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snacks & adventure

Tag Archives: Kings College

King’s Summer Supper Party

08 Wednesday Aug 2012

Posted by frannyritchie in Uncategorized

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Cambridge, England, Great British Summer, Kings College

My friend Felix is a fellow of King’s College, which means that he gets to do cool stuff like walk on the grass of the college (seriously, its a thing), eat at High Table all the time, and invite me to the King’s Fellows Summer Supper Party.

It started with drinks in the King’s Chapel, which has an insane fan vault and is probably Cambridge’s #1 tourist attraction.  Most people don’t get to drink wine in it, though.  Then we had a very strange and mostly delicious molecular-gastronomy inspired meal (it featured truffle oil that tasted a bit like popcorn, somehow, and a mushroom doughnut).  Ian took his cuff links that gave him in 2007 on their maiden voyage and I made a perfunctory attempt at conversation with the people across the table before I gave up and chatted with Felix the whole time. There were fireworks, goofy little carnival rides (including swings!), and croquet.  Felix, who had never played before, schooled us – and then I got bored and started queuing up all the croquet balls and going for distance while Felix pleaded with me not to leave any divets in the grass (I only left one).  I was also introduced to the sport of Wellie Wanging, which is apparently a thing: you take a rubber boot and throw it as far as you can.  That’s the whole game.  I thought this was a hilarious invention of King’s, but apparently its a well-known English pasttime.  I was telling an English friend about the experience of the supper club and she asked if there had been wellie wanging, and I have since learned that there is a national championships with a regulation wellie.  Seriously, you can’t make this stuff up.

I’m totally grateful to Felix, who has been very generous about sharing King’s with us – peaks inside the rarefied world of Cambridge colleges are always exciting when you’re not part of the community.  I like to think that showing him the non-university Cambridge is a fair trade (he only leaves King’s to go to Stansted or to our house), but I’m not sure its a fair trade.  But I’ll take it!

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A Week in the Life

17 Friday Feb 2012

Posted by frannyritchie in Uncategorized

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architecture, baking, entertainment, food, Harry Potter, John Lewis, Kings College, shopping, travel, yoga

When we first moved here, being unemployed was depressing and boring.  But in 2012, my social has really picked up steam, and we joke a lot now that I could never find the time to have a job (not that I’m not still looking…)

This was a particularly good week in the Life of a Woman of Leisure, even with my Woman of Leisure Walking Tour (see post below) cancelled for half-term.

Sunday: I went to yoga, then went to John Lewis and bought a new lamp, rug, and wastepaper bin.  I decided that, rather than pick something up later, it would be a good idea to bring all three home at once.  On my bike.  In the snow.  For a mile and a half.  I looked like an idiot, and all my new stuff turned out to be pretty heavy, so by the time I made it home I was as sweaty from carrying my new housewares as from the yoga class.  Then Ian and I bought a new carpet for the living room, and I went to circus school.  You know, just your average Sunday.

Monday: I interned/volunteered with Shape East, a planning organization in Cambridge.  I really like the people who work there (some of whom have started reading this blog, which is the fastest way to my heart these days) and I’ve finished the project where I had to cold call people and take a survey, which was useful but not super fun.  Then I went to yoga.

Tuesday: Yoga in the morning.  Then new friend Robert and I attempted to make macarons.  He’s done it successfully several times before, but these were a pretty sad little fail.  Still, afternoon well spent.  In the evening, Ian and I met a friend for High Table at King’s College.  Despite having eaten at Christchurch in Oxford, where the dining hall scenes of Harry Potter were filmed, this is probably the closest I’ll ever get to eating at Hogwarts.  With the professors.  I sat next to a retired lawyer, now a photographer, who was very earnest about the need to help lawyers (who typically retire in their 50s here) find a second career.

Wednesday: A friend and I went to Letchworth, one of Ebenezer Howard’s two garden cities.  It was a nerd pilgrimage, but I was ultimately kind of disappointed.  Radburn, in New Jersey, made for a much better nerd pilgrimage.  Still, I’d been  wanting to go.  In the evening, I went rock climbing and then to the Emmanuel College Bar with climbing compatriots for Wednesday funk night.

We also saw the UK's first roundabout. Woot!

Thursday: I’m working on a design competition in Shanghai with an architect at Wolfson College, so after a morning spent puttering around the house, I met up with her for a work session followed by a zumba class.  Later in the evening I ended up at a pub with Ian and a friend playing a game called “War on Terror,” which would be more fun if we fully understood the rules, but I plan to play again anyway.

Lauren made that face on purpose.

Friday: I’m meeting a friend for lunch before hopping a 15:15 train to Brussels for a weekend of eating and sightseeing with the hubs, followed by a one-night stay in Ghent.

Have a great weekend!

Cambridge, as promised

21 Wednesday Dec 2011

Posted by frannyritchie in Uncategorized

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Cambridge, Christ's Pieces, Corn Exchange, downtown, historic architecture, Kings College, Midsummer Common, punts

Ian and I are headed back to the states TOMORROW (how is it Christmas already? time flies when you’re a Woman of Leisure with a few good books, I guess).  But as I prepare to return to my homeland for three glorious weeks, I thought I would finally leave you with the post about Cambridge highlights.  Most of these photos are snapshots with my mobile phone camera – they weren’t carefully considered, I just felt motivated to hop off my bike, grab my phone and document what a pretty place this city is.

The Corn Exchange, the front and back of Kings College, punts (and a moorhen, if you look closely), Midsummer Common at dusk, cottages next to Christ’s Pieces, and the pedestrianized shopping area of downtown.

I have a feeling there will be more posts like this to come – I had too much material for this collage and, really, it barely scratches the surface.

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