Cambio de Tercio

Still wasn't feeling really well but I had previously agreed to have dinner with one of the brokers, and the fact that I rarely see him makes it difficult to blow it off on such short notice. He had booked a table at Cambio de Tercio, a Spanish restaurant in the midst of Knightsbridge. It's actually just a bit further down from Lundum's, a restaurant which I've been twice and have spoken about before. As usual we left the office quite late (supposed to have met the broker there at 7:30pm, we left the office at 7:30pm).. so by the time we got there we were a good hour late. No matter, he was enjoying the wine with another one of our colleagues who left quite a bit before we did. The food was the standard affair at a Spanish restaurant - we had a few tapas to start and we each picked a main dish. I had the beef fillet with mushrooms and pan-fried foie gras, which was quite nicely cooked to my surprise. My experience with Spanish beef wasn't great, after eating a rubber-tough steak in Barcelona when all they served was seafood (damn the allergy). As for the tapas, we had the typical Spanish ham and a few other tidbits. The wine was quite well chosen, a nice Spanish red that didn't taste like a Spanish red - a refreshing change. I was expected the typical Rioja with a bit of sediments at the bottom, but instead it was much lighter body than I had thought. After dinner I had to quickly find an exit as I was really not feeling too well, hopped on a taxi and hit the bed before midnight. Now only if today could go a little faster so I could go home and sleep the entire weekend that'd be great..

Christmas Party

I seriously think this will be the only Christmas party I attend this year. Just as well, I haven't really felt any sort of "Christmas spirit" or "Christmas cheer" this year so far. Other than the fact that I was reminded by the red cups from Starbucks at the beginning of November, and the increasing number of people on the streets doing their Christmas shopping. This is the first Christmas party at this company, and I must say that it was a bit of a disappointment. The food was quite sub-par (come on, you could do better than a cold tuna salad and a stir-fry veg dish with pieces of beef stuck in between), and the alcohol was lacking. Sure I was supposed to meet more people from work, but I'm still recovering from my stupid flu so I literally stayed for 30 minutes before calling it quits. Speaking of which, I'm still suffering from that flu I got last week before heading back to HK and it seems to be getting worse. It's not even that I'm not taking care of myself, I'm wearing so many layers I break a sweat just walking to work from the tube station. I just think that the stress and the work hours are having a serious effect on my immune system.. oh well, it's more flu medicine for me before going to bed!

You get what you paid for..

So I tortured my friend Arthur yesterday with some London Chinatown food... which of course gave him a taste of what I have to endure most of the year. Tonight I decided to make up for that and took him to St. Moritz in Soho. Been here once with Benedict and his brother already, this Swiss restaurant claims to be London's oldest Swiss restaurant. I knew that the portions were large, so I opted for just a two person portion of the wild mushroom fondue and some Rosti, with a rather good bottle of red wine to polish off the wonderful food. Mind you, it wasn't cheap, but how often do I get visitors from out of town right?

Hopefully that changed his mind about London eating...

Happy Birthday to me!

Happy birthday to me,
happy birthday to me,
happy birthday to meeeeeeeeee,
happy birthday to me!

Summer is over!?

I didn't even break out my shorts and sandals! The weather was a bit warmer today but I can already feel that summer has already ended. Even in the morning the sun rises much later, and the "working days of darkness" is soon upon me. What is that you ask? When I wake up in the morning and on my way to work, it's dark outside. When I leave work, it's dark outside. It's almost like I live in 8-month of eternal darkness. It's quite depressing, really.

Felt like I just wasted the whole summer, again.

Another Weekend Trip

I'm off again in a few hours.. this time it's the big apple! Watch out NYC! :)

Rugby is a real sport

The weekend in Paris was amazing - thanks to my broker for inviting me along and giving me a "local's tour" of Paris. On Friday night after I arrived, he took me to this local pub where everybody spoke.. English?! It was apparently an ex-pat sort of place where all the Americans hang out and chill.. I did not think the day where English-speaking would be an ex-pat kind of place, but then again I was in Paris.

Saturday morning I took a stroll down to where he lives (which is conveniently right behind the Louvre), and had lunch with him and his wife. Ahh a lazy lunch which lasted until 2pm, and then we walked around Paris and sat down at some street-side cafe for a bit of people watching. This is what I call a proper vacation - doing nothing all day and relaxing. He had to rush home and take care of his baby for a little while, so I wandered around and went shopping near the hotel before heading back for a little nap. That night we went out for dinner and continued partying into the wee hours of the morning.. it was quite funny when we were trying to find a cab back to my hotel, he started chatting up this girl and we ended up walking this girl back to her hotel. The whole time she was telling us how rude she finds people in Paris and how she wish she could leave this instant.. well if anything it provided us with some entertainment on the way!

Now the main event was the England - France game on Saturday, which I must say that after watching live rugby matches that I have a new found respect for this sport. It's like watching American football but a lot more continuous and much more real. I really felt good with the atmosphere there and enjoyed every moment of the game (even though I was just learning the rules as I was watching).. since I had to work today, I had to quickly run off after the game was over to catch my Eurostar train back to London.

I think it was a nicely paced weekend break away from London, perhaps I need to do this more often to keep myself sane these days..

Happy Birthday Winnie!

Have a wonderful day.. too bad I couldn't be there with you, but you know that you're always in my heart and I hope you like your present! :D Love you always..

Paris here I come!

Off to Paris for the weekend to watch some rugby.. will try to keep blog updated while there (through the wonders of a mobile phone).

Financial Management

Ever since receiving my annual compensation, I've been receiving phone calls from various "financial management" companies regarding how I should invest money. So I thought well alright, I'll entertain you people while trying to figure out what you really do for your clients in terms of managing their finances.

Basically they just want me to park my money somewhere, and they make money on the commission they receive from the service providers that invests my money for me. Good work for them, they're not really doing much other than arranging for me to send my money over to these "funds" and "advise" me on which funds are worth investing in. This reminds me of those financial planners.. in any case, I think they didn't research enough to realise that I'm also working in the financial industry..

Gordon Ramsey @ Royal Hospital Road

I've done it. Finally the coveted three Michelin star restaurant in London was within reach, and I enjoyed a fine meal there last night. A broker invited me to this restaurant after stuffing me up last time when he invited all my colleagues out EXCEPT for me. Just as well, I wouldn't have had this opportunity to enjoy a fine meal here otherwise!

A little side episode before I arrived at the restaurant - I really had no idea where this restaurant is so I took a taxi from the tube station, and after getting off the taxi and walking into the restaurant, I hear the driver scream out the window, "I hope you choke while eating in there you wanker!" Umm.. okay.. I had no idea what he was going on about, but that put me in quite a bad mood because I don't think I've offended him in any way. That left quite a lasting image of London taxi drivers to me..

Otherwise, the food was fantastic. More than just fantastic, it was seriously deserving all my attention and I surely enjoyed every moment of it. We ordered the tasting menu which included all of Ramsey's famous dishes such as the lobster ravioli, and every bite was a new experience. Not to mention the wine that came with every course was just a perfect combination of the palate.. mmm..

Funny enough I bumped into Benedict's friend who had that party on Saturday at the table next to mine. Small world huh?

Night out on the town

Benedict called me yesterday and asked me if I wanted to go clubbing. I was shocked because a) Benedict doesn't club and b) Benedict doesn't club. He said one of his friends was leaving London for good, and was throwing a party down at Pacha. I haven't really been out for a few months, and since he promised me there would be nice girls amongst the friends, of course I quickly said yes :) (sorry Winnie.. hehehehe)

It was overall quite a fun night, dancing dancing dancing.. I miss clubbing really. I remember back in 4B I did a lot of that with Lisa and Prish (because quite frankly I didn't care much about school at that point and drowning myself in alcohol seemed to be a logical choice at that time). Although the club was fun (and yes, there were a lot of girls in very exotic dresses), I can't help but feel that it would've been more fun if Winnie or my friends were there with me. Perhaps it's true when they say that it's not really the club that makes the night, but the company.

Not to mention my alcohol tolerance has decreased since I stopped being active in this scene.. I barely made it home without throwing up everything I had for breakfast! Today is recovery mode..

At least it's consistent...

Even if I didn't make a career out of it...

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Disappointed...

Okay so our boys didn't really play their best, and we did lose to Switzerland.. but that didn't frustrate me as much as those Switzerland fans! There is supporting your own team, and then there is poor display of respect when they made fun of Canadian fans. What a poor showing of sportsmanship.. *sigh*

Despite the disappointing loss, it was a great trip to experience the Olympics! The atmosphere is what I really went for - everybody so pumped to support their home teams! (as a side note, when I boarded the plane early Saturday morning, it was basically packed with Canadian fans going to Turin just to cheer for the team as they were all wearing hockey jerseys) We walked through the main town in Turin and checked out a few places in the town... But let me just say that this town is NOT ready for the Olympics at all. We first had lunch at this little restaurant near the hockey arena, and afterwards we walked around for THREE hours to find every single restaurant booked out.. so we ended up back at the SAME restaurant for a 11:00pm sitting. How ridiculous is that.. Let's hope Beijing gets up to par and not embarrass themselves in front of the world stage!

Go Canada!!

In December when I was out to L'Entranger with some brokers, I briefly mentioned how I really liked watching hockey and what a thrill it would be to see the Winter Olympics this year. Well, they arranged it and we'll be heading down this coming weekend to watch Team Canada take on Switzerland! This is so exciting.. I have always to watch the national team play and especially after their gold medal in the last Olympics, there is so much hope for them to repeat.

Time to dig out my Roots sweatshirt and my Canadian flag..

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day baby.. too bad I can't be there with you today, but I hope you liked those flowers I sent you.. :P

I'll make it up to you when I see you next, I promise!

Chef's Table (again!)

This time it's not at Gordon Ramsay's restaurant at Claridge's, but rather at The Connaught, about 10 mins walk away from Claridge's. It is actually run by Angela Hartnett, having worked alongside Gordon Ramsay, is one of the high profile women in the restaurant world. As usual, the chef's table is all about food and wine - and this is no different. By the end of the night I was satisfied with all the food I was served. I also discovered how I really like truffles.. especially the white ones..

Consolation?

Just came back from watching Chelsea v Everton. Didn't even wait until the game finished because by the 70th minute I already knew what the result was going to be. (actually, Chelsea ended up scoring another one after I had left but that didn't change the result much) After this morning's disappointment, is this some sort of a reminder that even though I may not be paid cold hard cash for my work, there are fringe benefits to this job? (ie. invited to broker dinners and events like football games)

Should just be glad that I have a job and that I have a lovable girlfriend.. :)

Compensation

How do you actually determine your worth to the company? I just came back from a meeting with my managers regarding this year's compensation. Let's just say I'm not particularly thrilled but not exactly unhappy with the outcome. I suppose you can never really be happy with what you get, and I certainly expected it to be a little bit better. Let's hope next year it will be much better than this!

Graceful Return

After two weeks of non-stop eating and shopping, I arrived back in London last night and this morning I came straight to work. Feeling fine now, but I just know that later today I'll feel like sleeping. Stupid jetlag. I swear I must be getting older because I never used to have to worry about time zones changing. Now, I need three to four days to really recover.