Circus of Horrors

I had an evening out at the theatre yesterday. My husband and I went to see London After Midnight from  The Circus of Horrors, a show inspired by the 1927 'lost' film of the same name from director Tod Browning of Freaks fame.

I loved being immersed in the atmosphere created by dramatic gothic costumes and make up, colourful hair, tattoos and piercings... and that was just the audience!

The story starts in London at the time of the plague through to the Great Fire and incorporates the odd grizzly murder. The story is really a thin framework upon which was hung a lavish spectacle of acrobatics, stunts and illusions with a distinctly macabre theme. There was a sprinkling of nudity and sexy writhing that kept my husband interested and grotesquely shocking moments that had me cringing with a mix of disgust, intrigue and pure delight in equal measures (memorably a dwarf attaching a vacuum cleaner nozzle  to his penis and dragging said vacuum cleaner around the stage with the power of suction)

My favourite characters were fantastically sinister doll like twins that did an aerial silk performance (the fabric was blood spattered of course). The strength, precision and beauty was breathtaking. I loved that our seats were close enough to the stage for me to notice that one of the performers had a tear in her tan tights. Close enough to see every twist and turn they made of the ribbons around their bodies before relying on that combination to bring them to a halt as they allowed themselves to unwind and fall. If I were to run away and join the circus (highly unlikely at my age!) I would want to train in this discipline. I can close my eyes and imagine myself swirling and twirling to the oohs and aahs of appreciative onlookers. The reality would no doubt be much less graceful and considerably more painful!

The whole show was set to the loud rock music of Dr Haze and his band. I have to admit that it gave me a bit of headache (possibly the downside of having seats close enough to the stage to see holes in hosiery) but I had a wonderful nostalgic moment when they performed a reworking of The Sweet's song Hellraiser.

Hellraiser was a hit in 1973. I would have been 9 years old. I remember buying the 7" single to go with my other favourite record by the same band Blockbuster. I carefully wrote my name on the sleeves. I was madly in love with Steve priest, the bass guitarist. Those singles were treasured possessions which I still own. And I can still sing along to all the words.... which I did! I am having a strong desire right now to search through my vinyl and power up the turntable.

After the performance we shared a bag of chips (no ketchup!) before driving home to relieve the babysitters from duty.

I am so grateful that my husband indulges my passion for the macabre. I can't imagine that going to see a show like this would be high on his wish list. However, as much as I enjoyed indulging his passion by going to see Brighton and Hove Albion playing at home, I think he did take a certain amount of pleasure from it (if only on account of the scantily clad females).

Me (with stupid expression) meeting the wonderfully camp vampire from Circus of Horrors (that's me on the left!)

Pop Chef

As soon as my children saw this product I had been sent to review, they were desperate to try it out.

The product is called Pop Chef from Character and is basically a set of six different shaped food cutters with an added fun factor. The fun part is that the cutters connect to an air bulb via a stem which means that once the cutter has been pressed into the food, the shapes can be 'popped' out using a blast of air.

Every time my children asked the question Can we do the Pop Chef today? - I would put them off saying that we didn't have the right sort of food to do it with. Eventually (as the deadline for the review loomed ever closer), I decided to just go with what I had in the larder rather than buy specific ingredients to use.

We started with bread (we always have bread in the larder!) Dylan chose the heart shape cutter which we connected to the bulb. The cutter pushed easily into the sliced bread and sure enough, made quite a pop as we pressed the bulb to expel our little morsel. The texture of the bread meant that the result wasn't a very well defined heart but when we used the same technique with a slice of cheese, we achieved perfect results. Dylan enjoyed assembling tiny heart shaped cheese sandwiches and eating them!

Next we tried cutting shapes out of potato. This worked well but there's always someone who sees the potential for mischief and turns your Pop Chef into a spud gun!

The children loved having little fried  potato circles for their tea, although the shapes did distort slightly in the process of parboiling.

The Pop Chef comes with a supply of wooden skewers along with ideas about how to transform a selection of fruits into works of art. I will definitely have a go with the children when our fruit bowl contains more promising ingredients than a few 'seen better days' apples.

I am really looking forward to our next home made pizza night. I think the Pop Chef will be fantastic for encouraging the children to be more adventurous with different toppings rather than just piling on the grated cheese. Who could resist flower shaped yellow, green and red peppers?

The kit does include a dislodging tool for those deeply disappointing moments when instead of a POP! you get a whistle and the food stays put inside the cutter.

Pop Chef from Character

Pancake to Plank

I find it hard to get excited about pancake day - I am not particularly keen on pancakes and I don't particularly enjoy making them. However, my little Addy had enough enthusiasm to compensate for my lack of it.

Pancake duty usually falls upon my husband. He makes a terrible mess but the kids love it. Unfortunately, he was working late last night leaving me holding the frying pan.

My first attempt was an unappetising, crumpled ball of stodge but I surprised myself by getting into the swing of it. I perfected my wrist action for the tossing and was soon producing thin, golden specimens to be proud of. They looked so good, I even ate a few myself.

Addy was thrilled by it all, consuming far more than I thought possible for a little slip of a nearly six year old. I turned a blind eye to the quantity of sugar she was spooning on with the lemon juice!

So with pancakes done, it was time to think about the tradition of Giving Something Up for Lent. Last year, instead of giving something up for Lent, I made the decision to add something new, something positive. I chose a running target, committing to Run Forty Miles for Lent. It worked really well for me. It was a powerful motivator and I exceeded my target.

This year, sticking with the same model, I have chosen a target that should help to build my core strength and get me back a little more comfortably into my favourite skinny jeans (which is the One Small Change I am allocating to March). It isn't going to be easy. I am going to Plank forty minutes for Lent.

For anyone unfamiliar with what it means to plank, I am referring to an exercise whereby you are basically in a press up position but resting on your forearms. You then hold that position (making sure that you are not sticking your bum up too high) for a minute - a torturous minute. By the end of those painfully long sixty seconds, you will feel the muscle exertion in your whole body. Now that has to be doing you some good!

I have attempted to Plank before, most regularly when I was taking a weekly pilates class. It usually ended in me collapsing in a heap at about 45 seconds.

I am anticipating that my Forty minutes for Lent will be completed in 40 x 1 minute planks - one per day. I am hopeful that they will get easier as my body grows accustomed to the effort required. I am even more hopeful that I will start to see the benefits in terms of a flatter stomach. The skinny jeans are ready and waiting!