Not only is fantastic for the obvious mistake that makes it “So Special”, but turn it around and the commemorative message raises the “Lolz” level that little bit higher.

So I imagine you’re wondering who produced such a delightful cup to acknowledge the anniversary?

Well that would be Ye Olde English Drinware, Guangdong Province, PRC

Head to one of those tourist tat shops in Bayswater / Queensway to reserve your very special edition today (cash only, no bartering).

Seeing the master tailors at work and the sharp, sophisticated suits displayed in the windows of these purveyors of fine fabrics is enough to make me want to purge my wardrobe of any denim and take to tailored trousers forevermore.

Much to the delight of the hoardes of hormonal teenagers visiting from mainland Europe but to the chagrin of everyone else, on the corner of Saville Row and Burlington Gardens is A&F. If you’re not aware (count yourself lucky) they are a retailer of heavily branded garments which are churned out cut in a somewhat more relaxed fit.

If that wasn’t bad enough, it is now planning to expand and encroach on to Saville Row itself, setting up a “baby” version of their store on the old site of Apple Records (a crime akin to treason itself in some circles). Rumours abound that their next expansion plan is to replace the Queen’s Foot Guards with the washboard stomach wankersarriors that flex to attention at the doors of their stores at present.

However, us Brits aren’t going to take this seizure of our streets lying down. No! we’re going to put on our best tweeds, twiddle our ‘taches and take to the streets (with a healthy supply of rough shag for the pipe and whisky in the flask of course).

Photo: Matt Dunham / AP

Brilliantly the chaps at er.. The Chap magazine organised this fantastic protest in an attempt to stem the tide of “sweat” shirts from Saville Row, and preserve its history and expertise in tailoring… By proxy I think they also raised awareness about the dangers of what leaving the confines of the home or gym wearing ill fitting sports wear can do to ones reputation.

Also situated on Saville Row a His and Hers hidden gem.. but more on that tomorrow, as I’ve now got to rush off and starch my collars.

Sometimes however, getting your hands on bread and milk can be a struggle in my local supermarket, let alone fresh tarragon or oregano, so unfortunately Nigel, dried herbs often do come into the equation..

I always used to buy bunches of herbs, but not use them in one go. So I’d store them in my fridge only to find them limp and dank a day or so later and pretty unappealing to use.

Now I’m not sure if this is a common trick, but I was taught by a wise Greek Cypriot this method for keeping your herbs perfectly fresh, which has been used from times as far back as to when Greece didn’t have a budget deficit (longer than anyone can remember).

So, simply cut the end of the bunch of the herbs

Pop them in a fresh glass of water

Ideally stick a sandwich/ freezer bag over the herbs (we’d run out so I used a normal carrier bag).

Pop it in the fridge, and voila your herbs will stay fresh for days (just remember to change the water regularly)… bland food banished, and celebrity chef kudos ahoy!

Ollie’s post on Friday about Record Store Day spurred me on to see how the celebrations went down at Northside. Run by one of Melbourne’s favourite DJs, DJ Chris Gill, Northside is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year.

To celebrate Record Store Day, Northside had amazing instore appearances from Kurtis Blow, Maseo from De La Soul, The Putbacks and The Psyde Projects. DJs were also playing all day. Chris was having so much fun he was late for a family wedding – so late that he had to divebomb into a pew just as the bride started walking up the aisle. You can imagine how that went down.

Judging by the tunes blaring out of Northside today, it seems Chris doesn’t really need Record Store Day as an excuse to have a good time, but to celebrate a decade of supporting soul – new, old and reinvented – Chris assures me there will be non stop parties all year long.

With previous instores by The Bamboos, The Congos, Eddie Palmieri and loads of Melburnian up-and-comers, I think record lovers can be confident he will be true to his word.

Northside Records – 236 Gertrude Street  Fitzroy, +61 3 9417 7557

Now you don’t have to be massive vinyl nerd queuing up at ungodly hours on a Saturday morning to buy ltd 7″ pressings to enjoy the event. With in-store performances by loads of amazing acts at the majority of the 230+ stores participating, it’s worth using this great little search function on the Record Store Day site to see what’s going on in a record store near you.

We’re going to be heading down to our friends at Phonica in Soho to see a bevy of brilliant acts (including Mo Kolours & Ashley Beedle) and to possibly buy a few shed load of records too.

If you can’t get down to any events, we thoroughly recommend you try and watch “Sound It Out”, a documentary (yes another!?) about the last remaining record store in Teeside. What’s great about the film is that regardless of the genres the geeks customers in the shop like, the passion they have for their music is endearing and something any music fan can relate to.

And finally, without record shops and their staff, the track below wouldn’t have landed in my life. This brilliant tune (for a Friday) from the late 70s was recommended to me yesterday by a friendly record store clerk (they do exist!), which makes me a happy nerd.

Now having been laid up for the last few days with a rather weird ear infection which made leaving a prone position seem like I had been instantly transported back to Friday night, I thought I might as well use the opportunity to binge view old DVDs.

If you haven’t heard of the #Kony2012 campaign and the associated repercussions in the last month or so, it’s likely you haven’t logged on to Twitter or Facebook for a while, and probably don’t know any teenagers.

Through the whole Kony /Invisible Children media furore I was surprised that the documentary War Dance wasn’t widely referenced.

Released in 2007 and nominated for an Oscar, it tells the stories of Dominic, Nancy and Rose, three children of the Acholi tribe in Northern Uganda, which is one of the worst areas affected by the Civil War / LRA.

Disarmingly beautiful, but covering some absolutely harrowing stories that are impossible not to be moved by, re-watching War Dance in light of recent events made me feel as though I should share this other perspective of recent history in Uganda.

Being a bit of a music nerd, the joy and cathartic benefits that music and dance brought these children and their wider community was pretty powerful. I’m not going to question the “awareness” or “education” benefits of students in the West buying Stop Kony packs and arranging rallies, but witnessing the difference that owning a simple xylophone made to Dominic, I couldn’t help question the focus of those efforts.

Frustratingly, War Dance is practically impossible to get hold of in the UK. I have, however, found a YouTube channel which has uploaded it in ten parts, the first of which is below (if you click on their channel you’ll see the others). If you have chance, please take the time to watch it.

When the Kindles were finally released at the tight arse friendly price of 89 pounds last year, I succumbed, justifying the purchase as ultimately a money saving exercise – a Kindle would be a very cost effective way to roar through the classics, as they’re out of copyright and therefore free.

What I didn’t realise was that the Kindle would become my best friend. Any Londoner knows that you spend a lot of time waiting around…and having a tiny library in your bag at all times is a godsend. I’ve read more books in the last few months than I’ve read in years because I can pull out the Kindle whenever I’m killing time.

I’ve also saved a fortune on trash mags. Who’s got time to read about Pippa Middleton’s weekend when I need to find out if Jane Eyre and Mr Rochester are going to hook up?

And my favourite thing about the Kindle? Nobody can see that I’m actually reading Confessions of a Shopaholic.

My Kindle is protected by a Gelaskins cover.

The Shanghainese take it to another level. Shanghai is wonderfully flat so everyone is on their bike most of the time. Initially nervous of cycling along an eight lane freeway, I quickly got with the program and realised it is the quickest and most scenic way to get around. Also, because of the traffic, nobody actually moves that fast. If you do get hit, it will likely be by a cab moving at 2kms an hour, so you should survive relatively unscathed. Dad (who lives in Shanghai), thinks the authorities are trying to phase out cyclists by making it more and more difficult for them to move freely, but I think that would be a travesty. We certainly would no longer be able to see sights like this:

Just catching a few zzzzs…

Group power nap…

While this chap’s not technically on a bicycle, the fact that he’s carrying around all those hazardous bottles of GAS merits his inclusion…

I just took these photos over a long weekend in Shanghai, but photographer Alain Delorme has seen some real crackers in his time:

I would say this just couldn’t be real, but having been to Shanghai a lot over the last couple of years, I can assure you that ANYTHING is possible.

alaindelorme.com

Please lay all blame on the unfeasible amount of fun we had on Friday night at the new 223 club in Waterloo (and possibly the strongest rum punch anywhere outside of the Caribbean).

We were there to see Aloosh – a band you should really check out (have a listen to “Time” below).

I’m not going to try and describe their sound, as it’s pretty hard to pigeon hole them into one specific category (without sounding like a bit of a prat). But as each member of the band are all accomplished musicians in their own right, their sound is a really refreshing mix individual influences (and as an inconsequential side note to the music, lead singer Jodie has possibly the best hair ever).

With the super cool Dave Okumu (guitarist of The Invisible and producer of Jessie Ware – reviewed here), following the band and playing a really fun set of tunes that got the whole crowd dancing in the archway space, it was more akin to a great house party than a club..

And with everyone being ridiculously friendly (possibly due to rum punch good vibes), it all added up to make the opening of the 223 a pretty special night in our opinion..

All photos: Courtesy of the 223 club

Check out the club site for upcoming listings… we know we will be… we may just go easier on the rum punch next time..

Aloosh music http://www.myspace.com/alooshmusic

223 club – 137-39 Lower Marsh Street, Waterloo

A good friend of ours who has to rely on the pinnacle of Victorian engineering to travel tries to temper the joy of the experience by snapping and sharing the great variety of oddness you get to see and experience on a daily basis through his “observations of the underground”.

Here are just a couple of our favourite photos from his collection..

Two forms of Victorian transport meet again… but in the 21st Century

All dressed up, but nowhere to go…

Photo Credit: WFS

But as is usual with these sort of things.. No matter how odd or strange us Brits are on our public transport, across the pond our US friends are sure to be bigger, better… and certainly madder!

Look what was spotted on the New York Subway..

The Underground. A great place to dice your onions.

Photo credit: Alan Stanton

You might think “joy” is a slightly exuberant word to use to describe a street, but in my opinion it’s one of the few streets in London that you can visit at any point in the day or any day of the week and go somewhere interesting, independent and of a good standard (also fitting that my office is now based right on Leicester Square.. which is a long way from joyous).

Exmouth Market is in no means a hidden gem, but it still surprises me how many people haven’t visited.. I think it probably has something to do with there not being a tube stop in the close vicinity (Angel, Farringdon and Kings Cross are a 10 min stroll away).

So here’s the His and Hers recommendations of spots in the vicinity, by time of day and activity.. this is in no way exhaustive (unfortunately we’re going to miss some spots, otherwise this would be the longest post ever..)

Weekend Breakfast & Brunch: Starting with the obvious here… one of the more recent additions to the market is Caravan (which we recommended here). Run by a group of antipodeans it’s the spot to get breakfast and top notch coffee (lets face it, there’s two things you can expect Kiwis to be great at, coffee and beating everyone in rugby). Tip: If you don’t like waiting, turn up early, or in pairs.. if not, prepare for a bit of a wait.. it’s popular.

Weekday Lunch: Not technically on Exmouth Market but just around the corner, Clerkenwell Kitchen, frustrates me. Mainly because it’s so good and I don’t get to go there as often as I’d like (it’s only open weekday lunchtimes). With a real focus on sustainability, the team that run the kitchen change the menu daily. If it’s sunny make sure you sit in the courtyard out the back (bordered by the kitchen’s herb garden).

Weekend Lunch / roast: Again just off Exmouth Market on a very quiet residential street (this post should possibly be renamed “Side Streets around Exmouth Market”), The Easton is a gastro pub, which, due to its slightly hidden location, will always guarantee you a spot even if everywhere else is rammed.. which maybe implies it’s a last resort, but it definitely isn’t, especially based upon the quality of the Sunday roast we had there recently.

Early evening with friends: Cafe Kick – The spot to have a post work beers and then get way too competitive on their table football tables.  You reserve and pay for the time on the tables, as opposed to sinking quid after quid into hungry machines, which makes things a little less expensive.. but the likelihood is that you’ll probably spend the equivalent on beers working up a competitive thirst (no halftime oranges here)..

Evening – “Catch up with friends” dinner spot: Morito is the little sister restaurant to possibly my all time favourite restaurant Moro (it’s next door). Unlike its bigger sibling which is probably for more special occasions, Morito is all tapas, you can’t reserve a table and there is a very relaxed vibe to proceedings.

Due to its pedigree and no reservations policy, it is always extremely busy from opening. However, due to patrons’ keenness to eat, I’ve actually been a couple of times a little later in the evening, Spanish style (maybe after a game of table football/beer or two), and never had to wait… however the danger of this approach is a tendency to get carried away with the ordering… “7 plates per person yeah?”

I could carry on with recommendations but I won’t, so go explore for yourself – you might even find “The Secret Pub”.. and this place is infamous.. the one with the best beer garden, cheap drinks, great food and no crowds.. I’m not going to tell you where it is here, but if you invite me for a drink.. I may just show you.

Exmouth market – from central London (Charring Cross Rd / Tottenham Court Road) take the 38 bus and it’ll drop you right at the end of the end of the market in about 15/20 mins

Some observations:

1. There are three very distinct fashion tribes in Helsinki:

                  The “I have raided the costume cupboard of The Killing” Tribe;

                  The “I only shop at Cheap Monday” Tribe;

                 The “I am on my way to a Rammstein concert” Tribe.

There is no real deviation from any of these three.

2. Spending a freezing, snowing day on the Island of Suomenlinna is a lot more fun if you give each other Scandi names and pretend to be Finnish: “Hedvig! Vi cannot miss zi ferrrry!”

3. Everyone in Finland has a Nokia. Do not use your iPhone in public.

4. Everything in Helsinki is ridiculously expensive (8 euro beer anyone?), including the museums. This beautiful foyer is as far as we could afford to venture into Kiasma, the modern art museum.

By the way, this post has nothing to with the super cute Australian band of the same name. Are they still tambourining their way around Melbourne’s premier live music venues?

We spent a great hour or so listening to Smokey Robinson and chatting to Galih, who moved to Finland from Indonesia with his family in the 1990s.

Caneli Café only opened in March, but already seems pretty popular with the local hipsters (we obvs fitted right in!).

Caneli Café: Iso Roobertinkatu 46C, Helsinki, http://www.facebook.com/canelicafe

Recommended by our culture vulture insider, we were told to put Big & Small, a play opening this week at (our favourite) The Barbican, top of the list in the booking department.

With Cate Blanchett in the lead role, and winning all sorts of awards and plaudits amongst Australian cultural critics (ahem) when it was staged in Sydney last year, this production seems to have fallen well under the radar for most people (including us) over here..

We booked over the weekend and there seemed to be heaps of availability across the production’s run. Based upon our insider’s previous recommendations, I doubt you, or we, will be disappointed with this trip to the theatre.

Big and Small: 13th -  29th of April

(Thank you: internationalschool.sc)

(Thank you: dipity.com)

(Thank you: Flickr. We actually found this picture when we read this article about growing up in Australia in the 80s. If you too are an 80s Aussie kid, read it - it will take you back. God bless birthday parties at McDonald’s!!)

]]> http://hisandherslondon.com/2012/04/04/supportingthesupport/ Wed, 04 Apr 2012 08:21:29 +0000 Ollie http://hisandherslondon.com/2012/04/04/supportingthesupport/ One of our favourite albums of last year was the gorgeous debut from Lanterns on the Lake, a six piece band from Newcastle. Definitely filed within our more down tempo playlists, the lovely layered melodies of the group wow everyone we introduce them to..

We’ve unfortunately missed them playing the last couple of times they’ve been in town, but we managed to catch them last night in the acoustic glory of the Royal Festival Hall (a music venue every Londoner needs to experience at least once).

Our only disappointment was that they were only the support act, so the 40 minute set was far too short, but to finally hear some of our favourite tracks from ‘Gracious tide, take me home’ played live made us happy (and pretty mellow) gig goers..

Have a listen to the couple of tracks we’ve included here and we hope you like them as much as we do..

So whereas most children may dread the arrival of their parents for a weekend, we look at it as an opportunity to raise our “cool” stakes amongst our peers.

We were informed that this weekend’s agenda was to begin with a stroll down the recently re-opened Exhibition Road to take in the latest example of shared space urban planning, as well one their favourite art deco buildings in the city.

Our destination was the V&A for the opening day (our guide thought it had been open for weeks) of the British Design 1948 – 2012 exhibition.

But before we had even got in the door our eyes were being opened with more facts from our London oracle. The photo below is of the wall on the Exhibition Road side of the V&A, which to this day still has multiple and considerable shrapnel scars from the Second World War. Quite a frank reminder of how the war affected some of our greatest buildings.

As for the exhibition itself, the word I’d best use to describe it is ambitious. Covering a huge range of styles, influences and designers, it was always going to be difficult to do justice to all of the eras covered.

It felt as though some eras went into quite some detail (the Fifties in particular), then others were skirted over in a slightly haphazard fashion.

However, the surprise for me was fashion design, in particular the dress below by Alexander McQueen from his Horns of Plenty collection in 2009.

Copyright: Alexander McQueen

Being aware of his importance in the fashion world, but never having really seen or paid that much attention to his work, seeing this dress up close and understanding its design direction was an eye opener. The example above was inspired by the houndstooth pattern often used by Chanel and Dior, and up close you really see the flow of the concentric patterns expand and change across the dress into magpies circling. I couldn’t help but be reminded of MC Escher.

In a Jubilee and Olympic year this exhibition is definitely worth visiting just to understand how the period after the war (the Olympics and Festival of Britain) kick-started modern design in the UK. With some great talks also coming up too, including such design luminaries as Paul Smith, David Bailey and John Hegarty, go make yourself feel proud to be British.

Last night the His and Hers went to see Master & Margarita (as mentioned before here), the new production by Complicite of Mikhail Bulgakov’s cult novel, and loved every 210 minutes of it. But if one dose of concrete brutalism in one weekend wasn’t enough, we returned today to explore the lesser known parts of the estate.

Guilty of usually hanging around the theatre levels, until very recently I didn’t realise that The Barbican is actually home to the second largest conservatory in London after Kew Gardens. Sat up out of sight on level three, this enormous structure encases multiple levels, over 2000 different tropical plants / cacti, exotic birds and some Koi Carp thrown in just for good measure..

With the exotic birdsong, warmth of the building and the scarcity of any other people in the Conservatory (I swear we saw less than 10 other people the whole time we were there), it’s up there as the ultimate “escape the city” location… pretty much in the heart of the city (it’s also a great “I know London” daytime date spot).

I know a lot of people who claim to “hate” the Barbican without necessarily having explored the estate properly. If you do only one thing, go see the conservatory. Seeing the tropical plants climb and cascade over the balconies of its towers is special, and I’m sure would convert even the most ardent of critics… and if it doesn’t take them to the estate’s brilliantly named hairdressers Cissors Palace, as this at least should put a smile on their face.

And if I haven’t prattled on about its coolness enough, let’s consider it in other terms- there are not too many buildings over 50 years old that have ceiling and lighting design as great as this.

With the planets aligning perfectly bringing together a day off work, great weather and a table for four being available at short notice, someone was obviously smiling on us.

There’s not a great need for me to do much writing in this post, so I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

With the restaurant famous for its fresh, seasonal produce, to begin we made sure we chose the young veg with houmous – one of the subtle fusions of what has made Petersham famous and the influence of new head chef Greg Malouf, who is renown for his middle eastern food.

Fresh mixed leaf salad with Violas

Grilled poussin with persian spices – I need to learn how to make Bhatura (the bread) it was delicious.

The Almond Pannacotta with Rose Syrup & Yorkshire Rhubarb made my dining companion very happy..

From my rather extensive documentation of our meal, you probably don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to deduce that I was a very happy diner.

With its greenhouse setting, being surrounded by all the new spring plants, flowers and greenery (and especially on such a nice day), its hard not to be bowled over by Petersham.

If you haven’t seen enough photos of our trip to Petersham, there’s more here on our Flickr

Because I have such affection for their songs, and the memories that the music creates for me, the question always plays heavily on my mind that if it’s a below par experience, will that concert taint my experience of the music in the future? (I really should probably stop over analyzing these things i know… but as a nerdy muso, its this sort of thing that matters to me..).

So we were incredibly lucky last night to get tickets to see Sir Paul McCartney at the Royal Albert Hall playing for the brilliant Teenage Cancer Trust charity. Like the majority of us I was brought up listening to The Beatles (with a healthy dose of Paul Simon on the side), so to see Sir Paul play was always going to be special.

Add the atmosphere of the Albert Hall into the mix, and it suddenly gets… well at times speechless. Especially when Paul Weller, Ronnie Wood and Roger Daltrey joined Sir Paul on stage for a number or two.

So the question is what’s next? Do I dare ruin the memories of school holiday car journeys of my youth by booking tickets to this singalong? I think I might. See you there.

The only way George and I could rival a night with that weirdly youthful Beatle was to take Ollie’s mum to Abu Zaad – one of our favourite neighborhood restaurants (which we recommended here). This is one of only a clutch of Syrian restaurants in London and we are very lucky to have it as one of our locals.

As has become something of a routine, we went crazy on the starters (three for six pounds), realised we’d completely over ordered when the colossal mains arrived, and nearly keeled over when our waiter offered us piles of baklava as a parting gift.

“You don’t get this in North Devon!”

…and this cherry blossom epidemic can only mean one thing…

WINTER IS OVER!

 To celebrate, we have updated our little blog. Thanks for reading.

I’ll happily admit that I sometimes find video pieces a little difficult to get my head round, and some of these definitely fell into this category for me. “10–16″, where adults lip synch to children’s voices, is entertaining and slightly sinister in equal measures..

What I was really looking forward to was her photography work – especially the series “Signs that say what you want them to say, and not Signs that say what someone else wants you to say“.

Photo: Gillian Wearing

These photographs taken in 1992 cover a whole spectrum of characters across the capital. The contrasts and unexpected nature of individual thoughts are really engaging, and now 20 years later also provides a really interesting piece of insight into the “state of the nation” at that time.

The contrasts of the actual and the presumed also made me think of this video from last year, where a team stopped Londoners in the street and asked them what they were listening to.. also pleasing that on the whole the music listened to by Londoners is of a reasonably high standard (in my humble opinion!)

The other reason you should visit the gallery is to see the Government Art Collection – this 4th display from the 13,500+ pieces that the government owns has been curated by members of staff (PAs, cleaners, IT managers etc.) from No.10 Downing St. who experience the art every day. And I have to agree with Diane, a PA at No.10, that this piece by John Virtue in the display really does stop you in your tracks.

Whitechapel Gallery 28 March-17 June 2012

I am now wandering the streets of London with fresh eyes, looking at that street sweeper or hedge fund emperor and wondering what his story is. I chat to the lady I buy my coffee from and wonder where she lives, how she got into work this morning, what she thinks of this mad place.

Until now, if I’d ever tried to make my way through the human traffic of Oxford Street or squeezed into a sardine can tube carriage, I tended to block out the cacophony. Knowing now that every other person has a story and a struggle makes living in this heaving metropolis very overwhelming indeed.

After I first finished it, I wished I’d read it when I first moved here, but now I’m glad I knew London before I read these stories. I had a picture in my head of every person Taylor met, which made for a much richer read.

Every Londoner should read this book. I guarantee it will change the way you see your city.

NB: This one is a bit of a chunky monkey, so it is a great book for the Kindle or your bedside table. Lugging it on the tube is not advised! Also, it is a series of short vignettes, making it perfect for those whose attention spans have taken a nosedive in recent years.

We started with breakfast at Lowry & Baker – one of our favourite local cafes.

We then wandered down Golborne Road for some Moroccan tea, sharing a bench with some old geezers with opinions on everything and who had clearly set up camp for the entire day…

The sunshine was too good to waste so we moved on to an impromptu picnic in a secret garden…where we unwittingly wiled away a good six hours.

As the sun faded I moseyed into Central London to meet a friend for a quick retail recce, and was delighted to discover that Monki has opened a stand alone shop in Carnaby Street. As well as being a ridiculously fun shop, like many of the Swedish brands, Monki make great basics at a verrry nice price.

Onward to Spuntino (which we recommended here). This is a great hidden gem – there is no sign out the front, the door is firmly closed and all you can see from the street is a streak of soft light. Nervous of its infamous queues, it was uncharacteristically quiet and we were whisked straight to a seat. We ate like queens, got given some free chips(!) and pretended we were in the West Village.

A lazy Sunday was spent flying our absolutely rubbish kite in Holland Park…

…running into a couple of oddballs trying to blend into the foliage…

…and staging a pretty fierce colouring competition with the six year olds at the next table at Byron (we lost)…

…and home in time to watch Julian Fellowes’ Titanic. I wonder what’s going to happen in the end?!