Sunday 5 February 2017

Rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb

Strange things going on in the world since my last post - cake and beer reviews seem a bit flippant in the face of Donald Trump and Brexit, so this blog may end up being more political than intended!
So on that note I'd best get the politics out of the way first....
Last weekend on Twitter Owen Jones put out a bit of a call to arms for people to protest against Trump's travel ban that's enough of a Muslim ban to placate people who voted for him on the basis he'd ban Muslim immigrants, but leaving out almost enought Muslim majority counties to claim otherwise - yeah right. Now I don't think I've been on a demo/march/protest since I was at uni protesting about the introduction of tuition fees but there's only so many petitions you can sign and articles you can share on facebook before you think, this isn't really cutting it, so on Monday night I found myself in front of the Caird Hall with 300+ other people of all ages and backgrounds letting it be known we're not happy with our government cosying up with what's starting to look suspiciously like a fascist regime. In the grand scheme of things it may not make the blindest bit of difference but sometimes it feels like doing something is better than doing nothing.
Which leads me onto the first 'gig' review of the year.  Last night we sent to see Mark Thomas recounting tales of his experiences with Wakefield Labour Club, known as the Red Shed.  It would have felt odd going to see a show about political activism and not joined the protest on Monday to be honest.  The show requires 6 members of the audience to sit on stage and from time to time hold up masks of various characters in the 'story' whilst Mark Thomas plays back voice recordings.  (You can probably guess where this is going).  As we were in the bar before the show, waiting for our friends to arrive I'd clocked him coming out of the theatre into the bar and chatting to people, so when he came over to myself and Dave we engaged in small talk about Dundee and ended up agreeing to be in the show.  I suspect I was more willing than Dave initially, but we both thoroughly enjoyed the experience and also had a good old chinwag with Mark after the show, rather predicatably about the Trump situation. We've seen a few of his shows now and I would definitely recommend going to see him if you get the chance - he's a great story teller, helped by the fact he's clearly passionate about his subjects.  I think we're both keen to go for a pint in the Red Shed now too! Oh, and Wakefield's in the rhubarb triangle in case you were wondering!
Much cake and beer has been consumed since my last post, but my food review is actually going to centre on soup today. Last weekend we visited The Scottish Antique and Arts Centre,
in theory to look at living room furniture but really it was just an excuse to visit the cafe which had been recommended to us by several people.  When a menu item is prefixed with 'our famous...' you really have to go with it, so I duly ordered the Haddock Chowder. Look at it, in all it's creamy, saffrony loveliness!
 You can't tell from the picture, but it was full of big chunks of haddock and potato, sweetcorn and peppers.  Also - full marks for providing a pot of hot water with the pot of tea. I realise this makes me sound about 90, but it's definitely the sign of a 'proper' cafe! Fortunately I ordered the small portion as that left room for mojito sponge....
 We bought some of the local beer whilst we there too - not bad at all!