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

A DAY IN LONDON: OXFORD STREET THRILLS

As a very late birthday present I was treated to cream tea at Cafe Liberty (http://www.liberty.co.uk/BarsandRestaurants/article/fcp-content) for a late birthday present. We turned up at midday, completely in awe of the Liberty building (I am ashamed to say I have never stepped foot in this beautiful monument) only to be told that afternoon tea isn’t served until after 3pm as the scones are made fresh on site. Well if that wasn’t an invite to hit the sales while we waited for the scones to cook then I don’t know what is!

Walking back down towards Oxford Circus we hit Topshop first - actually only to try their frozen yogurt (this particular friend and I are OBSESSED with frozen yogurt). Next we walked towards the huge Primark only to be stopped dead in our tracks as soon as we saw the sale sign in Zara. Zara is one of my most favourite shops but I don’t often allow myself in there for the fear of buying the entire store. However I do allow myself the treat of their sales, their discounts are incredible even from day one of the sale and to be honest I just couldn’t resist! 

So here is what I bought - two gorgeous pairs of high waisted shorts one slightly shorter than I would usually dare go but with the imminence of my holiday to America I thought I’d be brave and take the plunge, and for £15 I justified I’d be silly not too, right?! I also bought a navy blue jersey maxi dress with a key hole front, beading detail around the spaghetti straps and a tie waist. Usually all of these aspects on a dress along with the high neckline would be a massive no no to me but I was drawn in by the uniqueness of this dress, and once trying it on at home I did not regret my last minute addition to my basket! (Please excuse my messy bedroom in the background of this pic!)

Note: Here is the maxi dress in white online http://www.zara.com/uk/en/trf/dresses/strappy-long-dress-with-beading-c436593p1199000.html

Returning to Liberty’s for cream tea was definitely worth the wait. The home made scones were perfection, we got two each with clotted cream and the real star of the ensemble the homemade strawberry jam. I chose Mango Madness tea which is a black tea with dried mango pieces and Rhiannon chose one of the classics - Earl Grey; I love all types of tea and love trying new flavours so was very happy with my fruity explosion. I would definitely recommend cream tea at Cafe Liberty, the cafe itself was gorgeous, a quaint little room on the second floor decorated with gorgeous little pieces available to buy instore and each table had a different set of salt and pepper shakers (my favourite being the tea pot set, naturally). So here are a few photos of our wonderful experience there, a real birthday treat!