http://shopcatherinemasi.com/sugar-crush-springtime-pastel-smores-pizza/

http://www.theeffortlesschic.com/weeknight-meal-plan-1/

http://www.acozykitchen.com/spring-y-detroit-style-pizza/

LADY DATE – SUMMER 2016

I’ve been very naughty and have taken a very long time to write up this most recent Lady Date in London. To be fair I had my sister’s wedding a couple of weekends ago and have been doing a lot of work on my ‘new’ house – I will maybe be posting a little bit about this at some point because I know some people are interested in these things – at the moment I feel too stressed to talk about it and anytime someone asks me how the house is coming I want to scream at them  - so give me time – plus you know I’m not great at these personal posts – I’m working on it… for now I will give you a quick run down of what we got up to…

We started the day with butterflies; I wanted to be sure we’d get in so in I booked in advance for the Sensational Butterflies event at The Natural History Museum. This exhibition was housed in a gloriously humid greenhouse-come-tent in the museum’s grounds.  Immediately you enter through those sticky plastic curtains and you are surrounded by free-flying butterflies. There are a few stands with the names of the butterflies (mostly long complicated Latin names) with pictures so you can tell which butterflies are which. The most impressive ones to me were the slow moving butterflies, they were brown on the inside and a beautiful blue on the outside and they hovered in groups.  The most impressive thing about them was the fact that they moved so slowly and yet still managed to stay in the air. (I didn’t manage to get a video of this hypnotic movement but I did get a video of them congregating in a spot where someone spilt their coffee here:

http://claireis-ablogger.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/blog-post.html )

See more information here: http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit/exhibitions/sensational-butterflies.html

Our next stop was to walk around Highgate Cemetery. I’d never been before and as it was a lovely day I thought it would be a nice excursion.  It did take a little while to get there and a bit of an unexpected hill climb from Archway tube station. We went to Highgate East as the other side containing Highgate West was open for guided tours only.  It costs a small amount to enter and you are given a map containing information and locations for the cemetery’s most famous residents.  Douglas Adams’ grave is austere with a little pot containing pens placed in front. The most famous of all the monuments is the new resting place of Karl Marx, a very impressive tomb which is popular among the tourists, one of whom had a portrait taken in front of it while inexplicably holding a violin (which he didn’t play!) Another highlight to see is the grave of Malcolm McLaren; his is complete with a death mask, which is hardly surprising but quite rare for a modern grave. It was heartwarming to see that people had left safety pins on top in a sign of admiration much like the pens, flowers and stones seen on other graves in the cemetery.

See more information here: http://highgatecemetery.org/visit

Our next stop was Cahoots, a London Underground themed cocktail bar with a ‘blitz spirit.’ We hadn’t booked (as usual) and when we arrived there were already two people waiting for ‘standing room.’ The man on the door, dressed in spiffy 1940s get up, was friendly and welcoming and invited us to wait. We didn’t have to wait long before we could go down the stairs and into the bar area. The attention to detail was something special, even some of the floors were decked out in the same wood as the old underground trains. Everyone was dressed impeccably in World War II era style, victory rolls and tea dresses for the girls and waistcoat and braces for the boys. A special mention has to go to the maître d’ who was especially well turned out (by well turned out I mean good-looking – in case that was lost on you?!)

I love my vodka-based cocktails and ‘Keep Marm and Carry On’ did not disappoint. A fruity cocktail in a teacup containing lemon curd, passion fruit juice, sloe gin and syrups of vanilla and cassia and served with a biscuit. This was one of the most refreshing and delicious cocktails I have had for a long time.

Find more information here: https://cahoots-london.com

There were sandwiches and snacks available at Cahoots but we had already planned for our traditional pizza and so headed to one of our favourite areas in London to Far Rockaway. This wasn’t our original choice of destination. We actually went to Bethnal Green Station with the intention of visiting Story Deli down Bethnal Green Road. Little did we realize that not only is this road very very long and we walked right down the other end of it but the Story Deli was no more. It was a shame as I was really looking forward to trying what some people have described as ‘the best pizza they’ve had in their life.’ Unfortunately Far Rockaway was a bit of a disappointment.  The décor was amazing; the place is strewn with music posters that are fascinating to look at while you eat very mediocre pizza.  The worst thing about this place was their Coke. It tasted disgusting, either their pumps are broken or their syrup was running out or they bought some value cola from the Sainsbury’s down the road.  I have no idea what happened to their Coke but I won’t be going back again. Maybe this explains why it was empty on a Saturday?

More info here: http://www.farrockaway.co.uk

Our next and last cocktail stop was The Cocktail Trading Co. I think we must have walked past this place a million times without even noticing it, and it wasn’t even a hidden spot like some we sometimes visit. I struggled to find a cocktail to drink here. The menu was a little book with lots of information and humour and even an impossible crossword in the back, but I had a hard time finding something that I thought I’d like. There were only one or two vodka-based cocktails but each of these had something odd about them that put me off, like coffee and milk (whole milk teamed with kiwi sherbet and club soda was not a good post-pizza drink in my mind.) So I had to forgo the vodka for something called ‘Nightingales Gin-O-Cello.’ The cocktail I chose was called ‘Morning Glory #2’ I was pleasantly surprised, whatever Nightingales Gin-O-Cello is, I enjoyed it.

Rebecca’s cocktail was a little more sensational than mine ‘Instaspam’ comes in a custom made SPAM tin and even includes a little pot of ice cream.

More information here: http://www.thecocktailtradingco.co.uk

For more photos of this Lady Date and others go to: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29592695@N08/albums/72157648848576528

http://www.designlovefest.com/2016/04/pizza-rolls/

Review: Cocktails

PIZZA PILGRIMS: SOHO

11 DEAN ST, SOHO W1D 3RP

This was regrettably a fleeting visit for our first time at Pizza Pilgrims as we had to be back in London Bridge with little time to spare.  Luckily, we were seated immediately downstairs by lovely friendly staff. We decided to share a salami pizza, which was demolished in record time. The pizza was thin and juicy.  Unfortunately when we cut the pizza in half and transferred plates I lost half the toppings and they were not generous or evenly distributed enough for my taste. I think this is where this pizzeria falls behind some of my other favourites in London, they are a little sparing with the toppings. 

It was an interesting day as we were seated next t a table of zombies who were celebrating world zombie day with a zombie walk for charity. We saw many people dressed up on the streets around Soho and on the tube in the surrounding areas.  Their sometimes very realistic flesh wounds and decaying flesh would stop mothers with pushchairs in their tracks and terrify small children in the carriages of the trains.

ALCOHOLIC ARCHITECTURE: BOROUGH MARKET.

1 CATHEDRAL ST, LONDON SE1 9DE

Standing in the queue for this experience you are very aware of your proximity to the beautiful church, which was part of the inspiration for this experimental cocktail bar.  The heart of the installation is on the sight of an ancient monk monastery and serves as the overall theme of the event.

While you wait for the allotted hour to arrive the monastic lady on the door explains the history of the area as well as the link between the ingredients in the cocktails and the monks who used to live here.  Precisely on the hour you are pointed towards a door and you descend down an ever darkening staircase to a wooden locker room.  You have a cubbyhole to leave your coat and bags and are given a plastic rain mac with a hood. 

You then walk through the heavy plastic curtains into the main room.  It’s quite disorientating at first, the vapour is white and thick and it is hard to see very far in front of you. You breathe in a cloud of gin and tonic flavoured vapour mist while wearing rain macs with hoods surrounded by others in the same while the coloured lights change hue and funky music plays and thunder storms are simulated. The mist starts as a peasant taste and the weirdest thing at first is getting used to the sensation of breathing in something other than air, but gradually the taste changes and it starts to taste more artificial.

While in there you can gradually feel the moisture in the air settling on your plastic disposable Mac and your arms and hands. Some hairstyles were also ruined in the process. But once you came out you didn't feel as sticky as you thought you would. You also didn't feel drunk. Despite inhaling a hefty amount you felt like maybe you'd had one drink and not really effected.

It is a novelty and an experience to try but it’s not an experiment of how it feels to get drunk through your skin as I thought it might be.  I’d say try it once to say you’ve done it and try to wear your hair in a way which would not be effected by moisture.  Those are my tips. Plus the toilets are nasty, there are flies everywhere, someone said there was supposed to be a snake in there and it certainly is snake themed with pictures on the wall and snaky sound effects.  There is a tank high in one of the cubicles but I couldn’t see anything inside it. Strange.

After the experience I read this article:

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/alcoholic-architecture-lets-customers-inhale-alcohol-in-london-10454328.html

Which claims that in breathing alcohol it avoids the liver and goes directly to the brain, which makes for more rapid intoxication but I didn’t feel any obvious effect and I am not a heavy drinker. I think yet again people are jumping on the negative bandwagon.  As for the statement: "The last thing this country needs is another way of ingesting alcohol," from Dr. Niall Campbell, I don’t think that we have any worry of this becoming a mainstream alternative to drinking, it’s far too uncomfortable and would be too much hard work.

THE OLD SCHOOL YARD: BOROUGH

111 LONG LANE, LONDON, SE1 4PH

The atmosphere is the first thing that hits you about this place.  It is warm and friendly and lively.  There is so much to do, including table football, Mario Kart on the N64 and arcade games.  Luckily we managed to perch ourselves on a stool as it seems like it’s always busy and especially on a Saturday night.

Their cocktail list was an old school booklet with cartoon drawings and the cocktails were divided into school subjects. Unfortunately the cocktails were not very original. They mstly served classics and their own designs were not very imaginative. In the history section of the booklet they divided the cocktails by decade with things like a Mai Tai from the 1940s and a Cosmopolitan from the 1990s. I had a Caipirinha as I'd never had one before. I was shocked with how strong it was at first but the sugar and lime combination was perfect. Rebecca had a Singapore Sling (something she'd never had before.) 

The pizzas are named after the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and they have Italian food that looked delicious. We had chips and garlic bread. The garlic bread was the most garlicky thing I've ever eaten in my life. It was so strong it burnt your tongue. The chips were faultless, skinny, salty and delicious. With a mouth full of garlic we left happy.

FILM 1383: MYSTIC PIZZA

TRIVIA: Debut theatrical feature film of actor-writer Matt Damon.Ben Affleck also auditioned for the film.

Mystic Pizza is a real pizza parlor, located at 55 West Main St. in Mystic, Connecticut. Writer Amy Holden Jones was vacationing in Mystic one summer, saw the pizza parlor and was inspired to write the story. After the movie came out, the real Mystic Pizza shop became so popular, lines would stretch to the sidewalk and patrons would regularly steal mementos from the restaurant.

Breakthrough film role of American actress Julia Roberts.

Liam Neeson, who had co-starred with Julia Roberts whilst making Satisfaction (1988), visited the set of this picture. The pair had allegedly had a personal relationship on that earlier movie. Roberts then allegedly started seeing one of the grips whilst filming Mystic Pizza (1988).

http://www.projectsoiree.com

Another successful Lady Date, and an educational one too.  We started at The Barbican for the Magnificent Obsessions: The Artist as Collector Exhibition. http://www.barbican.org.uk/artgallery/event-detail.asp?ID=17071

It was very interesting, some artists I knew to be collectors such as Martin Parr and Andy Warhol but others I had no idea like Peter Blake who collected many curiosities and elephants and Dr Lakra’s record collection.  It makes me not only want to collect everything but curate it all wonderfully.  I particularly liked Sol LeWitt’s almost obsessional photographing of items and collecting them together in grids. 

After this exhibition we had no plans so consulted the Time Out app to see what to do next.  We found that the Wellcome Collection had two interesting exhibitions and both were free.  The first one was Forensics: The anatomy of crime. http://wellcomecollection.org/forensics.

This was an interesting overview of crime scenes, investigation, morgues, detection and conviction.  This was my first visit to the Wellcome Collection and I was impressed.  The reading material they offered in the queue was really well designed and truly interesting and I think the way they combined hard science with art was highly inspirational.  If I come home with a newly found artist to study I am a happy girl.  I came away with a few. Angela Strassheim and Taryn Simon were the stand out artists for me in this exhibition.

The next exhibition was The Institute of Sexology. http://wellcomecollection.org/exhibitions/institute-sexology

This exhibition, most interestingly, starts with a survey, which changes every week.  This also includes a board displaying the thoughts of people from the previous week.  This exhibition is very interesting, it maybe asks more questions than it answers but I think that is what makes it such a successful exhibition.

By this time we were a little hungry so we made our way to Dalston to Voodoo Ray’s for pizza. http://voodoorays.co.uk.  They sell by the slide and they are huge.  I had buffalo mozzarella and the one with all the meat.  That was really filling.

By this time it was time for cocktails.

The first place to try was Satan’s Whisker’s in Bethnal Green. http://satanswhiskersblr.tumblr.com. Then to The Alchemist in Aldgate. http://thealchemist.uk.com/bevis-marks.

We did want another cocktail here but Rebecca couldn’t decide which one and it would technically be against our rules so we went onto somewhere else. Our last stop was to Shoreditch and Lounge Bohemia. http://www.loungebohemia.com.

A more extensive review of the cocktails to follow.