Tibits Restaurant Review

You think of many things when you think of a vegetarian restaurant but Tibits won’t fit into them. It is a gorgeous, trendy, classy and buzzing restaurant in Heddon Street, off Regent Street. Established 2 years ago, Tibits offers over 40 different delicious, nutritious and healthy yet affordable vegetarian dishes. Tibits is closely associated with Hitl in the Zurich, the oldest vegetarian restaurant in the world. 

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The stylish restaurant is also affordable, you pay by the pound. You go to the food boat and choose what you want from over 40 different foods from a food boat buffet and then they weigh your plate at the end. The simple labeling system makes it easy to avoid allergies and things you can’t eat.

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The atmosphere was fantastic, very warm and friendly. The staff could not have been more welcoming. We went on a Monday night (the day after the big storm) and yet the place was packed. I got the impression Tibit gets a lot of regular customers. To start with I had a drink of fresh orange and carrot juice. I can really recommend this combination. The sweetness of the orange juice goes really well against the earthiness of the carrot. We also had some alcoholic cocktails; a Tequila Sunrise and a Mojhito. I also had a fantastic pint of dark organic lager which I recommend for those who like beer.

For our food we greedily piled on as many different things as we could onto our plates.

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The food was all very vibrant and fresh. Everything I ate felt healthy. One of Tibits principles is that they use seasonal produce. The food certainly captured Tibits slogan – ‘Food that loves you back’.

There were a lot of big different flavors across the options, I can promise you your pallet will not be bored. In fact I’m not sure I’ve experienced so many different flavors and textures in a single meal before, it was a real treat.

 

I have a little bit of everything. I had guacamole, frittata, olives, potatoes wedges, tofu, falafel, cottage cheese and lots of different salads.

photo 2 (7)I really loved the dal and spinach dish. It was very subtle and had a beautiful creamy texture. Another highlight was the pumpkin salad which tasted nothing like the pumpkins I’ve had in the past. It was full of flavour and delicious.The onion rings were great and a million miles away from the oily mess I have experienced before from fast food restaurants. I was actually quite shocked at the difference after I ate one. The sauces such as the hummus and guacamole were very well made and a delight.

For dessert I have Panna cotta, sticky toffee pudding and mango mousse. Once again we piled our plates as you can see.

The mango mouse was light fluffy and creamy. It was very light and fresh and the mango was subtle.

The Pana cotta was excellent. I’m not usually a fan of Panna cotta but the texture and flavor of this one was different and in my opinion much better than what I am used to. Again it was smooth light, creamy and delicious. The stick toffee pudding was warm sticky and sweet.

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It is all high quality and the prices are very reasonable. The staff are friendly and even though we reviewed Tibits on a Monday it was busy. Don’t think you need to be a vegetarian or a health nut to enjoy the food. You don’t. We will be returning.

12-14 Heddon Street, London.

http://www.tibits.co.uk/

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10 Ways to Take Stunning Portraits

Emilia FoxIf you have ever had your portrait taken and wondered at how the photographer created such amazing images of little ol’ you, then you’ll be surprised to hear that people are actually the easiest subjects to photograph. Unlike the natural world, people are actually willing and interested in having their picture taken and that puts you the photographer, in control. All of the elements of good photography are in your hands. You choose the subject, the light, potential themes, colours, etc. Technical details are not so important, the key here is imagination. SmugMug knows a thing or two about good photography and have compiled 10 tips to help you enhance your portrait skills. Watch out David Bailey!

1. Alter Your Perspective – Some of the best portraits are the ones that break the rules. So instead of shooting your subject at eye level, try changing the angle, either get up high and shoot down on your subject or get as close to the ground as you can and shoot up. Either way you will see your subject from a different perspective which will instantly add interest.

2. Play with Eye Contact – A strong gaze will give a powerful impact to your photograph and will also create a real sense of connection between the subject and those viewing. The direction of your subject’s eyes can also give character to your image. For example, you can create a little intrigue by making your subject look off camera, at something hidden from the viewer. Alternatively, you can give your subject something to look at that is inside the frame, creating a second point of interest and a relationship between it and your primary subject. This will also help create a ‘story’ within the image.

3. Look for a Full Range of Emotions – This is a particularly good advice when taking family portraits. Do not just take pictures when a scene seems sweet. Every emotion a parent, sibling, or child display is worth capturing—fascination, tears, passion, even boredom. Interaction between family members will prompt these emotions.

4. Experiment with Lighting – The power of lighting is sometimes overlooked and there are almost unlimited possibilities when it comes to using light in portraits. For instance, side-lighting can create mood, whilst backlighting and silhouetting your subject to hide their features can be powerful. Window light is also very beautiful for taking photos indoors, but you will need a reflector to put light back onto the shadowed side of your subject’s face. You can buy a reflector or even try making your own from a large piece of white card or a white sheet.

5. Move Your Subject Out of their Comfort Zone – Head and shoulder shots and other standard pose images can be nice but will they really make your picture stand out from the crowd? Agree with your subjects to create something special and out of the box, make them jump for instance or do something with their body that might sound silly at first but might turn out to be surprising and create a unique portrait.

6. Shoot Candidly – Posed portraits can sometimes limit your creativity and also block your subject to standard expressions. Adopting a candid approach is particularly good when photographing children or really any active subject that is changing their position or pose in quick succession.

Photograph your subject in a familiar space or doing something that they enjoy. This will put them more at ease, reacting naturally to the situation that they are in. Get them to have some fun and be spontaneous. The resulting photos will be full of life.

7. Use Accessories – Your subject still need to be the main point of interest but by adding accessories to your shot such as a piece of jewellery, a hat or simply a beautiful textured fabric you will instantly create another point of interest that will help enhance your subject and add an extra layer of depth.

8. Play with Background – Once again, the person in your portrait should be the main point of interest. However, you can dramatically alter the mood in a shot when you place your subject in different contexts. For example, choose a dramatic or colourful background, or be as minimalistic as possible and make you subject stand out. Experimenting is the key.

9. Go with a Wide Angle – Shooting with a wide angle lens can help produce creative and memorable portrait shots. Often overlooked as just a landscape lens, a wide focal length can open up a whole new world of opportunities and, contrary to popular belief, you can still get a flattering portrait of your subject – you just need to shoot in a slightly different way. If you are planning to take a distorted style wide angle portrait it is crucial to make the effect look as deliberate as possible, otherwise it will simply seem as if you have used the wrong lens.

10. Share Your Photos with the Right Tools – Finally, what’s the point of taking stunning portraits if nobody sees them? You can share your portraits with your friends and family by using SmugMug. With secure photo sharing you can create an online photo album where you can store and share all of your photographs in a simple, safe and secure place.

Visit www.smugmug.com for a free 14-day trial. Membership starts at $5/month.

When Celebrities Get Too Sensitive: Did Mindy Kaling & Michael Fassbender Overreact?

I recently read an interview with Mindy Kaling in Parade magazine. It was then made into a meme in Upworthy, which I then saw on Facebook (got that?) Well, let me get back to the point. I think Mindy Kaling is amazing. She has achieved so much and is funny and talented. Not for an Asian woman, nor one who is not supermodel thin, just as a woman.

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This is what she said, ‘“I always get asked, ‘Where do you get your confidence?’” she says. “I think people are well meaning, but it’s pretty insulting. Because what it means to me is, ‘You, Mindy Kaling, have all the trappings of a very marginalized person. You’re not skinny, you’re not white, you’re a woman. Why on earth would you feel like you’re worth anything?’”

I think Kaling is being super sensitive here. I am white, I am (relatively) skinny, a UK size 8/10 and you know what? People ask me where I get my confidence all the time. Because that is the thing about confidence, when people have the courage to go for their dreams and work hard, everyone else wants to know how to do it too. I get asked where I get my confidence in interviews, at parties, by friends and family, and as a writer, I also ask other people where they get their confidence, not because they are an ethnic minority or different in any way, but because it is a question people want to know the answer to. Hell, I always want to know the answer because even though I come across as confident, I have my off days.

So Mindy, I love you, I really do. You are gorgeous, funny, witty and super successful, but sometimes a question is just a question or like Freud said: A spade is just a spade.

Now for Michael Fassbender. Fassbender has been complaining about people talking about his penis. Apparently this would never happen to a woman. Really Michael? Are you kidding? People have been talking about Sharon Stone’s Basic Instinct vagina for decades. ‘It wouldn’t be acceptable it would be seen as sexual harassment, people saying [to an actress], “Your vagina …” You know?’ he complained.

I don’t know if you have seen Shame but I have. If you don’t want people to discuss your penis maybe don’t get it out in such graphic detail. And as for this not happening to woman; it happens to woman all the time. Screenshots are taken and put on porn sites, Seth MacFarlane’s ‘Boob Song’ happens at the Oscars (which didn’t upset me even if it upset many others, you can’t do nudity in a film and then get offended when people mention it) and in films such as Knocked Up, nudity by women is talked about openly. Even the Daily Mail and celebrity magazines take screenshots from both sexes and publicise it out of context. Which is why nudity in a film is never just of that film, it is now you, naked, all over the internet and media for the rest of time. It is not fortunate, or even moral, it just is.

 

Reasons My Kid Is Crying by Greg Pembroke Review

20131101-144258.jpg Every now and then we get sent something at Frost Magazine that changes our way of thinking. For me Reasons My Kid is Crying was one of those things. I don’t have any children, and, boy, did this make me happy about that.

Ingenious and hilarious, possibly inappropriately so. This is the funniest book I have read since ‘Who Moved My Blackberry?” which was YEARS ago. Buy someone this for Christmas, they will love you forever.

It all started when busy father Greg Pembroke posted a few pictures online of his three-year-old son, mid-tantrum, alongside the reason his son was crying: He had broken his bit of cheese in half. This book collects together photos sent to Greg from parents around the world, documenting the many, completely logical reasons why small children cry. (‘I let him play on the grass’ . . . ‘We told him the pig says “oink”’ . . . ‘The neighbour’s dog isn’t outside’). Together, they are both a fond portrait of the universal, baffling logic of toddlers – and a reminder for burned-out parents everywhere that they are not alone.

I love this book and I if I never procreate, this is why. Check out Greg’s Tumblr here.

Buy Reasons My Kid is Crying here.

From Yes To I Do: The Wedding Guide For A Modern Bride Review | Weddings

From Yes To I Do: The Wedding Guide For A Modern Bride, Review, book reviewAfter the initial joy of being engaged comes something else: realising just how hard and expensive it is planning a wedding. You need all the help you can get. I am planning my wedding at the moment and, trust me, it gets overwhelming. Step in From Yes to I Do: A Wedding Guide for a Modern Bride Can this guide save money, tears and tantrums? Let’s find out.

I immediately have faith in the book when I read that Lucy Tobin is married and has planned a wedding. Few things are worse than a guide book from someone who has no experience of the subject at hand. The book gets all of the nitty gritty our of the way first: the administration and finer details. The budget, the practical business of getting married…even then the book is not boring. It is well written and not stuffy. I love the graphs, tables and the ‘I wish I’d thought of that’ scenarios from real couples.

The Top 10 Money Saving ideas is brilliant and has already saved me a ton of money. There are so many things you just don’t think of. The book also tells you how much other people spend on weddings, and what celebrities paid: the depressing thing about the celebrity list is how many of them are actually still married; five out of twelve. I love the illustrations in the book too.

From Yes To I Do covers everything from the running order, the speeches and what music to use when. This guide really is invaluable. The chapter on how much booze to have and how to save costs is invaluable. I love all of the facts that I have learned and it is fun too. Don’t get married without it. A wonderful and thoroughly researched book. And a bargain when you think about how much bridal magazines cost.

From Yes to I Do: A Wedding Guide for a Modern Bride

Texas Joe Pop Up Restaurant At Brewdog Shoreditch Review

We traveled to Shoreditch for a taste of the US: The Texas Joe food is proper American food from the heart of Texas. Well, almost. Quite a lot of it is spicy, there is a lot of meat, and it all tastes and looks authentic.

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I had the sampler; beef brisket- cooked perfectly and very tender, smoked chicken-very tasty and well-smoked, Brewdog Shoreditch had to remove two doors to get the smoking machine in, hot link sausages- proper meaty sausages, taste great and slightly spicy, beef rib-the rib was huge and very well done. The sampler also comes with beans, chilli and sauce.

On the side we had chilli cheese fries and jalapenos stuffed with brisket and cheese and then wrapped in bacon. Rather stupidly, I underestimated how hot the jalapenos would be. The chilli is also hot (I know, obviously). My colleague had the hot link sausages, he pointed left to right to the food (chilli cheese fries, hot link sausages and stuffed jalapenos) hot, hot and hotter he said.

If you love meat and you love spice you will love the Texas Joe pop up restaurant. There are things that are not spicy though. Like the smoked chicken. The food is good and authentic. It is hearty, filling and very American. Very different.

On the side we had beer from Brewdog. I don’t like beer but I had a raspberry fruit beer which was actually nice. My colleague loved the beer he had, which can be seen below. Brewdogs ‘punk’ beer is anti the big brand generic lagers. Brewdog refuses to compromise on ingredients for its beer to save on costs just to boost profits. It shows in the taste as well. The beer is excellent and noticeably better.

photo 4 (4)Dragon’s Den star Joe Walters has today announced the launch of his pop-up Texan BBQ at BrewDog Shoreditch. The maverick cowboy will be cooking up a storm in the East London venue, following his standout pitch for his beef jerky company on the BBC 2 entrepreneurial show in August. Texas Joe’s BBQ will serve a full range of smokin’ Southern delights including slow-cooked brisket, beef ribs, chili-dogs and fresh cornbread.

The first Texas Joe’s BBQ will be hosted at BrewDog Shoreditch, and the company plans to open a series of standalone restaurants in the coming months.

The opening of his first pop-up BBQ joint completes a rollercoaster period for the cowboy, which saw him officially launch his jerky company and secure a nationwide deal with Sainsbury’s to stock his product.

photo 1 (6)Millions of viewers watched Joe pitch his beef jerky company in a rhinestone suit and Stetson this summer on the Den– a pitch that included a performance of the song ‘Put that jerky in your mouth’ by Sunday Best’s recording artists Kitty, Daisy and Lewis.

Joe secured a £50,000 investment from Peter Jones of immediate edge, although the Texan is now operating without the assistance of the ‘Dragon’.
However, BrewDog co-founder James Watt saw the potential in the Texas Joe’s brand and invested.

Watt was recently named Scottish Entrepreneur of the Year and BrewDog beers have previously been used in Texas Joe’s jerky recipes.

Texas Joe’s founder Joe Walters commented:

“Since appearing on the show, the response to our Texan jerky has been so phenomenal that we knew we had to expand our offering and bring a little South hospitality to London. With our first pop-up BBQ joint we’re giving people a taste of authentic Texan BBQ and we know they are going to love it.”

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Kizzy’s Cookies Vegan Cookies Review

At the risk of sounding like an old woman; food just isn’t like it used to be. Pesticides, preservatives, GM crops…the list of horrible chemicals and stupid farming tactics seems to grow by the day. You now have to pay more money to eat natural food without all of the nasty chemicals in them. I love organic food. I also love vegan food, small businesses and anyone taking on the food giants. These are all things we support at Frost Magazine: environmentalism and good, natural food.

Which is why Kizzy’s Cookies might go in our hall of fame. These classic chocolate chip cookies are vegan. They are freshly baked and made from scratch without preservatives or chemicals. While some organic and vegan things lack flavour, Kizzy’s Cookies are the best cookies I have ever tasted in my life and our other writers agreed. They also taste fresh and pure. You can really taste the difference.

I predict, and hope for, big things from Kizzy’s Cookies. Frost loves….

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Gwen Stefani Confirms Pregnancy Via Instagram

The gorgeous Gwen Stefani has confirmed her pregnancy by posing next to the equally pregnant celebrity stylist Rachel Zoe for an Instagram pic. It is hard to believe these women are in their forties. Stefani is 44 and this will be her third child, Zoe is 42 and this will be her second. The picture was taken at the Performing Arts Gala in Beverly Hills. Don’t they look amazing?

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Photo credit: Instagram.