August Bank Holiday

We kicked off our bank holiday weekend with a family dinner at New World restaurant in Chinatown, which has been a family favourite since I was a child. I met with some relatives from across the sea and we had a lovely dinner.

My favourite sister :) and her husband were in London and stayed over too, so that was an added bonus.

Then on Saturday, after a full English breakfast, we waved off sister and husband, before heading off to the South Bank...one of my favourite places in London.




We went to see Psycho Buildings, an exhibition at the Hayward Gallery. It was described as "artists take on architecture"...and it was good. There were only about a dozen installations but they were all original and thought-provoking.











Our favourite installation was snappily titled Normally, Proceeding and Unrestricted With Without Title by Gelitin. They had created a "lake" with rowers on the roof terrace on the Hayward Gallery. The best thing about it was that the public could participate; although we had to queue for an hour to participate for about 5 minutes.






I hate small boats so I was really nervous. This photo shows the rickety floating platform that served as the alnding area.

I was also paranoid that we would actually row off the roof...to a 3 storey drop below.

Aaarrgghhh.

Mr KE loved it.






After all that excitement, we had an early dinner at Wagamama.

Mr K-E had Chicken Katsu Curry and I had Yaki Soba (fried noodles). We also had some gyoza (little dumplings) and tori kara age (fried chicken pieces).











Then we were off to see the Wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz.

(The summer production at the Royal Festival Hall)










We weren't allowed to take photos of the set, but here's a photo of the Hall before the show began.

Mr K-E had got us seats in the 3rd row (clever Mr K-E!) so we had a great view of the performers and orchestra.

The Royal Festival Hall is a brilliant venue, not stuffy and poky like the theatres in the West End. It opened after a complete refurbishment last year, and it is super-duper. It has proper air-conditioning!! (My number one complaint about theatres in the UK)

Fat Pig

Last Friday Mr K-E and I went to see a play called Fat Pig at Trafalgar Studios on Whitehall. The male leads were Kris Marshall (from the sitcom My Family and the BT adverts) and Robert Webb (from Peepshow).

The plot is: A man meets a girl who is funny, pretty, clever and great fun to be with - just one problem, she is really, really fat. They date and fall in love, but he keeps it a secret from work colleagues because he is embarassed by his fat girlfriend. When his colleagues find out, they are horrified and waste no time making fun of him. The reaction of his blonde, sexy ex-girlfriend, who can't believe that he would choose a fat girl over, was especially entertaining.

In a Hollywood movie there would be a happy ending but as this is the theatre, the ending is a bit more realistic albeit painful to watch.

It was meant to be a comedy (and Mr K-E laughed his head off at some parts) but I found it a bit hit or miss. I guess because I've watched a lot of the two actors on TV and it seemed that they were just playing their TV roles.

Plus: The theatre is very small which gives it a very intimate feel. We were sitting right at the front and I was worried that they would trip over my handbag, they were that close. At some points, I could have reached up from my seat and touched the actors (without getting up). So it was easy to get drawn into their "private" conversations.

Minus: The play is set in America and the actors tried to maintain American accents through out.. I say "tried" because they didn't succeed, which spoilt it slightly for me.

Is this a dagger which I see before me?

On Thursday night, Mr K-E and I went to see Macbeth at the Gielgud Theatre. Patrick Stewart aka Jean-Luc Pickard of Star Trek Next Generation fame played Macbeth, which was one of the reasons Mr K-E was keen to watch it.

We thought it was good, but unfortunately I was tired (still slightly jetlagged?) and yawned my way through the second part. It was set in a Stalinist environment with the witches dressed as nurses and the characters wearing Eastern Bloc type uniforms. Lady Macbeth was evil and power-crazed, as she should be.

It was completely sold out with a very limited run. Mr K-E says it's moving to Broadway, so it must be good, huh? Some people have complained because Patrick Stewart got laryngitis a few weeks ago, so his understudy took over. That would have pissed me off - the tickets were expensive (£50!) and people don't pay that to watch an unknown.

I just have one slight niggle : I have always imagined Macbeth, Banquo, Macduff etc as battle-hardened soldiers - think dirty, bloody, sweaty, toughened killers fresh off the battle field. Definitely rough and ready men. What we got was a group of theatre luvvies. Patrick Stewart may appeal to some women, but I'll pass, thanks.

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 :)

Carmen Jones at the Royal Festival Hall

I went to watch Carmen Jones at the newly refurbished Royal Festival Hall last night. I thought it was very good - both the show and the new auditorium.

Mr K-E had already been to the new hall as his company was involved in the refurbishment. He and his colleagues were invited to an acoustic tuning concert to test the new baffle boards, drapes and other acoustic tweaking devices.

The show is based on Bizet's opera Carmen. It is a Hammerstein musical, with English lyrics set to Bizet's music. Most of the music is really familiar, most people would recognise it if they heard it but the modern twist is refreshing and interesting.

The production was full of energy and the woman who played Carmen - woo hooo! She had long, long legs and boy, could she work a red dress. Her accent was all over the place though.

Another unusual point was that the orchestra was very casually dressed. T-shirts and hoodies! Not even wearing a colour scheme or anything like that. It's very deliberate I'm sure as the orchestra was right in the middle of the stage, and the performers ran around the orchestra.

Highly recommended. Go see.

Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix

In the words of Professor Snape, I may vomit.

Mr K-E and I went to watch this last night after a brainwave. Hey, why not watch The Order of the Phoenix and then buy the final book when it goes on sale at midnight. Yes, a Harry Potter themed Friday night!

OK, I wasn't completely convinced but Mr K-E is a fan, so we went to watch the HP movie at the Odeon on Tottenham Court Road.

Boring. Yawn. Yawn.

While I was watching the movie, it occurred to me that The Order the Phoenix was the book that finally killed the Harry Potter fan in me. Firstly, the book was too long and should have had about 200 pages ripped out to make it more interesting. More importantly, JK Rowling killed off Sirius Black and I couldn't forgive her for that.

The acting is crap and the some of scenes are just painful to watch. Katie Leung as Cho Chang - Christ, they had auditions up and down the country and they couldn't find a Chinese teenager with at least some acting ability? As for the others. the producers cast these kids 4 years ago in the hope that their acting ability would develop and they would grow into their roles. Uh, they didn't.

OK, it wasn't the worst movie ever but I can't recommend it either. Go if you are really into Harry Potter (in which case you have probably seen it by now), otherwise don't bother.

Birthday dinner and show

Diabetics, dentists and healthy-eaters, please look away now.

I made Nigella's Chocolate Malteser cake for Mr K-E's birthday. Baking is fun but it makes you realise how much sugar there is in cake. There is more than 600g of sugar altogether in this little baby - more than half a kilo hahahaha.

(Note that Mr K-E and I are perfectly capable of eating this cake between the two of us, over a few days)

We went out for dinner before going to watch the new Lord of the Rings show at the Drury Lane theatre in Covent Garden.

The Bank restaurant in Aldwych. It is closing on July 20th, which is a shame because it's lovely inside. Mr K-E likes the glass sheets hanging over your head while you eat.

My starter. Roast beef salad.
















Mr K-E's main course. Codling fillet with pea risotto.













My main course. Mushroom encroute with spinach veloute. I looked up veloute when I got home. Apparently it is one of the classic "mother" sauces of French cooking. It's like a bechamel sauce, but made with stock instead of milk.










Mr K-E's pudding. Apple tart with vanilla ice cream.









Then we went to watch the show. My verdict : Too long. Too many ballads. Not enough big musical-style set pieces with formation dancing. A bit boring.

We were right at the top and the theatre was unbearably hot. Two women who were sitting next to me left during the interval. Why can't theatres in London invest in some Brunei super air-con? It wasn't even that hot outside; I can't imagine what it must be like when it's high summer.

Saturday - War, the Mousetrap and Italian food.

B (Mr K-E's brother) and his girlfriend arrived on Friday night ready for Mr K-E's family outing on Saturday. We went to see The Mousetrap, Agatha Christie's long running play. It has been running for 52 years and is the world's longest running stage production. The play has not been updated, so as you can imagine it is quite old-fashioned. I thought it was a little bit slow and not something I would recommend to someone who has never been to the theatre. Well, it fulfilled my expectations I suppose. :) Worth watching, but I think the only reason it is still running is because it has been running for so long. If you see what I mean.

Mr K-E's parents saw it 40 years ago, but they couldn't remember any of it. I hope it doesn't run for another 40 years, because frankly, it's past its sell-by date. But who knows, the Mousetrap is practically a West End institution now, in a few years time it will probably be raised to "National Treasure" status.

There was also a big anti-war demonstration in town on Saturday and Trafagar Square was full of people waving "NO TO WAR" placards. I didn't have my camera with me, which is a shame. There was a stage set up and some rapper I had never heard of was singing that song -"War!/What is it good for?/Absolutely nothing!/War! etc etc ".

We were walking along, and I sang "War!/What is it good for?/ The economy!" A greasy-haired man turned his head round and scowled at me... ha ha ha.

After the Mousetrap we went to Strada in the Royal Festival Hall. Oh, lovely food, lovely wine. Amarettos, Limoncellos and Frangelicos all round. A fabulous time was had by all.