King, Queen, Country, Commonwealth, UK Carriage and Concert

We could not be in Pall Mall, parked in tents overnight, waiting to see the golden carriage. Nor could we attend the concert in Windsor great park. Wow, it is a great park, as you could see from the stage and crowds.

However, we watched it all on YouTube.

I had seen Kate Perry looking for her seat at the coronation in Westminster Abbey and looked her up. I love the Disney version of her song Roar, which she co-wrote and produced. Clever lady, not just a clear voice and pretty face. A very positive message. American Kate Perry saw her song Roar was the top in several countries, including Israel.

You can watch the BBC showings of the concert in different length extracts. My favourite parts were the illuminations from around the country. Especially the Botanic Gardens in Cambridge, illuminated trees and people riding illuminated bicycles.

I took some pictures to remind which parts to recommend to friends and family who might not want to watch the whole thing. You can spin through, using the slider underneath the video.

Prince William's speech was short and sweet and struck just the right note, praising the King and Queen, also thanking everybody, the performers, and audience worldwide, including the medics and teachers and volunteers who help run the country every day of the year. Choirs included a deaf signing choir. videos on an overhead projection showed people performing in countries around the Commonwealth.

Chocolate shops and museums, Marzipan, chocolate ice cream, and wine

Where can you try and buy chocolates? 

Chocolate

Austria

Top of my wish list is the chocolate museum in Vienna, Austria. You can take in the chocolate in the daytime. Then go to a wine restaurant in the evening. I read about them last week. Their website is down now (Wed 10 May 2023). But websites and museums come and go seasonally, for updates or during change of ownership. So I shall keep my eyes open. By the  next time I plan to visit their country, and city, I hope the website and shop and tours will be back in business.

UK

Cadbury. So much to see. Home of the chocolate teapot. (You eat the chocolate tea pot. Don't put tea in it.)

USA

Hershey shop in New York. Not a museum, but so many types of chocolate to see.

Wine

Austria

In Vienna, in the evening, go to the Heirige, taverns which pop up at harvest time for you to try the new season's wine. 

Cyprus

Top of my memories is the wine museum in Cyprus. Lots of photos and images of wine production and storage through the ages. Wine tasting on the ground floor with the owner afterwards.

Germany

The Oktoberfest ends in October, and the name reflects the date in the early days. However, now it starts earlier to catch the tourist trade and better, warmer weather at the end of summer, and starts at the end of September. 

Hungary

Hungary has a marzipan museum, in Budapest, the capital city. The museum's name is the Szabo Marcipan Museum.

UK

The UK has many vineyards. Denbies is the largest in England. The visitor centre has a supermarket size shop. I took a tour up the hillside and could see how the sun on one mountainside created a different environment or terroir, as the French say, territory, creating a different type of wine. A good place to start. The indoor tour included wine bottles and cellars.  You can buy their sparkling wine online.

Spain

We arrived too late for lunch and too early for dinner in the grand restaurant. So we tried their snack service, which proved to be very good. I loved the big shop. Outside, are planted the huge numbers of vine types, all labelled, but to me looking more or less identical, were amazing. The museum makes a charge and is large so allow enough time to enjoy it all. 

Useful Websites

UK

https://www.denbies.co.uk/

https://www.cadburyworld.co.uk/

https://salcombedairy.co.uk/

SPAIN

https://vivancoculturadevino.es/en/foundation/vivanco-museum-of-wine-culture/

GERMANY

https://www.niederegger.de/en/cafe-niederegger/marzipan-museum/

Highlights of the Coronation, the coach, the concert and more

What did I like most?

The public with their faces painted with Union Jacks.

Elegant clothes.

Well behaved children.

The gold coach.

The marching bands.

The tea pots with Union Jacks at the street lunch outside 10 downing street.

See the royals from different countries.

What would I have liked extra? It was all very serious stuff, on Saturday, the coronation. All those guards marching. 

I couldn't help thinking of the displays organized by the Chinese with people making patterns from the way they march, stand up.

What abut a Mexican wave?

Never mind. It was uniquely British. And went without a hitch.

The music and drama was the next day, Sunday, which you can watch on Youtube.

 

March Back to Waterloo Station after King Charles III Coronation - kilts swaying, red uniforms, in the rain!

One band after another, matching across the bridge. All wearing their uniforms. Subtitles tell you the band and the music. A great video of different bands, different marching songs. Great red uniforms. 

I find marching a challenge, never mind marching in step. Whilst playing an instrument! In the rain!

 My favourites were the Scottish bands towards the end, with their kilts.

Such a pity it was a rainy day. On the other hand, on a rainy day, it's good to have a band to cheer you up.

I read that Penny Mordaunt had two pairs of shoes, so that she could change out of her wet shoes once inside the abbey for the coronation.

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Chicago Cheesecake and New York Cheesecake, in Starbucks and Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf

The coffee bean and Tea leaf at expo. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

 I love cheesecake, baked cheesecake. The taste. The texture. I have known cheesecake all my life since the 1960s or 1970s.

Not those wobbly, insubstantial frozen jellies, like frozen yogurt, which claim to be cheesecake. With brightly coloured, ersatz gelatine toppings. Deigned to look like oranges or strawberries or blueberries but not tasting of anything fresh. When did they appear? Much later. I like proper, substantial, filling, baked cheesecake. 

The essential ingredients are cream cheese, sugar and eggs. Add a crunchy biscuit base or better still a proper shortbread pie base to mitigate, or counteract, the sugariness.

In Starbucks it is called New York cheesecake. Why New York? I used to have it in London. Anyway, what Starbucks calls New York cheesecake, I call proper cheesecake. Baked cheesecake.

It contains cream cheese. Something to make it sit solid. And a crumbly biscuity base.

At one time cheesecake was just another sort of cake. Then it became more expensive than other cakes.

Chicago Cheesecake

You may imagine my surprise and confusion when I was faced with Chicago Cheecake. It was in The Coffee Bean And Tea leaf outside the entrance to Expo, the large exhibition centre, in Singapore, one stop on the MRT train line from Changi airport.

I wondered, was this just marketing, a way of distinguishing their cheesecake from that of rival Starbucks, who I imagined might have invented the name.

I asked the assistant. She was smiling and helpful but she didn't know.

I tried the Chicago cheesecake. It was not quite what I expected, but good enough.

Later I went onto the internet. I looked everywhere. Wikipedia has now subdivided itself into a dozen categories. There is Wiktionary, Wikibooks, Wikiquotes, Simple wiki, Wiki commons, wikitravel, wikivoyage. Wiki food and recipes and country portals and whatnot.

Finally, I tracked it down, the differences. Not so different. Of course, every recipe can be found with fifty variations, one pinch of salt or two, this kind of sugar or that, add optional cinnamon, an egg, two eggs, water or milk or cream. With or without alcohol. 

So it was with Chicago and New York cheesecake.  

Chicago Cheesecake at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Expo, Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright. 

The price was seven Singapore dollars fifty cents. Does that sound a lot? We had one slice of cake between two of us. Cheesecake is very calorific and filling.

At Expo they have bar stools and high tables. Also low tables with proper chairs, small  tables for twosomes, for couples, or larger tables for foursomes.

Sign up online and give Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf your email to get 20% off your first order.

You can download their app onto your mobile phone and start collecting loyalty points.

I did that after our second visit. There was no cost. It just took me a while. The staff helped me to do it.  You can download the app from the Apple appstore or googleplay.

Gifts

Chicken wrap at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

You can buy stainless steel tumblers, ceramic mugs, coffee and tea, on subscription, gift sets seasonally for Xmas, and for children.

Photos by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Wikipedia revealed<

Chicago

Chicago-style cheesecake is a baked cream cheese version that is firm on the outside with a soft and creamy texture on the inside. These cheesecakes are often made in a greased cake pan and are relatively fluffy in texture. The crust used with this style of cheesecake is most commonly made from shortbread that is crushed and mixed with sugar and butter. Some frozen cheesecakes are Chicago-style.^[31]

New York

New York cheesecake is said to have been invented, or named by a man called Reuben

New York–style cheesecake

New York–style cheesecake uses a cream cheese base, also incorporating heavy cream or sour cream.^[32] The typical New York cheesecake is rich and has a dense, smooth, and creamy consistency.^[33]

Arnold Reuben is said to have created and named the New York cheesecake in Reuben's Restaurant in New Yoirk in the 1920s.

Useful Websites

Chicago Cheescake

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheesecake#:~:text=Chicago%2Dstyle%20cheesecake%20is%20a,are%20relatively%20fluffy%20in%20texture.

Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf

coffeebean.com.sg

https://www.coffeebean.com/cafe-menu

https://www.coffeebeanrewards.com/

https://store.coffeebean.com/pages/how-to-make-a-latte-at-home

New York Cheesecake

Starbucks

https://athome.starbucks.com/recipe/vanilla-coffee-cheesecake

Comparisons

https://queen.com.au/traditional-cheesecake-new-york-cheesecake-whats-difference/

Cheesecake History

https://www.cheesecake.com/History-Of-Cheesecake.asp

Choose Cheese From Cheeseland or England

 Cheeseland is a Dutch company. You might expect Gouda.

Cheeseland stand at ProwWne in Singapore at Expo in April 2023. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

What did I like about this stand? The colourful cheeses. The clear identity of country of origin showing the girl with the windmill and clogs and the white hat. The backdrop on the wall behind. The free tastings of the cheese.

Useful Websites

https://www.cheeselandinc.com/

VinExpo Asia 2023 at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore - and news of a new wine museum in China, and the wine museum in Bordeaux, France

Marina Bay Sands

The elegant and unusual venue was chosen to reflect the prestige of the event.

 It is a trade only show bringing together buyers, importers and sommeliers. VinExpo Asia 2023 will be held at Marina Bay Sands, over three days, after a four year gap due to Covid..

A tasting event takes place the previous afternoon.

The expo  dates are 23-25 May, 2023, a three day event.

Expect to see exhibitors from wine producers as well as products such as Riedel glasses.

There will be  more than 1000 exhibitors from 35 countries which include (alphabetically)

Argentina

Aruba

Austria

Australia

Canada

Chile

China

Finland

France

Germany

Ireland

Israel

Italy

Japan

New Zealand

Romania

Singapore

South Africa

South Korea

Switzerland

UK

USA

Masterclasses are 8 sessions which include California's Napa Valley.

Other exhibions will take place in Paris, France, India

New Wine Museum in China

The most exciting news I have already obtained from their press release is that a Universal Wine Museum is scheduled to open in Beijing in May 2024. One year from now.

One discovery leads to another. I found

Wine Museum In France

Meanwhile, before, after, as well as or instead of visiting Singapore for the VinExpo, consider the Cite Du Vin in Bordeaux, France. Everything for the adult wine drinker, and ,would you believe, special activities for children, too.

I shall add this to my forthcoming book, A Beginner's Guide to the Best Beverages and matching food, which covers wines and spirits, water, cocktails, coffee, and the apple and cheese - they say buy on an apple, sell on a cheese. I have more than a page of quotations about wine and drinking. I hope to bring you more information from VinExpo.

Useful Websites

https://www.laciteduvin.com/en/news/a-day-at-the-cite-du-vin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Wine_museums

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