Getting a dance fix that satisfies the need to perform

From Big Dance to Dance Al Fresco, my dance article on the brilliant London Calling Arts website...

The amazing expanding towels

Another exciting feature of the consistantly wonderful Engebret Café was the amazing expanding towel experience. They looked pretty innocuous when our waitress first brought them out to the table - four little round white shapes in a white ceramic bowl. I thought they were some oddly shaped sugar cubes. But no...

Our waitress poured a little bit of boiling hot water into the bowl and we watched in awe as the "suger cubes" expanded to perfectly fill the bowl and sit, gently steaming, until we were ready to clean our hands. Ingenious!

Followed by a lunch of mussels in cream, with French potatoes and aioli. De-licious!

The "World's Best Cake" - in the world's best café

A trip to Oslo would not be complete without a visit to the Engebret Café - the oldest cafe in Oslo where artists and writers like Henrik Ibsen and Edvard Munch used to hang out.

The "World’s Best Cake" is actually the honest-to-goodness real name of this cake (also called Kvæfjord-cake, a traditional Norwegian cake apparently). This picture shows it looking only slightly demolished...

It's a light sponge cake, topped with meringue with a vanilla pudding filling. Yum! And here's how to make it should you be so inclined.

More Texas photos

Quaint little olde-worlde bus parked near the Alamo.

Strange phenomenon of rows of white rocking chairs at San Antonio ariport - welcoming you to Texas!

Cute little Five & Dime store on the main street.

Yet more interesting art at the airport...

A final margarita and plate of nachos - bye-bye, Texas!

Goodbye to Texas!

On my way to Chicago from San Antonio (via Dallas) after the Tessitura conference. Anyone unfamiliar with the phenomenon that is Tessitura, will find it difficult to grasp the sheer level of enthusiasm and outright geekiness that infuses this conference each year.

Basically it's a gathering of 100's of arts people who use this ticketing system that's geared specifically towards to the arts and the unique needs of the industry. Lots of interesting seminars, round-table discussions and sharing of ideas. Good stuff.

I had a great time with the rest of the POP team. Always amazing to interact with colleagues I usually only email or talk to on the phone. And to meet people from the arts orgs we work with is always a pleasure. And these people know how to have a good time too, which always makes for a memorable experience.

Trying this mi-air internet thing for the first time and it's been amazing so far. most impressed!

Pointless babble

A report on how most of what people do on Twitter is "pointless babble" - hmmm. It's interesting how some people just can't get enough of Twitter and others are quite happy to stick to Facebook. One description of the difference between the two that I read really summed it up brilliantly:

Facebook is...
Like a wedding where you might already know most people and catch-up on shared experiences and connections.

Twitter is...
More like stepping on to a stage, where you are communicating with an audience and quickly find that you need to find a voice and say something useful and interesting or quickly lose the attention of your audience.

I don't think I've quite made up my mind which I prefer for myself just yet...