My post this week involves arcane robes, pyramids, and strange stories told in darkened rooms amongst many other things. With this in mind I want to make clear that I haven't become a freemason (or maybe I have and am hiding it from you?) No.)) Still it does all sound a bit mysterious doesn't it? And maybe it will explain why I haven't had time to do anything for ANGER TUESDAY or the midweek music update or even the much awaited cooking with G, or at least I hope it will because I consider myself a dab hand at coming up with excuses for not writing and I don't want my illusions to be shattered. Unfortunately as I haven't written anything all week this will probably be a long one, but please dear reader push ahead, it's worth it. Honestly.
Arcane Robes
So Monday was my second graduation, and because of that I am now officially a Master of Arts in International Political Economy. I have a fancy bit of paper to prove it and everything! Although in a way this graduation can be considered a bit more important it was actually a lot less stressful, probably because I've done it all before when I got my bachelors and so I'm now a bit of an expert at the whole dressing funny and getting a piece of paper business. In fact going in I couldn't really give a damn about he fact I was getting a masters. Far more important in my opinion was that I had managed to do up a tie on my own with no help.
Honestly this is a really big achievement for me; I never had a school tie so didn't pick up the skill at a young age, my hand eye coordination is almost non-existant, and I have trouble understanding the concept of mirrors. But after about half and hour of trying I finally managed to make myself look presentable and that small miracle set me in a good mood for the rest of the day.
The actual business of getting the piece of paper, once you are through with the incredibly tedious speaches from the senior faculty, is over pretty quickly. Then comes the whole point of the day: partying. This starts of with a stereotypical photo of everyone throwing their stupid hats in the air (I could go on at length about how much I hate the stupid hats). After that I went out for drinks and dinner with my Mum and Dad to Giorgio on Portland Street (very good, not overly expensive). At this point I also should mention my awesome new coat which my parents gave me as a present: a knee length 50's vintage overcoat, it's awesome and is basically all I ever wanted in a coat.
After the gentle start the real partying started when I headed back down to the uni for some drinks with my fellow graduates. Now I won't go in to too much detail about what went on, both to spare people any embarrasment and to avoid any legal complications, but it's fair to say we partied right and then we possibly partied too right. Regardless of what happened I decided it would be a good idea to walk home in the damp and freezing cold at about half six in the morning and then wake up to see my parents at about midday for lunch. This was not a good idea.
It will not surprise you to know that upon seeing my hungover dishevelled form my parents didn't decide to stay for lunch but instead left about as fast as they possibly could to see my aunt for lunch in Birmingham instead and I don't blame them in the slightest.
Strange Stories
I obviously wrote off the whole of Tuesday as a hangover day and moped around the flat trying to do as little of anything that might involve any sort of effort. By Wednesday I was back on my feet and only as lazy as I normally am. Also I'd just like to say at this point that bar Monday I think everyday this week I tried to do Christmas shopping and never quite got round to it.
The exciting event of Wednesday was brought about by my friend Nija who pointed out that we should probably hang out before she went home to Atlanta for the holidays and that (I'm sure) quite coincidentally she was telling a story at the Castle Hotel that evening and that would be the perfect place to hang out, after getting Mexican food of course (Poncho's at the Arndale Market, cheap and delicious).
The event at the Castle was a relatively new night called Tales of Whatever, the website sums it up but basically people tell true life stories without any notes or prompts. There were some great stories and the Castle always has a great atmosphere and great beer. Nija told a brilliant story about her parents, and then just after her there was an open mic slot. Now I've been to things at the Castle before, having gone along to Bad Language quite a lot over the last year, but I've never had the guts to go up on stage before. For some reason on Wednesday I did it anyway and gave a... mostly true account of my time in Saudi Arabia (some things may have been slightly exaggerated for comedic and dramatic affect).
Much to my surprise rather than being booed off stage and kicked out of the venue I actually got a round of applause and was asked to come back again! I'm slightly worried that this will all go to my head but it has definitely given me a bit of a spring in my step finding out that people like to hear me prattle on and has also convinced me that I really need to finish some of the stories I've started and never got round to finishing so I can read those at people at some point.
Pyramids
On Thursday afternoon I had a job interview. Or at least I thought I did. Throughout Wednesday night I tossed and turned with a horrible fever, at one point dreaming I was a cast member in Seinfeld, at another point getting up and sleepwalking which as far as I'm aware I've never done before. This should have been an omen. I woke up on Thursday feeling possibly more awful than I'd even felt on Tuesday, even worse knowing that I had this job interview looming over me in a couple of hours.
I decided some preparation was necessary so I looked up the company. They had a weird and crap website which all looked very cheap and badly made. I was feeling a bit paranoid but decided it was probably just the fever and I should have a shower and some ibuprofen before I judged.
And then came the Google search and the words "pyramid scheme". And not just once, a whole load of people linking these guys in with a pyramid scheme. I guess I didn't want to give up on hope entirely, I've been job hunting for ages and these were the first people who had actually offered me anything so I decided to call them and let them make their case. The conversation went something like this.
"Hi I read some things about your company on the internet a-"
*click* beep
It was shit luck and combined with the cold, the crappy weather and the fact I had to go to the job centre later that day it put me in a foul mood and one that didn't exactly inspire good blog writing.
and in conclusion
As I write to you dear reader I am wrapped up warm in bed, the cold seems to be abating, and yesterday evening I had dinner with friends (Tampopo on Albert Square, slightly overpriced and I think Umami on Oxford Road tastes better) and then stuffed my face with fresh macaroons from the Chrsitmas Market (some stall at the christmas market, amazing because macaroons), and all in all I can say that it hasn't really been that bad a week. Some things weren't great and I definitely hope they don't happen again but maybe even bad experiences can make a story worth telling and to be honest they were totally counterbalanced by all the great things and great people that made up the good times.
And on that note I'd like to say thanks to the ever lovely Miss Lucy Boucher, blogger extraordinaire, who inspired me to finally get round to writing this all down. Thanks Lu. You should really read her stuff she is a lot better at this than me.
Showing posts with label Food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Food. Show all posts
Saturday, 17 December 2011
Your humble author shakes the handof an oddly dressed woman,while dressed oddly
Sunday, 4 December 2011
A Week in Gluttony
I've been eating out a fair ammount this week which is odd, especially considering as I'm unemployed and as such don't have any money. But if there are two things I love to talk about its food and how fucking poor I am, plus a couple of the meals I had this week were stuff I had never eaten before. This is particularly weird as I have eaten A LOT, so finding new food is always a delight and totally something you, dear reader, want to hear about.
Ethiopian food at Habesha
On Tuesday night I went out for Ethiopian food with my lovely chums Nija, Joe and Gemma. It's always great to see them and to be honest I was pretty excited for Ethiopian food because not only had I never eaten it before but I'd never even heard of it so had absolutely no idea of what to expect. Habesha is a little restaurant just off of Canal Street and you already know its excellent when you walk in. This is because to get to Habesha you first have to go into a kebab shop downstairs and then climb some stairs in the middle of the room to get up to the restaurant. Sleaziness of this level is always a sign of either excellent food to come or horrifying gastric problems, a gamble I was more than prepared to take.
Even before you start eating the place is pretty amazing, there are East African decorations on the walls, a traditional Ethiopian dining set up which is kind of hard to explain but looks awesome (there are also normal tables, and we were at one of those). The music is kick ass being what I can only describe as African psyche, and if you don't think that's amazing I don't know what to say. In the corner is a TV which when we came in was showing Eritrean TV, with what looked to be some sort of memorial show or something being stage invaded by a man with an air freshener. To drink we shared a bottle of Ethiopian wine which to be honest wasn't that great but was saved by the label which proudly announced that it had won a 1980 East German wine competition as well as another award that looked like it was Russian.
With the scene set I will now describe the food and it's aftermath. Me and Joe shared a vegetarian and a lamb dish. The vegetarian portion, which contains a variety of things lentil based (so a bit like dhal) are served on a massive sour dough pancake, the lamb was a sort of curry which tasted strongly of tamarind. As well as this each of us got a basket filled with more of the sour dough pancakes as well as a bowl of incredibly strong spice (and possibly MSG). I've got to say that it was delicious and to be honest I appreciate any meal which you eat entirely with your hands, especially when shared with a group of friends.
There was one issue though. It was incredibly filling. TO the extend that I honestly don't know if I have ever been so full in my life. To give you and idea of how full I was, I woke up the morning after and I was still full and didn't need to eat until about 9pm the next evening. It was a food hangover and I feel everyone should get at least one of those. So eat Ethiopian food but also probably don't eat for a while before and after so you have enough room for a stomach packed with sour dough. I will definitely go again though even at the risk exploding.
Chinese Hot Pot at Tai Pan
Just this evening I went out for a farewell party for my good friend Dory who is moving to Singapore next week, and to say goodbye we went to Tai Pan on Upper Brook street. Tai Pan is a pretty decent Chinese restaurant and is (in my experience) especially good for Dim Sum because it's both delicious and, if you time it right, very decently priced. Word of warning though if you go to Tai Pan you need someone who speaks Chinese, every time I've been there I've needed a Chinese person to read the menu and order the food and I honestly don't know how you'd actually cope otherwise.
So anyway onto the hot pot. Now when I hear hot pot I immediately put the word "lancashire" in front of it. I was assured that a Chinese hot pot is different but to be perfectly honest it's much the same beast. Get a bunch of people and a pot full of boiling water and chuck a bunch of meat and stuff in the pot until it's cooked. Simple as. Obviously the sauce we were dropping stuff into was Chinese tasting and there was a lot of seafood but the principle is the same. There were 12 of us there and to save money we only ordered enough for 10, knowing that Tai Pan gives fairly generous portions anyway. They gave us enough for about 20. I am not kiddding when I say that we were dealing with an actual mountain, or perhaps even a mountain range, of food. I mean I was already feeling pretty gluttonous having dealt with the Ethiopian earlier in the week but I think after this I am basically not going to be allowed to eat for a week.
All told hot pot was a lot of fun, communally cooking stuff and trying to work out what the hell half of the raw food we were given is definitely fun. It's pretty messy though and I honestly felt really bad about the ammount of food we had left (I would say that we probably only ate about half of what we were given). A couple of us were saying that really to do it right you would probably need to commit most of a day to it, and nice as Tai Pan is I don't think I want to spend that much time in there. It was well priced considering what we got and knowing how much they gave us this time I would say that you could get a very good meal out of it for only about £7.
So there you go, the highlights of what has been a week of overeating. Join me next week as I try to live on nothing but toast!
Ethiopian food at Habesha
On Tuesday night I went out for Ethiopian food with my lovely chums Nija, Joe and Gemma. It's always great to see them and to be honest I was pretty excited for Ethiopian food because not only had I never eaten it before but I'd never even heard of it so had absolutely no idea of what to expect. Habesha is a little restaurant just off of Canal Street and you already know its excellent when you walk in. This is because to get to Habesha you first have to go into a kebab shop downstairs and then climb some stairs in the middle of the room to get up to the restaurant. Sleaziness of this level is always a sign of either excellent food to come or horrifying gastric problems, a gamble I was more than prepared to take.
Even before you start eating the place is pretty amazing, there are East African decorations on the walls, a traditional Ethiopian dining set up which is kind of hard to explain but looks awesome (there are also normal tables, and we were at one of those). The music is kick ass being what I can only describe as African psyche, and if you don't think that's amazing I don't know what to say. In the corner is a TV which when we came in was showing Eritrean TV, with what looked to be some sort of memorial show or something being stage invaded by a man with an air freshener. To drink we shared a bottle of Ethiopian wine which to be honest wasn't that great but was saved by the label which proudly announced that it had won a 1980 East German wine competition as well as another award that looked like it was Russian.
With the scene set I will now describe the food and it's aftermath. Me and Joe shared a vegetarian and a lamb dish. The vegetarian portion, which contains a variety of things lentil based (so a bit like dhal) are served on a massive sour dough pancake, the lamb was a sort of curry which tasted strongly of tamarind. As well as this each of us got a basket filled with more of the sour dough pancakes as well as a bowl of incredibly strong spice (and possibly MSG). I've got to say that it was delicious and to be honest I appreciate any meal which you eat entirely with your hands, especially when shared with a group of friends.
There was one issue though. It was incredibly filling. TO the extend that I honestly don't know if I have ever been so full in my life. To give you and idea of how full I was, I woke up the morning after and I was still full and didn't need to eat until about 9pm the next evening. It was a food hangover and I feel everyone should get at least one of those. So eat Ethiopian food but also probably don't eat for a while before and after so you have enough room for a stomach packed with sour dough. I will definitely go again though even at the risk exploding.
Chinese Hot Pot at Tai Pan
Just this evening I went out for a farewell party for my good friend Dory who is moving to Singapore next week, and to say goodbye we went to Tai Pan on Upper Brook street. Tai Pan is a pretty decent Chinese restaurant and is (in my experience) especially good for Dim Sum because it's both delicious and, if you time it right, very decently priced. Word of warning though if you go to Tai Pan you need someone who speaks Chinese, every time I've been there I've needed a Chinese person to read the menu and order the food and I honestly don't know how you'd actually cope otherwise.
So anyway onto the hot pot. Now when I hear hot pot I immediately put the word "lancashire" in front of it. I was assured that a Chinese hot pot is different but to be perfectly honest it's much the same beast. Get a bunch of people and a pot full of boiling water and chuck a bunch of meat and stuff in the pot until it's cooked. Simple as. Obviously the sauce we were dropping stuff into was Chinese tasting and there was a lot of seafood but the principle is the same. There were 12 of us there and to save money we only ordered enough for 10, knowing that Tai Pan gives fairly generous portions anyway. They gave us enough for about 20. I am not kiddding when I say that we were dealing with an actual mountain, or perhaps even a mountain range, of food. I mean I was already feeling pretty gluttonous having dealt with the Ethiopian earlier in the week but I think after this I am basically not going to be allowed to eat for a week.
All told hot pot was a lot of fun, communally cooking stuff and trying to work out what the hell half of the raw food we were given is definitely fun. It's pretty messy though and I honestly felt really bad about the ammount of food we had left (I would say that we probably only ate about half of what we were given). A couple of us were saying that really to do it right you would probably need to commit most of a day to it, and nice as Tai Pan is I don't think I want to spend that much time in there. It was well priced considering what we got and knowing how much they gave us this time I would say that you could get a very good meal out of it for only about £7.
So there you go, the highlights of what has been a week of overeating. Join me next week as I try to live on nothing but toast!
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