Tag Archives: masterclass

Celebrate Chinese New Year at School of Wok

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Ken Hom with SOW Logo

Chinese New Year is just around the corner and true to Eastern traditions, it is to be celebrated with a feast of delicious cuisine. We’re delighted to announce that our friends at Jeremy Pang’s School of Wok are here to enlighten you on all the culinary delights they have to offer from February 8th when Chinese New Year begins, all the way up until The Lantern Festival on Feb 22nd. Not only will you get the chance to try all the delicious dishes, but you’ll also get a masterclass in how to prepare the dishes yourself. So celebrate The Year of The Monkey and learn some new skills with School of Wok.

Saturday 13th February, join in the school’s popular Flavours of China, for a special Chinese New Year feast. Participants of this class will be whisked around a lantern-lined Chinatown, for delicious samples from some of the longest-standing Chinese bakeries and markets, followed by a celebratory cooking class back at in the School of Wok kitchens. Create warming, mouth-watering and symbolic dishes such as Lionhead Meatballs (signifying strength and power) and classic Chilli & Garlic Clams (signifying good wealth) to feast on along side a glass of wine, once the cooking is complete. This full-day class is sure to get you into the true spirit of Chinese New Year!

Chilli and Garlic Wealthy Clams Jeremy Pang's Chinese Unchopped (Quadrille £19.99) Photography by Martin Poole

Chilli and Garlic Wealthy Clams
Jeremy Pang’s Chinese Unchopped (Quadrille £19.99) Photography by Martin Poole

On the 19th February we have a truly unique experience for you to enjoy. Join head chef and founder Jeremy Pang and Michelin starred chef Alfred Prasad for a journey into the world of Indian Chinese Cuisine; a popular micro-cuisine of India that merges Chinese dishes with Indian spices and ingredients. With very little known about this cuisine outside of India, this one-of-a-kind class is unlikely to be duplicated anywhere in London. And with two passionate chefs combining forces as well as ingredients, you can count on delicious dishes and unique cooking techniques such as Spicy Momos (Tibetan dumplings) with Red Chilli & Garlic Sauce, Indian Chinese Chilli Chicken, and more. For more information on this exciting class, click here.

Celebrity Chef Alfred Prasad

Celebrity Chef Alfred Prasad

Other classes running during Chinese New Year include;

Authentic Chinese Cooking on 10th February

Understanding the Wok on 13th February

Understanding the Wok; Lantern Festival Special on Saturday 20th February.

Some of the dishes made and eaten during these classes will include ‘Longlife’ Lobster Noodles in Ginger & Spring Onion, Crispy Gold Bucket Wontons (for good wealth), Prawn & Pine Nut Lettuce Wraps (signifying rising fortune), Blanched Greens in Roasted Garlic & Goji Berry Broth for good health, and more!

For more information on how to book your Chinese New Year class click here.

For further information on the variety of classes, supper clubs, guest chef classes or corporate events, visit the School of Wok website at www.schoolofwok.co.uk

New Favourite Hangout… presenting No. 11 Pimlico Road.

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Londoners rejoice, we’ve found you a bar and restaurant which is every bit as sexy in their menu as they are in their décor and ambience and the best part is, it’s no pop-up, it’s here to stay.

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Independently run, No. 11 Pimlico Road oozes style and cosiness and we mean cosy as in your new home from home. Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, you could pretty much make it your second home with its epically cool ambience and stunning decor. So roll up and make yourself at home here at No.11 Pimlico Road. They will do all the hard work, serving up their expertly crafted cocktails with a food menu which is every bit as delicious and made with love.

Frost were lucky enough to enjoy a cocktail masterclass with No.11 Pimlico Road’s head bartender, Elvis, and it’s certainly evident why their cocktails are of such a high standard after you’ve seen the passion which goes into crafting them. Not only did he take us through a step-by-step guide of how to make them, but we also got a little cocktail history on rums, tequilas and setting fire to oranges… yes there’s an art to that too. After getting a little historical run down on our favourite drinkies, we had the pleasure of trying out a few of the cocktails, made by our own hands with a little support from Elvis himself.

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Their latest addition to the cocktail family and my personal favourite, is the Peanut Butter Rum. This hug in a mug is the most indulgent and delicious warmed alcoholic beverage i’ve ever tasted and I will go as far to say that it is worth the journey to No.11 Pimlico Road solely to taste this festive mug of joy. If you’re a fan of Harry Potter this is exactly what one would imagine a butter-beer to taste like, well an adults version. With it’s vanilla fused Rum, Cointreau and actual Peanut Butter, this is guaranteed to warm up any chilly night and will leave your tongue wagging for more.

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If you’re a fan of the traditional cocktail, which we learnt is a composition of sugar, spirits, water and bitters, in other words, The Old Fashioned, well fear not as Elvis has taken the traditional and infused it with a little innovation to come up with The Tequila Old Fashioned. The result, a really clean, fresh take on an old great.

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Coming soon… The Passion Fruit Mojito. So, if there’s any reason to wish this summer months back, it’s to try this summery creation and it was while trying to master this cocktail where you really notice the level of hard work and effort which goes into making and creating these cocktails, so next time you’re wondering why your cocktail order takes a little longer than other drinks, it’s all about quality and attention to detail.

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As a testimony to any great bar I naturally ordered a Dirty Martini being a classic but hard to get the balance right, i’m happy to say No. 11 Pimlico Road passed with honours. It’s plain to see that everyone in the No.11 Family have a deep passion and love for the business and once you’ve visited, we’re sure you’ll be in love too. The upstairs area can be rented out and unlike many hire out rooms in bars today, there is a soul to No.11 which is bound to bring a unique magic to any event hosted here. The theme of this place is relaxed and light so kick back order that Peanut Butter Rum and thank us for it after.

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Location:

11 Pimlico Road

London SW1W 1NA

http://no11pimlicoroad.co.uk

Is Acting Training Worth It?

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acting, acting advice, acting book, how to be a successful actor, actorpreneur, auditions, castings, casting breakdown, how to be an actor,To train or not to train, that is the question. To paraphrase some little known writer, ahem. It is a debate that has raged on. The truth is, there is no easy answer. Frankly, studying at Cambridge will get you noticed but training at some random never-heard-of polytechnic won’t do you much good. In a recent Mark Strong Acting masterclass I went to Mark made the excellent point that it is not the training that is important, but the confidence it gives. Sometime people who don’t train have a chip on their shoulder, Mark said, much like people who don’t go to university think they missed out on something. It is all rubbish and in fact they did not miss anything at all, but the lack of confidence is there.

So, do you need three years worth of training? Especially with the exorbitant fees that universities now charge? The answer is yes, and no. There is still a hierarchy to acting. If you go to a school which is a brand name it will look great on your CV and open some doors. RADA is one, as is Central and LAMDA. Ditto Oxford and Cambridge. The acting industry is just as snobby as the wider world. People love brand names.

Some training is smart. Although I believe that acting is a talent you either have or don’t, but you can improve. Take classes, join improv groups, make your own work. Keeping up your skills as an actor is important but just doing three years of training for the sake of it is not. Many great actors have no formal training. You will also have the added bonus of not having any debt which will take you years to pay off.

In the end the decision is yours. Just don’t think that your acting career is over before it began just because you cannot go to a prestiges school. Not everyone has the money to do so and they only take a small number of applicants every year. Developing your skills is important but this can be done on the job, doing student films, fringe theatre, in drama classes and even in (shh) amateur dramatics. None of this has to go on your CV. Just get out there and work. The acting industry is not the closed shop it used to be. Go to the theatre, watch film and TV. Learn as much as possible. Actors who went to one of the top schools may get a head start but the good news is that the acting game is a marathon, not a sprint.

 

Catherine Balavage has been an actor for over ten years. Her book on acting, How To Be a Successful Actor: Becoming an Actorpreneur, has gotten numerous five star reviews and has been called the ‘best advice available’ by numerous sources.

 

 

OCADO MEALTIME MASTERCLASSES: A UK FIRST COOKALONG

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Ollie Lloyd and Catherine Balavage

As Ocado continues to campaign for the nation to remix the recipes they regularly concoct, they offered lucky participants the chance to cook along live with the Great British Chefs Galton Blackiston, Simon Hulstone and Josh Eggleton via exclusive Google+ Hangouts. These consumers were able to interact directly with the chefs receiving cookery tips and five-star advice whilst ultimately experiencing the heat of a professional kitchen in the comfort of their own home. I was lucky enough to take part and had a lot of fun.

Those who chose to simply sit back and watch the chefs, could see the whole thing live on Ocado’s YouTube channel www.youtube.com/ocado. Fun fact – streaming to YouTube from Google+ is a UK cookery first!

Now the live cook-a-longs with Britain’s greatest chefs (all of whom have been awarded Michelin Stars) are easily accessible to everyone via the Google Ad Network and YouTube.

The videos feature:

· Simon Hulstone’s curried chicken Kiev with squash sag aloo, filmed at The Elephant restaurant in Torquay

· Josh Eggleton’s Pimms Jelly, filmed at the The Pony & Trap near Bristol

· Galton Blackiston’s Scotch eggs with bois boudran dipping sauce, filmed at Morston Hall in Norfolk