The Cookery School at Little Portland Street

Still on our mission to hone and enhance our culinary skills, at The Amazing Blog we have been searching around for baking lessons, to make all your dreams of baking that perfect soufflé come true, which is when we found  The Cookery School at Little Portland Street. It is one of London’s leading and most sustainable cooking schools.

Founded In 2003 Rosalind Rathouse, who even prior to the inception of Cookery School, she has been fervently passionate about sustainability. Cookery School has the highest possible rating for sustainability from the Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA) and has been virtually plastic-free since the beginning. From sourcing top quality, seasonal, mostly organic ingredients, to running the kitchens on renewable energy, what we like is that the school does everything possible to minimise its impact on the planet.

With a focus on the sustainability and education, they endeavour to demystify cooking, removing jargon and celebrating good home cooking skills. Their kitchen is run with the environment in mind, so they only use high quality, sustainable, primarily organic ingredients and equipment that can be found in most home kitchens

Cue The Ultimate Baking Course this takes you through the key principles of cakes, pastry, breads, macarons and meringue making, plus cake decorating. Quite simply, they will teach you the skills required to bake well. They have three options i.e. either the weekly course which includes 8 sessions, the intensive course which is a 4 day course or the Sunday course which takes place on every Sunday of the month thus giving you the option to best suit your schedule.

Priced at £880, The Ultimate Baking Course runs throughout the months of February, March and April and is worth both the time and the money as you will leave with the skills and knowledge of a professional baker. Browse through their official website to find a course best suited for you here.

Lightopia Festival 2020

At The Amazing Blog we love to share our #AmazingFinds and today we want to tell you about the breathtaking Lightopia Festival which has just opened. Perhaps you’ve already heard about it? Well, this year be prepared to be blown away by the new additions to this lighting phenomime which showcases at London’s Chiswick House Gardens, until 1st March.

Lightopia invites us to “step into a world like no other” and explore landscapes of light, lanterns in all shapes and sizes, and massive 3D projections. Prepare to be carried into a virtually magical universe where nature seems to prevail and magnify itself throughout the art of enlightenment.  You follow along the smartly illuminated path, where attention, senses and even emotions are mobilised by the different forms - some of them are interactive - the various designs or colours of the lanterns and the impressive 3D projections which really give life to the show. 

However, besides visual appeal, Lightopia also has a cultural and spiritual dimension. The Festival is inspired by an ancient Chinese celebration during which people light thousands of lanterns to ward off evil spirits and symbolise a bright future. Just as the traditional Chinese lanterns, Lightopia installations carry a meaning. 

The theme of the Festival this year is Harmony. The artworks symbolically refer to various life and human experiences. The Love Gate, Tree of Life and Happy Valley are among other art installations with evocative names. They make big dreamers feel like they’re on some kind of initiatory voyage where concepts and values such as positive energy, inclusivity or spirituality are poetically illustrated. Yet, you have to wait until nightfall to see the magic happen...

The Lightopia Festival is a unique experience to share with family, friends or alone. This is a chance to have a pleasant walk, create good, shining memories and take some beautiful pictures. 

But don’t take our word for it, go and see for yourself! You can book your ticket on Eventbrite here: prices (without the booking fees) go up to £13 for a child ticket; £20 for the adult fare. We recommend booking your ticket online in advance as the tickets booked or bought on-site are slightly more expensive. You can also find further information on the Lightopia Festival, here.

The AIM Escape Room

At The Amazing Blog, we love to have a good bone-chilling themed challenge! Readers may remember last year we were ‘Trapped in a Prison Van’  here, and if you are like us enjoy this thrill of the game, then the AIM Escape Rooms are for you!

HQ of AIM Escape Rooms

This East London based adventure spot has four different ultra-realistic ‘rooms’ with various difficulty levels, so if you or your children fancy being spies, then Spy Heroes would be ideal for you where you all go undercover. Then in Patient Zero 2150 is where you are battling a global bio-threat, otherwise, humanity will cease to exist – one of the challenges is to see if you can hold your breath for 60 seconds!  The spookiest has to be The Psychopath’s Den, perfect for those who love a spin-chilling experience or lovers of horror movies – because here you are part of it. Or there’s the Hangover-Deja Brew for those wanting to experience what happened the morning after the night before … However, this is ONLY for Adults 18+!

The Psychopath’s Den

Are you feeling the adrenaline rush already? Then hurry to get locked up one of the themed hi-tech adventure rooms, and become a player ready to escape the room by solving a series of their puzzles and riddles. These 60-minute nerve-wracking experiences are perfect for friends and family get-togethers or as a great ‘ice-breaker’ for even a date!

Patient Zero 2150

BTW, if you don’t pick up on clues and fail to escape on time….. you will be doomed. Ha! Fear not, the staff will be watching over you and provide you with some guidance without spoiling your fun.

Of course, before entering the room in the first place you need an appointment, which can be made via an online booking system. Decide on the number of people (between 2 and 5) and select your time slot. AIM Escape Room is open 7 days a week. Prices start from £25, but it depends whether you select a peak or off-peak ticket. It’s worth checking the website from time to time as you may be lucky enough to stumble across some discounts. You can get the tickets and all the information here. Bonne chance!

London International Mime Festival 2020

Let this New Year begin with laughter and joy as you soak up brilliant talent, skill and humour at the London International Mime Festival 2020. Commencing on the 8th of January until the 3rd of February, the 44th year of London’s Annual International Contemporary Visual Theatre Festival is here to keep you entertained, gleeful and excited. Be sure to find your way to at least one if not all the shows coming up at theatres around town such as The Soho Theatre, Shoreditch Town Hall, and Wilton’s Music Hall etc. Missing these astonishing, fascinating and exquisite performances will mean forfeiting the opportunity to experience one of the best mime shows in the world.

With 20 performances going on throughout the early year, the festival is pulling in talent from all ends of the world including Puppetry from New York and France, a dance theatre company from Belgium as well as talent from Australia amongst various others ensuring they’ve got something or the other for the diverse and distinct taste of all Londoner’s. 

First, we’d like to introduce Australian artist Fleur Elise Noble who has spent seven dedicated years towards creating The Magical Universe of Rooman. The show incorporates a rich tapestry of puppetry, projection, moving animation, dance, music and sound effects. Rooman highlights a fable of romance, fantasy and the eventual pursuit of happiness. Centred around a girl meeting a kangaroo man in her sleep, Fleur Elise Noble explores the theme of romance, life and furthermore the human psyche. On at The Pit in Barbican from the 14th – 18th January, book your tickets online for only £18.

Up next is BOYS presented by The PappyShow (UK), a celebration of male tenderness, silliness, vulnerability and community performed by a cast of exceedingly talented young men. Unscripted and refreshing, each story is told uniquely in every performance. BOYS is a joyful, electric, occasionally raw but always tender piece that hopes to unravel preconceptions and uncover the endless possibilities that can make up a man. Brought to life in 2013 by director Kane Husbands, the PappyShow is one of London’s finest theatrical ensembles.  On at the Southbank Centre's Purcell Room on the 20th and 21st of January, the show has been said to be an essential viewing for every boy, so be sure to get your tickets well in time! Tickets are priced at an easy and affordable £18.

Last but certainly not least is Optraken created by the ferociously talented Galactik Ensemble. Unstable ground disappears underfoot, walls wobble, ceilings collapse, danger’s come from every side. Forget elegant tumbling and spangly tights – this wonderfully inventive and original piece of physical theatre is a battle in which every movement matters for survival as five breathtaking acrobats pit themselves against a hostile environment. The show proves to be spectacular, impressive, unpredictable and enormous fun at The Peacock from the 29th of January to the 1st of February online. Ticket prices range from £15 - £45 depending on the seats you choose to buy.

Finally, we at The Amazing Blog highly recommend you see a minimum of one of the twenty shows being putting on by the London Mime Festival not only to enjoy the various talents of the participants but also to give yourself that much-needed break from your hectic schedules! Hop on over to their official website here for more information regarding the same.