Add to List - #77
Cabaret, Cornershop, Cocktail spots, and Consider Yourself Kissed.
Hello, thank you, and welcome. I love you for being here!
Add to List is my Sunday round-up. It’s the small things that brought me joy, evoked an emotional reaction, or became some short-lived stability in the past seven days.
Obsession
Emma Thompson on the female pleasure.
Long live the Dame.
Confession
I don’t wish I was at Glastonbury!?
Every year I see the stream of people on friends' shoulders, the glitter, the flags, and the gurning in the crowds on BBC IPlayer and think ‘man, that looks electric,’ but this year it’s just not giving me FOMO for some reason. I don’t know who half the lineup are. Am I officially old and irrelevant now?
Shook
On Friday night I finally was willkommen & bievenue’d to London’s best answer to 1930s Berlin, The Kit Kat Club. Much like an actual nightclub, you enter the side entrance of the theatre and head underground through dingy red and green rooms to a champagne bar with live performers hanging from the balustrades. There is a strict no phone policy (you are given a sticker for your phone) adding to the electric, immersive energy of the place.
Cabaret gets confused with Moulin Rouge or Chicago to the untrained musical theatre eye. In my opinion, Cabaret is the clear winner. This is not a glitzy tits and teeth musical; it’s grungy, darkly comic, and incredibly political. The show’s EMCEE acts as a vessel for facilitating transition through time, and terrifyingly highlighting the juxtaposition of expressive freedom ahead of the ominous Nazi reign.
Everything about this show is intelligent. From staging, to costume, and acting choices — it’s fun and frank in equal measure and every aspect cleverly contributes to the overall storytelling.
Sitting in the stalls of an expensive London theatre as protagonist Cliff said one of his closing lines to Sally Bowles: “If you're not against all this, you're for it. Or you might as well be.” I had a realisation just what an important musical it is — particularly pertinent in Pride Month, and especially given multiple humanitarian crises currently impacting the world. Goosebumps.
Cook
Healthy things (and a bit of pasta)
After last week’s overindulgence at The Calabria Food Fest, this week has seen me strip it back to lighter fare: chicken breasts, salmon, kale, rice bowls etc.
Yet I have been out and about on a few occasions this week…
Rotisserie Chicken Caesar Salad at Cornershop 180. I hate to admit, is well worth the fifteen pound price tag. Healthy portion of herby roasted chicken, crunchy, olive oil saturated croutons with finely shaved parmesan and crunch lettuce and brined anchovies. The place has a new-age, New York feel with fresh flowers, and baskets of vibrant fruit sitting pretty against the dark green interior. Plus, all the baristas are worryingly, desperately handsome. It’s the kind of place you could easily drop hundreds of pounds on dry store products alone (not just in order to flirt with the staff). The food is fresh foods with symmetrically-stocked fridges. They’ve got a great selection of fresh pasta and pasta sauces (some of which I took home— after all, I couldn’t go cold turkey after having it for at least two meals a day last week.) At night, this lovely delicatessen turns into a wine bar. I think I’ll have to go back.
Rhubarb Americano Royale at Bar Daskal — I think Americano Royales are quickly becoming my favourite cocktails. After sampling one in Rome earlier this year and having something of an in-body, out-of-body experience, I’m quickly becoming a big fan of Amaro. The liquor has so much depth and takes on new flavours depending on its pairing. Bar Daskal was a mellow-hued oasis of many lamps, checkerboard floors and multiple Spanish stone features. Sort of like your living room, but much, much sexier. Book this one in as part of your next date night, immediately.
Book
Consider Yourself Kissed, Jessica Stanley.
On Wednesday I was lucky enough to attend a Kindle Unplugged session at 180 Strand, I got to catch up with my lovely pal
and tested out one of their beautiful new matcha devices.After browsing the Museum of Kindle (and worryingly remembering most of them as if they were my own children) I grabbed a pain au chocolate and sat an eager front row for the Q&A with author Jessica Stanley about her book: Consider Yourself Kissed.
Her novel follows Coralie and Adam, and illustrates the life of an Australian woman in London who has gained everything she always wanted, but has lost something of herself along the way. With witty observations about the inhabitants of London Fields, and crazy political state of the recent decade, Stanley proves her firm belief that books are a barometer for social history; intended to show a lived experience and document given emotional depths in a specific period of time. She shared during the interview that regardless of whether it’s a popular answer, she wanted readers to feel ‘comforted’ by the book rather than ‘challenged’ or 'confronted’.
Her advice for writing was stellar— something I’ll apply to my own work: “I just imagine I am writing the story via WhatsApp to a friend, lowering the stakes makes it feel a lot easier that way.”
And Jessica Stanley’s excerpt? Well, it contained that famous Robbie Williams quote where he said that watching the birth of his son was "like watching my favourite pub burning down." That was reason enough for me to download my new Kindle immediately.
P.S. to all the Kindle / ebook — I hear you — nothing can replace the feel of a physical book. I love going to independent book shops as much as the next person (The smell! The romance of potentially bumping into a Hugh Grant lookalike! The unnecessary tote bag you always end up buying!). Ever wanted to read while getting your nails done but can’t keep the pages open? Discover the one tap page turn between switching your hand under the UV lamp. Hate the pages getting wet when you’re reading in the bath? Not with this guy. Needed to go somewhere with your chic tiny Roseau handbag but wanted to read your book on the way there? Kindle is the answer, I assure you.
Look
Impractical cycling outfits.
Can’t Stop Scanning
Wimbledon fixtures.
Wimbledon starts next week, which means naturally this weekend I’ve watched both Wimbledon and Challengers in preparation. I’m excited to watch our 23-year old Jack Draper take to the court on Tuesday.
Important question though — what does Murray Mound become? Draper Drumlin!? Not quite working so well, is it?
Forward Planning
I’m going to the cinema this week — namely for the temperature. Honestly is it the only place in this city with air con? but also for a viewing of the F1 movie.
I had the honour of interviewing Brad Pitt’s mechanic, played by Callie Cooke last year in this interview. She was a total gem of a human, and spoke so highly of the cast, crew, and her shooting experience. Watching her fizz at full throttle about the experience only made me want to watch it more. Lights out and away we go!
love it , had to goggle the handbag , love it