Sunday : shopping and sushi

We did more shopping on Sunday. I think I have busted the limit on my credit card, yikes. It was declined in Yo Sushi :) although the waiter was very nice about it and said - it must be the machine, have you got another credit card? Hahahahaha.




I asked Mr K-E to take a photo of our weekend purchases and he got a bit carried away. There must be a bit of "magazine stylist" in him.







We had Japanese food twice in a row. Here is our embarassingly large pile of dishes in Yo Sushi. I don't know how people can go in there and eat only two or three plates. You just don't notice how much food you eat when it's on a conveyor belt.....

Ghosts and Okonomiyaki

We practically spent the whole weekend in town shopping because Mr K-E needed some new jeans and shoes, and I needed some serious retail therapy. I had actually been looking forward to it all week while I sat at my desk slogging away.

Anyway, a hard day's shopping we had drinks and dinner in town. While wandering around town we saw these "ghosts" in Trafalgar Square.








We had a few drinks in a "traditional" pub near Leicester Square called the Salisbury. Mr K-E thought it was cosy and fun. There were Victorian panels behind the bar; Mr K-E thinks that they are original. I'm not so sure, but they look interesting anyway.






For dinner we tried out a new place called Abeno Too. We have walked past this place dozens of times and studied the menu on numerous occasions but have never gone in. Partly because it is next to one of Mr K-E's favourite restaurants i.e. Ed's Easy Diner.


The house speciality is okonomiyaki, which is a kind of Japanese omelette. The ingredients are freshly mixed in front of you and you watch drooling while a chef cooks it on a hot plate.

I also ordered some agedashi tofu to tide me over while the okonomiyaki was cooking.





It takes about 10 minutes to cook.







Then the omelette is covered with okonomi-yaki sauce (a sweet tangy brown sauce), Japanese mayonaise, bonito flakes (smoked tuna flakes) and seaweed sprinkles.

It tasted absolutely delicious. The bonito flakes are so thin that they curl in the heat and wave around in a disturbing fashion - it looks like your food is alive! We were compelled to make our first movie post.

Ricky Gervais

On Thursday night we headed to Hammersmith to watch Ricky Gervais at the Apollo and it didn't disappoint. He was funny - but was it worth £35? I don't know. I think I would happily pay that much to watch live theatre or live music, but live stand up comedy i.e. one man with a mike? Hmmm.

As a one-off, probably worth it. And he is one of the biggest comedy "stars" around I guess.

Pide and Shakespeare

I met Mr KE on the Millenium Bridge (aka the wobbly bridge) before a quick pre-show dinner at Taz Pide.

Tas Pide is just round the corner from the Globe, but we have never noticed it before. We went to the show with a colleague of Mr K-E and her husband, who suggested having dinner there. Good suggestion, because we tried a new food - pide - Turkish bread with different toppings. I've been to other Tas restaurants before but this is a specialist "Pide" one. And we got complimentary starters, always a plus.

(Sorry no photos. We forgot the camera)

Love's Labour's Lost was good; Mr K-E and I were a bit worried because we read somewhere that it was one of Shakespeare's less accessible plays. But I enjoyed it. OK I didn't get all the wordplay and there were times when I couldn't understand what everyone was laughing about... but I got most of the dirty jokes ( I think).

The building itself is great, but I'd definitely advise a) wrap up warm b)rent the cushions.

(someone else's picture but Mr K-E insisted...)

And hey, I'm off to see Ricky Gervais tomorrow night. It's typical isn't it, the busiest time at work and suddenly I have all these events. *Happy sigh*

Monday night

Things have been hectic lately so I haven't had a chance to blog. We were away at the weekend visiting my sister and on Sunday (boohoo) I had to go into work.

My work deadline is this Friday so it's going to be a long hard week. But it will all be over soon :)

Tomorrow night I am going to see Love's Labour's Lost at the Globe with Mr KE. I'm looking forward to it - I had better get some idea of the plotline first :)

Lunch

I really like the new office because there are only 30 of us in there instead of 100 on my old floor (and nearly 500 in the building).

There are also lots of good restaurants and lunch places nearby! Eeek, I am spending all my money buying lunch at Carluccio's ....and I don't care one little bit. There is also a cake shop nearby selling Austrian cakes....yum yum.

Unfortunately, as I am in a work whirlwind at the moment what this means is that I scurry out to shops to buy delicious food and eat it at my desk. Flicking crumbs off my chest and trying not to get too much icing sugar on important documents. No time for the gym either which means all that food has nowhere to go but on the waist, hahahaha!

Yes, I have to rein myself in soon. But for now....mmmmm......food *licks lips*

And once I've fought my way through the deadlines, then I can really start my lunchtime adventures.

Update

OK, I haven't really got anything to blog about because it's been a working weekend. I went into the office on Saturday and today, leaving Mr K-E to his own devices at home.

Mr K-E and I had a bit of a celebration on Friday night because I "brought-in" a new Client at work. It's a milestone for me and *grin*grin* it's a nice feeling........

But now I'm settling into a nice evening on the sofa with the latest JR Ward. It's been a long six months!

Sparklies

Oh I love sparklies...

Tokyo

Last night we booked our flights to Tokyo! Hooray! 10 days in November :)

We had a choice between British Airways and Virgin, which meant that Mr K-E had to do some quick research online. Apparently Virgin have better in-flight entertainment and the flight attendants are quite hot. Unfortunately they only serve Virgin brand drinks on board - Virgin Cola and even Virgin vodka. If you know Mr K-E, then you know that he hates any "non-branded" coke or drinks.

(One reviewer unkindly said that Virgin Cola tastes like cat pee)

I'm much happier with BA to tell the truth. I don't know if I can cope with Richard Branson's smug grin for 12 hours. And Virgin have a "fun" atmosphere onboard (so I've heard) aka TGIFs and all those tacky wacky places. No. No. No.

New Blog

So, have you guys checked out this blog?

(...you probably won't be interested unless you are from Brunei...)

PS Not a Katie-Ella off-shoot by the way. I'm too shallow for a serious blog.

Weekend

This weekend Mr K-E and I went to visit some relatives of his in Colchester, Essex. We travelled up on Saturday for a night out with his cousins, before a family lunch on Sunday with all his older relatives present.



His brother and sister plus partners were there too, and we all stayed in The Rose and Crown Hotel. The building dates from the 14th century and used to be an old post house. I liked it a lot although the rooms were very small - understandable given the age of the building.








We went out for a curry before heading out from drinks in Colchester city centre. All the Essex girls were out in their hotpants and Mr K-E was most appreciative!

On Sunday, we had a leisurely breakfast in Cafe Rouge before trying to find his Aunt's place. Many phone calls later, we all managed to gather for a late summer lunch in her garden.



You can see my plate in the first photo. Clockwise from the top, I had : mozzarella and tomato salad, roast chicken, poached salmon with hollandaise sauce, coleslaw and potato salad. Mr K-E's Aunt had poached a whole salmon (yum) and roasted a few chickens. There was also other food, but I was still full from our late breakfast.

Mr K-E says: I don't think you should post photos of half-eaten plates of food on your blog. But I think these photos show the general atmosphere at the lunch: a simple summer buffet, close family, eating outdoors...


The pudding selection: meringues, strawberries, chocolate torte, pistachio and cherry chocolate slices.

Strawberries, meringue and cream. Washed down with champagne to toast a birthday. *licks lips*

Van

Mr K-E was impressed by this camper van's paint job.
(Click on picture to enlarge)

Office move

This week I've been extra busy with the office move. Thirty of us (two teams) are moving to a "satellite" office, 5 minutes away from the main office. It's unavoidable because the company has been growing and the office has become so cramped. I'm fairly neutral about the whole thing - on the one hand, I can see that this is the only solution; on the other hand it's quite isolating to be away from the other teams.

So last week we have been packing and throwing away all the crap that you accumulate at work. Expenses forms from 2005. Documents that you lost two months ago. Freebies that you chucked into your drawer and never looked at again. You know what I mean.

Next year we will all be reunited when we move into our new HQ building. So I'll just grin and bear it for now.

Russell Brand

Mr K-E was excited today because he saw Russell Brand having a pee.

Yep, the legendary "swordsman" Russell Brand. At the services on the M40 just outside Oxford where we stopped for lunch today.

Mr K-E is unable to confirm the "rumours" as he didn't look.

Guns and Roses: Shotgun Wedding

This was a particularly memorable wedding, you'll see what I mean later :)

The wedding held in a sweet little church. There were only about 130 guests and we completely filled the church, that's how small it was.

The bride arrived in a horse-drawn carriage, which took the couple back to the reception after the ceremony.







Don't the horses look smart?

It was a very intimate and emotional ceremony. J, the groom, was crying at one point...awwww...

Here they are drinking champagne as they set off to the reception.








It was a very organised wedding. There were coaches to pick the guests up from hotels, ferry us to the church and reception and return us to our hotels.

The reception was held at the the bride's parents' home.

Here are some guests walking up to the beautiful house. 10 acres! Now that's a big plot!













The reception was held in a huge marquee in the garden.

There were portable toilets set up in the gardens for the guests. OMG! I have never seen portable toilets like these...forget all the portaloos you have seen at festivals and concerts.

These toilets would not look out of place in a 5-star hotel. Certainly much more presentable than my own loo at home!












Here is the bride and bridesmaids with the official wedding photographer.










My main course - chicken pie. I tried to take more food pictures but the red wine was doing some damage.

The food was exceptionally good. Normally for these "mass-catered" events it can be a bit dodgy but we all thought it was delicious.

The menu was goats cheese with cranberry or pate to start, chicken pie/roast beef/roast vegetable quiche for the main and profiteroles/cheesecake/cheese platter for pudding. Followed by petit fours with coffee.


We were all starving by time "lunch" was served. The wedding was at 2pm, so most of us had skipped lunch. Then champagne was served at the reception while the photos were taken before the main meal was served at 5pm. Which meant lots of drinking on an empty stomach.



During the dinner, we had the traditional speeches i.e. the bride's father, the groom and the best man. Very emotional and entertaining. I had to wipe away tears during the speeches and I wasn't the only one.

Then there was a free bar (hooray hooray), live band and disco till late.








The inside of the marquee. The band and dancefloor are at the far end.

Then just before midnight, while the band were finishing their set, music suddenly stopped and the lead singer said, "Can someone get that guy out of here please?" and made a comment about a "shotgun wedding".

We were all stamping our feet and howling for more music so the DJ started up Guns and Roses's Sweet Child of Mine which sent us off into another frenzy - but suddenly that stopped too.

We were just standing confused on the dance floor. Then friends of ours who weren't dancing came over and said - you guys should move away from the dancefloor. A man with a gun just walked in and pushed over one of the amplifiers.

It turned out he was neighbour who was unhappy about the noise and decided to barge into the party with a shotgun!! He had to walk past lots of people who thought what? did I just see man with a gun??

I mean, you expect this of thing in South London but not in the "peaceful" countryside. Or maybe people are more crazy in the woods?

The bride confronted him (very silly of her) and said, "What are you doing? This is my wedding!" and he shouted, "My children can't sleep because of the noise".

The band wanted to call the police but the father of the bride tried to defuse the situation and walked the man home. The band were not happy - and I think they called the police - because they felt they had been directly threatened. What a crazy guy!

It was funny how the bar staff and waiters all disappeared in a flash! Suddenly, the bride was behind the bar serving people drinks, trying not to spoil the atmosphere. We all tried to start dancing again but it was difficult because the DJ was shitting himself and refused to turn the music up beyond level "one". We joked that we would get him a kevlar vest if he turned it up, but he refused. He looked really scared and sat down hiding behind his speakers for the rest of the night, but Mr K-E says at least he didn't leave.

So we spent the last hour dancing to music that was being drowned out by the noise of our feet!

I just hope that J and N don't feel that it was spoilt by that guy. It was still fun although we might have been a bit more nervous had we been less drunk. Anyway, when they get back from their honeymoon in a couple of weeks we will get the full story.

Friday Night

A group of us were staying at the same hotel, so we had originally planned to do something together on the night before the wedding. But by the time Mr K-E and I reached the hotel it was nearly 8pm. After nearly 5 hours driving on busy motorways, we weren't really up for a curry and late night session with everyone else.

So we made our excuses and had dinner in a pub next to the hotel. I had chicken supreme and Mr K-E had scampi and chips. It was a cosy country-style pub and we had dinner by candle-light. Very civilised.