Oui, j'adore macarons

A macaron, not to be confused with the coconut biscuit type, is a type of Parisian sweet meringue-based cookie, sandwiched together with a variety of cream fillings. It's definitely no typo, these are entirely two different things.>

I don't think I'll ever meet anyone who is so obsessed by these beautiful French sweet treats. The smell sets off light bulbs in my head. Different décor, different flavourings that could work, different concepts and different ideas. For the past few years I have been memorized by these confectioneries, trying to taste every different flavour there is to offer. It first started Christmas 2 years ago. I was stuck at Charles De Gualle Airport in Paris. After wondering around for a good 3 days, I seemed to find myself stood beside a food cart. A very special mouthwatering, enticing food cart. So many beautiful colours and flavours appealing to me. I was amazed. Laduree, my favourite patisserie specialise in these treats, another huge attraction. Lines are long, but be patient. Once you have tried these you have entered an entirely different world.

The many attempts of perfecting the perfect Macaron is proving difficult. They demand a precision in the mixing, baking and cooling.

I'm not quite there yet, but nevertheless, if you have never tried a Macaron you definitely are missing out. These treats are becoming ever more popular by the day, now stocking in a variety of supermarket chains. Beware, you can never just have one. A macaron teases. These dainty treats leave you wanting more than to begin with. Once I have a French patisserie of my own, I'll make sure you'll have fallen in love with these treats as much as I have.

#UKFestivals NOT trending this year?

A few years back, many festivals including Latitude, Reading and Leeds, and Bestival, were all sellout festivals, actually selling out way before the tickets were even printed. It was the moment just before the credit crunch struck and its taken a while, but maybe it's finally took a hit. It is estimated that last year overall, around 30 festivals went bankrupt. This year has seen Big Chill festival, which begun 18 years ago, being cancelled. Could this be the start of the end for our UK festivals?

It seems everyone is a lot more conservative in terms of their spending. I would agree that that's not the only reason however. For a while, there has been an increasingly cool trend of going to a festival. You need the ‘look’, the clothes, and the haircut. The original idea of going to a festival seemed to offer an alternative reality. Now, it's an industry. Festivals seem fashionable over recent years, high street chains have reveled in this notion of festival clothing, what to wear, what not to wear, in order to look cool and stand out of the crowd.

You find more and more people, despite there being a recession amongst our mitts, buying tickets to festivals without even seeing the lineup or having interest in the lineup. The idea of just going to a festival is seemingly worth it apparently. However when you look at it, is 200 quid for camping in a busy park really worth it? You could get it a lot cheaper and just take a speaker with you.

Festivals abroad are becoming increasingly popular nowadays. It seems that there are many accessible budget airlines offering cheap flights, as well as an experience that's part-holiday, part-festival. Many of these festivals are now being promoted throughout the UK, costing as much, if not a little more than the UK scene, so why not?

The concept that the UK festival scene is ending I don’t believe is correct. People find the money somewhere. It’s more the question of whether who the headline acts are matter anymore...

Tesco Takeover Trouble

FINANCIAL; RETAIL;

The past few years has seen a huge growth from Tesco. No city or town is without one, even village if they had it their way. Tesco have been given a profit warning following poor Christmas sales just gone. It is believed that Tesco will have to invest millions of pounds, around 400 actually, hiring and refurbishing staff and stores, in order to get their customers back where they want them. Tesco cut thousands of jobs of independent stores, this seemingly being their karma, but what are they proposing to do? Their plan to get anywhere and everywhere, lost the idea of being a brand people can trust to go to. It’s got too powerful, to the point where I don’t believe chief executive Philip Clarke, knows what to do with the power.
“Every Little Helps” is still one of the best taglines going, I reckon Tesco just need to incorporate it’s idea a little better. Tesco maybe in it’s warning stage, but I’m sure they’ll think of something, the man always gets what he wants…

SLOW CLUB / FRANCOIS & THE ATLAS MOUNTAINS @QUEENSSOCIALCLUB Sheffield

Click the link here:
http://gracecassonmusicscene.wordpress.com/2012/04/15/slow-club-francois-the-atlas-mountains-queenssocialclub-sheffield/

A: Shall I jump off this cliff?.. B: Yeah, #YOLO ennit

The term 'YOLO' has become an overnight sensation, something which seems to have people hash-tagging nearly everyday on the popular social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. It's popularity is due to the song 'The Motto' by Drake. Obviously Drake invented this acronym of course, and that is why people feel the need to credit it in every single status or tweet. Some people must not know this, but the phrase has been a motto for people for a long time. Yes, that's true. However in many cases, the term has been blown out of proportion and people over use it by hash-tagging it in pictures and wall posts because of the trend.
To me, there is no way to recover or redeem yourself once you’ve used 'YOLO' incorrectly. You either have no idea what the combination of letters mean, or simply the phrase itself is unclear to you. The phrase 'you only live once' should refer to events in life that end in an appreciation for the world around you, reflecting on once-in-a-lifetime opportunities and moments. It should not be used as a justification as to why you went out last night and got absolutely smashed off your face.

Y ou
O bviously
L ack
O riginality