Wednesday 22 April 2009

Bacjk From My Blog Break

Well bonjour, salut, hello and good afternoon!

I really did not mean to be away for so long...I hardly dare look at the date of my last post and see just how long it has been in fact...but I have been away having some of the most wonderful adventures, and now I am back to tell you all about them.

So pull up a chair, put on the kettle, and lets catch up...

Since we last met, I have had a birthday, taken afternoon tea with some goats, had supper at The Pigalle Club, hosted Brunch Club, seen the Puppini Sisters live on stage, been to my first conference, knitted two hot water bottle covers, started a pair of socks, bought a Vita-Mix, and had a spring clean!

There will be more, in detail on all of these, but first I must tell you about The Puppini Sisters.

For my birthday, my lovely husband got us tickets to see the Puppini Sisters at The Pigalle Club in London. We had tickets for supper first, and then the show. I just love the Puppini Sisters, and they rarely play in this country, so I was almost beside myself with excitement! One of the loveliest things about going to a proper supper club (and one that also does burlesque, no less!) was getting to dress up! I wore a dress that is black with little red flowers all over it, quite form fitting and low cut in front, with black high heels, a flick of black eyeliner and my ruby woo lipstick...I have to say that I did feel completely at home when we walked through the doors and descended the staircase into the pink supper club room!

We had seats at the edge of a mezzanine floor, right above the stage, so we had an excellent view. We started with a cocktail each...oh, how I love cocktails! I had an apricot spiced mojito, which was utterly delicious, and Carl had a Pig-adilly (The Pigalle Club is in Picadilly!) which was nice but a bit too strong for me. The food was light but filling and so tasty. I started with a thin slice of goats cheese which had been grilled until it was bubbling and crusty, served on a bed of rocket with a scattering of pine nuts and a drizzle of dressing. Delicious! My main coures was so beautifully presented- a bed of potato rosti, topped with caremelized onions, and then that topped with thin slices of steak, cooked rarely. We both had raspberry panna cotta for dessert which came in a small ramekin, but just as well as it was so rich! Then Carl had a passionfruit cocktail, and I had a coffee....just in time for the show!

One thing that I really want to magpie and use for myself...the plates and glasses all had 'The Pigalle Club' on them...I fancy buying one or two plain plates and glasses myself (everything we have is vintage and floral!) and painting them with 'La Claxton Club' and having our very own supper club for two at home! I saw a lovely idea in an old Marie Claire Idees magazine a while ago, where they had painted a small canvas square pink, decorated it with ribbon embroidery and silk flowers, and stuck a peg on it. The canvas was then hung up, and the menu for that evening stuck under the peg. Now I always do a menu plan for the week before I do the shopping, so it might not be such a hard thing to do....and it would add a touch of fun to dinner times!

Another thing that supper at The Pigalle convinced me of was that I need to learn to make cocktails! I was given a wonderful cocktail book for my birthday, and I will definitely be using it! I learnt to make a green tea citrus martini for brunch club, and it was so easy and went down so well I really want to add to my repertoire. Before I start to sound too decadent, the plan would be to try one a week, and they would not always have to be alcoholic!

And oh, did I mention while we were at The Pigalle we saw the Puppini Sisters?! They were every bit as good as I hoped they would be, and more. They are so good live, their personalities really come through. The costumes were amazing too. They came out in red dresses and high red sparkly heels, with red fascinators too. I liked that each dress was very similar to the others, but with little adaptations to suit each girl's figure. They sang my two favourite songs- Panic and Heart of Glass and lots of others..Bei Meir Bist Du Schon, as well as each doing a solo song.

We caught the twenty past midnight train home from London, and I sat sipping tea and yawning and thinking that it will be so nice, when I am an old lady, to have some glamorous memories of nights like these!

As well as neglecting my poor blog and blog friends, I have also neglected my email corrsepondence, so for now it is au re voir, but only for today. I will be back tomorrow, with more tales of my adventures, and a recipe of too as well.

Now, enough about me, how have you been?