Monday, 15 June 2015

National Picnic Week

National Picnic week
This week (Sat 13th- Sun 21st July) is National Picnic weekso on FoodieForce I thought I would share some of my favourite places to have a picnic in and around London. 

Picnicking is one of my favourite Summer pastimes. It is a great way to get together with friends and family to play games and share some wonderful food. 

The Royal Botanical gardens has to be one of the world's most famous gardens. For me I can easily while away a whole day wandering around the peace and tranquil gardens.
 
The Palm House is one of the largest surviving Victorian glasshouses in the world and is such an architectural masterpiece
Kew Gardens
The waterlily house has the world's largest and the smallest water lilly's in the world. 
Kew Garden's
The largest water lilly measures a hulking one meter wide. The smallest water lilly no longer exists in the wild and Kew gardens have saved it from extinction. 

I love the Chinese pagoda which stands tall in the grounds and is the perfect place to have a picnic. 

Fancy visiting? Tickets cost £15 for adults and £3.50 for children (4-16 years) www.kew.org

2. Hyde Park:
One of eight Royal Park's in London. The park covers 350 acres and houses the Princess Diana Memorial. 
Hyde Park
It is a brilliant place to have a picnic and is near Buckingham Palace, Changing of the Guards and Harrods

Fancy a foodie treat visit Harrods amazing food hall to get some yummy goodies for your picnic. 

A short walk from Crystal Palace Station, Crystal Palace park has been a love of mine for many year's, my parents used to take me there as a child. With a lovely lake to walk around, small farm and children's playground it is the perfect park for all the family. 
Crystal Palace
It even has prehistoric dinosaurs. 

Next up is Richmond Park, a National Nature Reserve and the largest of the Royal Park's in London. Lovely open spaces with free roaming beautiful herds of Red and Fallow Deer. 
Richmond Park
The park was originally created by Charles I in the 17th Century as a deer park and has great architectural and historic interest. It has many beautiful places to stop for a picnic and play ball games with friends and family. However, don't pick the mushrooms or ride your bicycles too fast or you might find yourself having a private picnic with the special park Police force.

All this talk of picnics and summer has me lusting after some new goodies for eating outdoors. Below are some of my favourites:
Picnic
I am loving the Marks and Spencer wicker picnic basket with cups, plates and cutlery £55. 

Want a cheaper option Wilkinson Amber picnic hamper £20 comes with cutlery, ceramic plates and two mugs. 

Add some pretty straws £2.99 and fun games with this vintage tin alley game £19.95. 
Outdoor eatting
The best part of eating outdoors has to be the potential BBQ opportunities. Want to brighten up the experience, look at these beauties created by Jamie Oliver £69. 
Jamie Oliver
BBQ ideas
Get the taste of summer with some foodie inspiration to make the perfect salad here

So whatever you have planned for National Picnic week make sure you enjoy the great outdoors. 

Where is your favourite place to have a picnic? 


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Monday, 8 June 2015

Polo in the Park

Chestertons Polo
When we woke up on Sunday morning the sun was shinning brightly and we had the perfect plans for taking advantage of the nice weather, tickets to Chestertons Polo in the park.  

Now in its seventh year Chesterton Polo in Hurlingham park Fulham, hosts the largest tournament in Europe. Over its three days, six cities from around the world compete to win the coveted trophy.

For those of you who are new to polo it has a history going back 2,000 years, with famous players such as Genghis Khan and William Churchill. It is a game played at speed on horseback, with the aim of trying to score goals against the opposite opponent. Today Polo is played in over 80 countries.  

Sunday was the finals day with play-offs for 5th, 3rd and 1st positions.  
Polo
Our own London 'Mint' team (in white above) were involved along with others such as Abu Dhabi who were last years winners. What became quickly apparent was the frenetic pace of the game and awesome sounds of horses galloping past crowds only inches away from the side of the pitch. 
Polo
So close in fact that when a player scored they would ride around the outside of the pitch and high five the crowd.
Polo
Polo
Riders are gauged on their handicap with 10 being the highest with only a handful of players in the world reaching this level. The only handicap that I had was tackling the grass with heels.  
Polo
We observed a half time ritual, where the crowd are encouraged to come onto the pitch to stomp in the divots with their pineapple and pina colada in hand.
Polo
No British event would be complete without staple offerings like Pimms.There was a host of bars to refresh during the action: Pimm's Summer Party, Lanson Champagne lounge, Fentimans botanical brewed beverages and Mahiki cocktails.
Polo
Polo
Polo
http://www.fentimans.com/
There was also delicious food offerings for every possible taste.
Chestertons Polo
We had a wonderful day at the Polo and will definitely be booking our tickets for next years event. It really is an experience to behold and well worth a booking if you get a chance. 

Just make sure you heed the advice. 
Polo
www.polointheparklondon.com

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Friday, 5 June 2015

J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan

Regent's Park Open air Theatre
As a child growing up I would often have dreams that I could fly, the process was simple I flapped my arms, gained height and I was off. Flying anywhere and everywhere that my imagination would take me.

Flying
I am sure that some of this vivid imagination came from my love of books and reading. I could often be found nose deep in a book, growing up many of the children's books I read had a central character who could fly (Mr Majeika, The Magic Finger and The Magic Faraway Tree) so this helped to expand my imagination. 
Peter pan
One of my favourite books as a child was J.M.Barrie's Peter Pan. So when I saw that the Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park had an adaptation of Peter Pan, I got busy booking my tickets.

The Open Air Theatre is set right in the heart of the beautiful Regent's Park.

Regent's Park Open air theatre
Open air theatre
There is something rather magical about sitting out in the open air watching a theatre production. The theatre has covered dining, homemade burgers on offer and seating to have a wonderful picnic. 
Regent's Park open air theatre
The set design for the show was amazing, considerable thought had gone into making creative use of the space. The set designer Jon Bausor also designed the 2012 London Paralympics opening ceremony.  

I absolutely loved the use of clothing and household props and puppet design, throughout the show to create imaginative housing, under sea creatures (mermaids and fish), the crocodile chasing Captain Hook and the wonderful jealous Tinker Bell made out of oil lamps. 

The absolute highlight of the show had to be Peter Pan (Hiran Abeysekera).
Peter Pan
Who managed to energetically sprint and fly across the night's sky with Tinker Bell (Rachel Donovan) and Wendy (Kae Alexander). Squint hard enough, you might just see Tinkerbell and the Lost Boys somewhere up in the night sky yelling at Peter Pan.

Peter with his unending childlike qualities and boisterous antics manages to have the audience eating out of his hands. 
Regent's Park Open Air Theartre
Captain Hook (David Birrell) is artful at wielding his hook and a sword to frighten both his own pirates, the lost boys and the watching audience.
Peter Pan
We had a truly wonderful evening, if you live in London or are visiting you definitely need to book yourself tickets. The Peter Pan show runs till the 14th of June so you will need to be quick. 

Regent's Park Open Air Theatre upcoming performances Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (16th July - 29th August) and Lord of the Flies (3rd - 12th September). 

WWW.openairtheatre.com

*Thank you to Tristram Kenton for kind use of the photographs

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Monday, 1 June 2015

Taste of Summer

Summer salads
As London is being promised a heatwave this weekend, I'm looking forward to Summer starting with the promise of longer brighter days and warmer weather. 

I love Summer because I find it much easier to make healthier eating choices with delicious salads, wonderful in season fruit and vegetables on offer. 

Today I'm going to share with you some of my favourite fuss-free recipes that make for wonderful tasty meals that are easy-peasy to make. 

To start us off; 
Tomato, Basil and Feta salad: 
You will need:
325g Baby Plum Tomatoes 
200g Greek Feta  
3 Spring onions 
15g Basil (half a pack) 
110g Pitted Black olives 

It serves two as a main meal, or four as a starter and takes 10 minutes to make.

1. Taking the baby plum tomatoes chop in half. You can do this either in half or length ways. 
Summer salads
Place the tomatoes on a pretty plate or serving bowl. 

2. Chop the Greek Feta into small squares and chop the spring onions into thin slices. 
Summer salads
Add the spring onion to the tomatoes. 

3. Taking the pitted black olives slice in half. Add to the salad and garnish with the basil, you can leave whole or tear if you prefer. 

If you like your salad with a vinaigrette I would suggest French. This is really easy to make, take 2 tablespoons of white wine vinegar, 2 teaspoons of Dijon mustard, five teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil. Shake all ingredients and season to taste with salt and pepper.   

Sit outside in the garden, relax and enjoy. 
Summer salad
My next favourite salad to make is Goats'cheese mango delight. 

You will need:
Half an English cucumber 
330g Cherry tomatoes
1 ripe Mango
125g Goats Cheese
80g Pomegranate seeds 
15g Mint Finley Diced

It serves two as a main meal, or four as a starter and takes 15 minutes to make.

1. Take the cucumber (these are different to American cukes which have a bitter taste), cut in half and thinly slice.
Summer Salads

2. Take the cherry tomatoes and chop into small quarters. 

3. Taking your ripe mango slice and cut into cubes. 
Summer Salad
My advice for making sure a mango is ripe is to touch the mango and see if the skin gives (squashes a bit) if you press it. If it doesn't, it's not ripe. Smell the mango does it have a strong perfumed smell? The riper a mango is the stronger the smell. If in any doubt opt for mangos that state they are already ripe.   

Now everyone has a hint and tip on cutting mango's. Mine are use a serrated knife and place on a chopping board. To stop it rolling around cut a small piece off the pointed end, this will help it to balance as you cut it. Remember a mango has a flat stone in the middle so you need to cut either side of this.

Add the cucumber, tomatoes and mango to a bowel. 

4. Taking the goats cheese rip small clumps and add to the ingredients already prepared. 
summer salads

5. Add the pomegranate seeds. Now you can de-seed these yourself but to save time they are easier to buy already prepared. 
Summer salads
Taking the pomegranate jewels scatter them throughout your salad. 

6. Take your mint and remove the leaves from the sprigs. Bunch together and finely chop. 
Summer salads
Scatter the mint to garnish your wonderful colourful and tasty salad. Any guest receiving this salad will be very thankful not only is it a feast for the eyes but the taste buds too. 

If you don't like any of the ingredients they can easily be substituted. I sometimes substitute the pomegranate and mango, adding fig and honey.  

Do you have any favourite salads to share? 

The perfect thing to accompany my salad is a wonderful BBQ. 
BBQ ideas
I love to make lemon, lime and garlic chicken which can either be cooked on a BBQ or in a frying pan. 

To make you will need:
Chicken breasts (one per guest)
Juice of three lemons (this will do four breasts)
Juice of one lime
2 cloves of garlic crushed 
Teaspoon of olive oil

If cooking the chicken on a BBQ place all the above ingredients in a sandwich bag and add your chicken breasts. Leave to marinate for as long as possible but at least an hour so that the chicken can absorb the flavour.

If cooking in a frying pan, add the olive oil to a heated pan, add the lemon juice once the juice is heated add the chicken breasts. Turn regularly so that the chicken gets an even coating of flavour. Add the lime and garlic and continue to cook the chicken turning regularly. 

If the chicken is not caramelising, the heat is not high enough. The chicken in a frying pan should take twenty to twenty five minutes. Always make sure the meat is cooked both on a BBQ and frying. The easiest way to do this is skewer the chicken and to check if the juices run clear? If they don't, the chicken needs to be cooked longer. 

Serve with your salad and enjoy. I hope the weather is hot this weekend wherever you are. 
summer

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