Just a quick one today as I'm sleepy... as I mentioned last week Sunday was my first ever Majestic Wines Ball so I thought id upload a picture or two from my trip. The venue was excellent (The Grosvenor House) on Park Lane, and the food was lovely. It was so nice to sit and be waited on and relax. The hotel we booked was just round the corner and was nice too... apar from the drunken sandwiches I ordered to my room... defo not worth 11 quid!! The next day involved a trip to The National Gallery which was stunning. Theres so famous pieces there, and in particular on of my favourites: Turners 'The Fighting Temeraire', 1838 which I've been waiting years to see. This was followed by a meal in Soho at a vegetarian restaurant called Mildreds. I'l DEFINATELY be going back there at the end of January as there was so many things to try on the menu. I had polenta cake which was accompanied by lemon mascarpone, which I thought was clever and worked surprisingly well. We both tried the 'Barley Cup' which was really yeasty and kind of tasted like a mocha, but yea a delightful menu. Next time we're going the whole hog and having dessert so I'l report back on that and let you know! The restaurant has a chilled atmosphere and the staff are very helpful. Check out their website! www.mildreds.co.uk
My mum used to put tea in my bottle as a wee nipper so its no surprise that I'm a bit of a fiend. As I've got older and travelled more I've branched out and like a lot of the herbal stuff. To the left is my glass teapot, which can be bought on The Tea Experience [www.theteaexperience.co.uk] and is designed especially for 'blooming tea', which I first discovered at The Mystery Tea Shop in Preston. The tea itself comes in a ball and slowly expands into beautiful flowers before your eyes. The metal filter in the spout stops any bits coming through. I guess (like wine) there is more to tea than enjoying a hot cup of Yorkshire. Since reading memoirs of a Geisha I've wanted to learn more tea drinking rituals and the part tea plays in other cultures. I'd like to visit the famous tea house 'Ichitiki Chaya' in Japan and see the beautiful. gardens/architecture. Tea is popular in other asian countries such as Thailand and China.. In reflection of the quote below, I personally feel blooming tea really applies as your able to enjoy the process on so many levels.
Now lets have a cuppa!
'the Taiwanese tea ceremony is as much about celebrating life as it is about rediscovering the beauty and natural harmony in the world'...Cha Tao,the art of tea, brings participants closer to nature and their own true essence' Annete Tan- writer for Wallpaper, taken from 'POT LUCK' article, Decemeber 2012 edition.
This post relates to news that the UK government will consider legislation against food manufacturers to ensure less sugar, salt and fat content in foods. (See link below for video)
It annoys me how theres so many good healthy things out there and we have an epidemic with so many overweight kids. I don't understand why anyone, young or old, would choose to eat sugar at breakfast time and drink sugar in fizzy its ridiculous. I'm not going to lie, I have done in the past but as soon as I started dieting I realised its pointless. Fair enough, grab a Lucozade if your ill or if you've been exercising loads but otherwise there's so many other alternatives, here are some of mine......
I usually order my food online through Sainsburys but when I worked at ASDA I found a good alcohol free and sugar fizz, the ASDA Extra Special White Grape Spritzer which is £1. I found it nice of an evening to have a chilled glass whilst watching tele instead of wine. Its great if your on Slimming World or Weight Watchers so you can use your syns/points and at the weekends!
Second is in the yoghurt isle and so far I've only seen it at Waitrose. Rachel's Organic yoghurt range is beautiful, and even better is the fat free stuff Blackburrant is my favourite (watch out between low fat and fat free) and is nice on its own or with extra fruit. Im going to try making a smoothie with it in the future. Yeo Valley also have a 0% vanilla pot which is worth trying. Im pleased that I've branched out from Activia and Shape since leaving Slimming World group and reaching target weight, as I am not as strict about following exactly whats on the syn free list.
Next is the Alpen Light cereal bars (around £2 for 5 five bars) My favourite is the double chocolate when you need that boost of chocolateness.
Whether its in season or not, i've always been in love with black and white striped clothes, and one of my favourite style icons continually owns the classic colour combination. Vertical stripes act as an optical illusion to elongate your body and take of pounds. Marc Jacobs, amongst others has brought them back for spring/summer 2013, making this trend spot on. I found plenty of good dresses on the high street when I was looking for an outfit for my works bleated christmas doo which takes place tomorrow in London. I decided to go with a toned down black and white look by pairing a black skirt and corset combo with a slick white blazer, topped off with a bright Gwen lip (photos will soon follow! )
MY TOP TIP: if you go out intended to shop in the sales its always worth looking at the current season stock first to see what shapes and colours are in..often you can then find something similar in the sale racks....making you feel generally more pleased with your purchase!
The event brought together over 60 artists in and around the city with the majority of entry totally free. The Liverpool Biennial always strikes a chord with me in some way or another, and this time wasn't an exception. I was only a resident for a few months in this vibrant city, a bit of an unexpected guest myself I suppose, but in the short time I was there I felt welcome. I got to experience new spaces and learn about Liverpool in the process. It was great to spend my free time exploring, especially the old Royal Mail sorting office which held my favourite exhibition- City States. The highlight for me was Black Pillow, by Audrius Bucas & Valdas Ozarinskas (see below). Its overbearing and awkward, kind of like an oversized parcel that was left behind still waiting for dispatch. Or maybe its a pillow that catches your darkest deepest nightmares, turning the fabric black. On the contrary it was also really fun and ridiculous, I just wanted to jump on it and squeeze it!! The sorting office was very interesting with old staff notices and procedure signs still pinned up. It felt eerie walking around the building, like everything had just stopped and was frozen in time. A poster on the wall stated: 'ITS ALL OVER, GOODNIGHT' Its kind of saddening because the office probably sustained hundreds of local folks' jobs, but anyway, above all a really great place to have an exhibition and a clever way to reuse an disused building so. lets hope it plays a part next time. I half expected to see Lewis' abandoned department store being utilised like last time and was kind of disappointed that it wasn't, but never mind only two years to wait for more surprises!! Over and Out.
I was stacking shelves at a temporary job at ASDA in Sefton Park Liverpool when I noticed that I never really needed to replenish the SodaStream stock. Whos actually investing in this product and where are they buying it? I thought to myself if I had my own kitchen (and house for that matter) is there a place for such item? For starters the selection of sugar free flavoured syrups was limited and the drinks makers looked OK, a bit plastic-y for my liking. Being a slimming world calorie counting freak the range of syrups would really influence my decision on this one, and second the design and how it would fit into my kitchen. Then a long came the influential and very popular Jamie Oliver (my absolute fav but more on him another time) and kind of made SodaStream cool by endorsing the brand on Johnny Woss and finding a new, or maybe retro use for the product (see below, fast fwd to 10 mins). Full respect for SodaStream came to fruition after realising the environmental benefits; it could save a family up to 2000 bottles a year.
SodaStream are really starting to come back into fashion and gain the credibility they once had in the 70's and 80's. With true environmental benefits and new stylish machines, the future is really promising. Wallpaper recently interviewed CEO Daniel Birnbaum and chief innovation and design officer Yaron Kopei, giving further publicity and moving the brand up in the design stakes. Looking on their website there's some really slick machines as well as new flavours for making cocktails at home. With more people investing time and money into drinking at home I think they could be onto a winner. Lets hope there's more flavours and exciting things to come for SodaStream in the UK.
I'm thinking customised syrups....hmmm sugar free elderflower and grape.... then I'l buy one!
'I don't think we are going to take on Coke, I KNOW we are going to take on coke' CEO of SodaStream
I figured I should kick of the blog with something relevant. For many of us a new year brings the chance to start a fresh and make some good choices.
Obviously having choice is fantastic, and its something we've all become accustomed to. From buying a jelly nut at the world-foods market (bad idea BTW), to finding a date on match.com (I have a bf so its totes not relevant to me). But sometimes its difficult when there's a million different things to choose from in the shops. This is going to become even more of a problem for cohorts like generation z, whose lifelong connection to technology has opened up a massive array of global products and services available at the swipe of a finger. The dilemma of choice has become a recent discussion, and is explored in a study below (see video). People are much more likely to buy a pot a jam when presented with six flavours as a opposed to 24. So as we can see, the results are simple: when given less choice, life becomes simpler. I've been thinking about this a lot and its relevance to my new job, where we have over 800 wines available. How can I make this easy for people who aren't familiar with wine? (and how can I use this to my own advantage). Its kind of difficult when everybody has different tastes and wants to be different. Perhaps its not such a bad idea to dictate their choices and make the buyer decision making process easier.
The commentary continues in Wallpaper (January 2013 edition) in the article 'Less is More', which talks about the '150 friends limit'social network PATH, which helps to 'discipline your inner circle'. I really believe less is more in the social sense, as being able to concentrate your communication more precisely and have quality conversations to a select few brings great satisfaction. The trend doesn't just further our lives in the practical sense, but helps with our own psychi and sense of fulfilment. This year isn't about 'Facebook culling', or taking extreme action (like lo-fi living*) its about taking control of our choices and spending our free time wisely.
*lo-fi living: a 'new trend' that started in America, the main concept is the deliberate rejection of technology. Followers include Kate Moss; according to Grazia issue 404.