Gaabriel Becket


 

Recently Rated:

Stats

Blogs: 288
events: 50
youtube videos: 43
images: 56
Invitations: 2
Groups: 2
videos: 1

An array of performers will come together at the Royal Albert Hall's Elgar Room to sing the work of married Welsh composers, Daniel and Laura Curtis.

The one night only concert will take place on  October 14th  and features many of the West End's leading artists including Alexander Hanson (Stephen Ward, Jesus Christ Superstar), Sabrina Aloueche (Les Miserables, We Will Rock You), Rebecca Caine (Phantom Of The Opera), Mark Moraghan (Priscilla Queen of The Desert), Chloe Hart (Hairspray, Wicked), Lucie Jones (X Factor), Charlotte Jaconelli (Britain's Got Talent) and many other special guests.

Critics describe the music of Daniel & Laura Curtis as “frequently stirring and soaring” (The Public Reviews) with some songs “which could slot into a Richard Rodgers musical”.

The composers first came into the public eye when they produced and composed 'A Miner's Song' which featured over 300 performers including numerous celebrities such as Aled Jones, Ioan Gruffudd, Jonathan Pryce, Matthew Rhys, Paul Potts, Michael Sheen and Joe Calzaghe. The song went on to raise tens of thousands of pounds to help fund the National Mining Memorial in Senghenydd.

Daniel and Laura recently lent their composing talents to help fundraise for BBC Children in Need by producing 'Love on 42nd Street', which pulled together numerous Broadway and West End Superstars including Disney's Aladdin star, Lea Salonga who provided the singing voice for Princess Jasmine as well as Broadway's current Jean Valjean, Ramin Karimloo.

Discussing the challenge of enticing current audiences to experience new music Laura Curtis said; “It can be difficult getting an audience to come and listen to new music as there is always some uncertainty about what they are letting themselves in for. But you can be surprised – many people assume the music will be in a particular style due to the fact that it is Musical Theatre, but we ourselves are examples that this isn't true, an evening of our music spans numerous genres from gospel and rock to traditional Musical Theatre which could have been written in the 1950's. And they all tell stories in the same way you'd see a theatrical number performed in a show”.

The evening will feature music from Love on 42nd Street as well as premiering a number of new songs.

Tickets are available now from the Royal Albert Hall Box Office http://www.royalalberthall.com/" target="_blank"> http://www.royalalberthall. com/  0845 401 5034

The full list of performers for the evening are:

Sabrina Aloueche, Rebecca Caine, Maria Coyne, Alexander Hanson, Kara Lily Hayworth, Chloe Hart, Duncan Heather, Kasia Howley, Charlotte Jaconelli, Lucie Jones, Max Keir, Rosie Ladkin, Adam Robert Lewis, Mark Moraghan and Sean Rumsey.

Posted in: Welsh Music | 0 comments

Roman Gold Hoard Found


By gaabi, 2014-09-06

Roman gold was found under a street in Colchester, Essex, England, which may have been buried to hide it from Boudicca's army:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2742314/Hiding-bling-Boudicca-Hoard-Roman-jewellery-buried-conceal-queen-advanced-Colchester-unearthed.html

Posted in: News | 0 comments

Ceri and I were lucky enough to get to hook up with Brian y Tarw Lloyd and his awesome daughter, Breanne Sciaroni yesterday at a couple of pubs in Portland, finishing up at the Horse Brass. 

Ceri told them about our video demonstration for the US Ambassador and they both gamely volunteered to perform their versions, below:

 

Posted in: Humor | 0 comments

 

Posted by the US Embassy in London https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFXBhKlGsJ_Ek71dlkFMkYQ

thanks, people! : )


The US embassy in London has made and put up this absolutely awesome video on youtube, "America's Welsh Heritage" -

 


This is actor Dominic Monaghan in an interview about John Rhys Davies playing Gimli in "The Lord of the Rings" series -

I love John Rhys Davies in anything, even godawful horrors like "Sabretooth" -

#39c;" align="center">

somewhat shamelessly stolen from:   http://thestarcrossedlosers.tumblr.com/post/75576352843/oshkeet-throren-dont-mess-with-gimli-they

 

 

 


This is a pic and directions for Welsh Cakes from Emily Clark, who's in the Welsh language meetup group Ceri and I started going to in Portland. She did heart-shaped Welsh cakes and I thought they looked awsesome. She told me she got a set of varied-size heart cookie cutters at Target and that's what she used, see the picture at the bottom.

WELSH CAAAKES!

I use the recipe from the King Arthur Flour website, but I made a few changes to it that are small but noticeable, so I'll just send you the version that I do rather than link you to theirs:

Ingredients:


  • 3 cups flour
  • 1 cup sugar 2
  • tsp baking powder
  • 1tsp salt
  • 1 tsp nutmeg
  • 1 cup butter (2 sticks)
  • 1 cup cranberries (traditionally currants but cranberries are preferred in my house!)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 large eggs

Preparation:

  1. Pop the two sticks of butter into the freezer before you do anything else, because you'll need to grate them and having them frozen makes it a tiny bit less messy (you can not freeze them and cut them into pats when you're ready to add them to the mix, but I find that it's way, WAY easier just to grate them...mixes better).
  2. beat two eggs into a measuring cup, add vanilla extract, and then add milk until you've got 3/4 cup liquid.
  3. Mix together dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, nutmeg).
  4. Grate one stick of butter into bowl of dry ingredients, then mix together until evenly dispersed/fairly crumbly.
  5. Grate in the second stick of butter, then mix again until fairly crumbly.
  6. Mix in cranberries (or currants).
  7. Add in the egg mixture, and mix until the dough is moistened. The easiest way I've found to do this without having a frustrating, sticky mess everywhere is to pour the mixture in, then turn the dough over and over with one of those long mixing spoons until it's mixed relatively well. Then I use my hands to squish all of the dough together until it's thoroughly moist and you can hold it all in a big ball. I hope that makes sense! It's a lot easier than trying to mix it all with a spoon, trust me.
  8. Turn your dough out onto a well-floured surface and cut it in half (you have to do this in two parts because it's enough dough to make a TON of cakes. Too much for one go!). Set one half aside.
  9. Roll out first half of dough until it's about 1/4" thick, then start cutting out your cakes! They can be any shape you want, I typically do circles. You'll have to constantly flour the cutter and the surface of the dough due to the supreme stickiness.
  10. Once you've got all of your cakes cut out of both halves of dough, start heating your pan. It's supposed to be done on a griddle, but if you don't have one then a skillet should do. We've got a pancake griddle that works perfectly. You want to heat it on a medium low-medium setting (I put it just below the 5, if your stove has numbers).
  11. Place cakes on the pan, and let sit for about 3-5 minutes depending on the heat of your stove. You'll know when to flip them because there won't be anymore sizzling butter around the bottom edge, and the top of them will be rounded and puffy, without much sweat left on them. When you flip them over, they should be golden brown on the bottom. If not, let the other side cook through and then flip it over again to brown the bottom a bit more, or else they'll fall apart more easily.
  12. Sprinkle the tops with sugar.
  13. Brew a pot of black tea, sit back, and enjoy.

heart shaped welshcakes

Posted in: Recipes | 0 comments
   / 36