I've been a long time fangirl of the Royal Northern Symphonia having been to just about every one of their "Nights Out" concerts for the last four or five years as well as enjoying some of their classical concerts too.

I'll be honest, they could play a scale in a bin bag and they'd still sound amazing so, with much anticipation, my friend Ron and I were looking forward to Hollywood Heroes, a tribute to those who rescue others, those who's strength and compassion save the day every single time, the heroes and heroines of Hollywood movies.

Of course, it's also testament to the work of composers like John Williams and Hans Zimmer, many years ago before I knew that John Williams had composed both the music to Star Wars, A New Hope and Superman, I did always think that they sounded strangely similar, both pieces were played on Saturday night and you can certainly tell that he composed them at around the same time with Star Wars being released just a year before Superman, they remain two of my favourite pieces of movie music to this day.

I also had noted just how much I loved hearing Alan Silvestri's "The Avengers" piece,  what I think this particular concert did for me was to put the orchestra that I love, playing the music of the movies that I love, we all know, I love a good sci-fi blockbuster or the latest Marvel movie, I'm a huge fan of superheroes.

Of the many other pieces played during the (approximately) 90-minute concert, we enjoyed excerpts from Robin Hood, Batman, Gladiator and also the haunting Williams piece from Schindlers List with the solo being played by the head of the orchestra Kyra Humphreys.  The only piece I'd not heard from the evening of music was the theme to The Incredibles composed by Michael Giacchino and arranged by Mcewan, it's a noisy piece of music which has the whole of the orchestra playing uptempo beats with even the bongos making their appearance, you can't feel sad when you listen to music containing the bongos.

I've seen Stephen Bell conduct the orchestra on several occasions and I love his style, it's passionate and contains much movement, something you don't see with all conductors, I did say I'm a long time music fan as well as being a failed musician who can read music but only play a lot of instruments badly!

A highlight of the evening for me was during the interval when I got to chat to violinist Alanna Tonetti-Tieppo,  believe me when I say that I fangirled all over her, I'm sure meeting a pop star would not have the same effect.  I'm also sure that everyone knows now that if I could play any instrument I want right now, I would love to play the Timpani, I absolutely love the Timpani but it's not really something you can learn at home, unless you have a castle with a wing built especially to hold the huge set of Timpani drums.

Next up for the RNS Nights Out series is an evening of the music of Elton John and you can bet I will be there, quite simply, I'd listen to anything played by our wonderful northeast Orchestra, they are to be cherished and never let go of!

Best Seafood in the North of England? Colmans Seafood Temple

I've long been a fan of seafood but there still seems to be a lack of great places in the North East of England so when Colmans asked me to try out their new Seafood Temple based in South Shields, I jumped at the chance and Looby was first to declare an interest as my plus one because she's a huge fan of mussels.

Colmans have long been a staple in the fish and chip world but now they're turning their hand to finer dining with a custom built building shaped like a boat at one end and a temple at the other, sitting right on the seafront at South Shields.  It's a risky business when you are well known in one kind of market to venture into another but like Virgin, if you can succeed in other market's keeping all kinds of customers happy then you truly can have the world!

Looby and I went down for lunch last week and we were excited, Looby commented that if only we could bring Holly Bobbins with us then it would be perfect and so we were thrilled to note that downstairs is a takeaway but with seating and dogs are welcomed with open arms, whilst they don't offer the whole seafood menu we were informed that they do sometimes have a seafood specials on their downstairs menu as well as the famous Colmans fish and chips.

Back to the upstairs though and it's a spacious light and airy building with 360 degree views, not only that but the seating is placed spaciously on the floor, whilst they could have gotten more tables in they've chosen not to, a definite sign of quality over quantity and that's always a good thing.

The menu is tantalising, you can have everything from the staples like Cod, Haddock and Scampi right through to Scallops, Oysters, prawns and there's even a steak option which I chose as it was a featured special of surf and turf.  It actually might be the first time I've ever had surf and turf, I can't quite believe that!

I started with scallops though, scallops are notoriously hard to cook and get just right, cook them for even a second too long and they taste like rubber and so if I see them on the menu I have to try them as they're a great marker for just how good a restaurant is.

No worries with Colmans Seafood Temple though, you can get them in three's and fives and although I was tempted to get the five I wanted to leave room for mains and pudding.  The three were perfect, a great appetiser and for me, I could quite happily just order a plate full of scallops from there as they were so utterly tantalising to the tastebuds.  Looby meanwhile had ordered herself a half kilo of mussels and took no time to clear out the pot of the plumptious molluscs.

For mains Looby went for scampi, she always goes for scampi, it didn't disappoint though and when my perfectly cooked steak came out with 3 large prawns on top, I did a little silent squeal, steak is my favourite and so I eat it a lot and I can tell you the difference between a good steak and a great steak.  Let me tell you that this was a great steak and those prawns?  Delish, I could have eaten a plate of them on their own!

We were quite full by this point but Looby reminded me that we have an extra stomach that's just for pudding...(yes, yes, we do, honest) so we ordered some perfection in a bowl, that's hot cherries with ice-cream, hot cherries with ice-cream probably goes into the list of my favourite five puddings of all time, it's just the ultimate combination and really as close to perfection as you can get with desserts in my opinion, as ever the simple things are the best.

So, if I had paid for our meals it would have come to somewhere around £75ish which for 3 courses and drinks is a pretty good price and if it's a special occasion then it's a bargain.  Looby gave it 10/10 and really she's the best judge as she doesn't care who's paying for lunch, she just likes what she likes and nd she's also quite fussy and particular about the things she does like so it makes me happy to say that she would definitely go again but we're really not one for leaving Holly Bobbins on her own at home so next time we'll be trying the downstairs takeaway with our favourite four pawed friend.

Thank you to Colmans Seafood Temple for inviting us down for a complimentary meal in exchange for an honest review.

Ellefluence Does Cocktails At The Rub Newcastle

The Rub, a fabulous BBQ smokehouse is quite a new addition to Newcastle but it's already becoming a firm favourite of mine thanks to being a passionate carnivore, what I didn't know was how amazing they are at making cocktails so when lovely Laura from Ellefluence put on a cocktails event I couldn't refuse the chance to try out the menu as well as spending some quality time with some of my most favourite bloggers.

I'm a big fan of cocktails even though I will confess, I am a lightweight and really don't drink a lot of alcohol, well apart from the 1 or 2 hangovers I have each year but one or two hangovers isn't bad when you're a grown up!!

The Rub serves a mind-boggling selection of cocktails, the menu is huge and contains all of the favourites, however they may not taste quite the same as you remember them because these guys are doing it properly using only the best of ingredients and taking 110% care to get the tastes just right, one of our hosts for the evening Joe is a world champion cocktail maker, this makes me think he'd come in very handy at parties.

I've never been to a blogger event which was quite so much fun as this one, we were split into teams and then had to recreate some classic (and not so classic) cocktails after first being given a demonstration by Joe, I decided to put myself up for the Cosmopolitan round being that it's my favourite cocktail and clearly I know my favourite drink well because our team won that round, it's no surprise then that this week when I hold my very first Christmas cocktails and karaoke party at home its Cosmopolitans I'll be providing for my lovely guests.

I love the Ellefluence events because as well as gorgeous Laura there's also lovely Laura Pearman Photography, an awesome photographer who I happily recommend if I can't take my own photos, Laura is number 1 on my list in the photography world, she's quirky, fun and fabulous, she's also amazing at capturing events, something I definitely don't specialise in, it does also give me the option of leaving my camera at home and that isn't a bad thing at all, I did, however, bring my camera to The Rub because I love photographing cocktails, yes I know, I'm a weirdo!!

After several rounds and a truth or dare style round which saw me doing an extra salty tequila shot (really, tequila is my favourite so it wasn't too hard although I also followed that by having lots of water, it was a Monday after all) we finally came to the last round where we had to create our own cocktail from a random selection of ingredients and so I did, I created a caramel choo choo, Joe even said it was good and he'd be happy to serve this on the menu, I'm currently adding cocktail making queen to my CV. 😉

As well as cocktail concocting fun the lovely people at The Rub, Newcastle also provided a tasty carnivorous cornucopia which helped to soak up the alcoholic we had imbibed during the evening, I'm growing incredibly fond of the meaty delights served by The Rub!

All in all, it was such a great evening, full of fun and I met some fabulous bloggers I hadn't encountered before, I love my blogger family so it was a delight to spend more time with favourites Pixie and Katie, Alice and Melissa even if Pixies team pipped our team to the post, remind me never to be on an opposing team to Pixie, that fabulous diva is not to be messed with in any kind of competition, I've never seen anyone suck on an Oxo cube (not a euphemism) for as long as that lady!

If you want to check out the delicious cocktail menu at The Rub which you'll find in The Gate, Newcastle you'll be super duper chuffed to know that they have 2 for 1 on classic cocktails every day from 11-7 and 10pm until close, now that's got to be a good excuse for another night out with my favourite girls!