aka, the things we did in the second half of Jan (and a little bit of Feb).
Buckle in, it’s a long one.
On the middle-est week of January, on a Tuesday, Sameer and I went to a talk that was advertised as ‘The Science of ADHD’.
Which, we both feel, was false adverstising.
I did learn a small amount about how methamphetamines were first purified, and also heard that Ritalin has that name because the inventor first tried it out on his wife, Rita.
But overall, the talk seemed to be more about pushing a narrative that people with ADHD are superheroes and risk takers, and not only didn’t include nearly enough actual science (we were hoping for real up to date stuff), but also included a lot of contradictory information and what I would call harmful stereotypes (the one that springs to mind is the suggestion that people with ADHD will be driving in their car too fast while texting- which is literally illegal and very morally non ideal).
The evening was saved in part by the *deconstruction* we did together on the way home, and the fact that we saw this really really incredible mural, a perfect, forever representation of 2020.
Wednesday the 18th of Jan, was uneventful (although I did snag a pandan donut mmmmmmm), and Thursday was busy, including journal launches at my work, plus dinner and a show.
If we eat fancy, I’ve been leaning towards booking from Michelin’s Bib Gourmand recommendations- which is a category of food that marks ‘delicious but still kind of affordable’.
This time, we veered away from that, and instead went for Cinnamon Bazaar’s pre-show dinner.
Featureing Samosa Chaat and Coriander Hummus with Black Chana Tikki as entrees, Future 50 Kofta and Shepards Pie for mains with a side of greens, and Carrot and Ginger Toffee Pudding for dessert:
I found the kofta a bit too sweet, and the hummus combo was also only ok, but the Samosa Chaat was tasty.
The star however, was the pie, which was not just any ordinary pie, but in fact a Lamb Roganjosh Shepherd’s Pie, and one of TimeOut’s 100 top dishes in London.
It was pretty amazing, and also a nice dish for kind of symbolic, culture-blendy reasons.
The play of the evening was Lemons Lemons Lemons, an two people act showing a dystopian future where people have a word limit- 140 words- per day.
The concept itself is good, but the plot also lived up quite nicely to the concept, and the two actors did an incredible job.
You can find fuller reviews here, but overall, this was an interesting watch, a great play to discuss between us (with lots of words), and something I’d go see again if it came back around.
The next day was uneventful, and the weekend was filled with pottery pickups, hair bleaching, and helping my new housemate move his stuff into the flat.
Oh, and I saw love-of-my-life-lockdown-buddy, Arabesca the cat.
Monday we went to Planque for a fancy Chinese New Year kitchen takeover event by ChungKing Noodles.
Featuring, among others: Sichuan Style Diving Pickles, Black Tea Smoked Duck and Chongqing Style Street Noodles …plus Fried Sticky Rice Cake for dessert.
^ Please note the state of Sameer’s napkin post-dining.
I can’t remember all of the different courses. But I do remember the dessert being disappointing, and Sameer being constantly worried as more and more very tiny plates came out that there wouldn’t be enough food.
There was enough food.
The next couple of days we didn’t do much, partially because I got some sort of bug/food poisoning on Wednesday and ended up spending Thursday in bed recovering.
By Friday evening I was exhausted, but managed to pull juuust enough energy to go and see Sylvia with Nicky, a new musical about the forgotten Pankhurst sister.
My feeling on this one is a bit mixed- I think it was overall fun, but not as great as some of the other musical I’ve seen.
On Saturday 28th Jan, my new housemate and his kitty officially moved in, and we did all the signing of the papers etc.
I also found some time that day- in among trying to make Archie the cat love me- to do a little bit of sewing.
Which I of course did not actually finish. So I guess, more on that some other day?
The last week of Jan and the first week of Feb were slow from an adventuring point of view, mostly because we were both getting ready to travel.
We did manage to sneak in one final play on Thursday 2nd Feb: The Lehman Trilogy.
It was really really brilliant. There were only three actors and a fairly simple stage, but the story was incredible, the actors were all completely perfect, and the use of stage rotation, visuals and music really made the whole thing a pretty perfect show experience.
This was nearly three hours long, but there wasn’t a single second where I felt bored.
I’m gonna give this one 4 1/2 stars, with 1/2 a point deducted only because the racism was a bit glossed over.
That Saturday we went with Giulia to Kew to see some orchids, and on Sunday, I met up with Sarah to see the immersive Dali exhibit.
In the end, it was great to catch up with Sarah, but we both agreed that the show itself was highly underwhelming, especially for the amount paid.
On Monday, Giulia an I made some inventive dinner together, including some Orange Coloured Smush, which we were very proud of. And then ate together with new housemate Michael.
On Wednesday, Joram and I took a brief pause in our normal lives to accept a scicomm award (see us here)…
….and then, on Friday, I flew to AMURIKAH!
Jan and early Feb, 2023