Top 7 gigs of 2017

Top 7 gigs of 2017 

It's that time of the year again where I reflect on some of the best gigs* that I have been to in 2017. 

*like seriously THE best

Kovic

Kovic played support to Coasts when they came to Leeds earlier this year and I was instantly in love. Meeting Mark was a highlight for me because how lovely, is he! 

Tom Speight

I've been to see my mate Tom Speight twice this year and both times have absolutely phenomenal. 

These cute, and intimate gigs at the Louisiana in Bristol and the Oporto in Leeds have had a laid-back vibe and the banter kept on coming.

Dan Croll

No, I've never been to Tokyo but I hear that Dan Croll has. After ending the year on high with the release of his second album 'Emerging Adulthood' and a stellar U.K. Tour Dan ended the year with a holiday in Tokyo

Highlights included some beautiful tambourine playing by Dan Croll during 'Tokyo' and the classic 'From Nowhere' - which is actually my ring tone. 

Rae Morris 

Rae Morris is 'Reborn' with more pizazz and sparkle and she's absolutely fabulous! 

The Blackpool born singer with an ethereal voice and unforgettable stage presence lifted the roof off the Belgrave Music Hall with her latest hits  'Do It' and 'Reborn' as well As playing old favourites and treating our ears to some new tunes. 

Marsicans 

If anyone can, the Marsicans can. - I don't know why I said that, it just sounded cool.

The Marsicans opened the Stylus stage at this year's Live At Leeds festival with so much energy that they could have launched a rocket. And did I mention that they absolutely hilarious?

If you haven't yet, you really really need to go watch the Marsicans new music video.

Saint Motel

Saint Motel may not be an instantly recognisable household name....yet but 'My Type' and the saxophone intro in particular is sure to prick up your ears in recognition. You can hear it on the Now TV ad.

Whilst most swanned off to music festivals up and down the country I headed down to the Wardrobe on the 11th July for the most hilarious gig. 

A personal highlight has to be when a guy standing next to me asked AJ Jackson for a high five but got ignored and I got the high five instead. #winning

Coasts 

So you know how Coasts went on an epic 38 date UK tour during the Autumn, well guess who was at five of those dates in cities far and wide,. There was even a trip to Brighton.  

As readers of this blog may know, Coasts never fail to impress at their gigs but if pushed to choose my favourite date, it would have to be Bristol

The atmosphere at the was electric at the hometown gig and it was clear to see that the guys were really glad to be playing in the city, amongst so many recognisable faces. A very close second has to be Brighton, after all, there were balloons involved. 

Autumnal Favourites

I haven't done one of these lately, not since January actually so in case anyone was interested here are a few of my favourite things from the last few months...girls in white dresses and blue satin sashes not included.

First, let me tell you a little story about Neom Organics. I first came across the aromatic fragrance company when I was looking to buy my sister a leaving present when she moved to Australia (for a year) and I was taken in by the mix and match miniatures for the company that was 'scent to make you feel good.'

The problem was that it was actually a bit too good and I fell in love with their product range (so did my sister and she has been requesting more of their, best-selling pillow mist because she has run out)  and a trip to Neom Organics has become a quite regular item on my 'to do list'

My latest purchase (besides some Christmas presents) includes this candle for the Sensous 'scent to calm and relax range.' The whole relaxing thing is not something that comes easily to me, I'm a bit of a worry monster and get stressed out very easily so I love the calming scent of this candle which includes 16 natural essential oils including ylang-ylang, patchouli and frankincense. 

The first musical item on my list, because you knew there was going to be at least one is 'Waiting' the latest EP from Tom Speight. Because I know that I've been 'Waiting' to have this EP by 'my side' and I'll be looking forward to hearing Tom's debut album next year.

#TBT to my review of Tom's Leeds date on his debut UK headline tour  latest review coming soon

When the weather turns that little bit colder a good hat is absolutely essential and this season I have not one but two faves!

The first, a little beanie from Leeds based company In Music We Trust

In Music We Trust, run by Aiden Hatfield donates 50% of their profits to Mind charity to support people who suffer from depression and other mental health problems, a very worthy cause and they have some rather cool clothes too!

Hat number two simply says ' bunnies over people' which, as a crazy bunny lady myself I can totally relate to. 

This surprise gift from my sister is from Worried Potato and Co the merch brand of Instagram famous Bunny Mama. Lily, Edgar and Beatrix Potter most certainly approve of this hat. 

My final current fave is also of the musical variety, this time in the form of an album, from, you guessed it, Coasts. 

This Life Vol. 1, Coasts' second album was released in August of this year and I have listened to little else ever since. The band accompanied the release with an epic 38 date UK tour journeying to corners of the country, somewhere they had never been to before and reaching out to fans who flocked from far and wide. Before you ask, I didn't go to all 38 dates, only 5, including Bristol, Bath, Brighton (you can read the Brighton blog here if you want) Leeds and York.

Coasts are back touring in the UK in April and will be joining The Hunna on the European and Australian tours! 

The Life of Brian and other tales from Brighton

Being a crazy fangirl gives me the perfect excuse to visit cities far and wide including places where I've never been to before but have always wanted to.

So far I've been to see Coasts around the country, in Glasgow, Bristol and, old uni haunt, Bath as well as abroad in both Berlin and Hamburg......obvs not weird at all.

This time I was off to a place that fits the above description perfectly, as I have wanted to go there for aaaages now: Brighton.

We, my mother and I were staying at The Queen's hotel a mere pebble's throw away from the Haunt, where Coasts were going to be playing, and also on the seafront. Our room even had a sea view - result.

The plan was to drop off our bags at the hotel and then head toward the Choccywoccydoodah Brighton mothership, singing the theme tune as we went. I've been a fan of the Choccywoccydoodah TV show on the Good Food Show and was delighted when they opened their flagship store in London as this location seemed a bit more within visiting range. The day was finally here though, I was finally going to go to the home of Choccywoccydoodah....somebody hold me.

After a lot of deliberation, both online weeks before our trip as well as on the day (because they might have changed the menu) I opted for 'the most decadent hot chocolate' which not only included marshmallows and cream but also a chocolate straw, ice cream and GBBO fave, a stroopwaffle - I think I need a lie down.

My mother had the sticky ginger hot chocolate, complete with ginger truffles.

Unfortunately, possibly due to all the extra embellishments, our hot chocolates weren't all that hot but this was quickly resolved as we were provided with some extra hot water.

The Lanes of Brighton are well known for their quirky, independent shops, including the (rubber) duck shop, vintage sweet emporium and a number of antique and jewellery shops.

Foodilic, was to be our dinner time stop, after an evening stroll/ never-ending hike along the seafront. For a mere £6.95 you can help yourself to an 'all you can eat' buffet of colourful salads and healthy looking grub, we even sampled the fermented tea.

Outside the Haunt a man and his daughter stopped me to ask who was playing at the venue that evening, Coasts I replied. Ghosts? he said, well, that would be fitting, wouldn't it.

Coasts remain my absolute fave band to see live and they literally get better everytime that I see them (this was no. 11 in case you were wondering) and their infectious energy coupled with dance-worthy tunes makes for an unforgettable night. Highlight included (yet another) epic stage invasion during the finale and venue-wide hot potato balloon games.

After an early morning swim and a spot of breakfast, we headed off out again, despite the 70mph winds brought by storm Brian, in the direction of the famous North Laines. We had tried to get there the day before but had actually just ended up taking the wrong turn and ending up walking halfway up the coast instead.

North Laines is well loved by locals and tourists alike for its array of unique of shops, cafes and gorgeous boutiques including Beretun Designs by Linda Johnson where you can buy made to order,  hand-painted shoes, in literally any design imageable. The Wizard of Oz shoes on display were simply incredible and omg those Winnie The Pooh shoes!

I am currently loving the UK's love affair with proper ice cream and gelato. No longer do I need to venture to Italy and other European countries for a proper scoop. Gusto Gelato on North Laines was an unexpected find and I was totally blown away.

The gelateria was ready for Halloween with a variety of ghoulishly inspired flavour combinations including vampire's blood: red velvet and cherry, Casper: white chocolate and black death: liquorice. My mother and I had a large cup (4 flavours) between us and went for toasted almond, sea salted caramel and the themed flavours of toffee apple and black death. Totally divine.

Out of all the weekends that we could have chosen to go and visited Brighton, the week that storm Brian came to the city a visit was quite possibly not the best choice. With winds of up to 70mph battered the coast and killer waves crashing against the rocks it definitely added the drama to a trip to the pier.

Luckily for us, we were able to dodge the showers and take shelter in one of the Brighton's many cafes. The problem was was with oh so many to choose from I was having a serious case of FOMO. Maybe next time I need to go on a cafe crawl.

5 Blackberry recipes that you might have been missing out on

The blackberry bushes near us are fit to bursting point which is why, when my father and I meandered down to the bramble bushes we returned with 2kg of the berries! What on earth was I going to do with all those blackberries? 

Instead of going for just the standard jam route I was keen to try something a bit different with my berries and to see just how far I could stretch my punnets.

Cake was definitely on the cards so I rustled up a simple sponge recipe and added 200g blackberries and baked at 180°c for 1 to 1 1/2 hour.  

Second I set some blackberries aside for a smoothie which I will make with kefir, a fermented probiotic culture that contains many beneficial bacteria and yeasts, yoghurt and a spot of honey to taste.

Chia Jam

When I first got to thinking about what to make with my multitude of blackberries, jam instantly jumped to mind yet I was a bit underwhelmed and the thought at making another batch of jam (we still have some of the blackcurrant stuff left) so I racked the internet’s brains for other ideas and this one kinda stuck.  

Obviously, it wouldn’t be me writing up recipes without experimenting and changing a few things so without further ado here's my take on chia jam:

You will need:

1.1 kg blackberries

100ml lemon juice

100m water

150ml honey

200g chia seeds

When you hydrate Chia seeds they become gelatinous, which, as some of the readers of my blog will now (or maybe you just know this anyway) is why they are often used as a substitute for eggs in baking. Following this thought process, it can be assumed that chia seeds can be used in jam making instead of sugar to set the set the jam. n.b. you will need to keep this jam in the fridge though and eat it within two weeks as it has not been preserved like jam has and therefore won’t last as long.

So yeah, I guess I lied, that whole last paragraph was further ado. 

Method:

In a pan boil the fruit and lemon juice for 3-5 minutes to soften the fruit. If like me, you realise at the last minute that you have in fact run out of lemons, use oranges. 

Mash the fruit using a fork, masher or blender depending on how fine you want your jam to be. 

Once boiling and bubbling away nicely stir in the honey.

Add the chia seeds and stir once only before removing from the heat and spooning your jam into sterilised jars.

Overnight Oats

Overnight oats are very in vogue with the health conscious,  clean eating fam so here’s my version featuring…you guessed it…blackberries.

As you’ve probably guessed from the name overnight oats require being made the night before as the cold oats steep in the milk overnight and require zero cooking, it's really really simple to make too. 

I’m actually going to go one step further with my super-easy overnight oats recipe because though some other recipes require a blender, mine doesn’t.

You will need:

65/70g oats - depending on how hungry you get in the morning

225ml almond milk

2 tbsp chia seeds

75g blackberries

2 tbsp of honey (to taste) 

Method:

Fill the base of your container, I'm using a jar with a handle with oats and pour the almond milk until it covers the oats (you made need more) 

Wham the other ingredients that you want to use in the jar and pop it in the fridge overnight. 

 

I decided to serve my overnight oats with a spoonful of the chia jam (see above)

Blackberry Brownies

The sharp, somewhat tart taste of blackberries works well with the rich flavour of dark chocolate and for the last recipe that I am going to share with you (on this post at least) marries these two flavours in deliciously moist brownies.

You will need:

225g sugar

113g butter (melted)

30g cocoa powder

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp baking powder

125g plain flour

150-200g blackberries

30g walnuts (optional)

30g cocoa nibs (optional)

Method:

I’ve gone for another super-duper easy recipe for this one which is basically put everything in a bowl (except the blackberries) and mix well.  

Carefully fold in the blackberries trying not to burst them before you cook them. Spoon the mixture onto a lined tray and bake at 180°c for 20 -25 minutes. 

The Darker The Better; Chocolate Lock In at Hotel Chocolat

Last night my mother and I went to a Chocolate Lock In event at Hotel Chocolat in Leeds and to say that I was excited would be an understatement. 

Of course, as with most things in life,  events leading up the night didn’t go so smoothly. The numpty that I am first booked the 24th August date and then could’t make it. *insert sad face* 

Happily I was able to rearrange  our Lock In date to the 7th September without a hitch and I wasn't charged again for it #winning

My mother asked me many times that evening whether I knew where the event was, I replied that of course I did, it was at Roast and Conch. Turns out that I was wrong, no sooner had we sat down with our cups of teaolat ( I had the cocoa, chamomile and lemon balm blend whilst my mother had the cocoa and peppermint) than we told that the event was happening at the other store meaning that we had to make a quick hop, skip and jump over to Albion Place and abandon our cups of tea, such a shame because I liked that tea. a lot.

Upon arrival (late, of course) we were greeted by Victoria and Shannon and glass of Prosecco. The secret theme of the evening’s Lock In was ‘The Darker The Better’ so it was all about super -duper dark single origin chocolates. - Hurray! 

Chocolate confectionery has, in general, moved away from the core ingredient; cocoa and relies a lot more heavily on sugar content and other ingredients. Hotel Chocolat wants to change that by placing cocoa at the forefront of all of their products including the truffles, beer and spirits, tea and cooking products. 

A lot of chocolate that you can buy at Hotel Chocolat is made from a blend of cocoa from various origins to give the chocolate a well rounded and balanced flavour yet in recent years they have introduced a range of single origin bars to their collection and it was these that we were going to be trying last night, yet I’m getting ahead of myself. 

Once we were all assembled around the room and filled in on the fire safety procedures, Victoria talked us through the anatomy of cocoa pods, including the process of pod to bean to nib. Magically there just happened to be a nib for us to try. These nibs are  then conched - ground down to a liquor - which are then blended with cocoa butter to make a bar of chocolate. 

When you taste chocolate you use all of your five senses because proper good chocolate is about so much more than the taste:

Sight: the chocolate should be smooth and have a glossy look (if not it may require more tempering) You can read about my failed attempts to make my own chocolate, including the tempering here if you want

Listen: And by this I mean that you should hold your piece of chocolate up to ear where it will whisper sweet caresses.  

When you break your piece of chocolate in two you are looking for a beautifully crisp snap 

Smell: oh yes give that chocolate a good sniff and enjoy the beautifully chocolaty aromas

Feel: As I mentioned in sight, your chocolate should be super smooth and silky. (if it is coarse then the chocolate has not been coached for long enough)

Some chocolatiers/companies use vegetable fat when making up their chocolate but Hotel Chocolate insists on using only cocoa butter. This melts at body temperature which therefore means that yet will start to melt as soon as you pop it into your mouth. Heaven 

Taste: Ok so I know that looking, smelling, touching and hearing was difficult when all you actually wanted to do was eat the damn thing but the time has finally come to pop that scrumptious morsel into your mouth. Don’t bite it though! 

Instead let the chocolate slowly melt in your mouth, moving it around your tongue and explore the taste sensations. 

Every Monday in the Hotel Chocolat office the new recipes of chocolates are tried using the red and green card method. To avoid bias and swaying other peoples opinions, the tasting is done in silence before the tasters either hold up a red card, meaning that they didn’t like the chocolate, or a green card meaning that they did. Only then will they start to discuss the chocolate in question in more detail.  

The best recipes are then passed onto the members of the tasting club (that’s me) and undergo a similar testing process which then determines which chocolates will make it to the shop floor. 

We used a similar red and green card process when trying our selection of chocolates and I was very surprised by the variety of flavours that we came across in our selection of six single origin chocolates. 

To start we tried an 80% blended baton which had fruity and somewhat nutty notes.

The first single origin chocolate on the tasting board was 85% cocoa from Ghana which I felt had an earthy taste. 

Next up was the 85% Saint Lucia chocolate made using beans from Hotel Chocolat’s own Boucan plantation as well as from surrounding plantations. I very much enjoyed this fruity chocolate.

We turned up the cocoa concentration for the next chocolate, it was only a 5% difference but boy could you taste it with this metallic tasting 90% Ecuadorian bar.

One of the stand out chocolates of the evening for all the wrong reasons for me was the 95% Aracataca. This Columbian bar was very sour and had a bitter aftertaste. 

For the last two chocolates in our tasting adventure we went for the whole 100% : 

First up was the 100% St Lucia with enjoyable nutty taste with molasses richness. 

Honduras 100% was particularly memorable, much like the one from Aracataca. This tasted very salty and sour. 

Once we had tried all the chocolates in our selection we went back to the 80% baton, which after the 100% chocolates tasted surprisingly sweet. 

The thoroughly enjoyable evening came to an end with inshore vouchers where I opted to try the newest recipes on offer. 

Thank you to Hotel Chocolat and especially Victoria and Shannon for a lovely event. 

Click here to book yourself onto your own Chocolate Lock In evening