A Trip To Salon Du Chocolat's Chocolate Fashion Show

Chocolate...an entire hall filled with the yummy stuff in every shape and form imaginable; naturally I had to be there. Salon Du Chocolat is a travelling international exhibition which pulled into London on Friday for the weekend. I managed to attended the Gala Evening during which time I ate so much free chocolate I entered a cocoa coma...(thankfully it was short-lived).

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The sweet cocoa aroma hit you as soon as you stepped inside the shrine to the brown stuff. All around were stands selling chocolate; most from indie companies I'd never heard of selling varieties I'd never tried. I particularly liked the look of the chocolate conkers above.

This lucky lady got to lie in a bath of melted chocolate; sadly this option wasn't open to the public : (

On closer inspection it reminded me of school dinner chocolate custard. It certainly seemed as gloopy.

The benefit of attending on the Friday night was this was when 'The Chocolate Fashion Show' was scheduled, the one all the press have been raving about for the last few days.

I was very intrigued about why the dresses didn't melt under hot lights but it turned they weren't completely constructed of cocoa.

Watch highlights from the show in this rather fine video by Farrah from Implausible Blog. 

After the catwalk, the individual couture chocolate creations were put on display.

This English rose themed number was the most impressive, though it had more than a few similarities to a wedding cake.

Not entirely sure about the chocolate on this one, but apparently it's a dress made of chocolate hmmm.

And as for this choc bikini, it was clearly made for being nibbled off...

 I had to check out the chocolate outfits for myself to check their authenticity so I grabbed onto the end of this fabulous Lindt fan and I can confirm it was definatly chocolate!

Back in the exhibition space my radar led me to the craftiest chocolate I could find; chocolate scissors. Yes I'm pretty sure my craft stash needs a pair...

Hot chocolate wasn't forgotten either. In fact there were various culinary treats including posher versions of Nutella and to my utter disgust chocolate Foie Gras....seriously. There is no need : (

Here's one to entertain the yoof. Grafitti chocolate, the brand changes the designs on their chocolate every month, which are sprayed on with edible paints.

Speaking of which there were a lot of decorative artisan chocolates. The flavour of the moment however sold on most stands seemed to be Matcha Tea which was mint green in appearance. Quality varied. My two personal faves were by Prestat and Henri Le Roux.

When you see a giant eclair, you have to lie on it right?

Salon Du Chocolat may have now left the UK but they've already planned out the next year of events (most are in Europe) so if you fancy going to a show where you get to taste test loads of varieties of chocolate, the sort you can't find normally, or need to buy some chocolate gifts it's worth a visit.

If you dislike chocolate then steer clear!

Making paper flowers with A Alicia at Crafternoon Cabaret

Hurrah! I finally got to visit Crafternoon Cabaret. A fun monthly Saturday afternoon get together that involves crafting and live cabaret.
(This is what I made. But more on that later...)

The event takes place upstairs in a room at The Library, a pub on Upper Street, near Highbury & Islington tube in London.

And it's single-handedly run by Hannah (who made her fabulous reversible, length changing apron with very useful pockets.) This means she organises the craft activities, books the entertainment, liaises with the pub and does all the publicity. Six month's in, the event is always sold out, (possibly out-growing it's home), has a regular following and has received some excellent publicity.

For October, Crafternoon Cabaret hosted their first guest, Anna aka A Alicia, who many peeps in the craft community will be familiar with. She was promoting her new book which shows simple, tasteful ways to add crafty touches to your home and she adapted two of the projects for us.

These were paper cut lanterns and amazing card flowers (so simple yet utterly gorgeous).

When I arrived some people had already sat down and I joined a table which was occupied by three flatmates who were rather impressively spending some time together away from their home.There was a huge pile of craft materials to help yourself to plus instructions to make the projects, with A Alicia on hand to help out.

Not being much of an instruction person I skipped the steps, had a good look at the samples and attempted to make my own. I discovered that you can be as brutal as you want to cardboard (I've been way too timid in the past!) - it will keep its shape!

Time went sooooooooo quickly. In fact the quickest it's gone for me in ages!

As promised this was not just an afternoon of making, there was music too and we were treated to the cheeky tunes of Mr Meredith who sung about his Darlek lover and  what makes a proper man...

...which he concluded was someone like himself who can pull off sequins. Well sung!

Here are those flatmates I mentioned with their creations.

I also managed a peek at what other tables were up to and discovered these two wonderful floral fascinators.

Mine was a bit more like a strange collar turned headdress.

Which you can see better here. I totally love the card flower technique, that is one I will be using again and again. To try it yourself, cut out circles of varying sizes, cut sections out of them all the way round then fold these up and stitch through. The the leaves were done similarly with a crease along their centres.

There are so many positives I could say about Crafternoon Cabaret. Here's some of them:

• Hannah the organiser is lovely
• The timing is great 2-4pm so you don't need to wake up early on a weekend and you still have loads of time afterwards to carry on with your Saturday
• Two hours cost £10 which is a very decent 'hourly rate' 
• Materials and instructions are provided - after the sessions you can keep the instructions, go home and make more!
• There are so many things to do in London but sometimes on a Saturday you just want to sit down and chill rather than be walking around galleries or shopping or sitting in a pub...I mean why sit in one and chat when you can chat and make at the same time?
• The cabaret element added a nice touch making it feel like you'd done a whole activity 
• You get to take home what you make

The next Crafternoon Cabaret is on Saturday November 8th and has a Movember moustache theme. Check it out! A Alicia has some more workshops planned too so look her up while you're at it.

10 Reasons To Go On Holiday To Jordan

1. 'Welcoming' people who ply you with tea at every opportunity

It's been three weeks since I went to Jordan and I'm pretty sure I left my heart there in an 'I left my heart in San Francisco' kind of way. It was a random holiday I booked after a major work deadline and I only chose the destination because budget airline Easy Jet flies there. After that I picked up a guide book and realised I had made one of the best decisions ever! 
Jordan is surrounded by worryingly political unstable/religious countries like Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Syria which puts many Westerners off visiting, but it's a country filled with culture which is geared up for tourist trade. It is also one of the friendliest places on planet Earth, every single person I encountered starts, ends and peppers conversations with the word 'welcome'. And if you travel to the deserts in the South you will be offered a delicious, warming sweet herbal tea by everyone you meet. Bedouin guides carry around tea pots and start fires with twigs whenever they fancy a cuppa.
(I'm pictured with Mohammad from Jordan Tracks and Owde from Wadi Rum Rocks)

2. Veggies can feast until they can feast no more on chickpeas

I eat a lot of chickpeas in the UK, I've often thought I could happily live off them, in Jordan I practically did. Humus and falafal were served with every single meal, breakfast, lunch and dinner.

3. Perfect swimming conditions for people who love swimming but aren't the strongest of swimmers

The aspect I enjoy most about holidays is swimming outdoors. I LOVE it. Literally if nothing else happens, I don't mind, just one dip in a warm sea or outdoor pool makes me forget everything else. This is the gorgeous infinity pool at the Kempinksi Dead Sea Resort hotel, which overlooks the Dead Sea. It was taken early morning, but the beautiful colours were visible all day, I was memserised by the incredible lilac rocks. 

4. The chance to experience your own Indiana Jones moment

This is Petra, a vast archeological site set within an incredible rock valley, where they filmed Indian Jones and the Last Crusade. During the day you'll find camels and donkeys chilling and waiting to transport weary tourists around the major sites. I was there shortly before sunset, by which point other tourists had left. There is nothing fake about this picture, I explored the complex without a single living soul in sight. It was surreal and magical.

5. When the sun shines the colours are beautiful

One of my favourite things in life is colour. It inspires and fuels me every day. The colours I generally observe at home come from clothes, advertising, people and objects but in Jordan the colours were natural. Vivid, bright hues that I could sit and stare at for hours.

6. There are so many opportunities to do something different

On holiday anything is possible. You wouldn't see me horseriding in London but here in Jordan I developed a whole new confidence in riding up extreme cliffs with steep drops even though it was only the 2nd time I'd sat on a horse in my life. I also scaled crazy rock mountains barefooted and snorkelled in deep, wavy conditions.

7. It takes history to another level

See my foot? It's in Jordan. See those people opposite, they are in the West Bank, Palestine, Israel....a completely different country! It is the banks of the River Jordan where Jesus was baptised and where people come from all over the world to get themselved baptised/ or to reconfirm their faith. 

There are strict rules in crossing boarders throughout this region so this sight was incredible and that's before you even remember about the Jesus connection.

8. The capital is filled with creativity

The week I was there coincided with Amman Art Week, an annual celebration of art and artists in the capital. It was a good excuse to see some work by individuals I wouldn't normally get to appreciate. This matchbox installation was part of a wider papercrafts exhibition.

9. You can enjoy 360 degree sunsets all to yourself

In London I usually miss sunset as I'm either still at work (my desk doesn't face any windows) or I'm at the gym so seeing so many jaw droppingly beautiful sunsets was an absolute pleasure. I witnessed sunset every day from different and unique spots but nothing beat enjoying it from the top of a rock in the Wadi Rum desert.

10. You will never, ever get bored

I could go on and on but there is just so much to see and do in Jordan. 

In a week I ticked off the main things like floating in the Dead Sea, snorkelling in the Red Sea, camping in the desert...but there was still so much more (crafting things like watching goat hair weaving and mosaic spotting aside). 

The temperatures were an amazing 36-40 degrees, which doesn't seem as hot when you wear floaty tops and headscarfs. There's lots of air-conditioned places and as long as you constantly drink water you'll survive the heat. 

I absolutely cannot wait to get my photos printed off and put into an album, a great reminder that there is so much more to life that everyday routines.

Banner Making At The Southbank Inspired By Bob And Roberta Smith

Earlier this month I was asked to lead on a Banner making workshop for The Southbank Centre to mark the end of their Festival of Neighbourhood which had been running all over the summer.

The banners were to be inspired by the flags they had installed over the roof of the building...

...which were originally inspired by handpainted artwork by artist Bob and Roberta Smith.

The banners were to be incorporated into a festival finale consisting of a giant choir who would be using the banners in their performance. The musical director chose three lines from songs which he wanted us to include on the banners each of which measured a gigantic 2.5m by 1.5m

First of all we transferred the letters onto the fabric. There was a team of volunteers who made the banners while I watched over them and made sure everything ran smoothly!

Two of the banners were collaged on using an assortment of fabrics and later embellished with glitter and sparkles.

The third was painted.

We created them over two days inside The Royal Festival while we were treated to some wonderful live choir performances.

The team hard at work....

There was also a panel discussion on the Saturday and one of the guests was Bob and Robert Smith (who despite the name is actually one person!)

I felt so nervous when he came over to inspect what we were up to but thankfully he gave his thumbs up and was impressed; especially as they were on a much grander scale than his originals.

Banner 1

Banner 2 (sadly not the most loveliest of days...it was pouring with rain!)

Banner 3

I was so proud of everyone's achievements; it was a big project on a big scale for a very prestigious place, still can't believe we were all part of it.

Special thanks to Sabine Thoele who took some of the photos.

A holiday with daddy

Today marks the 4th anniversary of my dad passing away and in keeping with tradition, I am writing a blog post about him. This year I've chosen holiday memories...

When I was growing up we never went on holidays. The only time we took a whole family break was in 1995 when we went all went to Bangladesh - I'm pretty sure that's how long it took my parents to save up; it really was 'once in a lifetime.'

But then six years ago I took my dad on holiday. A rather unusual thing to do considering most people in their 20s probably wouldn't go on vacation with a parent, but thinking about it now, it was one of the most important five days of my life.

We went to Switzerland. It may not be the most culturally diverse of places but nature wise it is outstanding and everything my dad appreciated in life - fresh air, trees, plants and scenery. He wasn't very well-travelled himself but he absorbed nature programmes on TV and covered the walls of our house with pictures of deserts, waterfalls and meadows; all the places he had wanted to see.

Just sitting and looking at a lake was enough of a holiday activity for him. He was a great believer in the simple things in life, was very quiet, generally calm (unless he was having one of his old man moans!) and very philosophical.

I wish he could have seen more of the world. But I also know how much he enjoyed our trip, it was a case of quality over quantity, something we are all familiar with but sometimes forget about. 
It doesn't matter how much, how often or where or when, just that 'it', whatever 'it' may be, is done well.

Miss you Ubba.

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I'm In Mollie Makes Magazine!

Arrrgh! Where has the time gone?! I haven't blogged since June. Been super busy with my new job, editor of a new restaurant magazine launching in September. And when I'm not in meetings or interviewing people about that I'm organising the monthly craft night I run in Hackney, East London.

The Make Escape is now 14 months old! We had an incredible 'sold out' Makerversary for our birthday back in May and since then things are continuing to go amazingly. 
This month we've received our first proper publicity, an article in Mollie Makes magazine.

We are also about to go 'on tour' for the first time. 
We'll be running FREE craft workshops inside The Royal Festival Hall, Southbank, London over the August Bank Holiday weekend, Sat 24th & Sun 25th from 11am-4pm.  

Come and join us if you can! And as well as my blog please do keep an eye on The Make Escape blog so see what we get up to each month.

Fingers crossed for some proper blogging soon x