Learning to cook - part 2

Next up was sushi. I had tried to make sushi years ago but hardly remember and Caroline had never done it....so that was our next meal. Unfortunately while Caroline was cutting up a bunch of veg, she decided to cut her finger as well so I had to roll all of the sushi - yay me!

Learning to cook - part 1

My friend Caroline stayed with me for 3.5 weeks while she was waiting for the keys to her new apartment. So, we decided to make a few meals and Trishie learned to cook! The first meal was some white fish with chickpea curry type sauce, dahl, chinese broccoli bits, garlic naan - all served up with a nice cold glass of white wine. Nummy!!

Apologies for my laziness....

I had a phone call from an old friend tonight who mentioned my blog and I realized that I haven't posted for ages!! So here are the updates.....

Surgery sucks, recovery sucks and crutches definitely suck!

So most of you know that I've had problems with my knees for the last couple of decades and after going to specialist after specialist they still couldn't figure out what was wrong with me!

So a couple of weeks ago, I went to my Dr and she referred me to another specialist. He quickly scheduled me for an MRI and then decided surgery was the only option to get rid of the "plica" in each knee. Who knows, it's all medical mumbo jumbo to me!

The process was so fast because it was all through private medical. So on Monday 8th, I woke up at 5:45 in order to make it to the hospital for 7am. I got checked in, slipped into one of the ever so trendy hospital gowns that they give you as well as these fabulous stockings which apparently stop blood clots and I waited.

The consultant and anaesthetist came up separately to go through what each of their roles entailed and exactly what would be happening. I did find it very funny that the consultant put an arrow on my left leg - just so that they operated on the correct leg!

So eventually they wheel me down to the operating room. I asked the anaesthetist if I could have gas to make me pass out and then they could do their things with the needles as I have a stupid phobia of needles and was already freaked enough! So I inhaled the gas and out I went...

I woke up in recovery and they asked if I was in pain. Of course I was in pain!! So they gave me a healthy dose of morphine which apparently I don't react well to. They wheel me back up to my room and I was feeling super sick so they gave me a shot of something else to get me over the nausea - so I was really high!!

At some point I remember having a bowl of soup and a cup of tea and then there was some random kid running around screaming but the rest of it was a blur. I had to wander around on crutches with the physio and go up and down stairs before they would let me go - always fun when all I want to do is be sick. Apparently the shot that was supposed to suppress nausea didn't work.

My marvellous friend Mandy and her boyfriend Jag came and picked me up from the hospital and drove me home. To be honest, I don't remember much after leaving the hospital...not the journey home, not the rest of the evening, nothing. All I know is that when I woke up the next morning, there was an empty tub of Ben & Jerry's cookies 'n cream - apparently I was hungry?!

I was told that I'd be able to walk the next day but the nurses made me phone my boss after the operation to tell him that I wouldn't be in the next day. Good call - I could barely get out of bed let alone get into a suit, get up to town and work all day!

Wednesday, I tried to go to work. It took me ages to get there and after a couple of hours of being very uncomfortable - I headed back home! I took the rest of the week off as there was no way I was going to be alright working in those cramped conditions being a cripple!

But I think the weirdest part has been not drinking for a whole week! Clearly I don't do well on all of these drugs but have needed the odd painkiller or two and am NOT going to mix them with booze. It's like a side efect of surgery has been a detox - no complaints here!

So it's been nice not to work for a week but at the same time, I'm so freakin' bored - I can't wait to go back to work! The couch is boring me!

Daddy and his girls part 2

Another alright shot of Dad, Nic and I.

My sister's visit

So Nic arrived on Saturday and we went to the first game. I ended up going home by myself as my sis decided to carry on and go out with her coworker and his friends. The next day I went up to meet her and Dad for lunch. Nic was sleeping, apparently she was quite hungover! Eventually we woke her up and off we went. We had a great little pub lunch and Dad and I had a good giggle at the fact that she had a 7-up instead of beer! Then back to the O2 for the second game. We were in one of the boxes but I must say that the atmosphere wasn't nearly the same and we were all tired from the night before. Monday we went for a family dinner at our Aunt and Uncles place in Beckenham - so nice to have a home-cooked meal! Tuesday Nic clearly needed a break so she went back to mine and I went out on a date - why not eh?! Wednesday we got together with a bunch of people for drinks in the city. Again it was a nice mix of work people and non-work people. I figured the pic was appropriate - Nic loves the boys! Thursday Nic ended up having a dinner with clients so I had a nice night in by myself which was much needed as I'd been out for the last 2 or 3 weeks straight! Nic must have had a really good night as she didn't come home until the wee hours of the morning... Friday my sister was meeting up with a bunch of her old Roedean school friends. So I went out for dinner with my Dad and Mike and then met up with my sister a little later. I think Nic was still very hungover as she was once again drinking 7-up. This girls needs to learn how to hold/handle her booze!! Saturday, we woke up, got Nic all packed and I took her to Heathrow to meet up with Dad. We all said our goodbyes and the visit was over before I knew it!!

Post game drinking

The Saturday game finished at 8:30ish (started at 5) and there was clearly more drinking to be done so instead of trying to cram into the bars in the O2 like the rest of the crazies, we went to a local. I have no idea what it was called, just that it was close enough to the O2 that we could walk there in 3 or 4 minutes. Almost all of us made our way there along with a guy who works at my sister's companies London office and his 3 mates. So the drinking began. I was surprised at how good my sis, Mike and Dad were keeping up as they must have been quite tired after some pretty long flights! We made a pretty good night of it and didn't end up leaving until 11:30ish. Amazingly enough, I didn't wake up with a hangover the next day....

Daddy and his girls Part 1

Good shot of Dad, Nic and I at the first game. Good times!!

My sister's visit to London - NHL games

The NHL came to London - the Stanley Cup champs, the Anaheim Ducks and the LA Kings. My sister arrived in town on September 29th, the same day as the first game along with my Dad and Mike who works in his Toronto office. So off I head, up to London to meet them and then we went to the O2 for pre-game drinks. As you do....

There were 16 of us in total and we started with drinks and appies at the Slug & Lettuce before heading off to our seats. I was slightly torn as to which team to support but in the end went with the Kings because they had our old head coach and the Ducks knocked us out in the Cup last year. It was great to see a live game for the first time in almost 2 years but it was bizarre as there was no clear "home team". There were fans from almost every hockey team in the NHL and even some from local clubs. The Kings ended up winning 4-1 and it was a fabulous game.

Night out in Beckenham

I'd been living in Beckenham for almost three months and had only been out once in town with a friend from work who lives close by. And seeing as my friend Caroline was staying with me, I asked her and my friend Jayne to come out for an evening.

Caroline and I went shopping in the "big city" for something new to wear that night. We're all single and need to impress the boys and all.... Caroline found something fabulous from Mango but I didn't find anything so back to the house to search the closets. I found a gorgeous Karen Millen top that I'd never had the occasion to wear before (as it's tres revealing!), Karen Millen trousies and stiletto boots.

Caroline and I met Jayne on the way back from town and wandered to my house. Caroline and I cracked a bottle of wine and I made Jayne some vodka cokes which were (we found out later) a little on the strong side. Oops!! We threw some tunes on, got dressed, I did the girls makeup and we were ready to roll.

First stop was my favourite little bar called La Rascasse. We went to the bar, got our drinks and made our way outside to where all of the people (men) were. There was a large group of guys in the back so we positioned ourselves half way between them and the bar - the perfect spot! Jayne wasn't enjoying Rascasse so much so after two drinks we abandoned the bar and the boys and wandered over to a place called Friends of Mine. It was so good that we downed our drinks in 3 minutes and were going to try a different place called Box Bar.

On our way to Box Bar we bumped into the cute group of boys from Rascasse and they suggested that we go to the Bridge bar with them. Why not.....

Bridge bar was huge which is weird because to see it from the street it looks tiny!! There were 2 floors, the upstairs was packed but the downstairs was pretty empty. So after a walk around both floors, we found a good place to perch on the top floor, right next to the cuties we'd met earlier and got to drinking and chatting.

Poor Jayne wasn't feeling too well so we ended up leaving a little sooner than we thought.

Beckenham is actually a great place to go out for an evening on the weekends and will do it again very soon!!

My 29th Birthday x2

I turned 29 on September 10th this year and for those of you who are close to me, you'll remember all of my bitching and complaining about my little mid-life crisis... So I decided to have a birthday-week instead of just a birthday - I deserve it!! My birthday fell on a Monday this year, the worst possible day to have a birthday - without a doubt! I had intended to go home, crack open a bottle of wine and just generally be miserable but all of my friends insisted that I go out for 1 or 2. So I did....I wouldn't want to disappoint now would I? I figured that being a Monday and the fact that it was several weeks since opening, Revolution would be relatively quiet - so that was the venue. Just 10-15 people as I didn't want to make a big deal out of it. It was only supposed to be 1 or 2 but that quickly turned into 4 or 5 for myself and most other people there. It was still pretty quick as we got out of there at 9:30ish. An alright night and just what I had hoped for - my closest "out of work" friends as well as several work mates. I milked the birthday week thing all week at work and got out of all kinds of crap.... Then I had my proper birthday party on the Saturday. My friend Jayne's birthday was on Sunday so we had a joint party at her flat in Greenwich. We also decided to spice things up a bit and do fancy-dress and seeing as it was "national pirate speaking day" on September 19th we figured a pirate party was as good as any! There were about 20-25 people there and everybody showed up in fab outfits!! Jayne and I had gone food shopping that afternoon to get a little spread for everybody and did all the prep work when we got back to hers. It was a fab night, everybody ate and drank and they were all definitely merry! Great night and hoping to do another joint party next year - we'll work on the theme...

The pic is of most of the girls that were there that night.