Training Update (Summer 22)

It’s only just over two months away until I run my second half marathon – that’s a scary thought!

My intention was to post monthly updates to show my training progress, such as May 2022, but it hasn’t come to fruition. I have been trying to keep up my exercise although recent events have slowed my progress. In my latest post I mentioned about separating from my ex-boyfriend and moving back to Leicester.

It’s certainly been a whirlwind of a summer, spending time and energy collecting my belongings and starting a new exciting venture in my life – buying a house by myself! I’ve viewed quite a few properties recently and I’m learning all sorts about buying a property for the first time. It’s been quite draining and daunting, but my aim is to have my own place by Christmas.

Keeping up my half marathon training with all of this going on has been challenging. I am glad however that I have met up with my friend Brian twice throughout the summer to train together. Brian is one of my closest friends from university and he wanted to run his first half marathon with me.

Brian and I first ran together back in early July. Whilst we didn’t record the distance, I think we ran around 14km in under 1 hour and 40 minutes. We started at Upton Park, running past Stratford on our way to Victoria Park, where we covered a good distance around the park before heading back.

West Ham stadium and the ArcelorMittal Orbit

Last weekend we attempted to complete a 12km route in central London, starting at the Tower of London and running along the Thames to St James’ Park for a lap before heading back to complete the circuit. Whilst it was an experience to run past famous landmarks, we both agreed never to run around central London unless we joined an organised event. It was hard work running past people and having to stop and start at traffic lights. It was also during the UK’s second heatwave, when it was already 30 degrees by 10am! I reckon we completed between 8-9km in the end. Later that day we went to see Coldplay at Wembley Arena, which was an incredible and special experience!

At Wembley Arena to see Coldplay!

I’ve already said to Brian on race day that he’s welcome to run on ahead as he is much fitter than I am. He has been keeping up with his training by going out running and swimming after work and at the weekends. I know that he’ll ace his first half marathon!

Since moving back to Leicester, I have been out running a few times. In a way it’s been nice to run the routes I used to complete regularly when training for my first half marathon. I’ve not been to the gym as it’s too far away for me to travel to, but I’ve been walking the dogs with my dad where I’ve been able to and helping my parents around the house. I will definitely need to schedule in some long distance runs before race day, which is on Sunday 30th October at Knebworth House in Hertfordshire.

In running the half marathon, Brian and I have decided to raise money for LGBTQ+ mental health charity MindOut. If you would like to donate, please visit our Just Giving page via this link.

Happy reading and blogging!
Clare Bear 🙂

xx

Training Update (May 22)

It’s almost been a month since my friend and I signed up for the Hertfordshire Half Marathon, which is due to take place on Sunday 30th October 2022. We have also both decided to raise money for LGBTQ mental health charity MindOut. While we haven’t had the chance to run together yet, our own training is going underway. We are planning to meet up during the first weekend of July, which is when Pride will be taking place in London. We intend to spend part of the weekend training, whilst also having the opportunity to enjoy my first Pride in London.

Rather than writing a post about every time I complete some form of training, I thought it would be a good idea to provide a monthly update on my progress. This update therefore covers my training throughout May, which includes mostly intense cross training sessions at the gym and two long distance runs.

Since signing up for the half marathon, my aim has been to go to the gym at least twice a week and complete one long distance run. While this hasn’t quite gone to plan, I have made sure to keep myself active. For instance, I was dog sitting in early May which meant going out for walks twice a day. The dogs certainly enjoyed the regular walks and they were pretty much relaxed during the day and evening at home.

I’m very pleased with my progress on the cross trainer at the local gym. I usually go the gym after work and set the intensity on the cross trainer at the highest level (which is 12). I try a variety of terrains through the interactive programmes, such as running through the Grand Canyon or National Parks in New Zealand. Some of the programmes include more intense routes than others, but I always aim to keep my speed between 10km/h and 12km/h. Sometimes I even reach 13km/h when the terrain is flat in the programme. As a result, I recently completed 7km in 32 minutes and 53 seconds and 8km in less than 40 minutes (I can’t remember the exact time)!

7km in 32 minutes and 53 seconds (with 5 minutes cool down)

Following my 8km session on the cross trainer, I decided to complete my first long distance run the following day, which was a Friday evening after work. I was going to run on the Saturday, but there was a food festival in Lichfield which I wanted to go to. Rather than miss another weekend of running, I ran 13.25km (circa 8.2 miles) on the Friday evening in 1 hour, 32 minutes and 30 seconds. I was very pleased with this time, as I opted for one of my more challenging routes which involves plenty of inclines and declines. I extended the route which meant running somewhere unfamiliar. This made a nice change as I got to explore another part of Tamworth I hadn’t seen before. The new part of the route included a small park with a few lakes and bridges. I was also pleased with my time, as I was running at an average pace of 1km in 7 minutes (i.e., completing 13km in 1 hour and 31 minutes).

I must admit, it took me a few days to recover after my first long distance running since signing up for my second half marathon. I was wandering around the food festival with stiff legs and pain in my left hip. I’ve not had pain in my hips before from running, but the pain subsided after a few days of recovery. I took my time looking around the festival, enjoying samples of various cheeses and sweet treats. After having a good look around, I opted for a beef burrito for lunch. It was delicious and packed with plenty of filling, including lettuce, beans, rice, salsa and sour cream. The next food festival in Lichfield is taking place over the August bank holiday, which I will definitely consider going to.

Beef burrito 🙂

With it being the long Bank Holiday weekend in the UK, I took advantage of my time off work and went out for my second long distance run this morning. I decided to complete an easier run along the canal and country park, which has a flat terrain for the majority of the route. I made it challenging for myself by including the run up to the Gold Leaf sculpture. I ran most of the way up but had to walk the last little bit up, and then I continued running for the rest of the route. Overall it felt like I ran at a slower pace this morning, but I ran 13.25km in 1 hour, 33 minutes and 55 seconds (which is about 1 1/2 minutes over my first attempt). If I really wanted to, I could’ve picked up the pace on the easier route, but I was worried about my hip more than anything, and I wanted to take it a bit easier to enjoy the lovely weather and scenery.

Whilst I was out running this morning, I was thinking about why my hip hurt after last week’s long distance run. Upon consideration, I am around two stone heavier than I was five years ago, when I was training for my first half marathon in October 2017. The extra body weight could be having an impact on my hips. I have experienced sore knees recently but since taking glucosamine sulphate tablets, my knees have been a lot better. I could be being too harsh on myself, as my body hasn’t been on long distance runs of over 10km for a long time. I may have over exerted myself during my first long distance run, which is why I was a bit more cautious this morning. Nevertheless, my body will become accustomed to long distance running again and I will increase the distance gradually over the next 4 months. My next run will probably be 15-16km.

Enjoy the long Bank Holiday weekend and the Jubilee celebrations, or whatever you decide to get up to (fingers crossed for nice weather)!

Happy reading and blogging!

Clare Bear 🙂 xx

Dance the Weekend Away

It’s strange to think that two years ago the UK was in its first national lockdown. I had to cancel all of my plans for the year ahead, including a trip down to London with my mother. I had booked tickets for Peter Kay’s Dance for Life at Alexandra Palace for Friday 29th May 2020, but I soon received an email that the event had to be postponed due to COVID-19. With life returning back to some sort of ‘normality’, the event was rescheduled for Friday 29th April 2022, which actually worked out perfectly with my weekend plans!

Last Friday my mother and I drove down to East Finchley, where we stayed in a hotel for the night. We got a taxi to Alexandra Palace and were feeling very excited for our second Dance for Life. We both went to our first Dance for Life in Nottingham back in 2017, not knowing that people dress up in disco themed outfits. This time round I wore a 60s style outfit which I found on Amazon, which I was so pleased with! Plenty of people commented positively on my outfit and I loved the arm sleeves which were separate to the dress.

60s Disco Style Outfit

Peter Kay seemed in good spirits, as he had arranged a tour but cancelled it following family circumstances (which is what I’m led to believe). He was the DJ on his own this time (Sian Gibson accompanied him in 2017) and played a mixture of tracks from the 80s through to the present day. Everyone was dancing non-stop for three hours, which was an incredible feeling and everyone looked so happy. Even Kay was commenting how good it was to be all together again following COVID-19, and to raise money for Cancer Research UK. There were funky graphics on the large screens again – one of my favourites was the Celebrations chocolates during the song Celebration. My feet was sore from dancing for three hours, but it was so much fun!

Celebrations!

The next day my mother drove back to Leicester whilst I caught the tube to London Bridge. I met up with one of my university friends for a few hours, which was so lovely. We walked along the Thames and had lunch at Borough market, just by London Bridge station. Afterwards I caught the train to Brighton for a hen do which happened to have a disco theme – the rescheduling of Peter Kay’s Dance for Life couldn’t have worked out any better! I wore the same outfit for Peter Kay as I did for the hen do (talk about ‘killing two birds with one stone’).

Everyone looked incredible dressed up in their disco outfits on the Sunday. We all went out for bottomless brunch in the afternoon, adorned with helium glitter ball balloons and bride tribe sashes. I enjoyed a few glasses of frose with my brunch, which were very refreshing. After brunch we headed back to the townhouse we were staying in and spent the rest of the day/evening playing hen party games, cocktail making and dancing away to a silent disco. The silent disco was my favourite part of the hen do. We all wore headphones and could choose from three different stations. It was hilarious when there were ‘bangers’ played across multiple stations, as we were singing and dancing to different songs. As with Peter Kay, I was shattered after so much dancing for the silent disco but again, it was so much fun!

I certainly had some lovely food over the weekend, including Greek and Iraqi street food from Borough market, eating out at a Thai restaurant with more food than we could manage on the Saturday night and an incredible platter on the Sunday evening. The bride-to-be’s family put together a grazing platter, consisting of cold and cured meats, cheese, hummus, dips, crackers, cucumber, cakes etc. (as you can see in the photo below). The platter certainly worked a treat!

What a platter!

My Fitbit must’ve been happy over the weekend with so much physical activity through the form of dancing. In fact, it was comical to see the dancing recorded as aerobic workouts, sports and even running on the Fitbit app! My feet certainly felt the aftermath of the long weekend when I was on the train back home to Tamworth on Monday afternoon.

Before heading back, I enjoyed some fish and chips whilst sitting on Brighton beach, near the pier. I couldn’t go back home without having fish and chips at the seaside! I didn’t have room for an ice cream, but I did have one at Borough market on Saturday, just before heading down to Brighton.

Fish and Chips by Brighton Pier

It feels great to enjoy life normally again in England with no restrictions. I’m certainly making the most of the freedom where I can, especially with the horrific events occurring in Ukraine. I’m hoping that the atrocities from Russia don’t escalate too much further and that Ukraine can build up their country again, once the conflict is over.

Happy reading and blogging!

Clare Bear 🙂

xx

Comida Fest

Despite going to the gym three times last week, I put on one pound. I was really hoping to have lost at least two pounds, but as I’ve learnt in my recent weight loss challenge, body weight can be a fickle b**** at times. However, I enjoyed the recent weekend in London catching up with one of my uni friends with some great food.

On Saturday, my friend and I went to the Comida Fest near Tower Bridge in London. We are both foodies and have previously enjoyed the Ally Pally Streat festival during the latter May bank holidays. The Comida Fest is a Latin American street food festival which takes place annually along the bank of the River Thames. It’s a great location as you can enjoy the delights of Latin American food with iconic sights including Tower Bridge, the Tower of London and Canary Wharf.

The smells from the various food stalls were divine and it was initially difficult to decide what to have. In the end I opted for a meat dish with rice and beans. There was a mixture of meats including smoked pork and sausage.

Meat platter with an orange slice on top

My friend decided to try smashed plantain with crispy pork belly mixed in. I preferred mine to be honest, but his option was still nice.

Smashed plantain

After relaxing to live music at the festival, we then made a move to Covent Garden for cocktails. We went to TGI Fridays and had an ultimate cocktail each. I had one called Paradise Punch (left cocktail below) and my friend has classic Purple Rain. We spent quite a while in Covent Garden sipping away at our cocktails and catching up.

Ultimate cocktails!

I’ve now found another food festival which is worth a visit for foodies who love exploring and trying out new cuisine. I think the Comida Fest takes place every year, so it’s a festival to bear in mind for the future.

 

Happy reading and blogging!

Clare Bear 🙂

Bank Holiday Foodie

May is a great month of the year- in the UK we get to enjoy two bank holidays which means two longer weekends. Both May bank holiday weekends this year have been lovely for me, with beautiful weather and spending time with family and friends. I’ve also enjoyed eating tasty food, with a cheese festival in Melton Mowbary at the start of May and recently attending a food and drink festival in London for the bank holiday just gone.

For the third year running, I have been going to the StrEAT Life festival at Alexandra Palace. It serves as the ideal reunion with university friends, as we get to catch up and enjoy quality food and drink. As with last year, there was plenty of choice to tantalize everyone’s taste buds, including Caribbean, Greek, Italian and Indian food, as well as your standard burgers, ribs and chips. I decided to go for Spanish paella this year, which had chicken, chorizo and a mixture of seafood, including squid and prawns.

Mixed paella (looks like orange mush, but it was tasty!)

I also had for the third year running a churro filled with banana custard and shared a large pitcher of Pimm’s with my friends. We had the chance to relax on the grass by Alexandra Palace, which is a treat for Londoners and visitors with a stunning view of Central London. The weather was stunning for the majority of the day, so I was able to soak up some rays and top up my tan.

A stunning view of Central London

After enjoying my third StrEAT food festival, I was in for a treat the following morning. I rarely eat out for breakfast and what better way to do it than going to a lovely little cafe in Hornsey? The cafe has only been open for a few months and hopefully it’ll stay open for many more months/years to come. My breakfast was the best I’ve had in a long time, which was scrambled eggs, tomatoes, homemade smokey beans, garlic mushrooms, halloumi and two slices of brown bread. The whole meal was delicious and I also had a fresh banana and berry smoothie on the side.

Breakfast in style

And if that wasn’t enough, I had a lovely afternoon tea later that day! I absolutely love a good afternoon tea, especially scones smothered in clotted cream and jam (or is it the other way round?). There was a nice selection of cakes including red velvet cake, Victoria sponge and profiteroles. I also enjoyed a few glasses of prosecco and of course, plenty of cups of tea.

Yummy afternoon tea

The last May bank holiday of the year has certainly been a fantastic foodie weekend however, I’ve been very naughty by not getting up early enough for the gym since starting my new job. I definitely need to go to the gym soon as I can feel the effects of very little exercise and sitting in an office all day.

 

Happy reading and blogging!

Clare Bear 🙂

Update #25

Happy May bank holiday weekend!

The weather is absolutely gorgeous. It’s about time the UK had some decent weather as it usually rains during bank holidays, so this makes a lovely change and an opportunity of course to soak up some rays. When I took my dog for a walk this morning, there were lots of dandelions all over one of the fields we like to walk across. This made a lovely start to my day to see an array of yellow flowers, the blue sky and sunshine.

Bright beautiful dandelions

Looking back over April, I made a start running again. I went out for a 10km run which went pretty well despite not having ran a long distance for some time. I also managed to get down to the gym on a few occasions, making sure to do high intensity cardio exercises.

I also mentioned last month that I got a new job, which I started on Monday. I must admit that it’s been a bit of the shock to the system going back into full time employment and having to wake up earlier every morning. However, I intend to get into a routine and aim to go to the gym at least twice a week in the morning before work, starting from next week. I will have to consult my blog on adaptability when I went into full time work for the first time a few years ago.

The first Cheese Fest was held in Leicester which I went to with my sister. It was great to sample so many different types of cheeses with some interesting flavours, and I devoured a mac n cheese waffle with BBQ sauce. I’d definitely go to another Cheese Fest; hopefully it’ll come back to Leicester again in the near future.

On the subject of cheese, I’m off to yet another cheese event tomorrow, which is the Artisan Cheese Fair in Melton Mowbary. I imagine that there will be a lot of Blue Stilton cheese as Melton Mowbary is renowned for it, as well as pork pies and Red Leicester cheese. Expect a blog about this cheesey affair next week!

I will also be off to the StrEAT Life festival at Alexandra Palace in London, which takes place annually on the second bank holiday weekend at the end of May. This will my third time going to this street food and craft beer festival, where I usually reunite with friends from university and enjoy some tasty food and drinks. The weather was glorious last year so here’s hoping that the weather will be the same again!

 

Happy reading and blogging!

Clare Bear 🙂

Update #17

Wow! We’re half way through the year already! Last month seems to have flown by in a blur, but I got up to a lot looking through the posts on my blog for May.

My blog was busy food wise last month. I made two lemon drizzle cakes, one for a bake off at my new job and the other for a ladies’ night in. I preferred my second attempt at making lemon drizzle cake. I used a metal tin rather than a silicone mould and using plain flour with a little dash of baking powder seemed to make a better sponge.

I recently went to a food and drinks festival at Alexandra Palace called StrEAT Life. This was a fun day out where I got to catch up with one of my university friends, and where we got to try some tasty food (and drink a lot of Pimm’s!). Last weekend in general was a binge food weekend, as I also went to a lovely afternoon tea and had fish and chips in Cromer.

Fitness wise was a series of ups and downs in May. I managed to complete a second 15km run and my 16th parkrun, but I have started experiencing pain in my shins. This has made it rather difficult when running. I attempted to run 15km at the start of the month but I only managed 5km because my shins were hurting a lot. I intend to go out running this weekend, so I’ll make sure to put some Deep Heat on my shins which my father has recommended to help ease the pain. I’d like to complete another 15km run before I move onto 17.5km for my training for the half marathon (which is only 4 months away!).

Despite the pain in my shins, last month marked one year since I discovered the parkrun in Guernsey. I am so glad that I was told about the parkrun; I enjoy going to my local one when I can make it on a Saturday morning. I ought to have a go at other parkuns around the area for a bit of a change and to meet more runners.

I mentioned about a night out for the fitness aspect of my blog, which was Peter Kay’s Dance for Life. It was a 3 hour dance-a-thon, which I think counted as a good form of exercise. The Dance for Life was so much fun and everyone was knackered by the end of the evening from dancing so much, but everyone had a big smile on their face.

I’ve been very quiet on the feminist front as of late. There’s lots of things I’d love to write about, but it takes me more time to write a feminist blog. I think it would be good for me to write at least one feminist blog this month. Do you have any suggestions for what I could write about?

 

Happy reading and blogging!

Clare Bear 🙂

Getting into the festive spirit

Sorry that I haven’t posted in a while! I’ve been rather busy these past few weeks and haven’t had a chance to write a blog. Despite this I have been keeping up the gym in the early morning and I’ll be doing the parkrun on Saturday, which happens to be Christmas Eve. I’ve been eating out a lot and will be everyday this week I think, so once the New Year begins I’ll be working hard to lose body weight and think about training for the half marathon next year.

After my birthday (7th December) I really start getting into the festive spirit. I start wearing Christmas clothing and listen to carols/songs. I sang in a Christmas carol concert with the Leicester Philharmonic Choir on Thursday 15th December which was a lot of fun, and exhausting as well (the choir sang a total of 17 carols!). I’ve been to London for the past two weekends and visited lots of Christmas markets, as well as Winter Wonderland in Hype Park yesterday! It’s also nice to see London decorated with beautiful lights and various decorations. On Friday 16th December it was Christmas jumper day in the UK. I didn’t just wear a Christmas jumper- I went all out with wearing Christmas stuff (the only thing that wasn’t festive that I was wearing was my bra!).

Christmas jumper day

With another busy week ahead, I decided to make some mince pies tonight. I bought a decorative mince pie baking dish back in January this year and used it for the first time tonight. The dish can hold up to 6 large mince pies.

Festive mince pie dish

In the same way as last year and how I’ve always made them, I used plain flour, butter and lard to make short crust pastry. I measured 12oz of plain flour and used 3oz of lard and 3oz butter at room temperature. I rubbed in the butter and lard into the flour until the mixture became like breadcrumbs.

Breadcrumb consistency

I then added a little bit of cold water and used a knife to stir it into the flour/fat mixture. Once the water was incorporated I used my hands to mould the mixture together into a ball. I added a little bit more cold water to get all of the dry mixture together until I made a smooth ball of pastry. I left it for about 20 minutes in the bowl before rolling it out.

Ball of short crust pastry

I rolled out the pastry so that it wasn’t too thin, but not too thick either. With the amount of pastry I had, I managed to make 6 large mince pies and 6 standard sized mince pies. I had to use the lid for the flour container to cut circles large enough to fit the large mince pie dish!

Yummy mince pies

I decided to have a go at using egg wash on mince pies for the first time. I filled the pastry cases with quite a bit of mince meat and I didn’t want to end up with mince meat oozing out from the lids. I used one beaten egg and covered the lids using a pastry brush. I also pricked all of the lids with a fork before putting them in the oven at gas mark 5.

Smaller mince pies ready for the oven

The large mince pies took about 40 minutes while the smaller ones took around 30 minutes to cook. I must admit, covering the mince pies with egg wash made them look more like savoury pies! At least the mince meat didn’t leak out too much though.

Savoury looking mince pies!

I covered all of the mince pies once cooked with icing sugar so that they look more like sweet mince pies.

Looking more like mince pies now!

Large on the left and standard on the right

The next time I’ll probably get to cook something festive will be Christmas Eve during the day time. I’m doing something every weekday evening this week. I like being busy and I have lots of things to look forward to in the final run up to Christmas day.

 

Happy reading and blogging!

Clare Bear

Afternoon of sophistication

It’s been a while since I’ve posted about food. I do cook on a regular basis, but I haven’t really made anything new or worthy of posting on here. However, I do have something exciting to write about in this blog.

Yesterday my mum took one of her friends, my sister and I to the Savoy in London for high afternoon tea! It was a treat for my sister’s birthday (which is in fact today) and my birthday too (mine isn’t until December). All of us were dressed in smart clothing as the Savoy is beautiful on the outside, but even more so on the inside. Expensive cars pulled up at the foyer and male waiting staff, dressed in suits and top hats, greeted us at the entrance.

Outside of the Savoy

I couldn’t get over the grandeur of the Savoy. The room where we had tea was superb, with a beautiful bird cage style seating area in the centre of the room. Even the toilets were super fancy with individual towels to dry your hands and dressing tables with mirrors.

In the centre of the tea room

As soon as we sat down at our designated table I loved the tableware. The cutlery was quite small and the tea cups were delicate. We had individual tea strainers as well and picked a tea to drink from a selection of 31 different teas! I had the Savoy breakfast tea and the rest had the Savoy afternoon tea. Both tasted nice, but I do like the taste of breakfast tea, especially the Savoy’s own one. You didn’t have to top up your own tea either; there were plenty of staff around who topped up your tea for you.

The table set ready for eating delicious treats!

Some Savoy breakfast tea to start

There were a total of three courses for the high afternoon tea: a selection of finger sandwiches, scones with lemon curd, clotted cream and jam, and a tempting selection of cakes and pastries. The sandwiches were very tasty; my favourite one in particular was mozzarella made with spinach and pesto bread. I’ve never had bread like that before, it was amazing! We all asked for some more sandwiches because they were so nice. The other sandwiches were egg, ham, coronation chicken and salmon, all in different kinds of bread.

After the sandwiches, we moved onto the plain and fruit scones. They were served wrapped in a napkin to keep them warm while we were eating the sandwiches. I had never tried a scone with lemon curd before. It was delicious! The lemon curd must have been of the Savoy’s own making because it had a very creamy texture, which made it ideal for delicately spreading the curd onto the scones. I do love clotted cream and strawberry jam on fruit and plain scones, so I enjoyed that too very much.

Scones!

All of us had a rest because we were feeling rather full after the scones, and yet we had another course to go! While we were resting with tea, a pianist was playing some beautiful songs in the background, which made me feel even more relaxed and immersed in the wondrous surroundings of the Savoy tea room. There were quite a few people enjoying afternoon tea yesterday, of which many were celebrating birthdays.

After a brief rest, the final course arrived. Our eyes were bigger than our bellies when we saw the selection of beautifully made cakes. I wanted to try all of them but I couldn’t (I didn’t want to ruin my experience by feeling ill later on). The cakes looked like ones I’ve seen before in French patisseries, where they look too good to eat.

The final course of sweetness!

I tried a lemon meringue, a vanilla eclair topped with lavender and a slice of Victoria sponge. The meringue had a white chocolate base around it with a light sponge inside and a tiny flake of gold on top of the meringue. The eclair was very interesting. The glazing was so colourful and the vanilla filling was very creamy. Lavender was a new taste sensation for me; I didn’t know that you could eat it! The Savoy’s Victoria sponge was light, fluffy and sweet with a rich buttercream layer.

It felt like I was in heaven for the afternoon; you could’ve been anywhere in the world. The experience of having high afternoon tea at the Savoy is one I will never forget! I do enjoy a good afternoon tea, and yesterday’s was by far the best one I have had so far.

Cheers!

Happy reading and blogging!

Clare Bear

Ally Pally Festival

I had a fantastic weekend away recently in London. After working a half day, I travelled down to London with my mum last Friday where I was reunited with university friends, people who I hadn’t seen since my undergraduate graduation (almost two years ago!). We went to see a production of Dr Faustus starring Game of Thrones star Kit Harington on the Friday evening. It wasn’t the best production I have ever seen of the play, but Harington was so beautiful, particularly when he was just in his boxers for the majority of the second half!

Kit Harington!

One of my friends found out about a food and drinks festival at Alexandra Palace on the following day, which led me to make my visit worth a full weekend. I stayed at my mums’ friends’ flat in Crouch End, which meant it was about a 40 minute walk to Ally Pally. I could’ve caught the bus, but I hate catching buses in places I’m unfamiliar with (I always get the tube when in London and avoid the bus at all costs).

After some good old exercise walking up hills, I reached the Palm Court entrance of Alexandra Palace. Shortly after arriving I was reunited with my university friends. We were all together at midday, so an hour into the Street Food and Craft Beer Festival. It was fairly busy at this point, and it certainly picked up later in the afternoon!

The smells were amazing while we walked past the various food and drinks stalls. I shared a pitcher of Pimms with one of my friends, which we drank with straws in the jug while walking around. The pitcher was full of fruit, which tasted nice since it was infused with Pimms and lemonade. It was difficult to decide what to have for lunch; you could have freshly cooked Jamaican ribs, jerk chicken, pulled pork burgers, hot dogs and various kinds of wraps.

Gorgeous Pimms

In the end, I went for Jamaican food from a stall which I first saw when arriving. The food looked amazing, colourful and ready to be served in large bowls. I opted for a lentil burger with tropical slaw, tomato relish, chick peas and kale with avocado. The food was bursting with flavour! It was nice to eat something I’ve not tried before.

Lentil burger with Jamaican goodness

A food festival is not complete without something sweet for dessert. All of my friends and I had the same delicious sweet treat. Banoffee waffle: a warm sugary waffle served with sliced banana, toffee sauce and white chocolate chips which melted into the waffle!

Banoffe waffle

Feeling full and satisfied, I relaxed with my friends on the grass in front of Alexandra Palace. The weather was beautiful the whole time we were there, and the views of London are amazing. It was nice to see so many people enjoying themselves, laughing with good company, trying out new food and relaxing in the sun while looking at the capital of England.

A view of London

Alexandra Palace

I really enjoyed myself at the food and drinks festival. It was so nice to meet up with uni friends and update each other on how we’re all doing while savouring delicious food and drink in the sunshine. I actually caught the sun a bit, my face was slightly red as well as the back of my neck. Here’s hoping that the nice weather returns to the UK soon!

 

Happy reading and blogging!

 

Clare Bear