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When I die…
Jan 23, 2010 Leave a comment
Well, when I die I know that’s it, I’m gone. However if an afterlife did exist I hope none of them are like any of the fantastic stories in Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives
It’s a really beautiful book. As the title says, it’s forty very short stories about what might happen when you die. Each one of the tales are unique, from being given the option of what you’d like to come back as next time, being taken to a heaven where god has gone missing, to finding out that your life was simply an act, and many others.
I found that practically every story was somewhat sad. The afterlife never really lives up to what you’d imagine it to be in any of them. I guess that makes sense as the traditional idea of heaven is pretty depressing – full of nothing but do-gooders and with no sinners, maybe even not any cats! Maybe the stories are unfulfilling because the author David Eagleman is a neuroscientist and believes deep down that the entire sum of our lives is really in our mind and dies when we die.
Shesh, OK, that was a depressing conclusion. However, the stories are really beautiful, my favourite was the one with the horsey. Read it and see which one you love the most.
Jamie’s Italian (Brighton)
Jan 15, 2010 Leave a comment
Jamie Olivers “TV persona” makes me want to strangle every last mockney breath out of him. So, it’s safe to say I wasn’t expecting much when I visited his Italian restaurant in Brighton. But wow was I pleasently surprised. The staff were really great, I liked how you could see into the kitchen and they were preparing food inside the restaurant itself, the decor was cool and best of all the bread was gorgeous. Yes, the bread. I’m getting to the point where the part I remember about restaurants is the bread not the food! I had a burger (10quid) and it was probably the second nicest I’ve ever eaten (nothing can beat the one served in the hotel overlooking the Grand Canyon of course). For 30quid for enough food to make you feel full you can’t go wrong. You have to be careful what time you get there as I went at 11:45 and there was no queue (it opened at 12) and when I went back at 12 there was a big queue. But the food service was very fast so no complaints really. Along with Raymond Blanc’s great Brasserie Blanc you really do have to wonder why it’s worth spending more for food.
Pukka! Arghghghghghghghhh *strangle*
Gordon Ramsay at Claridges
Jan 15, 2010 Leave a comment
As part of my great birthday treat (thanks to nearly everyone for their cards) Jen took me to Claridges for lunch. Well, lunch is a bit of an understatement when you’re eating six courses of nom from the “prestige menu”, but that’s what they call it. Here was our menu…
- Butternut squash soup with parmesan
- Casterbridge beef carpaccio with confit foie gras and beetroot salad (Salad of chargrilled courgettes, creamed ricotta and pine nuts, rocket pesto)
- Native lobster and salmon ravioli, lemongrass and coconut bisque (Black pepper gnocchi, sweetcorn velouté, fricassée of wild mushrooms, savory and broccoli )
- Crispy Suffolk pork belly and braised cheek, sautéed scallop, apple fondant and rocket pesto (Braised mixed English carrots, grelotte onions, dauphinois potatoes, morel sauce
- French and British cheeses (supplement)
- Cold malt chocolate fondant, mandarin ice cream
The food was fantastic, really well presented and the staff were very friendly. The highlight to me was the plainly stated “beetroot salad” which actually included the most amazing beetroot and horseradish ice-cream, wow!
As for Claridges itself, I wasn’t sure what to expect but it didn’t quite live up to the name it has. Hmm I’m finding it hard to explain why. Ah, I’ve got it… it felt like you were in a hotel rather than a restaurant. That’s exactly it! It’s quite a big thing actually and it knocked a few points off compared to Le Manoir which always felt like it was all about the food. The watermellini in the bar before the meal was gorgeous… in fact if anyone does go then it’s worth going to the bar and paying £15 for a cocktail because you get a gorgeous selection of snacks included crispy thin cheeeeese!
We’ve decided to cut back on swanky food for a while now, for the cost of the last two big meals we could have gone to Jamie’s Italian in Brighton 27 times. Yeh, exactly.
Le Manoir Aux Quat Saisons
Jan 1, 2010 Leave a comment
The thing about being away from home for Christmas is that it is such a risk, you could completely ruin the one chance at Xmas you have for that year. So if you’re going to do it then you gotta do it properly right? So we decided on Raymond Blanc’s 2 michelin starred flagship hotel “Le Manoir Aux Quat Saisons”. Sounds tasty already doesn’t it!
However, Raymond did his utmost to spoil the event by the incredibly bad result of “The Restaurant” TV programme where the two winners couldn’t cook and only seemed to have one discernible talent which was being able to high five each other every 5minutes. Tits!
So, Xmas eve and we arrive at the incredibly beautiful restaurant, me in a scruffy top and ripped jeans. Yes, I know, a lout. We asked if it was possible to have lunch – expecting this to be a snack in a bar or something…. unfortunately it meant being shown through to a posh lounge and plied with free champagne whilst the staff tried to fit us in to the restaurant. So there is me in my ripped jeans surrounded by people in suits, diamonds and posh frocks. doh! They managed to find a table and I just hid myself under the table cloth (-:
The lunch was superb, three delicious courses with wine. This was followed soon after by a three course cookery demonstration with more wine (the cookery was wasted on me but the experience was great, imagine being able to cook all those different things at the same time!). We checked into our amazing room – we had our own two story dovecote and just collapsed feeling very fat and kind of dreading dinner, which is a strange thing to say at Raymond Blanc’s place!
Dinner involved more free champagne (in fact it was free all over the time we were there) followed by amuse bouche… followed by 5 courses of amazing food… followed by chocolates.
The courses were as follows…
- Spiced velouté of cauliflower, plancha-seared scallop
- Confit of ‘Landais’ foié gras, vanilla, quince, aged balsamic vinegar, toasted sour dough
- Agnolotti of pumpkin and Roquefort, sage, toasted walnuts (that’s a sort of ravioli thingie)
- Pan-seared red mullet, salt cod brandade, artichoke, bouillabaisse jus
- Chestnut Brittany shortbread like a ‘Mont Blanc’ with passion fruit and old rum from La Martinique
So you can imagine how I felt after 12 courses of food at 11pm! Yep, peckish hehe.
Oooh, I forgot to mention the bread. Now I’m sure you know that bread in restaurants is the curse of all weak willed people. You try all day to keep your appetite by starving yourself silly, then before you’ve eaten any of the meal they ply you with bread and you get stuffed! This was a million times worse at Le Manoir as the breads were ridiculously nice…. they had mashed potato and beer bread!!!! And bacon bread!!! OMG.
So Xmas day started with a beautiful blue sky and a gorgeous breakfast of Eggs Benedict, of course I shouldn’t have eaten anything because at 1pm (I was smart this time) we sat down to the most amazing meal. It took 4hours to eat! Here is the menu for you foody types…
- Warm blinis of oak-smoked salmon, créme fraíche, osietra caviar
- Terrine of winter game, salad of baby beetroot (god this was gorgeous, instead of paté it was a jelly that tasted of gravy)
- Ravioli of lobster and pan-seared scallops, cumin and ginger scented jus
- Poached fillet of brill, cancale oyster, cucumber and wasabi (oysters still suck, they really do)
- Little pallet cleansing thingie
- Traditional roasted bronze turkey, braised chestnuts, cranberry sauce (trust me there was nothing traditional about this)
- (The alternative to this course was… wait for it…. piglet!!! OMG, Piglet?!?! From winnie the pooh?!?!!?!?
- Vacharin Mont D’Or heather honeycomb winter truffle
- Grand Marnier soufflé with an orange salad and warm ‘Madeline’ (I have no idea who she was but she never turned up)
- More chocolates
So you can see how this took four hours to eat right? I think the most perfect summary of the food I can provide is that it’s just like the name says… seasonal. Everything on your plate had its own individual flavour and tasted wintery, you never wanted to put more than one thing on your fork as each taste was just so nice. Of course that didn’t stop me from making a sammich out of stuff on my plate and some bacon bread hehe.
I managed to pinch one of Raymond’s business cards – oooh and we got a hand written Christmas card from him along with a huge hamper full of gifts. But my god was it expensive, but, worth every penny and will be impossible to top.
You’ll be pleased to know though that it’s New Years Day today and I went for a 4mile run at 10am.
Oooo, I forgot to mention another thing about the food… some of the puddings and chocolates had real gold leaf on them! How decadent
C’est Moi
Dec 23, 2009 Leave a comment
I’m possibly going to start blogging again in the New Year. Maybe. But it’s worth a short post to summarise my 2009…
Running
There, that’s pretty much it really. Although I can’t miss out on the opportunity to mention that I have a medal and two of my toenails are still missing and another two toenails are still black. It’s been two months!
I haven’t started running again yet, am waiting till the New Year. Myself and some buddies have plans to take part in some events that should be fun, luckily managing to avoid the suggestions of an IronMan or running to Everest base camp, jesus think what might drop off on one of those events.
I’ve watched some wonderful films, Up, Inglourious Basterds, 9, Taken, The Brothers Bloom, Star Trek (yes really), Moon, District 9 and Zombieland. And still have Avatar, The Road and The Lovely Bones to see!
Books wise it’s been a bit meh. I loved City of Thieves and The Road. I nearly forgot the very very strange Kafka on the Shore which has the most compelling, disgusting scene of cat… well, good god, it was horrible, but the book was full of stunning quotes like…
“I can’t keep myself from saying her name. Maybe she’ll be frightened by my voice and leave the room, never to return. I’d feel terrible if that happened. No – not terrible, that’s not what I mean. Devastated is more like it. If she never came back everything would be lost to me for ever. All meaning, all direction.Everything. I know this, but go ahead and risk it anyway – and call her name.”
However books haven’t been a complete washout as I’ve just finished re-reading all of the Adrian Mole books. They’re so depressing and hilarious…
“I had been 26-yrs old before realising in fact that there were, in fact, six senses: sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste and dress sense”.
Hmm, what else. I loved Snow Patrol’s The Lightning Strike, work is still terrible, I have an awesome car (which hasn’t started for 5 days due to another flat battery and has doors that are frozen shut), jaffa cake situation is still terrible, Ugly Betty finished amazingly and I ran the New York Marathon!
The reason for my quietness..
Feb 18, 2009 Leave a comment
Well, apart from the obvious… the other reason my blog has been quiet is that I’ve been building up to my big news…
Except, my news is not that amazing these days. When I tell people my plans for probably the hardest 5-6 hours of my life they’ll say “wow, you’re mad” or “cool, you’re mad” and that’s it. However, the reality of spending a year of my life in training, changing how I look after myself, the mental preparation and then the amazing challenge of running… a marathon… is in my opinion quite amazing. I’ve never stuck at fitness challenges before, I’ve never enjoyed running, I ain’t the most healthy person in the world and have had to face up to some difficult health options… so to me (yes I’m running a marathon) it’s going to be the biggest thing I’ve ever had as a personal goal (yes, really, me – running a marathon).
As for “why choose New York?”… well, apart from that reason, it’s obvious really isn’t it. Apparently it’s quite a difficult marathon, bloody hilly. But it’s November so it’ll be nice and cold (I hate being hot when I run) and the city pretty much shuts down for the race.
Why am I doing it? Well I’ve always said I will run a marathon before I’m 40 and I never go back on these sort of stupid promises, wish I did! But why am I really doing it…? I guess It’s one of those things that is very simply up to me and me alone. Sure it’s possible to just walk or mooch for 26.2 miles, but to actually train for it, to aim to do my best and push myself as much as I can, well that’s something I’ve never really challenged myself to before. So we’ll see how I do!
I know it’s quite a common thing for people to do these days, which makes it seem more achievable. But to see what it’s like, get your pants on and run a mile in 12minutes. Now imagine doing that 26 times non stop. Or imagine starting running when you get into work at 9am in the morning and not stopping (even for a cinnamon latte) until 2:30 in the afternoon.
And I’m not a marathoner, said out loud it’s simply the most stupid word in the world, I can’t even think about it without sounding like someone with a Snickers obsession. No, the simple fact is… I Am A Marathoneer. Click the link for all the gory details for the rest of the year.
Goodwood Revival 2008
Sep 22, 2008 Leave a comment
The above photo says everything that can possibly be said. But I’ll say some more anyway. Last weekend was the 10th anniversary of the Goodwood Revival. A long weekend of period (which seems to be anything from 1940′s up to the 1960′s) motor racing, air displays and fun.
As per normal, something is bound to go wrong… and it did. Big Time.
There were eight of us going to the Revival. And my responsibility was buying the several hundred pounds worth of tickets. Which I did, with my Dad, some months ago. Woohoo all done and sorted.
No?
So, Thursday night, before my parents arrive in the morning, I woke at about 3am thinking “I haven’t seen those tickets for a while”. And then failed to get back to sleep, just imagining the worst. At 7am I got up and started hunting for the tickets. I couldn’t find them. Oh.Good.God.
Then I found them woohooooo phewwww I can relax. There are the eight tickets now in my hand.
Eight tickets for the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July 2008. Not eight tickets for the Goodwood Revival in September 2008.
whimper
So, panicccccccccccc. I got on my bike, rode like the wind to Goodwood and ran slightly moist into the ticket office and pleaded total stupidity and being male. It didn’t work. The lady correctly pointed out that just because the tickets hadn’t had the stubs torn off didn’t mean they hadn’t been used and that I could just buy eight more. I whimpered more and waffled and begged and pleaded poverty (and then said that I went to the swanky restaurant at least once a week and had the night before spent £160 attending a champagne party oops). It eventually worked and she said “the best I can do is take these tickets off you and tell you that if you come in on Saturday morning tickets will be waiting for you”. I woohooooo’d and rode home, all sorted.
Of course, I didn’t sleep the next night as “what if she was ill and wasn’t there to give you tickets” as Ali kindly suggested might happen… but I was at the office at 7am and got the tickets phewwww.
So, we had a great day, the number of people dressing up was amazing but what really made it special was the number of actors mingling with the crowds. Everything was authentic, not a single vehicle newer than 1966 was allowed in with the 150,000 people. Luckily both my sisters were born before 1966 so they were allowed in hehe)
As we arrived some 1940′s police tried to arrest my Mum for not having a licence for the fur animal she was wearing, then some guys would try to sell you silk stockings from a suitcase only to be chased off by the police.
I saw russian spies, Laurel and Hardy, Marilyn Monroe, kids from Just William, Dad’s Army, Bikers and Mods having a big fight and so many more, was so cool. My sister even scored with a dishy road-work guy…
Didn’t get to see much car racing but will make up for that next year. Am glad everyone in my family had such a good time (I’ll work my Mum into this photo somehow) and it’s such a shame they can’t make it next year.
No, really, you can’t make it. Trust me, stop asking, I’m busy that weekend and the event is cancelled and and and. (-:
Not Zombies, but still the end of the universe…
Sep 5, 2008 1 Comment
In 5 days time, the 10th of September, the universe might be sucked up its own bottom.
It’s not really, but I wanted an excuse to mention this quote in relation to the firing up of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Some critics are worried that there is a chance it’s going to destroy the universe…
“Look, it’s a 10^-19 chance, and you’ve got a 10^-11 chance of suddenly evaporating while shaving.”
Is shaving that dangerous then? eep I might have to go beardy. The reason is apparently that such devices as the large hadron collider produce approximately one black hole a second. Yes an actual black hole. But only a very very very short lived one. We hope.
p.s. have you visited the homepage? You’d think with a several billion euro budget they could have designed a webpage that wasn’t from 1992 wouldn’t you?
Never leave home without your machete
Sep 5, 2008 Leave a comment
Listen carefully, this is going to be important one day, hopefully soon.
When, not if, when… mankind is attacked by zombies (oi, stop scoffing, you won’t be laughing when some undead bugger is munching on your leg!) you’ll need to be prepared. I’ve just finished reading Zombie Survival Guide
- You basically have two choices, do you stay at home or do you flee.
- If you decide to stay, think about the safest part of your house. No, it isn’t hiding under the stairs or in your fridge. At the first sign of an attack, you need to get all your supplies, some of your loved ones (yeh, the cats) and your butt upstairs in your house as soon as possible.
- Then fill your bath and sinks. You never know when the water supply is going to run out and trust me, toilet water, even with a loo-bloo in it, doesn’t taste nice.
- Now this is going to take some trust, because I now need you to destroy your staircase. So I hope you have an axe/chainsaw. Yes yes I know it’s your staircase and you only have one and how are you going to get down and you only just replaced the carpet, but you have bigger problems right now, hungry undead ghouls. So get destroying and you’re going to be safe. Well, safe until you accidently burn house down, run out of supplies or forget you destroyed the staircase and fall down it when you pop down for a glass of water at 2am.
- You can now survive upstairs for as long as you have food. I hope you brought lots of canned food as that has water in it as well. I do hope you haven’t brought your laptop/iPod/coffee machine/dishwasher or anything else unless you have some sort of bicycle powered generator?
- Stay active! Practice chopping zombies heads off with your machete, clean your primary weapon (urrr, gun) regularly, keep a positive frame of mind, hopefully you have books to keep your mind from the thought of being tasty nom.
- Whatever you do, keep quiet, don’t show yourself at a window, don’t turn on any lights. Don’t just fear the undead, you need to worry about looters and panicking members of the great unwashed who want to come to your sanctuary… keep them out! More people = more noise = more zombies = more biting = more zombies.
- Eventually though, we both know it… you’re going to run out of CurlyWurlys. The day of the apocalypse is now truly nigh. So, you’re going to have to flee…
- Don’t just flee somewhere screaming, you need to flee screaming to a particular destination that you’ve already planned, hopefully placed supplies at and know how to find.
- Make sure your backpack with your supplies isn’t too heavy as don’t forget… you’re going to be fleeing. No, you may not bring Mr SnugglesWorth or your cuddly blanker. It’s a tough decision but you need to let your pets fend for themselves. We both know they’re going to do better than you.
- Never, ever travel at night. *smack* for even thinking it!
- Keep well away from urban areas. If you see other people, avoid them. It’s just you and Mr Snugglesworth, wait, did you bring the damned cat!?!?!?!, anyway, it’s just you against the world. Other people are just tasty nom for the zombies.
- Head somewhere bloody remote. Make sure it’s not your first choice… because there is a good chance that other people will have come to the same conclusion and you don’t want to be near anyone else. Cold is good, as zombies freeze easier than us as they don’t have any warm blood supply (apart from what they eat hehe)
- A boat might be a good idea, you can fish from it, you can purify water… but the salt air is going to destroy everything over time and so it’s not a permanent option. And also you’re going to go bloody mad on a boat even with Mr Snugglesworth for company. And also he’ll eat most of the fish.
- Never make any noise, try to scream quietly. Zombies moan when they see people, a bit like me when I see Jade Goody. When they moan, they attract other zombies, who in turn attract more zombies. You know where I’m going here, just keep it quiet
- Once arrived at your destination, never, ever relax. Individual zombies may only survive a few years until they rot, but with constant new infections there is a chance that the undead will roam the earth moaning for many decades. Never “go outside your safe area just to see what’s happening”. Just make do with what you have. Looters and bandits are going to be as much of a problem as zombies. As for Zombie Jehovahs Witnesses… well… I won’t go there, just be very afraid.
- Good luck rebuilding mankind! I’m glad Mr Snugglesworth made it
It’s a really good book! Buy it!
UPDATE: Sigh, I thought at last the day was upon us! The BBC today announced a massive swarm of zombies!!!! It turned out to just be computers infected with a virus. Sigh, I wanna destroy the undead’s brains!