Food

December So Far…

| Richard

Well November ended on a high: whilst up in Norfolk for the weekend, I took Amy – Jack baled out at the last moment – to see London Grammar play the Open in Norwich and very good they were too (as expected).

Hannah Reid of London Grammar at the Open, Norwich
Hannah Reid of London Grammar at the Open, Norwich
London Grammar at the Open, Norwich
London Grammar at the Open, Norwich

I was also impressed in particular by one of the support acts: Josh Record, who may or may not use my suggestion of “Geoff” for the title of their presently unnamed track. Or not.

Josh Record at the Open, Norwich
Josh Record at the Open, Norwich

Tuesday of the following week and I was back off to Canada; Toronto this time to speak at a major exhibition (people actually had to pay to see me speaking). This time, it was a morning flight so I arrived at lunchtime EDT . Straight from the Airport via our offices to check the venue out for the following day, then off to the hotel to do a quick shower and change and back out for the evening: dinner at the Toronto Maple Leafs where their top player, Phil Kessel, celebrated his career 200th goal after scoring against the San Jose Sharks. Very enjoyable evening.

Toronto Maple Leafs v San Jose Sharks
Toronto Maple Leafs v San Jose Sharks

Wednesday and it was up early for breakfast and meeting colleagues before heading down to the convention centre to do my thing. A quick drink afterwards – bought for me by an ex-pat British lawyer (I didn’t have time to get her name) – then off to the airport for the red-eye to Heathrow.

Friday I had the day off: I was heading down to Gloucester for the PurplePort social. Great fun with lots of drink and chat: Katra was memorable for touching my face all evening looking for (non-existent) plastic surgery scars and Ali was memorable for not falling out of her corset despite all odds!

After breakfast, I headed back to London … via Bourton-on-the-Water where I lived when I was a little boy and we’d come back to the UK from Malta. I’d been taught our address parrot-fashion as we all do with our kids, so I popped it in to Waze on my iPhone and headed there. It was still as I remembered it, bar the houses that had been built behind the bungalow. Off into the village centre which was as I remembered it for a coffee and a walk around.

Fosse View
Fosse View
Selfie in Bourton
Selfie in Bourton

More of the same the following week – another seminar to give in London – and then the following week was fabulous, starting with the Placebo gig at Brixton on Monday 16th with GT. Really, really good they were too and it was nice to see GT after a few weeks.

Placebo at the O2 Academy, Brixton
Placebo at the O2 Academy, Brixton
Placebo at the O2 Academy, Brixton
Placebo at the O2 Academy, Brixton

Later that week, in Crawley at a Client’s, I dropped the RX-8 off at the nearby dealer to see if they could sort out the headlight washers: hitting a pheasant at {cough} MPH had split and lost the thick hose that feeds the headlight washers. They have had to order-in the hose which will be a massive £380 fitted! Expensive car, this one. Then back on Thursday evening for the company Christmas Dinner Cruise along the Thames, during which I gave a younger colleague a pep-talk about his forthcoming new baby and how he shouldn’t envy my lifestyle. He didn’t go home that night, apparently. So much for mentoring…

Friday I had the afternoon off as a friend, NT, was coming to stay at mine for the weekend. I picked her up from the railway station and we stopped off at London Bridge to pick up my car from the office where I’d left it overnight. As it was a lovely day, I took her up the Shard – fnarr! – before heading home. A lovely steak at Gaucho that evening. Saturday she wanted to do some shopping for her kids so we went up to Camden; tapas and t-shirts. Saturday and it was off to Le Pont de la Tour for dinner from their tasting menu. Excellent nosh.

NT at Tower Bridge
NT at Tower Bridge

Then into the Christmas Week: Christmas Eve was peculiar as due to the storms that hit the UK, I was one of the first into the office and it remained that way until mid-morning when just a few made it in. Drinks and snacks at the pub and then home. Christmas Day and I’d been invited to GT’s for what was a lovely Christmas Dinner including her fabulous Cheesy Chestnut Roast. Feeling bloated, I headed home to an early night before heading up to Norfolk for Boxing Day and the first of two defeats this week for Norwich City.

New Year’s Eve beckons now – after a shoot I have planned tomorrow with Marlyn Lindsay – and my plans include a possible NYE at Slimelight. I did wonder about grabbing a last-minute flight to Moscow to see the New Year in with Manuel and Angelo (friends from Route 66) but flights are stupidly expensive for what would be a one-night stay!

The Trouble With Paris…

| Richard

…is that the wine is hideously expensive!

So Friday found GT and I in a cab heading to St. Pancras and the Eurostar to Paris. Arriving early Friday afternoon at the Radisson Blu Le Metropolitan Hotel, Paris Eiffel thanks to our pre-booked taxi, we dumped our bags in our large room and headed off on the Metro from Trocadero to the Expo where GT was picking up her race number and pack as yes, she was due to run the Paris Marathon on the Sunday. Oh and we picked up a new running outfit at the same time…

Back to the hotel where we got some advice about one of best Italian restaurants in Paris, so off we went. Luckily, despite not having a reservation – the hotel had warned us we’d probably need one – we managed to charm our way to getting a table and enjoyed a lovely meal with one of those horrendously expensive bottles of wine … good, though!

It was important that the Friday night would bring lots of sleep with the Saturday night’s sleep likely to be fitful so we headed back to the hotel at just after 10pm … to find the door to our room and its main window open! While I poked my head inside to see if there was still an unexpected visitor in there, GT hightailed it down to reception to report it and get the police. By the time I got downstairs, the police had been called and I’d summoned the Hotel Manager back from his evening out (at the Cirque du Soleil, as it transpired). I went back up to the room to do a thorough sweep to see what had been taken and was relieved to find that my iPad and iPhones, UK wallet and passport were all still safe and sound, as was GT’s running gadgets – phew!

It was very late by the time the Manager had got back and checked what was what, so they moved us to a suite as there was no way I’d stay in the same room with someone possibly knowing what they could go back there to collect. The designer bath had a broken plug that I’d be trying to get fixed the next morning as a bath is high on the priorities list after a marathon…

Saturday morning and off we went to do mainly death-related touristy things: Jim Morrison’s and Oscar Wilde’s graves up at Père-Lachaise Cemetery in the morning followed by the incredible Catacombs in the afternoon. The latter holds the remains of roughly six million people. Yes. 6,000,000. Neatly stacked and arranged. It’s a bizarre thing to visit, running for 2km under Paris. We ate on our way back before celebrating my 51st birthday at the hotel.

Sunday saw us up bright and early to head to the start of the marathon up at the Champs-Elysèes. I’d chosen the hotel to be close to both the start and finish lines with the view of the Eiffel Tower an added bonus. It was cold, so GT was pleased to be able to wear much of her new, warmer, kit. The start corrals were sheer chaos as there was no apparent way to get in: many runners were climbing over the security fencing to get in and there were 50,000 running. So different to the efficiency of the London Marathon. After seeing GT off, I walked back to the hotel, stopping at what had become our favourite café at the Trocadero, overlooking the Eiffel Tower for coffee and croissants and juice. Lovely!

I downloaded the official app and headed back to the hotel to track GT on her run. No sign of any plug for the bath: the one they brought didn’t fit so it was back to the drawing board, sadly.

Then off to meet GT at Exit A in the finish area. Or Exit B as they’d managed to cock that up too and had swapped the exit signs and flags over so they were wrong. The pandemonium that ensued with tired and confused runners all trying to get out of the wrong exits was something to see. I stayed looking for GT until she texted me from the hotel: she’d left from the incorrectly-signed exit and found her way back. I stuffed the plughole with a flannel and ran the bath. After she’d recovered sufficiently, we walked down to the Trocadero for Kir Royales, beer and food! Then back to the hotel to celebrate her time – a few seconds over that milestone 4:00:00 she wants to beat – meeting her friend who’d managed a 3:58:10. She was off for a massage; we settled on another lovely meal over the Place at another great Italian restaurant followed by more birthday celebrations for me…

Monday and we checked out: the first night’s (upgraded) accommodation was given free by the hotel, but another guest had signed for a 52€ breakfast and a 389€ dinner on our room! That was quickly resolved, so we left our bags and headed up to Montmartre for more touristy stuff including a little roadtrain ride down to Pigalle and back up to Montmartre.

Then off to the Eurostar Business Lounge for complimentary wines and our train back to London.

The hotel’s Manager rang me today: they’ve checked the door key logs and it appears on first checking that it was one of the maids who’d left the door and window open for some reason. They’re interviewing her and getting the hallway CCTV footage to check.

So then: Berlin Marathon … and I’m running that one!

Me at Jim Morrison’s Grave, Père Lachaise Cemetery
Wilde? I was livid!
Trocadero
Marathon Day Dawns
One last comfort break
“How do we get in?”
Ready for the off
Eiffel Tower in the morning mist
Paris Marathon 2013 Medal
Preserved despite the water dripping through
Yes, they’re real
Not the usual backdrop
Sacré-Cœur Basilica

The Trouble With Fuerteventura…

| Richard

…is that it gets to you. To the extent that yes, I was back there yet again for a week over Easter with my grown-up kids.

I’d hired my usual premier garden villa at Bahiazul – a three bedroomed villa with its own heated pool, rooftop BBQ area and heated jacuzzi under the stars – for the week and so we set off after an overnight stay at Gatwick.

On arrival on the Wednesday, we checked in and I changed and headed off for a daily 5km run. I did that every day, apart from the second day – the Thursday – when I apparently broke my toe! After that, 600mg Ibuprofen tablets were my friend.

Each day was more or less the same: a large breakfast in the restaurant; a morning around the pool; a midday 5k; afternoon around the pool or the beach; evening at one of the nicer restaurants or my favourite tapas bar (most of them in Corralejo now know me and greet me as an old friend); and then the night at the awesome Rock Island Bar owned by the lovely Mandy and Gary listening to the live acoustic rock being played by mates.

Good times!

Of course, the lovely sun and warmth made such a difference especially given the snow we’d left behind in London.

Tapas … Part One
Tapas … Part Two
Deep Fried Goats’ Cheese Starter
One of the slugs tried to escape…
Looks nice eh?
Shaun Dabrai at RiB
Light Dinner
Desserts
Standard Sky
Put My Foot In It
Tapas!
Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay

Sadly, it was soon back to London, dropping Amy off at Egham and then, the following day, Jack at Stratford for his train up to Norfolk before greeting GT with a home-cooked vegetarian chilli as we were off to Paris the next day…

The Trouble with Weekends…

| Richard

…is that when they’re good, they’re very, very good and you don’t want them to be over.

Such was the case with mine.

It started on Friday evening with an early shoot from work so I could get home and changed before heading off to The Gallery on the Corner in Battersea for an exhibition of erotic art called “Sensual Seduction”, combining artwork and photography.  So I met up with GT at the Mason’s Arms beforehand for a swift drink and off we went.

As usual, Greg Brown‘s photography in particular was excellent and I got location envy from some shots from Tim Rosier who chatted away with us for a while.

Then off over the road for a wonderful Italian meal at Metrogusto and, surprisingly, I went for a completely vegetarian option, all of which was absolutely delicious. Finally headed off to Epsom and bed.

Saturday and we went off-roading in the RX-8. OK, a slight exaggeration, but it was snowing heavily and we had to drop off GT’s daughter and friend at a Duke of Edinburgh thing at Box Hill. With the four of us in the car, epic speed humps and the last part being a track, it was grounding out and getting filthy. Then back to mine to change before heading out to Covent Garden for lunch and the obligatory visit to the Apple Store.

Still horribly cold and snowy, so we grabbed a cab over to Volupté for cocktails, champagne and afternoon tea … oh and a burlesque show which was excellent! We particularly liked Tina Turner Tea Lady…

Then we headed off to Waterloo to get GT back to Epsom. With a leetle excursion to Azzurro so we could have a quick drink. OK, a bottle of red, some olives, some bread and oil and er some liquers and coffee.

And now after a lay-in (for me, GT had a 15 mile race to run), some fettling of Blue Rex and a quick shop, I’m relaxing after a great chilli – if I say so myself – to watch zombies on the telly!

Marvellous!

GT Meet Jack, Jack Meet GT

| Richard

Well that was another busy weekend. Friday evening saw me collecting Jack from Stratford and trying to order pizzas using the Domino’s iPhone App. And failing. Repeatedly. Gah! So we rang from Canada Water and our pizzas were delivered just after 9.00pm.

Saturday and after a fabulous full English breakfast at Café Frizzante at the Surrey Docks Farm, we went shopping for FIFA 11 for the Xbox so Jack can play when he’s at mine. Plus a load of groceries and things. Then we sat and watched England v Switzerland on the telly which was a tad embarrassing for us Brits.

GT rang us to say she was at Waterloo so we jumped in the car to meet her a few minutes later at Canada Water from where we went to Frankie & Benny’s for tea before heading on to the Odeon to watch Hangover II, which was excellent with a lot of belly-laughs for me.

Then back home for a very late night/early morning.

Up to do breakfast – eggs, muffins and cafetière coffee – before  driving GT back to Waterloo so she could get home.

Jack and I then hung out for a while before hearding off to Oxford Street to shop. This included an expensive lunch at Yo! Sushi in Selfridges – our fault as we kept grabbing interesting-looking dishes – before a lightning-fast visit to M&S to buy me a new suit – dark blue with a woven dark blue stripe – for work. Oh and another pair of Jimmy Choos for GT!

Then a horrendously expensive black cab back to the flat to pack us both before driving to Liverpool Street station for a coffee and tea. Jack on the Cambridge train and me back to the car for a drive up North to Wigan again.

Phew!

Jack’s Birthday Weekend

| Richard

Well that was a busy weekend!

It started on Friday with Amy coming over to stay. A lovely meal at the Rainbow Chinese Buffet Restaurant on Brunel Road before Lucy delivering my ironing – all 24 workshirts!

Saturday morning saw us heading up to Norfolk, collecting Jack on the way before heading into Norwich where we went to Wagamama before shopping: a pair of black Adidas Samba originals for me, two pairs of shoes, a Hollister shirt and Jack & Jones skinny jeans for Jack and a pair of Converse trainers for Amy.

Saturday night and we went back into Norwich to Nando’s followed by the Odeon to see “Attack the Block“, which we all enjoyed. Amy is now being followed and is following Alex Esmail on Twitter!

Sunday saw a lie-in at the hotel for me before heading over to see Jack on his birthday. His Mum had made a great strawberry gateau which we scoffed and later we had bangers and mash – again Jack’s request – before Amy and I headed back down to Royal Holloway.

I then popped over to see GT and eventually got in after midnight. A looooong weekend!

6% Chance of Dying

| Richard

So today I had my check-up at the doctor’s surgery. It turns out that I’d lost two kilos and 1cm around my muffin-top since my last visit, my BP was down to a better 128/78 and everything else was OK apart from my cholesterol which was reading 5.2 which is actual below the average UK level for men.

When all the stuff is put into a calculator, it means that in the next 10 years, I have a 6% chance of dying from a heart attack or stroke. Or put another way, a 94% chance I won’t.

Which is nice.

So, more vegetable soup for the next two days and repeat again (hopefully not ad nauseum…).