I went along to Jamie Oliver's "Feastival" today with Janet- and what an awesome time was had! We got our tickets for less than half price from a voucher website and the ticket included a £5 food voucher. Ace.
After perusing the food on offer from a variety of popular eateries in London town, we settled on trying something from Peter Gordon's London restaurant "Providores" which was a vegetarian dish of a feta/pumpkin/spinach quiche with minted yoghurt and relish. Amazing. After purchasing a couple more food vouchers at £5 each (brilliant idea to have to buy dishes with vouchers- no queues at stalls as no money handling slowing it down!) we had become smarter and bought a separate dish each and shared them. Why hadn't we thought of this the first time? We had a tikka masala pie from Benares, which was a thin layer of chicken in a pastry shell, topped with what I think was piped mashed potato with gooseberry jam. Dericious! We also had the typical fish and chips from Canteen. How very English! Om nom!!
We wandered around some more- seeing and doing some exciting things like a BBQ shaped like a train (so cute!), checking out the Big Kitchen, participating in a senses food challenge (both of us completed this with flying colours- even got a sticker- yay!!), checking out the Women's Institute (WI) tent which was full of women in 50's styled clothes doing crafts- love it! We decided it was time for a sit down so found a posse in front of the big stage and sat and listened to a group who appeared to be mimicking Glee. Janet was in hell. It was alright for free entertainment!
Time for more food. Brownies from The beehive bakery which is owned by Stacey Stewart who was on Master Chef here. Wow. I am the *cookie* queen, but am thinking it's time I tried my hand at baking brownies (LOL). Oh! The flavours on offer! Smarties and glitter (there's something about sparkly food...), snickers, pistachio.... The list goes on. Janet and I tried the glitter and smarties and snickers- TO DIE FOR. Wow. Best brownies I've ever tasted that's for sure.
As the day wore on, we were happy little bunnies- especially after finding a tea cart- even if the women serving us tea were dressed in corsets and heavily made up! Perhaps something to do with the carts name... Strumpets with Crumpets. Evidently the term "Strumpet" was first penned by Shakespeare and defines a 'loose woman' or female prostitute. Interesting they make tea and crumpets!!
We had one last dish. Janet had a vegetable coconut Indian curry - and I did the Kiwi thing and went to Peter Gordon's food stall and tried the NZ lamb, on a soft floured bun with minted yoghurt, relish and rocket. Outstanding choice. A piece of NZ eating a piece of NZ - niiiiicce.
We stopped in at the WI tent and listened to Willie Harcourt-Cooze, better known as 'The Chocolate man' talk about chocolate. Real chocolate. He talked us through the process of chocolate making from on the tree, to in your mouth. We got to sample things as he was explaining, starting with a raw cocoa bean. Interesting as I'd never had one before, almost a nutty coffee bean taste. We then sampled roasted cacao beans which had this amazing rich flavour of bitter cocoa, then 100% cocoa chocolate which is a product he first introduced and can be used in all sorts of recipes. We finished with some sampling of Willie's truffles. Hello! I died and went to chocolate heaven!!! He was really interesting to listen to as he is so passionate about chocolate. Passion makes such a difference!
We left the Feastival with full bellies and made our way to our next even... the London iTunes Festival. Basically there are 31 days and about 62 bands playing with names from Duran Duran and Paul Simon to Cold Play and the Foo Fighters. The tickets are all free, but you have to apply to win them - what an awesome concept for music sharing! Janet won two tickets to a gig with Seasick Steve, who is an American Blues Musician. He plays on guitars that he mostly personalises for himself which is pretty cool, and often sings about things in his life. He is someone who has lived as a hobo on and off in his life once said; "Hobos are people who move around looking for work, tramps are people who move around but don't look for work, and bums are people who don't move and don't work. I've been all three." It gives him an interesting life to sing about, I'm sure! He was awesome, so very good. You can watch a video about him below :)
So how lucky did Janet and I think we were? Very! o be attending a free concert in Camden's Roundhouse which is the famous Victorian steam engine shed that became a legendary venue in the 1960s and 70s. It is also listed building is one of English Heritage’s Most Important Buildings at Risk. Always ground-breaking, this is where punk and glam rock started, where the Doors played their only British gig, and where theatre took on a new and accessible identity. Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd have also played there, all that makes it an exceptionally awesome venue!
Our luck took a new turn, when Seasick Steve welcomed to the stage, to perform with him for the night, none other than John Paul Jones from Led Zeppelin... amazing. Throughout the night other guest artists came and played the odd song, including epic drummer Jack White from the White Stripes. It was an excellent concert and full of surprises- I felt fortunate to be there in the presence of such talented people. And where the heck this 'Seasick Steve' came from - he is awesome. Enjoy the videos below, very cool - different, but cool. This is basically what we saw last night :) That's right - that's John Paul Jones! Woo!
After perusing the food on offer from a variety of popular eateries in London town, we settled on trying something from Peter Gordon's London restaurant "Providores" which was a vegetarian dish of a feta/pumpkin/spinach quiche with minted yoghurt and relish. Amazing. After purchasing a couple more food vouchers at £5 each (brilliant idea to have to buy dishes with vouchers- no queues at stalls as no money handling slowing it down!) we had become smarter and bought a separate dish each and shared them. Why hadn't we thought of this the first time? We had a tikka masala pie from Benares, which was a thin layer of chicken in a pastry shell, topped with what I think was piped mashed potato with gooseberry jam. Dericious! We also had the typical fish and chips from Canteen. How very English! Om nom!!
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| Good 'ol English Fish and Chips :) |
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| That's right - it's Jamie OLIVER!!! I didn't even stand up to take this shot haha! |
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| Janet, being all patriotic :P |
We wandered around some more- seeing and doing some exciting things like a BBQ shaped like a train (so cute!), checking out the Big Kitchen, participating in a senses food challenge (both of us completed this with flying colours- even got a sticker- yay!!), checking out the Women's Institute (WI) tent which was full of women in 50's styled clothes doing crafts- love it! We decided it was time for a sit down so found a posse in front of the big stage and sat and listened to a group who appeared to be mimicking Glee. Janet was in hell. It was alright for free entertainment!
Time for more food. Brownies from The beehive bakery which is owned by Stacey Stewart who was on Master Chef here. Wow. I am the *cookie* queen, but am thinking it's time I tried my hand at baking brownies (LOL). Oh! The flavours on offer! Smarties and glitter (there's something about sparkly food...), snickers, pistachio.... The list goes on. Janet and I tried the glitter and smarties and snickers- TO DIE FOR. Wow. Best brownies I've ever tasted that's for sure.
 |
| There really is something about sparkly food... pretty! |
As the day wore on, we were happy little bunnies- especially after finding a tea cart- even if the women serving us tea were dressed in corsets and heavily made up! Perhaps something to do with the carts name... Strumpets with Crumpets. Evidently the term "Strumpet" was first penned by Shakespeare and defines a 'loose woman' or female prostitute. Interesting they make tea and crumpets!!
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| If I win this (competition closes June 2012) I'm coming back to drive around Europe in it. |
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| A wee slice of NZ... |
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| Big kids at heart :) This was so much fun, and it was FREE! |
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| Willie Harcourt-Cooze talks CHOCOLATE! |
We left the Feastival with full bellies and made our way to our next even... the London iTunes Festival. Basically there are 31 days and about 62 bands playing with names from Duran Duran and Paul Simon to Cold Play and the Foo Fighters. The tickets are all free, but you have to apply to win them - what an awesome concept for music sharing! Janet won two tickets to a gig with Seasick Steve, who is an American Blues Musician. He plays on guitars that he mostly personalises for himself which is pretty cool, and often sings about things in his life. He is someone who has lived as a hobo on and off in his life once said; "Hobos are people who move around looking for work, tramps are people who move around but don't look for work, and bums are people who don't move and don't work. I've been all three." It gives him an interesting life to sing about, I'm sure! He was awesome, so very good. You can watch a video about him below :)
So how lucky did Janet and I think we were? Very! o be attending a free concert in Camden's Roundhouse which is the famous Victorian steam engine shed that became a legendary venue in the 1960s and 70s. It is also listed building is one of English Heritage’s Most Important Buildings at Risk. Always ground-breaking, this is where punk and glam rock started, where the Doors played their only British gig, and where theatre took on a new and accessible identity. Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd have also played there, all that makes it an exceptionally awesome venue!
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| Janet and I in The Roundhouse, Camden :) |
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| Seasick Steve |
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| John Paul Jones from Led Zeppelin, with Seasick Steve |
Our luck took a new turn, when Seasick Steve welcomed to the stage, to perform with him for the night, none other than John Paul Jones from Led Zeppelin... amazing. Throughout the night other guest artists came and played the odd song, including epic drummer Jack White from the White Stripes. It was an excellent concert and full of surprises- I felt fortunate to be there in the presence of such talented people. And where the heck this 'Seasick Steve' came from - he is awesome. Enjoy the videos below, very cool - different, but cool. This is basically what we saw last night :) That's right - that's John Paul Jones! Woo!
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