Bow Down: Queen Bey

I have become a member of the (not massively) elite club of people who have seen the queen of pop and booty shaking herself: Beyoncé. On a cold morning in December, I was sat in my living room in my pyjamas anxiously waiting the call.. did we get the tickets? I swore if we'd missed them again this time I couldn't be held responsible for my actions, but my friend Phoebe is a ticket wizard and alas the call came: WE HAD TICKETS!

Three long months passed and at the beginning of March we managed to see our idol and leader in the flesh. I can't even begin to describe how it went, so I'll begin by discussing the dinner we had beforehand (natch). We chose to have a bit of GBK which was great because if you get the app, students get 30% off! I had "The Don" burger, which lived upto it's name quite well, however when I looked back at the pictures it looked more like a McDonalds style burger than a proper Don (like the one from my last blog post), so I haven't included a picture. We got a round of coke and milkshakes, as well as a load of sexy sides and not to mention you get FREE monkey nuts in GBK while you wait!

We were wearing these stickers on our head because we got told there'd be people walking around picking people wearing the stickers, who could get upgraded to the VIP area. Not wanting to miss out on that opportunity we decided to put them in the most obvious place possible. Sadly, whoever was picking people didn't see us, so our asses remained in the standard section.

So, onto the main reason why you're reading this post. It may sound cliché, but I can honestly say I've never seen anything quite like it. We all know Beyoncé has one of those voices that's going to go down in history; it's so strong, while still being soulful but boy has that lady perfected the art of singing and dancing together. I don't think anyone could do that as well as she can. If the song was dancy like Crazy in Love, she got everyone boogying, but she also flipped our emotions over and stamped on them with this beautifully electrifying mix of Whitney Houston's I Will Always Love You, followed by her own Halo and Heaven. There was moments where I couldn't stop myself moving, followed swiftly by an inability to move or even blink because I was so enraptured in her performance. This is all before I even mention the dancing. Absolutely un.real. I tried to do my best impression of an event photographer so I hope my pictures give you a glimpse into the world of a show; Mrs Carter style.

I absolutely love this picture! I'm so pleased with it!

Oh and did I mention Jay-Z came on to help his gorgeous wifey sing their duet Drunk in Love? No? Oh, WELL HE DID. IT WAS AMAZING. Their chemistry is RIDICULOUS and completely infectious.

The bottom line for this blog post is, if you ever get the opportunity to go see the Queen live, pleeease do it. I can promise you wholeheartedly you will not regret it. I'll go again in a heartbeat when she comes back to the UK.

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The Kings Arms on Fulham Road

A few weekends ago I took a day trip to lovely London to see some family. After being practically chained to my laptop and desk for as long as I can remember, it was so nice seeing some of my loved ones and to have a break from working.

We went for a walk around the South Kensington - Fulham area and ended up stopping for lunch at The Kings Arms on Fulham Road. As it was Sunday lunch, absolutely everywhere was rammed and this was the last of about 5 restaurants and pubs we looked into hoping to find a table. Luckily for us, this ended up being a fab little place to eat, with a great selection of dishes, all at pretty fair prices too. The place had a great atmosphere too, filled with locals popping in for a chilled Sunday drink and a few tourists like us too.

I had a cheeky glass of white and this burger which was just beautiful. Nice and pink in the middle, with lots of salad and pickles, served with a small but adequate portion of homemade chips. The star of the show for me, which to most of you will be rather underwhelming to read, was the tiny jar of mustard mayo they served with it. I've always had a funny mustard relationship, which if I'm frank was only in it's infancy, but THIS blew my mind at how tasty it was with the chips. So much so, I probably mentioned it about 10 times while eating, then a bit more on the journey back to the flat. I don't know why condiments come in and out of fashion, but they do, and I have a feeling this is going to be the next sweet chilli sauce. I've seen it offered in a lot of restaurants recently and I have to say, I love it.

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Roast at Borough Market

Ask any Londoner that loves their food about Borough Market and their eyes glaze over as they slip into a daydream about the place. It's a haven for foodies like me. I think I could spend hours walking about the place, trying samples and thinking up ways to eat all the lush ingredients in front of me.

Top, jeans & bag from Next
Sandals from Primark
Sunglasses from New Look
Necklace from Wallis

As well as the famous market itself, Borough Market and the surrounding area is also home to some of the best delis, cafés and restaurants in the capital. While on my weekend in the city, we took a trip to Roast, a restaurant situation above the market for lunch. Unfortunately, it was on a Monday, so the market itself wasn't open.

However, that didn't deflect on what it was like on the inside. This fantastic room is made airy and bright by the huge Victorian style windows that surround the restaurant. Its modern and stylish, with the perfect amount of class and not a drop of pretentiousness or arrogance. There's just a love of good food and good wine.

For starters, my Dad and I both had the chicken broth with poached pheasant egg. It was really flavoursome and a superbly light starter.

Mum went for the scotch egg, obviously made there with fresh haggis and egg. She said it was fantastic and it definitely looked it.

For the main course, I went for bream pan-fried in parsley butter, with brown shrimp and capers. I really love my fish and I really loved this rich dish. I had it with some jersey royal potatoes, that perfectly matched the rich butteriness (yes, that's a word) of the fish. Served with a fantastic glass of bubbly (I asked for a glass of something fizzy and this is what they bought me, so I have no idea what it was but it tasted great).

Mum went for slow roasted pork belly.

Dad opted for the beef. They both said it was really fantastic.

After dinner, I fancied something savoury so ended up with a massive cheese board of Stawley cheese from Somerset which was brilliant but filled me up sooo much, especially after the richness of my main!

Mum had a sticky date pudding, which (surprise, surprise) was also great.

As you can tell, I can't rate Roast enough and would encourage anyone to go there and try it. It would be lovely on market day, to sit up high and watch the market, but I would say to book first to avoid disappointment. All the information is available here!

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Mad Hatter's Tea Party

Over the May Day bank holiday weekend I paid our lovely capital city a visit.

I went to visit some friends and to meet up with my parents, as it was my Dad's birthday. On the Sunday, my Dad had booked for the three of us to have afternoon tea at The Sanderson Hotel. However, it was no ordinary tea, it was a Mad Hatter's Tea Party!

We turned up had a table reserved on the terrace which in itself was breathtaking. Like a cool Japanese inside/outside garden. We were told everyone had been asking to go outside that day, so were pretty lucky to get a table there!

First of all, we were asked which tea we wanted. I had an Earl Grey and my mum had English Breakfast. The only thing I would say it to ask for extra hot water, or maybe slightly less tea as it was very strong. That's coming from someone who loves a good strong cuppa too!

We were presented with the menu inside little copies of Alice in Wonderland to let us know what would be having. There wasn't a choice, they just bought everything out, which is fantastic for indecisive people like me as I got to try everything!

For the savoury, we had four types of mini sandwiches and quiche. I'm a savoury fiend so I loved this the most. Especially the smoked salmon on rye bread. I also loooved the savoury scones with herb butter. So buttery and delicious.

However, there was a lot to be said for the sweets. They were all so interesting to look at and eat.

The 'Drink Me' potion was my favourite sweet. There were three different layers in the bottle, which you got a flavour of one by one as you drank it down. Just like the 'Drink Me' potion in the Alice in Wonderland story, this and the whole tea definitely made me get bigger... sideways, as they keep bringing you food until you say stop. I was not complaining!

I would recommend doing this afternoon tea as a treat for an occasion, like a birthday, as it is totally different from your average afternoon tea! For more information, check the website here.

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