on writing and social media

November is approaching which means it's almost NaNoWriMo time. After much thought, I'm not going to be taking part this time around as I haven't thought through the novel I want to write yet. However, I do want to use it as a way to focus on just writing more before the end of the year. So I'm going to make a concentrated effort to post more often and also I may have a couple pieces appearing on SevenStreets. They held an open meeting inviting more contributors to join, and they liked the ideas I pitched. Rest assured dear readers, you will be the first to know if/when I get anything published there.

Also, if you're in the Liverpool area and do want to participate in Nano, there is a group that meets up to support each other and discuss their writing. It's organised by the lovely Rose, find her on Twitter as @rosiebunny.

Last night the October edition of Social Media Cafe took place at the Biennial's visitors centre, which I have now visited more often than most shops in Liverpool One. The speakers all came from artistic organisations and discussed the ways in which they used social media. Firstly the head of marketing from the Biennial and a freelance writer who had worked on their social media efforts talked about the ways old marketing ideas intersected with social media and talked about the need for creating meaningful content and interatction. Then photographer Peter (still haven't caught his last name) of Fab Collective talked about his experiences with digital photography and how Flckr helped the collective get started. Finally a very engaging guy from Liverpool Arts Regeneration Consortium (LARC) talked about his work on developing ways of connecting organisations and providing information on participatory activities going on around the city. His main project, the LARC Map looks really interesting and I'll be digging around to see what kind of listings and suggestions they provide for events around the city.

Next month is Ignite, where speakers 'enlighten an audience in 5 minutes' by making a presentation with 20 slides that auto-advance every 15 seconds. This is a really good article summing up one person's experience in organising and speaking at Ignite events around the country: http://www.oreillygmt.eu/events/things-ive-learned-from-ignite-%E2%80%93-ignite-leeds-ignite-london/

I'll be presenting on the previous incarnation of this blog and its 2010 counterpart over on Wordpress, and about independent shopping in Liverpool. Writing that is definitely going to take some Nano-style motivation!

Lorenzo Fusi is an excellent tour guide

photo of Lee Mingwei's Mending Room installation, 52 Renshaw Street

I arrived slightly early for my tour with Lorenzo Fusi, curator of the public realm of the Biennial. As the other winner wasn't able to attend, I was asked if I would like to bring a guest. Cue a quick phonecall to my husband doing errands nearby and he agreed to join me. Lorenzo arrived a few minutes later and we set off from the visitors centre:


We strolled through the ground floor while Lorenzo outlined the themes of works exhibited within, broadly relating to the idea 'rethinking trade'. Visitors can have items mended with brightly coloured threads in Lee Mingwei's exhibtion. He himself was mending during the first two weeks of the Biennial, now volunteers have taken over. Ideally items can be left until the end of the exhibition as part of the display.


I asked him about the challenges of working in a disused space, and how easy or difficult it was to get permission for the building to be used in the Biennial. He admitted it was quite challenging from a logistical standpoint; there are four separate electrical systems inside the former Rapid store. No one knew how to fix the elevator when it broke. And so on.

I asked to go downstairs to Ryan Trecartin's video installation trilogy; I had a visceral dislike of them upon first viewing and wanted to try to understand a bit more about why they had been selected. We watched one film, it felt like for at least ten to fifteen minutes, though I'm sure we didn't stay there quite so long. Each is a visual and aural mashup, skin colour and voice are altered or distorted on each of the participants. Lorenzo talked about the controlled chaos of Trecartin's films, how it seems like they're purely frenetically random, but that it takes a great deal of time and editing to make each one. Also he admitted that he wanted to sex up the show a little bit by including them, otherwise it risked being too safe. That made me smile; I still don't care for the trilogy, but I can't fault Lorenzo's desire to include something provocative.

Thanks to all at the Biennial who made this event happen, especially Lorenzo for sharing his time and insights.

Touched, redux

I sent my last entry in to the Biennial's blogging competition. And to my surprise (and secret hope), I'm one of the winners. The prize is a private tour of the public realm of the Biennial, given by curator Lorenzo Fusi.

I'm really, really touched and elated to have been chosen. A big thanks to the organisers and the two judges, David Lloyd of Sevenstreets and Ian Jackson of Art in Liverpool. Theirs are two of my favourite Liverpool websites and they make the digital landscape of this city all the richer. And that would be true even if I hadn't won.

I'm looking forward to my tour on Saturday, and might even have a few more words to say about the Biennial afterwards. Will try to remember to bring the good camera with me.

Touching from a Distance - Liverpool Biennial 2010

“That’s the problem with art, you can’t touch it.”

-overheard in 52 Renshaw Street.

Some part of the last three weekends I’ve spent taking in different sites across the Biennial. Certain sites have drawn me back, others left me satisfied with one visit. I still have so much to see and very glad I still have most of the next two months to take as much of it as I can.

Of all the Biennial works I’ve seen, the exhibition at Tate provoked the strongest reaction through a desire to interact with art in a physical way. The tactile qualities of so many pieces invited, even begged me, to reach out and touch them and feel their materials and construction. To test how soft or hard the objects in Magdalena Abakanowitz’s Embryology are; to let my hand hover over the flames of Jamie Isenstein’s Empire of Fire and feel their heat; to uncork the vessels of Nina Canell’s On Thirst and let the water stream to the floor.

The only piece which fulfilled this desire of interaction was Franz West’s Smears, which actively invited the viewer to sit and touch what looked like a giant strand of toothpaste squeezed out into a gallery and hardened.

I don’t know what exactly brought out this impulse to behave like a small child and step outside the boundaries laid down, visibly or not, around the works, but oberserving my reactions to this desire and its denial was one of the more heightened engagements with art I’ve had in a long time.

And in every gallery is at least one parent saying to a child ‘no, you mustn’t touch’.

Potentially the greatest gift of the Biennial to Liverpool is the opening up of spaces not normally accessible to the public and the chance to interact both with the art and the locations themselves. There’s so much more to say about repurposed spaces like the Europleasure Interntational/Scandinavian Hotel and the former Rapid building on Renshaw Street. The acts of middle-aged vandalism set to a whimsical Beatles-inspired score in Cristina Lucas’ Touch and Go. The political impulses behind Alfredo Jaar’s The Marx Lounge installation-cum-reading room and his film collaboration We Wish to Inform You that We Didn’t Know, a powerful document about the Rwandan genocide and the West’s failure to respond. The forest of ribbons that makes up the labyrinthine Ndize by Nicholas Hlobo, inviting you to get lost in a tangle of colour, not knowing where any path will lead and happy to be embraced by this maze.

You might not always be able to touch art, but without a doubt art can touch you.

Liverpool Food and Drink Festival awards

The winners have been announced; some are worthy, some are questionable. I'd like to take this opportunity to bestow my own awards, which I can almost guarantee will not be appearing in anyone's PR kit in the near future.

Best source of caffeine: Bold Street Coffee. Founder/Owner/Coffee Fanatic Sam Tawil has brought independent, quality coffee back to Bold Street after the closure of Coffee Union last year. He also runs the mobile coffee company Transition Espresso, which you can visit at farmers markets and events around the city. Their coffee has flavours you won't find anywhere else in the city; witthout a doubt it's the best I've tasted in Liverpool.

Not a coffee drinker? Then get to Brew.

Best new bar: (tie) Santa Chupitos and The Shipping Forecast

Though these two appear rather different on the surface, I think their aims are the same: great drinks in an interesting space. Santa Chupitos feels like the hole-in-the-wall cocktail bar you might find in New York; Shipping Forecast gets the students in with a fine range of beers and food and its venue space. Both are standouts on Slater Street.

Best new addition to Hope Street: Clove Hitch Bar and Bistro

Occupying a former Mexican restaurant, Clove Hitch has kept its decor simple and its menu straightforward. The evening menu offers well-prepared standards (I couldn't fault my mushroom risotto) and the daytime one has a variety of sandwiches and platters for all tastes. A good selection of vegetarian options too. A few beers on draught wouldn't go amiss, but I will gladly miss out the taps if it means they keep the increasingly elusive Kopparberg Elderflower and Lime cider in stock.

Best restaurant/deli on the way to world domination: Delifonseca

I don't eat at Delifonseca often enough. But now that they've opened their second branch near Brunswick Dock, that might change. I used to live within staggering distance of their new location in the former Il Bacino, but now I'm only a short drive away, and don't have to worry about where to park.

We visited last Thursday and thoroughly enjoyed our meal. The beer list offered an Scottish brew from Innis and Gunn, aged in bourbon casks over 77 days. This maturation give it an unusual whisky flavour, and a bit of a kick at 6.6% ABV (laugh away, I admit I'm a total lightweight). We shared a chicken liver pate to start, then the herby fishcakes for me and the bangers and colcannon mash for him. When I asked for mayonnaise with my chips, a waiter emerged from the kitchen to apologise that it wasn't available and offer some garlic aioli instead. Now that is the kind of substitution I like to see. The fishcakes were excellent and husband's colcannon mash was mouthwateringly creamy.

We were too full for dessert, but did have a stroll through the foodhall. It has an expanded selection of the ranges available in Delifonseca Stanley Street, and the addition of Brough's Butchers. Really though, it was the cheese counter and the discovery of my namesake cheese that has sealed my love and loyalty.



Correction: Both bars are on Slater, not Seel, Street. Sometimes you wouldn't know I'd lived here five years.

Food and Drink Festival, continued

Liverpool Food and Drink Festival launch day

After coming home full of appreciation for another delicious (and sunny) food festival launch day, we decided we wanted to try a new restaurant on Monday and take advantage of the 50% off promotions available. Having enjoyed a meal at The Monro on Duke Street awhile back, we decided to try its sister restaurant, The James Monro, on Tithebarn Street. Its offer was, and I quote, 'half price off rump steaks' (click on the link then The James Monro to see its Monday offer). I mentioned this offer to the man taking my reservation, who was extremely friendly and professional, confirming that was the offer. Sadly our experience didn't live up to our anticipation.

The James Monro has been decorated in a neoclassical style befitting its early 19th century namesakes (both a ship running the first regular passenger service between Liverpool and New York and the fifth President of the United States). We arrived a few minutes early and had our choice of seats; unfortunately, we picked the Invisible Table (tm). You know, the table which has the only unlit candle, unnoticed by waitstaff out of at least twenty candles burning throughout the restaurant (I eventually lit it myself because I like playing with matches). The table that has no cutlery even after the starter arrives (we ate the salad leaves accompanying our garlic bread with our fingers because we're classy like that and hate waste). The table which just seems to be overlooked by waitstaff serving every other table around it. So our restaurant karma was a little off from the beginning.

The James Monro's website mentioned a new menu available from September; I can only surmise they're still getting the hang of it. There were several typos (it took us a little while to figure out what a 'wind mushroom' was) and some incongruities with dishes available on the early bird menu vs the a la carte menu and vice versa. The goat's cheese and courgette parcel with asparagus and yoghurt and mint dressing I ordered wasn't available, I was later informed. And when my husband went to order his steak, he was told that yes, it was available as part of a 2-for-1 offer.

The waiter noticed that we were just *slightly* taken aback, because 2-for-1 was not quite the same thing as half price. If it was, we wouldn't have come, because I don't eat steak. Husband asked for a few minutes to revise his order and the waiter retreated to the kitchen. He returned a few minutes later to say that they would be willing to do husband's steak at half price. All credit to him for resolving the issue, but we shouldn't have had to make a fuss to get what was stated both online and by the member of staff who took our booking.

Faff aside, our food was quite good. I settled on fish and chips since the main I originally wanted wasn't available. Husband's steak was cooked exactly as he ordered, the peppercorn sauce looked appealing and the chips were proper big, handcut chips, cooked almost to perfection. My fish was flaky and moist, the batter dark and crispy. My chips were equally tasty.

We don't like being the couple that have to make a point to get the level of service that other tables are shown as a matter of course; I had to ask for a wine list, whereas others just got them alongside their menus. It left a slightly bitter taste, metaphorically. While the food was nearly the equal to The Monro's, I'm not sure I'll be heading back to the James Monro. The business district definitely needs more quality restauarants if it wants to be be more of a destination after 5pm, so I wish them the best and hope they can live up to the potential that's there.

Next up: a welcome newcomer on Hope Street, just in time for Sunday's Feast...

Liverpool Food and Drink Festival

The third Liverpool Food and Drink Festival began yesterday in Sefton Park. Saturday's rain gave way to sunny skies, though the ground still had festival-worthy mud in places and wellies were out in abundance. The number of stalls had increased noticeably over last year, with more vendors traditionally found at farmers markets alongside the usual restaurant suspects. Crowds gathered around the cookery demo/celebrity chef marquee and we spotted James Martin striding through the crowd, with minders.

It was good to see smaller restaurants alongside the heavy hitters and my favourite sources of caffeine on Bold Street, Brew and Bold Street Coffee, were doing a brisk trade. French Quarter Bakery had an impressive stall, twice the size of a normal Lark Lane market offering, while Liverpool Cheese Company's seemed rather smaller than usual. After sampling as many freebies and entering all the competitions we could, it was difficult to choose where to eat properly. Husband went for some beans and rice with friend plantains to start before settling on a hog roast for mains. A friend chose the fish curry from Spice Lounge. And eventually, I settled on Chaophraya, and their mixed starter plate. Their stall was one of the best looking, and I appreciate how much effort went into its appearance as well as the food. The starter plate held chicken satay skewers, a veggie spring roll, corn fritter and strips of beef.

We shared a jug of mojitos while listening to a steel drum band. Eventually we queued up to get a crepe from some French friends whose creperie appears around the city during continental markets. We made our way home in the autumn sunshine.


The rest of the festival consists of Restaurant Week-style offers and events at participating venues. I hope to visit at least a couple restaurants, especially the new Delifonseca Dockside at Brunswick Dock. More to come.