Cities.....

I'm going a bit off the foodie track for today........

I'm just back from spending a couple of days away in Edinburgh for a friends pre-wedding stag weekend. I've been to the city before but it was only for a couple of hours when I took a train over from Glasgow so I didn't really get to explore it nor did I get to experience the people.



Whenever I visit somewhere new I somehow visualise the city as a relative or person because to me all cities have their own unique characteristics. For instance I think of Barcelona as a favourite aunt. It welcomes you with open arms and you are really pleased to see it, it'll feed you healthily then want to show you photos, it'll enjoy a drink with you before tucking you in for a nice nights sleep.




Rome is a long lost relative, it's interesting to look at, you can stare at it for hours trying to work out which bits of it you recognise, it's a bit stand offish to start with and it takes a while for you to feel comfortable but once you have gained it's trust you feel accepted as one of their own.




Frankfurt is one of the cooler teachers at your secondary/high school, it reminds me of one of my physics tutors. It has an exterior of uniformity, it knows where everything should be but even so you know in the back of your mind that it likes to have fun once the working week has been completed.




Ibiza is your best friend, with it you'll have the absolute best times of your life. You'll also have some not so good and no doubt you'll fall out with it from time to time over something silly but you'll soon get over it and be inseparable best buddies again.



Edinburgh reminds me of a favourite uncle, it has interesting buildings that all have a story to tell, it'll treat you like a best friend and then most of all it'll take you out on the town and get you absolutely clattered giving you one of the craziest, wobbliest and rib achingly enjoyable nights out you'll have had for ages.



I'll elaborate more once I have the photos. I'm not sure the phrase "What goes on tour stays on tour" is applicable is this case because it was all very innocent fun.

Until then....toodlepip xx

What to do.....

Well I always thought it might happen soon and even though I do have one small task to do today after work I actually have a free evening to spend at home.

Yesterday saw the last semi final of Reading, steady, cook and the next action on that front is during the Eat Reading Live food festival on the 4th & 5th June. I'll be doing little bits and bobs throughout the whole weekend with some comparing and also a demo on stage on the Sunday between 13:30 & 14:00.

Eat Reading have secured Gennaro Contaldo to come along and open the festival. He of course has links to Reading through Jamie's Italian where he is a partner with Mr Oliver.

I really like that Eat Reading have decided to avoid going down the whole TV celeb route because then it becomes more about them than about all the great talent and produce our wonderful town has at it's disposal. Henley food festival took the TV celeb route and unfortunately that seems to be struggling to get off the ground due lack of funding. It would be such a shame to lose an event like this which means so much to all the local farmers and restaurants that put in all the hard work.

The next thing in the diary for me is a DJ set for Hat Club at Bar Mango, Reading this coming Saturday. I've got the 11:30pm - 1am slot which is probably my favourite so I'm dead chuffed about that. Hat Club is just one of the clubbing brands that I really like because they are all about having fun and not too pretentious about the whole clubbing experience.

Following that however I will be doing something with Bora Bora which if you didn't already know is one of my favourite places in the world.......not the paradise islands of French Polynesia but the beach bar in Playa Den Bossa, Ibiza. I'm not sure who they are having as the main guest but I really hope it's Alex Miles as he's my favourite resident there so hopefully he'll come and make and appearance in our not so sunnier climes.

Not quite sure of just how much fun Bora Bora is.........





And nobody has more fun than this man.......LEGEND is not the world..




That's it from me....toodlepip xx

Cameo...

So I've just got back from Pinewood studios after completing a sound check on a rather good new film and although I'm not at all mystical or religious in any way the odd thing that just happens by coincidence does fill me with a little bit of joy.

I was thinking whilst driving through Slough and a miserable, wet and cold January day how nice it would be to be magically transported to one of my favourite places on earth, that being Bora Bora beach bar in Playa Den Bossa, Ibiza.

So about an hour or so into the film there is a nightclub scene and who's there making a cameo appearance in the role of "Club DJ"?....................Oliver Lang, resident DJ and all round legend of Bora Bora beach bar in Playa Den Bossa, Ibiza.

Spooky Huh? Incidentally one of the tunes he is playing in the club scene is one of his own remixes of Blue Monday by New Order but I cannot find it anywhere on the t'interweb....very good though and I definitely want a copy.

The film by the way is called "Unknown" which stars Liam Neeson and it's due for release in February (official release dates here)

Following on from my good buddy James' blog post about Tescos I thought I might add my tuppence worth but this time concerning Waitrose....

Firstly I like them, they are my number one choice of supermarket without question but I do have a couple of gripes with them. The first is that they try far too hard to be nice and secondly is that they put people under the age of 18 on the express counters.

Now you might think that I'm being a little grumpy and perhaps I am because when I do my shopping I want to get my stuff off the shelves, pay for it and leave, I don't want somebody asking me how my day has been or enquiring as to my weekend plans whilst I'm at it and that's just on the normal counters..!!!

I most definitely do not want some spotty 16 year old asking me these exact same questions on the express counters. Especially since I've invariably been held up in the queue for ages whilst they all get permission to serve the booze people want and the cigarettes that are only sold from the very counters that they work on because they are not bloomin old enough to serve them without approval of somebody older........(and breath)

You can't even put the kids onto the main counters either because imagine what it'd be like with the oldies on the express counters?!?! They'd be wanting to tell you about their grandchildren and how their cat got stuck up a tree in 1964 etc etc....you'd never get away.

So the simple answer to fix all this is to just stop trying to be so bloody nice.

Just serve people and let them go on their way. I hardly think that your average Waitrose shopper is going to bugger off to one of the other supermarkets just because he or she didn't form a lasting bond with a high school student or retired post worker when buying their basketful/trolleyful of vastly expensive but superior quality produce.

I'm not going to stop using them because of it but I do find myself hoping that I don't get served by certain people in the express queue because I know I'm going to get asked the same generic questions. Half these people I wouldn't chat to if I was drunk in a pub let alone in a supermarket stone cold sober and gasping for a ciggie.

That's it..........rant over :-)

Workin.....

Dagnammit I think these antibiotics are taking effect !! Certainly not as coughy as I have been the last few weeks and an pretty good nights sleep. Having said that I'm probably going to completely ruin it tonight by smoking about 5000 cigarettes and drinking copious amounts of beer for tonight is Brandon Block night :-)

I'm a bit sceptical about tonight actually. I really hope it goes well for the promoters but with so many people nipping over to the Isle of Wight for Bestival I'm doubtful as to whether it'll get a great turnout. Not that it'd matter one jot on the night because we're definitely going to have a good time :-)

So if you're at a lose end and fancy a boogie then please do pop down to The Venue in Reading and join us (My DJ slot is at 1am)

On the subject of festivals I'm not really sure why I'm not so keen to go to them myself anymore. I remember years gone by when the highlight of the summer was the Oxford Mayday Ball. When that came around it was the start of summer...Festival season had begun !!

Great little festival that was too, there were about 4 tents, all linked by tunnels and all completely decked out and carpeted. Even the toilets were pretty good. Of course it was full of students which is a downer but the plus side of that was cheap beer.

I think the next festival I would go to after the Mayday Ball would be Homelands down in Winchester. Absolutely huge event held in the Mattersley Bowl which was like a natural amphitheatre, this big crator in a field where everything was set up. At the start I loved this festival but then it got a bit too big, a bit too commercial and when I stopped going it turned all a bit chavvy.....Needless to say that was the final year and it is now defunct.

After Homelands I think it would be the Gatecrasher Summer Sound System. The first year they did it was on the same day as England were playing Germany at football (soccer) in either some big competition or it was a qualifier for a big competition and they had these massive screens showing the game. It was a terrific day, really sunny and of course England won which just made the atmosphere electric.

Throughout the night in one of the main arenas they had the England goals on loop continuously behind the stage on more huge screens. Alas though I think this festival too is now defunct :-(

So after that would have been Godskitchen which is held in the exact same location as Gatecrasher, some airfield in Stratford-upon-Avon if I remember correctly. Pretty much of a muchness however it always seems to rain when I go to this one and in fact I think it was the last of the "biggies" that I went too.

The actual last one was not such a biggie but it was certainly more for me these days and Cocoon in the Park is now the only festival that is firmly listed as a yearly must do and the others I think I could take or leave.

Then in between these there were trips to the biggest festival of them all......Ibiza.

Hmmm of course where the festivals are concerned they've not changed at all have they? I've just got older.......

Still there.....

Damn this bally coughiness I have. Damn and blast and damn again.

It's not going to beat me, too many things on my mind to be bullied into submission by some nasty chest gremlins.

So this morning I realised that I'll not be able to make another trip to Ibiza this year due to other expenditure requirements. Still I've already been once this summer and I had such a wonderful time that I really don't feel too perturbed by not going again.

Terrible that the people in the news have to once again focus on the stories of drug misuse and supply on the island and not the fact that 1000's upon 1000's of people go there throughout the year and manage to have a wonderfully magical time completely away from this one road in one resort that these stories emanate from.

One report says that 97% of the visitors to the island are taking drugs !!! What a complete load of rubbish. Whoever grabbed this number out of the sky quite obviously has never been there and if they have it was to the "West End" of San Antonio which for anybody non familiar is just one street and a few bars off it. 300 Yards long at most!!!

The name "West End" conjures up an image of a sprawling metropolis of flashing lights, Theatre and Cabaret however this "West End" is merely a haven for juvenile delinquent binge drinkers and to be honest I am quite pleased it is there because it keeps the horrid oiks that populate this area well out of the way of the other quite fantastic parts of not only that resort but the whole island.

Take these propaganda reporters to Sands or Ushaia over in Playa Den Bossa or perhaps take them up for a stroll around D'Alt Villa followed by a shopping trip in Ibiza Town then let them decide if it's a drug fuelled haven of sex and shame. Maybe take them around the wonderful beaches at Benirras, Calle Comte, Salinas or take a boat trip over to Formentera.

Take them up to the round family resorts of Santa Eularia and Portinax and let them watch smiling children swim in the crystal clear waters and build sandcastles on the beautiful award winning beaches.

Have these people ever sat down to a lovely meal at Villa Mercedes by the port only a minutea walk away from the "West End"? Have they sat amongst friends with a nice ice cold jug of Sangria and watched the sunset by Café del Mar? Have they had traditional Paella over at Calle D'Hort while looking out over the sea to the magical rock of Es Vedra?................Maybe they have but it's just not news is it?

Yes people there do take drugs, not 97% of people though !!! It shouldn't be encouraged in anyway, shape or form but irresponsible reporting isn't going to do anything other than antagonise the problem.

It really winds me up how these stories are manufactured by people just desperate to get their names in print and forgetting what a detrimental effect it has on the lives of the people living and working there.

Apart from the exporting of Salt Ibiza relies solely on Tourism and with the season approaching it's end some dimwit journalists decide that there is not enough easy news to comment on so they jump on the first bandwagon they see, grabbing numbers out of the air.

Makes me laugh that these people spend years and years at university to gain journalism degrees thinking that they are going to be the next big reporter but ultimately what they end up doing is searching the gutter hoping to pick up on one scrap of news that might earn them enough to fund there next purchase of baked beans.

These are probably the same people that 5 years ago, on their summer year out, we're the exact same people the are reporting on. Harbouring a grudge because just like so many people who go out there each year in search of a dream they too came back with nothing but a big student loan and very angry parents.


Oh my I've gone off on one again................

Where was I................?

Right............ERM...........OK.........Pub stuff.

I think too that this whole pub malarky is going to cost quite a bit to get going even before we've got to a stage where we can approach potential investors. Lots of legal things to set up and lots of paperwork to pay these guys to mull over prior to making a full commitment so it still could be good money going nowhere.

Still there is absolutely no point going in feet first and making a mistake that could ultimately cost a hell of a lot more.

There is also the added value it gives to our business plan showing that we've deliberated fully and have taken very diligent steps towards ensuring that it is concise and achievable. All these things should stand us in good stead when looking for backers.

I'm going to make a start on designing a full menu during my spare time this week including complete costings, price breakdowns and profit margins etc etc. I need to make it pretty simple but also take into consideration the stock that'll be being used and how I can get maximum usage out for absolutely everything I buy.

Need to also make considerations for shelf like and storage conditions as stock rotation and ensuring that there is absolutely no chance of the food becoming contaminated by any nasties. I'm pretty good with things like that anyway but I think I'll enrol myself in food safety course all the same. These certificates are necessary for anybody wanting to serve food to the public so just as the NCPLH award it'd just be sensible to get it done right away.

Will be speaking to a lawyer later who has been recommended to me as a specialist in the licensing trade. I'm hoping that he'll be able to assist us right through this opening stage and then for all things necessary going forward.

Never spoken to a lawyer before, quite daunting really. Mind you most people I know who have been in contact are for negative things and not for such a positive things as this.

Another weekend has begun.....

Well it's everybodies favourite day of the week. Glorious Friday :-)

Today I shall mostly working but looking forward to this evening when I'll be helping out my fellow DJ cohort Keith Newman down at Mango in Reading. After last weekend perhaps it might be a good idea to pace it out a bit rather than get a bit too wobbly a bit too early. Still very good times and I'm actually fooling myself if I think tonight will be anything different.

This time however we will be inside giving the main room some serious old school classic house party vibes. should imagine that'll kick off at about 10:30pm but the garden is open from 9pm and it'll be free entry up until 10pm.

Before that however I think I shall go and have some rather lovely and tasty tucker over at the London Street Brassierre. Been a few times now and it really is right up there with the best Reading and the surrounding area has to offer.

The Chef de Patron Paul Clerehugh was one of the judges at the final of the cooking competition that I took part in and his comments about my dish after the event backstage we're just so inspiring. I was always acutely aware that I could cook a bit but what he said really made me realise that their was something inside of me, a talent I suppose, that need to get out hence why we're more actively seeking pub/restaurant opportunities than ever before.

After the final Paul wrote me a voucher entitling me to a meal for two at his restaurant for whenever I wanted to use it, and we did. It was completely VIP, champagne on arrival, whatever drinks we wanted throughout the meal and all the food we could eat. It was brilliant and such a fantastic and completely unexpected gesture.

Whenever I go to a restaurant I really try to have something different from the previous visit but I already know what I'm having tonight for a starter and that's the diver caught Scallops with Cauliflower Purée, simply amazing! I could eat that dish everyday for the rest of my life and never bore of it.

While in Ibiza a couple of weeks ago we (Carley & I) introduced Emily and Grandad to Aioli which you may know as the Garlic Mayonnaise stuff you get delivered with bread to your table at virtually all Spanish restaurants.

Well they both absolutely loved it. When you consider that at the time Emily was just 6 and Grandad would turn his nose up at the mere mention of the word Garlic this was some revelation. Emily asked if we could get it at home which of course you can from most supermarkets but thats the processed stuff and nowhere near as good. So you can imagine my surprise when I got home after a rubbish day stuck in traffic to find lashing and lashings of Aioli handmade my Carley & Emily. Let me tell you it was beautiful too, easily as good if not better than any I've had in Spain. So massive thumbs up to the girls. I'll get the recipe and have it posted on my facebook page very soon.

Following up the Aioli was a traditional Spaghetti Carbonara which again was perfectly executed by Carley and such a great comfort dish, so much so that I was asleep on the sofa within minutes of finishing it. I think it came from a Hairy Bikers recipe but I'll have to ask Carley and then if I can find a link to their site I'll stick that up too.

Only a couple of days to go and then we're off to Norfolk for some seaside shinanighans......can't wait to dip my toes in the cool, greeny brown waters of the North Sea.

Mind you one of my absolute favourite chefs Galton Blackiston has a Michelin starred hotel and restaurant up that way................hmmmmmmmm