Incredibles 2 Review

If I ranked all of the Pixar movies I would probably have The Incredibles on the mid to lower end of the scale. Admittedly I have only seen it a couple of times and the last time was about 10 years ago, also my kids haven't been as obsessed with it as they are with other Pixar movies but when the trailers for Incredibles 2 started doing the rounds they were pestering me to take them. In anticipation we decided to watch the original again and it's actually a lot better than I remember so I decided to go to the sequel with some optimism. Returning The Incredibles are Craig T Nelson and Holly Hunter as Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl along with Samuel L Jackson as Fronzone. They are joined this time by Bob Odenkirk and Catherine Keener as Winson and Evelyn Deavor

The film picks up exactly where the first film leaves off with the Incredibles chasing down The Underminer who is using his tunnelling machine to rob banks. The damage that is caused leads to renewed calls for Supers to remain illegal. The family are then contacted by a rich businessman (Winston Deavor) who says the problem supers have is bad PR as people only see the damage they cause and not the good deeds that lead to the damage. They decide that Elastigirl should do a few missions with body cam to try and turn public opinion.

With Elastigirl busy Mr. Incredible has to be a stay at home dad trying to work out son Dash's homework and daughter Violets love life as well as juggling Jack-Jack the Superpowered baby. These were some of my favourite scenes as being a father of 3 children myself,  I found them very relatable. During Elasitgirl's missions a new villain emerges called the ScreenSlaver (Pixar really nail the superhero/villain names). The ScreenSlaver hypnotises people using computer screens and eventually hypnotises some supers to ruin all the good work Elastigirl has been doing.

We all really enjoyed Incredibles 2 and it is, in my opinion, better than the original. Yes, the story is a bit predictable but the comedy is great and all of the characters are likeable. I really liked Jack-Jack and the best scene in the film is his fight with a racoon where all of his powers come to the fore. Mr. Incredible stressing about trying to be a good dad is also great.

My only criticism is that the plot is pretty generic and some of the plot twists were obvious but then again it is principally a kids film and kids are stupid. Will there be an Incredibles 3? With this film pulling in pretty impressive box-office numbers I thinks it's inevitable there will be. But, how else can The Incredible family develop? I would like to see something a bit more imaginative along the lines of UP! and Monsters Inc. Will Jack-Jack have a bigger role in the next film? I certainly hope so.

Well, that's all for now.

S

You can follow Big Stevie Cool on Twitter here.

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Big Stevie Cool's French Odyssey Part One

Bonjour, Mon Amie. You may or may not know but I have recently been on my hollybobs to France. For the first part of our holiday we went to Vendée which is on the west coast of France not far from Nantes. As you would expect the food was phenomenal, even though French cuisine has a reputation for high quality I wasn't expecting it to be this good.

We stayed at Camping Les Ecureuils which is a Eurocamp campsite a short walk from the beach. We were having pretty lazy days, having late mornings with brunch on the decking of our lodge. The onsite shop doubled as a bakery and we could get fresh bread and pasties so Croissants and Pain Au Chocolat was the usual choice.

Now, a campsite might not sound like the best place to get good food but there was a restaurant on site called Amy's House, we went here a couple of times and were really impressed. Mrs. Cool's favourite dish was the Pizza Chevre, this is a Pizza with Goat's Cheese, Oregano and Honey she said she had never had a pizza like this back home and the combination of Goat's Cheese and Honey was a taste sensation and everyone needs to try it.

Now I couldn't come all the way to France and not have snails. I've had them before about 15 years ago when I took Mrs. Cool to Paris for the weekend and I really liked them, Amy's House has Escargot Farcis (which is Snails with Garlic Butter) as a starter so I ordered six. Snails have a similar texture to mussels but taste a bit meatier and with the Garlic Butter are really good they can be a bit tricky as the slimey little bugger's don't want to come out of their shell.

My favourite main course here was Le Confit de Canard au Miel which is a Duck Leg with Honey. The duck was so full of flavour and because it was Confit it was falling off the bone and tender. The duck came with a kind of honey glaze which was really good too and came with skin on French Fries and these were the best french fries you will ever have.

The desserts at Amy's house were great too, my favourite dessert of all is Crème Brûlée and was happy to see this on the menu. The portion was canny big too and I could have easily shared mine with Mrs. Cool (If I wasn't being a greedy pig). Mrs. Cool is a sucker for chocolate cake and she went for the Chocolate Fondant. Both desserts were gloriously unctuous and the Chocolate Fondant was rich and perfectly oozey.

Just a short walk up the road was the resort centre where there was a waterpark, mini golf and a row of restaurants. The place we visited was a crêperie where Mrs. Cool had a classic Crêpe Au Sucre et Citron (Heidi also went for this) and it was the best Crêpe they have ever had. Mrs. Cool said there are no words to describe how good it was.

I don't have as much as a sweet tooth as Mrs. Cool so I went for a savoury Galette au Jambon de Vendée et œuf which used local ham and a fried egg and was incredible. The yolk of the egg was one of the best I've had (why are ingredients always better abroad?).

That brought this part of our French Adventure in Vendée to an end and we moved on to Puy Du Fou where the food continued to be amazing. Check soon for Part Two of Big Stevie Cool's French Odyssey.

Well, that's all for now.

S

You can follow Big Stevie Cool in Instagram here.

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Stevie's Simple Soda Bread Recipe

Is there anything as nice a freshly baked bread? I don't bake bread as often as I would like as making a conventional loaf is a bit of a faff on (who has time to wait a few hours for the dough to rise?). However this is a really simple and quick bread that still has that great fresh bread smell and only takes about 40 minutes from start to finish.

Ingredients:

250g Plain White Flour
250g Plain Wholewheat Flour
1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
1 tsp Salt
400ml Buttermilk

Method:

Put the Flour, Salt and Bicarbonate of soda in a bowl and mix together. make a well and add the buttermilk. You might not need all the buttermilk so start by adding half and mixing it in and keep adding more until all the ingredients have combined into a dough.

Turn out the dough onto a floured surface and form into a ball, transfer the ball onto a pre-heated baking tray (covered with baking parchment). Cut a deep cross across the middle of the dough and then dust with flour.

Bake for 30 minutes at 200ºC, you can check the bread is cooked through by tapping the bottom and it should sound hollow. Let the cooked bread cool on a wire rack, I like to have it when it still warm with some butter or toasted with my favourite breakfast ingredients.

Well, that's all for now.

S

You can follow Big Stevie Cool on Instagram here.

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Sea & Soil | Amble | Brunch Review Menu

Last weekend Mrs. Cool was asked to try out a bus route from Newcastle to Berwick (It was more fun than it sounds) and one of the stops was Amble, one of our favourite coastal towns in Northumberland. I've written before about a restaurant in Amble (see here) and this was a chance to try somewhere new.

Sea & Soil is a restaurant on Queen Street, literally 2 minutes walk from the harbour. The decor is just the type I like, contemporary but with a rustic twist, they have the specials on slate tiles hanging on the wall and wooden tables for insanely instagrammable foodie pics. We managed to bag a table by the front window, gotta have natural light for that perfect shot.

We ordered our drinks first, Americano for me and Mrs. Cool, Blackcurrant Juice for Jack, Milk for Heidi and Coke for Harry. The coffee is really good, nice and strong and the biscuit was great too (you can buy the coffee beans for home from Amble harbour pods). The Brunch menu has a great selection and so many of the dishes tempted me. Next time we go I'll have to try the Eggs Bennie as this is one of my favourite Breakfasts. Mrs. Cool chose the Breakfast Roll and went with Sausage and brown sauce (the correct type of sauce for a sausage sarnie). Harry and Jack also went for this and they all loved it. The sausage was really good you tell they were good quality and it was a good sized portion.

Heidi has been going through a bit of a vegetarian phase at the minute (although she will still have chicken nuggets) so she went for the Pancakes and Syrup. Again the portion size was perfect and Heidi really loved the pancakes.

I was in the mood for Black Pudding so I went for the Sea & Soil Special which is described as "The Chef's Favourite Breakfast Ingredients" so I knew there would be Black Pudding (All Chefs love a bit of Black Pudding). I was really impressed with this, it was presented perfectly with all the items you would expect on a breakfast. Sausage, Bacon, Black Pudding, Hash Brown, Wilted Spinach, Tomato, Mushroom and Poached Egg all topped with Hollandaise Sauce. The Sausage was amazing, the Bacon really crispy and the egg was cooked to perfection. The Hollandaise was something I haven't had before on a full english but it worked great with all the meaty flavours and the Black Pudding was just what I was looking for crispy and black on the outside but still slightly red in the middle.

I'm sure we'll be back in Amble soon and the main menu at Sea & Soil looks really good too so I think we will be back to try something else.

Mrs. Cool has made a video of our day out in Northumberland, You can watch it here:

Well, that's all for now.

S

You can follow Big Stevie Cool in Instagram here.

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Horton Grange | Alfresco Lunch

Summer's here, the sun is shining so that means outdoor dining is on the cards. This week was particularly glorious so me and Mrs. Cool headed out for lunch in the sun. We originally wanted to go to The Boathouse in Blyth and sit by the harbour but when we got to Blyth it was totally misty so we headed in land to find warmer climes.

Next we headed to The Parlour in Blagdon for lunch in the garden but when we got there we were told there were no tables available outside and when we asked if we could book one for later the said they did take reservations for the garden however when we questioned why there was a reserved sign on one of the tables outside we were given some BS response so decided against giving them our custom.

Finally we arrived at Horton Grange, a Country House Hotel and Restaurant in Ponteland. The garden is really pretty and it is a great sun trap on sunny days. Even though it was a weekday afternoon, the heatstroke must have got to us and we ordered a glass of wine each and had a read of the menu.

Mrs. Cool was after a light meal so she went for the Halloumi and Roasted Pear Salad. When the salad came Mrs. Cool was disappointed that the pear wasn't roasted and it was just thin slices of raw pear. The rest of the salad was really nice and the dressing was a sweet raspberry vinaigrette and made this a very fresh lunch.

Since Mrs. Cool was having a salad I decided to have a salad too. I went for the Caesar Salad and added the Roast Chicken Breast for an extra £2.00. I too was a little disappointed when my salad came as the menu said it had anchovies (which I love) but when it came my Caesar Salad was sans Anchovies. However the chicken more than made up for it, the breast was cooked perfectly and was so juicy and the skin was incredible with a little caramelisation. The Caesar dressing was really nice too and not too overpowering and there was a good helping out croutons.

Despite the issues with the salads we still enjoyed them and the wine was really good, out bill came to £25 which isn't bad for lunch. The garden is really great and there is loads of space and it would be great to take kids, there is a giant chess set too if you fancy teaching your kids the rules. There are some great nooks with flowers dotted around and a swing chair and all very Instagrammable.

Well, that's all for now.

S

You can follow Big Stevie Cool on Instagram here.

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5 Reasons Why I love Northumberland

Living in Northumberland is just the best. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. But why do I love it so much? Well, there are many reasons but I've managed to condense it down so here are my five reasons (in no particular order) Why I love Northumberland.

The Coastline.

South Beach, Blyth

Lindisfarne Castle, Holy Island

From Seaton Sluice in the south over 60 miles north to the Scottish border the Northumberland Coast is EPIC. A stunning 40 mile stretch of the coast from Berwick to the River Coquet has been designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Some of my favourite places are along the coast such as Craster, The Farne Islands, Seahouses and Holy Island. So many places to visit and some great days out. One of my favourite walks is the 2 mile walk along the coast from Craster to Dunstanburgh Castle really worth the trip.

The Food.

North Sea Oysters, Blyth Boathouse

Northumberland Venison Haunch, St Mary's Inn

There is so much good food in Northumberland. Northumberland has some of it's own great foods like Craster Kippers, Ham and Pease Pudding Stotties and some of the best fish n chips you will ever have. There are also loads of farmers raising incredible produce, cheesemakers making award winning cheese, Artisan Bakeries making amazing bread, pies and cakes. But it's the abundance of great restaurants that make the food extra special, serving dishes from all over the world at such a high standard you are never far away from a good meal.

The Castles.

Warkworth Castle

Dunstanburgh Castle

Northumberland has over 70 Castles! It's like living in Game of freaking Thrones. Some of the castles are world famous being used in TV and Films with Alnwick Castle used the Harry Potter films and Bamburgh Castle used in the last Transformers movie. Visiting a castle is one of my favourite things to do as it totally transports you back in time. My favourite castle is Warkworth Castle (above) it's keep is mostly intact and you really get a sense of how imposing it would have been to see in it's hay-day.

The Countryside.

Ingram Valley

Kielder Forest

Northumberland is one of the largest counties in England but is one of the least densely populated with just 63 people per km². This is due to acres and acres of countryside, whether it's trekking through hills and valleys or having a ramble around ancient meadows there is seemingly no end to the Northumberland Countryside. Kielder Forest is the largest man made forest in Europe and along with Kielder Reservoir it is such a fascinating place. The Northumberland National Park is also well worth visit with miles of picturesque views taking in Hadrian's Wall and the Cheviot Hills as well as having Dark Skies status. If you've never experienced a night somewhere with Dark Skies status you need to try it, on a clear night the amount of stars you can see is insane.

The People.

Of all the things I love about Northumberland it's the people I love the most. Not just my own family (who are pretty amazing if I say so myself) but the people in general from Northumberland are so friendly and welcoming. People often say that the people from the North East are the friendliest in England and they ain't lying. Whether you're after advice at the local market or just looking for a friendly hello from a passing stranger the people of Northumberland are always happy to oblige. They will literally give you the clothes off their back, on one trip to the Farne Islands the kids were a bit chilly so the ship's captain let them use his gloves to keep their fingers warm.

Have you ever been to Northumberland, what was your experience like? Is there anything would would add to this list?

Well, that's all for now.

S

You can follow Big Stevie Cool on Facebook here. 

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Big Cool Five

Summer is here, the sun has been shining and the World Cup has started. There's is a feeling of optimism in England for the first time in a long time. We have have had lots of fun this month and had lots of days out. Here are my Big Cool Five from June.

Solo: A Star Wars Story

The latest film in Disney's Star Wars Anthology is all about Han Solo. I really enjoyed this film (a lot more that The Last Jedi) but it seems I'm in the minority. Poor box office returns and luke warm reviews have forced Disney to put their planned films in the anthology on hold. You can read my review here.

Fish Shack, Amble

Just up the Northumbrian coast from where I live is Amble and on the harbour is a great little seafood restaurant The Fish Shack. The setting is great, the food is even better. Next time we're in Amble we'll be heading back here. Here is my review of Lunch Menu.

Catch, Ponteland

Another Day, another Seafood restaurant. This time in Ponteland, Catch is something special. The Swordfish with Crayfish Linguine (above) is the best thing I've eaten this month. They do packages where you can stay over and eat at the restaurant and this might be a plan for me and Mrs. Cool in the next few months. You can read my full review here.

Cirque Berserk

I'm not usually a big fan of the circus but Cirque Berserk is a little different. Acrobats, Contortionist, Fire Jugglers were all here but it was the Motorcyclists in the Globe of Death that stole the show for me. You can read Mrs Cool's full review here.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

DINOSAURS! The Jurassic Park franchise rolls on with the latest entry Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Not very imaginative but still lots of fun, if you're a fan of Jurassic Park you'll probably enjoy this. You can read my full review here.

Next month is my Birthmonth and the World Cup Final and we're off on our holidays so lots to look forward to. Check back soon for my July Big Cool Five.

Well, that's all for now.

S

You can follow Big Stevie Cool on Twitter here.