Reasons To Be Cheerful - DISCOVERY, Mexicans and Mumsnet Blogfest

I am participating in Reasons To Be Cheerful for the 1st time in weeks.

Will insert a key to the photos at the bottom *

I am more spiritual than I am religious, despite being a practicing Catholic (my yoga beliefs dominate), but that doesn't stop me loving Mich's post this week.

She's linked to a You Tube video and this is the "line" from there that spoke to me:

"When I call on your name you answer"

Anyway, WHAT are my reasons to be cheerful?  I really need to think (but that is the beauty of this weekly linky: to MAKE you think).  An attitude of gratitude really can transform the world!

1. I am GRATEFUL to Wildcard PR and Discovery for inviting me to the Supper Club at the @thelondonfoodie which was facilitated by Benito's Hat's Head Chef Felipe Fuentes Cruz doing the cooking, while his boss and co-founder Ben Fordham sat, ate, drank and mingled with us.  WHAT a great night!
2. On that great night I got to meet lots of fabulous bloggers, including The Domestic Goddesque, The Bottom of The Ironing Basket, Transatlantic Mom, Pasta Bites and Rosana from Hot and Chilli Rosana you are great company and SUCH a laugh.  Your stories of setting fire to a menu (via a tea light) had me in stitches as did much of your conversation.  Thank you for taking my favourite photo of the night.
3. I was definitely cheerful when I got home from the above on Tuesday night, as the husband was in a BAD mood (as I outlined in my 24 hours post) and yet I was immune to it.  On Wednesday when I was showing him the many Discovery goodies that I received in my goodie bag, he said "oh so that's why you were immune to everything I said Tuesday night" - doesn't that show when someone is being grumpy they notice if you are absorbing it or not, and yet we never made eye contact (he was putting Tesco shopping away and I was making Aaron's bottle).  That's really given me food for thought actually (forgive all these constant references to food LOL).
4. I am grateful to my friend Jenny, from Gingerbread House (who also writes Treading on Lego) as it was she who told me about Mumsnet Blogfest a couple of months ago, and she told me early enough that I snapped up an early bird ticket and after a great day on Saturday I am so glad that I did.  She was looking RADIANT on Saturday and not one to ever keep anything to myself I told her that too :-)
5. I am grateful that me and the husband are getting on much better - so much so that I have a post entitled Sommersby in my drafts!!!! Need I say more!
6. I am grateful that I had a job interview yesterday.  I inserted the quote above "when I call on your name, you answer" as I now want God to give me a job.  I have poodled through the last few months, but I WANT TO WORK.... I need some mental clarity on what is next for me.  God please give that to me.
7. I am grateful that it is Children in Need this week, as Aaron was able to go to nursery today in his Pudsey PJs that we bought last year in Asda (they still fit him).  When we arrived there was only girls in his room and they were ALL dressed as princesses - bless!  The big TV show will be on Friday - don't let all the drama about the BBC put you off from watching or donating!  As it says HERE there are things happening nationwide!
8. I am cheerful that I have reached 2,000 followers on Twitter.  Last night I offered to French kiss my 2,000 follower but at midnight when I went to bed it was still stuck at 1,997.  I awoke to a tweeted congrats from what I have now found to be a GREAT BLOGGER Best Dad I can Be as I had got to 2,004 while I slept.  What really made me cheerful was that when I offered out the kiss last night I said "I hope they're not a moose" and someone went to the trouble of setting up a Moose Twitter account so that they could tweet me.  I LAUGHED so much I nearly fell off my chair! Thinking about it still tickles me and I still don't know who did it!
9. OH I am VERY cheerful, and happy and grateful that The Bloggess wrote a post about me and the fact that I uploaded a video of her at Mumsnet Blogfest.  
10. Thank you Jenny.  Just to show the power of The Bloggess, when she first published the post, my you tube video all of a sudden had 174 views.  Overnight (time difference) it has now had 4,595 views and 10 likes.  I have decided she is the OPRAH of the blogging world :-)
11. I got Caitlin Moran's book: Moranthology in my Mumsnet goodie bag, and my friend Jenny got The Bloggess's book, so hopefully once we have each read them we can swap.
12. Oh I am also very cheerful that Mich (the host of Reasons To Be Cheerful) has answered all of my questions!

I think that is more than enough Reasons To Be Cheerful for now :-)

Liska x

* Key to photos:

1. Top left is Felipe
2. Followed by the beautifully laid tables, Ben and the menu
3. Then Rosana, and lots of examples of what was in my Discovery goodie bag
4. The bottom photos are me on the way to a job interview yesterday with a couple of snaps taken as I passed through London Liverpool Street (my favourite London station and old stomping ground).

Benitos Hat Master Class - review

Last Wednesday I was at a Benitos Hat Master Class in Oxford Circus, and boy oh boy did I have a wonderful night.

I got there early as I said in my post about my new Uni Qlo jacket.

Even after that little bit of shopping I was still early.

The salesman on the till was so good that when I said I wanted something to nibble on a snack to tide me over till the start of the class, instead of suggesting nachos, he upsized me, and got me to have their 2 for 1 cocktails as I arrived during happy hour.  And he didn't sell me cocktails not knowing that they come with the class.  No siree!  He was able to say "these ones come with the class" so "I suggest you get these ones".

So two I did have whilst I read a free magazine and generally chilled out.  Ben warned me that I'd end up merry!

Upstairs in the 2 for 1 Happy Hour I had a standard classic margarita (way better than you'd have elsewhere) and a strawberry flavoured one.  Then during the class I had a Paloma, and a watermelon margarita.  We were also allowed to sample the Mexican chocolate martini that they have on the menu for chocolate week - you wouldn't think chocolate goes with a cocktail but it so so works - boy does it work!

And of course we were allowed to make mistakes when making our cocktail for the competition and rather than throw mistakes away, you of course drink them! Hiicccup!
Anyway, the evening could not have been better - treat yourself it is the best £25 you will ever spend! 

While you are being entertained taught how to make Mexican food and cocktails you are also fed Mexican food and cocktails, to the point where the last time I felt that full was Christmas Day.

We were split into teams, and each team was asked to make:

Tortillas x 3
Salsa verde
A cocktail

At the end they were judged expertly by the co-founders of Benito's Hat: Felipe and Ben.  It was also they themselves that held the class.

They were very discerning in their judging with tortillas only being signed off if they were of the right elasticity (for rolling into a burrito) and the right look, taste and size.  If you made 3 they had to all be perfect circles and all three same size.  I felt like I was at Master Chef.  Oh but what good fun.

We won for the best cocktail, but not overall.  I was dead proud as I personally made the cocktail.  HHHhhhm can I remember the ingredients?  It was a very tropical take on a Margarita.  Absolutely delicious.  I think they should do it as a special one week, and name it after me :-)

The amount of passion that Ben and Felipe showed is just phenomenal.  I know that they have put blood sweat and tears into the setting up of their 4 restaurants and the writing/launch of their recent book, but to watch them in action in the class you would think that life is just one big laugh.  They are riding high on passion and it is infectious.  They very clearly love what they do.  Several copies of their new book were on the table and they were all snapped up, by the participants, who had no other reason to be there, other than they are regular patrons of the restaurants.  I am glad to see them with such a loyal following - it really is well deserved.

Despite having previously blogged about their book I am yet to buy it so I must sort that out.  For the second time, I had a look at the book at the class and it really is stunning with amazing food photography to be proud of.

Back to the class: I'd say you could go on your own, as you are split up into teams so get to know the people you are with.  It would also be ideal to book up as a group.

They do the classes in Oxford Circus as they use the whole of the basement, and they are once a month on a Wednesday.

EDIT as of 3rd October 2012 Ben has now released the dates for the next two master classes so get booking you know you want to. You won't have had such a great night out in ages!

Bye for now,
Liska
xx

My Fab New WARM Winter Parka Jacket - by Uni Qlo

Yesterday Last night I went to a fab Mexican Masterclass, (the link just given is when another blogger reviewed it; I haven't yet as I want to spend quite some time on it, and that won't be today) at Benito's Hat and I got there too early, so decided to have a bit of a meander round some of the shops near Oxford Circus.

I ended up in Uni Qlo and the story of how I bought the below jacket is hilarious.  Well, not funny, as such, but certainly ironic!

I was captivated looking at their Orla Kiely range, but couldn't find anything for me, as being a size 16-18 (currently) patterns tend to make me look bigger...

As I walked out, (not one to keep an opinion to myself) I said to the Sales Assistant: "Why are you charging £49 for those jackets when they are so flimsy; they feel like tissue paper!"

She explained the whole concept to me.  How they are 90% DOWN feathers, and are incredibly lightweight, yet incredibly WARM!  It is a concept known to skiiers but then I have never been skiing - I know, poor me!

Anyway, being so open to the power of suggestion, and having a little time to kill, I went straight over and tried one on. The colour below is the one that grabbed me.  Don't be fooled by the website which says it is "red" - it is more of a raspberry colour! Gorgeous but not for anyone who normally does Winter in black or grey!

I chose the PARKA, but as you can see they do a few types.  I really regretted yesterday only buying one, instore, so today have ordered (online) another one for my Mum (means I paid postage costs - really wish I got her one yesterday).  I'll then have the hassle of posting it to Ireland, (more postage costs) but what the hell, she will absolutely love it! They are currently £49.90, and apparently that is a limited offer; I don't know how long for.  I just described it to her over the phone.  She wanted the shorter one as she does not like hoods, but I insisted on this one as I said it is important to keep your kidneys warm which she found absolutely hilarious!



Anyway, I wore the above (in size XL which is figure hugging for me) to drop Aaron at nursery this morning and all the staff were raving about it. They all said that they want one.  One said it would be perfect for Thorpe Park, and the other, for festivals!

The real amazing thing is it comes with a drawstring bag which means you can easily carry it to the office if you know it will be cold on the way home in the evening.  It won't weigh you down as it is only 206g.  I know I sound like a walking talking advert but I always get a bit evangelical when I love a product.

Let me know what you think.... in the comments please.

Oh and what I didn't say, was after that conversation with the Sales Assistant, when I went back to try one on, there were ladies clamouring to try them on and buy them.  I was intrigued and not being shy I asked them why.  They were in there due to a full page ad in Shortlist magazine.  Not having worked on Oxford Street since 2002, I did not know what that was, but I picked one up and it is quite an interesting read considering it's free - well impressed.  Provided me some great & funny reading material when I got to Benito's Hat STILL too early (more on that when I write about the Masterclass)!

This is the full page ad that is in Shortlist - no wonder it was making people buy:

Liska xxx

Benitos Hat and New Book Real Mexican Food

Back on 17th April 2011 I wrote about Benitos Hat opening a branch in Oxford Circus.


Well now here I am again to write about the fact that they have written an excellent cookery book: Real Mexican Food.  It won't be out until August, but you can get a bargain if you pre-order it.

£11.99 instead of the RRP of £18.99


Buy it here.

I am thrilled for Felipe, my friend Siobhan's husband.

If you like Mexican food you just have to pre-order this book.

If you like the food at Benitos Hat - what's not to love! - then you have to pre-order this book.

Bye for now,
Liska xx