Friday 17 January 2014

ICE ICE BABY



                                                     

Hi dolls.

Last weekend I went to Canary Wharf, London to visit the 6th annual Ice Sculpting event.

Ten teams from, Africa, Belgium, France, Hungary, Ireland, Poland, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom &USA competed in a fun filled and action packed competition. Carving to the themes ‘Fabulous Fashion’ and ‘River Life’, sculptors used chainsaws and chisels to battle it out, in a variety of contests. 

We arrived around 11.30 and walked around to view the works in progress. The competition spans three days, the Sunday supposedly being the busiest as the winners are announced. The day was bright and crisp and the crowds few and far between at this point. 

Here's what we saw:




At this point this particular sculpture was my favourite - a little girl blowing bubbles. 


Here you can see how they are carving out the bubbles, unfortunately we were told by this artist that because of the UV rays from the sun the inside of the ice has cracked whereas the day before it was completely see through making the bubble design even more spectacular. 

The food available was immense - various cuisines from all over the world including Portugal and India and my favourite part the bakery counter. Now unfortunately due to my excitement of all things sweet and baked I didn't picture the stall but I wish I had; macaroons in all the colours of the rainbow, chocolate chip cookies as big as my head, giant flavoured meringues and much more. (I went for the giant cookie, FYI it was superb, plenty of vanilla flavouring and a huge amount of crunchy chocolate chips, mmm!).


At two we left for lunch at ZiZi's about a 20 minute walk from the festival, although the food looked incredibly inviting we were all frozen solid and wanted an opportunity to warm up before the evenings events. 

When we returned the sun had gone down and the ice sculptures were lit up with blue lights - it wasn't until then that you could see the beautiful detail in these pieces. 

A little girl blowing bubbles



And the winners were:
Big Block Competition – theme ‘Fabulous Fashion’:Africa
Single Block Competition – theme ‘River Life’:Spain
Freestyle Competition: Burr ‘Buddy’ Rasmussen(USA)
Public Choice Award: United Kingdom

This was such a great family day out and really interesting - all the tools and hours spent sculpting these huge blocks of ice to create a beautiful piece of art. 
Next year, I would definitely recommend you go!
Xx

Wednesday 8 January 2014

TEA WITH A TWIST

Hello!

Now this post does exactly what it says on the tin and is about tea - shocker!

 I'm a massive tea fanatic and love to try tea from all over the world. Two years ago I spent a few weeks in Vietnam and picked up rose tea, Vietnamese tea and artichoke tea (an acquired taste!) and loved the variety. I drink a lot of fruit teas in the uk and am always on the hunt for new flavours on trips abroad.

For Christmas my wonderful dad bought me a gorgeous glass tea pot with some mango marigold flowering tea from www.exoticteapot.co.uk who offer a fabulous selection of tea's and tea-wear (completely made that word up trying to sound like a tea connoisseur!).



I tried a flowering tea once before on a birthday trip to a local Chinese restaurant and have been taken with it ever since. 

The flavour is very delicate and I absolutely love watching the flower bloom in the tea. 

Que a stream of photos of the flower blooming...




"Each blossom is hand crafted by artisan tea masters in Fujian Province, China". www.exoticteapot.co.uk

If you love tea I would definitely give this a try whether it's for a relaxing evening on your own or after a dinner party with friends it's a great finish to any evening!

Until my next exciting tea adventure ......

Xx