Blue is the colour

This is my arm and it's a bracelet - in case you were wondering

With a bit of a delay: many thanks again, Ms SL, for this great present!
I really love the bracelet and the colour(s). Only problem is to get it wrapped round my arm (tightly) by myself.... I'll keep practicing! :-) (or alternatively, I could aim to lose some weight around my wrists...)

I think the close up photos make it look a little weird - but it is really pretty in real life!

Happyism

Adam Hills was at the Hammersmith Apollo with his stand up show 'Happyism' last Sunday. Australian comedian and TV presenter, he is best known in the UK for presenting 'The Last Leg' - which started with the Paralympics last year and proved so popular that the programme is back on Channel 4.

The Australian accent is kind of enough to make me happy really, but his sense of humour comes in very handy, too. And even though I didn't understand all of the jokes (partly due to references to Australia or the UK or the Muppets - I had never heard of the Swedish Chef... I actually just googled it and in the German version, he is referred to as Danish Chef... - random!), I thoroughly enjoyed the show! And as the show was recorded for his DVD, I might even got filmed!! (highly unlikely given how far away from the stage we sat...)

As there had been a mess up of the timings, we were also treated to a warm up by Josh Widdicombe - one of his colleagues from The Last Leg.

F*ck BT

Seriously? Not that I am really surprised at all. I don't actually expect a good service from BT!

A couple of weeks ago I called them to finally change the name on the phone and internet bills. I thought after nearly 9 months it was probably about time that I started paying the bill directly to BT rather than transferring the money into MC's account...

I was able to give them my new bank details through their automated system and I guess I could have left it at that. But they then offered me a less expensive package, if I signed up as a new customer. Which would be awesome given what a ludicrous amount of money I am currently paying... This meant though that MC had to personally call to cancel his line. Which incurs a £30 charge. I then had to call to sign up again. I explained the whole story to several BT call center people. I emphasized that I wanted to keep the phone number. And I was also assured that there would be no disruption to the service.

All bullsh*t of course. My line gets disconnected today. And I will have to wait until 3rd October for my line to be reactivated. With a new number of course. And if I have the patience to go through the automated call system at BT, there is a tiny chance that I might get my old number back eventually.Maybe.

This is particularly annoying as I was planning to work from home next week. That won't happen now, of course. The only reason I decided to still stay with BT is that I have no more faith in any of the other providers and switching providers would also mean getting an engineer out. And I don't have the patience to deal with sitting around and waiting for one of them...

I just hope that I will get reimbursed quickly for the line rental that I already paid for the next three months!

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

one down, one more to go

I'd been dreading today's meeting for the last 2-3 weeks. And I am very pleased to say that it went as well as it could have gone. I think... At least I feel, I did the best I could. Interestingly, while I've been nervous for weeks, as soon as I stepped into the meeting room, I felt really calm. Whereas, my boss seemed to experience the reverse - so he says. Cause one didn't notice.

As per usual, I don't seem to take much satisfaction from things going well (or rather me doing something all right) . First I fret and stress - and then I seem to take it for granted, that I didn't massively f*ck up.

I killed the panda

More cake photos! Lovely Ms SL brought me a panda cream cake from Chinatown. And more importantly resisted the temptation to eat it herself! ;-)

When opening the box - clearly a little too eager - I unfortunately smashed the cute panda's head in :-(
It tasted delicious anyway! And I am trying not to think of all the calories... (I can assure you that I didn't eat it all in one go!)

Procrastinating

Ah, so many ways to distract myself and procrastinate. I need more discipline! Otherwise, this will be a very loooooooong night indeed...

Home, sweet home

it's not the moon but a plane in the background

Royal Victoria; with the red lights of the tiny cable cars

I love the sight of the power poles against the sky. Whether during the day or at night or in the fog. Unfortunately, my photos never come out very well...

Week 1: Cake B

The 2013 Great Office Bake Off has begun. Something to look forward to on a Monday for the next few weeks!

Week 1 kicked off with chocolate-banana muffins and cupcakes filled with jam and decorated with cream and strawberries. It was a tough choice - but after lengthy deliberations (and a second cupcake...), I picked the the cupcake as my winner.

Flying high

The Starflyer is set up as part of the Wonderground at the Southbank. It's quite a weird feeling when you are up there and looking down made me feel slightly sick... It's not very fast and it somehow doesn't even feel that high up either, it's just weird being in that position of not vertical nor horizontal.

And yes, the weather was fabulous again... Grey sky all day, but at least it wasn't cold.

Touch me to sleep

After what feels like forever, I finally had another massage booked this weekend. At a bargain price of just £20 - thanks to another Time Out voucher - this time at Dolls and DaddyO's in Clapham. The treatment room is in the basement of a pharmacy - which sounds a lot worse than it is. The room is nicely decorated in a 50s style with relaxing music, candles and all cosy. Ronnie is lovely and the massage was very relaxing. It was definitely on the 'soft touch'-side. While I usually prefer a bit of a firmer stroke, this was perfect for relaxing after a bit of a challenging week! I didn't want to get up after the 60 minutes and could have just stayed on the table for a nice little sleep...

The small touches

Last week I was invited to yet another (work) lunch. Unfortunately, I had to cancel due to too much work stacking up on my desk. What a lovely surprise when I then received the 'goody bag' in the post! Together with a note from the organizer, saying that they hadn't wanted me to miss out. Isn't that sweet?

smelling of lavender, the heart has found a home in my wardrobe

Time for some meat with meat

and way too little chips for that amount of meat!
and no worries, this was the platter for two ;-)

Feasting on back ribs and spare ribs and pulled pork and burnt ends and chicken thighs served with coleslaw (very nice and not the usual mayonnaise soaked affair) and fries at Bodean's BBQ restaurant (the Tower Hill branch). Most importantly in the company of a good friend.
So nice to have a good chat which made everything that's been going on last week seem half as bad.

Bunny S&P

Further proof (not that I needed any...) that I have been eating out a lot recently, is probably that it took me several months to replace my broken pepper mill... I finally went to John Lewis the other day and was standing in front of the shelf for quite a while - too much choice! The sales assistant wasn't of much help either, not least as he admitted to basically never cooking. When he asked me whether I cooked a lot, I did wonder whether that was a chat up line - or just sales talk.

Anyway, in the end I went for the cute bunny salt & pepper mills. More proof of how seriously I take cooking?!

and thanks to the magnets they'll always stay together

Empty headed

Well, not really. In fact work is really busy at the moment. But with this busyness comes a way of working from day-to-day - when I'm usually a much more forward planning person. I tend to over-think and over-analyze everything and with everything that is currently going on, it feels as if I just have enough mind-space to concentrate on the issues at hand. And just getting through each day at a time. Which is somehow quite helpful in staying in the moment.

Life is happening right now, while I am not making any plans.

Bumper cars, karaoke and bowling champion

And another showcase event (venues are heavily targeting us to pick them for our Xmas staff parties) - this time at the Namco Funscape at London County Hall, opposite Big Ben, next to the London Eye - great location!

We had such a fun evening: complimentary massage (my next objective is to convince my boss to hire a massage therapist for our annual event - I'm sure our delegates would love it!), drinks and canapes (as per usual - not enough food! Thank God for McDonald just upstairs!), karaoke room, bowling, pool tables, games, bumper cars - what else do you need?!

I proved once again how crap I am at playing pool... I even enlisted the help of a pool professional (who seemed to have been hired to show off some really cool pool tricks) - but that didn't make any difference either. I rocked at bowling though and even got two strikes and won.

I'm not sure this would work as a venue for our Christmas party, as you are sharing the space with lots of other parties and you don't have a private area for dining either. On the other hand, I already know who of my colleagues would LOVE it! We'll see what else is on offer.

Penguins and tiger cupcakes

Showcase event at the London Zoo. And the minute I left the office, it of course started raining... (this was last week). We still enjoyed the penguins' performance. All attempts to capture them being fed, ended up completely blurred though - they swim way too fast, especially when after competing for fish.

From there we went to the Terrace restaurant where they had a number of food stations where Ampersand catering was offering delicious bowl food. The duck and pork were particularly yummy. And the tiger cupcakes!

With a Day Delegate rate of £69+VAT there are on the pricey side of venues in London - but of course offer delegates time in the zoo, too. It's not in a great location though as it's quite a walk from the next tube stations, which makes it rather inconvenient, especially for evening events. But their event space was surprisingly nice (given that it's not their primary purpose).

School of Wok

Unique attitudes invited us to a cooking evening at the School of Wok. The School of Wok offers oriental cookery classes and corporate events including team buildings. Nev Leaning guided us through the evening and made cooking so easy! I will definitely be trying this at home.

In a small group of 10 we mastered spring rolls, egg fried rice and ginger and spring onion stir fry chicken. The atmosphere was really relaxed and Nev was at hand to help out at all times. It was a really fun evening! Even if we didn't win the prize for best cooking, we still went home with a goody bag filled with oyster and soya sauce and some good cooking tips.

More dining out - The Haberdashers' Hall

The Haberdashers' Company is another of London Liveries. Their first hall was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666. The second hall burnt down in an air raid in 1940. The current new hall was only opened in 2002.

I was invited to a conference dinner last week. When planning event dinners, I choose the menu - so everyone - except for those with dietary requirements - get to eat what I give them. The organizers went down a different path though and went for two different starters, mains and desserts. Every table got half of each and people then got to agree who gets to eat what. Quite an interesting idea as it at least gives the guests a bit of a choice. Difficult though if everyone wants the same...

As per usual, there were a few no-shows, which meant that there were some spare meals to go around. Being seated on the top table meant that we got first pick! Which meant I got to taste the passion fruit creme brulee and the rhubarb panna cotta dessert. Both delicious!

Asparagus, salmon and my two lovely desserts

Is it the Minories or me?

Manchester United vs Chelsea: 0:0

Bayern Munich vs Chelsea in the super cup: 2:2, Bayern wins the penalties

Everton vs Chelsea: 1:0

I watched all these games at the Minories pub. (btw, their burgers are really good!)

I have therefore decided not to watch any Chelsea games for the foreseeable future. 

And yes, I am superstitious. 

And if they still don't win, I might have to pick another Premier League club... (superstitious and a glory hunter - that's me! :-))

Mexican burger deliciousness

And here comes another week

Very relaxing weekend. But over so soon.
I could really do with another holiday. Even though, I am not even sure I'd be able to enjoy it, knowing how much work is waiting for me on my desk. So, I am bracing myself for the next two weeks and am hoping there won't be any other incidents that I am wasting my time and energy on like in the last week.

All will be good. Somehow. I'm sure.
Not to forget all the things to look forward to. Like the massage I booked for Saturday. And of course Adam Hills on Sunday.

Proof that we did it

I'm scared of heights. But you only live once, so when we got the opportunity to do the roof walk at the Sage Gateshead for free (usual price of £69), we of course said yes! In order to get to the roof, you have to climb a vertical ladder. Then change from that ladder to another short, super narrow ladder. And then you are on the roof. We were a group of six with three guides looking after us, harnessing us onto the ropes on the roof and taking the photos (you are not allowed to bring your own phones/cameras).

What an experience! I'm not sure whether I found the ladders more terrifying than the actual roof walk. I mean what good is the harness going to do when dangling inside the vertical ladder?
Check out how the roof curves:

And as you can see there is nothing on the roof. Just the ropes to hold onto. When climbing back down, you have to go backwards. Without gloves on, your hands quickly warm up from sliding down the rope... Getting down was definitely scarier than going up. Quite possibly, as you can't see where you are going.

Apparently they are planning to put a walkway with railings on. Understandable from a health & safety point of view - but I am glad we did it without. I'm sure it's a much more exciting experience!!

Can you see the massive dent on the roof 'tile' to the left of us?
They stopped taking 10 people up there after that incident...

Tynemouth - the Northern seaside

With the sun coming out on Sunday, we decided to take the metro out to Tynemouth. If the seaside is near, it would be a crime not to check it out! And we were not disappointed. Arriving at the metro station, there were lots of stalls around the station - their regular Saturday market. A mix of second hand goods, antiques, and self-made crafts and jewellery. And interestingly beds. I wonder how many people buy beds in a market.

The beach really is a perfect place for exercising

And of course a seagull photo!

Pitcher & Piano and beautiful views over the Quayside

I went to Pitcher & Piano in Bristol years ago and assumed it was a typical chain restaurant. I hadn't realized that they are 'only' 19 bars across the UK. And they are going for unique looks rather than chain restaurant standards. The one in Newcastle is just opposite the Malmaison hotel and on the Quayside with great views over the Tyne, the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, the Baltic museum for contemporary art and the Sage Gateshead.

We went for a selection of (fried) dishes from their 'grazing' menu - ideal as sides or for sharing. Check out their website for pictures of the quirky interior design (my photos are crap as per usual...).

Afternoon tea delight

After a night at the Malmaison, we transferred to the 4* Marriott Hotel Metro Centre - just a short walk from IKEA and the intu Metrocentre - Europe's largest shopping centre. It's outside the city but has regular bus connections (~15 minutes) into town.

What a pleasant surprise to be greeted with complimentary afternoon tea! Perfect as well, as we were starving after having skipped lunch...

And another double bed twin room!

Daniel Defoe, the pamphleteer

This probably just shows my ignorance... Never knew the word pamphleteer existed!

From Wikipedia:
'A pamphleteer is a historical term for someone who creates or distributes pamphlets. Pamphlets were used to broadcast the writer's opinions on an issue, for example, in order to get people to vote for their favorite politician or to articulate a particular political ideology.'

Newcastle by night

The Gateshead Millennium Bridge (2001) which changes colour at night

The Tyne Bridge (1928)

Bar Livello

EAT!

EAT! Festival is all about food and drink and took place in Newcastle from 23 August to 8 September. And we were invited to the Nordic Feast at the Boiler Shop. Served up by Louis restaurant which set up a pop up restaurant on the first floor overlooking the food stalls in the Boiler Shop, we were offered a 'celebration of Home, Earth, Sea, Land and Garden':

Home: Elderberry from the Chef's Yard Cocktail

Earth: Beet root and goats curd

Sea: scallop with sea spinach

Land: partridge, mushrooms and a cone of chips

Garden: lavender panna cotta, wild berry ice cream and shortcake

Home of the Magpies

A visit to St James' Park was of course mandatory during our weekend in Newcastle. And after the torrential rainfall on Friday, the sun even came out on the Saturday. Paul from the Convention Bureau claimed that Newcastle is the driest city in the UK - I do have my doubts about that...

St. James' Park is home to Newcastle United football club and according to Wikipedia the oldest and largest stadium in the North East of England and the sixth largest in the UK (52,404 seats).  You can get serious vertigo from the last row in the Milburn stand. Getting up there was good preparation for the Sage Gateshead roof walk we did on the Sunday!

Posh seats, Sir Bobby Robson, Alan Shearer's Executive 'Wor box' and the home team dugout

Sleeping in style

My first stay in Newcastle and my first night in a Malmaison hotel. Malmaison have 12 boutique hotels across the UK. I had never come across them - and I'm glad I finally did!

The hotel is located at the Gateshead Millennium Bridge in the Quayside area and a short taxi ride from the train station (probably a 15 minute walk). Everything is quite dark (corridors, wallpaper, furniture) and our room was massive! I'm always torn between being depressed and delighted about staying in hotel rooms bigger than my flat. Beds were comfortable, the shower was great, the breakfast buffet had a great variety (I know - I even had breakfast!) and the service was very friendly. I would definitely come back and will try to check out their other hotels.

Hotel lobby

I loved the toiletries (250ml!) which came with the invite to take them away

Finally the weekend

What a week it has been. So much fun and so much stress. And so much time wasted on nonsense... Why would people ever think that hurting someone's feelings could be justified in order to achieve a certain objective? In a professional environment!

Anyhow, bring on the weekend! And I will hopefully have time to update my blog with all the fun stuff I've been doing!

Misty

Words of advice

I recently saw these statements posted on Facebook. Allegedly they are falsely attributed to the Dalai Lama, when they are apparently from the book Life's Little Instruction Book: 511 suggestions, observations, and reminders on how to live a happy and rewarding life (1991) by H. Jackson Brown, Jr..
It doesn't really matter who wrote them though; most of them make a lot of sense to me. Don't you think?

1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
2. When you lose, don't lose the lesson.
3. Follow the three Rs: Respect for self, Respect for others and Responsibility for all your actions.
4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
6. Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
7. When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
8. Spend some time alone every day.
9. Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values.
10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
11. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll be able to enjoy it a second time.
12. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don't bring up the past.
13. Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality.
14. Be gentle with the earth.
15. Once a year, go someplace you've never been before.
16. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.
17. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
18. Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.

Call me pet, pet

My first time in Newcastle - and despite torrential rainfall on Friday - I absolutely loved it! Not least thanks to Alex and Paul from the Newcastle Gateshead Convention Bureau who had put together a great programme and were just so lovely.

Photos and more details to follow.

Oh, and while I was struggling a little with understanding some of the hardcore Geordie accent, I totally loved being called 'pet' - so adorable!

City living

The Barbican Centre have just re-opened their Garden Room and Conservatory. I'm not a big fan of the Barbican for conferences, but I do love their Conservatory which I think works really well for receptions and networking events.

On my way back to the tube, I stumbled across the terrace at the back of the centre. I am always surprised about the little oasis of calm and quiet and that can be found all over the city of London. And I loved the apartments with the roof terraces. I don't even want to know how much they cost... But it must be great to have a little house in central London, with a big park at the back of the house, and the tube station just minutes away.

Conservatory at the Barbican

Lovely for enjoying the last sunny days

Balcony AND roof terrace?  I want, too....

8:15pm

And this dark already?

Pigs, orchids, parasites and general weirdness

You can book cinema tickets for just £6 on a Monday at the Barbican Centre. That's about half price of what Odeon, Vue & Co usually charge. So, on Monday, I went to see 'Upstream Color'. To be honest, I thought there was probably at least a 50:50 chance that the film would be absolutely rubbish. But given the raving reviews (e.g. listed in third place for the Metro's films of the week...), I thought it might be a good art house film.

Well, it wasn't. I really have no idea why it's getting such good reviews... It did make me want to write my own film script though with an equally pointless storyline.

Nail bow

Topshop daydream with water decal

Cruising

I love water. Ideally the sea, but otherwise a river, lake or canal will also do. I was very excited when I got the invite for a Thames cruise aboard the Elizabethan, part of the Thames Luxury Charters fleet. And what a perfect night it was for the cruise, too - probably one of the last warm summer evenings (can't believe it already gets dark before 8pm though...). London is a perfect city to be viewed from a aboard a boat. And with the sun setting it was even more beautiful. And the canapes were delicious, too.

Preparing for the office bake off

The Great British Bake Off is back (and so far, I've missed all episodes...)! And my colleagues are planning an office bake off. There will be three rounds: signature bake, technical challenge and a show-stopper. To be honest, I am hoping that I will be out after the first round....

As I haven't baked in a while and really fancied cake, I tried this nutty chocolate cake and added some mandarins for some fruitiness. Prep is really easy and quick (I never go for anything complicated...) and - if I may say so myself - it tastes very nice, too. Except for it being slightly burned on the outside. As per usual, I forgot to take it out in time... And I then also remembered why I don't bake very often: I hate the pile of washing up and general cleaning afterwards...

I got the recipe from my go to cooking and baking website Chefkoch. 

• 4 eggs
• 200g sugar
• 200ml oil
• 200g creme fraiche
• 200g flour
• 200g ground nuts
• 1 packet of baking powder
• 200g chopped chocolate

Mix the eggs with the sugar until sugar. Then mix in oil and creme fraiche. Then add the flour, nuts and baking powder and then fold in the chocolate. I then just added a tin of mandarin segments.
Bake for 50 minutes at 200C. You can then decorate with chocolate couverture if you want. I was too lazy though, so just dusted with some icing sugar.

Before

And after. Unfortunately the outside burnt a little...

'I am siege face'

I LOVE Alan Partridge. So I couldn't wait to see his new film 'Alpha Papa'. And I was not disappointed. It was absolutely hilarious and I was laughing all throughout the film. Even snorting on occasion and having a proper giggle-flush - if that isn't a seal of approval?!

Hanging with the girls

I've never been a 'group-person', have never been part of a clique and prefer to have one-to-one time with friends. Even though I meet (and have to interact) with lots of (new) people all the time, I tend to feel uncomfortable in groups.

Today I went for Dim Sum at New World in Chinatown (1 Gerrard Place) with the girls I met on the Lisbon trip and a couple of their friends. And I had a lovely time! S - our Chinese food expert - ordered us a great selection of Dim Sum (which is served from the traditional Dim Sum trolleys) and after lunch we moved on to an Irish Pub round the corner where we spent all afternoon. The pub was surprisingly empty and has really nice sofas upstairs. Really relaxed atmosphere, perfect for chilling on a Sunday afternoon.

And as we are hardcore - three of us went for more dumplings afterwards (well, it really was dinner time already!).

A selection of our lunch

Fried Dinner Dumplings

Regent's Park and orange marmalade

We are planning an event at the Royal College of Physicians which is in an enviable location right near Regent's Park. It's a great venue for conferences (it has a tiered, fully equipped lecture theatre) as well as dinners and receptions and the food is delicious, too! I went for a site visit recently and was not only offered macaroons, fruit cake and brownies but also homemade orange marmalade! And I will say it again: I do love my job (sometimes)!

And as we are currently very lucky to enjoy some sunny days, I used the opportunity for a stroll in Regent's Park. One of the places, I've never really explored. It's got pretty spaces with flowers and fountains and wide grassy space and is just a short walk from the Zoo and the Regent's Canal. A walk along the canal is another of my favourite things to do in London. I envy the people who have houses with back gardens backing onto the canal - so beautiful!