The Perfect Sunday? Sunday Papers Live have got it sussed...

There are two versions of my perfect Sunday. One involves me having a major lie in and staying in bed all day in my PJs recovering from the madness and sleep deprived state I tend to find myself in at weekends and the alternative me wants to get up super early and cram in loads of fun stuff like going to a bootfair, hanging out somewhere Sundayish like Colombia Road and meeting friends for brunch.

So when I heard about Sunday Papers Live it was as if my prayers has been answered. Finally someone had cottoned on to the fact that Sundays should be reclaimed to be all those things we want it to be. So last month I made the pilgrimage to Primrose Hill to get a taste of the perfect Sunday at Sunday Papers Live.

A cross between a festival, Secret Cinema and a giant house party, Sunday Papers Live is a bi-monthly event that literally brings the papers to life without you needing to read a word. Every section of your typical Sunday broadsheet is covered from UK and World news to the travel supplement, crossword section and letters page, by special guests along with other quintessential Sunday pastimes like board games and a satisfying Sunday lunch. 

You can make the experience as interactive as you like or sit back and snuggle up in your PJs, with your dog on the sofa, as if you were at home. Running from 12pm-10pm it's a full day of Sunday indulgence, entertainment and stimulation....but was it really the perfect Sunday?

Here's what I loved about it and a few things I think they could have done better....

Having my Happyscope read

I'm a big fan of reading my star sign but when I stumbled across the Happy Scope table run by Dumb Love I realised that all my life I'd been following the wrong kind of karma. As my happyscope astrologer pointed out, Horror-scopes are horrible and happy scopes are so much nicer.
After a few questions he wrote me a personalised happyscope on the back of this fine postcard. I can't reveal what it said but it made me very happy. 

Tucking into a lavish lunch

Instead of a menu on our tables, Chef Tom Hunt personally introduced the afternoon's meal and it sounded heavenly. Served at banquet style tables over several settings, diners were sat down in order of how they arrived at the dining room doors encouraging banter between random strangers. In case there were any awkward moments there was a live music accompaniment. The dishes were then served communally so you could help yourselves. The room was gorgeously decorated and the closest I've come to eating in a Harry Potter canteen set up. 

The veggie option was delicious, a tasty nettle tart...but it was cold. And Sunday lunch shouldn't be cold. I mean I had hot spuds with caramalised garlic and yummy sprouting broccoli and mash but when your tart is cold and your neighbour's roast beef is steaming it's a little mean. 

Chill out time

The Sunday Capers room is an area that takes all the fun parts of a Sunday and condenses it into one space ....a chill out spot to grab a nap or watch movie matinees. There was even a mini grandstand face and live lonely hearts column. The main room gets completely rammed so it was nice to have an alternative space to hang-out in. 

Activities

So how do you fill 10 hours? With a back to back programme of stuff to do there was no chance of getting bored. You could even have a massage or book a canal boat trip but the fact it was such a lovely sunny Sunday meant just relaxing on a deckchair while sipping on juices was enough to keep me occupied.

Although most pastimes were covered there was no bootfair. Sundays are not Sundays without a car boot sale in my books. I'm pretty sure there is space to fit one in - hopefully they'll add this element soon. 

Not having to read the papers
Whenever I buy a Sunday paper it takes me over a week to get through it so having 'the contents' of a paper presented in the form of talks, discussion and performance is actually rather pleasant and useful. 

I particularly enjoyed the debates around the letters page bit - a drop in talk show where you could pull up a seat and have your say. 

In terms of speakers and topics there was an interesting mix - the spoken word performers got the biggest appreciation, but overall I was a bit disappointed with the 'western approach' to the choices, especially the World news. The main speaker for World news gave a talk about the issue of sex workers being excluded from the media in the United States. 

In my mind there are infinite unique and usual stories and issues of interest and relevance all over the world so whoever curated World news should have taken advantage of focusing on a geographic location we hear little about rather than one we hear about every day. 

As for whether I can now go back to reading a Sunday paper after I've experienced Sunday Papers Live....well if the truth be told, while I was there chilling, I picked up a physical newspaper and still enjoyed it.

Reading the Sunday papers are a great British pastime. There's nothing like chilling at home with your feet up reading the papers but also there's nothing quite like Sunday Papers Live. A lot of love, passion and detail went into planning the event (sooooooo much bunting and even a radio and candles in the loos) so I totally salute the organisers. It was probably one of the best organised events I've been to in a long time...but it wasn't overganised in a regimented way, I liked the fact it still had an air of spontaneity about it.

 I recommend Sunday Papers Live to anyone who loves all the non-music bits of music festivals, are overdue meeting up with friends and want an excuse to hang out with them, looking for somewhere quirky to go on a date or just want to do something a bit different. With only three events under their belts so far it's still got cult status appeal so go along before others start ripping it off.

The next Secret Forum's Sunday Papers Live is on Sunday June 1st. 

Find out more here. 

Winter Wonderland Cake

Cake is a very important part of my life, not a single week goes by without me eating cake and on days I'm not eating it, I'm thinking about it.



 I've been pondering how to describe my wedding in my blog and have finally decided that rather than going into all the details of the year long planning process, just to feature some of the highlights; starting with the cake!

Is it 4'o'clock yet?

Choosing my wedding cake was therefore a very special thing. I'm going to refer to it as 'my wedding cake' because I don't think Matt would have noticed if there had been a wedding cake or not. Some men just do not appreciate cake, it's wasted on them and as such, he didn't get involved in it. And so back to my cake......rather than looking at recipes I googled cake images, that's when you really discover the possibilities (as well as watching various cake reality shows that crop up on my cable channels...and there's at least three set in US bakehouses where they create huge themed masterpieces like zombie graveyards and a stage of male strippers modelled from sugarpaste...just one of the many episodes I witnessed!)
My sister Jolekha, the domestic goddess of the family who bakes all our cakes said early on I should buy one, making one wasn't worth the risk. 

Move over Nigella, my sister means business!

I disagreed, the last thing I wanted was a tier of three sponges from Waitrose, and quite frankly I couldn't stomach the idea of wasting so much money on something that's on show just for a few photos and hardly gets eaten by going to a wedding cake maker.
Talking to a couple of cake loving friends (one who likes pimping sponge mixes and one who's more of a visual decorator) I fell in love with the concept of having a snowscene cake that looked like a winter wonderland. Neither of us had any idea how it would work or look but once the vision was in my head that was that!
The starting point was a trip to Party Party, an amazing store in Hackney, East London. the downstairs floor is made up of party essentials and fancy dress costumes while upstairs it's a baker's paradise with tins, trays, boards and cake cakes in every shape and size imaginable, edible glitter, sprinkles, toppers, flowers, paints, pens...basically everything you need to make and decorate an amazing cake. I even picked up evergreen trees and plastic holly springs.
These were transported back to Janine's house where we spent a Sunday afternoon experimenting. The sponge was chosen by Laura - Angel Food cake, an amazing, light fat free cake you can only buy in the US! (Luckily she was jetting off there a few weeks before the Big Day where she filled her suitcase with packet mixes and huge edible confetti which when placed inside, gives it a speckled rainbow effect. For our testing day she managed to buy a pack online from an American food store.)
We tested different types of icing for coverage (it needed to be thick and white, but not royal icing.) Sponges were baked in different sizes and cut up to create a bumpy mountain setting.

I also purchased a set of snowflake shaped icing cutters and we tested making snowflakes from blue icing, which were detailed with irridescent glitter and edible marker pens. We over did it a bit with the blue sprinkles:

Overall, it kind of worked, but with so much else for me to get organising I left in in their hands.
On the morning of the wedding as I was getting glammed up, Janine and Laura set to work on creating my dream cake:

Janine applying frosty icing

Laura and Janine sprinkling the bling

Toned down snowflakes!

Positioning the couple

I didn't see the final design until I walked up the aisle where it was waiting to be cut, after the ceremony. It looked absolutely amazing! 

Every single aspect was special from the 'alternative' couple at the top, made from Christmas decorations to all the wonderful animals. 

Coming it at under £100 ingredients and decorations included(for over 150 guests) it was also great value. 
I recommend you consider attempting a homemade wedding cake, it feels really good knowing it's a one off, never ever to be created again! Also you feel the love of the making of it so much more than asking a stranger to do it. You don't need to be good at cake making....the sponges here were made from packet mixes, where you just add water and the decorating, like most crafting has NO RULES! Simply go with the flow. No guest will turn their nose up at your cake because it's homemade and if they did, then they shouldn't be invited...it's your day so make sure you get the cake you want!...........and yes it tasted very good (though a little sweet) too!