The Winter's Tale at The Royal Opera House

Ever since we had Royal Ballet principal dancer Ed Watson in the gallery, I've been watching loads of YouTube ballet videos, and finally got the guts up to go to an adult ballet class, which I wrote about here.

My partner and I have been having a tough month with immigration, which I'll write a post on when I'm ready and feel more distanced from it, as it's too stressful right now to really break it down. But I've welcomed all sorts of distractions, such as volunteering at a local Educational Library Service on my days off, and ballet. I bought £6 tickets for my partner and I to go see The Royal Ballet's production of The Winter's Tale, and we went last week on Wednesday, April 23. Talk about the most beautiful escape where every real life issue was instantly forgotten and left outside of the theatre for the three hours the ballet was on.

For £6 seats in the amphitheater what you do miss out on is some of the background and beautiful sets. But what you don't miss out on is the dancing. We could hear the pitter-patter of the ballerina's pointe shoes across the stage, and see the sweat dripping off the principal's faces as they danced. It was fantastic.

At this point I've only seen Giselle and The Sleeping Beauty, both performed by the Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, which I enjoyed. But The Winter's Tale was different. The narrative of this story was so strong, and the acting was superb. Ed Watson as Leontes was like a lizard, crawling out of his skin with jealousy as he skulked around Hermonie and Polixenes during the first act. Act 1 was emotionally traumatic to watch, because as a viewer I felt part of their story, and watched the happiness of Leontes' court fall to pieces as he lost everything.

The second act was full of sweetness and light due to the gorgeous music and Sarah Lamb's Perdita and Steven McRae's Florizel. They really made the audience feel them falling in love during their pas de deux.

After that Wednesday, I fell in love with the ballet to the point where I booked a ticket to see it in Cinema's during the ROH Live showing. (It's probably unfair to mention I paid £12 for two tickets to see it live, and £20 for one ticket to see it in the cinema.) I was a little skeptical that the ballet wouldn't translate well on a screen as opposed to real life but I really shouldn't have worried. It was almost better in a way due to the sweeping camera angles and close ups, the subtly of the dancers acting was much more visible. By Act 3 there were sounds of crying as the audience in the cinema was moved to tears by the end. I walked out of the cinema feeling the lightest I had in months.

Here's hoping The Royal Opera House releases the ballet on DVD, it's truly amazing.

Image credit to ROH and The Guardian. 

Birdy backpack

Yesterday while walking around Belsize Park, we spotted a man in front of us with a backpack. Which is not so unusual for Central London. What was unusual was that it was a bird backpack, with a full size parrot inside! Crazy. I love living in the city. I wish I had gotten a better stealth picture of it but this will have to do. How do you get the bird out with all of those safety pins?

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Muffin cupcakes (Muffcakes?)

This weekend has been dreamy because of the lovely weather. I went over to my friends house in North London for a day filled with gloriously crap chick flicks and baking. We procrastinated on the baking for a good hour, haphazardly flipping through her cook books while soaking in the sun on her roof terrace with a few glasses of Proessco. It's amazing how indulgent a little sun and bubbles feels.

Ultimately, we decided on a baked Camembert studded with garlic, covered in olive oil, rosemary and thyme and wrapped and baked in short crust pastry. The real star of the show was the blueberry muffins that we turned into cupcakes. There are no strict rules regarding the toppings of muffins, so why can't they have a little frosting? I don't have the recipe for theses muffins, as it was out of one of my friend's books. I'll see if I can get her to send it to me. It was really interesting, as it included regular flower, chickpea flower, and buttermilk (which I haven't used in muffins before).

Weren't they beautiful? Thanks Nigella. Hopefully I don't get in trouble for posting the recipe here. 

Cormeal Blueberry Muffins Recipe

• 1 cup (250 mL) flour
• ½ cup + 1 tbsp (140 mL) cornmeal
• 2 tsp (10 mL) baking powder
• ½ tsp (2 mL) baking soda
• 2/3 cup (150 mL) sugar
• pinch salt
• ½ cup (125 mL) vegetable oil
• ½ cup (125 mL) buttermilk
• 1 egg
• ¾ cup (175 mL) blueberries

Preheat the oven to 400 F (200 C) and line a muffin tin with papers.

In a large bowl, mix the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda and sugar and salt. In a measuring jug or bowl, pour the oil and buttermilk and whisk or fork in the egg.

Stir the oil mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients – remembering that lumpiness is a good thing when making muffins – and fold half the blueberries into your thick golden batter.

Divide this batter between each muffin case (they will be about two-thirds full) and drop the remaining blueberries on top; you should have about 3 for the top of each muffin.

Cook in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes, till a cake tester comes out cleanish (obviously it will be stained if it hits a berry). Leave the muffins in the tin on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then remove the muffins, in their cases, to the wire rack to cool a little (not too much) before you serve or eat them.

Frosting:

100 g soft unsalted butter
100 g icing sugar
3 teaspoons (or to preference) blue food colouring

Whisk until combined.

Sarah Jessica Parker answers 73 questions

This video is nothing short of perfection, because it's SJP. Check out how dreamy her home is!

Springtime

It's so ridiculously lovely out, I've got the door open at the gallery despite the traffic noise to take advantage of the sun. I wish I could roam the city with my camera, but since I can't have these springtime shots from 2012 taken in suburban Leeds, UK.

Alexander Ebert

Have a photo of Alexander from Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros to brighten up your Thursday evening.

Début

On Tuesday my girlfriend and I went to a dance school in central London and took our very first ballet class together, something that my husband has encouraging me to do for a few weeks now. Throughout the morning before I researched blogs of new adult dancers, trying to make myself feel a little bit less nervous. 

After rushing from work (the kind of rushing where I forgot my engagement ring at work after I took it off to do the washing up), I waited for the class to start outside the studio. I overheard some dancers, who wearing tights and proper leotards and looking very intimidating, talking about how they formerly dancer professionally, and I couldn't help but wonder if I was in the wrong place, even though it was the Adult Absolute Beginners class. 

Once all 40 odd of us were allowed in and scurried to choose our places at the barre, I knew it was going to be okay when the teacher asked who was trying ballet for the first time. My friend and I raised our hands, and even though he separated us so we were in between more experienced students he did it with a joke that put us at ease. 

I've historically had loads of issues with my feet (probably not helped by two bunion surgeries at age 21 and 24), and my toes cramp on their own a lot. So I really struggled with the barre exercises because of my toes cramping and wanting to stay curled up in a point when I was supposed to be extending and 'sweeping' the floor during tendus. 

It was immensely fun, and one of the most difficult things I've ever tried.That made me love it more - I have a history of getting extremely bored and dropping activities that come easily to me, especially as a child (hello tennis, gymnastics, and guitar). 

I loved the french words for everything - tendus, plies and demi-plies, ronde de jambes. I loved the feeling of accomplishing a releve on demi point without the barre and holding it for a few moments - a tiny victory. 

I can't wait to go back and am going to make a huge effort to go at least two out of the three times its offered per week. 

Ballet and Puppies

Could there be any combination better than ballet and puppies? Coming across these photos warmed my heart!  Buzzfeed posted these beautiful pictures of little puppy Gaston at The City Ballet of San Diego.

See them all here. 

Love Letter: Covert Accessories

Lucky duck that I am, I received an iPad mini for my birthday this past January. I was supremely excited not just because of my love for all things Apple in general, but it also meant that I could buy a snazzy case for it because I'm a massive accessories junkie.I like the challenge of finding perfect accessories due to being frugal and picky about both design and function. 

After several lunch hours devoted to the search, I finally came across Covert Accessories. Not only were they stylish and came in several different designs, but they were actually functional. And wouldn't break my bank.

Look at how gorgeous these are! 

Covert - Varsity iPad mini case

Covert - Calvary iPad Mini case

I couldn't resit their Calvary iPad Mini case because of it's versatility, stylish looks and wonderful price. I've used it on long train journeys to watch films and enjoyed the integrated stand feature, and haven't thought twice about throwing it in my crammed and messy bag daily because I know it will protect my iPad. Plus the wooly texture of the case with the leather accents are plain old gorgeous. My husband is even jealous of my case. 

Kensington Winter Walks

I went for a stroll on my day off last week with my camera, something I haven't done in ages. It was a really grey and dismal day, but I think it really added to the moodiness of lovely Kensington and Hyde Park.

To see all of the pictures I took that day, click here.

Cold and flu season strikes again!

I've finally been struck down with a cold for the first time since September. I went out and immediately bought a load of goodies from Holland and Barrett, but I feel like I may have gone a bit overboard!

What are the best cold remedies that work for you?

Matthew and the Atlas - new music video for single 'Pale Sun Rose'

One of my favorite bands, Matthew and the Atlas, have released the video for their new single off their forthcoming full length album. Give it a play below!

Matthew and the Atlas are a band I've been following for a few years, since coming across a YouTube video of them performing in 2010 at London local spot The Lexington (incidentally, the same bar I also met my now husband at in 2011).

So far I haven't been lucky enough to see them live, despite attempting to see them open up for The Civil Wars in 2012 at their Manchester date and missing their set due to traffic. However, I did snag one of their EPs at the merch table that night and got a chance to speak to front man Matthew Hegarty.

However discouraging that may be, their new video is absolutely stunning and features Charlie Cox from Downton Abbey and Boardwalk Empire. I love the new direction the sound has taken. Previously they relied on a more traditional Americana sound, but now they've added layers of depth by using subtle electronic tones while still maintaining the twangy folk feel. It makes for one hauntingly gorgeous track. I am beyond excited to get my hands on their first full length album, which is due out in May. Fingers crossed I finally get to see and shoot them at their sold out London date in the Lexington in February.

Also, how beautiful is their limited edition 'Rose' vinyl single? You can pre-order it here. 

New Year, new diary.

Nothing says "Happy New Year!" like busting out a brand spanking new diary. I've been a die-hard moleskin diary fan for years, but this year decided to make a change in favor of a more colorful route. A weekly planner, every week has a quote or song lyric accompanied by amazing photography. I've already started jotting dates down it it. My husband would accuse me of being super boring, but I think it's okay to nerd out and get excited by the little things. Once a back to school supplies nerd, always a back to school supplies nerd.

Happy 2014!

First of all, happy new year! I am so sorry to have neglected this blog. Let's rewind a few months...After a whirlwind September that included a three week visit from my mum, and finishing my dissertation at the same time, I got offered a new job at an art gallery which has been delightful and kept me quite busy. Though, that is still not an excuse! I've still been doing some writing on the side, and hope to get back into it ever more so this winter.

One of the more exciting experiences I got to take part in was the principal sculptor at the gallery that I work at had a sitting with one of the Royal Ballet's principal dancer in December, and I got to photograph the sitting for the gallery. All of those photos are available here on my flickr. What an amazing experience.

I've also updated the master list of my writing to include what I've done over the past few months (mostly fashion and lifestyle pieces).