Things to do in Birmingham: bake bread

Stash for bread from the course

Where: Loaf HQ, Cotteridge

When: day course, check the available courses here

Cost: £75 (free for me as it was a Birthday present)

What: See, taste, feel and understand bread in a way you’ve never before.  Seriously.

A day course on the basics of bread; what goes into it (very little), what mass produced bread contains (lots of nasties) and how to make your own.  And by how to make your own, I mean how to make a lot of bread in a relatively short space of time.   We made loaves, buns, batons, ciabatta, wholemeal bread, white bread, glimpsed the wonders of sourdough, pizza and fougasse all in one day.  Oh, and went home with the dough for brioche, to be cooked the next day.

Making bread at home

Would I go again? Without a doubt.  The course was fascinating, not only to see the ease of making your own bread, but also the magic of it.  Call me silly, but to see flour, water, yeast and salt transform into dough and then left for a couple of hours double in size, is fairly amazing.

The course is paced well, with enough time to make a mountain of bread, but also to chat to the others on the course, eat freshly made brioche for elevenses, cook and make pizza for lunch and ask questions.  And we did ask a lot of questions; from where to get the flour to what liquids to use and whether breadmakers are a good idea (yes and no).

In fact, I enjoyed the course so much that three days later I’ve had a go at making my own bread from the booklet provided. What’cha think?

Cha Cha Cha – a Birmingham tea house

My housemate Beccy and I have joked for years that we would set up a tea-shop that sold many different kinds of tea and only one, nondescript type of coffee.  Of course this all changed when a slight milk intolerance meant I had to give up numerous cups of tea a day.  Luckily for her Cha Cha Cha in Birmingham seems to have started the ball rolling.

After some confusion to it’s location, which turned out to be the Northern Aracade in Birmingham City Centre and not the Western Arcade that we mistakenly aimed for, we visited on Saturday on the back of a Metro review and a recommendation from someone Beccy works with.  We took along a tea-obsessive from Manchester and a non-tea drinker for a well-rounded view.

The tea is marvellous, the décor of the café disappointing.  It appears to straddle fresh and modern with old-world and a hint of greasy-spoon to mix.  The seating and tables are fresh-colours, clean lines and unfussy.  Upstairs, though there was no one there when we attended, wouldn’t look out of place in a restaurant.  The clear-plastic tea pots, tiered-cake stands and glass chess set appeared to try and appease the old-world charm of a tea-house with the modern décor the rest of the store offered.  Which almost worked, but not enough to be convincing.  The real disappointment in terms of aesthetics were the somewhat tacky-looking branded china and builders-café style menus amateurishly created and housed in plastic stand-up cases.  Sounds a ridiculous thing to complain about, but just didn’t really make for much of an experience.

Tea-wise, I can’t complain.  On recommendation from staff I went for a second-flush Darjeeling green tea.  Ordinarily I’m not keen on green tea as I find it has a funny after-taste.  But perhaps because of its better quality (being a second flush) and a Darjeeling it was delightful.  Beccy went for the Assam which she described as “fine” and the Mancunian tea-obsessive Hannah went for a Masala Chai, which smelled curious and seemed to taste the same.  Non-tea drinkers are in for a harsh time with a few token cans of warm soft-drinks, as Sian found out.

Would I go again?  I’m not sure.  The tea was delightful, but it’s still a cup of tea and the novelty of the egg timers in a less than interesting venue wouldn’t really make up for having to pay over £3 for a cup of tea.  However, the sandwiches and cakes looked a reasonable price.  I would probably take someone, if I thought they would appreciate the tea but don’t think I’d be in a rush to go back.  Which is a real shame, as this is similar to the kind of place I’ve been dreaming about opening for the last five years.  If the experience which they clearly are trying to create with the teapots and egg-timers was properly realised in the rest of the venue and décor then I think this place could be amazing.

All Tomorrow’s Parties 2009 – Breeders

Mariachi el Bronx

ATP was, as expected, fantastic and I had one up on last years in that I’d actually seen one of the bands and dragged everyone to see the Bronx. They were fantastic and seemed better than when I saw them before.  And their side project Mariachi el Bronx were surprisingly hilarious too – who knew a punk band could play traditional Mexican music?!

Beccy had seen Whispertown 2000 in America so we had to see them and they were really enjoyable.  A little twee (bluegrass-country stuff) and the lead singer was dangerously close to flashing, but they were fun.  On the last song the drummer (who was playing guitar at the time) and bassist both mimed into missing mics whilst the two other members of the band sung.  Hilarious.  We spotted the drummer and bassist in the crowd for CSS later who seemed to be having an awesome time.

Kimya Dawson was another highlight. Her children’s songs were hilarious and the songs from Juno were a big hit.  But not nearly as much as her group hug at the end of her set where she had the whole audience hold hands, wind in and hug.  I’m not sure it’s possible to explain how awesome it was to experience, but it was a thing to behold.

Other bands I remembered seeing…
•    Teenage Fanclub attracted the older people in the audience and were enjoyed as background to dinner from Burger King.
•    Melt Banana seemed frenetically fun but not really to everyone’s taste as friends wanted to leave half way though – which was a shame
•    The Breeders were also good, even if Beccy and I spent most of it playing on the 2p machines at the back.
•    Bon Iver’s set didn’t feel like anything spectacular but the music was nice, so I enjoyed it sat on the floor at the back.  
•    Yann Tierson was fun to watch and had a man on stage reading from a book.
•    Blood Red Shoes seemed like the usual shouty indie.
•    CSS were incredibly fun and decorated the stage with balloons that looked amazing.
•    Tricky threw some god-like moves, was impressive and everyone seemed to enjoy it.
•    Zach Hill’s drummer was clearly accomplished but got a bit dull after a while.
•    Some other bands who’ve all melted into one – woops

Other highlights included the aforementioned 2p machines, the psychedelic carpet (again), crazy dancers, watching other people in the rain, converse parties, gnomes tripping on LSD at a funeral, sarcastic signs, dancing security guards singing ‘stop in the name…’ and checked-shirt spotting.

Thoroughly enjoyed the world’s most polite festival ever and looking forward to going back to next years!

Africa in Solihull

Yesterday I discovered Africa…in Solihull.  My mum has been on about this place since we both (separately) moved over to South Birmingham/Solihull last year and finally got round to taking me to Akamba.

Forgive my ignorance, I’m not a gardener at all – I’ve only just been allowed a third indoor plant that I’m trying not to kill, but this place is breathtaking.  It’s acres (apparently, I had to look it up) of exotic plants and greenery. Amongst the green plant things I saw a fantastic deeply purple coloured plant that I tried to convince myself would be good for my desk at work – if I worked in a sunny office, which I don’t.  Or an iron giraffe for the garden.

We also stopped there for bunch; they do a lovely bacon sandwich and mum’s cheese and bacon wrap looked lovely too.  And had a wander round the gift shop bit.  Mum finally got to show me what the tyre-shoes she talked about seeing in Africa when she was there climbing Kilimanjaro.

I took some photos whilst we were there, as my housemate and I are indulging in project 365 this year, so my camera tends to be everywhere with me.  I tried to take the photos without looking sketchy, so they’re not great but it turns out I needn’t have worried as I spotted a few people with SLR cameras as we were leaving.  My mum informed me that they were an internet group who had come all the way from Lancashire to try and buy some rather rare plants.  Which seems slightly mad to me, but then again this place is rather special – or as my mum put it “not exactly Homebase is it”.

They are having some kind of Caribbean BBQ there on Bank Holiday Monday, which I’m trying to convince the housemates we should talk a walk down to see/eat.  Which is unlikely to happen, but at least I’ve tried!