143. The Martini Factory

31st May 2014, Fitzrovia, London

I had finally been invited to the Martini Factory!

I will happily admit to using the word 'invited' rather liberally. Calling someone up and simply informing them of your intention to visit their home and that you will be wanting martinis, may not strictly speaking count as an invite.

The history of the Martini Factory is short and simple. After an evening spending ludicrous amounts of money on dry martinis at a swanky cocktail bar, Scotty decided it was time to learn how to make them at home. They do after all only have two ingredients, three if you pop some olives in there. And as he perfected his martini making technique, his flat more and more frequently turned into the Martini Factory.

And now my time had also come to visit the Factory and hopefully once and for all learn to appreciate martinis other than the porn star variety.

First win for the Martini Factory versus swanky cocktail bars: unlimited amounts of olives. Bartenders across London normally will give you one olive, if that, and sometimes just a stupid lemon twist. What am I suppose to do with the stupid lemon twist? The olives are the best bit, everyone knows that!

Second win for the Martini Factory versus swanky cocktail bars: personal big screen viewings of cartoons. The screen may not be as big as at the cinema but it's close enough considering it being in someone's living room. Movie of the night was Rio. Although at first, I was very disappointed to realise Rio wasn't the name of the bird, three martinis in I was mainly just extremely excited about all the dancing and colours and the jungle and the everything.

Third win for the Martini Factory versus swanky cocktail bars: Four martinis at the price of some snacks and a bus trip! Winner!

Now I'm just waiting for a mojito factory to open up. Any takers?

The Martini Master!

And at the martini factory you get three olives if you want three olives!

142. Don't Touch The Plate!

31st May 2014, Bi Bim Bap, Fitzrovia, London

Trying new food is one of my greatest pleasures and I am slowly running out of things to test that haven't got bugs in them.

Bi Bim Bap I have been saving for a while and after a few glasses of wine at Scotty's place we decided it was time to try it this evening. Preferably before more glasses were being had on an empty stomach.

The Korean place in question is conveniently located right by Scotty's flat and upon reflection I realised I've walked past it a load of times and never really noticed it. It's a rather shabby looking hole in the wall and I was dubious about getting my dinner from any place with condiments in plastic bottles on the tables. Then again, I would probably benefit greatly from trying not to be such a food snob, and Scotty's judgement as far as food goes tends to be rather good.

I love any type of food with a procedure to it. May it be fondue, raclette or Korean hot griddle tables - I'm all over it. I suspect it's my inner child that is thrilled at the idea of actually being allowed to play with my food.

It's also my inner child that insists on touching the very hot plate every time I'm told by anyone not to touch the hot plate because it's, well, hot. And when the plate's sole purpose is to fry your food for you, it's even hotter.

I almost went and apologised to the restaurant staff for my judgemental thoughts about them earlier, because the food was absolutely delicious and to top things off, cheap!

I vote for more foods that you're allowed to play with!

VERY hot plate.

141. The Legend Of Sugar Man

30th May 2014, Brick Lane, London

I love a good well made documentary, but sadly they are not as common as one would wish these days. And Toddlers In Tiaras do not count.

It may not be very rock'n'roll to stay in on a Friday night to watch a documentary, but the subject of this film sure is. And I'm sure even Dave Grohl have quiet Friday nights in on the sofa.

It is such a simple story yet ever so grand about a brilliant musician who returned from the dead to become a rock star 30 years after giving up on his career. And intertwined in this story of one man is the history of a nation, the history of a generation and a story of the value of family. All of this in one film without it getting sappy or confusing.

The film is beautifully shot, with respect and care for the participants and with Sixto Rodriguez' mellow music constantly in the background. As it turned out, this was 86 minutes I was happy to spend in my flat having popcorn rather than being in a bar having cocktails.

If you have a Friday night to spare - this, and of course some popcorn, is my hot tip for it.  

Pure Brilliance.

140. Pontus' Pocket

23rd May 2014, Pocket, Stockholm, Sweden

Time to wrap up my Stockholm stay for this time around  by having a lovely dinner with Bestie and Long Lost Londoner.

After a hectic day of picking up all the final bits and pieces (in other words, pickamix) before returning home to London, having wine in the sun with Gossip Girl visiting all the way from Australia and having more drinks with Baby Bro - I was starving and tipsier than acceptable at 5.30 PM.

In Stockholm there's a rather unusual concept of many restaurants having 'back pockets' which is basically a really chilled out annex to a more well known and let's face it, expensive, restaurant. These are generally run by somewhat famous and extremely talented chef's and in my opinion, the mini restaurants and bistros are often much more enjoyable than the main ones. I guess there is a lot less pretention but still a focus on making great food with great quality, which is really what I want out of dinner.

This time around it was the fairly new and appropriately named Pocket we were checking out. Having been to the main restaurant and several other of Pontus Frithiof's eateries it succeeded in emphasising the genius of this concept. The food was delicious and made out of great produce with the venue having lovely attentive and well educated staff that did not make you feel like you should feel honoured to even set foot in their fine establishment.

But greatest of all was obviously getting to spend time with two of my favourite people before heading back to the dramas of London. The dramas of London was of course covered though, seeing as my former partner in crime was there although she is no longer helping me create drama anywhere near England. Fact, she is now married and spends her days renovating flats and baking bread - so dare I say my Long Lost Londoner has joined enemy ranks and become a grown up? Thankfully me and Bestie were there to bring the grown up point average down to a decent level which I worked hard on throughout dinner.

With this last night over and done with, I just want to say; Thank you for a lovely stay Stockholm (and Pontus) - I will see you soon!

Bestie!

139. Rooftop Mojitos

22nd May 2014, 101 at Anglais, Stockholm, Sweden

Following a lovely dinner, Persian Party Princess, Sponge Bob and I proceeded to have drinks at the roof terrace of hotel Anglais.

Although this hotel bar is one of my favourite after-work-drinks-when-not-working spots, I have only been there in winter when the terrace was closed. Knowing that it's normally packed as soon as Sweden starts warming up the slightest, we were lucky to get in there and even luckier to get a seat.

Whilst Persian Party Princess and her bump settled for Virgin Mojitos, I decided to help Sponge Bob live up to her nick name with mojito after mojito after mojito.

The funny thing with summer nights in Sweden is that its' inhabitants will quite literally go through a full on personality transplant as soon as the sun comes out for more than a few hours each day around lunch time. Swedes have a well earned reputation of being rather cold and reserved, but this all goes out the window come May or June. Suddenly, people will actually speak to other people on a voluntary basis, smile at other people and even be willing to leave their homes to go for a drink on a school night.

And Anglais really did have that feeling of cows just being released to the pastures over the summer with everyone being excited and merry - even the bartenders, which is highly unusual in Stockholm.

It's these summer nights that are making me fall in love with Stockholm all over again.

138. Escalator To The Secret Garden

22nd May 2014, Grand Escalier, Stockholm, Sweden

The first time I spent time with both Sponge Bob and Persian Party girl as a pair, was 4 years ago at one of the most absurd but hilarious weekends to take ever place in the Adelaide Wharf Years*.

Sponge Bob and I go way back and met as nannies of Luxembourg in 2005, spending our days running after kids and our nights having copious amounts of wine and getting into all sorts of trouble at the dodgy night clubs of Grund in Luxembourg Ville. Persian Party Girl however was a new addition as of that mental weekend partying across London.

This time around was my first visit to Stockholm in absolute ages without an Excel spreadsheet dividing my social ventures into slots of 45 minutes each and I therefore actually got the chance to sit down for a proper meal with these two, plus our latest addition to the group - Persian Party Girl's bump!

Heading into one of the malls in Central Stockholm, I was a bit sad to see that we would be spending such a gorgeous evening indoors, but figured an evening with these to ladies was totally worth sitting inside. Imagine my happiness and surprise when the escalator in the middle of the shopping centre leads to a beautiful garden filled with beautiful people, and most beautiful of all the two and a half ladies that were my dates for the evening.

The restaurant was beautiful and the perfect setting for an evening of laughing my way to a six pack. You got to love the people in your life that you may not see often, but still can spend an entire evening with feeling like no time has passed at all.  

Between glasses of rose wine (cranberry juice for the bumpy lady) and divine servings of moules frites, steak and lamb sausages, we also were told some honest truths about pregnancy. Finally another friend who is actually not lying about it! That is two out of what feels like a hundred and it is liberating to not be told a load of fluff because someone is trying to trick other women into the club of motherhood. I'm sure it's great and yes, some babies are rather cute - but please stop pretending that pregnancy and child birth is all fairy dust and rainbows. I have seen my sister's birthing video - I know the truth. So for crying out loud, please stop lying to me! In the name of solidarity to other women if not else! Thank God for Persian Party Girl.

We'll save you some wine for 2015!

Two And a Half Women

Gorgeous Garden

 

*My former riverside home that stood as East London Party Central for several years until I inevitable became a grown up. Of sorts.

137. Cultural High

22nd May 2014, Kulturhuset, Stockholm, Sweden

Seeing as I've filled my culture quota for the month on ceramic sculptures I had the perfect excuse to visit the House of Culture in Stockholm for the first time, without actually having to deal with any culture.

On this beautiful pre summer day of glorious sunshine I was stealing my former German Class Companion away from her job to enjoy an al fresco lunch in central Stockholm. With 10 years having passed since graduating from school and us, quite frankly, being terrible at speaking German - I always enjoy this annual status update of ours.

Stockholm caught on to the roof top terrace thing late, but when they did catch up - they did it good. There's a roof top in every corner it seems and when the rooftop overlooks the most beautiful city in the world, nothing can really go wrong once up there. Unless you fall off it obviously. I have a feeling I could care less about the view if I was crashing towards my death, even if the architecture is beautiful.

When I first told GCC that I had very sharp elbows and that I would always manage to get us a seat, no matter how crowded a place was this was met with a lot of scepticism. And although she may think the couple at our table left because they were finished with their meal, I know it was my presence that made them pack up and leave. That is how great I am at snagging a spot just about anywhere - the bigger the crowd, the greater the challenge and I love a good challenge.

 

So, whilst GCC was having water, I as the lady of leisure that I am enjoyed a huge glass of wine with my salmon whilst recapping the last year of our lives as far as work, men, travels and family updates went. In Swedish, not German I might add. Seeing as my recollection of German class consists of some grammatical rules and a few rude rhymes, it would be a very short and rather boring, but not necessarily inaccurate recap.

 

Already looking forward to the summer recap of 2015!

 



Gorgeous Swedish salmon with gorgeous Swedish dill crème and gorgeous Swedish Veggies.

Guten Tag. Wasser ist als Fonds als Wein. Versprich. Wer braucht Deutschunterricht, wenn es Google Translate?