Dino Spotting at Jurassic Kingdom in Osterley Park

Jurassic Kingdom has arrived in London!

A temporary exhibition (Pop-Up) of animatronic dinosaurs at Osterley Park, is what is on offer from the 1st to 17th of April in London, before it goes on tour across the country.

Thanks to Joanne at Love Pop-Ups London, I got 2 tickets to visit this show. When I took a look at their website, it seemed mostly geared towards kids and I was wondering if the trip would make sense for 2 adults. Having being there, I have to say a resounding "Yes!"

While this is Easter Break and the park was filled with kids, the path is very well laid out over a much larger space and was more relaxed than our visits to the Magic Lantern Festival in Chiswick or the Christmas lights at Kew which conceptually had a similar set up. However at Jurassic Kingdom we were able to amble at our own pace.

There was plenty of technical information about each dinosaur. So what you take away from each exhibit is up to you. The sound and movement would appeal to younger kids, but the descriptive details would be of more interest to adults and kids with passion for dinosaurs. We met an 8 year old kid who was rattling off facts that weren't printed out there. She definitely knew her stuff.

While the main exhibits are supposed to be hands off, (there were a few rule breakers), there are smaller size dinosaurs that the younger ones can sit on and push around the park for a bit. There was also an educational video playing under a tent around the half way mark.

There's even an excavation pit where you can let them get their hands dirty in the sand while uncovering dino fossils.

There are plenty of food and drink options on site. Osterley Park has its own Stables Cafe and the Jurassic Kingdom had food options at the start and midway through the circuit. We tried the hot dogs and milk shake at the half way point, for about three Pounds each. 

There are washrooms at each of these points too.

While you are here, do take a look at all the other wonders in the area. There is also a seperate Cadbury Easter Egg Hunt trail at the moment.

Osterley Park is a Georgian country estate managed by the National Trust. The House itself is worth a visit (we didn't have the time on this occasion). The grounds are extensive and throw up surprises like this nesting swan. We also spent time marveling at the antics of the fluffy white calves and the gorgeous horses.

We were lucky to be able to visit the Farm shop which sells produce from the Park. The vegetables were so reasonable and absolutely fresh and yummilicious when I cooked them at home. So much tastier than supermarket veg. We even picked up some fresh free range eggs and all at amazing prices.

If you are taking the tube, its a bit of a walk to the location (1 mile from Osterley Park station), but you can take a break at the lovely second hand Bookshop after the bridge.

Definitely wear comfortable shoes as it is a walk to the park and once you get on the trail, the ground is uneven and definitely not conducive to push chairs.

Chambers of Flavour V2 - The Gingerline Experience

So excited to finally get a chance to do this.

I'd heard about the Gingerline experience before, but their tickets are so darn hard to lay hands on. So, when Alex gave a couple of yelpers the opportunity to try them out, I threw as many hats in the ring as I could and was chosen for a 6pm slot on Tuesday. So much excitement to get into Version 2 of the Chambers of Flavour.

When they send you your ticket, they ask you if you have any food allergies / intolerance. A friend with me had a shellfish allergy and she was well catered for during the experience.

Now everything is kept super secret until the very end, including the location, until 4pm on the evening of. I received my text message at 4:30 and I just about managed to reach in time for my 6pm time slot. Thanks to the wonderful chaos of Oxford Street Station during evening rush hour in the midst of Christmas Shopping mania, making it a herculean effort to change lines.

You have to reach on time, given their format, if you reach late, they won't be able to accommodate you in the next lot. This is not the WB studio and they only take a maximum of 16 people in at a time. So plan to be around the Liverpool Street / Islington area by 5pm, if you have an early slot.

We were served a welcome alcoholic drink on arrival that was appreciated after the biting cold outside. A lovely machinist explained the concept to me and ran through a few rules (no photographs inside etc)

The pre-experience space includes:
- The bar which opens at 5pm.
- A complimentary coat check where you can leave all bags and purses (recommended to leave your hands free during the experience)
- Washrooms (best to use them here. There is one more opportunity mid way through the experience, but you will miss out a bit on the banter)
- Seating space with tables.

The bar had a nice variety of cocktails. Some could be consumed in the waiting area and there were 4 options that could be bottled for takeaway during the experience. (No other opportunity to buy drinks inside) They pack it in cooling bags and you can even choose a bottle of wine instead of cocktails. These drinks have to be paid for and are not covered in the ticket price. Prices are around 8-9 Pounds a glass. Mocktails too are available.

The experience flows through a story, each phase takes you into a new space where you meet new characters, enjoy a nibble or a drink. Each room was equipped with water bottles, glasses and napkins.

The performers were lovely, having so much fun. There's a lot of audience involvement at every stage. The food was much better than I expected (supper theater doesn't always have the best food, but ginger line has designed the experience around the food and that makes all the difference)

Tips:
1. Leave everything at the coat check and leave your hands free.
2. Buy drinks at the bar, before you handover everything to the coat check.
3. Use washrooms at the start to maximise your experience inside.
4. Arrive early if you can.
5. Flat shoes and comfortable trousers/jeans make it easier to move around.
6. When you finally arrive, you may not be certain that you have found the right door and there's no one outside that you can check with. Just read the instructions carefully and you will know when you are at the right place. As you walk closer to the doors, you will hear some muted chatter.

Have fun.

I did love the experience and if I'm lucky enough to get tickets for the next one, I'd definitely return.

Attending a Debate at the House of Lords

A friend of mine (a scholar) was one of the panel at a debate due to take place at the House of Lords. She invited me to come watch & I obviously jumped at the chance to view how things work behind the scenes. I had to register and "buy" a free pass for the visit, just so I was given a ticket of sorts.

The entry for debates in the House of Lords, is at the far end (almost at the park next door). So its at least a 5-10 minute walk from the station depending on how you catch the traffic signals.

Do budget at least 10 minutes for a security scanning. The staff are all very polite and helpful, but taking off jackets and belts and putting them on again takes time and there is normally a rush of people before a scheduled debate.

The room we were in was beautiful and cosy. Good acoustics, so as long as the speakers enunciated clearly at slightly louder than conversation volume, it was easy to follow the proceedings.

Most of the speakers and the audience seemed to be in agreement in general, it was the particulars that needed working out. But the debate was conducted so politely and articulately. I wish some other governments could take a cue from this style of functioning and debating.

This was an amazing experience and I feel privileged to have been able to witness it.

Yelp Mingle: Immersive Cinema with POP Picturehouse - Hairspray

Hard Rock Cafe
150 Old Park Lane
London W1K 1QZ

Fun, fun, fun.

We got to put on some 60's style makeup. Some of the yelpers were dressed for the appropriate time period.

A well stocked bar. Some decent nibbles - loved the chilli cheese fries and the cocktails were potent.

Seating was a tiny bit cramped, but better than most live theatre seating in London.

They had 3 actors who interacted with the audience a bit and performed some of the dances simultaneously as they were being played on screen.

A very different way of watching one of my favourite movies. Quite enjoyable.

Rating : 3 / 5

Yelp and Not Another Salon: Not Another Hair Event!

This event was so much fun. Loved trying out the wigs and seeing other yelpers in different colours. Never thought a blonde look could go with my skin tone.

In the food and drink - loved the tea and mini bite pairings from Tea Studio & Funzing, the bubble tea from Bubbleology and the White Russians with Pirates Grog Rum.

Chipotle Burritos are best assembled fresh and to taste, the pre-rolled standardised ones weren't as good.

We got to taste just 2 gins and were we too late to try the wine (second lot who entered at 8:30) or did they not show up? Anyway, the Bubble tea made up for it.
 

Small disadvantages of being in the second lot
- the nail bar had a really long queue and before we got to the front of the line, it was time for her to close up.
- we just couldn't get inside the secret room. It was a small space and the people who had found seats there had gotten quite comfortable
- the floor had gotten quite dirty with all the food on offer - but that could just be my semi dormant OCD cropping up.

Overall, it was a good event. Sophia and her team are awesome - they are so down-to-earth and not at all intimidating - (It was a complete surprise that Ross who fitted me with the wigs is a regular stylist at London, Paris and Milan Fashion Weeks!) I quite liked the vibe of the location and the attitude of the stylists. I think I would go back to them for my next colour treatment and maybe let them do something new with my hair.

It was great to meet Beth and Christoph, other known yelpers and some newbies too. Looking forward to a whole lot of events in this year.

#YelpBigNightIn - Yelp’s Big Night In

I cheated! I juggled myself into celebrating THREE #YelpBigNightIn on Wednesday, Thursday AND Friday!

Wednesday, was a lovely chilled out day. A picnic arrived from Pauls via the Quiqup guys. 26 minutes from the time I placed the order online to the time the picnic hamper was delivered home by Edward. Plans to head to Hyde Park were promptly dissolved in favour of watching a movie at home. Plus picnic hamper meant no cutlery, so no washing up! Yay! Score!

Thursday was spent preparing for a Huge #YelpBigNightIn, and I was busy cooking up a storm during the day and into most of the night. A bit of a disappointment when the lady from Hassle did not turn up at the appointed time. The Hassle guys were willing to send a substitute over on Friday, but I was having friends coming over on Thursday to spend the night, so I had to quickly clean up myself. They have promised to let me use their service at a later date.

The Laundrapp guy did not turn up at the appointed 4pm either, But a lovely Shiraz appeared courtesy Mr Vine, so I was ready to just drink my disappointment away.

We had barely started on the bottle around 11pm, when a guy turned up from Laundrapp. I was shocked, I didn't know people actually "worked" that late in London. He told me that they do pickups and deliveries right until midnight. What a wonderful facility for people who themselves work late and get home even later. The biggest pleasure of course, was an empty laundry basket. No ironing this week. Tralalalalala.

Friday, a couple of friends were due to come over for a home cooked meal, but I cheated a bit. I ordered some starters and baklava from Lokkanta, which was promptly delivered by deliveroo and everyone loved the food. I'll be ordering a full meal from them some time soon. Since the starters were taken care of, I could spend more time with my friends just catching up.

I wasn't able to get anyone at Bizzby, but I'll talk to them this week and try and sort it out. I was planning to ask them to pick up some chilled beers, ciders and ice just before the party (these miniscule London city apartment refrigerators!) But the poor husband was finally dispatched to do this job. LOL.

Laundrapp is due to return the clothes on Monday and I have to contact Bizzby & Hassle to see what can be worked out, so I might just manage to extend the #YelpBigNightIn by a couple of more days. Maybe I can get myself a massage from Bizzby and a cleaning before our next round of houseguests the coming weekend? Is this going to be a #YelpBigWeekIn ?

Food Ingredient Heaven (Ingredients from across the Globe in London)

Went for a 4km walk to explore the new neighbourhood. Aside from the Arabic Supermarket that I found on Day 1, next to Waitrose, Today I found a Russian supermarket, French Supermarket, Oriental Supermarket (food products from Japan, China, Korea, Singapore, Thailand & Malaysia). All within a 15 minute walk from home.

No Indian Supermarket, but I did find 2 Indians running "Spar"

Then of course there are the M&S Food, Waitrose, Tesco, Sainsbury, Morrisons etc.

I am in Food Ingredient heaven!

For those looking for Indian Food Ingredients in London, my friends recommend the following areas :
1. Heathrow / Hounslow
2. South Harrow - South Indian food items - Idli rice, rice powder, red rice - & well cleaned fish - Then eat in Saravana Bhavan or at La Masala ( Spicy Sri Lankan food)
3. Wimbledon area
4. Southall - for North India ingredients
5. Eastham - has some good shops
6.  Drummond St in Euston - the most centrally located Indian grocery store. Even stock paneer, dosa batter etc etc.  And Gupta sweets across the road does better samosa, jalebi etc than Ambala Sweets
7. www.itadka.com for online orders.

Thanks to Deba, Urvi, Prasad, Praj & Sharky for sharing this gyaan (knowledge)
 

Grocery Shopping in London

In all our jaunts across town, I rarely hear English being spoken between people, unless it is a business transaction. The guys from whom we bought our phone connections were from India and Sri Lanka. Our Coffee Shop guys all speak fluent Italian (I still follow bits of conversation) and I had a broken Arabic conversation with an Algerian managing a French Pattiserrie. We had a brilliant meal last week at Daquise - a Polish restaurant. Our neighbours in the building are from Japan and Australia. Yes, we seem to have landed in the middle of a much larger melting pot.

For groceries, we have tried Waitrose, Sainsbury, Selfridges (we were in the store browsing) and Marks & Spencer

So far, I think I love the raw ingredients and cold meats from Marks & Spencer the best. Much superior in taste and flavour to Waitrose.

Sainsbury is good for last minute buys and general groceries and cakes, but we didn't like their sandwiches.

Selfridges has a lot of premium products and organic produce, but the readymade food costs as much as eating in at an average restaurant.

Waitrose has very high quality Organic products and their spices are fantastic. (turmeric, jeera, corriander), but I did not like their cold meats at all, especially when compared to Marks & Spencer.

My local grocer is from Egypt and has a meat section which sells things like gizzards. I've asked him to keep an eye out for tongue for me.

Borough Market was brilliant and I can't wait to go back. However, I'm still getting used to the cold and don't like shopping in the open air in the current weather.

My fridge in this house is miniscule compared to my 600Litre fridge, which I had to leave behind in India - no way I would have been able to fit it inside a kitchen in Central London. So I'm learning to buy in smaller quantities (Brajesh who helps in carrying the groceries here, would not agree to this statement :) )

But the range of food and quality of meat is excellent and I'm loving cooking with all these ingredients. Such a massive change after our last posting in Ahmedabad, where I had just 2 places to choose from to buy meat and there was hardly anything new in the vegetable markets to try except the winter specialties. - fresh turmeric, amba haldi etc

Fingers Crossed, that I will be blogging more. Lets see.