Thursday 28 February 2013

Alexa Meade.

Meet Alexa Meade...



Alexa is a twenty-five year old artist from Washington D.C.

Alexa's pieces are part painting, part photography, and part performance art. She incorporates the subject of her painting into her work by physically painting the model so that once photographed, they appear as part of a two dimensional image. You're following me right? Didn't think so.

See for yourself...

The subject above is a real person. Seriously.

Alexa in action.

When viewed 3D instead of as a photograph.
I'd give up my seat for this gentleman.

If you'd like to see more, check out her website.


Image Sources:






Friday 22 February 2013

Throwing Stones...


Happy Friday!

What are your plans this weekend?

This Morning I'm heading for a swim, and then am off to the hospital to (hopefully) get the results of my MRI. You may remember I went for this appointment more than three weeks ago, waited an hour (they were running behind), got into the doctor's office, only to be told the MRI was there, but the report had not been delivered. At this point (weeks ago), I  thought my foot was "on the mend" (that's me speaking British), so I wasn't very concerned....until the week of my birthday and Copenhagen. The soreness came back and I was quickly back to square one.

Yes, the gift that keeps on giving.

Enough about that.

Big plans tonight-

I'm heading to check out a few bands with a friend and some of his friends, and then we've got a date on the couch to watch Legends of the Fall. I'm looking forward to a relaxing Friday evening with 'Back-from-battle-Brad', I mean 'Tristan'. After that, it's nose in the paper for most of the weekend unfortunately. I do have a funny story about the last time I watched 'Legends of the Fall', but I'm not ready to tell you yet. My ego hasn't quite recovered...

In the mean time, I'll leave you with this...


I'm Sure I look like this with my dominant arm (on a good day), but it made me giggle none the less.







Thursday 21 February 2013

Throwback Thursday.

In honour of 'Throwback Thursday', I will show you what I received via text message from my mom earlier in the week...

This is me, circa 1989 or 90 (that's a complete guess) up at the ranch.


Thank you Mom for this vivid reminder of my acid-washed 'Canadian tuxedo'.

Now for those who aren't satisfied with my little personal flashback, and would like more to read while you finish your coffee, here are some gems I literally 'stumbled upon' or 'pinned' over the course of the week...I mean, as I was working on my paper 
(of course).

A special sink for your laundry room made to wash your delicates....

The return of the turtleneck...

Great style on the streets of London this week...(London Fashion Week)

My brothers would have LOVED this...

Hmm...this makes a difficult thing a little easier...

My efforts were never this polished, but I tried. For those of you with kids....this is definitely Swedish for common sense.

Think I'll print this off for my kitchen...

If you don't know the song, you might not find this as funny as I did...

A little bit of Art. Not sure if I believe it, but check out these amazing pencil portraits. Thoughts? Have I been fooled?

Feeling in the mood for some baking? Here's a cute hostess gift...

Ummm, and THIS happened on Tuesday in MY NEIGHBOURHOOD and I had NO IDEA (you'd think anybody in my life who cares about me in the slightest would have given me a heads up). Nope, I missed it.

Oh, but there's one more thing. If you have a couple of minutes (and have not already been harassed via email or FB by me) I would love for you to help me with some research for my MA. I'm currently focusing my next paper and art exhibition on the themes of Place and Identity. In particular, the impact of one on the other.

I've created a VERY EASY and QUICK 20 question survey.

Please follow the link, if you have a few minutes. 


Thank you in advance, 

I am COMPLETELY GRATEFUL!


Wednesday 20 February 2013

Tapas Brindisa and The Rake.

I was recently taken on a wonderful date to Borough Market. We started off at Tapas Brindisa. While it can sometimes be difficult to score a table at this hot spot, it is easy to saddle up to the bar, grab a glass of wine, and order some Tapas while you wait. 'S' just ordered the book, 'Where Chef's Eat' and the restaurant is on the hit list of London's greatest foodies, so I think you can take my word for it.



We had a delicious meal. My gentleman friend adores the Traditional Black Rice, but as I am a little less adventuresome, I was turned off by the idea of Squid Ink.





The Croquetas de Jamon were AMAZING (but can you ever go wrong with Croquetas?).  Croquetas make me think of Barcelona, as there were few meals on this trip when I didn't indulge!



I also REALLY loved the Padron Peppers, and am hoping to attempt them at home. The nice thing about Tapas Brindisa is they have some recipes on their website. Click here.



After dinner we headed for a night cap at a small little pub called The Rake. This little place is tucked away on a Market back street, but you really must give it a try. It's so small it feels like the perfect clubhouse.





This is a short post as I didn't have my camera out with me, but I enjoyed both places so much, I wanted to tell you about them. 
I had never been to Borough Market in the evening, and I loved the vibe (not quite as Edgie as Shoreditch, but definitely more diverse than my Clapham bubble).

There are other great bars and restaurants in the area, so if you're new to London and you have a free evening, head over and check it out.



Photo Credits:
Croquetas

*if these are the original sources and you see a photo that's yours, please let me know. I will be more than happy to remove it. I did my best to find the original source and credit it above.

Tuesday 19 February 2013

Sunday Drive in the Country.

On Sunday, my 'Tour Guide Extraordinaire' took me for a drive in the country. When you are living in London, you don't often realize how nice it is to get away from the hustle and bustle until you find yourself breathing fresh air surrounded by the tranquillity of the countryside. We didn't actually need to venture that far in order to accomplish this. 

I had naively suggested Devon as our destination, and was quickly shot down. 

Who knew it was 6 hours away?
 Oops. 

We ended up going for lunch at a very cozy pub near Box Hill called The Running Horses


The pub was cute, and packed with people post-walk, or enjoying a Sunday lunch with friends. There was an abundance of tweed and Barbour jackets, and at the entrance to the pub was a sign asking walkers to kindly remove their walking boots before entering the pub....

As you can see, they obliged.


We had a great lunch, and I credit the fuel from The Running Horses' most amazing (and extremely large) burger as the reason I had a terrific swim workout on Monday morning. I realize the name of the pub within this sentence (and the current news headlines) could cause people to question. I will clarify, that to my knowledge it was 100% beef. Knock on wood.


When I ordered our drinks and two hamburgers, the bartenders brought the food over, placed it down on the table and said, "I hope these are up to your American standards!".  Life lesson, when in England, it's simply "burger", or "beef burger", never "Hamburger"...but don't worry, 'Tour Guide Extraordinaire' quickly jumped in with, "She's Canadian actually!" 
After which point I got a sincere apology. 
This happens on a regular basis.

After lunch, we wandered across the street to a very sweet little church, and strolled around the cemetery. It seems this particular spot was the final resting place of one of our Prime Ministers.

Here lies Richard Bedford Bennett. Prime Minister of Canada in 1930.

Pretty good location he scored hey?


For those of you wondering who the 
'Tour Guide Extraordinaire' was, you'll have to use your imagination. My tour guide does not like having his photo on the blog, so this will have to do. 

'Tour Guide Extraordinaire' and C walking through graveyard.





We then headed to Box Hill in an attempt to work off our "Burgers".
Box hill was part of the route used for the Olympic Cycling circuit. The Hill seems to be a starting point for some great local walks. From the top of the hill you can see excellent views of Surrey, as well as London in the distance.





After our walk we headed back to London just in time for tea and a lazy afternoon. 

Were you able to get out and enjoy the sunshine this weekend?

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Monday 18 February 2013

Copenhagen: Part Deux (the good stuff).

On Friday I showed you the general sights of Copenhagen, but today I'm going to share our approach to touring the city in the hopes of giving you a starting point should you ever wish to venture there yourself.

We booked a cheap Easy Jet flight leaving London in the wee hours of Friday morning, arriving in Copenhagen around 10am. The return flight left town at 9:45pm on the Sunday night giving us a good three days of wandering around the city.

We were also able to book a (VERY BASIC) hotel with our flight, which kept the costs down. Our 'no frills' abode was called The Absalon. While it was definitely a bare bones kind of place (we're on a student budget people), I would definitely recommend it as far as the location was concerned. It was a few blocks from the central station (there is a train directly there from the airport) and was in the meat packing district, which although we didn't spend much time there is full of good restaurants and bars.

My approach to most new cities (as cheesy as this is) is to take a ride on the 'Hop-on / Hop-off Bus' on the first day. It's great because it gives you a little history, identifies the main sights and attractions, and allows you to get your bearings. In most cities a two-day pass is under $20, and the nice part is, although not direct, you can use it as your basic transit during the first couple of days when you don't really know where you are going anyways. Copenhagen is a bit different in the off season though as the buses aren't that frequent, so if you jump off at a stop, the next bus isn't for another hour. I'm sure this changes when more tourists are in town.

Earphones in and ready to go.
The company we went with was this one. There was the option to combine the tour with a canal boat ride, but the weather was grimm so we opted not to. The bus did a quick 5 min stop at the Little Mermaid (as seen in my day one post), so you didn't have to wait an entire hour for the bus to return if all you wanted was a quick photo of the statue.

Our Must-See List: (in no particular order)


1) Amalienborg Palace The changing of the guards happens every day at noon. If the Queen is in residence, the guards are accompanied by a marching band (you can hear the band playing throughout the city at noon each day)

2) Nyhavn- 17th Century waterfront street along a Canal (yes, the row of very colourful houses as seen in post one)

3)Tivoli (Amusement Park/ Gardens: though under construction while we were there, I'm told this is a must do).


4) Louisiana Museum of Modern Art (35 min train ride from the city but TOTALLY WORTH IT!) See this blog post for more details, along with the photos below. This was S's favourite part of the trip.




It was fun to see some of Warhol's contour drawings and tracings prior to his 'factory days'.



Some other pieces in the gallery...










I loved the Children's area. It was filled with kids learning how to create their own Warhol's.






The Architecture and sculptures on the property were worth the journey alone... It was neat how the building embraced its surroundings and really brought the outside, in.




5) The Little Mermaid Statue (as mentioned above- you only need a quick 5 or 10 mins)

6) Christiania (Get off the bus, take some pictures..without getting yelled at, and have a quick snack at the Cafe while you kill time for the next bus - it's pretty unique and worth checking out)

7) Rosenborg Castle (Your Hop-On /Hop-Off Bus stops here also- worth getting off)

8) Take a walk/ Shop along Stroget Street (The longest Pedestrian only street in the EU)

9) Shop/ Browse / Eat your way through Torvehallerne (for Vancouverites, it's like our Granville Island)






Gorm's Pizza.


Smorrebrod. 




While Grazing your way through the market is great, here are some of the places we had sit down meals:

Breakfast:

Although this is a chain, you must 100% get yourself to a Lagkagehuset. EVERYDAY. I'm embarrassed to say, I don't even like pastries and this was one of my favourite parts of the weekend. Go.






Lunch: We are sad, as we never had a chance to try smorrebrod (basically the traditional Danish open-faced sandwich). Give it a try and let me know how you like it. The next link is the place S and I were trying to make it to, but never did-  Orangeriet

Dinner:

Another perk to our hotel, was this wonderful sushi restaurant across the street. I have high standards when it comes to sushi, and although a little pricey, S and I both agreed, this place was good.

Bento Sushi.



My favourite dinner of the weekend was at a wine and tapas bar called Pluto. We went there for my birthday and I would absolutely recommend it to anyone heading to the city. It was by far one of the best meals I've had in a long time. 

Copenhagen is filled with tall beautiful human beings and this place was no exception.

We tried Orange Wine (created by making white wine using the red wine process). Delicious.
The bottom left photo was the most refreshing and tasty dessert, and the bottom right photo, the ladies washroom plastered with boy band photos.
Some Extra Tips...
Check out at least one Bodega (the down side is you're allowed to smoke in the Bodega's, so you head home smelling like a chimney).

S at the Bodega (before we were 'smoked out').
Lastly, below are a few more insider tips from a Danish friend of a friend. We didn't have time to get to these, but his descriptions sound intriguing and I trust the source, so when I get back there I will put these spots to the test. Notice I said 'when' and not 'if'.

Restaurants: 

 www.fiskebaren.dk good place combining both bar and restaurant. Mainly serves fish dishes - good quality to price I think but remember I haven't been to a number of places in a couple of years. (lots of bars and clubs in that area)

www.restaurantumami.dk $$$ but very good Japanese restaurant. Also great pre-dinner cocktails.

www.noma.dk the worlds best restaurant… fact(!) not just me saying it. An extraordinary gastronomic journey – but of course not cheap and maybe a bit too experimental for most people.

www.1th.dk A really cosy place where the concept is sort of being invited into somebody’s home (not buzz atmosphere but romantic and laid back)


All of the above are semi- to $$$$.


Bars:

Liedkoeb =  Apparently doesn’t have a website but is located on Vesterbrogade 72 B (through the portal and continue to the courtyard and she’ll find it)

Ruby’s = owned by the same people as the one above. http://rby.dk/#/0 Very nice bar in 2 levels and great cocktails. I would probably go there instead of the other one since it is a bit more spacious.


 If you have any Copenhagen travel tips you'd like to share, or things I've missed (I'm sure there are plenty), please leave a comment below.