Independence Day
Jul. 9th, 2001 01:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lillibetWe celebrated Independence Day at a tea hosted by Leah in the courtyard of
her dorm. I took cucumber and ham salad sandwiches and they seemed to be a
big hit. Leah had made vanilla and chocolate cheesecakes that were very
tasty and had the foresight to ice some tea for us. It's been quite warm,
although yesterday was lovely and cool and today is bright, but still not
too hot. Gilly arrived back from Paris in the evening and shared some
fettucine alfredo with smoked salmon and spinach with us for dinner.
On Thursday afternoon Gilly and I went up to Wood Green to see Get Over It,
a teen romantic comedy, loosely based on A Midsummer Night's Dream. It was
about as silly as we expected, surprisingly gross, but a fun matinee on a
hot day. When we got back to the house it was time for her to say goodbye
and head to the airport one last time. We'd had such a good visit that we
were very sorry to see her go.
That evening we had dinner with David Futato, my last housemate from Boston,
and his partner, Ron Passerini. They are in town along with David's sister,
Lisa, and her partner. We ate at Il Forno, which Jason and I had tried
previously. We shared a margarita pizza and an order of antipasto for
dinner. Those were both good, although the slices of plain white fat were a
bit off-putting. My entree was a boneless breast of chicken in wine sauce
with a lovely side of courgettes (zucchini) with tomato. Jason had a lamb
steak that was very tasty. For dessert, Jason and I split a strawberry
tart. David and Ron headed off to find a club in Brixton they'd heard of
and we came home after a turn through Leicester Square to see if there were
a conveniently scheduled movie we wanted to catch.
I spent Friday nailing down accommodations for us in Italy, which is a great
relief. We're actually staying in the same villa in Tuscany that friends of
ours found for their honeymoon a few years back and in an apartment in Rome
where another friend stayed recently. It's so nice of people to vet these
things for us.
On Friday evening we ordered a pizza and then went up to Wood Green to see
Tomb Raider. The plot was fairly silly and the dialogue was remarkably
lame, but it was a pretty movie and the fight scenes were relatively good,
so overall we enjoyed it.
I met David & Ron at their hotel--of which Ron said "abysmal" would not be
too strong, so avoid the Marne Hotel in the future--and we went up to Covent
Garden and ended up wandering around there for a bit before settling on
brunch at Navajo Joe's. They do a surprisingly good English breakfast with
two poached eggs, fried toast, a grilled tomato, a grilled mushroom,
sausage, back bacon and hash browns with peppers and onions (not very
English, that).
I came home and napped and worked on some web stuff and then we got gussied
up and went down to the Royal Opera House on Drury Lane. We had made
reservations for dinner at the Vilar Floral Hall, on the balcony around the
two-storey glasshouse adjoining the auditorium. We had ordered everything
in advance, so they were able to begin serving as soon as we sat down.
Jason started with a crostini backed with mushrooms and gruyere, while I had
some of the best smoked salmon I've tasted. Jason's entree was a stuffed
breast of chicken served on a bed of mashed potatoes with a peppery tomato
sauce. He felt it was okay, but not nearly as delicious as my rump of lamb
in a light red wine sauce on a bed of polenta. We split an enormous side
order of unexceptional French beans. The most disconcerting thing about the
meal was the balcony's tendency to shake rhythmically whenever people used
the staircase.
The evening's performance was the Kirov Ballet doing three pieces by
choreographer Mikhail Fokine. The first was Chopiniana, which Fokine later
updated to become Les Sylphides. It is a very traditional ballet, danced
exceptionally. Oddly, I found myself very aware of just how short the
principal ballerina was. The man dancing the part of James had those
amazing Russian jumps and just hung in the air.
At the first interval we returned to our table for dessert. Jason had a
lovely plate of strawberries and raspberries with clotted cream, while I had
a slice of pecan pie with grilled peaches and clotted cream.
The second piece was Scheherazade, in which the girls of the harem dance
with slaves while the sultan is away hunting. This had more of the
pantomime about it, but the Arabic-flavored dancing was fun to watch. The
only disturbing thing was that the women were all wearing outfits that left
their midriffs bare, making the comparison with dancing skeletons more
obvious than usual. The principal ballerina was the 40 year old director of
the Vaganova Academy of Dance in St. Petersburg.
During the second interval we went back to our table for more coffee and
lovely lemon & mint truffles. As we were returning to our seats, I struck
up a conversation with the man on my left (who was from San Francisco) and
the man on Jason's right asked if we were enjoying the show and then went on
to say that he and his wife were very pleased by how appropriately dressed
we were. Guess there's hope for the younger generation after all.
The third piece of the evening was The Firebird, of which Fokine was the
original choreographer. I had never seen it danced before (only skated to)
and enjoyed it very much. The woman dancing the title role had a wonderful,
sassy quality to her movements that was delightful and the evil wizard was
splendidly slimy.
After the performance ended we wandered by the Savoy to see if Michael were
in and, not finding him, headed home on the tube. Overall, it was a
splendid evening. The food was lovely, our seats were incredible, and the
atmosphere of the hall makes for a very special occasion. At #254 total, it
needed to be. I'm glad that we did it, but doubt that we'll go quite that
first class again.
On Sunday we spent the day at home. Carol Arko and her new husband, Scott,
arrived from Paris just after one. After catching their breath , they
headed out to the British Museum. They came home around seven and kept me
company while I made fried chicken and then they went to sleep and we
finished watching the Dune miniseries before bed.
This morning my eyes popped open at 6:52am, so I got up and called steve.
Our guests headed out for a day of heavy touristing and I sat down to write
this. We're meeting Michael & John for tea at their hotel at three and then
heading up into Soho to see Mamma Mia (the musical based on the music of
ABBA) with Carol & Scott. So it's a busy day and I'd best get to it.
her dorm. I took cucumber and ham salad sandwiches and they seemed to be a
big hit. Leah had made vanilla and chocolate cheesecakes that were very
tasty and had the foresight to ice some tea for us. It's been quite warm,
although yesterday was lovely and cool and today is bright, but still not
too hot. Gilly arrived back from Paris in the evening and shared some
fettucine alfredo with smoked salmon and spinach with us for dinner.
On Thursday afternoon Gilly and I went up to Wood Green to see Get Over It,
a teen romantic comedy, loosely based on A Midsummer Night's Dream. It was
about as silly as we expected, surprisingly gross, but a fun matinee on a
hot day. When we got back to the house it was time for her to say goodbye
and head to the airport one last time. We'd had such a good visit that we
were very sorry to see her go.
That evening we had dinner with David Futato, my last housemate from Boston,
and his partner, Ron Passerini. They are in town along with David's sister,
Lisa, and her partner. We ate at Il Forno, which Jason and I had tried
previously. We shared a margarita pizza and an order of antipasto for
dinner. Those were both good, although the slices of plain white fat were a
bit off-putting. My entree was a boneless breast of chicken in wine sauce
with a lovely side of courgettes (zucchini) with tomato. Jason had a lamb
steak that was very tasty. For dessert, Jason and I split a strawberry
tart. David and Ron headed off to find a club in Brixton they'd heard of
and we came home after a turn through Leicester Square to see if there were
a conveniently scheduled movie we wanted to catch.
I spent Friday nailing down accommodations for us in Italy, which is a great
relief. We're actually staying in the same villa in Tuscany that friends of
ours found for their honeymoon a few years back and in an apartment in Rome
where another friend stayed recently. It's so nice of people to vet these
things for us.
On Friday evening we ordered a pizza and then went up to Wood Green to see
Tomb Raider. The plot was fairly silly and the dialogue was remarkably
lame, but it was a pretty movie and the fight scenes were relatively good,
so overall we enjoyed it.
I met David & Ron at their hotel--of which Ron said "abysmal" would not be
too strong, so avoid the Marne Hotel in the future--and we went up to Covent
Garden and ended up wandering around there for a bit before settling on
brunch at Navajo Joe's. They do a surprisingly good English breakfast with
two poached eggs, fried toast, a grilled tomato, a grilled mushroom,
sausage, back bacon and hash browns with peppers and onions (not very
English, that).
I came home and napped and worked on some web stuff and then we got gussied
up and went down to the Royal Opera House on Drury Lane. We had made
reservations for dinner at the Vilar Floral Hall, on the balcony around the
two-storey glasshouse adjoining the auditorium. We had ordered everything
in advance, so they were able to begin serving as soon as we sat down.
Jason started with a crostini backed with mushrooms and gruyere, while I had
some of the best smoked salmon I've tasted. Jason's entree was a stuffed
breast of chicken served on a bed of mashed potatoes with a peppery tomato
sauce. He felt it was okay, but not nearly as delicious as my rump of lamb
in a light red wine sauce on a bed of polenta. We split an enormous side
order of unexceptional French beans. The most disconcerting thing about the
meal was the balcony's tendency to shake rhythmically whenever people used
the staircase.
The evening's performance was the Kirov Ballet doing three pieces by
choreographer Mikhail Fokine. The first was Chopiniana, which Fokine later
updated to become Les Sylphides. It is a very traditional ballet, danced
exceptionally. Oddly, I found myself very aware of just how short the
principal ballerina was. The man dancing the part of James had those
amazing Russian jumps and just hung in the air.
At the first interval we returned to our table for dessert. Jason had a
lovely plate of strawberries and raspberries with clotted cream, while I had
a slice of pecan pie with grilled peaches and clotted cream.
The second piece was Scheherazade, in which the girls of the harem dance
with slaves while the sultan is away hunting. This had more of the
pantomime about it, but the Arabic-flavored dancing was fun to watch. The
only disturbing thing was that the women were all wearing outfits that left
their midriffs bare, making the comparison with dancing skeletons more
obvious than usual. The principal ballerina was the 40 year old director of
the Vaganova Academy of Dance in St. Petersburg.
During the second interval we went back to our table for more coffee and
lovely lemon & mint truffles. As we were returning to our seats, I struck
up a conversation with the man on my left (who was from San Francisco) and
the man on Jason's right asked if we were enjoying the show and then went on
to say that he and his wife were very pleased by how appropriately dressed
we were. Guess there's hope for the younger generation after all.
The third piece of the evening was The Firebird, of which Fokine was the
original choreographer. I had never seen it danced before (only skated to)
and enjoyed it very much. The woman dancing the title role had a wonderful,
sassy quality to her movements that was delightful and the evil wizard was
splendidly slimy.
After the performance ended we wandered by the Savoy to see if Michael were
in and, not finding him, headed home on the tube. Overall, it was a
splendid evening. The food was lovely, our seats were incredible, and the
atmosphere of the hall makes for a very special occasion. At #254 total, it
needed to be. I'm glad that we did it, but doubt that we'll go quite that
first class again.
On Sunday we spent the day at home. Carol Arko and her new husband, Scott,
arrived from Paris just after one. After catching their breath , they
headed out to the British Museum. They came home around seven and kept me
company while I made fried chicken and then they went to sleep and we
finished watching the Dune miniseries before bed.
This morning my eyes popped open at 6:52am, so I got up and called steve.
Our guests headed out for a day of heavy touristing and I sat down to write
this. We're meeting Michael & John for tea at their hotel at three and then
heading up into Soho to see Mamma Mia (the musical based on the music of
ABBA) with Carol & Scott. So it's a busy day and I'd best get to it.
