Amsterdamn

14 Oct 2008

So… I’m not going to Amsterdam this weekend. I’m still not feeling 100% healthy, I don’t have a plan for transport from Einhoven to and back from Amsterdam, and I don’t have a place to stay. The biggest problem is that I don’t think I can manage getting up at 3am to get to the airport in time for my flight, going through two days of running around the city, get back to my flat at 10pm on Sunday night and make it into work the next day. I also don’t have any time to sort out the transport and where I’m staying. So, I’ll lose the 30 quid for the plane ticket (not a huge deal and for how much my stress levels have gone down since deciding I wasn’t going, I think it’s worth it).

I thought that by getting the plane ticket, I’d force myself to sort out the details and go on another trip but really it just ended up being quite stressful on top of being sick. So I’ll do something fun this weekend in the UK (any suggestions?).

Whew – it feels amazing not to have to worry about this trip. I’m going to plan this properly, travel with a friend, and have a great time in Amsterdam… in the future.

Cape Town Fish Market

13 Oct 2008

I like sushi. I have a bit of a running mental list of top ten food moments in my life and number one was the first time I had sushi and pretty much felt I’d reached the pinnacle of food heaven (mango, avocado and tuna at Ruby Foos in New York City. A close number two is probably family Thanksgiving dinners with all the flavours coming together…. mmm…. where was I?).

In any case, sushi is by far my favourite food but it’s usually quite difficult to find a decent sushi place that’s not exorbitantly expensive in London. There are definitely some dodgy cheap options – the kind of place where you’re not sure if they got imported tuna or they just dredged the Thames for something vaguely fishy-looking.

Enter Cape Town Fish Market.

Flickr Loves Sushi by DRP

Flickr Loves Sushi by DRP

I discovered Cape Town Fish Market though TopTable.co.uk, a restaurant bookings website that not only has a brilliant points system which allows you to get free meals but also offers numerous deals for diners all around London (and in other areas of the world – make sure to check it out!). I was looking for a place for my group to have dinner before the End of the World Party and noticed that this sushi and seafood restaurant had a deal. Usually this means something like, discount wine or 20 quid for three preset courses. Imagine my pleasure when I discovered that all customers who sat at the sushi boat bar got 40% off all sushi, no strings attached.

Well, that lead to a feast of absolutely epic proportions and had the sushi been even pretty decent I would have been happy but it managed to exceed expectations there as well (or perhaps I just hadn’t had sushi in so long I was being generous).

We started off with a plate of calamari, nabbed as it came around on the sushi boats. This wasn’t your average fried outside with a tiny tough piece of squid inside – the fish was thickly cut, soft, melt-in-your-mouth fresh and with just enough batter to give it a crunch and delicious flavour. Sarah next tried the shimp sashimi while I went for an unagi and avocado roll, both of which were stellar. By this point, our wine had arrived and the white they brought was light, sweet, and a perfect compliment to the fish.

I indulged in a tuna, avocado and roe roll and then started to get a bit daring by taking a plate of heavily marinated, unidentifiable something-or-other which was quite tasty. I passed the plate around and everyone agreed it was probably some sort of meat and quite good. We decided to finish it before asking the chef – mmm, chicken livers (there’s a first time for everything!).

vegetable sushi by roboppy

vegetable sushi by roboppy

After a quick foray into the land of pot stickers (the only dish I was slightly disappointed by – they tasted a bit like the pot stickers you buy in the frozen food section) and spring rolls, I returned to the unagi and tuna to finish off the meal. For the four of us to have about seven plates each, as well as the wine for Sarah and I and beers for the boys, the total came to just over 20 quid per person with the 40% discount – what a bargain!

We probably would have been happy for the food no matter where it was served but the ambiance of Cape Town Fish Market simply added to the whole night. The blue light, massive fish tanks, and spotlessly clean finish (a must in a place that serves raw fish) restaurant made the meal that much better.

We didn’t take a look at the full menu, but didn’t feel we needed to. The most daring of sushi eaters (and the vegetarians) would have been disappointed with the sushi boat options as there were pretty standard plates (and surprisingly few veggie options) but if you’re craving some raw fish, want high quality food in a lovely environment and are looking for a great deal, you can’t do much better than Cape Town Fish Market. I’ll definitely be returning.

The End of the World

12 Oct 2008

It’s been a few days since I last posted mostly due to the fact that I’ve been quite sick. So, it probably wasn’t the best plan to go out last night but I had been looking forward to this event for quite some time and was going with Sarah and Steven to The End of the World.

The End of the World is a brilliant party at 93 Feet East, a popular club on the famous Brick Lane in London. The premise of the event is that it is 1986, height of the Cold War era, and the US and the Soviets have declared all out nuclear war, have fingers on the big red buttons, and the world will be completely annihilated at midnight. Therefore, all of London is out to party like there’s no tomorrow.

I, after years of planning fancy dress events and themed parties at school, made an effort to dress up for the occasion with an attempt at being a Russian spy (I was looking for a blond wig but never found one). Although my friends hadn’t gone the costumed route, there were plenty of amazing fancy dress outfits at the event ranging from American flag caped crusaders to Russian astronauts to rubix cubes to Mr. T. The 80s, the Americans and the Soviets were out in full force.

Beyond the party-goers, 93 Feet East had done an amazing job of creating the event’s look and feel. A giant countdown clock ticked away the seconds to our ultimate destruction and every 20-30 minutes, the music would stop and a video clip of a newscaster came on the screen providing us with updates of the impending doom. We were also invited to email the DJs with our last requests, many of which were worked into the set for the night.

With only five minutes left until the end of the world, I turned to Sarah and told her somewhat sheepishly that a tiny part of me was actually kind of nervous about what would happen when the clock reached zero. She laughed and told me 93 Feet East hosted this party once a month.

Midnight came and we all waited with baited breath for annihilation but instead we rewarded with another video clip of the same newscaster (now clearly drunk in their own preparation for death) giddily explaining to us that after a meeting at Michael Jackson’s Neverland Resort, US and Soviet leaders had decided the whole nuclear thing was “silly.” There were hugs all around and the party continued.

I’m quite glad the world didn’t end last night but it really made for an amazing party theme. I think I’d like to try the end of the world again some time.

Ode to Shepherd’s Bush Station

9 Oct 2008

Shepherds Bush Central Line opened this week,
It made all of W12 glad.
I thought, “oh hurray, good for you TFL”
It’s the best transport news that I’ve had.

That first happy morning I shuffled through queues,
Down the escalator shiny and new.
I cut twenty minutes of my morning commute
And, believe me, everyone at my work knew.

The second day running, I hopped on at Bank,
Pleased with my quicker trip home.
I didn’t believe there’d be anything wrong
With my transport of silver and chrome.

Imagine my pain as at Holland Park station
The conductor came over the speaker
He said that the next stop was already closed
My outlook could not have been bleaker.

The very next morning I said “one more go
I can’t write of this station just yet.
I’ll still save some time on my morning commute,
And really, how bad could it get?”

The station was open, the website had said,
And from just ‘cross the street it looked fine
But a horde of pedestrians stood at the crosswalk
so confused, I just stood in the line.

It turned out the signals, the red and the green,
Were not to be working that day.
So the commutes stood there, as the cars just whizzed past,
Wondering when they could get on their way.

A single brave soul darted out in the road,
The buses did skid to a halt.
The rest of us followed, glad that we weren’t the ones
Nearly ground into asphalt.

The station was open, the train came in fine
And I was just left quite bemused
Why someone had turned off the signals we needed
To cross that road everyone used.

So Shepherd’s Bush Station, I’m glad that you’re here
And I’m glad the improvements are there.
But to the powers that be with the light switches,
Please have a slight bit of care.

Don’t close the station the day after it’s done,
And please note to update the maps.
Don’t turn off the signals we need right outside,
And for our part, we’ll mind the gap.

Sweet!

8 Oct 2008

Over the weekend, Ann and I accomplished something huge.  It took a great deal of time, effort, creative thought and, in some cases, danger.  That’s right, we finally hung the paintings that Ann bought ages ago and we’d kept wrapped up in a corner because we didn’t know where to put them.

You might scoff but this is truly a daunting task.  Have you ever tried to place small pictures in a wide expanse of white wall? It’s quite difficult.  We finally decided on placing the two smaller ones in the hall, where there was a small part of the wall that jutted out and didn’t feel like an ocean of whiteness swallowing our her little paintings.  The longer, taller one ended up in the living room where the lamp and bookshelf made a convenient frame.  I absolutely love the paintings Ann had picked out and am so excited they’re finally on the walls.

In celebration, and as a host gift for the people with whom I was having dinner the next night, I decided to try my hand at cinnamon rolls again as the last batch hadn’t turned out quite as well as I had hope and I was pretty sure it was because I had failed to let the dough rise properly.  I used a different recipe, found through SuperCook.com (where you can enter in the ingredients you have and they suggest recipes):

1/2 ounce dried yeast (2 envelopes)

1/2 cup warm water

3/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons milk

7 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon salt

4 to 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup light brown sugar

2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

3/4 cup raisins (optional)

2 cups confectioners? sugar

1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

And the instructions:

1. Combine the yeast and warm water and set aside for 10 minutes.
2. Warm 3/4 cup of the milk in the microwave. In a large bowl, combine 4 tablespoons of the melted butter and the warm milk. Using an electric mixer with a dough hook at low speed, or a wooden spoon, slowly stir the dissolved yeast into the butter and milk. Add 1/2 cup of the granulated sugar, the egg and the salt, and mix until combined. Add 4 cups of the flour, 1/2 cup at a time; mix until smooth. If the dough is sticky, add up to 1/2 cup of flour.
3. Knead the dough on a floured surface for 5 minutes, place in a medium bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
4. Stir together the brown sugar, the remaining 1/4 cup of granulated sugar and the cinnamon. On a floured surface, roll out the dough to form a 12-x-24-inch rectangle. Brush the remaining 3 tablespoons of melted butter over the dough, and sprinkle the brown sugar mixture on top. Scatter the raisins over the dough.
5. Starting with a long side, roll the dough up into a log, jelly-roll style, then cut with dental floss or a sharp knife into generous 1-inch slices. Place in 3 greased 9-inch round cake pans (about 7 rolls per pan). Let the rolls rise for 45 minutes.
6. Preheat the oven to 350°. Bake the rolls, uncovered, until crusty and golden on top, about 25 minutes.
7. Stir together the confectioners? sugar, vanilla and the remaining 3 tablespoons of milk until smooth. Drizzle over the rolls and serve.

They ended up absolutely wonderfully this time, as far as I could tell, and although at home our family doesn’t normally do them with raisins, I thought it was a nice touch.  I kind of forgot to take pictures along the way but here are a few pictures of the final stages: