Top 5 Cartoons 2016

When I was a kid TV was amazing. I've already written a piece about my favourite TV from the 80's here. In the 90's and the 00's kids TV became a bit, meh! There was the odd good show like Johnny Bravo or Ben and Holly's little kingdom but most of the cartoons were pretty forgettable. Being a big kid at heart I still watch cartoons now and I have a great excuse in the form of 3 kids of my own so I can watch all the animated silliness I want.

Something I've noticed about a lot of cartoons these days is how surreal they are, luckily I love surrealist comedy some of my favourite comedies are Monty Python, The Young Ones and The Mighty Boosh and I think the makers of these cartoons share my sense of humour. So, I've decided to list the Top 5 cartoons me (and my kids) watch right now.


5. Adventure Time

Probably the most surreal entry on this list, Adventure Time follows Finn the Human and Jake the Dog as they live their lives in the Land of Ooo. Finn is courageous and Jake is a layabout but both are hilarious. They always have some random quest and usually have to rescue Princess Bubblegum and regularly have to defeat the Ice King.

4. Star Vs The Forces of Evil

This one is fairly new but it's becoming one of my favourites. Star is a foreign exchange student from another dimension. She lives with Marco Diaz and his family as she goes to school in Echo Creek. Star is a Magical princess in her own dimension and has a magic wand with her when she arrives on Earth. The show revolves around Star and Marco keeping earth safe from all the forces of evil that have come from Star's dimension to try and get her wand.

3. Gravity Falls

This is also a new one as we only started watching it a few months ago but it is brilliant. Gravity Falls tells the story of twins Mabel and Dipper Pines as they spend summer vacation with their Grunkle (great-uncle) Stan at his tourist trap called the Mystery Shack in the town of Gravity Falls. A lot of weird stuff goes on in town and when Dipper finds a mysterious Journal in the forrest he and Mabel try to solve the local mysteries .

2. Spongebob Squarpants

Who doesn't love Spongebob. This has been a favourite in our house for a long time. Spongebob Squarepants is a Sponge who lives in a pineapple under the sea. He has adventures with his friend Patrick the Starfish. He works at the Krusty Krab for Mr Krab a money obsessed crab and is a constant annoyance to his neighbour and workmate Squidward (who is actually an Octopus).

1. Phineas and Ferb

Although we watch all of the cartoons in this list, the one we watch the most and everybody's favourite is Phineas and Ferb. This is the story of brothers Phineas and Ferb who build elaborate inventions in an effort to pass the time of summer vacation, their sister Candice is always trying to bust them and get them into trouble with their mam. A side plot that usually interacts with the main plot is that the boys have a pet platypus called Perry who is really a secret agent called Perry the Platypus and he is trying to stop the Evil Dr. Doofenshmirtz who is always trying to take over the Tri-State Area.

Do you still watch cartoons? What are your favourites? Is it weird for a grown man to still love cartoons?

Well, that's all for now.

S

You can follow Big Stevie Cool on Facebook here.

Monday Munchies: Fillet Steak with Beetroot Salad and Homemade Beetroot Crisps

This delicious summer salad should be served cool. If you like steak but don't want a meal that is too heavy this is a tasty alternative to the usual steak n chips.

Ingredients:

2 fillet steaks
2 beetroots
1 tbsp creme fraiche
1 tsp creamed horseradish
1 tsp chopped taragon
1 tsp chopped chives
5 shallots
1 bag of salad leaves.
1 tbsp vinegar (either red wine or balsamic)
vegetable oil

The Method:

Start by putting a wide based pan on a high heat and fill with around 2.5cm of vegetable oil. Next slice one of the beetroots into rounds, I used a mandolin on the lowest setting the get super thin slices. Place these on some kitchen roll on a baking tray and dab with another sheet of kitchen roll until dry (these will be used to make your crisps at the end).

Next put a griddle pan on a high heat, coat your steaks in oil and season with salt and pepper. Once the pan is hot put the steaks in and cook for only 1 minute on each side, once done remove from the heat and leave to rest on a plate.

While the steaks rest turn the heat down to medium on the griddle pan. Peel the shallots and chop them in half lengthways. Cook in the griddle pan with a little oil and cook for around 10 minutes until they have softened and are slightly charred.

By now the pan of vegetable oil should be hot enough to cook your crisps, do them in batches of around 6 slices a time and put each batch onto a sheet of kitchen roll to drain off any excess oil.

Peel the 2nd beetroot and chop this julienne and put in a bowl with the salad leaves and shallots. Mix the vinegar and 3 tbsp of oil to make a dressing and toss this with the salad. By now your steak should be suitably rested and cooled so slice with a sharp knife into thin slices.

Mix the creme fraiche, horseradish, tarragon and chives in a bowl and spoon a little bit onto each slice of steak and then scatter the beetroot crisps over the salad and you're done.

Let me know what you think of this recipe and what your favourite salads are.

I'm linking this recipe to 'Simple and in Season' recipe link up with Feeding Boys. It was inspired by this BBC Good Food Recipe.

Well, that's all for now.

S

You can follow Big Stevie Cool on Instagram here.

Re-watching Blazing Saddles

Last week we lost one of the greatest comedic actors of all time, Gene Wilder. To remember what a comedy genius he was I decided to watch one of my favourite films of his, Blazing Saddles.

The story of Bart (played by Cleavon Little), a poor black man working on the railroad who, after an altercation with the railroad boss called Taggart (who is played by the brilliantly named Slim Pickens), is sentenced to be hanged. However he is given a stay of execution when a corrupt Attourney General, Hedley Lamarr (that's HEDLEY) manipulates a gullible Governor (Mel Brooks) into appointing Bart to be the first black sheriff of a town called Rock Ridge. Hedley's plan is that the black sheriff will make the people of Rock Ridge leave town so that his rail road can go through where the town once stood.

Bart

After a Bart arrives in Rock Ridge he is not welcomed with open arms by the townsfolk and he hilariously gets away from the mob and makes his way to the jail. At the jail Bart meets Gene Wilders character Jim (we have to wait over half an hour before Wilder appears). Jim, once known as The Waco Kid is a drunk former gunslinger who quickly becomes Bart's only friend in town.

Jim, The Waco Kid

After Hedley Lamarr finds out that the people of Rock Ridge have not yet killed the new sheriff he decides to get Taggart and his band of men to ransack the town. One of the most memorable scenes in the the film is when Taggart's men are sitting around the fire eating beans. Taggart decides to send his intimidating but dimwitted crony, Mongo, into town. All of the townsfolk are scared of Mongo and beg Bart to help get rid of him. Bart comes up with a plan to defeat Mongo that comes straight out of Looney Tunes by using exploding candy. After using Mongo failed Taggart and Lamarr come of with a new plan to get as many bad guys, outlaws and desperados together to run everyone out of town.

Taggart and Hedley Lamarr

"Never mind that shit, Here comes Mongo!"

Bart and Jim come up with a plan to construct a fake town and when the bad guys run into town the blow it up with dynamite. After the explosion a mass brawl breaks out and what happens next is the silliest, stupidest, nonsensical, comedic 20 minutes in cinema history.  The brawl breaks out of the movie lot the film is being made at and into the next studio. It is utterly ridiculous (and hilarious), the cameo by Dom DeLuise is brilliant (as all cameos by Dom DeLuise are). The fighting then breaks into the Hollywood caffeteria where actors from different films are having their lunch. Mel Brooks not content with breaking the forth wall, then breaks the fifth wall (if that's possible) as Bart defeats Hedley Lamarr outside the theatre Blazing Saddles is being shown at and then Bart and Jim go in to watch the end of the film.

 Blazing Saddles is one of the greatest comedy, neh, greatest films of all time. Gene Wilder is brilliant and as with all of his performances there is slight sinister edge to his comedy.

Well, that's all for now.

S

You can follow Big Stevie Cool on Facebook here.

Monday Munchies: Family Burrito Bar

If I've said it once I've said it 1000 times, I love Mexican food. This is a love that I have started to pass onto my son Harry. His current favourite is Burritos. He first had one a few months ago an loved it and then recently Mrs Cool took the kids to Zapatista to try out their kids menu (you can read about that here). He loved how he got to choose what went into his Burrito.

So we decided to try our own version of a Burrito bar. For the ingredients use as much or as little as you need for your family size. We have a family of five so we needed:

750g Beef Mince

1 can of Baked Beans

2 cups of rice

2 peppers

250g cheese (grated)

8-10 tortilla wraps

1 jar of salsa

For the spice mix:

2 tsp chilli powder

2 tsp paprika

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/4 cayenne pepper

The Method:

Start by putting the rice in a pan and covering with water, use the ratio 2:1 (2 cups of water to 1 cup of rice). Next brown off the mince, my youngest 2 are a bit fussy when it comes to spicy food so I separated 1/3 of the mince and left this plain and added the spice mix to the other 2/3 mince. Chop the peppers into strips and add this to the mince and once done serve in separate bowls for the kids and the grown ups.

Heat the beans and decant into your chosen bowl, as with the mince I separated 1/3 beans and left them plain and with the remaining beans I added some tabasco sauce for an added kick for the grown ups.

By now the rice should be done so add this to another bowl. The cheese and salsa can be added straight to their own bowls and the tortillas just need to be warmed either under a grill or in the microwave for 30 seconds.

Put all of your bowls on your dining table and this is your Burrito Bar and now it's time to assemble your Burrito. My youngest two just stuck to the plain mince, cheese and beans. But Harry had a bit of everything and went back for seconds.

Once you've chosen all your fillings you then need to wrap it into a Burrito. The kids had great fun making a mess as they tried to wrap the Burrito. I too struggled but I think that was because I over filled my wrap. If you need any tips on how to wrap a burrito there is a great little video here.

Let me know what you think of my Family Burrito bar. Also what ingredients do you like in your Burritos?

Well, that's all for now.

S

You can follow Big Stevie Cool on Instagram here.

Laneway & Co.

I'm a recent convert to coffee but I am a purist. When It comes to coffee for me it has to be black and it has to be strong. My preference is an espresso so when Mrs Cool told me we had been invited along to 'Epresso Specialist' Laneway & Co. I was super excited.

Laneway & Co. is situated on High Bridge in Newcastle near to MotelOne. The decor is minimalist but that's because it's all about the coffee. We met Nick the barista (who is also the co-owner) who told us about his love of coffee. He guided us through the menu and told us about where they source their coffee beans.

We started with a filter coffee and Nick showed us an aero-press, which is like a reverse cafetiere. This small plastic press seemed ideal for a good cup of coffee when camping as it was lightweight and really easy to clean. For more info on Aeropress see here.

Another great thing about Laneway & Co is that if you are visiting with kids you can get a complimentary Babychino for your little coffee lover which is warm milk with chocolate sprinkles.

Finally it was time to try the espresso. I know i'm new to this coffee malarky but I can honestly say this was the BEST espresso I have had. It was so strong (which is what you want in an espresso) and very flavoursome.

Laneway & Co. also serves tea and hot chocolate and you can buy packs of coffee beans for you to take home to have your own coffee experience.

Me and Mrs Cool always try to support local businesses whenever we can so next time we are in the mood for a coffee when we're in Newcastle we will definitely be choosing Laneway & Co. over somewhere like Starbucks or Costa. Life is too short for crap coffee.

Well, that's all for now.

S

You can follow Big Stevie Cool on Facebook here.

Cocktail of the Month: Mojitos

Staying in is the new going out. When we were younger me and Mrs Cool used to enjoy cocktail hour on regular basis (we even had a bar set up in our spare room at our flat when we first moved in together) but when the kids came along and then we started going out whenever we could get a babysitter and cocktail hour fell by the wayside. Me and Mrs Cool both think that 'Date Night' is very important for a married couple so when we're not able to get out for a night on the town we will have a date night at home and HURRAH! cocktail hour is back. We have decided to collaborate on this over both of our blogs, I'll be handling the drinks and Mrs Cool will be handling the canapés. The first cocktail we've had is one of my favourites, the Mojito. Head over to Life as Mr R for the canapés we had to go with the Mojitos.

For each of my Mojitos you will need:

75ml of white rum (Bacardi is my preference)
1/4 of a lime (cut into wedges)
a few fresh mint leaves
1/2 tsp of brown sugar
Limejuice
Lemonade
Ice Cubes.

Start by adding the lime wedges, mint leaves and sugar to your chosen glass and mash them up using a muddler (you should have one of these is you're serious about cocktails).

Next add the lime juice and ice cubes and pour the rum over the ice. then top up with lemonade and give the whole thing a srir. A classic Mojito has soda water but I find using lemonade instead gives it an extra citrusy kick.

Cheers!

Variations

The great thing about making your own cocktails is that you can add and remove ingredients as you like. We also tried a Mojito with 2 different types of rum (half white and half dark). My favourite type of dark rum is Kraken. We also tried a Mojitos where we replaced the limes with raspberries and this made a delicious alternative.

Look out for our Halloween inspired cocktail night next month.

Well, that's all for now.

S

You can follow Big Stevie Cool on Twitter here.

Project Bond: Thunderball

"I think he got the Point".

The making of Thunderball, the fourth Bond film in 4 years, would lead to a court case over who owned the rights to many aspects of James Bond lore that would put the franchise in jeopardy. Fortunately these problems would not stop the makers from producing a great film. It was not one of my favourites growing up and, to be honest, I think I have only watched this one once or twice but it is still a really good film. Sean Connery is back as 007 along with other regulars Bernard Lee as M, Lois Maxwell as Moneypenny and Desmond Llewellyn as Q. It also stars Adolfo Celi as the main protagonist Emilio Largo.

Cue the barrel Shot...

The film opens with Bond observing a funeral, soon he slopes off to another room to wait for someone. That someone appears to be the grieving wife of the deceased. However, Bond is not convinced and proceeds to punch the widow in the face. It turns out the woman is really a man, a rival assasin. Once Bond has bested his adversary he makes his escape via the ludicrously Bond method of a Jet Pack and after a short car chase in the Aston Martin the dulcet tones of Tom Jones blare out the Thunderball theme.

When the film resumes we're introduced to the sinister looking, eye-patch clad Emilio Largo who is going to a secret meeting of SPECTRE. Number one, you know the guy with the cat, is being debriefed by members of the secret organisation about their various criminal activities. Largo explains a plan they have to replace a NATO pilot with a duplicate so they can steal some atomic bombs.

When we next meet bond he is staying at a spa, now I know it was the 60's and attitudes were different then but is amazes me how 'rapey' Bond is in these early movies. In one scene he forces a therapist at the spa to kiss him and then later he pushes her into a steam room and removes her clothes and presumably has sex with her. She seems quite happy about these events in the next scene but I still found these a little shocking.

I may have missed a plot point but it seemed a bit of a coincidence that Bond just happened to be at the same spa as the duplicate SPECTRE is planning to use to steal the atomic bombs. After a few scuffles with a fellow resident, (who is working for SPECTRE unbeknownst to Bond) he discovers the dead body of the real NATO pilot. At the same time all this is happening SPECTRE manage to steal the NATO jet and land it in the sea where Largo and some helpers retrieve the bombs. The underwater scene is a good prelude to what will come later in the film.

Bond Heads to MI6 where all '00' agents have been gathered as SPECTRE have announced their plan to extort money from Britain in return for giving the stolen weapons back. Bond head to Nassau in The Bahamas to follow up a lead and meets up with his old mate from the CIA Felix Leiter. He gets chatting to a lady called Domino who is the sister of the NATO Pilot killed by SPECTRE and who also happens to be the companion of Emilio Largo. Later at a casino (obviously) Bond comes face to face with Largo.

Later at Largo's complex we see he has a pool filled with several sharks. When Bond returns later to snoop around he ends up fighting one of Largo's goons and they end up in the shark pool, Bond escapes while the sharks are all tucking into the man he was just fighting. After more looking around Bond finds the missing NATO Jet and discovers Largo's plans for the bombs. Bond alerts MI6 to get some back up sent over.

When back up arrives a huge underwater battle ensues between the MI6 frogmen and Largo's henchmen. This battle is brilliant, daggers and harpoons are everywhere. There are mini submarines and the missing nukes. When the good guys have prevailed and the weapons recovered Largo escapes, he tries to get away on a suped-up yacht. Bond and Domino are hot on his heels and when it looks like Bond is about to be killed by Largo it is Domino who saves the day.

Even though, as I said earlier, I have only watched this film a couple of times I really don't know why. I thoroughly enjoyed Thunderball and will definitely add it to my list of Bond films to watch regularly. Here's the trailer.

Project Bond will return with You Only Live Twice.

Well, that's all for now.

S

You can follow Big Stevie Cool on Twitter here