Lately I have been more involved in the 'foodie' world in London. I love food, I love eating out and have found more friends to do this with. One is a food blogger, and has been enlisting my opinion and company more on her foodie adventures. I also learnt that twitter is a hotbed for that sort of thing.

One of the things I came across is the not-a-market collection of vendors at Maltby Street, Bermondsey. One group in particular have a regular event called 'Maltby Street Lock In' - basically they open up their warehouse space (normally an industrial kitchen space) for people to come in with whatever wares they have bought, chill out and chat and consume, buy more if they wish, and bugger off when they like.
Tonight (Saturday 10th December) they hostened a one-off pop-up event: a Trini Christmas meal. It seemed a great opportunity to do something fun and different, and drag along my old friend and work colleague Mister STJ, who I don't see very often, and who is pretty proud of his Trinidadian roots.

( And it was fun... )

Tags: eating, food, mylondon

Hello LJ world.

I have neglected you. I've really failed at blogging thus far - lots of things to say, not enough time nor inclination to put it down and say it. And I lurk a little but have been pretty out of touch. FB has been the easier (lazier) way to keep in touch with people.

why_am_i, ockyflam, aunty_del, pezzae, jasmine thank you so much for your responses to my last post. I never got around to responding to them but they all made me think and were very much appreciated.

Anyway. I am going to try to be better at this whole blogging business. And the primary reason is selfish.
I want a better record of what's going on in my life! I live this reasonably great life in London - I get to explore this amazing city/country/continent and meet different people and have different experiences and adventures. And I should really try to capture them while I can.

I also know that this time is and stage of my life will not last forever. I will not be this young and silly forever.
And I won't be in London forever. It's been a great two and a half years. It'll be a great while longer. But- I'm starting to feel a yen for home. A yen for Australia - it's amazing lifestyle and warmth and sunshine and coastline and beauty and people and food. A yen to be surrounded by friends and family again, persons who really really love me who I really really love. And I want to be home for my parents before they get too old for me to be able to truly talk to them.

So - if I'm going to be coming home in the next 1-2 years, I better make the most of the rest of my time here! And do everything I can to remember what I can, to keep the experience when I'm back.

I'm going to try to take the suggestion someone (I think Jess?) gave me about righting short snippets as I go. To capture SOMETHING, even if not the big story I want to. I'll try. I'm not sure LJ is the ideal blogging platform for it to be honest, but I'll give it a go, and you guys might let me know what you think, and we'll see how well it pans out.

x

Katherine

Tags: home, london, reflection

...are these videos! Eat, Move, Learn - a pretty good mantra for life as far as I'm concerned. Hopefully I, and you, are doing plenty of each!

http://vimeo.com/27243869
http://vimeo.com/27246366
http://vimeo.com/27244727

Btw, in case you're worried, yes parts of London are going crazy but I am just fine. x

Tags: link
Current Location: Home

A link for any other musical theatre fans. I have to say that I came to the UK with high expectations of the calibre of West End musicals and have been a little disappointed...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/theatreblog/2011/feb/23/americans-british-musicals-west-end-broadway

Tags: link, musicals

I'm trying to get better about blogging my reviews! I'm already 6 shows short...here goes.

Details (for my benefit):

Date: Tuesday 4^th January, evening

Place: Her Majesty’s Theatre, London

 

Notable cast members: John Owen-Jones (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Number of times I’ve seen POTO: 5

 

Opening ramble:

Phantom is not very high on my list of shows to re-watch, however talissarocsham made me aware that John Owen-Jones was playing Phantom. Having seen him play Valjean BRILLIANTLY last year in the 25^th anniversary Barbican production, I was keen to see him again.

 

In a nutshell:

Phantom / Erik: John Owen-Jones kicks arse. I *heart* him. A LOT.

Why?:

He had all of the elements that a good Phantom needs. He had a fabulous vocal range and excellent control: nailing the sweet, tender lyrical bits; the long sustains and the big belts; the rich, strident, soaring lines; the harsh, dark, tormented passages…

And he showed great commitment to his performance and to the character. He was so completely engaged and thus engaging, from start to end. This is something I’ve found lacking far too often in the West End that I never struggled with at home – the number of performers that need half an act to truly warm up into their role. JOJ is a professional and that could not be said about him.

 

( More review stuff... )

Recommended?:
For John Owen-Jones alone, HELL YEAH!
I did have a Phantom virgin with me, who absolutely loved the show. So Phantom still speaks to new audiences, and I'm glad for that.

Tags: musicals, phantom, review, theatre blog

HELL YEAH!!!

http://www.whatsonstage.com/news/theatre/london/E8831290738612/Alfie+Boe+Revisits+Les+Mis+in+West+End,+Jun+2011.html

Tags: les mis

Sometimes I'm really silly and forget that not everyone uses Facebook!

Anyhow, this time next week I'm going to be in Australia - yaaay! I'm back to go to a friend's wedding (I've already missed 3 weddings in the UK, I didn't want to miss a 4th, and the groom is a really good friend).
Here's a quick run-down on some stuff I've doing in case you want to come out and see me.


WEEK 1
1. Saturday 11th September: Watching Brisbane Dance Comps. I don't think anyone here is likely to be at them...?
2. Thursday 16th September: Dancing at Willoughby.

WEEK 2
3. Monday 20th September: Dancing at Lewisham.
4. Friday 24th September: Potentially evening drinks at Opera Bar
5. Brunch @ Kazbah in Balmain. It'll either be Saturday the 25th at 11:30am or Sunday 26th at 1:30pm. Likely followed by drinks at a pub somewhere in Balmain.

And I'll be floating around otherwise so give me a shout if you want to catch up. Timing is going to be tight, especially since I know my family is going to want to monopolise a lot of my time, but I do want to try to catch up with everyone.
Otherwise I'll be back for another visit in March next year! :)

I know that I have been rather absent lately.
I changed jobs about 3 months ago, and the current job blocks access to personal email, facebook etc.

I think it used to block access to LJ, but for some reason either I was mistaken or circumstances have changed. So here I am! [You can decide whether or not that is good news.]

*waves*

Here’s my quick note on the difference between boys and girls (in a completely generalised way):

A colleague has an iPhone app that takes a picture of someone’s face, then fattens it. Blows up the cheeks, drops in a double chin, makes the nose more bulbous etc etc.

The girls (e.g. me) shy away from having the photo taken! I don’t need to see what my face would look like if I were morbidly obese! I deal with enough of the existing double chin and chubby cheeks thank you very much!

The boys eagerly line up, have a good giggle at the result, and email them around to each other as jokes.

=\

Current Location: Work

Thanks to frodolover and aunty_del 

No idea what I feel about it, and no opinion on its accuracy.
Comments anyone?
 

Tags: meme
Current Mood: good

I got home today to find a letter from my soon-to-be new employer on the living room table.

It was dated 5th March, and confirmed my start date as being the 8th of March. Today is the 12th.

They knew I wasn't going to be starting on the 8th since I discussed it with them last week. So - ? Is this a sign of how little they have things together?

Tags: what the?
Current Location: Home, in bed
Current Music: Jason Mraz, courtesy of Sue Lee