Tag: Music

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Blog Music

Eat Sleep Blog Repeat

It’s been a hectic few days since my last post, getting away from the kitchen for a few great meals and trips out with friends and family. More about this in future posts!

However, the highlight, that I will focus on in this post, has been attending a great concert by Fatboy Slim (alias DJ Norman Cook) on the final night of his UK Tour.

I used to be wary of big arena shows by so-called superstar DJs, tending to think it isn’t live music, but just someone standing on a stage playing their records. My perception changed a few years ago, however, the first time I went to see Fatboy Slim live.

This weekend’s performance also did not disappoint. He puts on a great show – a true feast for both the eyes and the ears, with crazy and inventive big screen videos, sync-ed to an everchanging mash-up mix, comprising snippets from his own best tracks and samples taken from a whole range of musical genres. The result is quite unique, to be experienced to be believed.

His most famous tracks feature in some shape or form. However, they are never performed straight as fans might recognise them from the records. Part of the fun is spotting a bassline, a beat, a lyric, a chorus etc from his impressive back catalogue, that is being interwoven with other samples, to produce something entirely new and fresh.

The words from Praise You featured twice, though never with the familar, catchy piano line from the record. The Rockafeller Skank is mixed over some Chubby Checker and the guitar riff from the Stones’ Satisfaction, yet still finds the crowd singing along with the Right About Now, Funk Soul Brother chorus. Macy Gray’s chorus is transmitted as giant subtitles during Demons.

Weapon of Choice is accompanied by a big screen excerpt from the famous video shot in a hotel elevator lobby. This time, however, Hollywood actor Christopher Walken is flanked by two skeletal avatars, dancing in co-ordination with his every step.

One track is founded on the isolated, thumping beat of Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s Relax, as the walls of the arena are being pounded by laser beams.

You never quite know who is going to turn up next on the big screen, often for their spoken words to be integrated into a track – examples here included Bill Murray and Barack Obama.

I have included a few of the photos I took, and hope I have conveyed what a fun, varied, high energy and inventive show this was.

I’ll settle on one track for the ADK Spotify Playlist. For this one, Norm mouthed the spoken word introduction up close to the camera, relayed on the big screen framed by the outline of an old-fashioned TV set.

A Wonderful Night!

If you get the chance to see Fatboy Slim live, I can’t recommend it enough.

Categories
Blog

Katie’s Vinyl Bar & Kitchen

For a lover of good food and great music, it really doesn’t get much better than having lunch at Katie’s Vinyl Bar and Kitchen.

This independent cafe in Gosport High Street has an impressive selection of 12″ vinyl LPs, and there is always one booming out from the record player at the end of the bar. When my son and I arrived for lunch, the chosen album was Humbug by the Arctic Monkeys, see below.

This great taste in music is further confirmed by the art and photographs on the walls, covering the Smiths, Specials, Elvis, Johnny Cash and many more. There is an art wall featuring drawings of Debbie Harry, Johnny Rotten, Thin Lizzy and more.

Food wise, the owners have had a lot of fun with the menu, with items on it given a musical title. For example, the burger menu contains the James Blunt (plain, no frills burger), and the Morrissey (a vegetarian burger – hey, meat is murder, remember?)

If it’s a cooked breakfast you’re after, you can choose between the Dubliners (Irish style, with soda bread) or the Proclaimers (Scottish style, with tattie scone). Springsteen fans can choose a Born in the USA, with American pancakes and syrup.

Those with a big appetite can opt for the Hank Marvin (because you better be starvin’).

My son ordered the Eye of the Tiger (tiger-striped grilled halloumi and avocado on toasted bagel). I chose the Florence and the Machine, shown in my main photo at the top of this post. It is Katie’s take on eggs florentine, with poached eggs, spinach and hollandaise sauce on toasted muffin.

The coffee is good and the prices reasonable. It does have a licence, and it’s great to see the bar supporting Gosport’s independent Powder Monkey Brewery, with two of their ales available on draught. There is also the ever popular Neck Oil from Beavertown.

Definitely worth a visit if you are down this way!

This post’s track for the ADK Spotify Playlist is one we listened to while waiting for our meal, and which I hadn’t heard in a while. This is the Arctic Monkeys from Humbug, with Crying Lightning.

Categories
Bakes Recipes

Lemon Drizzle Slices

After 2 flights, 26 hours in the air, 4 movies and at least 7 in-flight meals or snacks, I am now back home in the UK from my Australian trip.

I’ve also swapped a daily high temperature of around 30C in the Australian summer, for one of around 8C in the UK winter. If that sounds low in comparison, it is positively tropical given what friends and family have told me about the freezing weather here over December and January. Touch wood, we seem to have missed the worst of a very cold UK winter.

It’s good to be back in the ADK kitchen researching new dishes and listening to some new bands over the speakers on Spotify. There’s lots of exciting recipes and stuff to come over my next few posts, so stay tuned.

The first creation since my return is the Lemon Drizzle Slices shown above. I made these as a thankyou for our lovely neighbours who have been keeping an eye on our house while we have been away. Sweet and tangy, the cakes went down particularly well along with a glass of prosecco, sat in a warm living room sharing a few holiday snaps cast to the TV screen. Fancy having a go?

Servings

This will make 16 slices.

Timings

10 minutes to prepare, 15 – 20 mins in the oven. 5 mins to drizzle the lemon and another 5 mins to add the icing.

You Will Need

  • 70g softened butter
  • 120g caster sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 140g self-raising flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • zest of a lemon
  • 1 tbsp lemon curd
  • 2 tbsp semi-skimmed milk
  • 30g granulated sugar
  • juice of a lemon
  • 70g icing sugar
  • 1 – 2 tbsp water

Method

  1. Grease a traybake pan 20cm x 20cm and line with baking paper.
  2. Heat the oven to 180C.
  3. Cream the softened butter and caster sugar with a mixer. Add in the eggs and whisk again.
  4. Sieve the flour and baking powder into the mixture. Add in the zest, lemon curd and milk. Stir to combine so there are no dry ingredients showing.
  5. Tip the mixture into the tin and place in the oven once it’s up to temperature. Bake for 15 – 20 mins, until the cake has risen and is golden. Pierce the middle with a skewer and, if there is no wet mixture on the skewer, it is done.
  6. Leave the cake in the tin, and pierce it all over in about 15 – 20 places to make tiny little holes. Mix the lemon juice and granulated sugar, then gently pour it over the cake, so that it seeps down into the holes. Take it slow as, if you pour too fast, it will flow off to the sides.
  7. Leave the soaked cake to cool completely, then remove it from the tin.
  8. Mix the icing sugar and water together, then spread over the cake. Leave it aside to set (I find placing it in the fridge helps the setting process).
  9. Once the icing is set, cut into slices and serve.

Customise it!

This recipe is already customised, to be fair, so there’s not too much more to suggest. It’s based on one by Paul Hollywood (thanks Paul), to which I have made a few tweaks – the main one being to use only one third the amount of icing that he does. I can only assume he likes his icing laid on nice and thick!

If you don’t want to make the icing, that’s ok – the cake is also fine to serve without it (see my photo below).

I’ve been discovering some great new music since my return, so will be featuring this on the ADK Playlist over the next few posts. Here’s the first: The WAEVE is the new venture by Graham Coxon (out of Blur) and Rose Elinor Dougall. They’ve just released their first album, and I love the bass guitar line on this track, called Kill Me Again. Stick with it – it kicks in after the first verse.

Categories
Blog

A Night at the Opera

I don’t have a bucket list. However, if I did, one item on it would be an evening at Sydney Opera House, enjoying a delicious meal and some excellent musical theatre. What’s more, after this weekend, I would now be ticking it off!

Having been in Sydney for a few days, we had already seen the Opera House from a few different perspectives. It is prominently situated on a natural peninsula extending out into Sydney’s vast Harbour, which means it is visible from most of the bays, coves, trails and look-out points tucked away around the water’s edge.

My main photo, above, is taken from one of the many public transport ferries that pass it by, on the way back to the Harbour’s main ferry interchange at nearby Circular Quay.

For the photo below, I climbed up to the dizzy heights of the pedestrian walkway crossing the (equally iconic) Sydney Harbour Bridge.

This next one is taken on the terrace of the Opera House itself, on a walk out towards the nearby green spaces of the Domain and Botanical Gardens.

The world-famous building was opened in 1973, and has just begun its 50th year celebrations. The show we were watching was Amadeus, a play with music about the life of Mozart, told from the perspective of a jealous rival composer, Salieri, played by well-known Brit actor, Michael Sheen.

The show was great, my favourite aspect being the orchestral sound – looking up at those ceilings in the shapes of huge sails, it is immediately apparent that nothing has been spared on the quality of the internal acoustics.

I also really liked the fact that the building was designed to be spacious and social. We enjoyed a pre-show meal on the huge terrace alongside the building, in the sun, in full view of the Harbour Bridge and the passing seafaring traffic. A massive visiting cruise ship was departing just as we ate, providing further spectacle.

Interval drinks were served on a balcony high up at the front of the building, with peerless views from east to west across Sydney Harbour, as the sun set and the lights were coming on.

And what, as a food blogger, did I make of the restaurant meal? I’m pleased to say it impressed as well! Our party of four shared a range of platters of what the chef calls Pan-Asian Fusion. Our selection included vegetarian spring rolls with plum sauce, a bamboo basket of steamed dumplings with black vinegar and chilli oil, beef sando (a type of Japanese steak sandwich), karaage fried chicken, katsu curry and a dish of mixed sushi. Considering the location, the bill was very reasonable as well.

My final shot of this iconic venue I took as we walked home after the show, having had a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

Enjoying a little night music, in a play about the life of Mozart? This just has to be the next track for the ADK Playlist: the instantly recognisable (and, be warned, hummable) Serenade in G Major from Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.

Categories
Blog

My Halloween Party

So the ADK Halloween Party was in full swing, all my dream (or should that be nightmare?) guests having arrived.

I asked Jamie Lee Curtis to be in charge of jack o’lantern carving. She told me she’d first done this over 40 years ago, while babysitting. Clearly she’d been quite successful at it, having been asked by her employers to take it up again every few years since. I was very pleased with the results – see my main photo. She can come again.

Edward Scissorhands was sat at the kitchen table, doing his best to turn the carrots and celery into crudites. Opposite him sat Freddy Krueger, his nimble fingers at work on the party dips. I don’t want to carp, but they were both quite messy workers, and the ingredients weren’t as carefully or evenly chopped as I would have liked. But hey – it saved me having to get out the food processor.

Jack Skellington is a lovely chap, if mildly irritating. Every job I tried to give him, he just kept asking What’s this? What’s this? Eventually I put him in charge of sorting out the music.

Everyone seemed to be having a lovely time. I received a nice note from Michael Myers, saying how much he had enjoyed it, and that he would like to come again. At least, I think that’s what he meant – his actual note was left on the kitchen table, with the words on it, scrawled in blood, I’ll be Back!

What’s more, he had pinned the note to the table using one of my best Sabatier carving knives, damaging the tip in the process. I wasn’t best pleased with this, as you can imagine. Why the lad can’t just use a post-it note like anyone else, I don’t know.

All this really did happen, I swear. At least I think it did. The last thing I remember, we were all sitting round the table having a slice of the special Halloween Cake I’d baked, using those strange new mushrooms I picked down in the woods. It all went a bit hazy after that.

Jack’s selection for musical accompaniment is You Make Me Feel Like It’s Halloween by Muse. I think Matt Bellamy’s falsetto chorus reminds him of This is Halloween from The Nightmare Before Christmas, although the track is still unmistakably Muse.

I’m sharing the video here as it is a lot of fun. The setting looks like a cross between Disney’s Haunted Mansion and The Shining’s Overlook Hotel. Not a place you would want to be alone. After dark. At Halloween.

Whatever you are doing this Halloween weekend, I hope you are having as spooktacular a time as me.

Happy Halloween, everyone!


Categories
Blog

The Thrill of It All

This weekend just gone is one I had been looking forward to for some time. Tickets to see Roxy Music at the O2 Arena in London were a lovely surprise birthday present, and the day had finally arrived!

Roxy have directly influenced so many trends in music, from glam rock, punk and new wave to the new romantics and so much indie and electronic music since. It is difficult to convey how markedly different they were when they first arrived on the scene – an eclectic blend of suave crooning over buzzing guitar, blasting rock sax and experimental keyboards. Unique and original, they really were unlike anything we had seen before.

I have always been a fan of Roxy, and this show did not disappoint. The band performed lots of tracks that I have been listening to for years on vinyl and cd, and still nowadays on Spotify – Virginia Plain, Do the Strand, In Every Dreamhome a Heartache, Love is the Drug – to name a few.

Of course, with the passage of time, Ferry, Mackay, Manzanera and Thompson are all a little older and mellower. However, it still feels a privilege to be in the presence of the original band members when performing these era-defining songs.

My favourite track was Editions of You, played out at the O2 before an Andy Warhol-inspired backdrop, featuring garishly coloured lino prints of that famous Campbells Soup tin, and stars such as Marilyn Monroe and Jackie O. To these had been added vintage portraits of the band members from their heyday, in the same pop art style, acknowledging their own place in the pantheon of modern cultural icons.

I don’t know if we will see a tour like this again from Roxy, but if not, this is a fine way to remember the band and celebrate their wonderful legacy.

Categories
Desserts Recipes

Plum and Almond Crumble Squares

Those following on Twitter (@differentkitch) may recognise the above photo from my tweet earlier in the week. It shows a batch of lovely Victoria Plums, which have recently come into season and are appearing on our market stalls. This post shows how I turned them into Plum and Almond Crumble Squares.

I researched some plum recipes, with the general idea that I felt they would be great in a traybake. I settled upon one in BBC Good Food and, as usual, modified it to my liking.

The Squares have several layers, beginning with a biscuity base. On top of this is an egg custardy/almond/ bakewell pudding type layer, and then the subtle taste of the chopped plums. The main area where I modified the recipe was on the topping, adding rolled oats, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds to flaked almonds. This makes a crumble finish which is totally loaded, adding a toasted crunch as it bakes.

Servings

This will make 16 square slices (4 had already been eaten when the above photo was taken!)

Timings

Total prep time about 25 mins, total cooking time about 1 hr – 1hr 10mins.

You Will Need

  • 250g baking spread
  • 225g caster sugar
  • 300g ground almonds
  • 140g plain flour, plus an additional 25g
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon mixed spice
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 7 plums, stones removed and cut into slices
  • 50g flaked almonds
  • 50g rolled oats
  • 25g pumpkin seeds
  • 25 g sunflower seeds

Method

  1. Grease and line a baking dish with baking paper. My baking dish was 20cm square. Cut one piece that extends across the base and two opposite sides, leaving a little overhanging on each side. Paste a strip on each of the two remaining sides.
  2. Put the baking spread, sugar and ground almonds in a food processor with blade fitted. Pulse until it is mixed.
  3. Remove the mix from the food processor and reserve half of it aside. Put the other half back in the processor with the 140g flour, and mix till it forms a dough.
  4. Remove the dough and flatten it out with a rolling pin on a floured surface. You will not be able to lift it up in one piece (like a pastry base) but, as it gets flatter, lift it in pieces and gradually place these in the base of the baking dish. Press it down with the back of a spoon and distribute it so that it covers all of the base and at least about half way up the sides. It will all meld together as it bakes.
  5. Fill the base with a piece of crumpled up baking paper and baking beans, and place in the oven to bake blind at 180C for 10 – 15 mins. The edges of the base should be beginning to brown.
  6. While the base is in the oven, make the filling. Into the food processor goes the reserved half of the spead/sugar/almond mix. Add the 2 eggs, the 25g flour, mixed spice and baking powder. Pulse it to form a creamy batter.
  7. Remove the base from the oven and add the batter on top. Then gently press the sliced plums into the top of the batter so that they remain visible. Make sure that they are evenly spread across the whole of the cake – when it is cut into squares you want each one to contain plums. Bake in the oven, still at 180C for 25 mins.
  8. In a bowl, mix the flaked almonds, oats, and the two types of seeds. Give them a good swirl so that they are well mixed up together.
  9. Remove the dish from the oven and sprinkle the topping over. As with the plums, ensure even coverage. Gently press the nuts, oats and seeds towards the batter mix, so that they will adhere to it, and not fall off when it is cut!
  10. Place back in the oven for another 25 mins. After about 20 mins, check it and insert a skewer in the centre. If it comes out clear, it is baked. If it has some uncooked batter on it, put back in for another 5 – 10 mins and keep an eye on it.
  11. When baked to your satisfaction, remove and leave aside to cool in the tin. When cool, the base will have set and you should be able to lift it out in one piece, by gripping the two overhanging sides of the baking paper liner.
  12. Put on a board and cut into 16 squares. I find a serrated (bread) knife is better for cutting through the sides of the crust, so that these doesn’t crumble. Any other sharp knife will cut through the bottom of the base.

Customise it!

You could add other types of nuts and seeds to the crumble topping – whatever you fancy really. Just make sure you press the pieces gently towards the batter so that they adhere to the cake. Some of the crumble topping will still fall off and flake into your hand as you bite into it, but that is all part of the fun and indulgence of eating it. It’s food to make you feel good!

Categories
Recipes Sides Starters

Chunky Guacamole

Here is another recipe that is ideal for outdoor summer eating. This avocado dish goes well as a starter with a barbecue, or side with a salad eaten al fresco, particularly if accompanied by an ice cold bottle of Mexican beer. It is based on a recipe for guacamole by those motorcycling masterchefs, those culinary cruisers, those grooming gastronomes (Ed: that’s enough alliteration, thank you) the Hairy Bikers.

Servings

This will make enough as a starter, or side, for 4.

Timings

10 mins to prepare, no cooking involved.

You Will Need

  • one mild chilli pepper, seeds removed
  • bunch of coriander leaves
  • two medium sized tomatoes
  • half a red onion
  • juice of half a lime, plus slice to garnish
  • 2 – 3 fresh avocados

Method

  1. Put the ingredients in a food processor with blade fitted, and blitz until well blended, but still with chunks of veg visible.
  2. Er, that’s it. Scrape into a bowl and serve.

Customise it!

Serve with tortilla chips or with veg crudites, like carrot and celery sticks. The idea of leaving it a little chunky is so that you can pick up some identifiable pieces of the veg, coated in the creamy green sauce. It’s important not to over pulse it in the food processor to the extent that you lose the chunks and it takes on the consistency of baby food!

Enjoy this while the sun is shining on us – it won’t last forever. ‘Avo’ nice day!

Categories
Blog

Stairway to Heaven

Regular visitors will know that my blog is founded on the twin themes of good food and great music. When I discovered, therefore, that Warwick (where I am staying while at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games) has a great cafe at the end of a walk known locally as the ‘Stairway to Heaven’, I just had to pay a visit. And let me say straight away that there are no prizes for guessing the latest track to be added to the ADK Spotify Playlist.

The walk in question is a canal towpath alongside Hatton Locks – a flight of 21 individual basins within which the water level is made to rise and fall through the opening and closing of lock gates. This enables canalboats to gradually negotiate a total climb of 45 metres over a distance of 4km, via a series of steps.

It starts at Bottom Lock, continues through Middle Lock and (you guessed it) ends at Top Lock, which is where Hatton Locks Cafe is situated, in an old red brick cottage. It really is a lovely location, with fine views, and has a lot of character – the small cafe building crammed with canal boating memorabilia.

Two particular points I found noteworthy about the cafe. Firstly, it has one of the best ranges of speciality teas that I have come across in a cafe of this size. After some deliberation, our eventual selections were a strawberry and raspberry infusion, and a green tea. Secondly, the chalkboard outside implores you to try one of Debbie’s famous home-made scones. Tempted, we did indeed give one a try, with butter, and it was delicious (so thank you, Debbie).

Initially I had presumed that the name given by the local boatmen was inspired by the famous song. However, the canal has been here since 1799, and Led Zeppelin IV wasn’t released until 1971, so this can’t have been so. Maybe it was the other way round? This is not so far-fetched – the band are originally from the West Midlands after all. Is it possible therefore that this is the place that inspired what many of Led Zep’s fans consider to be the band’s finest hour?

I pictured Jimmy Page sitting here at a picnic table, taking in the beautiful views as he picked out the first few bars of that famous intro on his acoustic guitar. While sipping a lemon and ginger tea. And munching on one of Debbie’s scones.

It makes me wonder…

Categories
Blog Drinks

Save it for Later

Next stop on my foodie tour of the West Midlands, while here for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, is Hill Close Gardens in Warwick. It’s a set of Victorian gardens that was nearly lost to housing development in the 90’s, only to be rescued through the campaigning work of some dedicated locals. The gardens are now restored and open to visitors, giving an insight into how our forefathers managed a plot of land to feed families with a healthy crop of home grown fruit and vegetables. Additionally, it shows the role gardening played in supporting their wellbeing, through respite from busy lives as merchants and shopkeepers in a growing 19th Century English town. It’s a lesson many of us would do well to remember today.

At this time of year the trees are full of traditional varieties of English apple that you will not find on the shelves of our supermarkets. Golden Delicious? Pink Lady? Jazz? No, nowhere in sight. However, if you’re interested in seeing the likes of Cox’s Orange Pippin, Ross Nonpareil, Laxton’s Epicure or the wonderfully middle-England named Reverend W. Wilkes (shown in the photo above), then this is the place to come. They are here in abundance, weighing down the heavily-laden branches of some very old trees.

The Gardens are managed on a not for profit basis and run largely by volunteers. Other fruit and veg spotted on our trip included beans, plums, courgettes and beetroot, to name a few. It is possible to buy some of the produce, including bags of windfall apples, but I opted for a bottle of juice made from the apples in the gardens. It’s already been chilled and opened, and tastes delicious!

Back at #B2022, since my last post we have attended a couple more events. The Lawn Bowls at Leamington Spa was all about precision, skill and strategy, while the Basketball 3×3 at Smithfield a frenetic and action-packed race for points against a fast beating clock. Both were excellent spectator sports in their own way.

On the musical side, it’s good to see that the soundtrack at events and Fan Festival sites is featuring Birmingham musicians, like Duran Duran, ELO, Slade and Joan Armatrading. My personal favourites are UB40 and The Beat, who have many great tracks. I will get some of these added to the ADK Playlist. By the way, did I mention that we have saved some of that lovely apple juice in the fridge for later?