Eurobeat
20 Oct 2008I’m not sure if I’ve previously described the European phenomenon that is Eurovision yet. I didn’t actually see the Eurovision song competition this year but I did catch the Eurovision dance competition spin-off which gave me a pretty good taste of the show.
Basically, Eurovision Song Competition is a televised singing competition in which different countries from the European Union have send one act to perform in the finals (not every country or the thing would go on forever – I think usually sixteen countries compete?). The best part, however, is the voting. Each country votes but you can’t vote for your own country’s act. At the end of the competition, each country is broadcast into the host country (and the live program) by video link to share the results.
The competition has apparently been going on for decades and has launched pop groups, including Abba, into fame and popularity. As far as I can tell, Eurovision in the UK is sort of like marmite. You love it or you hate it but very few people take it seriously. It’s incredibly campy and often quite stereotypical which is why it lended itself quite well to a spoof musical called Eurobeat which is now playing at the Novello theatre.
Over the weekend, Sarah, Steve and I went to see the show which a friend of ours at work had given rave reviews. Upon entering, we were offered a flag pin at random of one of the ten different countries “performing” that evening. I, of course, was Ireland. We were also told to leave our cell phones ON during the show as we would be using them to call in and vote for the winner (which was actually chosen by the audience and our votes were announced by video link. I was impressed).
Overall, the music was ridiculous, the parts were over acted, and there was no plot or storyline (it was, straight up, ten different acts competing for our votes, then the winner getting announced). But it was absolutely hilarious and so much fun. I don’t know if I’d see it again (as our work colleague had) but it was so much fun (I still have Italy’s song stuck in my head).
Now I just need to see the real thing.
Brioche
19 Oct 2008
Ages and ages ago (like, about a week), I decided I was craving something fresh baked for breakfast (it’s just occurring to me that I probably shouldn’t write this post right before breakfast. Oh well, scones are easy and tasty) and decided to try my hand at a bit of pastry. I have always been nervous about attempting anything that is meant to be light and flaky, more because of the time it requires – it’s always more disappointing when you mess up something you spend a long time making – but I found what looked like a fairly simple recipe on the BBC website.
Ingredients
Yeast Batter
2 tsp dried yeast or 15g/½oz fresh yeast
3 tbsp milk, hand-hot
1 tsp sugar
25g/1oz strong white flourOther Ingredients
200g/8oz strong white flour
large pinch of salt
1 tbsp caster sugar
50g/2oz butter
2 eggs, beatenMethod
1. Stir yeast into the milk. If using dried yeast leave it to stand for 5 minutes.
2. Mix in the flour and sugar and leave in a warm place until frothy – about 20 minutes.
3. Sift together the flour, salt and sugar.
4. Rub in the butter.
5. Beat the eggs into the frothy batter.
6. Stir in the flour mixture and work to a soft dough. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and no longer sticky.
7. Cover the dough and leave to rise until doubled in size – about 1-1½ hours.
8. Knock back the risen dough.
9. Grease twelve brioche tins 7cm/3in in diameter or twelve deep bun tins.
10. Divide the dough into twelve equal pieces. With each piece cut off a quarter and form the largest part into a ball and place in tin. Firmly press a hole in the centre of the ball and place remaining small piece of dough as a knob in this. Glaze with beaten egg.
11. Cover and leave to prove until light and puffy – about 30-40 minutes.
12. Bake in a very hot oven 230C/450F/Gas 8 until golden brown – about 18-20 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
Now, I’m not sure it was the lack of folding and chilling (often used in pastry making) or the fact that my flat was so cold that the dough didn’t rise properly (maybe I was just impatient) but it was pretty clear these weren’t the best brioche. Whether the recipe or my cooking skill, they came out incredibly dense without any of that light flaky inside I had expected. They still tasted great, with jam and butter, but really they were more like buns than brioche.
The Slug and Lettuce
18 Oct 2008My friend Sarah is better than anyone I’ve ever met for finding deals and freebies in the city – possibly because she actually reads the mailing lists for which she signs up instead of just deleting them like I do. Because of that, I’ve gone to free events, discovered Top Table (which I mentioned a last week), and witnessed the ridiculousness that is helium karaoke.
This week, The Slug and Lettuce, a restaurant/bar chain was inviting everyone on their mailing list to the restaurant for a free meal of tasters from their newly released fall menu. Never ones to pass up free food, Sarah, Steve and myself headed down to the Slug and Lettuce in Wimbledon to see what was on the menu.
We were a bit late so ended up crowding into a table with some other people (with whom we awkwardly didn’t exchange any conversation. Oh well, that’s London for you). As this was a completely free meal, I wasn’t expecting too much (we had to seat ourselves, and get our own plates and silverware) but the glass of champagne when we entered definitely started things on a high note. From there, we were immediately served from platers of Reggae Reggae Chicken Burgers which were by far the best sampler of the night – the burger was served on a sesame seed bun with a thick slice of pineapple and I kept hoping they’d bring around another tray but no luck.
The rest of the food was decidedly sub-par, pub fare. We tried chicken and lamb skewers, beef and mushroom pie, prawn and lettuce tostadas (with what I expected was a tartar sauce but turned out to be a huge dollop of mayonnaise), spring rolls, a hideously bad chicken carbanoara (I couldn’t tell what was the chicken and what was the pasta), and stuffed tomatoes.
Beyond the burger, the other two dishes that I might have gone out of my way to actually pay for were the goats cheese and roasted veggie tostadas and the vegetable tempura (which were really just deep-fried vegetables but still tasty).
Of course, I’m never one to complain about free food, but the whole reason for the promotion by the Slug and Lettuce was to show off the new items on their menu. Now, never having eaten there before, I can’t really say whether or not these items were a step up but overall it seemed a lot of effort for some fairly unexciting additions. After a quick scan of the menu, it turned out that the delicious Reggae Reggae Chicken Burger wasn’t even a new addition but part of the original menu.
So, Slug and Lettuce, I will always come by when you offer me free food. And I might even be back for that chicken burger. But thanks for the champagne and let me know when you update your menu again.
Thank you!
16 Oct 2008A quick note to say thank you to all of my readers – I reached the landmark of 100 comments on The Top Floor Flat yesterday (not bad for a blog that cozied into this domain name a little less than two months ago). I really appreciate hearing from everyone, in particularly friends and family I don’t get to talk to that often while I’m here in the UK.
Cheers! 🙂
The End of the World (and I feel fine)
16 Oct 2008As requested, a few photos of me and my friends from the End of the World Party the other night:
Lots of random people we don't know, and a big countdown clock towards our impending doom!
Sarah and Steve are on the left, I'm on the right and their friend Matt is behind me. I sort of half-arsed the Russian spy costume. It would have been so much better with a blonde wig!
I think this was going with 80's and not end of the world. Because if the world was ending and I was watching hula-hoopers, as awesome as they were, I think I would be missusing my little time left.
Scream! The world is ending!!
The end is nigh! And there were a lot of people there...
Some stranger lent Sarah a rubix cube costume... I'm pretty sure she returned it?
It was quite a fun night and if you want another perspective, check out Sarah’s article on Spoonfed about the event. I wonder how the world will end at 93 Feet East next month?
Meaghan Fitzgerald is a marketer and entrepreneur building and growing consumer and gaming products and experiences. A Silicon Valley native, she started her first company, DormWise, in 2006 which she later sold in 2009. Meaghan spent 7 years in London in early stage consumer startups, two years at Xbox as a product marketer for Minecraft, and is currently the head of product marketing for VR experiences at Facebook and Oculus. Meaghan writes here about business, technology, gaming, and marketing. She has been named a top