Mochimania

Mochi mixed with fruit, an (azuki bean paste) & matcha ice cream - for summer (today)


Pandan leaf mochi with a hot cup of matcha - for winter (yesterday)

Sweet Tooth strikes again...

... earlier this week:

A slice of Dobos Torte (layers of sponge, chocolate cream and caramel crunch top) from Louis, a Hungarian pâtisserie in Hampstead:


Lemon tart with a cola twist (the marshmallows) at Yauatcha:

You Are What You Read: a Bibliotherapy Evening at the School of Life

Dear (Monomania) Diary,

Quite a while back, I wrote about the topic of book abundance: so many books out there, so little time. How do we choose our next great read? In "I Feel Bad About My Neck" (a brilliant quick read by the way!) Nora Ephron talks about the rapturous-yet-sad sensation experienced when one finishes reading a truly great book. For Ephron this is quite like "emerging from deep under the sea", she needs time to decompress and adjust back to reality and the fact that her next read will probably not come anywhere close in brilliance. Finding truly inspirational books takes time and dedication.

I haven't read anything that required such a period of decompression since Middlemarch a couple of years ago (and I have read piles of books since then!). It is a lengthy novel and I had to persevere to reach the final chapters, but somewhere along its witty and elaborate narrative I got sucked into it. I fell in love with the flaws and the realistic portrayals of its main characters and by the end I was completely sympathetic towards this George Eliot masterpiece which is largely about "our human need to sympathise".

With sympathy appropriately in mind, I signed up to attend a "Bibliotherapy Evening" at The School of Life. It's a social event where we discuss and trade book recommendations, the sort of literary equivalent to "speed-dating". We begin by recollecting in small groups books we read as children and in our adolescence, the "foundation books which shaped us up". What I found amazing was that, despite the fact that we had all grown up in different countries, the women in my group had read and enjoyed more or less the same kind of teenage reads: mystery, romance and lots of Jane Austen (boys' books were entirely different though, lots of sci-fi and Tolkien, ugh!). Girls will be girls anywhere in the world. Or it might just be that girls who attend these events have exactly the same cultural baggage (although I counted at least one girl who was more into self help "spiritual" stuff, who quickly extracted herself from our group).

From then we are sifted into various sub-groups, depending on our current literary interests. What becomes apparent is that after the teenage classics we branch into narrower and narrower reading paths which we seldom stray from, becoming a bit stuck in our "comfort bookshelves". All change then, when we are made to swap reading recommendations, tailor made (as closely as possible) to each other's personal circumstances. This I thought was the best part. I got prescribed "Microserfs" by Douglas Coupland because I am currently on a career break trying to find out "what next", just like the book's main character, an ex-Microsoft programmer who is on a quest to find purpose in life. I shall definitely give it a try. Someone posted a recommendation for Joyce's Ulysses as a "great book in a time of crisis" (we were all encouraged to post reading suggestions onto a big tree mural), phew! I would have shifted this one to the "books we intend to read one day" category. I recommended Amelie Nothomb's "Fear and Trembling" to someone with a keen interest in Japan and the absurdities of work life. Oh, and "Middlemarch" too, of course. How I envy those who shall be reading it for the first time!

Yours,

LNH

New V&A Theatre and Performance Galleries

A new section dedicated to the theatre and performance arts in general opened last week at the V&A, so me and my Iphone (excuse the low def. pictures!) went to check it out.

Amongst various video clips of theatre plays, opera and dance performances (which even included a short extract of Infra, Wayne McGregor's much lauded 2008 piece for the Royal Ballet), a replica of Kylie's well stocked dressing room from her last tour, lots of props and a vintage theatre ticketing machine, there were all sorts of interesting memorabilia, such as:

A costume worn by Dame Maggie Smith as Lady Bracknell in "The Importance of Being Earnest" circa 1993

Led Zep 70's concert poster, wish I had seen this!

"Egyptian inspired" (ie. the symbols) costume worn by Zep's Jimmy Page whilst on tour
sometime in the 70's

Speaking of Egyptian, here's something weird:

And something cute:

One of the many ballet costumes on display is this Japanese themed tutu (with Kimono-like sleeves) designed by the wonderful Karinska for Balanchine's "Bugaku" and worn by Mr. B's muse, Susanne Farrell in the 60's

And while we're on the subject of ballet themed exhibitions, there's a very interesting one coming up this April.

2009 Red Carpet Face Off

It's that time of the year again, when the stars model their carefully chosen looks on the mother of all red carpets, this time also providing us much needed respite from all the gloomy financial headlines. You can follow my full story here (in Portuguese)...

...or, check out some highlights:

The Gorgeous "Grace" Winslet

The Queen Bee
(and my "I-wish-I had-this-gown" gown)

The bad girl gone good

The Architectural Masterpiece

The Jaipur Jewel

The Haute Couture Victim

The Goth Bride

Splash!

Sources: E online, Oscar.com, Handbag

Winter pret-a-por-tea

Form and substance:
matcha tea & mochi (yummy Japanese rice cake) at Minamoto Kitchoan

Two shades of green:
matcha and green icing chocolate cupcake at home

Two shades of yellow:
Lime cupcake and a pot of English Breakfast tea
from the Primrose Bakery

Londongrad melts

I realize I have only been posting picspams of late but there I was... Golders' Hill, a beautiful Wednesday morning, a not-too-shabby phone camera and hoping it was not too late to capture traces of the freaky weather:

Here's to a taste of Siberia

Frostbitten girl versus...

...Eskimo girl