MORE WIGMORE!

To London’s stunning Wigmore Hall on Wigmore Street.

   Hard to keep your eye on the stage unless.....


I must admit that it has been over a year since I was last there, but I was taken this time by a singer friend of mine who said that I simply must come along with her to see what she called a “revelatory pianist”.

                                                         ...Katya's tickling the ivories!

From the moment Katya Apekisheva played the opening flourish of Schubert’s Sonata in A minor D537 I knew what she meant. Magical more like it!

This is an extremely intricate piece to play, seemingly all over the place, but Katya had the measure of things and drove it along with a passion I have seldom seen in any pianist. I could have sworn I heard the man next to me gasp at her command of the fortissimi.

Next she played Schumann’s Kinderszenen.  The Wigmore has a massive Steinway there on stage and Katya wasn’t afraid of it at all. She knew how to tame it! What a gal!

This was a sensational concert, and I'm ashamed to say that I hadn’t heard of her before. Her superb command of the keyboard will, I’m certain, ensure that she will be unknown no more!  Brava!

BREAKFAST OF CAMPIONI (with apologies to Kurt Vonnegut, Jr)

On my ever expanding quest to better myself as a showoff cook, I attended the Caldesi Cookery School in London's Marylebone Lane. The evening was arranged once again (see posting passim) by the Italian Cultural Institute's (ICI) Anna Mondavi and hosted by "Lady Chef", Rita Monastero. Accompanying me once again was the Luscious Laura who was unafraid to get her hands dirty.  Among items on the agenda were tortelloni with ricotta and spinach and an extremely rich chocolate and candieds fruits and almond cake. All made from scratch!

Those of us who knew how, made our own egg pasta (again) and then we were shown the mystic art of how to make the little filled pasta shapes.

Laura stirs, while I stir it up...

Throughout the evening we were warrmed inside (while it was chucking it down outside) with a oenologist (look it up) called Angela who is actually a real MW (Master of Wine). And her banter about grape varieties and origins went on throughout the evening.

                                                      Angela shows us her teeth polished by Pinot Grigio!

We got to taste wines from all over Italy (courtesy of the ICI's extensive regional wine cellar) and all I can tell you is that I had the mother of hangovers the following morning.


Later the following day, I met up with Rita and her husband, Enrico to take a walk through Soho and Marylebone High Street and we had a delicious lunch at Cafe Coco Momo. Enrico tried, and pronounced highly enjoyable, a "full English" breakfast (at 2pm!).

Coco Momo in Marylebone serves up a Full English all day long, especially for Italians!

We exchanged gifts and vowed to see each other again in the new year.
Salute!

SPITALFIELDS MARKET

This has to be my favourite London market!

It has an enormously rich and varied history dating back to the 300’s when it was originally the site of a Roman cemetery.

 
In 1197 ‘The priory of St. Mary of the Spittle’, a medieval hospital, was founded: the first part of the name ‘Spitalfields’ derives from the word ‘hospital’, which to the medieval mind was understood as ‘hospitality’, a place of rest as well as medicine.

A big leap forward now to when Jewish families first began settling in Spitalfields in the seventeenth century. In the 1880s, anti-semitic pogroms in Russia and Eastern Europe triggered a major Jewish exodus, and thousands joined the existing communities in Spitalfields and Whitechapel.

Representing these districts was the Liberal MP Samuel Montagu, a well-liked philanthropist, leading banker, keen fly fisherman and devout Orthodox Jew. He was dedicated to the welfare of his new constituents, lobbying for their humane treatment and founding a number of shelters and working men's clubs specifically for their use.

He was chairman of the Spitalfields Benevolent Society, which was formed to help the area’s poorer inhabitants, and he founded the Federation of Synagogues. In 1907, Montagu was raised to the peerage and became the first recipient of the title Baron Swaythling.

The Jewish community thrived in Spitalfields for several decades before gradually moving towards the suburbs, a trend eventually accelerated by the heavy bombing of the East End during the Second World War.

I have been visiting the market for nigh on twenty years, and today, having been, until 1991 a fruit and veg market (that’s now moved to a purpose-built site in Leyton, east London), the market has been thoroughly renovated, a new roof (thank goodness they’ve fixed that. The times I've spent browsing and got wet from the leaks when it was raining outside and having to walk through puddles). It’s been expanded all the way through to Liverpool Street now with new shops and craft outlets with, of course, plenty of places to meet all eating requirements! Accents seem to be on Oriental street food.

                                           I'm a huge fan of Harris Tweed!

                                           Memo to Bart Simpson: Yes, you can have a cow!

                               Mark sells some special vinyl and other memorablia each week. Be sure to check his stand out!

 Just opened after a complete gutting and refit is the Ten Bells pub. This place is noted (if that’s the right word) for having been associated with Jack The Ripper.  Now run as a rather super new restaurant run by the self-styled Young Turks, we had a scrumptious dinner there. I thought that the standard mark-up of £10.00 whatever wine you purchased was a particularly appealing feature.

This is what the place looked like before the YT's took it over!

It's ahad a splash of paint on teh outside and the new interior is a whole new cosy thing with absolutely no matching furniture. Look out for the neon sign mysteriously imploring "Keep Me Safe".

More soon. Probably...