As someone who loves cocktails and coffee in equal measure CAFÉ SOLO are pretty much pushing at an open door with their latest offering.

CAFÉ SOLO ORIGINAL is the first in a range of full-bodied super premium cold brew coffee liqueurs, carefully combining their exceptional blend of cold brew espresso -strength coffee, with premium vodka and natural sugar.  In restaurants I have been known to forgo pudding in exchange for an Espresso Martini, but one soon learns that the quality can vary, so thank goodness that CAFÉ SOLO realised the market is missing a premium coffee liqueur and crafted the ultimate Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur. 

CAFÉ SOLO Original is a premium espresso strength cold brew coffee liqueur. The cold brew coffee brewing process retains the natural flavours and oils from ethically sourced coffee which is mixed with British vodka and natural sugar and boasts a full-bodied flavour profile, rich acidity, and a refreshingly clean finish. It boasts a robust ABV of 25%, delivering a bold, rich flavour profile with hints of dark fruit acidity, chocolate and vanilla notes, culminating in a subtle sweet finish.

In the interest of balance, I felt that despite any personal hardship, I would follow the Espresso Martini recipe on the website visit: www.solocoffee.co.uk (it’s a tough job but someone has to do it.) and I can report that it is pretty much perfect, not too sweet and not at all harsh I would happily order this is a restaurant, so making it at home seems to me a great alternative and cheaper too. From my experience it takes practice and a fair amount of exertion to achieve that foam on the surface, but practice makes perfect.

I was keen to try the CAFÉ SOLO Negroni recipe as I consider myself something of an aficionado although previously my experimental urges only extended to adding a teaspoon of Limoncello to the traditional recipe. It had never occurred to me that coffee could also be added, and I can report that this is a game changer, although there is room for both.

Irish coffee is a little too retro for me as I well remember it from the 1970s, though I am sure that this would make one even better than the original, but I didn’t attempt to make it. However, in my homage to Affogato do try the coffee liqueur poured over vanilla ice cream. You can thank me later.

CAFÉ SOLO Original is available on Amazon at an RRP of £30 for a 70cl bottle.

For more information on CAFÉ SOLO visit www.cafesolo.co.uk and @CafeSoloLiqueur Instagram

 www.solocoffee.co.uk and @SoloCoffeeUK Instagram

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British sculptor Laurence Edwards’ striking bronze figures, Walking Men (2018-2022), have taken up residence in the grounds of Blenheim Palace, where they will be on display until 10th June.

​Laurence Edwards said of his creation: “These five 8ft ancient bronze figures pass through an iconic English view, on their search for a place, where have they come from, where are they going, what are they thinking?”

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The 8ft tall figures are seen to be anti-heroic and seem to have come from the earth itself. Branches, leaves and clods of clay are woven through them, making it unclear where human and ground begin and end. 

​The raw materials from which they have been cast, have been pushed, pulled and gouged into shape ‘with a visceral energy that makes the artist’s act of creation palpable’. 

​Heather Carter, Managing Director, Blenheim Palace, commented: ”We are delighted to welcome Laurence Edwards’ five Walking Men to Blenheim Palace.  

​Images courtsey of Pete Seaward

“These remarkable pieces set against the backdrop of the Palace allow our visitors to experience art at its most incredible within an awe-inspiring setting. This installation is with us until 10th June 2024, and we encourage people to visit us quickly to enjoy and appreciate

Blenheim Palace is home to the Dukes of Marlborough since 1705, Blenheim Palace was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. Set in over 2,000 acres of ‘Capability’ Brown landscaped parkland and designed by Vanbrugh in the Baroque style, it was financed by Queen Anne, on behalf of a grateful nation, following the first Duke of Marlborough’s triumph over the French in the War of the Spanish Succession.

​Today it houses one of the most important and extensive collections in Europe, which includes portraits, furniture, sculpture and tapestries. Blenheim Palace is also the birthplace of one of Britain’s most famous leaders, Sir Winston Churchill, and it was his father who described the vista on entering the Estate from the village of Woodstock as the ‘finest view in England’.

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Fyodor Dostoyevsky was a Russian novelist towards the end of the 19th-Century, famous for such works as Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov. Amongst his shorter stories is The Dream Of A Ridiculous Man, about an ordinary man who finally realises that nothing matters so decides to shoot himself. Beforehand, he falls asleep and has a dream which, upon waking, has changed his view of the world and life as a whole. In the story, he tells us of his vision for the future.

Billed as a ‘thought-provoking yet hilarious exploration of human nature’, sadly the play sets itself up for a fall. It stumbles through far too many genres and styles like a tipsy drinker weaving through tables and chairs whilst heading for the bar…

But there is much to like! It’s a one-man show, calmly performed by Greg Hicks. He is assisted by a wonderful armoury of lighting and sound effects, along with original music and graceful choreography.

Herein lies its weakness – the phrase ‘jack of all trades, master of none’ comes to mind. So much artistry is thrown in with so little coherence that it dilutes the message and dulls the sharpness of the point of the production, which must surely be the short story upon which it is based. It lacks the urgency which the man’s vision deserves. After all, he is trying to tell us something he believes to be important, to keep us listening, to persuade us… the whole feel is one of cosiness and safety – there’s no shock or peril, very little variation of dark and light… it is, dare I say it, beige.

It may gain some edge as the run continues. I really do hope so, because there is so much quality on show here.

Paul Vates.

Photography Mark Senior

Writer/Director Laurence Boswell

Designer Loren Elstein

Lighting Designer Ben ormerod

Sound Designer Gary Sefton

Movement Director Gary Sefton

Composer Harrison White

Running Time 75 minutes – no interval

Dates until Saturday 20th April 2024

Check with the theatre for show times

Venue Marylebone Theatre, 35 Park Road, London NW1 6XT

Box Office Tickets are £26.50 and available from:

www.marylebonetheatre.com/productions/the-dream-of-a-ridiculous-man

Instagram @marylebonetheatre

Twitter @MaryleboneTHLDN

Facebook @MaryleboneTheatre

Margaret and Dick were walking Rosie and Polly along a country track on the way to the little stream.

‘Why,’ stamped Margaret, staring ahead. ‘Do people do that? Poo bag, please Dick. Now.’

‘Really, they should pick it up,’ said Dick, groping. ‘Oh no, I have used all mine.’

Margaret fumbled in her pockets, tissues out, dog treats out, old co-op receipt. old post office receipt now. 2nd class book of stamps out.’ ‘Why,’ Asked Dick, ‘don’t you empty your pockets, from time to time?’

‘Never mind that. I have found my stamps. This could be a good morning after all.’

‘And a poo bag?’

‘I have two more pockets,’ soothed Margaret, knowing that Dick has a special pocket for poo bags, a special pocket for tissues, an inside pocket for receipts, and a second inside pocket for phone. Margaret doesn’t know how she came to live with someone with such a tidy mind. Sometimes she hears Dick asking the flagpole how he came to live with someone who was so dreadfully, awfully untidy, and who empties her pockets sometimes, but then filled them up again, in no particular order.

Finally Margaret found her poo bag, tucked up her jumper sleeve beneath her waterproof coat. She realised she had put it there, instead of her pocket, which was why there were so very many tissues in every pocket.

She gave Dick Polly’s lead to hold, and approached the poo. It was rather a large one. She felt cross all over again. She turned back to Dick, and started to say, ‘Really, it is too bad.’

But Dick was pointing, wagging his forefinger at the poo. (Margaret is sorry to keep saying poo, but needs must). His mouth was working, but no words.

Margaret turned back to the poo. It seemed it was once more, women’s work. But … Lord … Arrrgh … The poo … was moving, yes it was. Just a bit, then it sort of fell on its side. It had a little hand – yes it did, and another. Then there was a sort of shiver (not not from Margaret and Dick, but they felt like shivering.)

‘I’m holding the dogs,’ Dick said. ‘You’d better check things are …’

‘Are what?’ said Margaret creeping forward, poo bag in her hand. But what good was a poo bag if there was a sort of hand. The pile was back as it had been.

Urghh. Ooooh. How. Whaaat?

Margaret reached it, she bent over, she really looked. Was it a frog? But … There was another. Yes, two frogs, but there was another, sort of lying over the heads of the two frogs, and then, when she tried to count the legs, there was another set of legs and arms, all with hands, these two were sort of wrapped round the head of the two frogs.

Margaret breathed in. She put her poo bag back in her pocket. ‘Frog stack,’ she said in a matter of fact voice, because she had read about it, and she liked to be a know it all. But f-o-u-r frogs.

‘What are they doing?’ Dick said.

Margaret didn’t like to even think what they were doing, but she expected it was naughty. It was spring. She told Dick what she thought.

Dick looked at Polly and Rosie. ‘Not in front of the little ones,’ he said, his mouth looking as though he had sucked a lemon. ‘This is not our business, it really truly is not.’ Best just leave these four to ‘it’.’

So Margaret and Dick did as ‘it’ resonated for quite some distance. They left them to ‘it’ too, on their return, and as they stepped over them, the frogs sort of shivered again. (sorry if this is too explicit)

‘Well, it is spring,’ Margaret said to Dick.

‘Stop talking,’ said Dick, and hurried on back to Margaret and Dick’s garden, and Margaret did not make the coffee for a little while, for Dick would need a few moments… Yes, you know don’t you … with the flagpole.

I confess to being a quiz show fanatic. I freely admit to spending far too many hours staring at the TV and wracking my brains for that elusive answer, buried somewhere deep in my aging memories.

So I’m super-excited about Ant & Dec’s Limitless Win game –an impressively close match to the TV show experience.

Those who know the show won’t need an explanation, but for others, in brief: firstly there’s a real Money Ladder – yes there is – which you can hang up and then use the Score Trackers to climb up the ladder, just like on TV. The first part of the game is to answer questions to win lives, then you progress to the next stage when you must answer your way through 10 question cards by giving either the exact answer or a lower number, and bank as much money as you can – there’s no limit how much you can earn, but if your answer’s wrong you lose lives, and if it’s too high, you lose everything you’ve banked and lose the game. There are other neat features, such as life-line cards to be earned too. I love that a QR code is provided which allows you to play digitally, automatically keeping track of your scores.

I’m impressed how Ginger Fox have captured the spirit of the TV show and made it accessible to all. The game is for anyone from eight years old and above, and the questions range from easy to hard as you progress up the Money Ladder. The box is small enough to take on holiday without any problem and you can even play it by yourself if you are a serious quiz show addict.

At just £24.99 from Ginger Fox this is a great game.

By Dr K Thompson, author of From Both Ends of the Stethoscope: Getting through breast cancer – by a doctor who knows

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01A7DM42Q http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01A7DM42Q

http://faitobooks.co.uk

Note: These articles express personal views. No warranty is made as to the accuracy or completeness of information given and you should always consult a doctor if you need medical advice.

I love HeyDoodle and so does my four-year old grandson – like all the best toys, the concept is simple and well-executed. There’s a wide range of educational colouring mats and books to choose from and each comes with a set of lovely brightly-coloured pens. As the mats and books are all made of silica, they can be wiped clean at the end of the day – no mess at all.

Certainly my grandson was absorbed for hours, keeping in the lines of the different animals and fish in the Habitats Above & Below book. Not only did it help him to colour neatly, but this book, in the new vertical format, has one page for creatures of the sky, one for mountain-dwellers, another featuring lions and giraffes living at ground level and finally a page for underground animals – a simple way for children to learn a great deal through simply colouring. But there’s more – on the other side were sea creatures – ranging from those living just below the surface (the Sunlight zone), those which swim in the deeper Twilight zone, then the Midnight zone-dwellers and finally the Abyss at 5000m below sea level, including of course sunken pirate treasure (I learned a lot myself looking at those pages).

Like all the books, it was presented with the colouring pens in a very neat keepsake box which is super easy to store and takes up almost no room. The books would be perfect for a long car journey, thus limiting the number of ‘Are we there yet?’s. Other titles include Natural Wonders and Old MacDonald Had A Farm. At £24.99 these make a really special gift for kids and can be used again and again.

Frost has featured the Dinoroars colouring mat before and these are still just £14.99 for the A4 size and £21.99 for the A3 size. But don’t take my word for it, check out the HeyDoodle website for lots more great ideas.

By Dr K Thompson, author of From Both Ends of the Stethoscope: Getting through breast cancer – by a doctor who knows

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01A7DM42Q http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01A7DM42Q

http://faitobooks.co.uk

Note: These articles express personal views. No warranty is made as to the accuracy or completeness of information given and you should always consult a doctor if you need medical advice.

Yes, the wonderful Golden Fleece overlooking the Market Square – with its coffee and maltesers – leads the way with its yarnbombed railings. Then press the crossing button and nip over the road to the cobbled Market Place and here we go, just a sample of the holiday ideas.

A car with our animal friends enjoying the scenery. Well, there’s a lot of glorious scenery around Thirsk. Lucky lucky us.

We never know which of the many yarnbombers does what, but it doesn’t matter as they are such fun and we love their work so much. Someone asked me if they were ever vandalised. Certainly not, this is Thirsk, after all. And who would, with an octopus keeping an eye out.

Someone obviously travelled rather a long way, and lovely to see the kangaroo and Koala, both of which I’ve seen when I’ve travelled to Australia to research a couple of my novels. So many wonderful memories. (Thank you, Yarnbombers) But let’s move on…

A typical UK holiday scene, the lighthouse somehow standing sort of straight despite the rain, though the wind has caught the sails of the boat.

Beach huts and deckchairs, those were the days, with a hankerchief knotted at the corners if you were my dad. And there we are, a mermaid. What more do we need.

And of course, the holiday picnic – and for a moment out came the sun in Thirsk, so sandwiches can be eaten. Hurrah. And hurrah for the Thirsk Yarnbombers, they warm our hearts. What will they treat us too next?

Tracklements. How do I love thee, let me count the ways..

As evidenced in previous reviews for Frost Magazine, I have a long-standing love affair with the range of chutneys and relishes produced by Tracklements, so, in the spirit of full disclosure, I was already anticipating that the new Special Edition Chimichurri Chilli Relish was likely to capture my heart, not to mention my taste buds.

Chimichurri Chili relish is a popular, green sauce originating from Argentina and Uruguay, this is a veritable flavour fiesta of coriander, oregano, parsley, garlic, lemon juice and Bird’s Eye Chillies. This versatile relish makes a wonderful addition to a variety of dishes, as well as an excellent cooking ingredient and table condiment.

I am a vegetarian and I have yet to find a dish that this doesn’t enhance. I have used it to pep up sandwiches, cheeses, and it provides a real boost to a plate of antipasti. I will definitely be trying it with hard boiled Quail’s eggs. It’s an exciting dipper for a double fried chunky chip, adds bite to a grilled halloumi wrap. and a burst of fresh zesty flavour to sliced tomatoes or liberally spread on warm bruschetta.

Traditionalists may say it should be reserved for complementing the richness of Churrasco – grilled or barbecued meat, but in my opinion, it deserves a seat at any table.

My non – vegetarian friends tell me that Chimichurri Chilli Relish gives an herbaceous kick both spooned on to barbecued steak or drizzled over chicken, fish and roasted mixed veg., and satisfies all lovers of a Sunday roast leftover sandwich. It also makes an elaborate foil for ceviche.

Aromatic, herby, citrusy, tart and garlicky with a chilli kick, this versatile relish makes a wonderful addition to a variety of dishes, as well as an excellent cooking ingredient and table condiment.

I will be ordering more as I expect that this love will last for a long time, unlike the fast disappearing Special Edition Chimichurri Chilli Relish.

​Tracklements Special Edition Chimichurri Chilli Relish RRP £4 10 for 170 g, is available from fine food delis, farm shops nationwide and online www.tracklements.co.uk@tracklements

Image of Tracklement Relish courtesy tracklements.co.uk Image of crackers Michael Rowan