Musings | Matt Hobbs

Jes’ Bean Recipe

While I was over in NYC the ever lovely Jes made a splendid vegetarian platter for us to enjoy. One of the things on this platter were heirloom beans, big, flavorsome beans that I couldn’t get enough of, so I asked for the recipe. And since I can’t ever find it when I need it (like now) I’ve decided to post it up for posterity:

First up, find yourself some good, dried beans – ideally not too old. Jess recommends cranberry beans from Rancho Gordo who have a fine selection of heirloom beans. Unfortunately they don’t ship to the UK, so I ended up using a local supermarket packet of crab eye beans (barbunya) and they’ve worked out just fine (if not as wonderful as Jes’s!) (Note: an equivalent European bean is the Italian borlotti bean)
Soak your beans overnight, at least 8 hours. I’ve been using filtered water and changing the water semi-regularly as this helps reduce the bean chemicals that makes you less popular at social events (if you get my drift). If you end up soaking them too much just put them in the fridge to stop them fermenting. The beans will at least double in size, so allow for that, and once they’ve soaked the skins should look a little bit wrinkly. Don’t worry – they’ll absorb more fluid in the next steps.
Once ready, quarter an onion and about 4/5 cloves of garlic and throw in a pan with some olive oil. Cook until nice and brown.
Drain the beans and put them in the browned onions, cover with plenty of water and add some ground pepper. Bring to the boil then pop in a bay leaf (don’t forget to take this out at the end.
Boil for 30 minutes, then turn to medium high.
After 15 minutes add some vegetable broth and salt and keep cooking. You’ll have to keep checking at this point to see how tender the beans are.
Once they’re done, drain and eat! Or put in the fridge for a handy bean salad for the week. Yum!

It’s a great simple dish, dirt cheap, good for you and handy for lunches. The only downside is remembering to soak the beans the night before. So thanks for that Jess, you’ll make a vegetarian of me yet!

Art Brut @ Electric Ballroom

Art Brut @ Electric Ballroom
Originally uploaded by ultrahi.

Yet another great gig last night with the ever lovely Art Brut. This was our first British Art Brut gig, in the cavernous Electric Ballroom in Camden, and thankfully the home country crowd now loves them as much as they do in New York.

There are a few pics up on my Flickr – not my best I’m afraid, my G7 is having a lot of trouble focussing. Ug. Plus I also put a few long distance shots up of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs from the amazing Shepherds Bush Empire show a few weeks ago.

A Fun Day at the London Marathon – with side of Gordon Ramsey

Just back from a fun day down at the London Marathon, helping raise awareness of Battens Disease with my sister. We were camped out down by the west entrance to Canary Wharf, next to the BBC London radio bus, all wearing our bright orange t-shirts. And while we were there who should run past but Gordon Ramsey. Bless. Who knows, next year maybe I’ll give it a go… Maybe.

Back in sunny London

Back in London again after my super fun week and a bit back in New York. Thanks to everyone for making time to hang out – it was great to see you all – and those of you who I didn’t get to see, fingers crossed for next time! Plus a big ‘up’ to Sandra for letting my couch surf for the week. You rock!

Now I just need to adjust to getting up in the morning for work at the time I was just about finishing carousing for the night… Ug. Thankfully it’s a bright and sunny morning, so the walk in should shake the last bit of sleep from my eyes. Then it’s the longer term trauma of re-adjusting back to London life after a week of the New York simplicity and intensity, with the usual question – “why don’t things in London just work as well as they do in New York?”. Or cost as little. I mean.. $25 for a week metro card in New York.. that’s about £18 for unlimited travel all over the five boroughs 24 (yes, count them) hours a day. It’s always a sobering thought. Not that London isn’t a great city, it’s just one you have to work at enjoying more than you do in NYC.

OK.. enough blog related procrastination. It’s back to work with me.

Ah, New York

Seal & Heidi in SoHo
Originally uploaded by ultrahi.

It’s been a non-stop whirlwind of catching up with folks since I got into New York on Friday night after a long flight (complete with lightning strike as we landed). Thankfully last night I finally got more than four hours sleep – such is the price of wanting to catch up with as many friends as possible over a weekend.

It’s great to be back, even if only for a visit. Everything is so familiar, yet at the same time many things have changed. 8th Ave has a cycle land and mid-ave parking. Williamsburg has more high rise towers. Some of our favourite places have closed – such as Palacinka in SoHo – others have expanded – like Kid Robot. What do we learn from this? That small plastic unnecessary but cute toys are recession proof, wonderful crepes are not. It also transpires that for the first time in my knowledge, it’s cheaper to buy DVDs and CDs in England! No wonder the Virgin megastores are closing.

Today has been my first day to myself as everyone’s back at work. So I’ve run some errands including getting replacement jeans at Uniqlo since the ones I’d brought had developed an embarrassing hole in travel. Any excuse to shop. On the way a pack of paps, big lenses blocking my southerly trajectory as they aimed across the street, alerted me to the random celeb sighting of Seal, Heidi and kids waiting to cross Broadway. All very exciting, but not as exciting as finding out that my favourite Uniqlo jeans are on sale. Huzah!

Ps, In case anyone’s around in town and reading this I’m planning some group drinks on Thursday night (16 April) down at Stanton Public (17 Stanton between Bowery and Chrystie) from around 8-9 on. I have a US cell for the week if you want to get in touch which I posted on my facebook wall otherwise just email me.

A Night At the Book Slam

At the Book Slam
Originally uploaded by ultrahi.

Spent a fun evening over near Ladbroke Grove enjoying the latest Book Slam, a night of literary fun and frolics for all the family. As long as the family enjoys quality author readings, short plays and excellent live music interspersed with crap expensive drinks. too loud DJ interludes and be-lated cold Thai fold. Still, these downsides did not detract from an overall quality literary night.

The line-up was Nick Laird, reading from his novel ‘Glover’s Mistake’, followed by a selection of excellent short plays from Craig Taylor’s ‘One Million Tiny Plays about Britain’. Last, but not least, there was some soulful, beautiful acoustic “Mersey blues” from Delta Maid. Expect more photos and video soon(ish).

How to Invade – Space Stylee

These days city visits, and even my daily walk into work, have an added bonus – tracking down every Space Invader hidden alongside the ‘real’ tourist sights. Space Invaders, little (and sometimes big) mosaics stuck onto walls, are colourful distractions from the every day. They’re whimsical and always surprising, and now you can see how the Space Invader himself does an invasion.

"Do you see this?" – King Lear @ The Young Vic

We were fortunate enough to get tickets to see Pete Postlethwaite King Lear at The Young Vic before it, very deservedly, sold out. So last wednesday we all headed down nice and early to get our seats, as it’s open seating, and ended up three rows back in the centre with splendid views. Nice. The seats are also pretty comfortable, which was useful as the performance is just shy of four hours including its two, very short, intervals.

The lights come up on the members of King Lear’s court dressed in late 70s garb, with everyone gathered around as Lear splits his kingdom unfairly between his daughters, and from that moment on we were gripped. Postlethwaite sounded for a moment as if his voice was going, but that might have been affected for the role as later his voice sounded amazing. The stage is set up to look somewhat like an abandoned set of steps, with grass growing through (freshly sown each performance I’d imagine given the treatment it gets later), and in the background corrugated iron leading up to a rickety set of covered steps.

So much happens in this amazing play, from the length and epic scale of the play itself, through the amazing performances of Lear, Gloucester, Kent and Gloucesters sons Edmund and Edgar, amongst others, through to the staging itself – at times light and whimsical, at times bloody and gory, but always gripping. This is not a lightweight Shakespeare, it grabs the play by the lapels and shakes it into a worthy spectacle. Modern, yet timeless, owing much to cinema, but rooted in the theatre. That said it’s not one to bring young kids to, as some of the gore is mildly brutal and disturbing, as well as the more overt sexual themes in places.

This is a great play. Postlethwaite is brimming with emotional intensity, not least during Lear’s steady decline into madness. His loss at the end, fighting for sanity and gripping his dead daughter Cordelia between his legs as he himself dies is wrenching. A solemn contrast to some of the set pieces that went before. Stand out moments: Lear in a dress twirling his parasol having completed his descent to madness, Gloucester’s son Edgar avenging his father against his half-brother Edmund with an amazing ‘play fight’ with bright plastic swords that ends with brutal reality, Gloucester’s earlier torture scene – paying homage to Reservoir Dogs, the flight through the rainstorm – with real rain – and the birth of Lear’s grand-child, the late 70s/early 80s staging – subtle and pervasive alongside English flag painted faces in Lear’s retinue, the fool’s capering intensity and banter, and Lear’s rage as his plotting daughters abandon him. So much to enjoy, and enjoy it we did. Very much indeed.

Arty Day

Since I’m happily on Christmas hols already, combined with last week’s random purchase of a Tate membership, I decided to head down to the Tate Modern today to check out the Rothko and Cildo Meireles exhibitions. Oh, and the apocalyptic future vision currently in the turbine hall. Good fun – but have to say the Rothko didn’t grab me, so no real change there. The Meireles work on the other hand was wonderful. Highly engaging conceptual art that you get to play with and enter – from rolling balls around, to fighting your way through suspended rulers to cracking underfoot glass – my favourite. Well worth a visit, but hurry – it ends January 11th.

In other random news – it sounds like David Tennant may be returning to Hamlet in the last week, no guarantees though. Of course this means there will be a flurry of activity waiting for returns, etc if it does happen and I’ll find myself wondering if it’s worth the, usually effective, returns queue wait. Somehow I think returns will be unlikely after all the furore thus far. Still, if he does return to tread the boards we may brave the line. And if that doesn’t work, there’s always Pete Posthlethwaite in King Lear at the Young Vic I guess.

To See Tennant, or Not To See Tennant? That, is the Question

And last night the answer was, unfortunately, ‘not’. As has been widely reported, David Tennant has had to pull out of his acclaimed and rapidly sold-out performance of Hamlet in London until at least Christmas. For those of us who had been excitedly waiting to see the man himself in action, having been fortunate enough to get tickets in the few hours they were available, this was a bit of a blow. Thankfully, the rest of the amazing cast put on a show that will not soon be forgotten, and his under-study – thrust unexpectedly into the limelight before a London audience for an extended run – does a bang up job. He’s not Tennant, although at times you feel from his mannerisms he’s trying to be, but Edward Bennet carries of a complex role with aplomb.

Aye, the play’s the thing, and all the world’s a stage. So what of it? The stage opens dark and mysterious, lit just by the lights of the soldiers on the battlements, and it is then you notice that the entire stage is semi-mirrored as the soldiers’ lights bounce off the ground onto their faces. This amazing setup is used to great effect throughout the play, with minimal stage furniture and subtle lighting you are transported to a gothic castle at various times of the day. The huge mirrored panels at the rear rotate, allowing people to enter and exeunt at various times in different ways – and semi-mirrored glass gives us the necessary arras to hide behind. Later, the rear glass itself becomes even more of an actor – refelecting the sudden death of a key character. I feel that we were lucky in the Grand Circle – seats C11/12 – in that we literally had a perfect view down onto this mirrored stage, seeing the actors from both sides is grabbing and makes you appreciate what can be done on stage.

Against this stunning scenery, the players are caringly lit as they deliver characters with such precision and emotional force that you’re swept along. Patrick Stewart’s Claudius is at times the caring father, at others the malevolent plotter, and at all points believable. Polonius, played by Oliver Ford Davis is a revelation – a stumbling buffon who mutters and loses words that can still be heard across the auditorium (thankfully unlike the time he has to stage whisper words to Laertes stand-in). Hamlet’s mother Gertrude was engagingly played by Penny Downie, capturing to full effect her concerns about Hamlet’s mind and soul. Strong players all, and the only flat spots seem to be where the understudies are having to find their feet suddenly as all the roles shift. So what of the biggest shift? Our new Hamlet was spot on – word perfect and emotionally ranging. Perhaps he’s not quite as mercurial as we would have expected Tennant to be, but he’s starting to make the role his own – and hopefully by the end of his run he will have done so. Even at such short notice he delivers the goods. Encore!

So, to David – get well soon, we hope to see you on stage somewhere somewhen. To the rest of the performers – thank you for popping my Hamlet cherry with a stunning show.