all about the wall

last weekend Mark and I went away for the weekend to Berlin. It was wonderful. Very very cold, which meant lots of bobble hats and scarves, but still a lot of fun. We stayed at the Wombat hostel, which I highly recommend – it was right by the U-bahn station, not too expensive, and we had a really nice room with a great view. During our trip we visited  Potsdamer Platz, where we bought our lego people who shared in the fun for the rest of the trip. We went to the  Reichstag, which was interesting, but cold and with a lot of queuing. The Jewish museum was great - there was a fantastic exhibition about religion and food,  and you were able to electronically ‘collect’ recipes which you can later view  online (lots of museums seem to do this sort of thing now, it’s a great idea). The holocaust memorial was cool, with all the big cement blocks, although it was a bit too tempting to run  around wooping and jumping out on people – probably not in the spirit of things! We saw the brandenburg gate – very impressive, and quite a lot of bits of the Wall – there’s a ‘gallery’ of about 300m of wall that’s been decorated with commemorative pictures by lots of artists, some of it was really great. I don’t remember the wall coming down, seeing as I was only 5, but I feel much more educated now about it all! Checkpoint Charlie was interesting, but there were a lot of tourists around. There  was also a very interactive museum about life in the DDR – that was really good fun – I got to be a proper German housewife in a plastic filled kitchen!

The food in Germany was good but not amazing – the warm pretzels were fabulous, and Mark had a pretty impressive club sandwich. He also had kangaroo steak one evening, with potato wedges seasoned with curry powder, which tasted really good. The Germans seem to use curry powder for lots of things – currywurst, potato wedges, in kebab sauce… it’s a nice touch! I’m also a big fan now of Gluhwein with amaretto – very warming and tasty! But the sausages and things were only ok, and most of the bread we had wasn’t as nice as I’d hoped.

All in all, it was a great trip, and a very cool place – apart from the fact that it’s so very freezing, it’s definitely worth a visit!

A jungle ride

On Saturday, as Mark was away in Chicago for work, Liz and I went to the Mount Mascal stables out in Bexley for a horse ride. It was great fun, my pony was called Jungle and she was absolutely lovely,  very laid back and easy to ride. Liz also had a really nice horse called Trouper, and it was a beautiful day for a gentle plod around the woods.

We also stopped in at the 99p store, as it’s always fun. I was childishly amused by the kids’ drink called Boobee, however, my taking a picture of it prompted the security  guard to get rather annoyed – the conversation went something like this…

‘No, you can’t do that, why are you taking a picture?’ ‘because it’s funny, it’s got a funny name’ ‘would you do that in Tesco?’ ‘Yes, if something had a funny name’ ‘Why is it funny, what’s funny about… Boobies?’ (at this point Liz and I just walked away in fits of giggles)

It must be quite a dull job being a security guard in a 99p store, but that’s no excuse for not having a sense of humour!

An Expedit-ion

On Friday evening Mark and I took a trip to Ikea to buy some shelves to furnish his new room. After a fun wander round the store, and a bit of confusion over the price of Billy the Bookshelf, we picked out the lovely Expedit shelving unit, and lugged the 91lb beauty home (resulting in very tired arms, a large bruise, and a few offers of help from passing strangers and bus drivers!)

Saturday we stayed in for construction day, followed by lots of arranging of toys and nic-nacs, to make the shelves look perfect – which they now do, and Mark’s  room feels suitably like he lives there! In between our DIY work, we also took some time to make homemade bagels – which turned out very well. This was all quite exhausting though, and Sherman the Shiraffe (he’s a cross between a sheep and a giraffe,  even though he looks like a llama) and I needed regular naps!

Sunday we were going to go to the Anish Kapoor exhibition at the Royal academy, but hadn’t booked tickets, so ended up just wandering around town instead, and stopping for lots of cups of coffee! We had one in the Nordic Bakery, along with a very unusual oatmeal raisin cookie, which was more like toffee, but very nice.

Monday night was a visit to Bodean’s with my housemates – I had the amazing burnt ends, and despite being told I couldn’t substitute a side salad for the fries, I was then brought a salad anyway (free of charge) so didn’t have to eat the chips but could just focus on the MEAT! It was very tasty, and a total bargain at £10, including a drink!

a recommendation…

I am not, by any means, a wine buff, but I do now have a favourite wine. I got home from the gym this evening, having done an abs class (the dr has told me I’m not supposed to run until I’ve seen a physio about my hips/ankles) and had a small glass of the wine we won at the pub quiz last month. It’s called Cuvee de Richard Blanc, and it’s amazing – really appley and refreshing.

Work continues to go well, and is getting gradually busier – my mascara presentation met with approval from my manager, so that’s a good start! I have just that Conquest has been shortlisted for the best agency award by Research Magazine – which is very exciting!

I also discovered today that my ex-colleague Bruno has been promoted – well done him!

Keep the Sabbath Holy, and Respect Your Father and Mother!

Today I went past this shop on the bus - I love the description of their opening hours - 9am-1pm Saturday, closed Saturday afternoon to prepare for church!

I then went to the cinema with housemate Helen to see Away We Go. It was a really sweet film all about a couple who are expecting a baby, have very little clue what they’re doing, and travel to different places in America to visit their friends and family, and with each one they experience a different type of family/different parenting style, in order to finally realise what they need to do to be the kind of parents they want their child to have. I really enjoyed it, funny, mostly lighthearted, but also quite thought provoking. (It also made me very grateful for my own quirky but wonderful parents!)

Work is so far a lot better this week, I’ve gotten a lot more involved in some projects that I can take ownership of. One of them is particularly interesting as it’s make up related! (obviously for client confidentiality I can’t be any more specific than that!)

Busy Weekend

Friday night was dinner with Liz and the new series of peep show. We had a lovely aubergine, tomato feta and lentil tart she’d made – inspired by a Higgidy Pie, along with a salad of quinoa and spinach. For pud we had a gooey rich and lovely M&S chocolate profiterole mousse dessert… yum! 

Whilst there I had other treats to collect – my new animal cookie cutters from ikea, some ikea pickles, and some really tasty cream cheese with pickles in, that liz had bought me from ollie’s – the amazing 24 hour turkish supermarket near her house.

Saturday was painting day – our house is mostly decorated in dull sludgy colours, which we were all a bit fed up with, so we decided to repaint – we now have a lovely  bright yellow kitchen, and a nice fresh clean green lounge. It all feels so much warmer and more inviting now! (the before and after shots are  just of the kitchen, I haven’t taken a photo of the finished lounge yet.

 

To relax from our day’s hard work, we had a few friends round in the evening for a poker night. I didn’t win, unsurprisingly, but it was a lot of fun, and we went out to a local bar/club after for a bit, which was good – it was nice to spend some time hanging out with Helen – she definitely fits in well in the house!

Sunday was a more relaxing day. After lunch I went for a swim – it’s not something I’m very good at so I want to try and improve a bit. I went to Sainsbury’s for groceries, then came home and made cookies with my new cutters – lots of hedgehogs, squirrels, snails, foxes, bears, and my obvious favourite – a moose!

Gradually conquering Conquest

Today was my second day in the new job, working as a Senior Research Executive at Conquest. Everyone seems really nice, and I’m working on some interesting accounts (mainly L’Oreal!)

There’s a few things to get used to though. The office is a lot quieter than TNS – not surprising when you go from being surrounded by 250 people to 15! Plus I have a computer with a very old version of windows, but hopefully that will soon be updated! They have a very strict clear desk policy, and they don’t allow eating at desks, which sort of gets in the way of my usual routine of eating porridge at my desk (an activity usually accompanied   by checking my Hotmail – also not allowed!) So this morning I had a poached egg on a piece of toast (with brown sauce) before I left the house, and packed a tuna spread and spinach sandwich and a yogurt  for lunch. By the time 1pm rolled around I was famished though, it’s strange eating breakfast so early and then not snacking! On the positive side, the hours are much nicer – they work 9-5, and people really do leave at 5, unlike the usual 6:30 finishes I was used to at TNS, which means that now I can go to the gym after work and still be home before 7:30! (I went yesterday and ran 7k, but after a 40 minute wait for a train in the rain today, I decided a cup of tea and the sofa was a better option)

I spent the evening watching TV with my housemate Adrian, and my new housemate Helen, who seems really nice, originally from the Wirral, she works for Network Rail as a planner, and is very easy to get on with. She also happens to be the daughter of a baptist minister… small world! I had  a tin of baked beans for tea, with some added spinach, then a slice of toast and a  satsuma for supper – not overly exciting, but on a cold rainy day, beans seem very comforting!

Tomorrow night it’s someone from the office’s leaving/birthday drinks, so I shall be out at that – my first proper socialising event with the team – fingers crossed it will go well!

Back from a lovely break

Croatia was amazing – exactly the holiday I needed. I won’t go through our full itinerary day by day, but there were some highlights… Split was ok, not overly exciting, but I enjoyed the art gallery, and we did see the statue of Gregory of Nin (recognised to be one of the fathers of the Croatian language) who apparently brings good luck if  you touch his big toe (not so sure about that!). There was also a hill which was also home to a zoo, with some cute bunnies and some rather sad looking bears

Hvar Island was beautiful, with amazing sea views, and the fort on top of the hill (and a lovely bar/restaurant part way up serving lovely homemade wine) From Hvar we hired a boat for the day, which was great fun, and Mark got to swim around looking at lots of fishes (whilst I lazed about reading a book and working on my tan!)

 

There was a rather unpleasant 5 hour coach journey to get to Dubrovnik, in a very hot bus with no air conditioning, but we were entertained by listening in to the conversation between the American couple, and the Japanese woman travelling with her daughter who lives in London – they were fascinating people, and we learnt all sorts of things about them, about living in Oregon, and about the history of Croatia and what happened to the former Yugoslavia!

Dubrovnik was also lovely, although exhausting – there were a lot of steps to climb up and down! The ‘old town’ is all contained within the city walls,  and it was great walking around the tops of the walls – there were some fantastic views.

We looked round a number of the assorted churches, and some of them had some beautiful artwork – there was a particularly beautiful series of textured paintings in the Cathedral, but unfortunately I couldn’t get a photo of them.

We went on a half day kayak excursion to one of the islands, which is home to an old monastery, and a beautiful olive grove where we had a mini picnic of wine, bread and olives.

The food was very Italian, with a lot of pizza and ice cream (burnt off by all the stairs and the kayaking, obviously!) and also a lot of sea food. My top discoveries of the trip were  peanut butter flavour wotsits called Kroki Kroket and Rio Mare tuna spread (which I had the last time I came to Croatia with Mum, so had to bring some back!) We ate well, but all in all, the scenery, and also being able to spend time together just the two of us were the highlights of the trip, rather than the food.

Since returning, a lot has already happened – I have a new housemate, Helen, and a new job, which I started today, but I’ll post about those things later!

One more day until Holiday!

This morning I had another nice relaxing lie in, reading some more Murakami, then got up and made myself poached eggs on toast – definitely one of my favourite breakfasts!

I then sat down with the cooking channel (I love Rachel Allen!) and finished off a painting I started a few weeks back, based on a photo from last year’s holiday to Sweden. I wasn’t too sure how it was going to turn out, particularly as I seemed completely unable to mix the correct shade of blue, but I’m actually pretty happy with it.

I then had the rest of my homemade soup from the other day, then went to the gym. I got there feeling lazy and thinking I wouldn’t do much, but I still managed a 25 minute run, 10 minutes on the bike, and some weights! It’s great what you can achieve if you just keep going! (my legs are aching now though, they’ll appreciate a couple of days off!)

From the gym, I walked to Sainsbury’s, and was very excited to discover a new frozen yoghurt place called Milk In It that’s just opened, and was offering plain cones for 99p. I had to treat myself, and it was pretty good, sweetened with Agave Nectar, and not too tart.

When I got home I made some dip, as I’d got an aubergine to use up – this is one of my favourite ways to use aubergine, and it’s really simple (and adaptable)

First you prick the aubergine all over with a knife, then bake in the oven for at least 40 minutes. Once it seems well cooked and squishy, take it out and let it cool for a few minutes, then  peel off the skin. Roughly chop the gooey flesh, then stick it in the blender with a couple of tbsp of olive oil, a tbsp of lemon juice, and ideally some tahini (I didn’t have any unfortunately). You can also add some garlic paste if you have any. Blitz it until it’s creamy, then season to  taste, you can add a little chilli powder if you like. This is great served with crudites or pitta, as you would with hummus.