Tag Archives: Dimsum

Bi-Weekly Update

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I haven’t written much lately… I guess because there is too much going on at the moment. Pleasant things mostly and also stuff that needs to be done, so I ain’t complaining. AS. has been in Egypt for almost two weeks, windsurfing, so I have the place to myself and you know what it is like: while the cat’s away, the mice will play.

So I had fun, doing things that I wanted to do which makes me realise that I really need to get my life back. Kris sent me an email last week because a friend of his had a client who’s looking for Flash designers, so I sent my CV and cover letter to him last week. I have applied for a few other jobs but I’m still waiting for a response. They seem to take their time over here which can be quite annoying…

Anyway, here’s an update:

Wednesday August 15

Got email in from Kris about job. CS. called and came over for a few hours in the evening, she wanted to chat and I haven’t seen nor spoken with her ever since she came back from her visit to India. She brought a bottle of wine, I finished it and was a bit pissed after that… CS. asked me to meet up again on Saturday to hang out with her and her niece R., and go into town for some window-shopping.

Thursday August 16

Got email in from friend of Kris about job, sent out my CV and cover letter.

Saturday August 18

CS. called to meet up at my local Tube station, her niece R. is over from Canada and she promised her to go shopping. We were supposed to go to Oxford and Regent street but they booked tickets for her to watch the football match in the afternoon so we only had a few hours… We had a coffee near the Tube station and walked to the local high-street to check out some shops.

Later that evening I went over to IS. and CS.’s place, we were on the guest list of club Pacha through JS. [CS’s son] who is friends with the DJ. So we had to be there at 23.00, we took the Tube but CS. forgot that Victoria line was closed earlier because of maintenance so we had to take a cab to Victoria Station. Had a fantastic night: have been dancing for six hours which was great; I needed to get rid of some energy and this was the best way to do it, most of the time on my own.

Met some guy from Estonia who was really thick so I ended up showing him my bitch switch. I had to be rude to get the message across; I just wanted to dance on my own and be one with the music and not being bothered by someone who desperately wants my attention… I closed my eyes, thought of thunderstorms and lightning, turned around and ignored him. I was happy we were on the guest list and had a VIP room to ourselves and the DJs so I could escape from this guy and doze off on the bass… Hectic speakers!

Funny thing was that we had to wait in line each time we wanted to have a fag. There was this narrow alley on the side of the club, everyone there was really friendly, joking and having fun. It was pissing down and half of the alley was covered but no one seemed to care, it was hot inside so it was nice to cool off a bit. We left just before the club would close and waited outside for a cab to show up. JS. had called one but it took an hour to get there. I was home at 06.00 in the morning and couldn’t sleep really. Kept thinking about thunderstorms…

Here are a few pics:

Sunday August 19

Didn’t sleep for 48 hours… and it took me a while to recover from this and a night out clubbing…

Tuesday August 21

Met up with Kris at Holborn Tube station to have lunch today, walked around Covent Garden for a while and to my surprise I ran into Stu. who is over from the lowlands for two weeks. I was so surprised to see him that I even forgot to say hello to him. He felt the same, so it wasn’t just me being scatterbrained. I mean, out of almost 8 million people, that day, that place and that time; what are the odds? And we were supposed to meet up on Thursday, not that Tuesday… :P

Kris and I went to Satsuma to have lunch there. I had some delicious sushi, with smoked salmon and avocado, also nicked a few from Kris who had ordered crispy duck sushi and some spicy noodle soup. I wasn’t very hungry so the sushi was plenty for me combined with a nice pot of green tea. We stayed there for a while chatting and decided to walk around Soho and have a coffee bit further down the road at an italian place called Bar Italia which seems to be an all night Soho favourite since 1923. We walked back to Holborn and I went home from there.

Thursday August 23

Had to collect R., got stuck at Mile End and had to take a detour to get to the Times which took me 45 minutes altogether. Had a quick coffee with CS. and then we went to Camden Town because R. had an appointment to have a small tattoo done. It didn’t take long so when they were done we took the Tube and went to Covent Garden where we walked around a bit. I bought some brushes for my aunt and we had lunch at a vegetarian place at Neal’s Yard. We then walked back to Covent Garden Piazza to meet up with Stu. Meeting point the carousel at 15.15…

We walked a bit, checking out Covent Garden: showing R. around, and decided to go to a pub around the corner in Wellington Street, called The Corner Store. Unfortunately we had to leave after some time because some people had made reservations.

We walked around Soho and Chinatown looking for another pub but most were too busy. I called MvdM. to ask him about this Dim Sum place that he knows of, since we were getting a bit hungry and I have been craving for Dim Sum for such a long time. He gave me directions so we took the Tube to Oxford Circus. I’m not sure about this place, I’ve read very negative reviews and also, it isn’t really authentic, I’d rather find a cosy place in Chinatown to be honest. This place seems too modern, too yuppie to me perhaps.

Anyway when we arrived there was a line of people, at least about 80 of them probably more, it would’ve taken hours so we decided to go for a pub grub at Carnaby Street instead. We stayed till about 22.00 and walked back to the Tube station. I had to bring R. home, CS. already called because it was getting late. Unfortunately we had to leave in a bit of a rush, so said a quick goodbye to Stu. and walked to Oxford Circus. We were at IS.’s and CS.’s at 23.55; I. took me home at 01.00… A busy day but has been very good and it was really nice to meet up with Stu. and hang out for a bit!

Dim Sum and Markets

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We booked our flights and the rental car today for the wedding in June. I found a really cheap B&B in the same little village where the reception will be. It saves us a 12km trip to the nearest big hotel, which would be 40 Euros by cab . I called the cab company of that particular area and the person on the phone was really helpful and kind, he gave me some addresses of hotels to check out online. The nearest hotel would’ve been either Wieringermeer or Schagen and the latter was booked already. A room at Wieringermeer would’ve been another 93 Euros. So I called the lady of the B&B and was pleasantly surprised to find out that the room was available. The perfect place to stay, in the middle of nowhere, in farmer country!
I needed fabric to sew two new dresses, and a zipper to adjust and finish my dress for the wedding. So we went to Ridley Road Market, to this store called ‘Dalston Mill Fabrics’. An Aladdin’s cave to be explored, so many fabrics and colours, zippers, threads. I bought a dark chocolate satin and a light grey satin, thread and zippers so I’m all set to finish the dress for the wedding and start the other two in time. This store was situated next to the Ridley Road market, a cool market, we were a bit late but we’ll probably go there again. I need to look for bamboo steam baskets since mine are falling apart of intensive use. I also need to look for ingredients for Dim Sum, since I have been craving this and Sushi lately. I think I will make some Sushi next week and buy fresh tuna from this market.
We then rushed off to Lakeside, A. had bought the wrong size of shoes so we had to go there to swap them, they only had one pair left unfortunately, the ones on the shelf, so one shoe was slightly more cracked than the other. I went to Marks & Spencer and finally found the pants [cropped leg] that I have been looking for, so I bought two of them in black and I ordered another pair in a light grey tartan fabric [very nice!]. I will have to collect them next Saturday from Ilford. Because I have been craving for Asian food for days we decided to order in Chinese. Unfortunately Dim Sum is never on the menu, well, not the original Dim Sum, only starters… Anyway it was good but I will still make some Sushi next week!!!
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Ridley Road Market
Open: Mon-Wed, 9am-3pm, Thu 9am-midday, Fri/Sat 9am-5pm, Dalston Kingslane Railway Station.
London Borough of Hackney
This is the place to come if you’ve a penchant for Asian, African, Caribbean and Mediterranean food stuffs. Sadly, the market has made headlines in recent months for all the wrong reasons (allegedly illegal bushmeat is easily obtainable if you’re a regular to the market) although that said, it’s still a good place to come for cheap fruit ‘n’ vegetables, exotic spices and Asian specialities. Ridley Road market is a truly great place to walk around; it bustles, it jostles, it smells, it’s noisy, it tests your patience, it tires you out, it’s completely fascinating, at turns its comic and then somehow seems poignant. In short, it’s alive.
The mixture of races rubbing shoulders with each other is incredible: Indian, Chinese, Jamaican, old time Londoners (ie, pre-yuppy), Turkish, African – they’re all here, buying provisions, chatting away in all manner of languages and dialects. And the food on sale is amazing: dates, custard apples, big fat avocados, pomegranites, sharon fruit, mangos, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, puna yams, bags of garlic, thousands of chillis, a whole array of scary blackened smoked fish heads, and even rolls of dried, cured cow skin. The various fishmongers sell between them fresh tuna, coley fillets, live crabs, squid, octopus, salmon, cod, tilapia, skate, red snappers and psychadelic parrot fish.
You take as you find, speak of what you see, and after many years of walking down Kingsland Road, ending up at Ridley Road market, one can never tire of the amazing vibe of the place, its myriad faces and languages all competing with the sound of the market traders shouting back at you, selling they’re bits and bobs, rubbing they’re hands together to get the warmth back in, sipping hot steaming cups of tea. Ridley Road market, and by extension, it’s a great place; busy, colourful, unpretentious, noisy, real and alive. If you can see beyond its scruffiness, you might well find yourself falling hopelessly in love with the place.
© My Hackney
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