February 2019 Archives

Tucked into a small shop on Wardour Street in the heart of London's Chinatown is Bake, an bakery selling Asian foods and cakes. Amongst their most popular items are the fish-shaped cones and cakes. Over Chinese New Year weekend, I had the opportunity to sample the ice cream and fish cakes and to get some photographs of them in front of the famous pagodas in Chinatown.

The fish-shaped cakes are known as Taiyaki, which means "baked sea bream" in Japanese. Most commonly, the filling of the cake is a red bean paste, but other sweet fillings (custard, chocolate, etc) and savoury fillings (cheese, sausage) can also be created. Teiyaki is made using pancake (American style) or waffle batter, then poured into the fish-shaped moulds and cooked. This treat originated in Tokyo but was forgotten due to World War II, but it is now popular again. Similar items are found in other Asian countries, and a similar item is the wheelcake that I had last year ("Wheelcake Island").

The miniature fish for sale cost £2.00 for four pieces, and these are filled with custard. There is also the choice to have the red bean flavour, which is the traditional flavour.

A larger variation can also be purchased, and this included a nutella-filled variety (pictured above).

Last, but not least, is the most picturesque of the treats from Bake. This is the fish-shaped ice cream cone. I had the matcha (green tea) flavour of ice cream, but they also make plain vanilla or vanilla and matcha mixed.

Have you visited Bake and had a fish-shaped ice cream cone yet? Bake are located at the Chinatown/Leicester Square end of Wardour Street, just outside the famous pagoda.

Several years ago, Swingers crazy golf begun its life as a pop up in Shoreditch, and I went along to it on Valentine's Day and really enjoyed myself; you can read more about that visit here. Swingers West End in London is the most recent incarnation of the crazy golf course, which is now no longer a pop-up. A few years ago, Swingers opened their first crazy golf course in the City of London. I have actually not been to it yet, even though it has been a few years now since it opened. I decided to check out Swingers West End.

At Swingers West End, there are two courses that are virtually identical except for the last hole. The West End branch mimics the typical British seaside town. One course is called "The Big Wheel" and the other is "Helter Skelter", and the courses are named after the last hole that features a big wheel or helter skelter. On the Big Wheel, the golf ball must quickly go under the moving wheel through the gap and into the hole on the other side.

I upgraded to a drinks package, but this did not include the cocktails that I was hoping to have and instead contained drink vouchers for house wine, bottle of beer, soft drink, or a shot of spirit. I would not recommend this and would instead recommend getting the cocktails instead. If I had known it was limited to this, I would not have bothered to purchase this in advance.

Four street food vendors are available at the West End location: Patty & Bun serves burgers, Made of Dough has pizzas, Breddos Tacos sells tacos, and Hackney Gelato serves ice cream. I was very hungry as I had forgone lunch due to it being a busy workday, so we ate first. I had the chicken tenders and nachos from Breddos Tacos.

After eating, it was the round of golf. Swingers West End was extremely busy on the day we visited, or perhaps it is always that busy, but I think it may have been slightly more busy due to being Valentine's Day and walk-ins were available. We only got to do the one round of gold on "The Big Wheel" because we spent a lot of time waiting for the previous people to finish playing the hole. 

After the golf, Hackney Gelato provided a refreshing treat. I had the Snickers Ice Cream, which was really tasty. 

Then, we sat at the bar for a bit to have the last alcohol. I also had an additional cocktail that I paid for because I really had wanted cocktails instead. 

Overall, Swingers West End was fun, but I preferred the pop-up as it was not quite as busy and we spent a lot of the night waiting on the holes to become free for us to use because of the large number of people playing. Also, it took much too long to get served our drinks and to order the food, and they seemed to be short-staffed generally for some of these roles. There also wasn't enough seating for the food for everyone. So, I think that Swingers West End could make some improvements with various aspects. I'd love to check out the City location, but I think I will avoid special holidays.

Before I went to the William Morris Museum, I did not have any idea about who the man William Morris was. However, I do recognise some of his work and have heard about the Arts and Crafts Movement. I did study Fine Art and received a Minor (secondary degree) in Art, but I was surprised that I had actually never heard of him, or if I did, I guess it never made an impression at the time. His work actually had a major influence in interior design and "the home" in the mid-late 1800s. He was also a founder of the Arts & Crafts movement. In short, you should know of him because he is relevant today and still influences home living and interior design. In this post, I went to the William Morris Museum, which is located in Walthamstow in northeast London.

William Morris was born in 1834 and was the eldest son of a wealthy family, but he choose to become an artist, which was a strange decision in those days for the eldest son of a wealthy middle-class family. In short, he wanted to change the Victorian ways and disliked the interior design and industrialisation/pollution that the Victorians were known for. He wished to preserve historic buildings and campaigned to stop wasting natural resources. He also wanted the lower classes to have a better life. In fact, he ended up marrying a woman of a lower class that he met because she was often a model for his artwork; marrying between different classes was uncommon in those days. In short, he was a socialist and an environmentalist.

William Morris was a socialist who wanted to end the inequality of the class system and wanted poorer people to have better living conditions and better lives, and he felt that they and the environment were being exploited. He envisioned a future London as not being polluted, being green, and everyone enjoying creativity and craftsmanship. He was inspired by the works of H.G. Wells (a fellow socialist who penned "Utopia" as one of his books), Thomas More, and other writers.

In short, William Morris wanted everyone to have access to beautiful items and felt that the home should contain only items of beauty. This is one reason why William Morris created beautifully-illustrated books. William Morris actually loved books, so one of his interests and businesses was related to the publishing industry. He re-printed books with his illustrations and only used books that he himself would enjoy to keep and read over and over again.

This book design is relevant today (as graphic design); companies still re-publish classics with beautiful covers and artwork, and I have bought several titles because I enjoy the book and because they look nice on the shelf. They are works of fine art as much as they are a literature art.

"The Canterbury Tales" was one of the books that Morris completed, and it took four years. He also arranged illustrations for other books, which were then re-printed and sold. 

The press he founded was Kelmscott Press, and he also created his own typeface. Kelmscott Press operated from 1891 to 1898, and it produced 52 titles.

The Arts and Crafts Movement was started by Morris and John Ruskin in the 1880s to the First World War, and the followers disliked industrialisation and wasteful consumerism. There was not one artistic style to explain the movement but it was rather about the ideas over artistic styles.

Today, William Morris is known for his patterns, and they are used in wallpaper and book covers today. To create the patterns, he studied flowers and birds, and he disliked the cheap-looking chemically-produced dyes used by Victorians.

Unfortunately, William Morris did not have a very long life, but the aspects of what he produced in his lifetime is a huge achievement that most people do not even achieve even if they live a much longer life. He was involved in most aspects of art and design in his life, wishing to learn several artistic trades and learn about the world around.

The museum was busy when I visited, so I did not spend too much time here but I did get to have a good look around and do recommend it.

Another part of the museum has a small art gallery, and this contained some work by impressionist artists, such as Monet, and also some nice artwork by Beatrix Potter, who created the Peter Rabbit stories. However, I believe that these are only temporary exhibitions and new artwork is showcased at other times.

While I was in Walthamstow a few weeks ago, I visited the Vestry House Museum. The museum is located in Walthamstow Village, the oldest part of this area of London, which used to be set within the countryside but which has now expanded and is a part of London's suburbs. The museum contains a Bremer car, Victorian parlour, toy collection, tea collection, police cell, a garden, and a lot of other interesting exhibitions. It is free to visit, but donations are welcome to help assist with the upkeep of the building.

The Vestry House Museum was used between 1730 and 1841 as a paris workhouse. Although conditions here were still harsh, it was better than not having a home, so many elderly, pregnant and orphaned children lived here. This is the oldest surviving workhouse open to the public. It is located near St. Mary's Church, and during the time the workhouse was in operation, many people moved to the village as it was close to London. There are many large homes here, such as the one pictured below.

The workhouse was built to accommodate 30-40 people but took 80 in the 1820s, and the people that lived here ended up living here their whole lives. Anyone over the age of seven had to work in order to cover their board, though it ended up that many could not work and the workhouse struggled. The parish and charity paid for the inmates generally and paid for them if they needed medical assistance.

Women usually did the housework, and they also mended clothing and washed clothes from customers in the area. Men were expected to work in the parish, such as repairing roads. Initially, they did not receive pay until 1785 and men were paid 6d, boys 4d and women 3d a day. Sometimes there was not enough work for them to do, and sometimes they had to do unpleasant jobs such as picking fibre to make rope from plants, which was known for cutting the hands.

Many of the inmates at the workhouse was actually children, and they were often sent to Bethnal Green to learn trade in the silk weaving industry, and girls were sent to serve the larger homes in the area. Generally, these children were not educated but the head mistress of the workhouse could teach them some trades and give them some education.

By 1834, the upper and middle classes were angry about giving charity, particularly for the poorer people to not do any work. Changes were made and larger workhouses were made, which split up the families and made them labour.

The Vestry House did have its own police area and a prisoner's cell in part of the house.

One of the upper rooms contained a small "1940's room" with items and information about World War II rationing as well as quite a lot of domestic items, such as juicers and grinders and other items that could be attacked to kitchen counters in order to make sauces/juices or for canning. Also, there was a selection of washing products, such as a washboard and irons and lighting/lamps and jars/jugs to store products in.

Another room was a recreation of the Victorian room, which is pictured below.

Upstairs also included a room dedicated to toys, such as toy theatres which were a little bit like "puppet shows" and local companies "Britains" lead and then plastic toys, Wells-Brimtoy train sets, and a selection of "found objects" that poorer children could make use of for toys, such as taking the glass marble from a glass bottle (to stop the liquid coming out and to keep the carbonation in), cigarette cards, spinning tops, jump rope, and yo-yos.

Britans was known for its lead toy soldiers but I owned some of their plastic trucks and farm equipment and farm sets when I was a child.

On the ground floor are some costumes and a display from Victorian times with a scrapbook created with cut-outs of scenes (I had one of these when I was younger, and it was cut-outs of cats from magazines), and it is also similar to today's sticker-album or collector cards. There's also the little boxes from Rowntrees, which contained small biscuits. 

Another one of the exhibits covered transportation, and the Bremer car is the star here. The man behind the car lived in Walthamstow and created this car with a unique engine, and it was controlled with a lever. The engine was unique and later used for stationary machinery. The car was built in 1892.

Lastly, there is a private garden at the Vestry House Museum. It is designed as an 18th century workhouse garden with useful plants and vegetables that would have been grown to be used by those staying. Fruit, vegetables, and herbs would be grown for food, medicine, or dying fabric. A wildflower meadow is also here to attract butterflies.

Have you ever visited the Vestry House Museum?

Last year for Valentine's Day, Anya Hindmarch's chubby red heart balloons floated above and around several of London's attractions. I never got to see them in person, but I saw them photographed a lot; they did get a lot of attention and appeared a lot on social media. This year, a giant red heart balloon returned to London for Valentine's Day to fly once again. For a few days, this one was nestled between the middle of Wellington Arch at Hyde Park Corner.

The love hearts are a symbol of love and are Anya Hindmarch's love letter to London. In 2018, they could be seen in the city's landmarks, sailing high above a building or street or wedged inside architecture. This year, the balloon made the appearance at Wellington's Arch for a few days to coincide with London Fashion Week and Valentine's Day and was removed on 20th February. Apparently, there will be additional work from the artist ongoing throughout 2019, so watch this space.

If you missed the giant red heart, keep looking out for more work this year by Anya Hindmarch as, according to her website, there will be some surprises in store.

Manchester has so much street art, and if you're looking for street art in Manchester, a great place to head is to the Northern Quarter. I took these photographs of street art in Manchester when I visited the city last summer.

AKSE is a French street artist, and a lot of his work was in Manchester as he was based there for a time. His portraits are very realistic. Additional work by AKSE can be seen in the following post:

Akse 19 Paints Tyrion Lannister from "Game of Thrones"
Street Art: Akse, Vhils, Bailon, Sliks, Grud, Drypnz, and Vinz

TankPetrol is a Polish street artist who paints stencil and freehand artwork. He's currently based in Manchester. The bottom also features work by The Hammo.

The Hammo uses bright colours and creates his own characters, brightly-drawn and recognisable. He is a Manchester-based illustrator and graphic designer.

The above pieces are by Jah.

The portrait of the girl is by Stones Throw.

Zadok typically paints birds, and this mural in the edge of Manchester's Northern Quarter is covered with colourful birds. For more information about Zadok and more street art on this blog, see below:

Street Art on ConnectivityMatters Wall
Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park Environmental Street Art
HumanNature Endangered13 Street Art Paint Jam
Cranio - Collaborations with Himbad, Zadok, & Kazz
New 'Spring Offering' Mural by Bailon and Sliks (JimmyC, Zadok Sonar Uno)
Street Art: 2Square, CodeFC, Jim Vision, Mr. Cenz, Peter Drew, Zadok

Mark Whatson's style is using black and white figures with a colour grafitti. This work on Faraday Street shows a man spray-painting a grafitti tree.

A series of humping dogs are located around Manchester, but I am not sure who the artist is.

Lost Hills creates paste-ups, and Jake is one of the most popular subjects. He often blends them with other popular culture, and in the case above, it is Edward Scissorhands. And, the treat is that the above also shows the first painting by the artist that I have seen. I've previously covered his work here: Losthills Jake Paste-Ups Appear in East London

My Dog Sighs is an artist that paints realistic eyes and 'Hug' figures paste-ups. In Manchester, I discovered some of his paste-ups with his 'Hug'. Previous work of his is:

My Dog Sighs on Rivington Street
My Dog Sighs 
My Dog Sighs
Mural in a hidden alley in Blackall Street
Collaborated with street artist Midge

This bumbleebe "The Transformers" with bees mural has since been painted over. It is by JXC.

N4T4 has been painting with spray paint since 1985 and tends to paint portraits of females mainly, and he is inspired by aboriginal influences and uses patterns. I managed to find the above piece on a large wall and a smaller piece that looks older. For more work by N4T4, see Street Art Tour of Birmingham. The above mural is actually by "Subism", a collective of artists which N4T4 is a part. It also contains Deus, Philth, and Ventsa, and the artwork was painted in 2011 and features earth, wind, fire and water. It was commissioned by Red Bull.

The above artwork is by Jungle.

Hyuro painted the above mural for the "Cities of Hope Festival" and it highlights social issue "war children".

Street artist Alice Pasquini has quite a few murals in Manchester, and she often paints portraits. Additional blog posts with her work can be seen here:

Street Artist Alice Pasquini Returns to London
Street Art: Alice Pasquini
Alice Pasquini - New Portraits of Young Women

C215 is a French artist stencil street artist who paints portraits and sometimes cats. Previous blog posts with C215's work in my blog are located here:

C215 Paints New Street Art in London
New Street Art by C215 and Paul 'Don' Smith
Street Art: C215
C215 Uncovered on Blackall Street

Mark Kennedy is a Manchester-based mosaic artist, and the Northern Quarter contains several of his mosaics. The mosaics are all different themes, including popular culture, and made with broken pottery.

Mr. Penfold is from Cambridge, and I've originally covered his work in London on a previous post (Malarky, Mr. Penfold, Billy & Lucas). He paints his characters in bright colours.

Face The Strange is a London-based street art paste-up artist, and I discovered one of the paste-ups in Manchester.

Peg is a London-based street artist that has been around for awhile, and I was surprised to see some of their work in Manchester.

In 2017, Manchester lost twenty-two innocent people due to terrorism at a concert. A couple of months after the incident, street artist Qubek painted a tribute to those lost on the side of Koffee Pot in the Northern Quarter in Manchester. The mural depicts twenty-two bees flying around a heart made of honey with the abbreviation for Manchester in the middle of the heart.

Manchester adopted the bee symbol during the industrial revolution, and the bee is included in the crest of the city's arms. It was used to describe the textile mills being a "hive of activity" in those days, comparing the people of Manchester to bees. After the terrorist attack, the bees represent Manchester's determination and spirit. It is a symbol that you see in many places in Manchester, and some of the offices and restaurants have bee hives on the rooftops.

No Make No Life is a monthly beauty subscription box featuring eight or nine Japanese and Korean beauty and cosmetic items. It comes with a small booklet with information on the items in the box, tips, horoscopes, and contests. My very first No Make No Life beauty box arrived a couple of weeks ago, and I could not wait to see what was inside. This box is for the month of February, and it is the "Sweet Date" box to match the month of love and includes products to assist subscribers on getting ready for dates.

Read on to see what I received.

Skin Milk Bomb Mask: This facial mask comes in strawberry or chocolate, and I received the chocolate version. It contains milk protein extract, which is how it got its name.

Sweets-Sweets Sparking Eye Gloss: This glossy eye-liner comes in two shades: honey gold or ash grey. I received the grey version (pictured above). It is a creamy and glittery eye liner.

Etude House Eyebrow Pencil: This is a dark brown eye pencil with a brush on one side and product on the other side. I do not wear eyebrow liner, so this is a product that I did not really need and am underwhelmed by.

Savon de Chocolate Soap: This is a bar of soap that comes in a package that makes it look like a chocolate dessert. The soap smells like rich, sweet chocolate. The soap contains cocao butter and charcoal to moisturise and cleanse skin.

Cotton Pads: Cotton pads are always useful for removing make-up or nail polish. This is a product that I could have done without because it's a product that I can purchase in most shops, so it is another product that I was underwhelmed by.

Fascy Moisture Bomb Hand Cream in 'Peach': This hand cream comes in strawberry, peach, grapefruit, and violet. I received the peach scent, and I love peaches because they remind me of picking peaches in my family's orchard, so this is a winner for me. The product is absorbed into skin without leaving a greasy residue, and it smells delicious.

Crayon Touch Me Up Gloss in 'Shiny Orange': This is a subtle orange shade of lip gloss that can be worn on its own or on top of another colour to give shine. 

Flower Puff in 'Pink': This puff helps to apply loose foundation and is available in white or pink. I received the pink version. The puff is very soft, and this will come in useful when I use powder foundations. This isn't a type of product that I have seen for sale before, so it is a useful one for me.

Street artist Dale Grimshaw painted a mural for the "Cities of Hope Festival" in Manchester's Norther Quarter in 2016. The festival was put together to address social issues, and an issue that Dale Grimshaw has painted a lot of in more recent years is freedom for West Papua in Papua New Guinea and indigenous people. His portraits are beautiful, appearing on a red and gold background. This elevates them to a new level and shows their beauty.

Previous work by Dale Grimshaw featured on this blog can be seen below:

Dale Grimshaw Paints the Village Underground Wall, Part 2
Dale Grimshaw Paints Hanbury Street Ahead of "Pride and Prejudice" Exhibit
Dale Grimshaw Paints the Village Underground Wall
Dale Grimshaw Mural in Support of Papua New Guinea
Street Art: Dale Grimshaw, Icon, Code FC, Low Bros, El Mac and others

First of all, Happy Valentine's Day! In my post today, I am hoping to provide a little bit of inspiration for some Valentine's Day gifts that are a little more unique. It also gives me a chance to show off some other items that I have created and/or put together. I actually did not get time to go out to the shops this year and life has been pretty hectic here for me at present.

First up is a cute little gift from Glasgow Distillery. It is a cute glass heart filled with cherry-flavoured gin and a box of boozey chocolates. The gin is Makar Gin, and the chocolates have also been infused with Makar gin and been created with Sugarsnap Chocolates. Six chocolates come in a pack, and they include Makar Cherry Gin Ganache with 75% single origin Tanzanian chocolate and peach, elderflower, and Makar Old Tom Gin with Zephyr white chocolate. You can purchase them from https://glasgowdistillery.com.

Second up is a gorgeous boquet of flowers from Bloom & Wild. I love how beautiful pops of colour brighten up dull winter days. I've ordered from Bloom & Wild previously, and this is my most recent purchase. Bloom & Wild are a flower and gift company that deliver boquets of flowers to your home in a thin box, and you can arrange the flowers yourself. Some come pre-arranged and with a vase or with other gifts. They have a fantastic selection perfect for special occassions or simply to brighten up your home. For more information, see https://www.bloomandwild.com.

The above picture contains a ceramic LOVE pot, which was a previous Valentine's Day gift with dried flowers inserted inside. I've re-purposed it to contain a small selection of succulents that I purchased from a high street home store. It makes a cute little gift that spans beyond Valentine's Day. 

Above's pot with the rose is a Valentine's Day present with a "LOVE" farmhouse vintage design vase. This is a wooden structure placed around a very narrow glass vase where a single rose and palm leaf are inside. Like the previous picture, it makes nice home decor.

Cookie Doe make edible cookie dough pots and large cookie cakes. I love a good cookie cake. Actually, cookies have always been a little bit of a weakness for me. Cookie Doe are a London-based company that sell on Yumbles, and they produce these personalised cookie cakes and edible cookie dough. I've had their cookie dough, and it is delicious. For more information about Cookie Doe, visit https://www.yumbles.com/cookie-doe-london.html

I hope that this post has managed to provide a little inspiration. Happy Valentine's Day!

Last April, King's Cross train station introduced new artwork in the main terrace and directly underneath its impressive roof; the artwork was created by British artist Tracey Emin. The new neon sign artwork acts as a focal point along with the clock and the statue (seen from the entrace to the terrace) "The Meeting Place" by Paul Day. "The Meeting Place" depicts a couple embracing, a common sight at a train station. Emin's work is along the same theme and sends a message between London and Europe. 

Tracey Emin was inspired by friends and family greeting each other at the train station, which sees trains depart and arrive London to Europe. The neon sign is created using her handwriting and is 20 meters long. Earlier this year and at the end of last year, we saw Emin experiment with neon artwork. It featured in her Christmas tree at Connaught Hotel (Tracey Emin Designs The Connaught Christmas Tree (Mayfair, London)) and also in a piece that she showed for London Lumiere 2018.

This new artwork fits in well with the rest of the station. Have you seen it yet?

Four Winters Ice Cream is located near Gloucester Road tube station in London, and I recently visited on my quest to find some of London's best ice cream. Four Winters is a unique ice cream venue because it makes the ice cream to order, one cup at a time. The ice cream is created using flavoured milk or cream stored in glass jars in the fridge, and this is put into a bowl and frozen quickly, then constructed with other toppings. Each season, the special flavours are changed, but there are some flavours that stick around all year. This year, the winter flavours include red velvet, peppermint patty, peanut butter pretzel, and specu-lotus. They also have a special for Valentine's Day.

The little cafe contains plenty of seating, and although I was the first one in the cafe, it wasn't long before a large crowd turned up.

For Valentine's Day, a special ice cream treat is available. It is created with a sweet cream base, strawberry compote, and balsamic caramel sauce with fresh strawberries and topped with a strawberry shortbread. It was delightfully refreshing and reminded me of summer days.

I had the peppermint patty winter special, which was created with vanilla ice cream with a mint flavour and chocolate chips. This was topped with chocolate syrup and peppermint cream chunks.

Overall, the ice cream was delicious and especially creamy, but my preference was for the strawberry Valentine's Day special because it was creamier than the peppermint patty offering, which was actually colder and more solid. If you're looking for an ice cream fix after a day looking around the museums in the Gloucester Road/South Kensington area, then Four Winters is located a few buildings away from Gloucester Road tube station. It's address is 103 Gloucester Road, and it is open daily from 12:00 noon to 11:00 at night.

With bright pink "love hearts" decorating the walls and a great selection of cafe food and drinks, this is the perfect cafe to visit for February, the month of Valentine's Day or Galentine's Day. Élan Cafe now has five different branches in London, and this one is their most recent addition. It is located in Knightsbridge and next to Harrods department store on Hans Crescent. The basement of the cafe contains the love heart walls with additional seating and neon signs while upstairs boasts a collection of carousel horses and a pink flower wall.

Élan Cafe started with coffee and using fine ingredients in their cafe; they had teamed up with Union coffee, which buys coffee beans direct from the farmers. They also pride themselves on recycling as much as they can with the remains of the coffee beans being sold to be used in cosmetics. They have been in partnership with Union since 2001 but have greatly expanded recently. They have taken Instagram by storm due to their picture-perfect flower wall displays, and this enabled them to open their second branch at the end of 2017 with three more branches opened since then.

The love heart wall features modern and traditional messages with "on fleek", "YOLO", "Marry Me", "Lit", "Be Happy", "Boss Lady", "Be Mine", and "Think Pink" being some of the messages. There is a pink overkill in the basement of the Hans Crescent cafe, though this is offset against a dark pink marble table.

I also loved the colourful pastel balloons upstairs where the carousel horses are.

First up, I had the hot chocolate. And I also bought the pink macaroon, pistachio croissant, and rose and pistachio cake. I was not too keen on the hot chocolate because it was just water with flakes of chocolate that really did not melt much, and I am just not keen on this type of hot chocolate. (I'm not a coffee drinker, so I did not have the coffee.) The pistachio and rose cake did taste nice, though I found most of the flavour was actually in the icing instead of the sponge. The macaroon was also nice, and I loved the design of it. I had the pistachio croissant later in the day, and it was my favourite of the items. I also loved that it was bright green. They also had other flavours in additional bright colours. 

Overall, the food was good, although the service was just a little bit disappointing and with a slight language barrier in the staff (which is probably how part of my order was mixed up but corrected). I know that some people complained about waiting times and bad food and service, but I did not have major issues here. I did visit very early on a work day and before I started work, and only a couple of people turned up. I had one of the coveted love heart booths to myself. However, I will suggest one big improvement. I would love to see more heart themes in their food and drink offerings to mimic the love heart theme, particularly for Valentine's Day/Galentine's Day.

Somerset House is currently hosting an exhibition on the popular comic strip "The Peanuts", famous for its Charlie Brown, Snoopy the dog, and Woodstock the bird characters. Developed by Charles Schultz, this comic has been running in one form or another for nearly eighty years. A special exhibition featuring the strip at Somerset House in London is currently taking place until March 3.

"Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown" and "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" are two of the seasonal cartoons that I would watch every Christmas and Halloween; there were also a Valentine's Day and an Easter one and a series of cartoons. Now, I personally never understood why it was as popular as it was (and I am sure that I was not the target audience), but my father is a huge fan of the strip and has collected the merchandise. He was born on the same day the strip was created/first published. After my visit to the exhibition last month, I now have a better understanding of the comic strip, and as for its appeal, the characters and catch phrases are so well-known that it actually does deserve its place.

I think that although it started its life as a comic strip, it is now being marketed more to children to survive and carry its legacy. A new film was released a couple of years ago, and this was very much a children's film. But, even though it is a children's film, it kept the formulas used in the comic strip to appeal to an older audience. I believe that the addition of Snoopy and Woodstock makes it more accessible to children, and this marketing to children certainly started by the time I was a child and watched the cartoons. (I also had one of the Snoopy Snow-Cone machines that I got for Christmas when I was very young, which really just allows you to hand-crush ice into a cup!)

The exhibition explores how "The Peanuts" strip became popular and how it dealt with issues such as war, racism, and feminism. In its most popular time, the readers of the comic strip were 355 million, according to a note at the exhibition, and it was syndicated in 2,600 newspapers in 75 countries. Charles  Schulz had created 17,897 strips before he died in 2000, and a lot of the events relate to him. All of the notes in this post relate to what I read at the exhibition.

Charles Schultz was born in St. Paul in 1922 to immigrants; his father was a German barber during the Great Depression, and his mother came from a large Norwegian family that encouraged him to not aspire to success or stand out and to accept his fate in a hard world. Schultz was nicknamed "Sparky" when he was two days old, and this name came from a racehorse in the "Barney Google" comic strip; his father instilled the love of comics into him as they'd read them together. 

When he was 13, the family got a dog that they named Spike. The dog was very intelligent, mischievious, and had a large personality, and it came to become the model in personality and in markings for the fictional Snoopy. The name came about as a tribute to Schultz's mother because she had said that if they ever had another dog, it should be called "Snoopy". Apparently, the dog could understand over 50 human words.

Schulz's first published work was in 1937 for "Ripley's Believe it or Not!", which was an insert and magazine that published hard-to-believe facts. Schultz illustrated and posted facts about Spike the dog.

Sport is what connected Scultz to make friends, and he enjoyed ice skating in winter when his father would put water in their garden to make a home-made ice rink for him and his friends to play hockey on.

Schultz's father paid for him to go to art school, and he was then drafted into the army for a short time. He got his big break with a syndicate from New York who saw his "Li'l Folks" comic strip, which was a strip featuring children, that he had published locally and was trying to get more exposure from. Because that name was already copyrighted by another cartoonist, the syndicate called his work "Peanuts", which he disliked. The "Peanuts" strip was first syndicated in 7 newspapers on October 2, 1950.

One of the subjects that Scultz writes about a lot is love and unrequited love. "The Little Red-Haired Girl" is based on a real person. In this case, the girl was a colleague of Scultz's at Art Instruction School, and he dated her for three years in the 1940s, but she turned down his marriage proposal. A lot of the names of the characters came from friends, such as Linus, Frieda and Schroeder.

"The Peanuts" strip immortialised new phrases and words. "Aaugh!", "Good Grief", "Rats!", and "Blockhead" are a few of the words Scultz created and used daily. He was also the first to treat text denoting sounds in a different mannor, such as "Z" for sleep, "Whap!", and other phrases such as "sigh" placed between asterisks. In addition to that, he helped to create mood by showing atmosphere such as lines for rain, snowflakes, scratchy speech marks for Woodstock the bird, and dust clouds around the character Pig Pen. To add emphasis to character tone of speech, such as shouting, he used different pencil thickness.

I think "The Peanuts" strip had appeal to people who lived through the 1950s because a lot of the strip featured abstract ideas and unseen things, and alienation was a common theme of the 1950s. Schultz was worried that his mother would forget him when they were separated and was worried that he would be abandoned. The Charlie Brown character is meant to be an "everyman" or a "loser" and struggles in life. This is a universal feeling as not everyone can win at everything.

Psychology is also an aspect of the strip, and the strip was placed in the dictionary for the phrase "security blanket" to describe the blanket that Linus carries around with him everywhere.

"The Peanuts" comic strip was the first to have a black character. The boy's name is Franklin, and his father fought alongside soldiers in Vietnam. He lost some readers to introducing this character. Scultz did not seem to know how this would be well-received and did not wish to upset a community that he was not familiar with, which is clear in his letters to a reader who wrote to him and asked for the black character to be included.

The Snoopy character was depicted as walking and acting more human-like in the early 1970s and became a popular character in the strip. Snoopy became an icon in himself. A stuffed toy Snoopy went to space with the crew of Apollo 10.

Schultz also created strong female characters that defied gender norms. Lucy, the outspoken one, helps to ground Charlie Brown and both exist and become better with one another. Peppermint Patty is a tomboyish female who is the best at sports.

Other themes looked at the Halloween special, religion, fine art, and music. One small area discussed the music of Vince Guaraldi Trio. This band created the music for the "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and is played at Christmas each year.

The exhibition also showcased artwork by artists inspired by the characters and comic.

At the end of the exhibition, visitors could use the artwork light boxes to draw out their own "Peanuts" comic strip. They could also read the comic strip books on display to read, take a photograph with Lucy's stand, and visit the gift shop. If you are a fan of the characters and comic strip, then this is a "must-see" exhibition. It's currently on at Somerset House until March 3 and costs 14.00 for a full-price ticket, open daily.

Happy Chinese New Year! Today marks the start of Chinese New Year, and this year is "Year of the Pig"! Last weekend was the closest to Chinese New Year, although London's parade and other activities for the New Year actually take place this coming weekend. The pig is the twelfth animal in the Chinese zodiac, and the order of the animals in the zodiac follows a story that set the order of the animals arriving to an event. The pig was the last to arrive, but although he is last and took his time, the pig is lucky in Chinese culture and is a symbol of wealth and fortune. It is said that those born in a pig year are blessed with fortune and personality.

To celebrate this year, a group of friends and I went to Barshu Restaurant, which is located near London's Chinatown (just on the other side of Shaftesbury Avenue from Chinatown on Frith Street). Barshu is a Sichuan restaurant, and it is a popular choice for authentic Chinese Sichuan food. Sichuan is a province in southwest China, and their food uses more spice and has more flavour in this region.

First up, some of us had mocktail juice drinks, and I started with watermelon and aloe. Afterwards, I had a creamy mocktail made from mango and lychee. Both drinks were very refreshing. We had starters first while we waited for one friend who was running a little bit late. The starters consisted of spring rolls (unfortunately they do not do vegetarian ones), chilli chicken, fried meat balls, and potato slivers.

For the main meal, we shared a lot of different plates with two vegetarian dishes, a beef stew, chicken dish, lamb, fish hotpot, and some friends had scallops. This was served with steamed rice. The food was delicious, but the clear favourites seemed to be the Dry-Fried Green Beans (vegetarian), Gong Bao Chicken with Peanuts, and Stir-Fried Lamb with Hot Peppers.

We spent some time catching up before deciding to head onto the street to enjoy a warm drink and cake to pick us up a bit. One of my friends recommended Caffé Concerto a short walk up the road. I've never actually been to this chain of café before, but I've always wanted to go and the cake displays in the windows always look inviting. There are a few of these dotted around London with a couple on Piccadilly Street. Caffé Concerto it is a UK company that started in 1996 and was one of the fastest-trading companies in 2013. 

I had the Caffé Concerto hot chocolate, which was topped with whipped cream and marshmallow. It was a little disappointing as it is a standard and watered-down hot chocolate. The whipped cream and marshmallow gave it flavour. On the other hand, the pistachio cake that I had (pictured below) was amazing. The cake was not too filling. 

My friends got the honey cake, which was extremely light and delicious. I wasn't sure that I'd like it or even knew what to expect, but it was delicious too. My other friend had tiramisu, which is a dessert that I don't like, so I did not try hers. Other friends had chocolate cake and chocolate fondant, and apparently the chocolate fondant was not the greatest. 

I was torn between pistachio cake and chocolate mousse, but I am glad that I went with the cake as I am not sure if the mousse would have been to my liking. I have struggled to find a chocolate mousse in London that meets my expectations. I think that the French and Americans are good at making chocolate mousse. I may be tempted to try it from Caffé Concerto some day.

Last up is a visit that I made by myself while I was enjoying my walk on Sunday. Soft Serve Society, a London ice cream shop based in BOXPARK Shoreditch (see my previous post about Soft Serve Society Ice Cream), are currently selling "Year of the Pig" ice cream. To order this, you have to say "I like pig butts and I do not lie", as that is the name of this cute pig-inspired ice cream. The flavour of ice cream can be selected by the purchaser, and it currently comes in vanilla, taro, or pomegranate. I've had their taro ice cream before, but I wanted to try something new, and the flavour pictured in their shop is created using the pomegranate flavour. This flavour has a sour taste, so it's probably best not to have it if you're looking for something sweet or it's for a child. The cone can also be customised between the standard cone that I selected or a black one.

I went inside an empty Soft Serve Society shop and ordered my piggy ice cream with the white chocolate pink ears and nose and a pink pretzel on the back (not pictured, but I assume this was to make a tail). As I stood outside the shop to get some quick photographs for a couple of minutes, a large crowd formed with most of the others opting for their own "Year of the Pig" ice creams. There was much ice cream envy as people stopped to ask me where I bought the ice cream. I don't know if this happens to any of my readers, but I seem to be a trend-setter!

Tiger Cookies opened their first coffee and cookie shop in Qatar in 2016. Last summer, they just launched their first coffee shop outside of Qatar, and it launched in London. The bloke works around the corner from their new shop in Mayfair, London, and he brought home some cookies. The cookies are filled with fillings, such as Kinder bar or coconut or pistachio, and they also have several other different flavours.

I am a huge fan of pistachio flavour and always have loved the flavour. The pistachio cookie was very delicious, and I also enjoyed the coconut one (another one of my favourist flavours). I think the photograph above is a great representation of the yummy gooeyness of the cookies. The cookies can be purchased in a tin of six.

Mr. Cenz is a London-based street artist who is known for painting portraits of women using a grafitti style; this style and the bright colours that the artist uses make the subjects appear futuristic. The most recent work by Mr. Cenz is on Hanbury Street on one of the walls at the corner of Brick Lane.

Another new mural appears a short walk away on a wall that always has the artist's work, and he refreshes it every now and again.

The below mural is located on Commercial Road.

More street art by Mr. Cenz on this blog can be seen at the below links:

Mr. Cenz Paints "Connectivity Matters" Wall
Recent Street Art By Mr. Cenz in Winter 2018
Mr. Cenz Paints Tribute to Usain Bolt
Mr. Cenz Refreshes Fashion Street Mural
Mr. Cenz Paints Hanbury Street
New Street Art by Mr. Cenz
Street Art: Mr. Cenz

Last year, US-based street artist Nether410 painted a mural of Carol Burns, a local resident of Brick Lane/Shoreditch, on Bacon Street (Nether410 Paints "Carol Burns" Street Art on Bacon Street). Recently, the artist returned to London and painted Charlie Burns, who was a popular figure in the area and who would sit in his car here. This wall has seen several incarnations of the local figure, and it replaces one painted by Kevin Ledo (Kevin Ledo Paints "Charlie Burns" Street Art on Bacon Street, London).

Additional work of Charlie Burns that I managed to photograph on this wall is below:

Ben Slow's New Charlie Burns Mural
Street Art: Ben Slow

The autumn and winter months are perfect for toasted marshmallows. Autumn particularly reminds me of toasting marshmallows over an open fire. Recently, I ordered some marshmallows from Cloud Nine Marshmallows. Cloud Nine's marshmallows have won awards, such as Best Taste Awards, and also have celebrity fans. The marshmallows are made in Cornwall in small batches by hand, and different flavours are created. I ordered a set with a marshmallow toaster, and it came with several wooden sticks to help toast the marshmallow.

I ordered the mint chocolate marshmallows and a packet of the violet creme marshmallows, and I had my own little toasting marshmallow party pair with gin and tonic. The violet cream ones were my favourite ones, and I was lesser keen on the mint chocolate ones.

Toasted marshmallows are the perfect treat for autumn and winter months and are perfect with a games night and party, though make sure the sticky sugary goodness doesn't drip as they are particularly gooey.