Rodin

This past weekend, there was a bit of shopping, sport and sulking (due to excessive sport watching) on the Saturday, and on Sunday, Matt and I went over to the Royal Academy of Art, off Piccadilly Road and checked out the exhibition on Rodin.

Lovely weather- crisp and sun-shiny. The 'Virgin Mother' statue by Damien Hirst had been replaced by Rodin's 'Gates of Hell', but we walked straight past it to check out the exhibition.

It was pretty awesome. First room started with two bronze statues- After his first statue was first cast, it seemed that people at that time accused Rodin of cheating- by covering his models with plastercasts, instead of modeling them in clay/wax first! So, he deliberately made his second statue larger than life, to stem all the gossip. Funny that. I'd be inclined to believe the rumours, they looked so lifelike.

The rest of the exhibition covered sketches he'd made of works, little models of the statues in different positions and poses, past commissions that he'd done, studies of his real life models, busts he'd made-in bronze, plaster and marble- it became quite fashionable and de rigueur for members of London's artistic and moneyed society to have a bust created by the great French master.

We saw a few variations of 'The Kiss' and 'The Thinker', in various sizes. Funny how they'd originally came about as characters for Rodin's work, the Gates of Hell- The Kiss was based on the story of Paulo and Francesca, in Dante's 'Inferno' and the Thinker was meant to represent Dante, himself, overlooking the gates of Hell. Rodin ended up singling them out and then enlarging them as pieces in their own right.

It was amazing- the exhibition culminated in a final statue of The Thinker, set right in the middle of an octagonal room... And after going through the different rooms displaying works in progress, and variations of different pieces, you end up with much more appreciation of the talent and hard work that went into these works of art.

After all that, we went out and had a look at the display of The Gates of Hell, taking it all in, and trying to find the characters we'd so recently met.

If you're interested, you can read more about Rodin and The Gates of Hell,

here.

Anyway, after Rodin, we went over to Covent Garden to do a bit of shopping- all right, I shopped while Matt read the paper, but we have now joined the ranks of annoying couples that match their clothes. All my fault- I'd gotten Matt a black Carhart hoodie and liked it so much that I went and got myself the exact same one. But while Matt doesn't care that we look like Arnold and Danny in Twins, I'm now thinking feverishly of when I'd next be out, in casual clothes without him, so as to get maximum wear out of my new jacket! (well, the other option was for me to get it in camouflage, and I didn't think it would be of much use in blending into the urban jungle...)

We then came home, Naomi came over for dinner, which was a Greek roast with mutton from the Borough Market (where else?) and roasted for 2.5 hours in a slow oven in a tray half filled with wine and stock. Yum. While we were waiting for the mutton to cook, we popped over to Village East (bar/cafe) for a couple of glasses of wine.

Great weekend, all in all..

Bonfire night and Barbara's Birthday!

Just a quick one- Today's Guy Fawkes' Day and while Matt and I had plans to check out the fireworks last night and tonight, we never ended up doing so. But we don't wholly miss out, as every man and his kid seems to have gotten fireworks and as I type, there are rockets whizzing past our window and exploding, it seems, just above our roof!

It was a sport-filled weekend for Matt- Football, rugby and cricket all yesterday and today. Meanwhile, I went shopping with Hilda and ended up buying more things for Matt than myself- thank goodness, because his previously only warm jacket is seriously MANKY. Sometimes I wish he was a bit more of a metrosexual than the blokey bloke he is (can you imagine?!)... but then my shopping gets curtailed by half, doesn't it?

Anyway, mustn't forget- Happy Birthday to Matt's mom, Barbara!!!!! Hope the party was a fun one, best wishes for the rest of the year!

Derby Day, Potato Cakes and Shopping!

Saturday morning, and I'm lying in bed listening to the 'click, click' of the laptop as Matt is checking out the sports results, including those of the Derby Day races in Melbourne- when all of a sudden, my mobile phone rings, and I fling off the blanket and race to answer it.

It turned out to be Cheryl and Elisa, ringing after a champagne fuelled and profitable (for Cheryl, at least!) day at the Flemington Raceground, in Melbourne. They sounded so happy and tipsy... It made me wish that I was back there and with them. Apparently a few toasts were made to me that day, as last year, Elisa and I never made it to the races- we were having too much fun drinking champers with Cheryl and Shahran, in the pubs along Swanston Street. Hearing their voices on the phone just brought it all back, including the reminder that I'd had so much champagne I didn't notice my strapless top had fallen down! Maybe I'm glad that I'm safely on the other side of the world, and very, very sober! Nah. That's why Hollywood Tape was invented, no? *Miss you guys!*

Anyway. Instead of quaffing champagne, Matt and I head to Borough Market and do our weekly shop. Made it home without eating anything there- which is a huge change for me, at least!

We decided to have a big fryup, with smoked bacon, cherry tomatoes and fresh eggs from the Market. I decided to try making some potato pancakes that I'd read about years ago... in the very first cookbook I bought. I can't remember its title or who it's by, at the moment, as it's packed away in a box in Matt's parents' place... but I'll try to look it up..

Anyway, it turned out pretty good, and we both gobbled everything down pretty quickly- I'd thought to share the recipe with you- as it's simple and is a big change from a slice of toast, or a deep fried hashbrown.

Here's our first attempt at photographing something we'd made earlier... it was after we'd eaten breakkie, so trust me when I say it looks a lot better fresh from the pan! But you get the idea....

Potato Pancakes:
Feeds two greedy guts, with a couple extra for snacking on later

Need:
1 potato (large as your closed fist)
2 onions (bit smaller than the potato)
1 egg
salt and pepper
a couple of dessert spoons of flour

So- peel and grate the potato. Use the largest sized holes of your cheese grater, but watch your knuckles and fingers!)
Peel the papery skins off the onions and grate into the potato. What you can't grate, just roughly chop with a knife and chuck that into the mix.
Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Add the egg, and start mixing with your spoon or hand... add enough flour so that it's not too wet, but still holds together (mine was still a bit slimey).
Heat a tablespoon of oil in a non-stick pan. Not till smoking, but if it's not hot enough, the pancakes won't crisp.
Put a golfball sized amount in the oil and using the back of a spoon, or your fingers, press it out so that it's a thin layer. Don't worry, the oil doesn't spit.
When the edges turn a golden brown, flip it over and press down on the cake with the spatula. It'll only take a minute before that side is brown. Put it on a couple of sheets of kitchen towel to drain, then serve straightaway with relish or the rest of your fryup.

Hope you enjoy- Hilda and I are now heading out to shop..... we might even have ourselves some champagne!