Bored? Get Twitter to choose excitement for you!

I woke up on Saturday morning...went to the gym and when I was finished, the day hadn't even begun yet and I was bored...really, really bored....
My flatmate was on his way to Porthcawl for a week and I had no plans...for a change....aside from tentative plans to meet some people in SW London that evening for a refreshing summery beverage!

So I decided to let my Twitter followers suggest what to do that day...I issued the #openbook challenge...

I, of course, had to leave the house first so I jumped on the tube to Covent Garden (had my second workout of the day when I decided to walk up the 192 stairs at Covent Garden Tube Station) and popped in to Forbidden Planet to buy some comics. By this point I had received my first suggestion from @CakeAndTequila which was to head down to the Tate Modern for the Miro Exhibition....

Now I had a destination...I popped in to Monmouth for a Flat White...declined the delicious looking/smelling baked goods (pictured above) and started my stroll down towards the South Bank.

I decided that I would need some fuel for my journey so headed into the Kowloon Bakery in ChinaTown for a bit of Pork Bun Action....as usual I was not disappointed by their selection (above)! The staff were as fantastically unfriendly as ever (this isn't a bad thing...it helps sort the wheat from the chaff in terms of serious clientèle vs tourists) and the prices still incredibly reasonable for a tasty snack. BBQ Pork Bun and Red Bean Cake in hand...I carried on my journey towards the South Bank.

It was a really nice day, so the walk down was extra special...I didn't pay any mind to the deluge of tourists, which in conjunction with the roadworks on Whitehall, would have really got me angry on any other day!
I was asked by a nice Eastern European couple to take a picture of them and their baby in front of Westminster...they were very grateful and that made me feel even happier!

A few weeks earlier I had mooched around the book market outside the BFI but not bought anything, on this day I wanted to pick up some new reading material and found a copy of this:

I've always wanted to learn more about Alec Guinness...legendary British actor that he is, so hopefully this is a starting point to some new knowledge for me...

I had made great time on my walk down, so went in to the BFI's cafe/bar for a couch based Mocha and comic reading session.

A short walk down the South Bank (past @CorkGourmetGuy's mecca, the Bulmers Enclosure) and I had arrived at the Tate Modern. Miro would not be someone who I immediately thought of if asked about my favourite artists...but thanks to lending a hand with my sister's A-Level Art Project on Salvador Dali when I was 16...it is something I have a certain level of appreciation for.

Like I said, I won't claim to know much about art, but I certainly know what I like to look at. Immediately I was show Miro's "Portrait of Viceus Nubiula" (below)

which I really liked the look of. From what I could see in the exhibition it was one of the only full body pieces he had created but the stoic look in the subject's eyes juxtaposed with the manic angles of his body and surroundings caught my eye.
I won't go on too much as my day certainly didn't end here, but there was one particular sculpture called "Femme" which I was quite enamoured with - sadly I can't find a picture of it online anywhere but if you get the chance to go and look, it is quite beautiful in its simplicity.

My next suggestion came courtesy of @AnnyBaxter who suggested I head down to Wimbledon to sample one of @CorkGourmetGuy's burgers at @TheAlexSW19. Another lovely walk to Waterloo, a short train journey and I was ready for my first trip across the threshold of a cracking boozer in the centre of Wimbledon.

I sat myself at the bar, took in a rather mediocre Newcastle vs Arsenal match (we drew 0-0...not a great start to the season) and was greeted by suggestions numbers 3 & 4 in quick suggestion. @CorkGourmetGuy suggested I try his ribs...which I did (above) and as you can see, I really didn't enjoy them ;-) Tasty sauce, good char on the meat and my fingers were suitably filthy afterwards!
Suggestion 4 came from Patrick the barman who recommended the new Bulmers Red Berries and Lime drink (below) which was nowhere near as sweet as I thought it would be...can't say I'm going to rush to drink lots of them, but it did the trick that day!

Suggestion 5 came from @aliceprocter who said I should wait there for her to join me so we could have a burger-fest together! I went for the Blue Cheese and Bacon Burger.....it delivered in a massive way - great size for the price, well cooked, very well presented and amazingly tasty. I am definitely looking forward to my next one...

So, a great day...did a lot of walking (so didn't feel too guilty about all the food and drink) learnt something new and made some new friends along the adventure too (for example, did you know @14thefrog is not "Fourteen The Frog" it is "One For The Frog"?)

Good chat, good company, good food, good drink and not a riot or looter in site...just what an SCGuy needs to keep himself entertained on a Saturday in London.

Popping my EdFringe Cherry...

As I've said, I've never been to the Edinburgh Festival before, but was ecstatic when I saw the number of options, variety of performances and sheer volume of people in the city....everyone was buzzing with energy whether they were promoting shows, going in to shows, coming out of shows or even queuing up for tickets!

First up was @Doug_Segal  with his Mind-Reading act. A full crowd in an upstairs bar at The Three Sisters, some technical problems, a lot of laughs, along with some pretty good mind-reading tricks allowed a good easing in for the night - we were all suitably impressed/amused...so we headed up to the Pleasance Courtyard to continue the night!

The Pleasance Courtyard is awesome - such a great venue....and that night it was the perfect place to go to escape the rain...which hadn't stopped for several hours now. We were recommended a show called "Peacock & Gamble: Emergency Broadcast" so bought some tickets and headed into the Jack Room....oh look - all the seats at the front are free....we should totally sit there.....

Immediately I regretted this - I was staring at Ed Gamble, thinking I'd seen him somewhere before (and I had...he compered a Sunday Times Comedy Show I had the joy of seeing with @anglikebang back in May) when he asked my name and called for me to join the two of them on stage to help turn the lights back on with the aid of their "Mucky Thoughts Helmet"...chaos ensued....if anyone reading this is friends with me on Facebook, the vid is online here.

We walked home in drowning rain that night, but spirits were not dampened...

The following day we hit up Ghillie Dhu for some brekkie before getting back out to see some shows at The Playhouse, E4's Udderbelly and The Bedlam Theatre.

Frisky and Mannish were brilliant with their classical take on some pretty hardcore hip-hop and a critical lyrical analysis of Katy Perry's "Firework" - turns out she's talking about recycling! Who knew...

Achieved a dream watching Michael Winslow do his thing - very funny man...can't say anymore than that really...

Other highlights that afternoon were definitely:

• Paul Daniels - you can tell he's been an entertainer for a while, audience loved him...
• Free Run - gripping aerobic abilities, dangerous stuff too!
• Shlomo - brilliant beatboxing, culminating in an amazing version of "Seven Nation Army"
• Idiots of Ants - hilarious sketches, split the audience attitudes, but everyone was laughing...
• Josie Long - very funny girl & I think I might love her a little bit...

Lowlight that afternoon was definitely:

• Neil and Christine Hamilton - in a word....cringeworthy....

Then we hit up E4's "Udderbelly" for Tom Green - 

He was great - I remember his TV show where he painted "sluts" on the hood of his Dad's car and then built a statue of his parents having sex, then erected it (hur hur) outside their house - but it's almost like he's grown-up now (he is 40) and his comedy has become a little more topical, but still kept its edge....after the performance he stuck around to talk and shake hand with the 30-40 people who had attended that night...he was a gent and had an eerie way of looking deep into your eyes when he shook your hand....

So, it was now Midnight...prime time for some Late Night Fringe, so off to the Bedlam Theatre for The Improverts

Very, very good improv skits from the 5 guys on stage that night....brilliant level of (very blue) audience participation...and it reminded me how much I love improv...nothing like the pressure of maintaining a scene to get your heart racing!

A quick drink at The Gilded Balloon (the oldest Students' Union Bar in Europe, donchaknow...) rounded off a perfect EdFringe experience...I shall go back....for sure...

More than 24 hours in Scotland...

I went to Edinburgh at the weekend...for two reasons...one - to surprise my friend Rick for his 30th Birthday, a party weekend organised by his lovely wife Maria and...two - to pop my Edinburgh Fringe Festival cherry! (Read more on this in the next post...)

Both went fabulously...starting with a cracking effort of an old-school "SURPRISE!!!" in Rick's well dressed flat which actually saw the birthday boy jump out of his skin and try to hide in the kitchen...win.

The highlight of the birthday shenanigans was the "Mini-Highland Games" we attended in a field in Gogarburn, organised by a kilted gentleman called Alec (and his dog Isla).

We split into two teams - Young Ones (over 30's)

and Younger Ones (Under 30's)

The highlights of the games included:

• Caber Toss
• Welly Wanging
• Shot Putt
• Golf
• Tug-Of-War
• Haggis And Spoon Race

Needless to say the "Younger Ones" won and celebrated accordingly!

Saw after our (slightly damp) victory, we headed out into Edinburgh to see some shows.

One of those things...

So, most people seemed enamoured with my Frozen Limoncello Cake posting...mostly for the recipe I suppose, this time I have decided that there will be less recipes and more chat...

I want to tell you all about a guy called Benjamin Reilly. He's a good lad...too good sometimes. He's the kind of person who more often than not, will put the happiness of other people above his own. It's quite a strange sight to behold...he's a fairly rough guy in attitude and vocabulary, but he's got an soft-centre. He's the kind of guy who will do things in secret for you and not claim any reward or attention for it...he'll just take pride in the fact that his actions have ended up making someone happy.

Ben is most likely the first person in a room to say hello to you, make you feel welcome and try to find out as much as he can about you. He's always the last to leave, but the first to offer to lend a hand. He won't be impatient if he's kept waiting, he'll find something to occupy his mind and can be creative with any situation..seeing the silver lining on every cloud.

I'm pretty sure we all know someone like Ben, he's not the only guy or girl in the world with a great attitude...but what makes Benjamin Reilly so special is that he's alone, despite being everyone's friend, an entertainer and a reliable fella...he's still alone. He often talks about how it doesn't bother him, but I can tell it does...this is something that needs to be taken care of.

I implore you, if you know someone like Ben...make sure they're okay...sometimes all it takes is to know someone is thinking of you to pick you up...so take them out for a beer, text them, call them...just let them know they're important to you...it'll go a long way, trust me...

Today I made food....

Well, first blog....ever....so decided to be fairly predictable and photograph my attempt to make a delicious desert and then include the recipe on my blog.

So here we go....it's a frozen cake, for want of a better description, it doesn't have a name yet so suggestions are welcome?

Ingredients
Madeira Cake (not pictured...I forgot to buy it, realised when I took this pic, so ran out to buy some)
Creme Fraiche (Large Tub)
Meringue Nests (6)
Lemon Curd (Small Jar)
Limoncello (The good stuff, not the stuff you give guests, the stuff you drink yourself...)

I used a 12 inch cake plastic cake tin for this as it is soft and will make it easy to take out afterwards - but a loose bottom tin works just as well.

First cut the Madeira Cake and lay out a bottom layer on your cake tin

Then drizzle over a generous amount of Limoncello ;-) Give the cake a few mins to soak this up...

Break up your Meringue Nests in a bowl, some big pieces, some small (I used 6 nests)

Add the whole tub of Creme Fraiche & gently stir together.

Then spoon and spread out about 2/3 of the mixture on top of the Limoncello doused Madeira Cake layer...

Then randomly dot big spoonfuls of a good quality, sharp Lemon Curd over this first layer...

Then, finally, cover this with the rest of the Creme Fraiche/Broken Meringue mixture and spread out.

Cover this with cling film and then put it in the freezer for at least 3-4 hours...you will want to bring it out to defrost for a short while before serving (it's a nightmare to cut up when still frozen!!) the old trick of warming the knife first always helps make the portions more controlled when dishing this one out.

Well, mine is in the freezer as I type...I shall let you know how it turns out...