The Alexandra Palace Summer Festival Review

On 23rd July 2016 i attended my first summer festival at Alexandra Palace. This is an annual event and surprisingly the entry is completely free! This was brilliant because not only do i love free events but especially when the quality of what was available was off of the charts!

There were many pop up bands and talented artists dotted around the Alexandra Palace Park which is large to say the least! The paths were bustling with people eager to hear and see the immense amount of things going on throughout the day.

I was there for most of the day and saw many families enjoying themselves and groups of friends and couples. This is the kind of events for everyone to join in together! The event runs all of the day and with a schedule which was handed out it little booklets which was very helpful as it included a map of the events and products. The street food was amazing!

There was so much variety and the prices were PanNation which consists of a group of people forming an orchestra of steel drums playing modern and popular songs. They were so enjoyable to see and to get involved in their atmosphere and they were so good that they were asked for 2 encores! Another band that i thought was very impressive was called The Hod and they were playing classic rock near the car park of the main building and within minutes had a large audience forming to listen. They even played the Pokemon Theme Song for a laugh (due to the recent mobile app launch of Pokemon Go!)

The final performance that i saw before departing was the much anticipated and famous DJ Yoda who got everyone dancing and enjoying his music. But unfortunately there were technical issues after the first 5 minutes of the music which delayed the performance another 10 minutes.

Overall, the summer festival was amazing and i hadn’t expected such a high turnout of people and for it to be such a fun place to be to enjoy the summer. Lucky that there was such good weather that day! I would definitely go again next year and recommend it!

The Brixton Gin Festival!

On the 16th July 2016 i went to the Brixton Gin Festival which is an annual event held this year at the popular bar and event location, the Brixton Jamm! This is a very popular venue for events in the Brixton area and i was excited to go there and attend as i had never been to a Gin Festival before and i’m not very familiar with different kinds of gin. So this was going to be a learning experience for me as well as taking a step into the unknown!

Before attending the event i had no idea what kind of entertainment or timetable that it would have but it was interesting to find out what was going on. First of all, you had to pay £15 entrance fee to get a ticket for the festival, i think this was very expensive and i was hoping that at least one drink would be on the house for this price. But no! Unfortunately there was no benefit from this compulsory ticket which was a let down.

Inside the pub there was only one bar and the wait to get the drinks was around 45 minutes which was very annoying and not a good start to the afternoon. There were so many people in a crowd to try to get drinks and i think for this event they should have considered having 2 bars or at least more staff as there were only 3 behind the bar and it was very slow. These are the only real negatives of the day that it was too expensive with the entrance fee and drinks being £7 or £8 each and the waiting time.

There were 50 different types of Gin at the festival i think i only managed to try about 6 of them! There’s no way i could live through trying 50. The best gin that i did try was the Botanist Gin as it had a floral flavour and it was sweet and it was definitely the most popular. Me and my friends had the Botanist a few times but then Brixton Jamm sold out and had to get more, so it was the clear winner of the day! The other gins i tried that i favoured were Hendricks, an Elderflower one (don’t remember the brand), Gordons and Bombay Sapphire. All of them were sold with tonic or lemonade which i’m not a huge fan of but it worked well with all of the gins.

Otherwise the event was very nice because the weather was good, the outdoor seating areas were very relaxed and with a good atmosphere. Most of the people there were groups of girls and everyone seemed to be having a great time. The Brixton Jamm was decorated for this event and the entertainment included a magician circulating around and a pair of sexy dancers dressed up to match the green foliage decoration. These dancers were on stilts initially followed by fire breathing and twirling fiery batons! For me this was one of the best parts of the Gin Festival.

I would go again but only if it was cheaper than this time because i thought that the entrance price was very expensive and unfairly expensive inside as well. They should have had no entrance price or at least had it under £10. It was an experience regardless.

 

Italy Trip! 5 Cities in 5 days

Article pending

Post Pending

New Post

Prawn and Avocado Tian Recipe

Hey! I thought i’d try to make my first Tian, inspired by the food that i served while working in a restaurant. Here is my quick and easy recipe to make some. It took me about 40 minutes to prepare and I managed to make 5 ramekins and 1 in a small mug out of the ingredients.

The ingredients are;

• 2 ripe avocados
• soft cheese (i used lactose free)
• 1 cucumber (i only used 1/3 though)
• 1 lemon
• 150g fresh king prawns
• sweet chilli sauce
• ramekins (or any small container, i’ve tried it in a small mug before!)
• tomato sauce or puree

You will also need a knife, small spoon, fork, chopping board, and a bowl.

Step by Step

1. Cut the avocados in half, remove the stone and scoop out the contents. Chopping them up on the chopping board will make step 2 easier!
2. Put the avocado into the bowl and mash it up with a fork.
3. Squeeze out the juice from the lemon into the bowl.
4. Continue to mix until there are no big chunks of avocado.
5. Add a drizzle of sweet chilli sauce and tomato sauce/puree and mix in again.
6. Chop some cucumber slices.
7. Begin to layer your ramekins with prawns, soft cheese, avocado mixture, and cucumber slices on top.
8. Leave in the fridge to help them set for a good 20 minutes.
9. Take them out and turn the ramekin upside-down onto a plate and they should come out easily.
10. Garnish with leaves and a drizzle of sweet chilli sauce

Enjoy!

If you try this recipe yourself please post your results in a comment below as i would love to see them!

Captain America: Civil War Review

I went to see the new marvel movie in the IMAX cinema in Waterloo in 3D, basically the biggest screen in Europe. That alone was a super experience guaranteed!

I was blown away by the movie, I’ve always been a huge fan of marvel and the movies combine a great amount of action and comedy. At first I was skeptical of Captain America and Iron Man having to fight eachother as I like both of them (especially Iron Man as he is more funny) because I didn’t want to see them fighting when they should be allies. The story and the sequence was well paced and interesting and from the beginning I was drawn in. Of course the action sequences were amazing! Especially the fighting between Iron Man, Black Widow, Spider Man, Jarvis VS Captain America, Hawkeye, Ant Man, and Wanda. It was one of the most awaited fights I could have thought up! I won’t reveal much of the story but the ending was really something I wasn’t expecting, I’m sure some people already knew from the comics probably but for me the ending was possibly the best part of the movie and I would watch this movie again and again. I’m not sure if 3D is worth it for the movie in particular but the action seems more up close which is a bonus.

I would recommend seeing Captain America: The Winter Soldier before watching this movie, I didn’t watch the prequel and there were a lot of references to it that i would have noticed otherwise.

This movie is one of the best movies out so far this year and you should definitely go and see it. Marvel never dissapoints!

Delacroix and the Rise of Modern Art Exhibition Review

This exhibition is running at the National Gallery, Trafalgar Square until tomorrow (22nd May) which explores the impact that Eugene Delacroix had on fellow artists and the up and coming artists after his death. I always like to go to see museums and art exhibitions because it’s all about learning new things and discovering a part of history and I enjoy that experience. I received some free tickets (worth £20 each) and I don’t think I would have paid to go and see the exhibition or at leasg wouldnt have paid mord than £12, as I’ve said before I love doing free things to save money!

The exhibition was a lot bigger than I expected, it was comprised of 6 rooms with about 10 or so paintings in each room, some with more, some with less, and there was also a cinema showing an explanatory video of the collection and the life of Delacroix. I had briefly heard of this artist before in other exhibitions but I went in basically knowing nothing of who he was. Considering he was such an influence to other artists such as Renoir, Matisse, Van Gogh, and many more I was suprised that I didn’t know already. He was essentially the first to really begin experimenting with more creative and unusual painting techniques and colours, and for most of his life he was completely disregarded and shamed for his paintings. Most of the paintings that I saw in the exhibition were so beautiful, some were very unusual and there were a few that were too abstract or foggy for my personal taste. But for the majority of the paintings that I saw I found it strange for them to be treated by the community at the time with such negativity. Delacroix was clearly a true great, and many of the artists that followed him used his styles for their inspirations. I remember a quote said “there is an element of Delacroix in all of us” and many revered him as a kind of God. The styles that he used varied to the point that entire artistic movements such as impressionism derived from one of the methods used by Delacroix.

My favourite paintings in the exhibition were Bathers, Immortality, and The Death of Sardanapalus. I choose these three, made by other artists in homage to Delacroix, because the intensity of colours and details really drew me in, but this is present in other paintings, what made these special was the arrangement of the figures and the subject matter was more interesting to me. Bathers was a beautiful scene in nature, with light pouring in from a ceiling of highly detailed trees, and nude females looking flirtatious and inviting. Immortality was a large painting of an Angel holding a vine of colourful flowers and it was just beautiful, it just is! The Death if Sardanapalus however, was a painting with a lot of things going on, concubines were being killed and the Kings possessions were being destroyed upon his instruction before his suicide, I liked how all of the aspects came together and could spend a long time looking at all the different things present.

As the event ends tomorrow there isn’t really much point to recommend visiting it but I would recommend researching into the art of Delacroix if you are interested in art!

Stephanie

Bravissimo Review

Hey there readers!

I have been shopping at Bravissimo around a year now and I wanted to share my experience about how great they are!

Around May 2015 I met a girl through mutual friends who was working in this shop and we got talking about it. She was explaining to all of us about how to know if you are wearing the right bra size and how to put it on correctly etc. I had thought that I was a 34 DD as Debenhams and Marks and Spencer had told me but the realisation hit me that I was actually incredibly uncomfortable in those bras and experiencing pain and aching. So this was very interesting to hear from this girl and she told me that they do free fittings.

I was very happy with the idea of going to that shop and getting a free ba fitting. Unbelievable really that it took me so long to find out all of this important information! It was brilliant when I was there as the staff are all so very kind and friendly towards people. In the changing rooms whilst having my fitting so many people react the same as I did, and on every visit since. It was such an amazing feeling to find out my real bra size (32 GG) and I reckon that there are so many of us girls out there that are uncomfortable in our bras!

Why were other shops telling me different? I thought. But it’s all to do with the fact that those shops want you to buy the bras that they offer and they obviously won’t cater for someone with my bra size or similar. This isn’t a very fair system because every girl is different and there is such a variety of shapes and sizes that at least Bravissimo provides a service that will fit any! The bras are a bit more expensive than the average one but if your bra size isn’t in the other normal shops then it’s well worth the money for the comfort and bra variety you get.

Bravissimo is perfect for anyone who wants to know if they are wearing the correct bra size or not, or even just to learn a bit more about your breasts! The fitting is totally free though! I love a freebie! Worth a try in my opinion!

Live, Laugh, Love

Stephanie

The Crystal Maze Experience Review – North London

Hey there!

So recently I went with a large group of my friends and acquaintances to the Crystal Maze Experience near Angel station in North London. I loved the Crystal Maze TV show as a kid in the 90s and it’s amazing that a group of people crowd funded this idea to recreate that TV show for anyone to be able to play today! I think the idea was amazing so the fact that me and my friends got to do it was an unforgettable and enjoyable time.

At first I wasn’t sure how accurate it would be or the size of the play area we would be in. But ultimately the amazing team pulled it off. In the beginning we were given our team jackets and we were the blue team (there are 4 teams of 8) and we start running around this place. The four areas from the TV show are there, Aztec, Industrial, Medieval and Futuristic and we were led around by a comedic nutcase named Bison (probably not his real name right?) and he was hilariously one of the best parts of the experience Richard O’ Brien would be proud!

I definitely won’t give away any of the puzzles but they all seemed achievable in the time allocated and it was very fun to shout help at eachother, yes that’s right, shouting advice to help. Take it for what you will but it’s all a part of the fun and games! It was not quite as active as I expected as I thought that there was going to be a lot more running and climbing involved but it was paced just about right.

I was very proud of myself for earning a crystal for the team before we got to the final with the Crystal Dome. This was the part that looked the most difficult honestly when all you have to do is catch the floating foil tickets. At the end of the day it doesn’t matter as long as you enjoy yourself, and our team came second place so that’s good enough for me. I just wish we had a crystal each to take home as a souvenir like in the TV show! That would be my only wish!

I would readily recommend this for anyone eager to try it out! It’s definitely worth it, I would do it again. Just make sure you watch a few old episodes beforeand for a recap! 😉

I would get in fast though as they are already fully booked for months! It’s no suprise haha!

Live, Laugh, Love

Stephanie