There’s something magical about having Christmas in winter time. Growing up in Namibia, Christmas was synonomous with braais and salads, long days by the poolside sunbathing and late, balmy nights sitting on the patio. In New York? Not so much!

The weather has gone progressively colder and I can now safely say that it is winter. The building-lined streets form a perfect wind-tunnel through which an icy wind can howl and climb into your down coat, chilling you to the bone and on my morning walk to work my ears and nose feel like they have a life of their own.

But this time of the year is definitely not all bad. We just received a beautiful Swedish Advent Calendar from John’s mom and, while this is our first festive decoration, so many apartments in the building across from ours have put up lights and fancy Christmas trees that twinkle throughout the night.

This evening the big Christmas tree in Rockefeller Plaza was ‘switched on’ and it is magical! There are iceskating rings all over the city and the big department stores have gone to town to decorate their windows and spur on the shopping fever (which reminds me…this weekend is booked for a big Christmas shopping spree!)These pictures are just some of the incredible windows at Macy’s. Ho ho ho!

Walking down the streets of London I had a feeling of absolute surrealism around me… I lived in this city for a year, have been there so many times for holiday and I really, really love it. What this trip did for me was make me realize that while everything changes, nothing ever does. Restaurants, coffee shops, bars, big name stores…all still there. Same stuff, different year/decade! So what do we chase after newer, faster, better the whole time?

One of the funniest and fun experiences was hanging out with friends that I hadn’t seen in years. Shelley and I studied together in Cape Town and we are the type of friends who could not be in touch for two years and pick up right where we left off. Fabulous!

On Saturday night we had dinner with two friends from Namibia whom I hadn’t seen in years and years; Belinda and I lived together in Windhoek during 1999 (interesting is that the thing she remembers most about me during that period is me constantly going to gym and drinking Oros – a yucky sweet South African orange squash!) and Ane and I basically grew up together – our moms went to school together.
It was great to have the girls from Africa going to dinner in London. Who would’ve ever guessed back then? Goes to show…Perhaps sometimes things do change.

I have once again realized why I love London. We arrived on Thursday morning 7am local time (1am New York time) and set about for a full day of sightseeing around my favourite parts of the city. The difference between London and New York, though both are bustling cities filled with energy, is clear. Where New York is a high, closely packed metropolis, London is sprawling, with lower buildings, more gorgeous architecture and more…space. I love it here.

We’ve caught up with so many friends of mine and John’s that we haven’t seen in yonks and walking through streets and past restaurants that I used to favour when I lived here 10 years ago has brought back so many fabulous memories. The difference between being here as a fresh-out-of-school 18-year old with no money and now is so crazy. I now actually get to eat at the restaurants I longed to eat at years ago. That said, the difference in value between the pound and the dollar is scary. And things are super expensive! The crazy thing is that sushi here costs exactly the same amount as it does in New York, except for the $/pound sign in front of the amount – that’s the difference! (The dollar is roughly two to a pound).

The one thing that is the same about New York and London? Both are super cold! It’s been gloves and hats kind of weather, but we’ve struck it lucky with no rain. I have blisters on my toes from all the walking, but this girl had a great Thanksgiving in the UK!

Last night John and I ventured out to Madison Square Garden to watch the Knicks play the Warriors. Now if you, like me, have no idea who or what the Knicks are…let me explain. It’s the New York basketball team. And basketball (because this is a game not played much in South Africa and Namibia) is a bit like netball, except that it’s played by men. Very, very tall men.
To be honest, the best part of watching the game live was spotting James Blunt (of You’re Beautiful fame) in the crowd. Oh, and of course the fresh hotdogs rate tops too. The match itself was a bit boring to me. They rush around the court, bouncing along the ball and manage to score – by throwing the ball through a hoop – quite often. I’m not sure if it’s because of the commercial nature of this game, but every 90 seconds, they’d take a 30 second ‘Time Out’ or ‘TV Commercial Break’. To me this complete interrupts the flow of the match and I really got frustrated by its stop-start nature.

John truly enjoyed the girly performances during the match – every now and again a break would mean a dance performance by one of the toned lasses. Me? I was most amused by the guy with the mop who would rush onto the court to clear of sweat and then come back seconds after wiping the floor, with a handtowel to dry it. Ha ha ha – such men, these basketball players!

I have come to the conclusions that I was born and raised in the wrong part of town, uhm, the world. I was really meant to be born, grow up and still live in the Hamptons. Absolutely.

We just spent a heavenly weekend with friends in South Hampton and I’m speechless. Frank invited us to join him and 5 other friends to go relax at his family’s house. We left Friday evening (in a minivan) and drove the 2hours from New York in a flash. Once we got there, the fully stocked bar and pool table provided enough entertainment to keep us busy til the early hours of Saturday morning. The only rule in the house was that no one was allowed to get up before 11, which suited me just fine!

On Saturday morning the first bloody mary’s were mixed around 12pm and after John and I went for a run around paradise, we joined in the fun.

So why do I love the Hamptons? Is it the fact that Calvin Klein’s house is just down the road, or that you’re a 5 minute walk from the beach, or that Frank’s parents house has 15 en-suite rooms (we stayed in the Blue Room), or is it the orange-red-yellow-brown hues of the trees of the hundreds of trees everywhere, or is it the fact that I could sleep until 11am two days in a row? You tell me. Because I’m still speechless.

Winter really is approaching fast in the Big Apple. Today’s been mostly rainy, bleary and grey (typical London weather, if I recall!) and with the seasonal time change, it is now dark around 5pm. Because I leave the office in the dark, it typically feels like I should be heading for bed at around 7pm. Problem with the cold dark nights are that my body is going into hibernation too – a happy space where down duvets abound, chocolate is an acceptable serving for dinner and kickboxing does not exist. Then I glimpse my slowly-returning love-handles in the mirror after a shower and remind myself that I need to snap out of this hibernation phase quickly and get active before the snow and ice starts coming. The locals all giggle at me when I step outside wrapped in scarves, beanies, gloves and my padded warm winters’ jacket. Apparently it’s not cold yet.

I beg to differ!

On Saturday night we ventured out to the burrough of Brooklyn to dine at Madiba’s – the only South African restaurant in New York. (Xhai-Xhai just opened, but that’s more a wine-bar than a fully fledged restaurant, so for the purpose of this entry, we’ll not include them on the list of SA restaurants in New York. That said, Xhai-Xhai could be the only SA restaurant in Manhattan, because Madiba’s is out in Brooklyn…Mmmmmm… Anyway, to get back to Saturday night)

After travelling further away from Manhattan than we’ve been by subway (perhaps the Queens beer garden would count as further…not sure) and then walking about 2 miles in freezing weather, we reached the famous Madiba’s. They sell Robertson’s spices and also Five Rose’s tea. Best find was Bisto – an instant gravy so far from real that you have to have grown up on it to really appreciate the non-graviness of this gravy.

The decor was pretty much what you’d expect from a world-famous South African restaurant – a bit of a ‘hut’ feel, with plenty of touristy memorabilia – think wire cars, wooden carvings, etc – on the walls and a fantastic coke bottle chandelier in the dining area. Really cool vibe. I fell in love with the menu! Bobotie, Oxtail, Bredie, Putu Pap and Boerewors, Bunny Chow and Breyani, this was the closest I’d been to home in 8 months! Truth be told, though, the Oxtail tasted nothing like my mom’s. Neither did the Boboti. But it was the idea that counted. We skipped desert, but I salivated at the thought of melktert, koeksisters, tipsy tart and malva pudding. They also serve Windhoek Lager and Castle, so for one night, it felt like I was back in Africa.

All the American accents around me quickly brought me back to earth! ha ha ha!

Manhattan is full of surprises. Now this can be a statement filled to the brim with double meanings, but I love the surprise element that is connected to bars and restaurants in the city.

On Sunday night, John took me on a proper date – to a surprise venue! I was told that the dress code was ‘cool and trendy’ so I donned a pair of fitted jeans, black boots and my new black military-style jacket and we ventured into the cool (who am I kidding – COLD) fall evening. We took the train downtown to trendy SOHO and ended up inside a diner. I know…my thoughts exactly. A diner?

A girl sitting at the counter near the door asked John if we had a reservation. After locating our names on her list, she walky-talkied our arrival through somewhere. After a couple of minutes she smiled and said – ‘you can go through’, pointing at a backdoor with ‘Employees Only / NO ACCESS’ note on it. Feeling slightly intrepid, we went through the door and into an industrial staircase with two flights of stairs going underground. Next thing I knew we were standing in a restaurant kitchen. The chef looked up from chopping some vegetables and smiled at us. This was weird! We were pointed through the kitchen and walked through another door where we ended up in a corridor with a cloak room and a lady who checked our coats to the right. After checking our coats (remembering that we’re two storeys underground!) we walked down the corridor and through another door and all of a sudden found ourselves in this amazing bar/restaurant. What an experience!

La Esquina is a true gem. You have to know about it to know about it, if you know what I mean? They only employ Mexican waiters, serve about 300 different types of tequila, combine hot sauce and beer to form a cocktail and the food? Oh my word…the food is fantastic! What an experience that was.

Afterwards we strolled through the neighbourhood and invariably ended up at our favourite desert place – Rice to Riches. This is any rice pudding lover’s dream. At any given time there will be about 30 different variants to select from – flavours like Coast to Coast Cheesecake (we shared that one), Coconut Coma, Forbidden Apple, Hazelnut Chocolate Bear Hug, Sex Drugs and Rocky Road, The Edge of Rum Raisin, Secret Life of Pumpkin and Fluent in French Toast, to name a few. See why I’m in love?