnight at this stage) we were really confused! During our exploration we came across this long road which lead to what looked like a very run down, very desserted and very dark area. We started down this road but then suddenly heard what sounded like fighting and possible gun shots. Scary! We’d come this far however so Jonny and I decided to check it out. The rest of them stayed behind! Anyway, turns out we’d come the back way and though we have no idea what the gun shots we thought we heard were no one appeared to be dead or injured so we didn’t think we needed to be worried. The club turned out to be three different buildings (you had to pay for entry into each building.) The buildings were very simple – a long rectangular room with a bar down one side and you tube videos projected on the wall at the back.

It was certainly a full on night. For some reason our group got a lot of attention from the locals. I guess they don’t get too many obvious tourists going into these clubs. Perhaps the fact my dress was a little revealing was part of the draw. Ha ha.

Saturday

After very little sleep after going out on Friday night we all surprisingly woke up relatively early to explore the attractions of Basel. Our first stop was a quick visit to the fair to get some “breakfast” before we headed out to the Museum Jean Tinguely.

Every city seems to have a modern art museum, a history museum etc. etc. but what Basel has is this museum dedicated to one of Switzlerland’s greatest sculpture artists Jean Tinguely. What makes this museum so interesting is that lots of the pieces are interactive with lots of moving parts and sounds. It was fantastic. Loved the giant chess set outside too!

After a quick break for afternoon tea we then proceeded to take an over seven (!) kilometer/three hour walk to find the spot where the three borders of France, Germany and Switzerland met. We walked EVERYWHERE trying to find this point and when we found it – boy were we excited!

We certainly deserve the dinner we ate after that.

Having exhausted ourselves with the walking by the time we got back to the hostel we decided that we’d rather have a night than hitting the clubs again. It still ended up being quite a late night but it was good to get in some bonding time.

Sunday

Sunday was a relaxing day enjoying the beautiful blue skies and taking a relaxing stroll through the town.

Basel isn’t that big on attractions. In fact the most entertaining attraction for us this weekend was the fair which is where we ended up again on Sunday morning. Jonny, Laney and I decided to hop on a few more rides including the very scary big swing type ride. It was so tall and there was so much pressure that a blood vessel actually burst in Laney’s eye! It thrilling that’s for sure. The most wicked ride at the fair, however, was the transformer. You spin in circles, you go upside down whilst you’re spinning in circles, you go up and down. It was wicked!

The funniest sight we saw, other than the numerous sex shops, was the church service being held on the dodgems! Plus they seemed to be having some sort of circus theme with juggling. It was very strange but I was loving the originality of the concept!

Last Words

I had a fantastic time on the trip to Basel. I don’t think I’ve laughed so much in my life as I did on the trip (laughs even extended to our plane trip when Laney pointed out that the pictures on the back of the chair in front of us. Yes they look like ordinary safety pictures but doesn’t the first look like the man has boobs, the second makes the girl look like a transvestite and we love how in the third the picture says don’t bring glasses OR dentures!)

Dollar Grills and Martinis

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I’ve only got goodbye left in me for this month and its for Pauline. Tonight is possibly the last meal I’ll ever have with Pauline … in London at least. Venue: Dollar Grills and Martinis.

Dollar Grills and Martinis has been on my to list for quite some time – a Northern American dominated venue, funky location, extensive cocktails list – what’s not to love! This close to Halloween the restaurant had been fully themed up with cob webbing etc.. Though to be honest I don’t know how different it looks on an ordinary day – the decorations seemed quite at home where they were!

We decided to share a starter of king prawn with melon. We didn’t expect it to be cold for a start. Second it hardly looked appetizing when it came – the king prawns seemed to be buried in this red sauce. However, despite these low expectations, the prawns were actually quite tasty.

For mains we moved on to one of my favourite dishes in the world, though Dollar Grills and Martinis are known for their burgers, neither Pauline nor I could get past the whole rack of ribs. Served with french fries and deep fried battered onion slices this was a heart attack waiting to happen but boy it was delicious. The only weakness in the dish that I could see was that we weren’t given additional barbecue sauce to supplement our ribs – not entirely necessary but it would have been nice to have the option.

Though getting slightly full from our food and cocktails we had to order dessert. What’s a meal without three courses! We both went for the chocolate fondant (for me 2009 seemed the year for the chocolate fondant) accompanied by green tea ice cream. The fondant was actually pretty good – all nice and gooey. Entertaingly our dish was also themed for Halloween with a giant skull carved out in sugar.

Service was decent throughout the night though noticeably affected when it got quite a bit busier with loads of groups of parties. Great atmosphere and buzz – tonight at least this seems like a very popular place for both dates and large parties.

After Pauline and I staggered out of the restaurant, fully stuffed with food, we took a longish walk to King’s Cross where we said our “final” goodbye (this is probably the third time I’ve said goodbye to Pauline this month.) It was extremely sad to be saying this to a good friend of mine but as I’ve said before – the world isn’t as big as it used to be and I’m sure we will see each other again in the future. Still, I will miss Pauline laughing at my stupid jokes! Ha ha!

Neil’s Leaving Do

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I feel like I’m lurching from one leaving do to the next lately. October has been a sad month and I’ve got my final dinner with Pauline tomorrow 🙁

Well, the only consolation is that tonight’s leaving do for Neil, resident hottie in the office, is supposed to be only a temporary one. Neil is taking a career break from work to travel around South America for a few months – lucky boy! The venue for his leaving do was the Cells at The Southwark Tavern. Though Neil had reserved a few of the cells for our use it made socializing a bit awkward as the group was split up and moving around the very confined space was awkward. Nevertheless I believe everyone had a fantastic time. He had a great turn out though it was the usual suspects who were left to catch the last tubes at the end of the night:

Its funny how the girls say goodbye differently to the boys 😉