Review: Buckt - Birmingham and Beyond!

There are many things we love but high up on our list are:

• The city we live in - Birmingham
• Days Out
• Great Value
• Doing things together

So anything that allows us to do any of these things, or a combination of these things is something we can get behind. Buckt is one of those things!

You may remember last year we were lucky enough to be invited by Buckt to try our their subscription box for Birmingham (and surrounding areas), we shared our experience of what we got up to in these posts:
Buckt: A Great New Way To Explore Birmingham
Buckt: A Great New Way To Explore Birmingham and Beyond

A few of our highlights included Rage Room, Magic Lantern Festival, Ice Hockey Game, Bingo, Meditation and many more.

We've been invited to try out the subscription again, this time our box includes: A 20-20 cricket game, swimming in a quarry, trying (or retrying in our case) Subway sandwiches, a tour of Birmingham's Coffin Works AND taking on THE MONSTER - the worlds largest inflatable assault course.

We actually started with this activity and we may have made an error.....we are aching! But we had so much fun. Check out our Instagram stories for all the action!

Buckt is a great concept for so many reasons but a major thing for us is the opportunity to find and do activities that we have never heard about, in our own city. We would have never considered getting tickets for The Monster but we would have missed out. Being big kids for an afternoon was liberating. We don't often get out as a couple and of we do it's for dinner, it's not to do something out of our comfort zone or something as ridiculous as sliding down 18 metre inflatable slides, lounging in an inflatable Unicorn ball pond or climbing 8ft vertical walls.

The other amazing thing about Buckt is the value. It's £25 for a two people box and The Monster would have been £25 per person!!! It's also great value if you want to take friends along to the activity - they were offering friends of the Buckt subscriber The Monster tickets at £17.50!

We can't get a meal for two for £25 let alone 5 activities if we were left to our own devices.

When we arrived at the NEC we followed signs to 'The Monster' and followed the flow of sport clothes wearing people into the venue. The queuing took 10 minutes and then before we knew it we were in a massive hall converted into a party. The music was pumping, the food stalls smelt amazing and The Monster was imposing.

As we walked in we spotted the beer pong tables set up, a giant bouncy castle and a giant inflatable Unicorn jam-packed with balls. A DJ booth and stage was welcoming people and at the back of the hall was a free cloakroom where we could leave the belongings we didn't want to lose on the assault course. If you time it right they have drag queen karaoke, boozy bingo and lots of other things going on.

They also have family friendly sessions on offer earlier in the day.

Walking towards the start we both took a deep breath and joined in with the warm up. There had been a bottle neck created on The Monster so we were being held for 5 minutes - not ideal as we could see what was ahead for the entire time. When the siren did sound for us to start it was intense. You run in through the mouth in groups of 6 and are straight into the obstacles.

The course has you going over, under, round, through, up, down you name in you will do it. From hurdling inflatable fences to battling through rings, sliding down slides and climbing walls you will use every muscle in your body. The wall itself is a feat not everyone achieves. They even have staff there to give you an extra boost at the end as the top foot rungs are slippy and require every bit of upper body strength. I managed it in my first attempt and helped a few other girls up as Laura - dutifully and very Britishly queued! - when it was her turn she did it in two and I was so proud. She could have easily given up but she took a deep breath and before I could get a video she was up and over and on to the next. My wife is a warrior!

It took us half an hour to get around the course and by the end we were exhausted, sweaty and very proud. When we first saw what we had to do we were intimidated, when we finished we realised just how capable we were and best of all we did it together, as a team. It was invigorating.

We finished with a bounce for fun on the giant castle and rested our weary bodies in the ball pond before summoning the strength we had left to get us back to the car and into a warm bath.

The Monster is in Birmingham until the 20th of August then 23-28th of August in London.

Review: Head of Steam Birmingham

Have you heard of Head of Steam? It is Birmingham's latest pub/restaurant now open in the city centre.

With a wide array of craft beer from the UK and beyond, a great menu and a dogs welcome policy this place has to be on your 'to-do' list this summer.

Located a short walk from Birmingham New Street station, the main shopping area and the cathedral it is in a prime location for a lunch drop in or evening meal. Or if you really like beer it's a great place to get your beer tasting on. In fact June see them offering exclusive European beers as part of the brands Euro Beer Week.

Birmingham is the latest location for the company who have established themselves in locations from Newcastle and Huddersfield to Leicester and Nottingham. You can find all locations here.

You can see why they have successfully expanded, while the concept isn't new, Birmingham has a large offering of craft beer pubs - it does provide something different. With live music and the location split into a restaurant area, a 'traditional pub' area and a front area that make it appear as if you are sat in a beer patio it has something to offer however you enjoy your drinks.

With Bisbee in tow we visited the Birmingham location on opening night and from the moment we walked in we were impressed. Bisbee welcomed the attention and we liked the decor - an industrial style with a clear railway focus that meant there were plenty of things to discover during our visit.

Due to pregnancy we skipped the beer menu but did peruse the vast cocktail menu, Head of Steam REALLY know their drinks! We were kindly offered a virgin version of a number cocktails and enjoyed the strawberry daiquiris so much we ordered 3!

The food decisions were the hardest part of the night. We did plenty of eyeing up other peoples orders before settling on a chicken and ham pie, with mash and musheys and then a halloumi burger with chips. We also added a side of mac and cheese sticks - and so should you. They were so so good!

The full menu can be found here.

The portion sizes were reasonable and the food tasty - I would definitely recommend the pie, super flavourful and jam-packed with filling. Oh and it's a proper pie, not a pastry lid on a bowl!

Next time we will head back for brunch as the menu looked delicious!

After finishing our main course we got a low down on the up and coming events and what's involved in the beer tasting.

We also got to find out that Head of Steam have trained beer sommeliers on hand to offer advice on food and beer pairings as well as what craft beers and cask ales are available.

The fact finding mission gave us a chance to work up an appetite for our dessert, I ordered the strawberry and rhubarb cheesecake and I can honestly say it was one of the best desserts I have ever eaten. It was light, sweet, flavourful and every bite was so good. It was so good that I would be tempted to head in just for that dessert if I needed a reboot while shopping.

One of the highlights of the evening was the service. Everyone we spoke to was lovely, super helpful and knowledgeable.

The only challenge we have found is that as far as we can tell there is no way of booking online and when we did try and walk up it was way too busy to go in with Bisbee. Plus the city centre location means you have to pay to park so it's best to know you have a table guaranteed before you park.

Overall though if you like beer or good food or a pub with a lot going on or all these then Head of Steam is well worth checking out!

http://www.theheadofsteam.co.uk/bars/birmingham

Digbeth Dining Club!

If you live around, or can get to, Birmingham you have to check out the Digbeth Dining Club!

Digbeth Dining Club is Birmingham's Original Street Food Event and we finally got to go on the last weekend of April.

If you want the background check out their website here: Digbeth Dining Club

The concept is simple, every Friday night in Digbeth local street food sellers set up their stands, vans and cars and provide a group of people with delicious food. The last Friday of the month is always the biggest event and shuts down an entire Digbeth street. The stands are split between an undercover area at the back of a nightclub and a street. The nightclub itself provides the seating and live music.

The food on offer was full of variety, we had agreed beforehand that we would visit every stand before making a decision on what we would try. That in itself was a challenge - the smells as you walked in immediately got the tummy rumbling and we almost got tempted by a kebab cooking on a car!

Staying strong though we narrowed down our dinner choices to three stands all fulfilling our key criteria:
1) It had to be food we couldn't get everywhere
2) It had to be something we would both like, so we could share
3) It had to look good and smell amazing

Our first course was: Pietanic They are a gourmet Pie shop that travel in Claude - their converted van to deliver fresh homemade pies in delicious flavours. We went for a cheeseburger pie with a side of mash. CHEESEBURGER PIE - it's like marrying Laura and I's favourite food. It was so good.

Second course was from Buddha Belly - you have to track these guys down, the noodles and crispy chicken we had were AMAZING! They specialise in Thai street food. The chef Sai was on Masterchef and you can taste why - the flavours in the dish were incredible!

Our final course was from Becky's Bhaji's . Tagged as the 'best bhaji's ever' our experience did not disappoint. delicious, fresh and with the right amount of spice. They are also made as gluten fee and with completely local ingredients. We were reaching for the Diet Coke after our second bite but they were well worth it.

The queue for Bourneville Waffle was too long as we had a car park ticket to get back for but we'll track them down next time as the millionaire Waffle looked incredible.

If you are near Birmingham city centre on a Friday night check this event out! We had a great time and while we didn't hang around for hours the time we spent there gave a sense of the vibrancy and diversity the event attracts - both caterers and diners!

Entry for the month end events is £1.50 and while we paid it begrudgingly you can see what you get for the fee - the seating areas, the music and the opportunity to try AMAZING food. We will be back!

Lumiere London January 2016

If you follow us on Instagram you may have seen a few pictures from the Lumiere London event that took place on the 14th to 17th of January.

It was a free festival that took place across London, running 6.30 - 10.30 each evening. Light installations and displays had been set up in 6 key areas of the city: Kings Cross, Mayfair, Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square and Westminster.

We went along on the Saturday and as it was outside made it a family trip by bring Bisbee. We had prepped beforehand by checking out the website , printing off a map and deciding what was on our must see list. Knowing it was going to be busy we thought we would start at Kings Cross and make our way to Trafalgar Square hoping that the crowds would do the opposite.

At the start it seemed straight forward. At each installations there was a guide who could point you to the next piece and it was like following a trail. King's Cross is stunning without the event but seeing areas you normally walk past without a thought being lit up was something special.

At King's Cross we saw the bird cage lit up as a rainbow, eery dresses floating in windows and a join the dots thing on a wall but the highlight for me was the Circus of Light. A projection of dancing animals that brought Granary Square to life.

From King's Cross we caught the tube to Oxford Street. The tube was PACKED and they had issues getting people out so we were lucky to make it safely to our tube. We heard on our arrival at Oxford Circus that they had actually closed King's Crossed so we timed it perfectly!

Once out on Oxford Street we could see an enormous net that changed colour every couple of seconds. It was mesmerising and it was a good job they had stopped traffic as the area was full of people just staring up.

From there we headed to Mayfair. A 20 minute trek but a chance for Bisbee to really stretch her legs which she was glad of. On arrival we found out that they had closed the aquarium telephone box as people had been hitting the glass too hard - why are there always arseholes?! So we joined the queue to enter the park. While the brightness of brothers and sisters was inviting it was a board of light that caught our attention - mainly as it had benches by it. Mayfair certainly hadn't lit us up!

Heading back towards Piccadilly and it was clear where the installations were as groups of people were gathered with phones to the sky. The beautiful proverb 'for the beloved one longs most' was illuminated above the Piccadilly arcade. Next were the keyframes (men) hanging off a near by building with the lights making it look like they were running up and down the building - very effective!

We had been looking forward to the Travellers - expecting them to be large and flying through the sky - in reality they were small and stuck to buildings - beautiful though. The most impressive thing for us was the fish like things suspended over Regents Street. With hypnotic music playing and their gentle sway it was really relaxing to just stand and watch as the chaos of the crowd walked by.









The only thing that snapped us out of it was the noise of what sounded like an elephant - it was in fact an animation of an elephant swinging his truck and stomping his hoofs. The night was full of surprises! Stopping had been a faux pas on our side though as it gave us a change to realise that the 4 hours of walking had left us in a bit of pain.

We were determined to make it to Leicester Square and were happy to be greeted by the Garden of Light - so, so pretty and the detail made it feel alive. Bisbee even found a quiet spot to admire the beauty! Summoning strength we walked the short distance to Trafalgar Square to see the fountains lit up with plastic bottles full of colour and the Centre Points lights. It was our final stop that left us smiling though the Neon Dogs that were hanging out in shop front were stunning.

We didn't quite make it to Westminster but heard the Abbey was beautiful. On hearing our tube stop had been closed due to over crowding we just couldn't face the extra walk. Instead it was Chipotle and a quick (well as quick as could be) march to the next tube station where we managed to get a tube back to our friends house pick up the car and drive the 2 hours back to Birmingham!

Bisbee was asleep within seconds, as the driver I however was wide awake and ready to battle the snow that had started to fall.

London is exhausting! The night was well worth it though!

Made in Dagenham - The Review!

It’s rare that I feel compelled to write about something almost immediately after it happened but after seeing Made in Dagenham last night I wanted to get this post written before I forgot things I wanted to say.

So here goes my review of Made in Dagenham, currently showing at the Aldephi Theatre, London. http://www.madeindagenhamthemusical.com/

To start at the beginning, I had no idea what to expect in terms of story or show, I had heard of Dagenham but only as a place in Essex and this made me somewhat nervous – neither L nor I are ‘Only Way Is Essex’ fans, what if the whole show was about living in Essex?! – it wasn't!

We actually ended up at the show because of a lovely Twitter friend we made a couple of years ago, as we work in London she lets us know if any tickets become available as we can attend on short notice. And that’s what we did. And we are so glad we did.

This show pulls you in from the start with catchy songs and a true-to-life feel that just about anyone could relate to. Essentially it is a feminist story but that doesn't become obvious until the plot gets moving. It starts in a typical suburban house in the 60’s. Both parents work in a car factory – the wife sewing seat covers, the husband in the manufacturing plant. On top of the day job, the wife cooks, cleans and looks after the kids - after all, it’s ‘her role’.

The play is based on real life events, the story really happened, it was dramatised in a 2010 film and for this production songs were added for musical flair but at the heart is a true story. Not only that, the situations, the events, the views of women's roles in society have not moved on significantly since 1968 so the story could just as well be happening today – it's really clever. As the tag-line states, it is about showing ‘how ordinary people can do extraordinary things when they stand together’ and this show did just that.

I won’t give the story away completely but a few of the key issues that it brought to light were:

• Equal rights
• Fair pay
• Women’s rights
• Society’s view of women

The issues are just as relevant today as they would have been then. On the way to work yesterday, we heard on the news ‘essentially the pay divide means women are working for free for the rest of year compared to men being paid to do the same job’. Can you imagine!!!! Laura and I are lucky enough to work for companies that do not have ‘pay gaps’ dependent on sex so are not experiencing this, but plenty are! Thankfully this has changed since the 60’s in most roles because of the Equal Pay Act of the 1970’s– no doubt in part because of the women at the heart of this story.

From the Metro.co.uk

‘Women are half as likely as men to be in a job paying more than £50,000 a year. While full-time female workers earn on average £28,000, men earn £33,000. This is a difference of £5,000, or 16 per cent. Perhaps most upsettingly, it means that women are effectively working for free from today until Christmas. Yes, for free. Just giving our time, energy and talent away like it’s worthless.’

From: MadeInDagenhamthemusical.com

Besides the pay gap debate that is still raging on, the other topic that struck a chord was equality. Again, the world has moved on since the 1960’s but when they said the line ‘If not now, then when’ – it wasn't just L&I that looked at each other and whispered ‘Didn't Emma Watson say that in her UN speech, just weeks ago! (HERE)’ In fact, weren't these the very words that launched the ‘#heforshe’ campaign?

Much like Emma’s point that feminism isn't just a woman’s issue, this play highlighted the role that men can play; in fact, the result of the play would have been very different if men weren't involved. It was just eye-opening to see how a society so focused on established rules literally saw their world collapse when one group of women pointed out that fair pay was fair. It was as if no-one had ever thought about it.

The actor playing Harold Wilson, the then Prime Minister, even came out with the line ‘well why are women working when the war is over?!’ it was the 60’s – women worked – how could such an out of touch leader have dealt with a society that he was clearly clueless about? Another point that is oh so relevant in the UK today!

Putting aside the wonderful subject matter and important message, this is a top musical - the singing is flawless, acting is realistic and not cheesy (often difficult to do in a musical!) and the jokes are funny and well executed.

So if you are in London, go see this musical! We will definitely be making a second trip!

That Time Laura Made a Reservation at a Takeaway

Last Friday we decided to ressurect Date Night from the dark depths of commuting 4 hours a day, living with parents and having zero moneys.

Because I'm on keto, we decided to go to a lebanese restaurant, thinking the salads, meats, halloumi, and deliciousness is relatively keto-friendly in that cuisine. We remembered going to a lebanese restaurant in Hammersmith about 3 years ago for a friend's birthday, but couldnt remember the name of it.

Luckily, Google Maps came to the rescue! I looked at the area, and saw a place called 'Lebanese Tavern' right where it way - perfect! So we set our sights on the Tav, as we were likely to call this new haunt, and got hungry.

An hour beforehand i got nervous that on a Friday night it might be busy, as most restaurants in London tend to be. So, I called them up. 'Hi, Lebanese Tavern? Can I please make a reservation for tonight at 6:15?' (Hey, we're early eaters. Just wait until we are old enough to eat dinner at 5! #moretimefordigestion #yolo) The man on the other end of the phone said something pretty unintelligible, and put me on hold. Must be to the reservations department.

'Ello?'
'Um hi, can I make a reservation?'
'...... (speaks to his colleagues).... for what time?'
'6:15 please'
'Okay yes bye.'

They didn't even take my name! I chuckled to myself and texted Sarah that they didn't seem used to taking reservations. Silly unprofessional London restaurants!

Annoyingly, Sarah didn't arrive at Hammersmith until 6:20, so we were a good 15 minutes late for our reservation. Slightly concerned we'd miss our table, we strolled arm in arm down the street, and.... passed where we were sure the restaurant was. It was now an Indian restaurant.

Confused, we noticed the Lebanese Tavern 3 doors down. 'Phew!' I thought, as we were starving by this point. As we went to walk in, we noticed the large rotating meat on a skewer in the window.....

And then it dawned on me.

I'd made a reservation at a kebab shop.

At 6:15 (surely nobody eats at a kebab shop before a drunken midnight?).

HOW EMBARRASSING!!

For the quick epilogue, we walked through H'Smith and came across the BEST new little Mediterranean restaurant with the nicest owner - and we ate the heck out of all this. And we lived happily ever after.

Christmas London Date Night

Christmas is, if you can believe it, one week from today.

We've really struggled to get into the spirit this year, and I know we aren't the only ones, so I've got to blame the weather. It was 10 degrees this week. Celsius! Not at all Christmassy. Or perhaps its the commuting, the house buying, the fact that we are always on the move, and always very tired (3 hour commutes one way!), and currently have little quality time together or with friends. But whatever it is, I'm not a fan. Christmas is my favourite holiday, and only comes but once a year!

So we took it upon ourselves to stay in London for three nights this week, and do some London-y Christmasy things. We're in a very cheap hotel, which is probably more of a hostel, but it'll be worth it if we come out of this feeling restored, and festive. So last night, we braved the rain in search of a date night.

WARNING: This post comes with probably the worst quality photos in the history of blogging history. It was rainy, foggy, and I only had my phone with me. Sorry!

We went to TGIF in Leicester Square, which was delicious, as usual!

We walked up to Primark to get Sarah some clothes for her Christmas party at her new job today, and I got myself a £3 skirt. Score!

Then we headed through the streets of Soho, and happened upon something which made the night for us - a tiny old London pub, heaving with Christmas decorations, which inside had a drag queen cabaret act named Cookie MonSTAR. It was fantastic - her first song was Cabaret, which is my Liza Minelli fan's favourite, and she followed it up with one of my favourite Barbra Streisand songs. We were hooked!

Could I have taken a worse photo? Probs not.

As we stood in the warmth and sang along with everyone in the packed pub, something came upon us - I think it must've been what the Grinch felt when he realised Christmas isn't about presents (thank goodness, because we're very poor this year!) - it was Christmas spirit! And the realisation that everything is great, despite all the changes and all the rushing around we do lately. I particularly loved the two theatre gays in the corner who thought it was the best thing ever to harmonise with the last note of every song - it reminded me of my choir days, and of my high school Christmas concert I try to get to whenever I'm home at this time of year.

Tonight Sarah is going to her work Christmas party, so I'm going to Winter Wonderland with our friends Alison and Dave, and then to (hopefully) successfully do the bulk of our Christmas shopping. I feel like a boy, not having done it yet - hoping our family won't receive petrol station Christmas Eve presents from us! ;D

 Tomorrow? We're heading back to that pub for the gayest kind of Christmas cheer.

Date Night Review: Mamma Mia!

Last Wednesday, we were invited by Superbreak to go see the London West End Musical 'Mamma Mia!' Having both seen the movie, we surprisingly came at this musical with very different opinions - Sarah, ever the 'cheese' lover, LOVES Mamma Mia and was so excited to see it on stage, but Laura was a bit skeptical, as she found the movie entirely cringe-worthy and vowed never to watch it again.

When we arrived at the theatre and received our tickets, Laura decided to go in with an open mind, and not pre-empt the inevitable fiasco that was about to occur. We took our seats, second row on the balcony, which was a fantastic view and made it seem like the cast were singing straight to us! We were impressed that there was a level above the balcony, this was a large theatre!

The show was, in a word, great. Surprisingly so for Laura, who found herself singing and dancing along with everyone else, and not once was she struck by any bad acting or bum notes. The actors and actresses kept the show interesting and engaging, the music was awesome (as expected, who doesn't love ABBA?), and the whole show had a low level of the 'cheese-factor' - no more than it meant to!

The only bit, in case someone from the show reads this, that we would change, is towards the end when the mother is getting ready for her daughter's wedding - the two songs, one with the daughter and one with Sam, seemed very long. I found myself watching a Chinese man who had fallen asleep in one of the boxes (though I think the sleep may have been from jetlag more than the show, don't worry!) - perhaps the two songs could both be shortened so we still get the point but don't have to listen to it hammered home.

The best bit was the finale, with everyone on stage and off dancing and singing to ABBA classics - it was so much fun! We decided we would both definitely go again, or recommend it to people looking for a fun, lighthearted show in London.

Thank you Superbreaks for the opportunity!

If you want to check out the deal for yourself it's here: http://www.superbreak.com/search/site/Mamma%20Mia