Friday Fun Stuff

Where's the fun?! We definitely deserve some fun. It's ok, we'll share some of our fun.... This is a small selection of the things that have been entertaining us this week:

1. Charles Freger's photographs of ceremonial dress
There really is no end to the amazingness of Mr Freger's photographs... head on over to the National Geographic website for the full effect. Makes us much more interested in Easter.

2. The Bionic Choir
Apparently you play it like an organ - press a key and a person gets poked and makes a noise. The possibilities.

3. Bespoke Glitter Balls

Just think: anything you want, made into a glitterball. We're not sure why, when faced with unlimited choices, you'd go for Darth Vader, but there's no accounting for taste.

4. Giant, room filling inflatables

Christo unveiled his 'Big Air Package' and it actually reminded us of a less fun version of Penique Productions' work (who in turn cite Christo as an influence). Either way, we do enjoy a giant inflatable.

Berlin: Best Bits

Here at Teatime, we get a lot of inspiration from the things we've seen and done. It's not about looking at what your contemporaries are up to (although we love to support people's exciting endeavours), mostly because you should be part of the zeitgeist, not trailing along behind it. Plus we don't think it's cool to re-hash other people's ideas. (You can see more about our thought process here). 

Our big ideas come from more abstract, non-event related stuff; particular favourites are World of Interiors (for daydreaming about what you'd get up to in the amazing spaces), performances at Sadlers Wells (for powerful non-verbal communication) and travel. So every Thursday we're going to focus on our inspirations around the world: places we've been and places we dream of going to.

To kick off our series we're going to talk about some of our favourite spots in Berlin.

// 1. Where to stay.....

Budget: The Michelberger
If you're looking for somewhere affordable but cool to stay, you can't go wrong with the Michelberger. We especially recommend the Loft rooms, which feature a fun bunk-bed style mezzanine. It's well located (especially if you're travelling via Schoenefeld airport), the staff are friendly and helpful and there are live bands in the bar at the weekend.

Luxury: Soho House
We should declare a little bias here: we do work with Soho House on Edible Cinema, and we regularly enjoy the London based Soho House venues. But we do think that you'd have to be completely out of your mind not to acknowledge that Soho House Berlin is a wonderful place to stay. Not only is it one of the most affordable SH venues (if you book in advance rooms start from 133 Euro a night) it also has the best facilities. As an SH guest you have access to the bar/restaurant, whose menus are typically affordable, you also get to use the rooftop pool, the immaculate gym and the hamam. Plus of course the staff are a dream and the level of service impeccable. It's a bit of a treat, but if you're after a little R&R we wholeheartedly recommend it.

// 2. Things to see and do.....

Badeschiff Summer

Badeschiff Winter

The Badeschiff is our go-to place in Berlin. It's a series of piers extending out into the river, which house a pool and sun deck in the summer and a pool, saunas and bar in the winter. It's insanely cheap - 4 Euro for a day - and a singularly wonderful experience. We first went in the winter and enjoyed the liberating experience of rubbing ourselves down with snow post-sauna and swimming naked in the outdoor section of the pool while snow fell over Berlin. Really quite remarkable...

Tidier than we remember

The Treptower fleamarket halls are in the same place (Arena complex) as the Badeschiff, but where the Badeschiff is super relaxing, the fleamarket is unflinchingly weird. Totally worth looking at, but not particularly easy going: it rather reminds you of the junkyard in Labyrinth. 

When we have a day off in a strange city, we do two things: take an open top bus tour and visit the zoo. We know zoos aren't strictly ethical but we do love looking at the animals, and that's why we've been to the Tierpark no less than three times. The first time was the best because it was completely unrenovated with a dusty gift shop full of stock from the 1980s and the screenprinted entry tickets. The next time we went back it had been (boringly) made over but we still love it's strange, slightly forgotten-about feeling (largely due to it starting out as a private estate with menagerie) and some of the strange logic of it's design (the aquarium is a series of fish tanks in the cafeteria). Well worth an afternoon of poking around if you have the time and inclination.

// 3. Going out.....

Now, most people will tell you to go to Berghain or White Trash Fast Food and they're probably right. You'll see cool people in a cool place and have a good time. But if we're allowed to choose the destination for the evening we go straight past all the cool places to the glow in the dark mini golf. Yes, that's right: GLOW IN THE DARK MINI GOLF. Never has a more exciting sentence been strung together. Only a crazy person would try to top that. So we're going to finish up with this gem: Schwarzlicht minigolf. Feast your eyes on this lot...

Every now and then we'll be talking to someone we work with about how they got to where they are, where they hope to go next and what advice they'd give to anyone wanting to get into the industry. To kick off we're going to keep it in-house and talk to our very own Polly Betton, who - it is well known - will talk the hind leg off a donkey on the subject, especially if it coincidentally also allows her to avoid a particularly unappealing admin-related task.

Teatime: So, Polly tell us - how did you end up at the helm of Teatime?

Polly: In common with a lot of people who do this type of work, I took a circuitous route. I studied Graphic Design at Camberwell, did a short stint at a Cuban cocktail bar and then worked at 291 gallery in Shoreditch. 291 is a now-defunct performance space and venue housed in a neo-gothic church. After I'd worked there for about a week a promoter dropped out at short notice and I volunteered to put an event on in their place. 

I ended up doing regular events after that, as well as the odd bit of freelance stage management at clubs, for example the infamous Kashpoint. 

After a while I thought I ought to get a 'proper' job, and ended up in the customer service department at Foyles. I love books, and Foyles is a fab place, but the department was in a damp basement and a bit of career graveyard: it was full of people who'd been stuck there for years but still described themselves as musicians, artists and actors. I lasted exactly one calendar month before leaving for a co-ordinator role at the newly formed Kemistry Gallery in Shoreditch.

Kemistry was - and still is - an amazing Graphic Design gallery. I was there for two years (quickly self-promoted from Co-ordinator to Manager, no-one seemed to mind as I was the only employee), and I gained lots of useful experience setting up exhibitions, writing press releases and holding previews.

Sadly, I was made redundant by Kemistry and spent a few months unemployed. I really wanted to be freelance but hadn't really picked up enough skills, or developed the confidence to go for it. So I ended up taking a job at Cultural Co-operation, a charity helping displaced creatives from around the world. It was a lovely job, but not for me and I moved over to work for StolenSpace gallery on a freelance basis after less than a year. I lasted exactly a month there, we really didn't get on very well. I kept trying to organise them when they really wanted me to deal with sales. I'd talked my way into the wrong role (not the first time either...).

I was pretty naffed off to be unemployed again so soon, but it did me good as I finally go it together to have a go at freelancing, picking up small jobs here and there just being generally useful. I was offered more or less back-to-back employment producing fashion shoots for the high street through a friend-of-a-friend and started to make a good living out of it. It was really useful because I stopped being scared of big numbers: these shoots often had budgets of £250,000+. If I wanted to something for a shoot I had to find it myself, so I learned to just have confidence in my choices and just get on with it. 

When the recession hit in 2008 the work tailed off, but I'd coincidentally started to get lots of requests for elaborate afternoon teas and midnight feasts after making a few for friends birthdays. So I got my kitchen certified, did some Food Safety training and moved over to catering. It was great fun, working with people like the Last Tuesday Society and The Powder Room. Gradually I got more general event requests and ended up being asked to produce a series of promotional events for Stoke Place hotel, which is how the White Blackbird series ('Bringing back the country House Party) came about.

The White Blackbird - Tainted Love Party from Jonathan Burt on Vimeo.

About halfway through the series I realised I ought to have a proper company and formed Teatime. Shortly after I got a book contract (Party! How to throw a Brilliant Bash: The Essential Guide) and the rest is history.... you can see some of Teatime's work on our website.

Teatime: Zzzzzz.....

Polly: I told you it was circuitous.

Teatime: What should people take away from your (epic) story?

Polly: That sometimes it takes a while to find the right spot, but all the things you encounter along the way will be useful in the end.

Teatime: What are your hopes for the future?

Polly: I'd like to carry on doing what we're doing and ideally expand a little so we can take on some of the amazing people who currently freelance with us on a full time basis.

Teatime: Any advice for budding event planners?

Polly: If you're working for yourself you'd better give it some welly. It's not the moment to wait for someone to validate you, you have to get out there and show everyone how good you are. Be nice: you'd be amazed how small a world it is and acting like an arse gets noticed quickly. Do good work (and don't pinch other people's): a re-hash doesn't do you any favours, and neither does an overworked idea. Don't give your time away: a certain amount of 'work experience' is fine if there's a genuine benefit to both parties, but anyone worth their salt will pay you for a day's work, especially when they have a client who's paying for the event. I have a massive problem with a business model that's based on a constant flow of unpaid interns (although there are exceptions: I'd probably pay to intern with Sam & Harry at Bompas and Parr, so much fun).

Cocktail Hour: Infused Spirits

You may have noticed that infused spirits are quite a feature on cocktail menus at the moment. You might also have assumed that making your own would be a bit of a faff, but really that couldn't be farther from the truth. They're one of our favourite bar items when hosting a party at home because they're easy to make AND impressive without blowing the budget.

The first thing to remember is that it's fine to use the cheapest supermarket own brand spirits you can find. 

 

                                                    

The infusion of other ingredients works wonders, really smoothing out the flavour - in fact people often assume that we've used an expensive spirit. We tend to go for gin and vodka, but you can infuse any spirit you like.

Next you need to decide on some flavours. For Polly's recent birthday we made:

- Vanilla and date gin

- Dill, peppercorn and garlic vodka

- Plum, lemon and basil vodka

- Dill and honey (we had a lot of dill)

Put your ingredients into jars or wide mouthed bottles (since you want to be able to get them out again once you've finished infusing), then fill the containers with a spirit, seal and stash in a dark place, like the back of a cupboard.



Turn the container each day, and on the third day they'll be ready for straining. We recommend straining twice - once through a sieve, to get the big bits out, and again through a sieve lined with a clean tea towel, to remove any sediment. Then re-bottle your infused spirits (remember to label them) and store in a dark place until you want to try them out.

The nice thing is that it's really easy to experiment with different flavours - just use small jam jars to make test batches, then there's no wastage if you hate one. There really isn't any particular rule of thumb when it comes to how much of each ingredient you should add to your spirit for infusion, although we tend to err on the side of 'a lot' since the whole point is a flavourful end product. Don't leave green things, like herbs, in the jars for more than three days as they'll go a bit icky. Fruit can be left longer if you want (sloe gin has to sit for aaaaages, for example) but we think the speed of the process is part of the charm.

Guests love to sample the different flavours, especially since they're not available commercially, and it makes you look like a super smart party host. Our typical party bar includes five or so flavoured spirits, half a case each of white and red, a few bottles of bubbly and a good stock of tonic and ginger beer. Super easy to put together, most bases covered and best of all you don't spend all night frantically making up cocktails.

Crafternoon: Party Banner

Welcome to our new Monday blog post, 'Monday make-and-do'. We spend a lot of time making little bits and pieces when we can't source exactly what we want in the shops (or when we have spare materials to use up) so we thought we'd share some simple projects. Simple is important for a party decoration, because you usually want to cover a large are, which means that anything too complex quickly becomes time consuming and expensive. Plus you're super bothered when it gets destroyed, which is inevitable. 

So, the first of our make-and-do projects is a pink and gold party banner. The banner has similar proportions to a Mexican papel picado, in that it's made up of oblong shapes regularly spaced along a ribbon. For this we used gold film envelopes we had left over but you could just as easily use any paper, folded in half. 

* Materials

- Gold film envelopes (or any paper you like: we recommend bright, punchy colours)

- Gift wrapping ribbon

- Wide masking tape

- Double sided tape

- Scissors

* STEP 1

Because we used envelopes, we needed to trim three sides of the envelope. If using paper, you just need to fold it in half.

* STEP 2

Then (using a piece of wide masking tape as a marker) cut the envelope into fringing. 

* STEP 3

Open out the envelope/paper.

* STEP 4

Apply a strip of double sided tape, peel away the backing, and press a piece of cheap wrapping ribbon (available on reels from party shops) along the length.

* STEP 5

Re-close the envelope on top to secure. 

* STEP 6

Repeat, leaving an even distance between each block of fringing and you'll end up with a banner that adds interest to any room.

Medicinal Marshmallows

Teatime was very lucky to receive a special package this afternoon (well, we actually swapped it for a puppy crate but that's another story). Medicinal Marshmallows from the Robin Collective popup - open until Saturday in Kingly Court and popping up again shortly thereafter at Boxpark in Shoreditch.

Spotty bag or a rabies hallucination?!?

Diagnosis: Marshmallow

What sort of specimen?URINE specimen!!

Do not consume before operating heavy machinery

These didn't hang around for long... delicious!

We strongly suggest you get down there for your own prescribed dose of sugary fun (they even have giant marshmallow beanbags). Super fun and open for a limited time only.

Anthology of Anything

We just saw a wonderful behind-the-scenes video featuring truly epic floristry on our (equal-joint-favourite) assistant's blog Anthology of Anything... 

Lions, tigers, country barns and umami

We've done it again - left a massive gap between blogs. Sorry guys... BUT this is the dawn of a new era, in which we will be not only updating the blog a bit more often, we've also got 'the twitter', 'the facebook' and 'the pinterest' so - if you're that way inclined - you'll probably know more about what we're up to than we do. 

So. Let's have a quick catch up, before we get to the lions. Here are some things that have happened lately:

The Edible Cinema team were excited to design and deliver a very special edition for the UK premiere of Wreck It Ralph at the Electric Cinema in Portobello. Glamorous guests included the film’s stars Sarah Silverman and John C. Reilly, as well as Nick Grimshaw (who has a cameo in the film) and Pixie Geldof. Guests wolfed down a ten course taster menu, which was pronounced the perfect accompaniment to the Academy Award nominated film.

Teatime was called in to perform a little last minute magic for a client this month: transform a tired old staff room into a slick made-to-measure venue for a pitch meeting with a high profile luxury fashion brand. The location - Abbey Rd Studios - was perfectly iconic, but the space (the only one available at short notice, and not usually available for hire) was decidedly not.

Fortunately designing and building a room-inside-a-room on the fly is pretty easy when you have the wonderful Invisible Blue to work with: miracles were performed with plenty of time to spare, even in the middle of a snowstorm. The only items in the serene space shown above that were part of the original room are the carpet and the wall mounted tv/speaker set. Fabric clad walls, suspended muslin ceiling, lighting, shelves and of course furniture, flowers and props... all brought together to create the perfect pitch environment.


The Edible Cinema team worked double time in February with only a two week gap between Wreck It Ralph and the public screening of Some Like It Hot at the Aubin in Shoreditch. We were so pleased to work on this classic film because everyone - literally everyone - loves it, including us. Our menu included a lavender, lime and gin ‘Jell-o on springs’, ‘The Fuzzy End of the Lolly Pop’ comprised of whisky toffee, candyfloss and charcoal, a slippery, fruity ‘Shell Oil!’ served in an oyster shell and our favourite ‘Blood and Gunsmoke’, a smoked victoria sponge with beetroot buttercream and blood orange syrup - yum!  


Teatime has collaborated with Blanch and Shock to design and deliver a menu of primary flavours as part of Grey Goose's 'Taste Studio' initiative, served exclusively at the Grey Goose Loft in the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse. Anyone lucky enough to be flying Virgin Upper Class via Heathrow in the next few weeks can drop in, sample the flavours, decide which they like best and enjoy a Grey Goose cocktail designed to amplify their favoured flavour palette. Our quality control procedure required us to sample all the cocktails, and we can vouch for their deliciousness (hic).

In other news,  Polly was quoted in the Telegraph and the Daily Mail over the weekend, on the subject of serving dinner guests takeaway. As usual a nuanced opinion (fine if you have an emergency, but honestly if you have time to warm plates you have time to throw together a lovely salad) was boiled down (not ok to serve takeaways). But still, it's always nice to be asked!

We had the pleasure of enjoying two lovely venues over the weekend: Dodford Manor and the Kings Head Members Club. It was our second visit to Dodford Manor, a lovely barn style wedding venue in Northamptonshire that offers a super high end finish for extremely reasonable rates. It's also very accessible from London - only an hour up the M1! It was wonderful to get out from the grey cloud covering London and into the warm sunshine.

On Sunday we attended a very glamorous birthday party for singers Bishi and Viktoria Modesta and stylist/art director Leo Belicha at KHMC, a new members club in Dalston. 

Bishi with Shingai from the Noisettes

From the outside it looks like a derelict pub, but step through the door and you encounter an eclectic, plush interior stuffed full of taxidermy and red velvet. We counted one peacock, two polar bears, two lions, a tiger, an ocelot, an aviary's worth of exotic birds and a room completely panelled with cases of mounted butterflies, across the three floors. Oh, and a leaping tiger set atop the central island of the ground floor bar. It really is quite something.

It's only been open a week, so operations-wise it's still finding it's feet - and it doesn't really seem like the polish of Soho House would be appropriate here anyway - but it's already offering a warm welcome and it seems very well attuned to the needs and aspirations of the local area. We suspect this is going to be the place to be in E8 for the foreseeable future... and we can't wait to book it for a client.