New Experiences #48 - #50
As I approach my fiftieth new experience of the year, I wanted to briefly reflect on something I have discovered. If you want to try something new, I recommend taking something you love, for example music, sport or food and branching out within in that field. You will still find the experience extremely rewarding and probably learn something new along the way.
For example, my 49th new experience is making a curry from scratch. I eat curry regularly therefore it is something I am very familiar with but I’ve never sat down and made it myself. My message is, when trying something new you don’t need always to think really big or unusual - instead think about what you love doing and work from there. Are you a fan of rock music? Review a rock gig. Do you like nature programmes in TV? Go and volunteer for the RSPB, and so on and so forth. You’ll never look back!
W/C 28th May 2012
New Experience #48: Jazz Caf
I have long wanted to sample some live jazz music but have simply never got round to doing so, until I heard about the Jazz Caf at The Gate. In the same venue as the excellent Philosophy Cafe (New Experience #34), the evening was a very chilled affair with a range of performers from the audience who joined the professional house band. It was just £3 entry, and I happily sat and chatted for two hours or so whilst enjoying the cool jazz sound of piano, wind and vocal. I will certainly be attending again and hope to learn a jazz number I myself could sing (watch this space!).
Rating: 5/5 The last Tuesday of every month at The Gate is now officially my jazz night!
New Experience #49: Making A Curry From Scratch
As music seems to feature heavily in these blogs, so does food and this new experience was one of the tastiest yet.
Curry has always been one of my ultimate favourite dishes and so I thought it was high time I made my own from scratch - curry paste and all. With a list of ingredients as long as my arm and a failed trip to Sainsbury’s put behind me (I had to walk the 3 miles home empty-handed having forgotten my wallet) I headed into town to retrieve a plethora of products ranging from cauliflower and chillies to chick peas and cumin seeds. Finally returning back with everything I needed, I began my vegetable jalfrezi according to Jamie Oliver’s marvellous Ministry Of Food recipe book.
Proceedings were going very smoothly - the curry paste made without incident, all other ingredients chopped and the beginnings of a delicious curry sauce bubbling away - until I realised that upon the addition of the butternut squash and cauliflower that the pan I was using was simply too small (I was cooking enough for eight you see). However, after some routing around for another pot and some re-manoeuvring of ingredients (minor spillages were, unfortunately, unavoidable) the Jalfrezi was simmering nicely and smelling delicious.
It was soon plated up and tasting delicious too.
Rating: 4/5 A success - the curry went down well with all the family and was pretty hassle-free in is making. Also, being full of veg and void of any additives, it beat any shop bought alternative hands down!
New Experience #50: I Would Not: A Production Written And Performed By Young People
Whilst in Bristol for the Dot to Dot music festival, my close friend Melissa and myself were offered free tickets to the matinee showing of I Would Not at the Bristol Old Vic and, as we are both partial to a bit of theatre and because the music hadn’t started yet, went along. It was only on arrival that I realised this would be a new experience as the production, rightly described as “Explicit. Honest. And human”, was completely written and performed entirely by young people, including the script and its original score.
The hard-hitting, hour long play tackled highly topical issues such as social networking and its impact on relationships and well-being, the negative impact of porn on sexual relationships and the representation of homosexuals within youth culture in a fresh, thought provoking and entertaining way.
Very cleverly staged with a unique mix of physical theatre, rap, dance, nudity and gradual character development, I have not been so shocked, inspired or thoroughly challenged for a very long time.
Rating: 5/5 Hats off to the Bristol Old Vic’s Tin Can Collective, a group of ten young people from different backgrounds, who put on one hell of a brave performance. A fantastic way to hit fifty!
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Info Sport & Leisure Performing Arts Acting, Drama and Theatre
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IMAGE: New by chrisinplymouth
