Settling in
Queen of Fucking Everything
Art, fashion, beauty, books and food
The perfect Saturday
I am stuck indoors today until a delivery arrives. Don't get me started on the inability of national retailers to be more specific than7am-6pm...
Anyway, my post has just arrived, and consisted of this. So I'm ignoring the bills that need paying, switching the Nespresso machine back on and settling down on the sofa.
Lorraine Pascale's Quick Chicken Teriyaki
Not a great photo but my, was this delicious. Teriyaki is a big favourite of mine, and this version has wiped the floor with the shop-bought sauce. And accompanied by a huge mound of stir-fried veg, it was an acceptably healthy dinner. Although it would be even better with a wodge of sticky rice alongside. Sigh.
Progress
I'm on week three of my running programme and am actually starting to enjoy my trots on the treadmill humming along to Emeli Sande and the Maccabees on my ipod. A weekly pilates class needs to be added to the regime - I wussed out last night because of a looming migraine but will definitely go next week. And maybe a bit of zumba.
This is my lunch today - halloumi, bacon and avocado salad. In retrospect, the halloumi and bacon together made it far too salty, but it looks good, no? Especially considering I was just throwing together leftovers from my fridge, which is never my strong point.
Silence is Golden
And - TA DAAAA! - that is the extent of my review. I loved it. It's brilliant.
I'm sure Claudia Winkleman is quaking in her beautiful four-inch heeled boots.
Some things to get us through January
It's dark by 4pm and I totally over-spent and over-ate at Christmas, but I have a feeling that 2012 is going to be a good year. I am especially looking forward to:
David Hockney at the Royal Academy, re-reading a lot of Dickens after the BBC's wonderful Great Expectations, Sherlock, Red magazine (brilliant, every single month), watching Harlequins win the Premiership (fingers crossed), finishing off the last bits of decoration in my beautiful new flat, 10 days in Thailand, a week in Mallorca, crispy sushi at Maki Yaki, visiting friends in Manchester and Wales, The Artist, Lana del Rey's Born to Die, Emeli Sande's album, David Shrigley at the Hayward Gallery, the Pajama Men (again), Chanel's new spring nail polishes, watching my first gardening projects come to fruition, The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach, Shame, pickled herring and pink gin at Mishkin's.
New Year, New Me?
Happy New Year!
I'm not one for resolutions. For many reasons, the most significant being that I have absolutely zero willpower. And my vices are (relatively) few so depriving myself of everything I enjoy (white wine, diet coke, skinny fries with mountains of bbq sauce, Mel's cheeseburgers) at the same time is untenable.
Having said that, I think it's time. My health problems have seen me undergo test after test at the hospital all year and, having run out of medical solutions, I think it's time to explore the alternatives. So in that vein, I had a fabulous 90 minute massage at the lovely Cotswold House Spa in Chipping Campden post-New Year and got the best night sleep afterwards that I'd had in weeks.
So I am going to continue with regular massages and give acupuncture a whirl, as well as revisiting reflexology to try and sort myself out.
More importantly though, I've re-joined the gym and am determined to go often enough to make it worth the money. There's no point me saying I'll go three times a week- that's setting myself up for a fail, but as often as I can will be good enough.
And instead of banning all my favourite foodstuffs - CHEESE - and starving myself, thereby making myself miserable and making that glass of wine seem all the more appealing, I'm going to just eat healthily and simply as much as I can but not beat myself up if I have a pint of cocktails and a bucket of chips every now and then.
Wish me luck!
Autumn pleasures
It has to be said, it's been a pretty crummy autumn so far. But these are the things that are cheering me up...
Steps Reunion on Sky Living (SO much tension, SO much bitterness), Nancy dell'Olio on Strictly Come Dancing, Mrs Cameron's Diary by Catherine Bennett, The Marriage Proposal by Jeffrey Eugenides, mac'n'cheese and negronis at Spuntino, Laura Mercier's Fig Hand Cream, Ren's Grapefruit and Neroli shower gel and Moroccan Rose Otto bath oil, Fresh Meat, crispy maki rolls and soft shell crab at Maki Yaki, Cermonials by Florence and the Machine, Grayson Perry at the British Museum, The Killing series 2, Gerhard Richter at Tate Modern, Mark Rylance's stunning performance in Jerusalem, prints by Mary Karantzou and Jonathan Saunders (dreaming rather than wearing unfortunately), crisp cold autumn mornings and evenings in front of the tv.
Grayson Perry at the British Museum
It's Frieze week in London, which means that the city is full of insanely wealthy art collectors and, more interestingly, fantastic art. I am heading up to the Frieze Art Week this afternoon and will blog again if there is anything interesting to say, but in my experience there usually isn't. It's a long afternoon trekking around a huge crowded swelteringly hot tent in Regents Park, looking at art you can afford and often don't like. I must work harder on my networking skills and get an invitation to the VIP viewing next year - I'm sure the whole experience is much more enjoyable without the crowds.
Anyway, London has truly upped its game, exhibition-wise, this Frieze week. I can't remember ever having more than a couple of 'must-see' shows on at the same time. I'm planning to see Tacita Dean's Unilever Series installation and Gerhard Richter's retrospective (both at Tate Modern) this weekend, and Pipilotti Rist exhibition at the Hayward next week, followed by Wilhelm Sasnal and the second in a series of shows by my old employers the Government Art Collection at the Whitechapel.
Although I'm looking forward to them all, I don't expect any of them to be as entertaining and interesting as Grayson Perry's exhibition at the British Museum, which I visited last week. The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman is an absolute joy, showcasing Perry's work alongside a series of wonderful and intriguing pieces from the museum's collection, selected and curated by the artist. Funny, tender, revealing, fascinating, insightful and downright beautiful, it really is a 'must-see'.
Home from home
Of course, four days of hardcore art tourism is simply not healthy, so plenty of time for wandering and absorbing the Venetian atmosphere (mostly over a spritz or two) was built into the schedule.
