Featuring a photo that is the truest epitome of my personality:
It’s my birthday and I can eat-too-much-cheese-and-get-a-cheese-headache if I want to!
Yes, a cheese headache.
On my 36th Birthday, I found out that was actually a thing. Caused by large amounts of tyramine that get involved in restriction and dilation of blood vessels.
I learned a thing.
But I suffered in doing so.
-10 points.
Anyway.
The birthday week began with some fancy music, as we attended the Barbican’s Half Six Fix. The half six fix is a pretty genius idea: less than one hour total of classical music, with a decent chunk of explanation involved. This time around it was composer/conductor THomas Ades, describing the delights of Beethoven’s Symphony No 1.
I don’t feel that I’m really Cultured enough to sit though a whole show of purely classical music. But I can do a short fix that includes some education.
We stopped for some food afterwards, and then zoomed off to Nightjar, a great bar in the neighbourhood that was doing a special one-night-only crossover with the Spanish Paradiso. (Pardiso by the way is currently the 10th ‘best cocktail bar’ in the world https://www.theworlds50best.com/bars/the-list/paradiso.html).
We sipped a few fancy drinks, including something absolutely incredible that tasted the way tomato leaves smell (ATLANTIDE: Altamura Vodka, Gin, Mastiha Liqueur, Tomato Water, Sea Cordial, Clarified Bergamot, Olive Vermouth), and also managed to catch up with/ meet for the first time one of Sameer’s work buddies and his friend.
Not terrible.
On Thursday, Nina and I popped into a celebration of Women in Science; a collab that our company is involved in. Nina has been involved for a while now, and I was lucky enough be allowed to squeeze my way onto the judging panel for the Science Communication section.
Despite somehow managing to break a glass (not even my glass), while talking too enthusiastically about whales, I did in fact have a whale of a time. And left feeling pretty darn uplifted, which is always a win in these slightly-shitty times.
Friday was another Nina crossover, and also a Barbican one: the three of us went to watch The Buddah of Subburbia. A fairly light and fun take on a story of second gen south Asians finding their way in 70s London. It was generally enjoyable and well acted, although perhaps touching a little to lightly on some of the deeper issues involved.
On Saturday, we headed to St Barts for the Fanciest of Fancy Lunches.
Aka my first ever time (I think*?) at a Michelin Restaurant.
*Michelin still didn’t make it to certain countries, so I’m not convinced that Bukhara in New Delhi, isn’t actually basically there.
Sameer, who booked the whole thing, obviously also got the memo about neutral Scandi colour palettes.
While I went with more of a ‘princess who will be King’ vibe.
Our menu was roughly this, plus some drinks (we didn’t take the wine pairing):
But I’ll admit that it’s hard to work out from the above exactly what’s involved.
So I’ll have to show you.
Some starters:
Some seafood:
(involving an excellent moment where Sameer asked the very helpful wait staff how to eat the scallop and they looked utterly unsure of how to answer him)
And some meat and cheesy bits:
Of course we also went for the optional cheese platter, and of course Sameer almost immediately abandoned me with in despite promises not to.
So I ate way more cheese than any human should.
Especially because after the cheese there was some buttery birthday cake, then pre-dessert, then real dessert, and then some little ‘bill supplements’:
We ate more than we needed to, but were impressed by all of it.
And then I trotted home while Sameer carried a huge packet filled with Ikea drawers back… and we both collapsed into a cheese fugue for a couple of hours (I think Sameer actually did some productivity, while I full on melted).
heh.
The day of my birthday was beautifully blessed with wishes and thoughts from friends and family….
.. and in the evening we went to Speedboat Bar, where Sameer discovered that ‘Thai Spicy’ is more than his tastebuds can really handle.
^ I am demonstrating how the spice gets the tip of your tongue. Sameer is making sweat.
Our event of the evening was Woof!, the new comedy from Australian Genius Hannah Gadsby.
I was a little concerned it was going to be a bit too sad, but it ended up being a perfect balance of thoughtful and funny.
And that was it.
Sadly, birthdays only last one week a year.
Many thanks to Sameer and all the friends and family near and far for all the birthdaypyar.
