Dim Sumday!

The Wig loves Dim Sum. In fact it is his favorite food and death row dinner, so when we were invited for Dim Sum today he nearly popped with excitement. The only problem with being such a connoisseur is that his standards are very high. I'd never heard of Dim Sum when I met him but now I think I am rather as fussy as him. His favorite place to go is Imperial China in China town, so if you need to know a good place to go you can't go wrong there. They also have Karaoke upstairs - what more do you need?

http://www.imperial-china.co.uk/

However, if you prefer Dim Sum in the privacy of your own home, get yourself a bamboo steamer and head on down to Longdan on the Hackney Road and get stuck in to their freezer section. You can buy it all there, frozen, and then cook it at home! Lovely.

http://www.longdan.co.uk/?mod=contact&ctid=6

One of my most memorable Dim Sum experiences was on New Years Day 2010. We were visiting my older brother who lives in Maroubra, Sydney and after a particularly heavy NYE which began on my cousins yacht (?!), watching the fireworks in Sydney Harbour and ended in a rooftop apartment party, we woke up more than worse for wear on January 1st. So we dragged our sorry selves from bed, crossed the street from my brothers place and had Dim Sum for breakfast. What a start to the year. It was also slightly different to how I have had it here. We didn't order anything, the waiters just kept wheeling trolleys full of food past and you could pick what you want and keep going until you exploded. I have dreams about things like this. It was amazing.

Today though, we went with some friends to Youngs on Upper Street, Islington. I've often walked past this place and wondered why it is always empty but it's been there for a long time so it must have some customers. I'm never sure if being empty is really a good sign for a restaurant but the food was absolutely fine. The Wig ordered for everyone (6 adults and 1 small child) and managed to get it spot on with the amount of dishes. What a pro. I would give the food 7 steamed buns out of a possible 8, but the drinks 4 ice cubes out of a possible 10. The others had red wine and I fancied a glass of white, but they only had the mysterious non specific 'House'. So I opted for a soft drink instead:

Me: 'Can I have a cranberry juice please?'
Waitress: ' No'.
Me: What fruit juice do you have?'
Waitress: 'Apple, Pineapple or Orange'.
Me: 'Can I have an orange juice then please?'

She gave me a lemonade.

After lunch, we walked through Highbury Square on our way to a very exciting mission. My Jielde 6 arm light was finally ready for collection!

http://www.jielde.com/index/indexuk.html

The light that I had been swooning over for about 2 years was about to be mine. I never thought a light could have such an effect on a person, but this one did. I saw it in a shop, saved up for it for quite some time and last November I ordered one. It has taken 3 months to be ready since they are hand made in France, and now it is home! I am aware that this makes me sound like a bit of a loser but you know what? I don't care. I am considerably less well off for buying it but at least I can see. I was, however, rather less enamoured by the girl in the shop that served me.

Me: 'I've come to pick up my light'.
Girl: 'Have you got a car because if you haven't I don't know how you'll get it home'.
Me: 'Bus?'
Girl: 'Fine'.
Me: 'Would it be possible to check it before I take it to make sure it works ok?'
Girl: 'Its fine'.
Me: 'Well, can I just check it?'
Girl: 'We wouldn't sell it if it didn't work'.
Me: ' Hmm, can we just have a look at it?'
Girl: 'Look, I got it out the box earlier, it's fine. If I take it out of the box again, it wont go back in'.
Me: (what a strange light, I thought. It will only let you take it out of the box once and then it grows in size and refuses to let you put it back in).
Me: 'The thing is, if I take it home and there is a problem, then I'll have to lug all the way back, and you might not take it back as you could say it was me that broke it'.
Girl: (Snort) 'Ha! We wouldn't say that!'.
Me: 'Can we just look at it?'
Girl: 'FINE!'

When she did eventually take it out of the box and plug it in I actually hoped it didn't work, just to piss her off. I give the light 10 watts out of a possible 10 and the shop assistant 1 flip of the bird.

I had to stop off for a scone at the Albion on the way home to calm down, so not only did she raise my stress levels but she also made me fat(ter). Thanks a lot!

Betty Willow the Banana Baby

The Wig and I took a little train journey out to the motherland today, past the blossoming olympic site with its vast Stadium and Aquatic Centre ("I think thats probably where they'll do all the swimming") to Colchester. During the journey I was reminded that I need to get an eye test in the very near future. I took a picture from the train of what I thought was a small herd of Guernsy's but on closer inspection of the photo, they appear to be rusty farm instruments. Something else to add to the list of boring things to do, new glasses.

However, when we got to our destination, what a treat lay in store for us! Little Betty Willow the Banana Baby! It was the first time we had met her since her premature arrival on Christmas Eve and it was super exciting. She wasn't due until February so she is still really small, over 5Ib though now I think, and she still seems to have the instinct to curl up small (hence Banana Baby). She is the shape of a banana and has a foot the size of a teaspoon. And even though she only slept and ate for the duration of our visit I think our first meeting went well. She didn't cry or blow off on me when I held her, which, in my book, is pretty good as first meeting's go. 

Introducing Mr Wu!

I spent the day today at the home of an animal handler filming something for something of which I can not say. However, I can say that I'm not exactly the worlds greatest animal lover. Most animals scare me, particularly anything that jumps up or anything that tries to sniff you in undesirable areas. I think it stems from when I was a kid and I had to go and visit a neighbours farm. I hated it. It smelt bad, it was dirty and the farmer used to eat tripe, which in case you didn't know, absolutely honks. My mother was friends with the farmers wife and it was presumed that since her daughter was the same age as me, that we should be friends too. However, I secretly could not stand the daughter. She used to steal my Barbie's clothes and they had a huge Alsation that barked if you even looked it at from the wrong angle. I hated going there, but when you are a child, or when I was a child at least, I pretty much did what I was told. So, I've clearly been traumatised and now I only like things in zoo's, French Bulldog's and guppies. Or at least that's what I thought, until today when I met Mr Wu the Japanese Chin!

Mr Wu only moved to the animal handlers last Saturday and he didn't even have a name. The animal handler said that she wanted to give him an oriental name since he is a Japanese Chin dog but couldn't decide on what it should be. "Mr Wu" I shouted, which is the first thing I could think of due to 'Mr Wu's-all you can eat buffet' on Wardour Street, and now that is his name! How brilliant is that?! I'd never heard of a Japanese Chin dog before and now I've named one!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Chin

Apparently Japanese Chin dogs are considered the most cat like dog breed of all dog breeds in attitude, which is interesting since apparently, Mr Wu, thinks he is a cat. Before he moved in with the animal handler, he used to live in a house with lots of cats and subsequently he thinks he is a cat and doesn't know how to bark. Poor Mr Wu! The other thing that's unfortunate is that Japanese Chin dogs often have problems with the eyeballs. The Camera Technician told me this morning that his aunt used to own one and it got so excited one day that its eyeball popped out. Lets hope Mr Wu has more self control.

Wiggy's smalls

Today I watched some paint dry, and you know what, it's not that bad! Actually, it's exceedingly more riveting than the other things on the list of boring things to do which included such gems as 'clean the bathroom cupboard out' (yep, still not done that one), or 'tidy the desk drawer' (tedious) or 'dust the shutters' (painful) etc. So, I settled on painting the bottom of the fireplace which I broke up with a quick burst of washing Wiggy's smalls in between coats to mix it up a bit.

I also, devised a new treat system for the day today so that it wasn't all about chores. I had to do a couple of things for the shoot on Friday and thought that if I did them by 3pm then I would treat myself to some fresh Hackney air and if I was really lucky, a Mocha. If I was a donkey, the humble Mocha is my carrot, no doubt abut it. It was actually very lucky that I had the treat system in place as I'm not sure, without the promise of a hot drink, I would have got anything done. Today, I learned that I am very bad at working alone at home. When I worked in an office the thought of being able to work from home sounded like the most amazing thing ever. And I suppose it is in the sense that you can pretty much do what you want, but also, it's so damn distracting! There's too many records to listen too at home, and too many recipe books to dribble over, and too much left over christmas cheese to eat. It made me miss the PA I used to work with who used to let me hit him with my plastic ruler. That was pretty much my only distraction when I worked in my old job in an office.

I also learnt something interesting about travel Insurance today. While booking our Insurance for Sweden it would appear that our policy covers us for £200 per day if we get kidnapped. I think that's a pretty sweet deal, so if anyone wanted to kidnap me I'll split it with you. Just saying. Thinking about it, a couple of days locked in a cupboard would cover the cost of that wretched root canal.

Anyway, after the chores etc, I did venture out and was totally spoilt by 2 delightful coffee shops 5 mins from my flat! Who would have thought this was possible in Hackney?! Not me. The 1st one, I had visited last year after stumbling across it in Time Out, however The Notorious W.I.G found the staff so rude that we forbid/forbade/forbad (?) ourselves to ever go back. We had given them two chances as we thought the first experience was an unfortunate one off, but the second time was worse. So the "2 strikes and you're out" rule came into force. However, since I was Wig-less today, I thought I would give them one more try out of goodwill and found the staff delightful.

Wilton's Cafe on Wilton Way is a funny little place. It's in an old shop on a bit of a scruffy residential street with not much else near it, but it's definitely worth a visit as the coffee was delicious even if the staff are a bit hit and miss. Wilton's is also the home apparently of London Fields Radio. I don't really know what this means since I only seem to listen to Paul O'Grady on Radio 2 these days, but I suppose it's quite interesting to have a radio station round the corner....?

http://www.londonfieldsradio.com/cafe/

The cafe decor is pretty nice too, although you can't tell from their website, and was designed by a local couple who work under the name of The Dog and Wardrobe. They not only design interiors but they also have a pretty juicy shop on a Saturday off of Broadway Market. I heard about them quite coincidentally as I purchased 2 rather large and very camp plaster plaques of Her Majesty The Queen (...?) from them last year on eBay and discovered they were up the road. Luckily I have since been banned from eBay so this wont be happening again. The Dog and Wardrobe pretty much have my dream set up actually. Big flat full of cool furniture with shop underneath selling cool stuff on top of a very cool job. Me = Jealous.

http://www.thedogandwardrobe.com/

When I was walking back from Wilton's Cafe with my delicious (9 coffee beans out of a possible 10) Mocha, I found another Cafe! On the same road! Which I had never seen before but I reckon I will be visiting soon as soon as I earn another treat. It was very cute, and full of amazing cakes. I have no idea why I have never found this place before but it made me very excited. Not only will it be a nice place to go but also I reckon its a sign that Hackney is finally on the up. Yippppeeee!

http://www.violetcakes.com/about/ 

Hooray, Hooray, It's a holi holi day!

Yesterday, my pencil case and I came out of retirement. For one week only, well a couple of days this week actually, I am working. When you get a call at 11:20pm on a Friday night to see if you are free for a shoot the following week, you know it's a desperate situation. Maybe that could be my unique selling point for when I go back to work properly. "In the scheiße? Give me a shout!"  I could market myself as another Emergency Service. I am always on standby, I have top of the range equipment (a lovely pencil case from the Lollipop Shoppe) and I don't cost much to maintain. 


http://www.thelollipopshoppe.co.uk/?gclid=CPGS65H3w6YCFUIKfAodCBf5Mw


So, yesterday I went on a recce in Sutton. I've never been there before and I'm not sure I would rush to go back. The station was huge which on arrival led me to mistakenly believe there must be exciting things to see there, but I was wrong and a few dog poo sightings later I was headed back to Soho. 

Since I had to purchase some props for the shoot I had my first outing 'up West' of 2011. Despite it being a Monday afternoon, Oxford Street was packed and was confirmation that I am much better off staying local. It always amazes me where all the people come from. Don't they have to go to work? I'm glad I came into town though as if I hadn't I would have missed the pretty Valentine window displays in John Lewis and Godiva. And who knew Valentines Day had moved to January! No one told me.

After I'd done my couple of work chores, I met for friend for a drink or 2 bottles, and she bought me the most beautiful candle I've ever seen. It was a thank you present for having her to stay at Christmas which was really no trouble at all, although her washing up skills do leave rather a lot to be desired. Its a tiny smelly candle in the shape of an apple in a sort of enamel material. Very fancy indeed and as smelly candles are pretty much one of my all time favorite inventions, I was over the moon again.

http://www.dlcompany.com/

The Wig and I finally got round to booking our holiday too which we are both super excited about. We are going to Stockholm! We found a lovely (I hope) little hotel and are going to stay for 5 days.

http://www.storyhotels.com/

We had hoped to have a little break in december but what with this and that it was not possible, so this break feels like a long time coming. I have heard that it's quite an expensive place to go so we will probably just walk around a lot, but I don't mind, it will just be nice to be on holidays! Woop woop!