Man In London – new site!

shinesquad.me has moved!!

Check out our new site here: www.maninlondon.com

.

“Wellness for Cancer” Treatments

‘Wellness for Cancer’ spa treatments have been introduced at Sopwell House Hotel & Spa, Hertfordshire so those suffering, or recovering from cancer can enjoy a personalised spa treatment.

Spa therapists at Sopwell House have received expert training from ‘Wellness for Cancer’ founder, Julie Bach.

The experienced spa therapists at Sopwell House have created three signature treatments, each with a personalised consultation before the pampering commences. 

Spa Treatment Times
10.00am – 8.00pm

Body Bliss – the bespoke treatment is adapted to suit individual needs following a detailed consultation. The treatment starts with a relaxing foot ritual followed by a soothing full body massage to bring your mind and body back to a harmonious balance.

Duration: 80 minutes
Price: £110

Facial – this treatment is adapted
to even the most sensitive of skins. The soothing facial techniques are combined with a relaxing scalp massage and will leave your skin feeling fresh and revitalised.

Duration: 50 minutes
Price: £75

Freestyle Massage – the therapist will complete a detailed consultation and then use expert techniques to bespoke a soothing and indulgent massage leaving you feeling deeply relaxed and rejuvenated.

Duration: 50 minutes
Price: £75

Many of the other treatments offered in the spa can be adapted to suit those with or
recovering from cancer.

Sopwell House, Cottonmill Lane, St Albans, Hertfordshire AL1 2HQ
T: 01727 864477

https://sopwellhouse.co.uk/spa/

Game of Thrones Live Concert Coming to the UK

The critically acclaimed Game of Thrones® Live Concert Experience Featuring Ramin Djawadi will bring the world of Westeros to arenas across Europe starting in May of 2018. Additionally, due to popular demand, a second North American leg of the tour has been added for the autumn of 2018, giving fans the opportunity to watch in wonder as famed composer Ramin Djawadi leads an orchestra and choir performing music from all seven seasons of the iconic, Emmy® Award-winning HBO series. The new dates for the Game of Thrones Live Concert Experience Featuring Ramin Djawadi will include new music and footage from Season 7, as well a new custom stage design and mesmerising visuals courtesy of state of the art video technology.

“Bringing the Game of Thrones Live Concert Experience to audiences earlier this year was a dream come true, dating back to an idea hatched over three years ago,” said Djawadi. “The scale and spectacle of the production brought the world of Westeros to life in a truly immersive fashion, and I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to share the experience with fans not only in North America again, but also to cross the narrow sea for the first time and bring the show to Europe.”

The inaugural run of the Game of Thrones® Live Concert Experience Featuring Ramin Djawadi kicked off in North America in February of 2017 after being conceived by Djawadi three years ago. The show was praised by fans and critics alike as a must-see spectacle for fans of the television series. The Guardian described the show as “Westeros brought to dazzling life.” Mashable called it “an epic musical journey,” while the New York Times praised it as “a symphonic spectacular.”

As rich as the stories, intrigue and world of Game of Thrones®, Ramin’s celebrated music for the show has resonated with fans from the very beginning, as the meticulously constructed songs underscored the emotional weight of key moments between beloved characters, lent scale to massive battle sequences and brought to life songs referenced in George R.R. Martin’s books.  Ramin’s relentlessly popular title track alone has become an instantly recognizable pop culture phenomenon in its own right.

“Building upon the incredible response we received from the first tour earlier this year, Game of Thrones fans are in for a treat when the updated version of the Game of Thrones Live Concert Experience makes its debut in Europe and then returns to North America next year,” said Jeff Peters, Vice President of Licensing and Retail at HBO. “The Game of Thrones fan base reaches all corners of the globe, so we are excited a wider international audience will now be able to experience Ramin’s extraordinary talent.”

The t­our, produced and promoted exclusively by Live Nation in partnership with HBO Global Licensing, will continue to use innovative music tour production and video technology that will recreate the various realms found throughout Westeros and Essos as well as showcase footage from the show in addition to new imagery created exclusively for the upcoming 45 tour dates. Beginning its journey on May 8th in Madrid, the tour will visit 20 European cities throughout May and June. The North American leg will kick off 25 tour dates on September 5th in Vancouver and conclude on October 14th in Toronto.

Tickets for all dates go on sale starting this Friday, September 29th at 10:00 AM. A special HBO pre-sale launches today at 6:00 PM and goes through Thursday, September 28th at 10:00 PM.

Citi® is the official pre-sale credit card of the Game Of Thrones® Live Concert tour. As such, Citi® cardmembers will have access to purchase pre-sale tickets beginning Tuesday, September 26th at 12:00PM PST until Thursday, September 28th at 10:00PM local time through Citi’s Private Pass® program. For complete pre-sale details visit www.citiprivatepass.com

GAME OF THRONES^® LIVE CONCERT EXPERIENCE 2018 DATES
All dates, cities and venues below subject to change.

Europe Dates:
8 May – Madrid, Spain – WiZink Center
10 May – Barcelona, Spain – Palau Sant Jordi
12 May – Paris, France – AccorHotel Arena
14 May – Berlin, Germany – Mercedes-Benz Arena
15 May – Lodz, Poland – Atlas Arena
16 May – Prague, Czech Republic – O2 Arena
18 May – Budapest, Hungry – Budapest Arena
19 May – Vienna, Austria – Wiener Stadthalle
21 May – Amsterdam, Netherlands – Ziggo Dome
22 May – Antwerp, Belgium – Antwerps Sportpaleis
24 May – Dublin, Ireland – 3Arena
25 May – Belfast, Northern Ireland – The SSE Arena
27 May – London, UK – Wembley Arena
29 May – Hamburg, Germany – Barclaycard Arena
31 May – Stockholm, Sweden – Ericsson Globe
1 June – Copenhagen, Denmark – Royal Arena
4 June – Munich, Germany – Olympiahalle
5 June – Zurich, Switzerland – Hallenstadion
7 June – Frankfurt, Germany – Festhalle Frankfurt
8 June – Cologne, Germany – Lanxess Arena

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The Best LGBT Cities 2017

Study is one of the biggest of its kind to date, and includes 100 cities and five factors to determine which are the world’s best LGBT+ cities

• Madrid places first in the 2017 Best LGBT Cities List, scoring an impressive 23.56 out of a possible 25

• Berlin ranks first in the LGBT nightlife category but only sixth overall, held back by LGBT rights laws in Germany

• Tel Aviv is the highest ranking city outside of Europe and North America, ranking as the fourth best LGBT city

Furnished housing aggregator, Nestpick, has conducted one of the largest studies of its kind, researching the world’s best cities for the LGBT+ community. Five factors were investigated in order to understand which cities offer the best quality of life for those who identify under the LGBT initials. Nestpick conducted the study as part of Pride Month, releasing the results on June 28th, an important date historically for the gay liberation movement, marking the 48th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.

To make the list truly comprehensive and inclusive, thousands of cities were considered in the development stage. Polls were conducted amongst the LGBT community in 80 countries, using social media and other polling tools. More than 2,500 participants from each city were asked to give three lifestyle factors a rating out of five: the strength of their city’s gay dating scene, the quality of its LGBT nightlife, and the openness of their fellow citizens. A final shortlist of the 100 cities with the best poll results was then created.

Two additional categories were measured for the cities in the final shortlist: safety and the rights of LGBT citizens. These factors were included in order to recognise that although some cities offer an attractive lifestyle, a lot may still need to be done to protect people from hate crime and to give them equal rights. Information on the rights of LGBT citizens at a national level was provided by national and regional governments of each country, and data regarding the safety of the LGBT community was provided by local and national authorities.

“It’s no coincidence that the world’s most exciting cities have a strong LGBT community, contributing much to the dynamism, openness and prosperity which defines locations such as Madrid, Amsterdam and Berlin”, states Ömer Kücükdere, Managing Director of Nestpick.

The ten top scoring cities worldwide are:

Rank	City	Dating Scene	LGBT Nightlife	Openness in the City	Safety Score	LGBT Rights	Total
1	Madrid	4.63	4.87	4.87	4.19	5	23.56
2	Amsterdam	4.81	4.66	4.72	4.07	5	23.26
3	Toronto	4.60	4.57	4.78	3.74	5	22.69
4	Tel Aviv	4.72	4.81	4.81	4.23	4	22.57
5	London	4.94	4.97	4.94	2.61	5	22.46
6	Berlin	4.97	5.00	4.97	3.95	3	21.89
7	Brighton	4.15	4.45	4.66	3.54	5	21.80
8	Barcelona	4.84	4.78	4.75	2.41	5	21.78
9	New York City	5.00	4.94	4.91	2.85	4	21.70
10	San Francisco	4.75	4.84	5.00	3.02	4	21.61

Click here for the full list of 100 cities: https://www.nestpick.com/best-lgbt-cities

London, UK scored 22.46 points out of a possible 25 and ranked in position 5 out of a possible 100. London was the highest ranking UK city, with the following scores and rankings:

Rank	Dating Scene Score	Dating Scene Rank	LGBT Nightlife Score	LGBT Nightlife Rank	Openness in the City	Openness in the City Rank	Safety Score	Safety Score Rank	LGBT Rights Score	Total
5	4.94	3	4.97	2	4.94	3	2.61	60	5	22.46

As scores for LGBT Rights were between 1-5 as whole figures, many cities scored the same amount. A ranking was therefore not included above, with many locations having tied in score.

10 UK cities were included in the ranking, with the following results:

Rank	City	Dating Scene	LGBT Nightlife	Openness in the City	Safety Score	LGBT Rights	Total
5	London	4.94	4.97	4.94	2.61	5	22.46
7	Brighton	4.15	4.45	4.66	3.54	5	21.80
13	Manchester	4.54	4.60	4.54	2.65	5	21.33
20	Bristol	3.60	4.24	4.24	3.66	5	20.74
29	Edinburgh	3.09	3.57	3.27	4.40	5	19.33
34	Glasgow	3.57	3.81	4.39	2.17	5	18.94
39	Leeds	3.45	3.90	3.45	2.77	5	18.57
51	Liverpool	2.69	3.30	3.24	3.34	5	17.57
53	Birmingham	2.87	3.87	3.81	1.92	5	17.47
64	Cardiff	2.28	2.72	2.93	3.14	5	16.07

Other findings from the study include:

New York ranks highest in the Dating category, followed by Berlin and London.

Berlin ranks highest in the LGBT Nightlife category, followed by London and New York City.

San Francisco ranks highest in the Openness category, followed by Berlin and London.

Munich ranks highest in the Safety category, followed by Mykonos and and Zurich.

Of the 40 countries included, 14 countries score maximum points (5) for LGBT rights: Canada, Colombia, Denmark, France, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Spain, Sweden, and the UK.

Click here for the full list of 100 cities: https://www.nestpick.com/best-lgbt-cities/

 So now you know!

Love Cocoa Moves into Digital Age with Bitcoin

New chocolate company Love Cocoa is accepting digital currency Bitcoin for its creations. 
James Cadbury, founder of Love Cocoa, is the great-great-great grandson of Cadbury’s founder John Cadbury. 

PayPal already accounts for around 60% of accepted payments for the brand’s treats, and the Bitcoin addition adds to their modern approach.  

When Cadbury’s first launched 200 years ago the thought of ever accepting digital currency would have been far-fetched. 

Perhaps even the selection of flavours, including Earl Grey milk chocolate and gin and tonic dark chocolate! 

Stocked in Fortnum & Mason and landing monthly on the doorsteps of chocolate lovers across the country though its subscription service. 

lovecocoa.com

​​Starmus Festival III with Stephen Hawking in Tenerife

Starmus,  a highlight on the calendar of the brightest minds in science and space, will take place from June 27^th – 2^nd July 2016 in Tenerife under the theme Beyond the Horizon – Tribute to Stephen Hawking.

At a launch event in the  Royal Astronomical Society in Piccadilly there was an expectant hush as Prof. Stephen Hawking came into the room. This guy is a superstar. It’s rather like meeting a member of the Royal family, one doesn’t touch, tries not to stare but this is one of the most iconic figures of our world and it was privilege for a maninlondon to be there.

Beyond The Horizon
Tribute to Stephen Hawking June 27 – July 2 – 2016

Prof. Stephen Hawking was there with Starmus Festival Founder and leading astrophysicist Dr. Garik Israelian​ and rock royalty and astronomer Dr. Brian May to announce Starmus III.

Dr. Brian May – musician, singer, songwriter, and astrophysicist!

Starmus III has a fantastic line up of the world’s leading scientists, astronauts and Nobel Prize winners, including:

• Neil deGrasse Tyson – Astrophysicist and Science Communicator
• Eric Betzig – Physicist and Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry 2014 for “the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy”
• Colonel Chris Hadfield – Astronaut and First Canadian Commander of the International Space Station (2015)
• Harry Kroto – English Chemist and Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry 1996
• Lord Martin Rees – Astronomer Royal. Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics at The University of Cambridge
• Adam Riess – Astronomer, Physicist and Nobel Prize winner in Physics in 2011, who led a study for the High-z Team which provided the first published evidence that the expansion of the Universe was accelerating and filled with Dark Energy
• Russell Schweickart  –  Astronaut and Scientist – ex-NASA Apollo Series astronaut and logged over 4,000 hours of flight time for the US Air Force
• Neil Turok – Scientist and Professor of Physics and co-author of the popular science book Endless Universe: Beyond the Big Bang
• Kip Thorne – Astrophysicist who has forged a career in writing and movies – his latest project was Interstellar (2014), directed by Christopher Nolan

 

Dr Brian May, Dr. Garik Israelian, Mr. Carlos Alonso and Prof Stephen Hawking

The festival also inspires and captures the imagination of the wider general public who have an interest in space, stargazing, science, art, music and sci-fi.  One of the highlights is the “Teide Starmus Party”, an evening of stargazing in the company of professional astronomers and live music performances, set within the lunar-like landscape of Teide National Park and under the canopy of the Milky Way.

 Here’s me looking all intellectual

Alan Greenhalgh at the Royal Astronomical Society

Sounds like a great event.

 www.starmus.com

Read more about Tenerife here.

Aloe-mentary my dear, JASON

Jason products are great. We tested C-Effects Ultra-C Eye Lift at £17.49, which as you can see is light, glides on easily and instantly absorbed. And most of all,  it’s effective.  The multi antioxidant complex of Ester-C, Vitamin C, Thioctic Acid, Vitamin E and Green Tea nourishes the delicate skin around the eyes softening fine lines and wrinkles. With use, eyes appear more awake, while skin feels soft and smooth. What’s not to love about bright eyes?  We were fans of Keihl’s Line-Reducing Eye-Brightening Concentrate at £35 a pop  but it’s a little too powerful and astringent for our delicate skins 🙂

Anti-Aging Treatment Helps smooth and firm around the eyes

Jason also have these soothing aloe vera cremes and gels – what with the sun blasting out in London there might be some prickly skins after this weekend.

Aloe Vera was known as the ‘plant of immortality’ by ancient Egyptians and is still known for its healing properties. The phyto chemicals and nutrients in Aloe Vera are beneficial to hair, health and skin, and Aloe Vera is 4 times more rapidly absorbed by skin than water. A cocktail of  vitamins A, B, C and E, folic acid, niacin, copper, iron, sodium, calcium, zinc, potassium, chromium, magnesium and manganese.

Pure Natural Moisturizing Gel – Soothing 98% Aloe Vera

Pure Natural Moisturizing Gel – Soothing 98% Aloe Vera

This 98% Aloe Vera relieves discomforts of dry, irritated, sun damaged or newly shaven skin while nourishing Allantoin and Vitamin B5 replenish moisture. Available in 113g (4oz) £3.99, 227g (8oz) £5.99, and 454g (16oz) £8.99

 

Pure Natural Moisturizing Crème – Soothing 84% Aloe Vera

Pure Natural Moisturizing Crème

Pure Natural Moisturizing Crème – a soothing 84% Aloe Vera daily crème naturally delivering deep, long-lasting moisturization and calms that irritated skin. Highly concentrated Aloe Vera Gel plus natural Sweet Almond Oil and Vitamin E instantly soothe dry, irritated, sun damaged or newly shaven skin. 113 g (4oz) £7.49

All products are available from jasonnaturalcare.co.uk and highly recommended.

Enhance your Experience at Adrián Hoteles Tenerife with their Online Shop

Adrián Hoteles has just launched a new online shop where you can pre-book lots of extras like spa treatments, bikes, birthday cakes and flowers. It’d make a great gift for  yourself or someone you know is staying at one of their three luxury hotels on Tenerife’s Costa Adeje.

Jardines de Nivaria, an oasis for all those seeking quality, service and relaxation

The 5* Hotel Jardines de Nivaria is a mixture of Art-deco and Spanish traditional style with a dome that shows the stars and constellations visible from the hotel during the spring equinox. The 5* Roca Nivaria Gran Hotel has 289 rooms – all of them with a terrace – one infinity edge pools with ocean views and a ‘mini club’ for children between 10 months and 12 years old.  Hotel Colón Guanahaní is an adults-only 4-star hotel located in Playa de Fañabé. Opened in 1990 and completely refurbished in 2014, the rooms are decorated in a colourful colonial style.

From the Your Welfare menu you can pre book  a Canarian aloe vera massage (70 Euros) and a top-to-toe Beauty Pack (130 Euros), plus the option to privately hire a pool-side Balinese bed for the day with drinks and snacks (45 Euros).

A massage Canarian Aloe Vera, known for its many healing and skin moisturising properties.

 

Smaller extras such as birthday cakes (12 Euros) and bouquets of flowers (31 Euros) are also available.

www.adrianhoteles.com/en/online-shop/<http://www.adrianhoteles.com/en/online-shop/.

Absolut, Punchdrunk and Somethin’ Else invite you to play Silverpoint

At the heart of the game Silverpoint is a mystery: the disappearance of Chloe. The only way to unlock her story is to play the app game.  The more you play, the more you discover, edging ever closer to the truth.

 

Silverpoint celebrates the nationwide launch of the Absolut Andy Warhol limited edition bottle, with a unique digital experiment.

The game will launch on iOS on 14^th April, in the iTunes App store unfolding over a two week period.

The game features some of Andy Warhol’s rarely seen blotted-line ‘Silverpoint’ drawings, a style he used early in his career to replicate a design. As players proceed through the casual ‘match three’ style game, they earn stars which opens up the mystery story about a woman named Chloe. As they delve deeper into her story, and into the game, they will discover all is not quite as it seems.

For more information about the Silverpoint experience, visit www.absolutsilverpoint.com

Andy Warhol Absolut Sketch

Absolut’s Andy Warhol Edition is available at supermarkets nationwide, RRP £18.79. A percentage of the proceeds will contribute to The Andy Warhol Foundation’s endowment from which it distributes grants supporting contemporary art. The Foundation is a non-profit, charitable organization recognized as among the leading funders of contemporary art.

Check it out here  timeout.com

 

Read more about Absolut’s contribution to art here

shinesquad.me/saatchi-art-absolut-vodka-studio-fund-new-sensations-artists

 

Chocolate Class with Bake With Maria

The challenge – to make those delicious tasting and good-looking soft-centred chocolates you buy for £18 for 10 pieces in places like Melt and Paul A Young. And we did it. It takes time and vigorous stirring but it can be done.

Here’s how – decorate a polycarbonate mould with some coloured white chocolate, pour in some tempered dark chocolate to coat the mould, pipe in some creamy milk chocolate ganache, seal it with more chocolate and let it cool. Give the tray a good bang and out pops these amazing chocolates.

Okay, not quite the finesse of a master chocolatier but we made these ourselves at a class with our fabulous teacher Annamarie Jones at a class in the Bake With Maria lab in London.

If we can do it, any one can. Alan Greenhalgh reports..

ta-da! learn how to make chocolates at Bake With Maria

 

 Decorating the moulds with coloured white chocolate

Moulds and Colours for Chocolate

Coating, filling and sealing the chocolates

Annamarie Jones shows us how to make chocolate at Bake With Maria.

For the decoration you will need some liquid white cocoa butter colour mixed with powdered colours which you can then flick or finger swirl into the mould.

Flick or finger paint before coating the mould with tempered dark chocolate

After the decoration has dried, pour in “tempered” chocolate to coat the mould before draining away the excess for use later in sealing the base.

Coating the mould with tempered dark chocolate

Tempering is the process of stabilising the chocolate so you don’t get bloom – those whitish streaks, but you do get an incredible shine and a loud snap when you break it! Home tempering is done by taking two bowls of chopped chocolate pieces, one you will use to melt the chocolate over water in a saucepan on the hob, the other bowl you will add gradually to the hot melted chocolate to bring the temperature down – and thereby stabilising it.

To begin, always start off with at least 250g of melting chips or chopped chocolate. Once chocolate is melted and heated to the appropriate temperature, “seed” the chocolate by adding roughly 1/3 more unmelted chocolate. Allow the seeded chocolate to blend in and stabilise at its appropriate seeding temperature. Finally, reheat the chocolate ever so slightly until its appropriate temperature is reached.

Melt dark chocolate at 53-58C before “seeding” at 28-29C and reheating for use at 31-32C. Milk chocolate melt at 45-50C, seed at 26-27C and reheat to 28C. Use a thermometer – we tried out a state-of-art infra-red one.

Once you’ve coated the mould, pipe in this filling of

Milk Chocolate Vanilla Ganache

Ingredients

150 ml whipping cream

25g glucose

Vanilla bean, seeds scraped from the pod or 7g vanilla powder – we hear Ugandan is best!

300 g milk chocolate (chopped)

20 g Butter

Method

Combine the cream and glucose in a saucepan, along with the scraped vanilla seeds and even the pod. Bring to a boil. Remove the vanilla pod from the cream. Pour the hot cream mixture over the bowl of chopped milk chocolate and allow to stand for 60 seconds. Using a spatula or whisk, stir the mixture in small vigorous circles from the centre of the bowl gradually working outwards until the mixture emulsifies, blends, into a smooth glossy liquid. The less air in the mix the better.

If necessary place the ganache over a warm water bath, not exceeding 34C, to melt any pieces of chocolate.

Stir the butter in taking care there are no lumps left.

Pour the ganache into a shallow metal baking tray. Spread a thin layer and cover the surface directly with clingfilm. Refrigerate until cool and is of thick but spreadable consistency – for about half an hour. Alternatively the ganache can be left, covered, and cooled at room temperature, and ready to be used at a maximum temperature of 25C.

When the moulds have been painted and coated with tempered chocolate, then pipe in the ganache before sealing with more tempered chocolate and scraping off the excess.

There you have the finished chocolates. Delicious!

home made ganache-filled dark chocolates

 

We used Belcolade Belgian chocolate and colours from HB Ingredients and moulds from the Home Chocolate Factory.

To book classes at Bake With Maria click here:

Chocolate Desserts 

Introduction to Chocolate Making

or check out all kinds of wonderful baking and cookery classes on the calendar 

Highly recommended.

My lovely class and teacher!

 

 Read more about Bake With Maria here.