Laura Whitmore
"Being at home for so long, can be a challenge for someone who doesn’t like to sit still. I’ve enjoyed putting my energy into new things though. Enjoying the process of cooking rather than eating on the go and just being more present. My favourite thing is doing yoga at home. I’ve always enjoyed it but didn’t have the patience to do it myself. Who knew it would take a pandemic to get my boyfriend to do it with me - but a few times a week we get the yoga mats into the living room and do a sesh! I just hope we continue after lockdown.
Thursday at 8pm has become a ritual too, clapping for our key workers and carers - it’s also a chance to see and chat to the neighbours from a safe distance and brings a wonderful sense of community!”
Laura Whitmore, Presenter
FOOD & DRINK
If you find yourself getting a little tired of banana bread and the same go-to recipes in your repertoire then treat yourself to a delivery from one of London’s best restaurants or food businesses. There are hundreds offering deliveries but here are our top picks- Artusi, the Italian-inspired, neighbourhood restaurant in Peckham have an order form on their website so you can indulge in their amazing pasta dishes and more. Borough Market offers contact-free deliveries of their amazing fresh produce for those living in a 4.5 mile radius of the market. Chucs will deliver Provisions Box – filled with the highest quality produce used across all of their restaurants & cafes as well as dishes from their menu to save you cooking. Farmacy, the Notting Hill plant-based organic restaurant, is offering delivery of its nutritionally curated seasonal and local menu to zones 1-3. Le Bab in Soho, a Hotlist favourite, has started a new initiative, the London Restaurant Cooperative, to help those in the hospitality industry currently affected by the loss of work. Chefs create two dishes a day (one meaty, one veggie) and they’re delivered to selected postcodes by unemployed waiting staff. Patty & Bun, the delicious dribble inducing burgers will send you a DIY kit so you can bring the P&B experience into your own home and they will deliver anywhere within the M25. Lastly, Pidgin in Hackney has created Homing Pidgin (amazing) and release weekly menus which have turned into a real “coo” that sell out fast so get ready to fight for one of their popular slots.
To accompany all these gastronomic delights, you may want some vino to wash it all down with and another Hotlist stalwart, Salon, has a twice-weekly wine delivery service of a mixed case for your delight. Alternatively if you’re more of a cocktail fanatic then Deliveroo and Bacardi have partnered to bring you tasty cocktails at home meaning you can also support your local bars and bartenders with sales profit going to the teams listed each week.
CULTURE
Google Arts and Culture have brought together over 800 of Frida Kahlo’s best works in an online exhibition called “Faces of Frida” so we can take a closer look at the many faces of Frida Kahlo through her life, art and legacy. The iconic Kahlo is known for her many portraits, self-portraits, and works inspired by the nature and artefacts of Mexico. Inspired by the country's popular culture, she employed a naïve folk art style to explore questions of identity, postcolonialism, gender, class, and race in Mexican society. Halpern favourite the Cliveden Literary Festival have heaps of their past talks on their YouTube channel for our viewing pleasure including reels of highlights from last year’s festival to help you choose which to settle down and watch. For a dose of humour, you should make sure to watch Fleabag on-demand via the Soho Theatre website. Waller Bridge’s insanely popular writing on the stage is something we could watch over and over again. Since 2013, Letters Live have been inviting performers on stage to bring letters to life but they have now decided to open the stage to everyone with their campaign #ReadALetter. They want us all to share a letter of hope, education, love, appreciation, respect, thanks or solace and film yourself reading it out loud before sharing. The campaign was kicked off by Benedict Cumberbatch last week and Caitlin Moran, Margaret Atwood, Minnie Driver and Russell Brand have also taken part. You can be next!
EVENTS & ACTIVITIES
Let’s Day Out is an app for meeting fellow Londoners and finding new socialising experiences but they have rebranded to ‘Let’s Day In’ as we self-isolate. They offer premium online events and matchmaking services to their growing community of vibrant young professionals with everything from online experiences, parties and themed meetups for friendships, networking, and of course, dating. All their events, such as comedy nights, book clubs, workouts and more, are free, but you can choose to donate to the Covid-19 Solidarity response fund. On the 7th May they are running their biggest online event yet- ‘Let’s Day In, Together!’ and brands taking part in the line-up will be announced any day now. Download the app or stay tuned to their Twitter feed for further info.
In terms of other events that caught our beady eye, if you consider yourself an undiscovered singing talent, or even if you don’t but you love exercising those vocal cords in the shower then why not join an online choir? The Sofa Singers is a free & weekly online singing event that brings hundreds of people together from around the world to spark joy and human connection. Register your interest at the website and join hundreds of others for 45 minutes of synchronised singing.
Even though some garden centers are slowly starting to open, if you’d rather not queue for hours and instead stay at home then check out Plant Pack. They are rescuing thousands of plants destined for the scrap heap and delivering them around London so you can keep your garden spruced!
Finally, if you’re not an expert baker (it’s SO much harder than it looks we swear) then Bread Ahead has online baking lessons every day at 2pm on Insta Live meaning we can add one more skill to our list and another inch to our waistline.
EXERCISE & WELLNESS
If you’ve exhausted your free yoga workouts from last month or are craving a little variety for your daily exercise, then join Classpass. They normally provide access to different fitness classes such as yoga, strength training, barre, martial arts, pilates, boxing, and indoor cycling classes, as well as the use of various health clubs but as this isn’t possible right now they have instead launched free access to 4,000 on-demand workouts meaning you never have to do the same one twice and can mix up the type of workout you do each day. For something a little more lively and entertaining we’d highly recommend Drag Aerobics with Dolly Trolley. Every Wednesday at 7.30pm you can stream her live aerobics class via Instagram Live or her Facebook. For the more spiritual amongst you then check out She’s Lost Control, a London ethical crystal shop with classes on all sorts including self-hypnosis, chakra healing, tarot, and reiki. Exercising and indeed relaxing your mind is just as important as keeping your step count up.
KIDS
The kids may be back at “school”, but for some after virtual lessons and weekend treats in May then Hogwarts is here. A group of creative, passionate Harry Potter fans got together and built an online, fully-functioning Hogwarts where thousands of fans can come together, participate in online courses, earn House Points and so much more. An absolute must for all Potter fans out there. Another activity that caught our eye comes from Mutha Hood, the creator of the Strong Girls Club. You may well recognise her merchandise as it’s become a real cult favourite of late. She has created a downloadable strong women sheet for your little ones to colour in and create their own strong women’s club. For slightly older children (or adults) with a passion for fashion then the V&A has released a sewing pattern inspired by Mary Quant's classic A-line mini – the look that defined a generation so they can sew their own minidress that can be created in a variety of patterns and fabrics. Lastly, if you want to inspire them even more than you already do then why not take a look at some of the Ted Talks to watch with kids? There are a host of options on there including science, tech, magic, dance, and more.
LEARNING & CREATIVITY
It’s obviously not just the younger generation who can be learning and expanding their minds at the moment. Have you heard of Masterclass? It’s an incredible hub of online courses across a variety of fields, all taught by experts and celebrities. For example, Natalie Portman teaching acting, Bobbi Brown and her make-up masterclass, or Anna Wintour’s lessons on leadership? All amazing and inspiring.
The How To Academy have many online sessions for us grown-ups too. How to write a life story, How to live with anxiety, How contagion works, How to understand what you don’t want to know - there are tons to choose from.
If you’ve made your way through the bookshelf in the last 4 weeks then the National Emergency Library offers up more than a million books for free including many classics. This resource is available at the moment until the end of June so plenty to keep you going a little longer/forever!
Turning to music, if you’ve ever wanted to learn the guitar then now could be the time to start. Fender is offering 3 months of free classes via their app so when you get together with your friends after lockdown you can blow them away with your newly acquired musical talents!
Budding artistes look no further than Art is where the Home is from First Site. They have artist created activity packs featuring contributions from UK artists including Antony Gormley, Sarah Lucas, Gillian Wearing, Idris Khan, Richard Wentworth, Cornelia Parker, Jeremy Deller, Vanley Burke, Mark Wallinger and more. The free packs give a range of ideas on how to get creative at home and require no specialist methods. More are to be released and those that have, have been downloaded by over 20,000 people so far. Lastly, Coal Drops Yard by Kings Cross is also releasing free downloadable guides created by young designers and makers every Wednesday and includes things like tie-dye, sugar shapes and bird feeders.
CHARITY OF THE MONTH
The Mayor’s Fund for London is raising vital funds for their Kitchen Social programme. Kitchen Social usually gives children and young people a safe place to go during the school holidays where they can socialise, make new friends and get a healthy FREE meal. The programme is about so much more than just food. It looks at general mental and physical well-being and social integration. Additional benefits include learning about healthy eating, skills development, social inclusion, identification of children and young people in need and the development of staff, volunteers and local capacity. Since its inception in January 2017, Kitchen Social has delivered food and activities through 122 hubs in 24 boroughs, delivered 2,978 sessions and provided 97,792 meals to 21,124 children and young people, and secured 286 volunteer hours from professional chefs and nutritionists. Throughout the current Covid-19 pandemic they are unable to provide their usual service but are instead supporting local community organisations all over London to provide packed lunches, hot food for collection and food hampers for vulnerable families. They’re working closely with other charities working in this area to coordinate efforts and make sure that no child goes hungry during this period. Here is how you can help.