A Catch Up: Ascot, Norfolk and London

Ok, so I have been pretty bad on the blogging lately. In fact, I disappeared entirely. I have an excuse, promise! Since uni ended I have moved up to London for a summer job and have been focusing on that. Now that I finally have a minute to myself (funnily enough typing on commuter trains is kind of hard) I can fill you in! So sit down with a cuppa and let's get cracking. 

SO the first exciting thing going on was Royal Ascot. I went last year with my Aunt and Uncle but this year we headed over for Ladies' Day- the home of hat envy for your average female. 

It was threatening to rain the entire day, but managed to hold off, thank God. The Pimms and Champagne were pouring though, plus the money was coming in! Well, for the first two races, then Dad's and my luck started to run out, but we were up for a little while. I have to say I love Ascot for all it's silliness and pageantry, but genuinely for the horse racing too- it's exciting being amongst the crowd, cheering for your horse, It's even better when the race is over and the squeals of excitement or the groans of despair ensue around you from winners and losers. 


All in all an amazing day- don't think I could ever last the week (I mean, just think of all the outfits) but Ladies Day was wonderful. 

My dress was from Zara and Em's from H&M

Mel, Em and I at the singal

 

 

There's the Queen in there somewhere!

Next up was a weekend in Norfolk. I was never really planning on blogging about this, just because it was a weekend to chill out after my first week at work. It was a family weekend with my Godmothers and their families. It's a great group of us who I have (literally) known my whole life. Mum and Dad met both my Godmothers in Hong Kong, where I was born. Since then the three families have holidayed together every two or three years- I'm the youngest of the kids and even with the others all busy with work, they still make time for group get- togethers. 

So it was really a big catch up with them, but the weather was beautiful. On Saturday we walked along Holkham Beach for a lunch in The Victoria, a hotel on the edge of it. Sunday I headed back down for work the next day, but we spent the morning in Sandringham, where the Queen spends Christmas. I can be such an old lady sometimes, because I am a sucker for stately homes. 

Apologies that you're getting a whistle-stop tour of what I've been up to in this post, promise that now I'm settling in a bit more to the working world that there will be more to write about! One thing the commute gives me plenty of time for is reading, so expect reviews to come up soon(ish)

Food-y Weekend

As I said in my last post, I was in London recently for an interview (the scary reality of only having one more year of university left!). Asides from work, it's always a great excuse to see my sister, which in turn is a great excuse for the one thing we do best together: eating. 

Em's always hearing about new great places to eat and Kopapa in Seven Dials (Covent Garden) has been on her list for ages. It's a great little place next to where 'Matilda' is on at the moment so a great spot for any musical lovers. 

It's an asian-fusion style place with a pretty exciting menu. We went for the small plates to share so we could have a taste of as much as possible- the waiter recommended about two plates per person as a guide on how much to order. 

We started off with babaganoush flatbread and olives. Since our family trip to Corfu last summer, I am addicted to this combination, but it was the mains that really got us excited. 

First off, the Chilli and Seasame salted squid. This was quite simply the world's most delicious calamari, served with an amazing dipping sauce (I have no idea what was in it, but whatever it was, I liked it). 

Then there was the roast Hake with quail's egg- the dinkiest bit of fish I have ever seen, but delicious all the same due to its glaze, and my general love of fish. 

We also took a recommendation from the waiter, which was the Dhal Inari pocket- a fragrant dhal wrap that was on a bed of pickled papaya and coconut. I normally hate coconut, but in this combination it was just perfect- sweet, but sharp from the pickling of the papaya... damn I'm hungry now. 

Heck, even the side of broccolini was amazing because it had crispy shallots on top of it. These people know what they're doing with even the simplest of stuff. 

It doesn't look like much but my god..the Dhal and Broccolini

Now, if you think I can't get any more excited about the food in this place, it's time to deal with pudding. My sister texted me before I came down just out of excitement from the menu and the reality exceeded my expectations. 

Em has a deep-rooted addiction to peanut butter, something I truly hate. However, the sight of a peanut butter parfait had got her pretty excited and pretty much was pure peanut. She was one happy lady. Similarly, I have a thing for salted caramel, so the sundae with chocolate and salted caramel sauce was just meant to be. It was incredible- the sauces were almost too rich, but the popcorn and ice-cream (a flavour which I cannot describe except for floral and citrus-ey) offset them nicely, enabling me to gobble the whole thing up. If you're there with another peanut butter lover, get this combo of puddings- Em said that the sauce from my sundae was pretty great with the remnants of her parfait. 

I think it's obvious I am very keen on Kopapa. Get yourself down there pronto. 

The following morning Em kindly took the morning off so that we could head down to The Modern Pantry in Clerkenwell. It was another London-y haunt that she had wanted to go to for brunch and so we popped in and both had the eggs benedict- mine with bacon and hers with tea smoked salmon. It was nice, but nothing to shout home to the cows about. Anyway, it photographed well. 

I wonder if it was the afterglow of Kopapa that made The Modern Pantry not look as fancy- but it was pretty great weekend food-wise, that's for sure. 

'Wicked'- from page to stage

This post has taken too long to come out! A recent weekend in London reminded me of it and so here it is! 

As a belated birthday treat I headed to London to stay with my sister and saw the musical magic of Wicked: The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz. It’s been running at the Apollo Victoria London since September 2006 and the original Broadway production launched the careers of people like Idina Menzel, so I’m not going to bore you with a review when there are billions of them out there.

I didn’t realise until a close friend mentioned it was her favourite book that Wicked isn’t just based on The Wizard of Oz, but it’s a novel in its own right. The Programme has an article by the author that was a great little read when I was tucked up in bed in a post-Wicked afterglow (anyone caught themselves humming ‘defying gravity’ only to then belt it out over the washing up? Just me?)

So I thought it would be worth a read. This spur of the moment decision (along with the idea to blog about it) is why I love my kindle- one quick tap and it was mine to read! (The ease of purchase also means that most of my money goes on books, but they’re so much cheaper I feel like it’s ok).

I’ve started this post before reading it and I’ll admit I have my reservations- when it comes from book to film adaptations, I stand by the book all the way. However, when it’s a musical adaptation, that’s a bit of a game changer. I love me a musical. Seriously. There were many looks of concern when I told my flatmates that during essay stress, I watched Legally Blonde: The Musical until 2am to calm me down.

Wicked is one of the big Broadway musicals- the production is a big blowout number. After all, it’s been so successful, why wouldn’t they go for it! Even in the dress circle seats we had (complete with my sister on a booster cushion so that it wasn’t restricted view for her) it was an immersive experience. The music was really only a significant, but not dominant part of it. The stage, set, costumes and overall production were out of this world. Can the book really live up to such a show?

For starters, the book is worth the introduction- I didn’t realise, but Gregory Maguire is/was an American who lived in the UK when he was writing Wicked- meaning that some of my literary heroes inspired his work- he mentions C.S. Lewis, Wordsworth and Coleridge. I seem to just really like his ‘voice’- the article he wrote for the programme was interesting and easy reading, much like this introduction. So far so good!

I have now finally finished the book- hence it's almost been a long time between starting and finishing this post! So without spoiling anything, here are my thoughts in comparison to the musical. 

Just a quick side note: read the book. Just do it. Also, go and see the musical. Doesn't matter which order, just do it. If this is all you take from this post, I'll be happy. 

The basic plot line: Set in Oz, Elphaba is born green- causes a bit of stir and she's deemed really really odd, but not evil. She grows up, meets Glinda and a few others at university. Most important out of these is Dr Dillamond, her tutor who is also a talking goat (notice the C.S. Lewis connection?). He tells her that the Wizard isn't as great as everyone thinks because he's passing new laws to oppress these talking animals. Elphaba takes up his cause against the Wizard and is named and enemy of the state. From there on it follows her struggles against the Wizard and the public smear campaign he sets up against her, before coinciding with the story of The Wizard of Oz. 

I love this book, because it's an easy read that actually still requires your brain to engage in some pretty topical ideas- ultimately the idea that 'one man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist'- Maguire makes the witch of the west out to be a full character, rather than the 2-dimesnsional baddie that we know from Oz. 

In that sense, both book and show are pretty similar- but they don't have all the same characters, or follow the same story. In fact, the story that the show picks up on makes me love it even more. 

In the book, they talk of 'the clock of the time dragon' a weird wind up play with puppets- all run on cogs. The description in the book of this construction I realised fits the set design of the show entirely. Later on in the book, Elphaba watches another show in the clock of the time dragon that ends up being scenes in the Musical. Essentially, the musical picks up on the themes of the book and projects them through the play that is within the book, rather than the plot line of the book itself. 

It sounds a bit confusing, but in all honesty it relieved me to see such a clear connection between page and stage because I was so worried that they would have created a watered-down adaption- in fact for a very long time while reading, I was pretty angry that they had. However, by taking on one aspect of the book that is distinguished as separate from the main plot line but still with all of my favourite characters in, it's pretty clever. 

It also makes me kind of pleased that all aspects of the show are inspired by the book in some way- not just the story but the set, music (Elphaba in the book is known as an amazing singer) and the ideas of 'good' and 'bad' coming together. 

It's impossible to capture both a book and a musical in one blog post, but I think ultimately what is amazing about this story is that presents itself as something fun- a spin off from a children's book, or a show with amazing music, when it's actually so much more powerful than that. I had no idea what I was getting myself into until I was reading/watching it- so find out for yourself and if you can't get down to London for the show, at least read the book! It is well worth it, I promise you.