Katie Butcher

This was in an article from the Times.
http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/article1421313.ece

It’s yet another completely stupid and pointless statement. I’m guessing that figure of 5% doesn’t include couples who cohabit and then get married?

I just got back from the first of a new season of lunchtime organ recitals at Bradford Cathedral. They run weekly until July. Since my office is just a 2 minute walk from the cathedral it’s quite nice to have a short break and get away from the computer and listen to some live music for a while. There’s a buffet lunch before the concert too! Details of the recitals can be found on the Bradford Cathedral web site.

When walking in between my office and the market, I go past a Russian Restaurant which has been intriguing me since it opened on Manor Row a few months ago. As my boss was in the office today I suggested we try there for lunch.

The restaurant was quite dark, it was at ‘basement’ level (the windows looked out at peoples legs walking in the street) with red furnishings and dark wood wooden screens separating the tables to make booths. There were a few other people in the restaurant, but the staff all seemed to be busy in the kitchen so we loitered in the reception area for a few minutes until I managed to catch the attention of someone in the kitchen. We were shown to some seats in a booth. I decided not to have a starter but Mike had a bowl of Borsch which looked very tasty, and then I had chicken stroganoff with rice and Mike had golubtsi (cabbage leaves filled with turkey and beef minced meat, rice, fresh herbs & vegetables in a cream sauce). I have to say I was impressed, the food was very good (particularly considering the price). The bill for the 3 dishes and two bottles of water was £16.

I would definitely go back and eat there again. It’s was great to be able to not spend much but still get good food. It’s a little more ‘expensive’ in the evenings, but even then it’s cheap compared to most restaurant prices. If you don’t mind eating somewhere that is completely unpretentious and you’re just after good food at a good price that comes with a smile, then then you’ll like this restaurant. I would mention that the bar area is quite large and they allow smoking, so I could imagine it might get quite smoky on a Friday or Saturday night (but I guess when the smoking ban comes in that won’t apply). The gentleman who served us was keen to let us know about the live music they’ve just started on Saturday night – a mixture of Russian and English music. It sounds like it’s something different so I think I may have to check it out sometime soon.

The cheap tickets I got to the opera turned out to be excellent seats – they were at the back of the stalls but with a very good view. ‘L’elisir d’amore’ or ‘The Elixir of Love’ is by Italian composer Donizetti. It’s a light-hearted comic opera. This performance had been moved from the original setting of a 19th century village to a 1950’s Italian seaside resort, and the stage and the costumes were very light, bright and cheery. There was even a (fake) hot air balloon that descended onto the stage.

Nigel isn’t keen on opera (to put it mildly) so part of the reason I chose this one to get tickets to was because I hoped to show that a night at the opera isn’t just about the music (or ugly fat ladies wearing horn hats, warbling) but it’s also a visual experience. I admit there are quite a few operas I would find hard-going to sit through, but I’d say ‘L’elisir d’amore’ is a good one for opera virgins as it’s quite light and not too long. I really enjoyed this Opera North performance, but I thought a downside of this were odd bits of lousy diction which can make the story trickier to follow. Fortunately the story in this wasn’t too complicated.

I’m really chuffed that I managed to get hold of some highly discounted tickets to the opera tonight. I fancied going to see the current Opera North production of ‘L’elisir d’amore’ but not enough to pay around £50 for a ticket. However, I found out that on the day of the performance, 30 tickets are sold at £7.50, best seats available. So I called the box office at ‘The Grand’ when it opened this morning and to they offered me two tickets that are normally £45 each, for £7.50 each. What a bargain! I’m really looking forward to it.