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Thursday 23rd April 2009

Perrott's Folly

Perrott's Folly is one of the Two Towers which inspired Tolkein's book Lord of the Rings. It's rarely open to the public, but the Ikon are using it for an exhibition by Sofia Hult\xE9n. To be honest, I was so fascinated by the tower itself, that I was a little distracted from the work. The tower dates back to 1758, and consists of a steep spiral staircase (20 steps between floors), and a series of relatively small rooms. It's kind of kitsch castle in design. Whilst I was there a man and a small boy of about 7 arrived, the guy told me he'd lived in the area for 50 years, and never been inside. It was so nice to hear him and his son exploring this local landmark smile

The installation is there till the 24th of May (Thurs to Sun, 1pm till 5pm).

The Ikon re-opens the space on the 4th of June for Yukio Fujimoto's The Tower of Time which runs until the 26th of July.

Wednesday 22nd April 2009

Visited the Ikon for the first time in a while, and really liked some of the videos by John Wood and Paul Harrison. _Shelf_shows a seemingly infinite white shelf on which random objects appear - some paint tins, little figurines, HB pencils etc. Sounds boring, but is actually fascinating and humorous. Later I saw part of another film of theirs, in which a steadily panning camera reveals an long sequence of concrete rooms. In each room, "something" happens with ball. They fly in though a window, or fall from the ceiling or emerge from a hidden space. The anticipation and surprise almost made me laugh out loud in places. They have a lot of relatively short films on display too, but I will have to return to check these out.

Also showing is a large series of woodcut prints, Tale Pieces by Thomas Bewick, dating back to the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Ikon kindly provides large magnifying glasses so you can see the details in these small works. They generally deal with country scenes, featuring a small number of people, often a lone individual. Fishing, egg collecting and dogs turn up often, as do beggers, travellers and hangings! A rather odd insight into a past world.

Monday 13th April 2009

Bill's

A couple of people recommended this place to me. There's no table reservations, just a long queue but luckily I jumped this by turning up late, allowing my friends to do the queueing! They do very nice food, in a relaxed atmosphere, with amazing looking cakes. Unfortunately I was so full from all the other great food that I didn't sample them.

Bill's Cafe, Brighton

Bill's Quiche and Salad

Side by Side

Peered in through the windows of what I think was an art college at an exhibition called "Side by Side - Fine Art Sculpture", and spotted a couple of interesting pieces. One of which reminds me of Antony Gormley's Field.

Homage to Field?
Homage to Field?

Lose yourself in a cup of tea
Lose yourself in a cup of tea

Scrambled Eggs

The eggs at Paskin's Town House persuaded me that my egg scrambling skills were in need of improvement. A quick bit of research pointed me at Mr Breakfast's in-depth egg-scrambling experiments %EXT%. I needed to cook on a lower heat and with less stirring. Now I can do perfect eggs! smile

Sunday 12th April 2009

Terre a Terre

I'd heard of Terre a Terre before - the Observer featured it (along with Birmingham's The Warehouse Cafe and Kitchen Garden) as one of the best ethical restaurants in the UK. So I booked ahead to ensure somewhere nice to eat on Sunday night smile

Decor-wise, it's warm and bright, the staff are friendly and helpful and the food is excellent (with quite generous portions too).

I got to try the Arapas Mojo - cornmeal / sweetcorn cakes; the Smoked Sakuri Soba - a spiral pile of soba noodles and vegetable spaghetti, with smoked tofu , wasabi cashews and a thick satay sauce; the Tikka Kachumber - Halloumi kebab in indian spices; the Porcini Pudding - steamed suet-style pudding filled with wild mushrooms in a red-wine sauce, served with truffled mashed potatoes - delicious.

Arapas Mojo - Terre a Terra
Arapas Mojo

Haloumi Kebab - Terre a Terra
Haloumi Kebab

Porcini Mushroom Pudding - Terre a Terra
Porcini Mushroom Pudding

Soba and Tofu - Terre a Terre
Soba and Tofu

Graffiti

Brighton has some great Graffiti, mainly commercial / council sponsored, though there is an independent sticker scene.

Graffiti - Chimney Totem Pole
Chimney Totem Pole

Graffiti - Grand Master Chess
Grand Master Chess

Graffiti - Map
Map

Graffiti - Please do not feed the Humans
Please do not feed the Humans

Graffiti - Heroin Vending Machine Poster
Heroin Vending Machine Poster

Graffiti - Dog Stickers
Dog Stickers

Pavilion

The "oriental" style pavilion is striking building, and has had an obvious influence on other architecture in the city. There are also some lovely gardens, which are even open at night.

Forget-Me-Nots, Brighton Pavilion Gardens
Forget-Me-Nots, Brighton Pavilion Gardens

Pompoko

Driven by a paucity of Japanese restaurants in Birmingham, I ate Japanese for the second time in two days, this time at Pompoko. I got a nice Unagi Don (eel and rice with shredded ommlette) and a cup of green tea for about \xA35.

Pompoko, Brighton
Pompoko, Brighton

Pompoko Ebi Don
Ebi Don

Pompoko Unagi Don
Unagi Don

Sat 11th April 2009

Brighton

I've never visited Brighton before, but I've heard good things about it, so this Easter weekend I headed down there. It's four hours on the train from Brum, though on the way back we made it in closer to three. I booked a guest house using Trip-Advisor, which always seems to have trustworth reviews of even the most obscure places, even if it doesn't know the availability for the smaller ones. I ended up as Paskin's Town House, quite a posh place, which sells itself on it's Art Deco styling.

Room at Paskin's Town House, Brighton

The other great thing about Paskin's is the breakfasts. Have a look at the menu online, it's not your standard "greasy eggs and squeeky toast". There's homemade marmalade, duck's eggs, some of the best scrambled eggs (with or without smoked salmon or anchovies), and the veggie and vegan breakfast options feature home made sausages and patties. To be honest, it was rather a disappointment having to leave the breakfast table to go out and explore the town.

Vegi breakfast at Paskin's Town House, Brighton
Vegi breakfast

Perfect Scrambled Eggs (small portion) at Paskin's Town House, Brighton
Perfect Scrambled Eggs

The Lanes, and North Laine

The Lane's were the main thing I'd heard about in Brighton, aside of course from the pier and the "rock".

The Lanes and North Laine ("Laine" being an old world for a field, I discovered) have lots of small, independent, shops and cafes. Much of it is pedestrianised, and the cafe's spill out across the streets. There's a general sense of relaxed, slightly trendy, fun. Typical shops are Jewellers ("craft","hippy" and "trashy"), trendy clothing boutiques and nick-nacky gift shops.

When the outline planning permission for the new Bullring came up, my submission suggested that we have something similar in Brum, rather than a single monolithic building which would need demolishing in 30 years or so, but sadly, these niceties are not for Brum frown, sad smile

Moomins Overload
Moomins Overload

Pick and Mix Religion
Pick and Mix Religion

TV is Evil T-shirt
TV is Evil T-shirt

Il Bistro

Looking for a quick meal on Saturday afternoon, I popped into Il Bistro on (or in?) The Lanes. They had a fixed price two course menu for about \xA37/8, I got a nice soup and some good quality (though not stunning) fish and chips. It's a pretty looking place, and won a Brighton City in Bloom award for it's frontage.

Il Bistro, Brighton

Oki-Nami

This Japanese restaurant is very close to the pavilion. They served some nice sushi and sashimi, and interesting Japan inspired cocktails. Unfortunately, I was too interested in the food to remember to take photos of it smile I did capture the matcha ice cream tempura though!

Deep Fried Macha Ice Cream - Oki Nami
Deep Fried Macha Ice Cream

Brighton Pier at Night

Brighton Pier - Long Exposure, Waterfall
Brighton Pier - Long Exposure, Waterfall

Brighton Pier - Long Exposure, Swirl and Ghost
Brighton Pier - Long Exposure, Swirl and Ghost

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See Also: Web Changes for other recent updates, All Blog Pages for previous blogs. You might also want to read other Birmingham Bloggers

This is my blogchalk: United Kingdom, West Midlands, Birmingham, Moseley
Topic attachments
I Attachment Action Size Date Who CommentSorted ascending
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bills_frontage.jpgjpg bills_frontage.jpg manage 50 K 22 Apr 2009 - 14:24 Unknown User Bill's Cafe, Brighton
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oki_nami_deep_fried_matcha_ice_cream.jpgjpg oki_nami_deep_fried_matcha_ice_cream.jpg manage 36 K 22 Apr 2009 - 14:50 Unknown User Deep Fried Macha Ice Cream - Oki Nami
forget-me-nots.jpgjpg forget-me-nots.jpg manage 37 K 22 Apr 2009 - 14:51 Unknown User Forget-Me-Nots, Brighton Pavilion Gardens
graffiti_chimney_totem_pole.jpgjpg graffiti_chimney_totem_pole.jpg manage 46 K 22 Apr 2009 - 14:30 Unknown User Graffiti - Chimney Totem Pole
graffiti_dog_stickers.jpgjpg graffiti_dog_stickers.jpg manage 34 K 22 Apr 2009 - 14:30 Unknown User Graffiti - Dog Stickers
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graffiti_grand_master_chess.jpgjpg graffiti_grand_master_chess.jpg manage 50 K 22 Apr 2009 - 14:31 Unknown User Graffiti - Grand Master Chess
heroin_vending_machine_poster.jpgjpg heroin_vending_machine_poster.jpg manage 38 K 22 Apr 2009 - 14:35 Unknown User Graffiti - Heroin Vending Machine Poster
graffiti_map.jpgjpg graffiti_map.jpg manage 56 K 22 Apr 2009 - 14:31 Unknown User Graffiti - Map
graffiti_please_do_not_feed_the_humans.jpgjpg graffiti_please_do_not_feed_the_humans.jpg manage 49 K 22 Apr 2009 - 14:34 Unknown User Graffiti - Please do not feed the Humans
terre_a_terre_haloumi_kebab2.jpgjpg terre_a_terre_haloumi_kebab2.jpg manage 34 K 22 Apr 2009 - 14:28 Unknown User Haloumi Kebab
art_homage_to_field_qm.jpgjpg art_homage_to_field_qm.jpg manage 35 K 22 Apr 2009 - 14:39 Unknown User Homage to Field?
il_bistro_frontage.jpgjpg il_bistro_frontage.jpg manage 42 K 22 Apr 2009 - 14:49 Unknown User Il Bistro, Brighton
art_lose_yourself_in_a_cup_of_tea.jpgjpg art_lose_yourself_in_a_cup_of_tea.jpg manage 40 K 22 Apr 2009 - 14:27 Unknown User Lose yourself in a cup of tea
moomins.jpgjpg moomins.jpg manage 44 K 22 Apr 2009 - 14:52 Unknown User Moomins Overload
paskins_perfect_scrambled_eggs_small_portion.jpgjpg paskins_perfect_scrambled_eggs_small_portion.jpg manage 21 K 22 Apr 2009 - 14:48 Unknown User Perfect Scrambled Eggs (small portion) at Paskin's Town House, Brighton
pick_and_mix_religion.jpgjpg pick_and_mix_religion.jpg manage 47 K 22 Apr 2009 - 14:52 Unknown User Pick and Mix Religion
pompoko_ebi_don.jpgjpg pompoko_ebi_don.jpg manage 35 K 22 Apr 2009 - 14:36 Unknown User Pompoko Ebi Don
pompoko_unagi_don.jpgjpg pompoko_unagi_don.jpg manage 35 K 22 Apr 2009 - 14:36 Unknown User Pompoko Unagi Don
pompoko.jpgjpg pompoko.jpg manage 32 K 22 Apr 2009 - 14:45 Unknown User Pompoko, Brighton
terre_a_terre_porcini_pudding.jpgjpg terre_a_terre_porcini_pudding.jpg manage 32 K 22 Apr 2009 - 14:28 Unknown User Porcini Mushroom Pudding - Terre a Terra
paskins_room.jpgjpg paskins_room.jpg manage 40 K 22 Apr 2009 - 14:47 Unknown User Room at Paskin's Town House, Brighton
terre_a_terre_soba_and_tofu.jpgjpg terre_a_terre_soba_and_tofu.jpg manage 36 K 22 Apr 2009 - 14:29 Unknown User Soba and Tofu - Terre a Terre
tv_is_evil_tshirt.jpgjpg tv_is_evil_tshirt.jpg manage 34 K 22 Apr 2009 - 14:52 Unknown User TV is Evil T-shirt
paskins_vegi_breakfast.jpgjpg paskins_vegi_breakfast.jpg manage 38 K 22 Apr 2009 - 14:47 Unknown User Vegi breakfast at Paskin's Town House, Brighton
Topic revision: r3 - 17 Nov 2009, andyp
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