HOT: New York City Ballet London Coliseum

After the debacle of the dire Pina Bausch, I felt that I owed Debora a decent night out at the ballet. Luckily, the world famous NYC ballet (who haven't performed in London in years) didn't disappoint. I particularly loved the Broadway medley, with its fluid lines and gorgeous 30s style dresses in block colours, and the dynamism of the West Side Story suite.

NOT: The History Boys, Wynham Theatre

Yalin and I were unable to work out how this schlock was the winner of numerous Tony Awards (including for Best Play). Unrealistic, self-important and drawn-out, I was really disappointed with this play.

HOT: Unfinished Sky London Australian Film Festival at Barbican Centre

A fantastic film set in country Queensland about a loner out in the bush who helps a battered Afghan illegal immigrant woman who stumbles down his driveway one day. William McInnes perfectly captures the prickly demeanour of a man uncomfortable with human emotions, who slowly thaws in the warmth of new discovery and love.

NOT: Tough Time, Nice Time, Barbican Centre

Another bizarre undertaking from Ridiculusmus, all of which takes place with them naked on stage in a spa bath. Unfortunately not very funny and they packed so much commentary into their quickfire script that I found it hard to keep up.

HOT: Much Ado about Nothing, National Theatre

I had originally thought this would not be worth seeing - two middle aged actors playing the lovers Beatrice and Benedict? However, sometimes experience rather than beauty is what counts in interpreting Shakespeare, and Zoe Wanamaker and Simon Russell Beale really set the prose alight with their comic timing and unbelieveable diction during this delightful sunlit comedy. And there's a pool in the middle of the stage!

HOT: The Home Song Stories, London Australian Film Festival, Barbican Centre

Oh wow. A stunning, moving and shocking film based on the true life of Tony Ayres, a Chinese boy who immigrated with his nightclub singer monther and teenage system to dusty suburban Melbourne. It's a miracle he turned out vaguely normal given his emotionally wraught upbringing filled with uncertainty, itinerant housing and others' suicide attempts. The child actor was perfect as Tony, quietly observing the action around him, while Joan Chen was outstanding as his flighty and manipulative mother. A must see.

HOT: Duchamp, Man Ray, Picaba at Tate Modern

The pioneers of modernism still have the ability to provoke, 80 years later. Even if the only reaction is of confusion. This exhibition is quite large, and key pieces for me included Duchamp's Nude Descending a Staircase (a great study in movement, although I'm not sure how walking down a staircase could be more controversially mundane than lying on a bed), Duchamps' The Lovers (a geometric yet rounded nude couple, drenched in pink and with an air of glowing tenderness about them) and Picabia's Daughter Born Without Mother (basically a picture of a piece of machinery, transformed into a work evoking Eve).

HOT: Noise, London Australian Film Festival at Barbican Centre

The Pit cinema at the Barbican was a fantastic cinema which reminded me of ACMI in Melbourne - plush wide seats and sloped stadium seating. Since moving to London I haven't really been keeping up with Australian news or seen Australian landscapes, so as I was watching this film, set in Melbourne, I experienced a strange feeling of familiarity yet distance. The film was not what I expecting at all - I thought it'd be a straight whodunnit (serial killer on train) but instead it was more of an exploration of the impact of the killings on various people, with no obvious conclusion. So it was gripping, but only because you weren't sure where the story was heading.

HOT: Salome at Royal Opera House

My second opera experience at the ROH was very different to the Magic Flute. This production of Salome was set in an underground, starkly tiled space a la public toilet/abbatoir/dungeon which was manned by Teutonic stormtroopers. It turned incredible bloody (decapitation and stabbings), with some random male and female full frontal nudity. Although I did have trouble following the music, I thought Salome, a tiny flame-haired woman with an enormous voice, was brilliant.

HOT: The Bread Shop 296 Chiswick High Road

I have the sort of stomach which means eating too much bread over consecutive days can do strange things to my digestion. Therefore, spelt, a gluten-free grain, is the answer. Unfortunately, spelt bread has always been tasteless and unappealing to me - until I discovered The Bread Shop. OK it's not cheap compared to your sliced white, but the spelt special is absolutely delicious and actually tastes like a proper french white baguette. I'm addicted, especially when it's spread with my especially-imported Belgian monk's beer cheese and avocado.

HOT: Be Kind Rewind at Odeon Whiteleys

In the words of one of the characters, 'a movie with heart' from the director of 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' and 'Science of Sleep'. A quirky and funny film about a pair of bumbling no-hopers who accidentally erase a video store's entire collection and then try to recreate the movies using aluminium foil, tinsel, playground equipment and car parts. Their efforts bring their small town together as everyone pitches in to help save the video store from demolition, ending with a weepy happy group-hug.

HOT: Say Nothing at Barbican

The Ridiculusmus retrospective brought this two-man, three-character play about the Northern Irish conflict back from the vault. I think it would have been much more topical (and ridiculous) ten years ago, and some of the political references were lost on me, but you have the admire the ability of the two actors to play all the characters while standing inside a suitcase full of grass.

HOT: Story Deli, 3 Dray Walk, Truman Brewery, Aldgate

Caroline had been raving about the organic pizza restaurant near her house but I'd never had the opportunity to go as I was always eating cupcakes at Upmarket when I visited Brick Lane. However, a quick pre-theatre meal was needed and we were early enough to bag a seat at the big communal table filled with big candles. Luckily the surly waiter didn't detract from the quality of the £10 pizzas - which were a little too crispy for my liking (and convenience) but full of great flavours - try the aubergine pizza especially.

HOT: Ally Capellino, 9 Calvert Avenue, Old Street

The wooden rustic store smells of leather when you walk in and every bag is touchable and covetable. I had gone there on a Huy-inspired pilgrimage to purchase a half-priceTimothy bag - a large waxed cotton bag with canvas straps which is big enough for pastries and copies of the Sunday papers. Look out for Huy and I being stylish twins when we take our Timothy bag on our weekend jaunts.

HOT: Huwundeki, 34 Marshall St, Soho

A cool underground shop selling vintage clothes and new clothes with a bit of a retro feel. It seemed to be full of Asians (maybe because of the small sizes) and I found a bright blue sixties stretcy jacket/mini-dress with draped hips which I've been wearing with black boots.

HOT: Sketch Parlour, 9 Conduit Street, Soho

Huy had been trying to wrangle afternoon tea at Sketch for a long time and I finally had some spare time in my diary :) Sketch is a fantastically theatrical complex of restaurants and afternoon tea is held in the grandly opulent Parlour with big glass bubble lamps, low tables and bijou couches. The high tea is very nice (especially the fruit scones) although I think for the price (£18.50) you get more cake at Liberty. And make sure you visit the famous bathrooms, fitted out with all-white futuristic egg-pod toilets which play farmyards noises.

HOT: The Boss of It All, Institute of Contemporary Art The Mall

A very funny film (albeit a bit long) from Danish Dogma director Lars Von Trier. The film is set in a software company and involves the machinations of an out-of-work actor pretending to be the boss of the company so that the true boss can sell the business and fire the staff. The situations are absurd, the dialogue (even translated and subtitled) is laugh-out-loud hilarious and the ending is fitting.

HOT: NME Shockwaves Awards Tour 2008, Brixton Academy Brixton

The Brixton Academy is one cool venue and a great place for people watching - although I felt like I was a middle-aged crank staring at all the young people in their cool outfits. Does It Offend You, Yeah had some great beats but was completely unoriginal, synthing their way 80s style through some shouty tracks. Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jongs were just plain boring. The Cribs really got it going and were much better than their last foray at the O2 Wireless Festival last year - great tunes, stage-diving and a tumble of the bass drum at the end.

NOT: Baan Thai, 401 Coldharbour Lane, Brixton

When I couldn't remember the Ethiopian restaurant I visited in Brixton last time, I decided to try a highly recommended Thai restaurant on toptable. Well, I'm not sure whether the visitors to toptable are educated about Thai food as this place had no ambience and served just ok food (which I suspect also gave me a bad case of the runs the next day). At least it was spicy enough.

NOT: Pina Bausch Tanztheater Wuppertal at Sadler's Wells

I didn't think I was that much of a modern dance dunce but I hated this extremely influential work, the 'unmissable modern dance event of the year'. Cafe Muller was ugly, pointless and boring although The Rite of Spring, danced on a dirt floor, had it's moments - mostly due to the scale of some of the unison movements and the incredible Stravinksy score.