Author Archives: Catherine Balavage

The Finest Rump In The UK

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Nope. It’s not time for The Rear of the Year awards yet. Fiona Bruce and Ricky Whittle can still rest easy in their denim.

Instead, a new online delivery concept has been launched by acclaimed chef Richard Turner and butcher James George. Their new venture, The East London Steak Co., offers the finest naturally-reared beef from selected rare breeds to customers within the M25 area.

Turner and George source the highest quality beef from British farms. Every animal is hand-picked and selected using a strict criteria, which ensures all cattle are grass fed, have been traditionally farmed and reared in an environment which meets the highest standards of welfare.

The East London Steak Co. only use five main rare breeds of beef, including Dexter, Galloway, Longhorn, Shorthorn. The beef is dry-aged on the bone for a minimum of 28 days – or longer on request – which matures the beef, creating a greater concentration and strength of both flavour and taste.

The company prides itself on giving a bespoke service to its customer by cutting each steak to their exact specifications, which is then hand-wrapped, boxed and delivered within 24-hours. Every order has an accompanying provenance card, outlining the breed, the exact farm location and the butcher who cut it.

Turner is a restaurateur and chef who has worked with renowned chefs including Michel Roux Jnr, Pierre Koffman and Marco Pierre White, while George has worked as a butcher for over 10 years. Their professional background brings a unique partnership to the business, as they both understand first-hand the necessary components needed to enhance the quality and taste of the beef.

Turner says: “There is a huge demand for high-end beef. Consumers are extremely quality aware and like to know where their meat is from and how it is reared, and one thing’s for sure, great beef only comes from cattle that have been well bred and well looked after.”

George added: “We’re dedicated to fulfilling our customer’s requirements by offering much more than a delivery service. We feel it’s our duty to champion quality meat, not only because of our respect for the British farming industry, but also because the consumer wants it.”

The East London Steak Co. offers a range of selection boxes that include a choice of seasonal based cuts. A growing variety of wine, beers and condiments – including dripping and preserved bone marrow – are also available, making the ideal accompaniment for their unrivalled steaks.

Make Your Valentine Count With Smilers

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Ah, l’amour.

Just before Spring comes boinging out of Winter’s clutches and a young man’s fancy turns to thoughts of love – or more likely, peeling their beloved’s lingerie off with their teeth – comes Valentine’s Day.

I won’t bore you with the history, but it came about after a Christian martyr called Valentine forgot to give his beau a felled ox or some such, so put together a hastily hand-drawn etching and grabbed a bunch of daisies pulled from the nearest horse trough stop – or something like that. Since then, countless love-lorn people have sent anonymous cards in the hope of winning said crush, only to find them go off with someone else who had the foresight to sneakily gain credit for someone else’s hard-earned efforts, cash and card.

Anyway, if you want to enhance your chances of getting your girl – or boy – to disrobe sensually for you, prove just how much you care about your loved ones by attaching your very own Smilers stamp to your Valentine’s card, courtesy of our very own Cupids at the Royal Mail.

Smilers allow you to personalise your post by combining one of your own photos with a Royal Mail stamp – guaranteed to make your card or love letter stand out from the rest and thus stop anyone else claiming ownership!

Smilers can be ordered online, where after uploading a chosen image, users can pick from a range of different stamp designs and background themes, with the option to create either round or rectangle shaped Smilers, and designs available to suit all occasions. Royal Mail also recently launched their first Smilers app which lets people instantly create their own personalised postage by downloading photos taken on their iPhone.

The Smilers app is free through the App Store and, as well as grabbing your lovers attention on Feb 14th, is also an ideal way for people to share celebrations such as birthdays, weddings and new arrivals.

Smilers are available in sheets of either 10 or 20, and prices start at just £7.80 for a sheet of 10 1st Class stamps. With secure payment through PayPal, customers will receive the sheets within five working days.

The Healthy Way To Drizzle On Pancake Day

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It may just be me, but Shrove Tuesday feels later this year.

We have to wait until the 8th of March before people try and remember how many eggs to add to how much flour and whether it was right to include a knob of butter in the mix. Hint: It’s not – unless I’ve been doing it wrong all these years.

But don’t forget the real lemon juice, or that great plastic Jif lemon which used to make great water pistols when empty. Can you still get those? (Sigh, nostalgia). And syrup – lots of.

And now there is a healthy alternative for those looking to watch their waistline. Raymond Blanc swears by it, rather than at it, like I do when I miss the pan when flipping, but that’s another story. Suffice to say the cat’s fur was never the same.

Sweet Freedom is an award winning, natural, healthier sugar substitute. It’s won Great Taste Gold stars (Foodie Oscars) so tastes delicious – well, obviously. But because it’s made 100% from fruit, it has 25% fewer calories than sugar, and, as an added bonus, it’s sweeter, so you can use 25% less too.  On a more serious note, it has a low GL (Glycaemic Load), which means it won’t cause blood sugar highs and lows, so it’s suitable for all the family –  including diabetics.

It’s completely natural and made from just apples, grapes and carob with no colourings, flavourings or preservatives added.  It’s a good option for anyone looking for a healthier, great tasting, lower calorie alternative to sugar and other sweet syrups.

Sweet Freedom can be found in 300ml drip-free squeezy bottles from Tesco, Waitrose (both Free From section), Ocado, Booths, Holland & Barrett and health food stores for the  RRP of £2.99. There’s no word yet as to whether they match the Jif lemons for portable and potent post-use water pistol fire power. Time will tell.

www.sweetfreedom.co.uk

Denise Van Outen spoils daughter with Zilli. {Celebrity}

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Most celebs are spoilt by lavish dinners created by the world’s top chefs – and now their babies are getting the same treatment.

Denise Van Outen’s nine-month-old baby, Betsy, has been enjoying organic meals prepared by celeb chef Aldo Zilli. However, celeb baby or not, eating can still be a tricky business when you’re still a little shy of your first year. Denise has commented that at most meal times, much of the food ends up all over her.

Still, more power to Aldo for being the first celebrity chef to create a range of organic baby food. And if you fancy introducing your little cherub to good food and celebrity circles until they’re old enough to go to The Ivy, Baby Zilli launched this week and is available at all good supermarkets.

Coming Up Festival, February 21 – March 4 2011

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COMING UP
The only festival where wrestling meets culinary theatre, underground cinema collides with silent opera and folk fuses with hip hop. All topped off with pulsing electronic beats. COMING UP is two weeks of events, gigs and performances from some of the brightest talent around. It’s free, it’s fresh, it’s coming…

February 21 – March 4 2011
Debut London, Weston St, London SE1 3RR

To book tickets, and for the full festival line up, visit: http://www.ideastap.com/comingup

WRESTING, THEATRE, FILM, MUSIC, OPERA, ART & FINE DINING COLLIDE FOR A STRICT TWO WEEK RUN IN THE VAULTS OF DEBUT LONDON PROGRAMMED BY SOME OF THE FRESHEST CREATIVES AROUND
Debut London, Weston St, London SE1 3RR – February 21 – March 4 2011

UNDERGROUND CINEMA
Presented by Preethi Mavahalli


Preethi is a script editor and producer who recently worked on BAFTA-nominated Shifty and Ben Drew aka Plan B’s directorial debut Ill Manors. Currently working in the development team at Film4, she last year won an Ideas Fund Shorts award to make a video for Manchester-based band Crooked Rooks. She continues to work internationally on a varied slate of projects including short films, a stereoscopic 3D short and music promos.

UNDERGROUND CINEMA will be a unique showcase of up-and-coming film talent as well as movie classics in a uniquely evocative screening room fully equipped with an exclusive Courvoisier punch bar, providing the perfect accompaniment to a night of cinema.

22, 23, 24, 28 FEBRUARY 7.30PM
26, 27 FEBRUARY 2PM
4 MARCH 9.30PM
Tickets FREE
http://www.ideastap.com/comingup

BRITWRES-FEST
Presented by Jamie Lewis Hadley

A Wrestling Spectacular!  Jamie is bringing together some of the most exciting sports entertainers in the country in one ring with incredible projections, lighting, sound and pyrotechnics. This show will put the spectacle back into one of our country’s most treasured past times. Think spandex; think suplex; think super villains.

BRITWRES-FEST also offers a live feed broadcast on the night at Debut. All tickets include an after show event with Arthur Cauty who will premiere his documentary ‘ Hard Knocks’ followed by an opportunity to  mingle with the wrestlers and other V.I.P.’s.
21, 22 FEBRUARY 7pm
Tickets FREE
http://www.ideastap.com/comingup

SILENT OPERA
Presented by Daisy Evans

Daisy Evans is the Founding Director of King’s Opera, and the Waistcoat Company. She is currently working as an assistant to the Staff Directors at the Royal Opera House. SILENT OPERA is an interactive high-tech production of Purcell’s ’Dido and Aeneas’. The audience will experience the production through headphones while following the frantic singers around the exciting and invigorating underground space.
1 MARCH 7.30pm & 9.30pm
3 MARCH 9.30pm
Tickets FREE
http://www.ideastap.com/comingup

OLD ROOTS NEW ROUTES
Presented by Cherry Franklin

Hip hop and folk collide with leading artists from both genres brought together by Cherry Franklin – a performer, director and producer. Hip hop artist Dizraeli, spoken word performer Polarbear and MC Jam Baxter will join folk musicians Lisa Knapp, Sam Carter and Anna-Helena McLean in a three day collaboration.  The new material will be premiered on the 25th Feb at Debut – a stunning underground venue. Expect film screenings, live graffiti art and raw stories with old tunes.
25 FEBRUARY 6pm
Tickets FREE
http://www.ideastap.com/comingup

ELECTRIC TUNNELS
Presented by Alex Le Roux

ELECTRIC TUNNELS is a showcase of talented, young up-and-coming musicians in one of London’s most infamous underground venues. Debut (formally SE1) will play host to the hottest electronic acts Britain has to offer. A whole line-up of DJ’s and live acts will play across two stages into the early hours of the morning. Confirmed artists: Picturebook, Flashworx, The Neon Lights (DJ set) and Graphics. More acts to follow.
24 FEBRUARY 8.30pm
Tickets FREE
http://www.ideastap.com/comingup

CIVIL UNREST
By Ben Ellis
Presented by Spike Laurie

Ben Ellis’ daring new play brings together the unlikely dishes of political unrest and sumptuous pre-theatre dining in a mêlée of food, film, photography and political fervour but in an era of fine dining, will we find our civil unrest a little hard to swallow?

Visual artists Marc Vallée, Brian David Stephens and Kennard Phillips work with House of Jonn, creatives in residence at The Hospital Club, to provide a feast for the eyes, while chef Mark Jankel serves up haute cuisine slammer food and contraband Courvoisier is smuggled in for dinner ticket holders.
2 – 3 MARCH 7.15pm
4 MARCH 1pm & 7.15pm
Tickets FREE http://www.ideastap.com/comingup
Exclusive meal deal tickets available £25.00 http://store.ambassadortickets.com/gateway.aspx?E=N&QL=S11045|VOVD|GShowDatesCombo.aspx

COALITION
Presented by Rachel Tyson
Coalition Theatre Company aims to pull together the most exciting young theatre makers from London and New York to explore and produce original and edgy new work. This double bill looks at the unique modern pressures of urban life, examining dark and surreal experiences of ordinary people living in extraordinary cities.

Midlife Crisis
Written by Josh Koenigsberg
Grief
Written by David Kantounas
Coalition was founded by OVNV UK/US Exchange artists.
2 – 3 MARCH 12pm
Tickets FREE
http://www.ideastap.com/comingup

EAT YOUT HEART OUT
Presented by Kindle Theatre

A theatrical banquet at the end of the world.

Do you remember the heat, the famine, the desolation, no fresh food, no fresh meat? Do you remember the taste of the kidneys, the liver, the lungs, the brain, the heart of a…

In the last remaining corner of the human world, three cooks are summoned to create a celebratory meal using only the carcass of their once great kitchen. Some intrigued guests, perhaps the last, have arrived for dinner… but what to eat in the aftermath of catastrophe? EAT YOUR HEART OUT is a playful three-course performance banquet set to a Baroque-inspired music score. It mixes the leftovers of disaster with the ceremony of the dining room in an experience that invites the audience to literally eat the story. You can fast on the day to enhance your enjoyment and please note there is no vegetarian option.

.”..like Gormenghast meets Babette’s Feast, set in operatic Flemish painting.” Total Theatre
Suitable for 18yrs+
26 – 27 FEBRUARY 8pm
Tickets £15
http://store.ambassadortickets.com/gateway.aspx?E=N&QL=S11044|VOVD|GShowDatesCombo.aspx

Coming Up – conceived and funded by Ideas Tap in partnership with Old Vic New Voices.
Supported by Courvoisier.

F2D Clothing Launch New Collections. {Fashion}

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F2D Clothing have launched a new collection just in time for Valentine’s day. So if you want your man looking urban cool, check out the website F2D Clothing.

Born on the streets of Birmingham City, UK, F2D Clothing is a urban street fashion brand created by long time friends Daniel Gardiner, Gary Thompson and Marcus Isaac. Since 2008, the F2D Team have been bringing you limited edition alternative wear to the normal high street labels you see plastered all over everybody.

Already worn by Dizzie, J2K, Ghetts & Leo Gregory, F2D embodies the UK street lifestyle translated into raw material and will always strive to keep it fresh.

We got them to outline their concept: “F2D is neither street wear, high street, or high end, we are somewhere in between, We Are F2D!
Survive and Provide.

THE SURVIVE SERIES CONCEPT.

TO SURVIVE AND PROVIDE!! WE ALL SURVIVE AND PROVIDE IN SOME WAY SHAPE OR FORM, WHETHER ITS FOR OURSELVES OR OUR FAMILIES. WE WANTED TO FINISH THE YEAR AND GO INTO IN 2011 WITH THAT MOTTO, ‘SURVIVE AND PROVIDE’ FIRMLY ASSOCIATED WITH F2D. WE AS THE OWNERS OF F2D ALL SURVIVE AND PROVIDE DAILY FOR OURSELVES, OUR FAMILIES AND EACH OTHER. OUR NEW COLLECTION SHOWS HOW THE BRAND HAS MATURED AND SURVIVED THE LAST 2 YEARS TO GET TO WHERE IT IS TODAY. THE BRAND F2D PROVIDES FOR US AND OUR CUSTOMERS THROUGH OUR IDEAS AND DESIGNS. F2D WAS AN IDEA THAT EVOLVED TO WHAT IS IT TODAY AND HAS SURVIVED MANY ADVERSITIES SO THE NEW COLLECTION COULD ONLY BE CALLED ‘THE SURVIVE SERIES’!!”

SURVIVE AND PROVIDE – F2D.

Rankin takes on Lady Gaga for THT {Art & Charity}

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Rankin’s take on Lady Gaga’s meat fashion raises funds for THT

New Image

‘Tuulilicious’ by Rankin

Acclaimed photographer Rankin offers his unique take on the ‘food as fashion’ craze sparked by Lady Gaga, with a quirky photograph of his wife Tuuli that will be auctioned off for HIV and sexual health charity Terrence Higgins Trust (THT).

Just as Gaga grabbed headlines worldwide with a dress made entirely from meat, Rankin shows Tuuli brandishing a knife and fork, naked save for a French-trimmed rack of lamb worn as a crown. The image, entitled ‘Tuulilicious’, will be one of the lots on offer at THT’s annual Lighthouse Gala Auction (21 March, 2011) to raise money for people living with and affected by HIV.

Rankin said: “Terrence Higgins Trust does incredible and vital work in the prevention of HIV. It’s such an important cause, and one that my wife and I are very happy to have been able to contribute to with this photograph.”

Debbie Holmes, Director of Fundraising at Terrence Higgins Trust, said: “Rankin is a long-time supporter of THT, and we’re incredibly grateful to him – and of course his wife – for donating this gorgeous image for our auction next year. Rankin’s work is always highly collectible, and this image is no exception. With such valued help from our supporters, we hope the auction will be our best event to date.”

Now in its sixteenth year, the auction at Christie’s will see a fantastic array of luxury items, bespoke packages and ‘money can’t buy’ experiences snapped up by eager bidders. Last year’s auction raised over £292,000 for THT.

The Inept Girl's Guide To Cooking: Lasagna

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I apologise for how little I have been updating this column. I do, however, have a good excuse. I have been filming at Shepperton studios for the past six months. Quite exciting for an actor. Another perk of this is that I have been fed, three times a day, completely for free. So you can see how little cooking has actually been done.

I have decided to come back with a classic. A very strong memory that my mother taught me to make when I was a child. You can never go wrong with lasagna. Even if you have vegetarians coming round. Just replace the meat with quorn. So, here’s what you need.

  • Mince. I used Pork Mince for a change. Always get good mince. Bad mince ruins the entire dish. 500g is good
  • Three onions
  • Tomato Puree
  • Tinned tomatoes ( I used two tins, one with cherry tomatoes in.)
  • Garlic, one clove
  • Lasagna pasta 250g
  • Cheese sauce (I have been experimenting but this time used Dolmio’s Creamy sauce for Lasagna, Which tasted good.)

Brown the mince in a large pot, make sure there are no pink bits. You don’t need oil or anything. Take it off the hob. Chop the onions and garlic and add to pot. Return to the hob and stir for a while. Add the tomatoes puree and the tinned tomatoes. Keep stirring this and let it cook for a while. It won’t take long. Just until the onions and everything looks cooked.

Take a lasagna dish and put butter or oil on it to stop it sticking. Add half of the mince. Put lasagna pasta on top, covering all of the meat. Add the rest of the meat and cover the mince again. Add Dolmio’s creamy sauce for lasagna or another cream cheese. You can also add cheese on the middle layer. DO NOT ADD CARROTS TO LASAGNA. This is wrong, people who do this should be shot. You can, however, add mushrooms. I think mushrooms are great in lasagna.
After adding the cheese sauce put the lasagna in the oven. 30 minutes at Gas Mark 6 should do it. I have heard a lot of different temperatures and cooking times, but this always works for me. Keep checking on it if you are unsure. When it is golden and brown it’s ready. Do make sure it is piping hot before you serve.

There you go, bloody great lasagna.