SALADS CAN BE A REAL PARTY . . .

Recently I have been loving a good salad. Not those kind of salads you see with a few lettuce laves a sliver of tomato and, if you're lucky, a chunk of cucumber on the side. No, I'm talking about salads which include bacon and pears, halloumi and chorizo - you know the fun kind. It might have something to do with the sun we've been having but recently we've been eating salads all day every day. When people hear talk of salads they think it's either because their friends are trying to lose wait or they don't think at all as the monotonous green colour that they imagine is enough to send them in to a sleep or at least in to a day dream about that juicy steak they saw on TV the night before. But guys, salads can be quite the party, if you allow them to be that is.

One of my recent favourites has been a recipe I discovered whilst roaming the Internet for Glastonbury inspired food to celebrate the awesome weekend of music we were treated to and it is the halloumi, chorizo, asparagus and spinach salad. The recipe I used was one from Red Magazine (here). It sounds a bit weird but man it's incredible. The cheese is so unique and I think we as a family have come to an agreement that it actually tastes and feels more like chicken than any sort of cheese. The best thing about this dish is that is basically takes 20mins max to complete from start to finish. (Yet another plus to the good old salad.) Add a little balsamic syrup or vinegar on top (what ever you have in your cupboard) and, bish bash bosh, your finished!

Another one that I kind of made up the other day while trying to think of what we could have for dinner after a day where temperatures soared up to 32 degrees, was a bacon and pear salad. The combination of bacon and pear is something that I only discovered a few years back and even though it might sound a bit strange to eat bacon with a sweet fruit it so totally works. I threw in loads of spinach (I am now addicted to spinach) quite a few pears chopped up in to squares, lots of bacon (just add as much as you wish), tomatoes, cucumber, asparagus, peppers - you can basically throw in whatever veg you have in your fridge. To top it off I made a dressing which consisted of 4tbs of olive oil, 1tsp of Dijon mustard and some salt to season - easy pips - put it in the fridge to cool and then you're ready to go! Another healthy meal you can prepare in less than 15mins! Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of it, (well, both actually) it was so damn delicious(!) so I have found an example picture of a pear and bacon salad online.

Do you have any favourite salad recipes? Please share them with me, thank you :)

SUPER SONG SUNDAY // Eric Burdon & Boom Boom

We were treated to an awesome surprise Tuesday evening in Bruce Springsteen's Cardiff gig - The Animals' Eric Burdon joined the E Street Band on stage to perform his hit We've Gotta Get Out of This Place. When the rock legend came out on stage about halfway through the concert the crowd of over 20,000 people erupted with joy. When the chorus began the roof was shaking as people shouted "we gotta get out of this place if it's the last thing we ever do..." back to the performers on stage. Awesome! I was unsure whether to include the original 1960's version of the song in today's Super Song Sunday but as I'm still reeling from Tuesday's incredible gig I though I'd link that very performance. I hope you enjoy listening to it because I sure loved living it! Oh, and how awesome is Burdon's t-shirt & scarf combo!



And just for good measure I have included the song that followed this surprising collaboration - Boom Boom. "C'mon and shake it up babeyyyy"!!!

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, CARDIFF - 23.7.13 // Summer Adventures

“There are good Bruce shows, there are great Bruce shows, and then there’s Cardiff!” - Helen Jones 

Wow. I have thought about how to describe what myself and over 20,000 Springsteen fans saw on Tuesday night but there are no words. 

My Mam, my brother and I opened are deck chairs and sat in the Cardiff sun all of ten hours before The Boss made an appearance on stage. It had to be done. After being so close to the Golden Circle in Wembley last month we knew we had to be even closer this time. The E Street Band are like a drug which you just want to experience on a more intimate level every time. Next time (and there will be another E Street tour) we'll queue the day before if we have to  - Springsteen has that effect on you. The hours fly by because Springsteen fans are like a big family - everybody talks to each other, look out for one another and swap stories of their experiences of life on the road with the Boss. From Australia, Netherlands, America and Italy, they were all there ready to see Springsteen in the Welsh capital. 

Once we were in the stadium we were ridiculously close to the front and on many occasions during the 3 and a half hour set (yes you heard right, 3 and a half hours) Springsteen was at a face to face distance from us which was enough to almost make my mother (who has been following the Boss for 30 or so years) cry! That was enough to make it one of the best nights of my life but then the setlist, oh the setlist. What an incredible thing it was!

After being privileged enough to hear the whole of Darkness on the Edge of Town in Wembley I was quite happy for the Boss not to play another album from start to finish but just to play songs from his never ending back catalogue. And wow, what a show he put on for us. The band burst on to the stage with a fantastically gospel version of This Little Light of Mine which I was incredibly pleased about and this is also the song that ended the first encore.  I was already pumped by the end of the first song but when Adam Raised A Cain was played as the third song in the set I knew that the show would be one that would not be forgotten for a long time. Adam Raised a Cain is one of my favourite songs not only from Darkness on the Edge of Town but ever. 

After running in to the crowd to grab some sign requests (sadly not mine) we were treated to a world premiere of TV Movie. A song that has never been heard live before and according to Bruce, a song that will never be heard live again! Cynthia, another song from the 1998 "Tracks" boxed set was played after TV Movie to the delight of Steve Van Zandt and the crowd, before the band jumped in to a trio of Wrecking Ball tracks - Death to My Hometown, We Take Care of Our Own and Wrecking Ball. 

 Bruce treated the people of Cardiff to an awesome surprise as The Animals' Eric Burdon came on stage to perform We've Gotta Get Out of This Place with the amazed crowd shouting the chorus back at the performers. If the Millennium Stadium was not already almost filled to the roof with energy, Springsteen launched into a cover of John Lee Hooker's Boom Boom which was followed by Cadillac Ranch and (one of my favourites) Summertime Blues. The seated crowd were told to "get off their Welsh asses" when Pay My Money Down came on and they listened to turn to the atmosphere in the stadium up to 11. As the set came to an end with an immense version of Badlands the roof was now shaking and the crowd were jumping - could things get any wilder? 

With a 10 song encore, yes they most definitely could. The first encore included Springsteen hits such as Born to Run, Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out and Dancing in the Dark and ended with a totally mental version of Shout which saw Bruce crawling across the stage in an almost see through shirt as the sweat flooded from the singer after 3 and a half hours on the stage. Not bad for an almost 64 year old. With The Boss ignoring cut off time and as the band left the stage, Springsteen continued with an emotional and sensational acoustic versions of Janey Don't You Lose Heart and Thunder Road which left many of the audience with tears in their eyes. 

Bruce, as one sign in the crowd stated simply - Thank You. 

SUMMER ADVENTURES // Cooling down in the sea

The relentless hot weather we've been having recently called for one thing - the beach. On Thursday Carwen and I decided to hit New Quay beach for a nice chillaxed day. Before arriving at the sea side we stopped in a little hilarious village shop where we bought our food for the day, after being stuck in a Welsh traffic jam (sheep not cars). We literally had a box full of stuff for £6! 14p Curly Wurlys anyone?! As it was a weekday the beach was relatively empty which was awesome. After setting up camp we headed towards the sea, and jee wiz the sand was boiling but sadly the sea wasn't! Despite the ice cold temperature of the sea we headed in and had a good swim for about 20 minutes before I heard Carwen scream. I looked over and the look of terror on her face was, although it shouldn't have been, hilarious! I think she touched the stomach of a jelly fish (there were loads on the beach) and in all the commotion she broke her sunglasses and swam to the shore as the glasses sunk to the bottom of the sea! 

After that incident we shortly packed our things up and went for a little walk to the other side of the beach where we sat on the harbour looking out towards the horizon in the scorching sun. Awesome. 

If Thursday wasn't enough, my mum and I headed to Mwnt on Saturday for another beach day. Mwnt is an actually awesome place which not many people (i.e tourists) know of so it's quite quiet there. I forced mam in to the sea and after some complaining she eventually jumped in and actually really enjoyed it. The sea was so calm, although I think it was colder than New Quay's, and it was perfect just to be able to lie there :) I also managed a good swim while in the big blue ocean and was absolutely shattered after arriving home because of it. I'd really love to do some open water swimming, I'm currently looking in to it to see if there are any clubs around where I live. 

I love the sea although I think the heat needs to calm down a bit because it's really tiring me out. Not that I'm complaining or anything! :)

 

SUPER SONG SUNDAY // BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN

Aloha everyone. It's Sunday again (I have no idea how the weeks seem to fly by) and it's time for a Super Song Sunday. Whilst looking back through my Super Song Sunday (& Super Sunday Song) archive I was quite surprised to see that I'd only done two Springsteen posts and one of them wasn't even solely on the man himself (here & here). But don't worry, I've made up by writing many a post about The Boss in other areas of this blog (here). What better time to feature Springsteen but two days before I see him for the second time on his Wrecking Ball Tour in Cardiff. When I saw him in Wembley Stadium back in June it was one of the best experiences of my life and you can read more about that concert here.

With preparations under way for Tuesday's gig (sign making, time scheduling etc.) I decided I'd post one of my favourite Springsteen tunes of the moment for SSS. I say 'of the moment' because as all Springsteen fans know, there are just too many songs in The Boss' catalogue to have one continues favourite song, although Thunder Road might be an exception because that is, in my opinion, the Best song Ever written. So, at the moment Backstreets tops my own personal Springsteen chart. After looking through Springsteen's set lists from his 2013 tour it seems that this song is rarely played when the E Street Band are not playing the whole of the Born to Run album which baffles me.

Whilst I'm on the subject of set lists, this morning I was googling to see what songs Bruce and the E Street Band performed in Belfast over the weekend and I discovered an awesome blog called Burgers And Bruce. The blog discusses exactly what it says on the tin - Bruce Springsteen and Burgers. It is written by a E Street lovin', burger eating fanatic called Hannah and if you're new to Springsteen she has written a very insightful beginners guide on how to properly go and watch Bruce and the E Street band live which you should check out.

So, without further ado, I give you Backstreets. 

SUMMER ADVENTURES // BBQ with friends

After a good swim, some blogging and some cleaning I headed over to Ruth's house because she was having a little BBQ with some friends. I brought some fresh watermelon and pineapple and we had some burgers and salad for dinner. Yuuuum :) It was such an awesome night to have a BBQ because it was scorching all day so the evening was nice and fresh. I haven't seen a few people for ageeees because of uni and everything so it was really cool seeing them on Tuesday night.

After some food we sat in the garden having a chat and catching up with what's been going on in our lives since we left for uni almost a year ago. As well has having a go on the trampoline we played with Ruth's two dogs and during like the millionth game of fetch I attempted a new throwing technique which should not have been tried as I threw Oscar's toy burger in to the top of the tree. It was a case of Bye, Bye little burger, it was fun while it lasted. Sori Ruth!

I eventually made my way back home after midnight after an awesomely chilled night of catching up with friends :)

SUMMER ADVENTURE // Lets go to the beach, beach

On Monday we headed to the beach in Llangrannon. I never really go to Llangrannog for a beach day because, especially during the summer, it is filled to the brim with tourists and it's a tiny village with very sparse parking so it's not really worth the hassle. We sometimes go there during winter (here) because we can usually have the beach to ourselves but alas we went to Llangrannog on Monday. We've had absolute scorching weather over the past week and bit with temperatures reaching 30 degrees but the day we chose to go to the beach was the day it was cloudy and just that little bit colder! That, however, did not stop me from going in to the, let's say refreshing, sea. I love the sea and swimming in general and whenever I get the chance to jump in to a lake or dive in to the sea I'm there like a shot.

It was cold to begin with but then you warm up in the water, well, either that or your body becomes numb so you can no longer feel the cold. I think it is most probably the latter. Llangrannog, and most of the beaches around here, are awesome because they have caves everywhere and while I was swimming in the sea I swam over to see some of these caves. This area of West Wales is famous for its pirates and the literature that has been written about these Pirates such as T. Llew Jones' Barti Ddu. I think I'd have loved to have been a pirate. Actually on second thoughts, I think I would have loved to dress as a pirate more than actually doing the whole sailing the seven seas thing.

After another dip in the sea, some lunch a quick read and an attempt at some sunbathing we decided to hit the road as it was getting a bit too chilly.

I love the sea :)

 From this hair ^ down to this hair with just a bit of wind to dry it. I love post-sea hair! wwww and it looks like I burnt my face in this picture but I genuinely don't think I did, It doesn't look like it anyway!

W E E K E N D // Chillin' & Monsters University

My parents went to Cardiff for the weekend so Owen, Eve and myself were left to hold down the fort. Saturday I woke up early, wrote a blog post on my sports blog (here) and then headed out for a walk with Hendrix. It was incredibly warm on Saturday. I think it might have been the hottest day of the year so far and boy, it felt like it to! We even had to make two river stops on our walk just so Henz could have a little cool down and a drink! When we eventually came back home, Hendrix slumped in a cool corner of the house and I rushed in to the shower, got dressed and jumped in the car to make our way down to Carmarthen. We were off to watch Monsters University. Monsters inc. has to be my all time favourite Pixar/Disney film. I even have quite a sizable Sulley teddy sitting on my bed right as I type. The film was awesome and to see Mike as a little primary school child was worth the Cinema money alone! After the film we ran in to Tesco, grabbed a few things and made our way home. We finished the evening with some good ol' Fish & Chips for dinner.

Sunday morning we got up early and went for a swim. It was fitness lanes so it was a good way to wake myself up. I'm quite proud of the amount of lengths I did when considering everything that's been going on with the old back of mine. We were back home by just gone half 10 and I had my Sunday papers with me ready to have a good read. Before that however, I cleaned most of the house, blogged a bit, watched some of the Tour de France and skated. Since I was home with Hendrix for most of the day, I decided to spend it outside with him and with no cars on the drive I was free to Skateboard with minimal obstacles. Well . . . that was until Hendrix began to pick fights with my wheels and thus preventing me from boarding at all. I decided that the only thing to do was lie on my board and also sit on it and roll across the drive. Sounds odd but it was so much fun! When the parents came back they brought back some goodies from the capital. I received an awesome pair of glossy pink Doc. Martens and an even more awesome tie-dye Doc.Martens shirt :)