Desk Jockey and Care Packages

Going back to the office for a short while turned out to be a blessing in disguise. It opened my eyes to the realisation that I can actually never return to sitting at a desk and working on a computer. I'm so much happier running around a loud and hectic kitchen, and I was never that good at sitting still anyway. 

And office clothes suck. It's impossible to walk fast in a pencil skirt and heels, and I'm usually in a hurry to get to where I'm going. It's not like it's pleasant walking around in underground tunnels, and people in the City won't hesitate to trample you if you don't speed it up. I remember thinking Londoners walked so damn fast when I first moved here, but four years later, I get upset at people for walking so damn slow! I honestly get the pedestrian version of road rage.

We only have one demo this week and work is currently on hold until Wednesday morning, which means that I should be spending the time off practicing the exam cakes. I've already made the Fraisier and Opera at home, so it'll be the Alhambra next. The timing works out pretty well since J promised his boss that I'll make something nice for his birthday this weekend and I like to think I'm helping J's career prospects with my cakes. 

In other news, I received a care package from my oldest BFF, whom I've known since we were seven! She's just travelling the world and fighting to end sex trafficking, no biggie. And she still makes time to remember to send me all my crazy little obsessions from Korea. In case you couldn't tell by now, she's amazing, and I'm so lucky to count her as my friend!

All for Show

It was good while it lasted, but the recent heat wave has given way to some schizophrenic weather which included thunderstorms and hail! 

I think both Casper and I are glad of the cooler weather since he has a fur coat he can't take off, and I'm usually in a hot and busy kitchen with no air conditioning! The air pollution also seems worse on the hot and humid days, and allergies I never had before I moved to London start to act up like mad.

We had to temper chocolate on one of those hot days, and it made it near impossible for our chocolate to set. I felt like I was working much slower than usual, but my chocolate centrepiece finally turned out just in the nick of time! Luckily, I got it graded before I broke the ears off, and a friend held up the lopped off body part while I took a snap.

Now that we're back to the regular gloom and rain, I'm pretty happy since it was much cooler in the kitchen while we scrambled to make our first plated dessert in a while. We made a chocolate fondant with orange and caramel sauce with a sugar cage. The last time we plated anything was back in Basic, and it was encouraging to see how far we've come in such a short time.

Then...

And now...

The technicals are still quite fun with lots of tasting going on...

The soufflé technical...

And chocolate tasting!

We tasted 17 different kinds of chocolate to try to figure out the bean, country of origin, chocolate solids content, and roasting method. The bad part was that the class began at 8am, and I don't feel like eating anything at that hour, let alone gobs of expensive chocolate. And white chocolate tends to make me gag. 

As if I wasn't busy enough, I agreed to a lawyer job for the next two weeks since there is a lull in scheduled classes for school. And I'm a teaching assistant at school on Saturday. Basically when I'm not at school, I'll be at work. And if I'm not at work, I'll be doing laundry at home so I have clothes to wear to school and work. Oh, and I have to remember how to walk in heels again so I don't fall on my face at the office. But I did say yes to all of the above, so it's time to buck up, shut up, and walk the walk (in heels that I finally took out of storage).

Baby, it's cold outside

I haven't been posting much lately since I've been back at work for nearly a month now! I decided I needed some extra pin money for Christmas, and I probably had a little too much time on my hands since I knitted Casper a jumper for the winter ahead. He's not such a fan, he flops around like a landed fish when he puts it on. 

In other news, J got some awesome news at work - he made partner! I made a cheeky cake to celebrate the occasion and added his name to the firm's name. The people at his office had a good laugh over it.

He's also recently moved into a bigger office. I'm making plans to visit him at work to scope out the new space and see if I can make it a bit homier since it is where he spends the majority of his waking hours!

The Winter Blues

I've been a bad blogger (both my mom and my MIL have told me so), and I know it.

It's just that the weather has been so darn cold that it's been incredibly difficult to get motivated to do anything other than turn on the radiator, curl up on the couch with a blanket, and eat everything in the flat.

My fitness regime was ticking along fine until the cold snap hit in late January. Winter had been really mild up until then, and the first snowfall didn't arrive until a little more than a week ago. But then it got butt-ass cold! I usually run outside, and I normally have to wear three pairs of gloves during the cold weather. That's right - three!

It got so cold that I had to add a fourth pair of gloves, and my fingers were still frozen by the end of my run. It's been so bad that I've had to run warm water over them to get them to start moving again. Faced with the prospect of adding a fifth pair of gloves, I decided to call it quits until the weather warmed up a bit.

Other than that, life has been pretty mundane. We had a houseguest visit us in mid January, and he tagged along on our visit to Canary Wharf during the ice-carving festival, which was pretty cool.

I suspect the guys didn't mind waiting for me as I walked around with my camera since they found something a bit more interesting.... Raclette cheese! I just noticed that they were both dressed like the Una-bomber.

Since then, it's been pretty quiet other than going back to my old job for a week to help them wrap things up. I've had a lot of time on my hands, and I'm not much one for just sitting around so I've used that time to decorate our flat, which had been looking pretty sparse all this time.

I worked on some art stuff to hang on our bare walls. It's a cut-out map of central London over a Union Jack flag. I've got big plans to do one for Los Angeles once my blister from the Xacto knife has healed.

I also bought a mirror to hang over our mantle. It's a bit more gold than I thought it would be, but that's what online shopping gets you. I'm waiting to see if it grows on me. If not, I bought some sanding paper and masking tape in case I need to repaint.

I think just a few more things around the flat should finish it off nicely.

I suppose it's just in the nick of time I've finished my home improvement efforts since it looks like things are ramping back up again. I've got a new contract starting on Monday that's meant to last for 4-6 weeks. I'm also planning a backpacking trip to Asia with one of my US friends, and I really need to build up my fitness so that I can hike in high altitudes with a large pack strapped to my back. I've also organized a large drinks thing for one of my close English friends, and she's also having a party at her house. J just surprised me with tickets to see Matilda in March. Whew! When it rains, it pours.

Lady that Lunches

So this is what I've become.

The project I've been working on finally ended last Thursday. I was willing this project to end for some time now, and I was positively gleeful on the last day. Despite being overjoyed at the prospect of imminent unemployment, I was also worried about others who were concerned about where their next paycheck was going to come from.  It was also kind of sad that we would all disperse into the ether and would no longer have our usual day to day routine.

As sad as it was to say goodbye to everyone, it wasn't too terrible as I figured I would see the ones I considered friends again. And that I did! One of my friends was kept on to help wrap up, and my other friend and I met her at the office for lunch. While I was waiting for her in the lobby, I ran into a few of the others who were also helping wrap things up. I knew I would see them again!

I enjoyed lunch with my friends, and our project manager joined us for a quick minute to hand over his hat. We've been obsessing about getting his hat, and he's been really reluctant to hand it over for fear that we would burn it. We kicked around the burning idea for a while, but ultimately, we decided to give the hat the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants treatment. Basically, we're going to take the hat on all of our travels, and take pictures with it in front of various landmarks and then email them to each other. The hat is currently in transit to New Zealand. Can't wait for the pictures!

My Kiwi friend also brought along her lolly cake. Per Wikipedia, a lolly cake or lolly log is a New Zealand cake which features "lollies" in the ingredients; in New Zealand English, "lolly" is a piece of candy. The traditional lollies used are Fruit Puffs which are like firm, slightly chewy marshmallows and are obviously fruity. Malt biscuits and coconut are also used and other ingredients can be added or substituted.

Holy yum!

After lunch, I wandered over to Covent Garden and whiled away the afternoon shopping. So I've become that girl with the corporate husband who spends all of her time lunching with her friends and shopping. =) I can't imagine it'll last long since I already got a call to return to another project that's meant to start tomorrow. I'm not sure if I'll take it, since I'd really like a rest during Christmas, but we'll see.

I'm enjoying the downtime. Things to do in the upcoming days:

• Ironing, cleaning the flat
• Entertain my friend visiting from NYC
• Possibly hop over to Zurich for a quick weekend getaway
• Finish Christmas shopping
• Supervise the painting of our ceiling

Not working, but still busy! Oh, and I just got an email from a group of girls to join them from lunch - I'm off!

Work Widow

It's been a crazy few weeks for J and I as we're both putting in long hours at the office.

J doesn't really have much of a choice, but I'm putting in the long hours voluntarily since I may as well earn some extra pocket money while J's working and can't go gallivanting with me. To be fair, I really shouldn't be complaining since I'm literally working half the hours that J's working (100+) at a job that's 1/10th as hard. Don't go to law school, kids.

But still...

It would be nice to not have to ask the question "are you coming home tonight?" every night. It would be nice to have breakfast together. And it would be nice to go grocery shopping and stop by the news agent for the latest magazines and do the million other mundane things that make up every day life together.

Until then, my days consist of pretty much of the following:

Take the Tube to work...

 

Get bored at work and look out the window at this...

And then leave when it looks something like this...

I guess that's not the most accurate portrayal since it gets dark around 4pm now, but that's a whole different kettle of fish I'd like to complain about. Upcoming post "Who Stole the Daylight?" coming to a blog near you.

But It Was Supposed to be Temporary...

I started working last December, and I figured since I'm only working short-term contracts, I'd have long breaks in between the assignments. No such luck, I've been working steadily since then without a break so my hobbies such as photography have had to take a backseat.

I have no complaints about the current job I'm working, but I've been inundated with job offers in the last month, two just today! I guess when it rains, it pours.

The first job is more money and a longer assignment. The other job is also good money, but for a very short period, but it's in Macau! The firm will fly me there and pay for all of my expenses, and I'll get a day off for sightseeing once a week. So tempting!

Still thinking on what I ought to do...

Fun At Work

I'm sure I must have mentioned it before, but the stuff I do at my current job is BORING. Boring as in people regularly fall asleep at their desk sitting up with their hands positioned over the keyboard. The guy who sits next to me is currently suffering from terrible hayfever, and one of his extremely loud sneezes succeeded in waking up the girl who sits across from me who was enjoying a good snooze. She jerked herself awake and said, "Oh, you woke me up," and then we all had a good laugh.

So just so we're clear, my job is boring. Which means we're responsible for making our own fun...

We just got new water coolers in our office, and we must be a thirsty lot since it seems as though the bottle constantly needs changing. It's usually one of the burlier guys in the room who does the heavy lifting, but I gave one of the bottles an experimental lift yesterday and thought to myself, hey, this isn't so heavy. One of my friends caught me out, and when I boasted that the bottle wasn't that heavy, she had me agreeing to change the next bottle before I knew it. Serves me right for bragging.

It was later this afternoon when the bottle finally ran out and the big, burly guy sitting behind me got up to mount a fresh bottle on the cooler. My friend stopped him and told him about my grand plan to change the bottle myself. I should mention that he's more than twice my weight and has a good foot and a half on me in terms of height.

Anyway, he stood aside as I kicked off my heels before hefting the bottle up off the floor. Nice and steady, I had the bottle on the water cooler in two snaps. I was pretty pleased with myself, but I wasn't aware that the whole room had stopped their work to watch. Maybe they thought they would see me drop the bottle and watch a glorious torrent of water gush from the bottle, I don't know.  What I do know is that when I turned around, everyone in the room was grinning and then broke into applause while I rushed back to my seat blushing like mad. Never again.

Another Week, Another Office

So I've been at my new job for about a week now, and things are looking pretty good. It's a lot different from my previous stint in Canary Wharf and mostly in good ways.

First, the office is in Holborn, my old stomping grounds, so nothing is too unfamiliar and I know where the closest Starbucks, M&S and Pret are located so I'm all set in terms of life's essentials. Second, the office is pretty relaxed in terms of when you need to be in the office so I go in when I like and leave when I like so long as I do a requisite number of hours each week. Sweet! Third, the office is on a pretty busy street, and we're only one floor up and I sit by a window that actually opens! It's really relaxing doing work with a breeze on my back and street sounds floating up. At my old place, I felt like I was in an air-conditioned cocoon on the 25th floor of a skyscraper where the plush carpet absorbed all the sound in the universe, it seemed like.

There are some bad things, but they're very few and far in between. One is that I have to work at least 40 hours a week, and 60 hours are encouraged. Yeah, right, like that's going to happen. Second, I have to take the Central line, which is pretty much the hottest Tube line ever. It's only saving grace is that it's not as packed as the Jubilee, and I always have the option of taking a different route with J (albeit a lot longer) if I really can't face the Central line another day. J really enjoys it when this happens since we get to hold hands and walk to work together. I find it all very amusing when we're strolling along in our corporate attire and holding hands like some teenage couple.

The most significant difference about this new job is the variety of people. Everyone is a qualified lawyer, but they're qualified either in the US or the Commonwealth, which includes the UK, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The room I'm in has a sprinkling of each, and you'd be amazed at the different accents one gets to hear in a day. The one I'm most unfamiliar with is the South African accent - I can't even begin to describe it. I sit next to a Brit who's originally from Sweden, and I near about fell out of my chair laughing when he called me a "jive turkey." He's also attempting to teach me to speak like a proper Eastender, but I somehow doubt it's going to take.

All in all, not bad. Not bad at all.

Starting Over, Yet Again

With the warm weather looming ahead of me, I decided to give up the office life and gave notice last week that today would be my last day at my current project. I was all aflutter with the prospect of sleeping in and watching Gilmore Girls re-runs all day long and cooking homemade dinners for J and I.

And then I got a call yesterday letting me know of another job starting on Tuesday after the long bank holiday weekend. For more money. Where some of my friends already work. Of course.

So now it looks like no long, lazy summer days ahead. I'll be cooped up in yet another office making the money to fund my insanely expensive hobby - why does camera equipment all cost so damn much?!

Anyway, we were meant to go to a steak lunch today for my leaving party, but of course, work got in the way. To make up for it, the associate I worked for rushed in before I left to present me with a madeira cake and a biscuit tin full of yummies. To be honest, I prefer the biscuit tin to a steak so I was pretty happy with the change in plans. She also told me that I could come back whenever and for however long I choose to, so I may return in October.

At this rate, I could very well accomplish my goal of working for every major law firm in London. Two down, about 40 more to go...

Canary Wharf

It's been nearly a month of commuting to Canary Wharf for work, and I have to say, it's been pretty miserable.

There are only two ways to reach the Wharf, and you get a "which is the lesser of two evils" choice: either the DLR or the Jubilee line on the Tube. The DLR comes in from the City, and it's actually pretty spacious and travels above ground. The negative is that it connects to Bank station (aka the station from hell), it's quite slow and costs a bit more than the Tube. I take the Jubilee, and it's notorious for being unreliable, especially on weekends. Truthfully, I don't mind the "is it running?" factor nearly so much as the crowd factor.

The DLR

For the first week of work, I sucked it up and dealt with being squished on a daily basis and becoming uncomfortably close to strangers. Close as in, "oh, I can smell that you've had cheese for breakfast" close. After breathing in hot cheese breath for about a week and sweating like a pig in my extra warm woolen coat, I caved and decided to start going in earlier and earlier until I figured out when the crowds weren't so bad. Which means I have to be out of the house by 7:10AM at the latest. Ouch.

There are some nice things about the Jubilee line though. Through some unspoken understanding, people actually queue to board the trains the closer you get to the Wharf. This does not happen anywhere else in London - it's unique only to those that are Canary Wharf bound. I get on around Waterloo station, which is about 5 stops away from Canary Wharf station, and I queue to get on the train. It's pretty marvelous.

Canary Wharf Station

Some other weird things about the Wharf other than the transport:

• It's much too clean. Like bizarrely, freakishly clean.
• It's got its own security so you see loads of people in fluorescent vests with dogs lurking about.
• All of the buildings are connected underground through an extensive shopping mall, which gets especially packed during lunch hour. Which leads us to the next item...
• You could theoretically never emerge into the actual world with air and sky and all that business, but instead spend all of your time underground - the Tube connects to the mall, which connects to your office building. When did Canary Wharf Group decide that people should live like moles?
• There are many more people underground than aboveground in Canary Wharf. Can you say "ant farm?"
• There's a plaza with a bunch of clocks that were originally meant to show the times of major financial centers of the world, but now it just shows the time in London. A bit narcissistic, isn't it?

Photo: Lucy Hayward

It's seriously twilight zone over there, and I'm not sure I like it...

Too Busy for Spring

It's been an absolutely crazy week for both J and I. J's been traveling to Paris and Luxembourg for work, and I've been stuck at the office all day. Neither of us have had a home cooked meal in over a week - he eats all of his meals in the air, and I eat all of my meals at the office. It's not so bad since it's on the firm's dime, and as an added bonus, a nice lady comes by with fresh coffee and tea and biscuits (cookies) twice a day. It could definitely be worse. =)

I've been working double digit hours every day this week since Sunday, and it's the absolute worst timing since it looks and feels like spring may have finally arrived after hemming and hawing for the last few weeks or so. In fact, I saw two girls walking by yesterday in shorts and t-shirts during my lunch break. Honestly though, it was not that warm - I was fine in my woolen coat while sitting in the sun. I guess 15C (low 50's Fahrenheit) feels downright balmy after months and months of temperatures in the high 30s/ low 40s. I saw the same phenomenon happen in Michigan in the early days of spring - people out in shorts and flip flops in 50 degree weather. This is the same temperature where LA girls gleefully break out their furs from their closets for a long awaited airing. It's all relative, I guess.

Back to Work, Part Deux

I woke up this morning at 8AM, and it huuurt. It's been a while since I've had to wake up on a schedule, and I forgot how much it sucks to get up when your body doesn't want to.

I had an interview with a major law firm this morning for a contract position, and I got on the Tube for my forty minute commute to Canary Wharf. J and I don't use the same Tube station or lines for this new job so we didn't get to hold hands on our walk or smirk at each other during the Tube ride. Boo.

J's still a bit confused as to why I want to work, and I admit I was a bit confused too this morning when I got dressed in a black suit and stockings and heels. I think that's the worst part about working - the clothing. I haven't worn anything that doesn't have an elastic waistband in ages, and I don't know how to walk in heels any more. It would be funny, if it wasn't so sad, to watch me lurch about on the pavement in my heels like a giant, drunk baby. What happened?!

Canary Wharf is a pretty cool area - it's all new built and super modern so it looks like a downtown from the future. It's right by the water, and everything is very, very clean to the point of sterility. I debated taking my camera with me to take a few snaps while I was there, but then I thought the interviewer may think that I was a bit odd for bringing a camera to the interview. I guess that was a good call because I got a call an hour later saying I got the job. Yay!

The bad news? Apparently, there's a ton of overtime and weekend work involved. So the TK bakery is shutting down for the next two months or so, and J is understandably a very sad boy.

Case Dismissed and Back on the Streets

The case that I was working on has been dismissed, which means that our little crew has officially disbanded for the time being. Luckily, we've all become friends in our short duration together - being locked in a room for 8 hours a day for 3 weeks will do that to you. Three of the others are at another project near our old office location, so we're planning on fish and chips sometime next week. Yay, more fried food!

Now that I don't have to rush out anywhere, I have ample time to leisurely stroll everywhere instead of taking the Tube. That's the wonderful thing about London - you can pretty much walk everywhere so long as you have your London A-Z handy. I guess it depends on your perspective - another American accused the Brits of trying to starve him by making him walk everywhere and then serving teeny tiny servings of food once he got there. Too funny.

I had a hair appointment yesterday at a salon very close to my old office, and I thought I'd take a stroll over there instead of paying near 2 quid to take the Tube. All I've got is time, right? It was a little over 3 miles for a round trip and eminently doable. You definitely see a lot more of London, and you don't have to top up your Oyster card as often - yay!

Now that I've lived in London for a while now and spent much of that time studying maps, I'm getting better about navigating around town on foot and avoiding the uber crowded touristy streets without ending up on sketchy and abandoned streets. So I'm all prepared for the next Tube strike.

We're Conversatin' (per Lil Wayne)

J and I talk a couple times each day during weekdays to touch base and see what the other one's up to. He asks if I've woken up yet, and I accuse him of not really having a job and demand proof of these so-called billable hours. That kind of stuff.

When we were back in LA, we would talk once in the morning and once in the afternoon. Back then, he would say stuff like, "I'm stuck in traffic on the 405 so I won't be home for another 15 minutes" and "I have to stay late at the office tonight."

Since we've been in London, we don't have phone conversations since it's 4p a minute (15p if I'm on the mobile) and so we email instead. Now he writes stuff like, "It's raining pretty badly, so I'm going to take a taxi home tonight," and "I need to pop over to Zurich for a few hours on Friday for work."

Zurich?! As in Switzerland? For a few hours? Okaaay... that's not weird. Not weird at all at all. Can you tell that I'm not used to this whole other-countries-within-minutes thing?