CLAY

A serious gallery like Bernard Jacobson in Cork street is showing ceramics, you know that the medium has arrived.

The show is ok, "artisits" showing clay work, over all it is SO worth seeing .

MONGAI

HAVE YOU EVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS?

You cut this open and eat the inside (orange) raw, really delicious, but BOY is it "hard core" looking

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more food

Temple food then followed by the most amazing cake shop.

Have to say the chocolate cake looked wonderful

BUT not as tasty as it looks

So good looks get you halfway there, but it's substance that counts

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Korean Street food

I am not sure how sensible it is for business, BUT this street in Namdamun Market in Seoul ALL sell the same type of noodles.

These noodles are all hand made, they keep the dough in a plastic bag, then roll out enough for a portion and cut the noodles up in front of you, then cook it straight away. SOOOOO FRESH.

Beautiful stock soup, served kimchi of course, spicy but not BURNING, hot. We somehow got very fond of the chili, chili paste in Korea as it's spicy, hot but doesn't burn. also VERY tasty as well.

Brian and I (well really Brian as a European) really made the ladies day, and they ours.

P X

Rem Koohaas at Seoul National University

All universities dream of having enough money and space to get an international renowned architect to build a museum in the grounds!

Well Seoul NAtional University has done just that.

A Rem Koolhaas building, clad in triple poly-carbonate, and totally airy and light in side.

Really beautiful, but how practical it is for showing art I am not sure.

P x

Prada Transformer

We were SO lucky to have seen this.

designed by OMA, The Office for Metropolitan Architecture, it is a HUGE structure that will transform from gallery exhibition space to lecture theatre to  cinema and to art space.

It is set in the grounds of a 16th Century Palace and the juxtaposition is simply wonderful.

So are the very novel use of shipping containers as corridors, office and reception spaces really created a special piece of work that is both WOW and recycles.

The cute guards (all in Prada of course) let us in to have a peep as we had a flight in 3 hours time to go back to HK, a very lovely show of Prada skirts, some mounted on "spinning hips".

P X

Constellation Manhattan

Well after all this is a design blog!

This is my collection which was shown at Asprey NY and Asprey London in 2008.

A unique one off 8 place setting dinner service made at Royal Crown Derby.

The interest in this service has lead to a new production dinner service commissioned by Royal Crown Derby which I am working on just now.

The aim is to launch it at Gumps in Sept 2009.

Will let you all know when the service is in production

P XX

Ying Yang Chicken

Hello every one,

Life has been lived in the fast lane as of late, hence lacking in posting.

Brian and I went to Hong Kong and Korea, visiting parents in HK and attending CEBIKO (Ceramics Bienalle Korea), where I had a piece of work on show.

This chicken is simply the most sensational thing I have eaten for a long time, and it is the signature dish of Ying Yang, a Private dining room.

The location is in Ship St. HK. in a lovely old turn of the century 3 story building where the first floor is the kitchen and dining rooms are on the ground and top floors. Sensible eh?

The chicken is roasted in a clay oven to perfection, then carved where the crispy skin can be enjoyed on it's own, SOOO yummy. the dipping sauce is a ginger called "sand ginger" it is grown at Ying Yang's own organic farm, simply crushed and steeped in olive oil

The taste is gingery, nutty, fragrant and crunchy, the perfect accompaniment to the chicken.

Do try it if you find yourself in HK, it is expensive though, and the rest of the menu, soup, stir fried green and dessert is good but not fantastic.

We did have a side order of "black gold", which is truffled eggs, Perfectly cooked with truffles from Yunnan, still not as sensational as the chicken.

Will update soon,

P x