Anyone for hip hop brunch?

I’ve been pretty busy at work this week so it was nice to follow it up with a pretty chilled out weekend. On Friday night I finally got round to cracking open the can of Common Grounds I’ve had in the fridge for a while now. A triple coffee porter made with 7 different malts and 7 different coffees, it’s one of the sweetest, creamiest coffee beers I’ve had -  not my first can, and hopefully not my last!

Magic Rock really know what they’re doing when it comes to can art!
Yesterday I went to a yoga workshop called ‘From movement to stillness’. Well, the first hour was yoga, the second hour was ‘sound meditation’. I have to be honest, I go to yoga for the stretching and strength building, not so much the spiritual enlightenment, so I can’t say I connected with the vibrations of Mother Earth, but it was quite relaxing!
Today I went with a more conventional bit of chilling - we wandered into town for brunch at a place I’ve heard good things about but not yet visited. Bird and bear is a cocktail bar with a food menu, and at the weekend they do a ‘hip hop brunch’. I’m not exactly into hip hop, but I suspect Mr B himself would approve of  the old school beats being spun by the resident DJ. I say spun, but the record player may have been for show 😉. Just the right level of laid back for anyone nursing a hangover I’d imagine! The chorizo hash I had would no doubt help too! It was no surprise to discover the artwork on the menus was by local artist Whimsical Lush - with the birdcages and intricate copper pipe work walking in felt a little like walking into one of her drawings 😊

Lost in (90's) music

No blog post last week as we had company, and this week's is going to be a little different too! I could write a review of the Italian restaurant I went to on Friday - Bellini. The lasagne was as good as you're going to get in Dundee, and this was the panna cotta:

Complete with ice cream, strawberry sauce, chocolate sauce, wacking great slice of pineapple and Italian flag on a cocktail stick, naturally. The whole experience had a vaguely retro feel, in part because of the above, but also because my earliest culinary adventures would've been quite likely to involve an Italian restaurant, which would have felt like the height of sophistication back in the 1990's but felt oddly provincial on this occasion. I would put that more down to the specific restaurant rather than Italian restaurants in general!
Of course, it's also possible it was more to do with the 90's vibe that's been following me around this week after getting involved with a Facebook post that posed the question 'what's the best album of the 90's', which should have come with the subtitle 'how to lose an entire Saturday evening reminiscing about he music of your youth'. The 90's took me from 14 to 24, so included a fair chunk of school as well as my uni years, saw me in nightclubs infrequently but more than any other decade, and covers the vast majority of my cd collection. As such, it would be impossible to pick just one album to represent the decade, but I was pleasantly surprised to see some people liked my suggestion of Slight Return by the Bluetones! Anyway, I've whiled away some time today compiling a list, not of the 'best' albums of the nineties necessarily , but 20 that featured heavily in my version of the nineties - enjoy!
At the start of the 90's most of my music collection consisted of albums I'd borrowed from the library and taped, using my faithful 'ghetto blaster', so my taste in music was influenced by whoever bought in music for Gateshead libraries! Hence I'm including:
1. 3 years, 5 months and 2 days in the life of...Arrested Development. I have a very specific memory of listening to this in the car on the way to record my part for a cassette of traditional North East folk music all played by young people - an odd experience, made all the stranger by the fact that the recording studio was in the same place where they filmed a famous scene from Byker Grove: "Duncan man, I'm blind!" There's a test of your age....
2. Levelling the Land, The Levellers. I moved in folky circles in the early 90's and everyone had this - I can smell the incense and see the tie dye just thinking about this album, but it has some great tracks if you can cope with the didgeridoo interludes!
3. Everyone Else is doing it, so why can't we, The Cranberries. Their debut album and the first cd I owned, after winning a competition in the local free paper - the prize was 3 cd's from Windows music shop in Newcastle. I had to wait till Christmas to get a CD player to play them on....
4. Woodface, Crowded House, another one from the library. Four seasons in one day, and weather with you probably got overplayed at the time but there are some great witty lyrics on the album, and the harmonies are fantastic.
5. Automatic for the People, R.E.M. This was tricky picking which of their albums to include but this one takes me back to 6th form and endless debates about what Michael Stipe was actually singing on Man on the Moon. 25 years after the album came out and I'm still not sure!
6. Electric Landlady, Kirsty Maccoll, and not just for the cheeky title! She suffered crippling stage fright and didn't perform live for a long time, so I feel incredibly lucky to have seen her play the Heineken Festival in Leeds in 1995, along with the Pogues, and yes she did join them for a rendition of Fairytale of New York, even though it was the middle of summer.
7. Different Class, Pulp, who headlined the above festival. I always preferred Jarvis Cocker's slightly sleazy kitchen sink dramas to Oasis's swagger, and Blur's cheeky mockney act, but all three bands take me back to the ground floor of my favourite Edinburgh nightclub of yore, the Mission. Which leads me neatly on to
8. Dookie,  by Green Day. I'm not a fan of their later stuff, and the idea of a Green Day musical makes me cringe, but Basketcase on the dance floor of a sweaty rock club in 1995 was just perfect. To be replaced a year later by
9. Garbage's eponymous album, and specifically Stupid Girl. Shirley Manson is still one of the coolest women on the planet, and in a world of grunge was a welcome injection of glamour.
10. How to make friends and influence people by Terrorvision is another one from that era, showing that rock can be joyfully silly if it wants to be. I'm sure we even had a dance routine going to Perseverance...
11. Trailer Park, Beth Orton. Uni wasn't all about nights out - I bought this album off the back of hearing She Cries Your Name on the radio, and played it pretty incessantly to be honest. It adds a folky edge to the more electronic and trip hop stuff that was around at the time, which is why it makes the list over Portishead or Massive Attack.
12. Glow by Reef. Cornish surf rock shouldn't really appeal to me, but I do love Reef and this is one of three of their albums in my possession. I saw them play live and witnessed the bass play almost lose his trousers in a crowd surfing incident. They're pretty cheesy, but who doesn't like a bit of cheese now and then?
13. Fin de Siecle by Divine Comedy. I once walked past Neil Hannon in the Pleasance Courtyard at the Edinburgh Fringe - he's surprisingly tiny! He's also a genius lyricist, which is why I love this album.
14. Saturnalia, the Wedding Present. Not their most popular album, but it was the one I heard first, and still listen to fairly often. Rather like fellow Northener Jarvis Cocker, I reckon David Gedge would make a terrible boyfriend, but you can't beat a bit of passive aggression in a 'love song'. We saw them live for the first time this year, and my ears were still ringing days later!
15. Exile on Coldharbour Lane, Alabama 3. A bit of an oddity, that would have disappeared into obscurity if it hadn't beeen for the Sopranos using 'Woke up this morning'. Haven't listened to it in ages, but it's pretty funky.
16. Music for the Jilted Generation, the Prodgy. I've never really been into dance music as such, but there was a point in the mid 90s where there was some really exciting stuff happening in the crossover between rock, indie and dance music. I could have gone with Chemical Brothers, or even Fatboy Slim, but Prodigy were the masters. I was only briefly into them, but at my brother's wedding I did discover that one of his mates credited me with getting him into Prodigy and he's still a massive fan. I was quite tickled at the thought that I was the cool older sibling, providing a gateway to great music!
17. Screamadelica, Primal Scream, falls into the same kind of space to be honest. I was a bit late to the party and didn't buy this album till probably after the 90s, but it's considered a classic for a reason.
18. Become What You Are, Juliana Hatfield Three. As well as all the British Indie stuff that was around, there was same great college radio coming over from America whilst I was at uni, including some fanatstic female fronted bands like Belly and the Breeders. This album makes the list because the girl who borrowed this from me during freshers week was one of my best mates throughout uni, so I guess it was a pretty important one.
19. Expecting to Fly, Bluetones. This one takes me back to the student union, but actually I do still listen to it more than a lot of albums from that era.
20. Going for Gold, Shed Seven.  I know, I know - I've missed off Radiohead, Manic Street Preachers, and any number of other legendary 90s bands, but I was never that cool and besides I've always been a sucker for the underdog so yes, I will admit I prefer Shed Seven to the Stone Roses - it's probably an East vs West thing.

So that's a fairly random selection. If you asked me another day it would be a different list but that's what I've come up with today!

Busy, busy, busy...

So, that quiet week of just decorating the kitchen I had planned....
I did paint the kitchen, and it looks much better if I do say so myself, though I really should have done proper before and after pics:

That's the gist - it's not quite finished, as I wasn't really up for pulling out the fridge to do that corner when we're planning on replacing it soon anyway, so I'll finish it then. Of course I now have my eyes on the dark varnished woodwork in the bedroom for my next project!
Between trips to the shops for gubbins and the time it takes to paint a kitchen I didn't fit in any cycling during the week, but Saturday turned out nice so we rode along to East Scryne for ice cream on Saturday afternoon. They'll be coming to the end of their season soon so that's my excuse for going back so soon after my last trip!

We were probably a little later setting off than planned thanks to a couple of beers on Friday night. I had a weizen called Tropical Ralphie from an Amsterdam brewery, Two Chefs. I'm not sure if the fact the brewery is owned by two former chefs is a factor, but it did go nicely with my pizza!

I followed that with a cherry goze, from Victory Beer, an American brewery with quite a long history as far as craft beer goes. Definitely a hint of cherry bakewell about this one, though not too sweet thankfully! I'd say it was actually a bit pinker than it looks in the picture...

 

After a week of painting I decided to treat myself to a cinema trip on Friday. The independent cinema in town was showing Moon dogs, a Scottish/Welsh/Irish produced coming of age road trip comedy. It was either going to be terrible or brilliant, and I'm pleased to report I really enjoyed it. The Anton Newcombe soundtrack helped - music could make or break a film like this, and the shots of Up Helly Aa were well done. And the best bit? I had enough points on my loyalty card to get in for free - bonus!
Now for the unexpected turn of events.....my twitter profile must have me marked as a beer and cycling type - funny that eh? During the week, someone tagged me into a post about a competition Adnams were running for VIP hospitality tickets for the Tour of Britain road cycling race. As the opening stage started in Edinburgh I thought why not give it a go, and what do you know? On Friday I got an email from them to say I'd won two tickets for the breakfast club! The only slight downside is that we had to leave here at 7am to get there, but it was worth the early start. As well as a complimentary breakfast and programme we got a prime spot by the start line, so now I have about 200 photos of men in lycra, including Cav and Geraint Thomas - one for the cycling fans there!

Just a small selection there! Of course this was also the opening weekend for the Queensferry Crossing, so we drove across the Forth Road Bridge, probably for the last time, whilst hundreds of people got to walk across the new bridge before it opens to traffic.

So much for a quiet week, but we've had a great time today, and now I'm off for an early night!

Mythical beasts

Well that was a busy Bank Holiday weekend! We had my parents staying with us, which is always a good excuse to be tourists without actually going on holiday. We were even blessed with sunshine for the weekend, which has been a bit of a rarity this summer🌞
We didn't go far at all on Saturday - after a quick trip to asda for picnic provisions we drove over to Tayport where the RSPB were running an event to mark  the 10th anniversary of the introduction of sea eagles to the area. We had a bit of a wander around the harbour where we saw some wading birds, and a cormorant catching the sun.

I suspect this seagull had it's eye on our ham salad wraps....

From there we headed to the promenade to join the 'wildlife wander'. We didn't see any Sea Eagles, but the RSPB staff pointed out a variety of bird life on the sandbanks, including godwits, oystercatchers, a couple of herons and most exciting of all an osprey catching a fish! I've cycled through Tayport a few times, never realising the variety of wildlife I was probably passing. I still can't quite believe I got to see an osprey so close to home!
I knew there were to be talks by RSPB staff and volunteers but hadn't realised there'd also be 'dignitaries' in attendance, local MSPs Willie Rennie and Mark Ruskell, who is the species champion for the white tailed eagle at Holyrood. This is an interesting (and award winning) scheme linking MSPs with endangered species of plants and animals.

 From where we were standing it looking like it was raining pretty heavily over Angus, but the rain never made it to Tayport.

By evening it had clouded over, but was still dry, so we walked into town for dinner at The Bach. We were lucky to get a table - we only got one because a group with a booking hadn't turned up, which is frankly their loss. The menu's changed slightly since we last had dinner there, to a more tapas style approach, which works pretty well.

I went with a pulled lamb khobez and the vegetable tagine, both of which I'd recommend. The menu suggests two or three plates per person - I'd suggest sticking with two if you want a dessert. I went with the affogato since this is a pretty coffee obsessed place!

From there it was on to (sshh!) the secret bar to introduce my parents to the combined joys of prohibition era Swing music and deadly cocktails.....

The barman seemed pretty excited at dad's choice - turns out it's his own recipe and has so far got him to the regional heats of a national competition, so assuming we followed the instructions on the card correctly we may have helped him on his way to the final in London, so good luck Dimitrios!
We'd sort of planned to walk home but in a stroke of good fortune we managed to pretty much walk out of the bar and on to a bus home - bonus!

Sunday was shaping up to be another nice day, so after a lazy breakfast we headed off to Falkirk to see the Kelpies.  We've passed them on the road before but never visited so didn't really know if it would fill an afternoon, but with the Falkirk Wheel and Callendar House as back up we were confident we could keep busy. We parked at Falkirk football stadium as recommended by the Kelpies website, and took advantage of the stadium cafe to grab lunch before heading through the Helix park to the Kelpies. You may have seen pictures of the Kelpies, or even seen the maquettes that tour around, but nothing quite prepares you for the scale of them.

It might seem odd paying for a tour of a sculpture, but it was well worth it to get a view from inside Duke, the head down Kelpie. There were only 5 of us in our group, and I think the guide was more used to large groups, including children, but we all sort of went along with it!

And this is what you have to do to fully appreciate the space....

After coffee and cake, we wandered along the canal, and watched a boat going through a lock before heading back to the car.

It was getting on a bit by this time, but it would have been a shame not to see the Falkirk Wheel at all.  We arrived just before closing time, and in a great bit of timing, just in time to see the last turn of the day.

It really is a remarkable feat of engineering, as impressive as the canals it joins. From there it was home for a late dinner of paella - any excuse to get the big paella pan out!

Not very authentic - apparently Spaniards would never put chorizo in a paella, but I always do!
So a very enjoyable weekend all round, and now for a week off, which means my next post will probably involve tales of decorating the kitchen.....
Oh, the mythical beasts are the Kelpies incidentally, which eat people in case you wondered 😲

Ed Fringe Pt 2 - A Chap Hop Education

I did say there'd be another Edinburgh post so here it is! A couple of months ago, during a bit of a mammoth Youtube session, our friends Sarah and Steve introduced us to Chap Hop artiste extraordinaire, Mr B, The Gentleman Rhymer, via his track Chap-Hop History.  In a lovely bit of serendipity, I was browsing the cabaret section of the Ed Fringe website to see if Lilli La Scala had a show on this year (no she didn't - boo!) and noticed Mr B was doing a 3 night run, marking a decade of Chap Hop. I duly messaged Sarah, and a plan was soon afoot for a Thursday evening in Edinburgh. On a school night. I'm not daft though - I booked Friday off work.
So after tea on Thursday we headed through to Edinburgh. The show didn't start till 10.30 so we headed to the Guilford Arms for a couple of pre show drinks.

We managed to grab a slightly odd sunken area - taking snug to a whole new level. Yes, that is my legs reflected in the mirror in case you wondered...
That's not a huge can of beer - just a slightly ridiculous half pint pot. As you can see, it was a dark beer kind of night, just for a change (!). Chew Chew by Fallen Brewing is a sweet, salty dessert of a beer - delicious. I followed that with an Orinoco Breakfast Stout, in the hope that all the coffee in it would keep me awake for the duration!
From there we headed around the corner to the Voodoo Rooms, which is part of the old Cafe Royale. Actually, the rest of the building still is the Cafe Royale, so that was a blast from the past.  The first couple of times I went to the Fringe we went to the Big Value Comedy Show in there, so it was odd walking through the redecorated bar to get to the ladies loos, which I can report are unchanged in the 10 plus years since we were last there!

The black and gold decor is an interesting look. We had time to buy a drink before heading into the ballroom - I decided to be a creature of habit and went for another Orinoco.
We were welcomed to the ballroom by Mr B's impeccably presented butler, Carshalton and made our way to the front row.  The rest of the audience must have been to one too many Fringe shows where that would be an ill advised choice as nobody else wanted the front row!
Despite suffering from a bout of 'Fringe flu' Mr B proceeded to delight the audience with a selection of new and old material. I say that - I have no idea how the rest of the audience were taking it as we were too busy enjoying the show ourselves to ever turn around and check. I even got to dust off my favourite (only) Chas and Dave fact - don't ask.....
An hour isn't long to cover a decade of music, so I was glad he included 'Songs for Acid Edward', not that I was ever a raver. I'm a bit too young for that, so it's more a trip down memory lane to the school disco than a ragga tip. Not sure David was impressed by my sweet dance moves, but he's learned to expect it 😊😁
Some pretty good stuff from the current album There's a rumpus going on too. (That link will only work if you're a bandcamp user by the way)
 Thanks to Sarah for this photo - as you can see, we pretty much had the best seats in the house!







The lucky chap got to have his photo taken with two lovely ladies after the show 😎

Backlit by the gents loos - lovely!  As an aside, if you don't think you've heard Mr B, and you're a similar age to me, you almost certainly will have done, in his previous guise as 'that bloke from Collapsed Lung, who did that Eat My Goal song'. Who'd have thunk it?

It was actually a nice sunny day today, without any rain forecast, so I decided to get the bike out and head up to Monikie, and then on to East Scryne farm for a cuppa and cake. I've stopped there a couple of times for icecream, made with their own berries, and very good it is too. I must have looked hungry as the slice of cake I got would have done two people - shiny new helmet included for perspective!

 

I knew the kiltwalk was on today, and the route started in St Andrews and finished in Monifieth, but I'd slightly misjudged how long it would take people to complete, so I found myself passing walkers all the way from Monifieth to Grassy Beach. Still, my bike bell is the jolliest bike bell ever so I gave an encouraging ting every so often. I had to stop shouting 'You're nearly there' after a while though, as it would probably have sounded more sarcastic than it was meant!