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Last Summer while I was still living in Los Angeles two of my best friends went to Polo In The Park without me and their Instagrams made me very jealous, and a little left out. (It was hardly their fault I’d chosen to up sticks and move to California, to be fair!) So, that evening over Skype we made plans to all go together next year. Next year was Sunday, when we, along with a few of our other friends all headed off to Hurlington Park on the gloriously hot (hotter than L.A.) day we had for Finals Day at Polo In The Park 2014.
While I had originally planned to wear a rather awesome black and white striped number I have not had a chance to debut yet, such hot weather called for something light and airy, so I turned to this lovely floral Ted Baker dress I picked up for a garden party last Summer. I’m not usually a light florals kind of girl, but paired with Tory Burch flats (I also had wedges, but decided it was too hot for those, too!) and my pearl necklace turned out to be perfect for the day. On Instagram I get so many questions about my sunglasses. They’re an old pair from Alexander McQueen you can’t get anymore (sorry!), but I’ve included some similar styles below.
In case you needed to look at more street food photos after Monday’s post (!), after watching the beginning of the first match we headed off in search of the street food tents, none of us having had lunch. There were a few big hitters there such as Bleeker St. and Annie’s Mae’s Mac n’ Cheese, but to be perfectly honest we opted for what had the shortest queue. Anything that states ‘pulled pork’ and ‘brisket’ on their sign is fine with me, so Prairie Fire BBQ seemed like an excellent idea.
I naturally had to go for the brisket, which was as good as it looked; rich, juicy and succulent, and perfectly smothered in their house barbecue sauce and topped off with some fantastic, all American pickles. I used to hate these things before I lived in America, but I got so used to them on my hot dogs, it turned into love! Everyone else really enjoyed their pulled pork, and while the meat was fantastically juicy, we all commented that unfortunately the buns were a little dry. If we had not eaten with forks, it would have spoilt the meat.
After running into an old school friend and having a mini catch up in the middle of the pitch, we used stomping the divots as a quicker way to cross over to the other side of the park and grab some drinks from the Mahiki tent to supplement all of the mineral water we’d been chugging on account of the weather!
I love that I know my best friends wardrobe well enough to do a mini outfit post for her, too! Her dress is from Joules last Summer (bit of a sore spot, I was going to buy it but then discovered she had, we both have a massive soft spot for blue and white stripes!), she’s carrying her original Mulberry handbag, and wearing a pair of current season sparkly Topshop sandals she picked up when we were shopping in Canterbury last weekend. I’m not so good with what the boys are wearing, though! However, I can tell you that Edward’s purple shirt is Ralph Lauren Purple Label, and his loafers are from Gucci. He makes stylish, yet predictable wardrobe choices!
We made a good start at our table with various tropical drinks, including Mahiki’s house strawberry rum cooler, Mojitos and Pina Coladas in hollowed out pineapples, but being the perfect British Summers day we soon made into onto great jugs of Pimm’s. America? This is how you should drink Pimm’s. Not in individual ‘Pimm’s Cup’ cocktails, but in great big jugs to share full of ice, lemonade, Summer fruits and great big sprigs of mint.
Enjoying the sunshine between games we also took the opportunity to brush up on some of the rules and polo lingo. We were all able to follow the game, but as a former rower, another sport with so many different words and rules for things, only someone intensely into the sport can remember everything, unless you’re Kathryn!
After the ceremony for the winners, we settled down in the grandstand to watch the tense and exciting final match for 5th place between London and Buenos Aires. Unfortunately London lost, but it was a very close thing, and the perfect end to an absolutely lovely day, which needs to be repeated next year.
Did anyone else catch any of the Polo In The Park at the weekend, or the Jack Wills Varsity Polo or the Derby on Saturday, or indeed any other matches recently? Being able to dress up for Polo in the sunshine makes a nice Summertime alternative to wrapping up in a padded jacket and pulling on Hunters for the Easter Point to Point!
I'm a food writer, professional recipe developer and cookbook author living in the English Countryside. I love creating easy, accessable recipes filled with vibrant world flavours that are manageable on busy weeknights. Simple and delicious dinners, from my kitchen to yours!
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My Book
One Pan Pescatarian: 100 Delicious Dinners – Veggie, Vegan, Fish
My second cookbook contains 100 delicious dinner recipes, all of which are either vegetarian, vegan or which celebrate fish and seafood - all cooked in either one pot or one pan.*
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