notes from the Nook Cafe...

Warm up at the Nook with these hot cocktails

nookcafe — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 12:14:53 +0000

The summer is disappearing faster that the speed of light, but fret not! We have a whole menu of cosy hot cocktails to keep you warm and snug.

The hot cocktail menu features:

Brandy Chai

Bailey’s Hot Chocolate

White Hot Chocolate with Kahlua

Blackforest Hot Chocolate with Rum

Get ‘em while they’re hot!

Andrew Collins at the Fishmarket!

nookcafe — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 13:28:28 +0000

Saturday 24 July welcome local boy Andrew collins back to Northampton with his first one-man show

SECRET DANCING

…And other urban survival techniques.

Northampton’s very own Andrew Collins – the woolly, liberal half of Collings & Herrin with Richard Herring and author of bestselling N’pton memoir Where Did It All Go Right? – makes his hometown stand-up debut with a full preview of his first solo Edinburgh Fringe show.

A genial ramble from A to B, in which he reveals his three birding ambitions, decodes Masterchef, apologises for living in Surrey for three years, attempts to solve the great Plax Mouthwash mystery and helps to weed out both terrorists and serial killers in the audience, the show revolves around a full demonstration of Secret Dancing, the art of dancing on public transport without anybody noticing. Volunteers may be required for a mass Secret Dance-off.

This is going to be busy – so book your tickets in advance!

Tickets £6 from www.wegottickets.com/event/86208
or from the Nook Cafe (Thu-Sat 10am-6pm cash only)
————————————————————————————————————
After the show why not stay for a group display of non-secret dancing (or disco)…

Some Gigs Are Better Than Others

A Night For those who appreciate the finer things.
Scrabble, Vinyl, Tea & Gin

We play Nico, Dears, New York Dolls, Joy Division, Cure, Belle & Sebastian, Pixies, Scott Walker, Jaques Brel, Nick Cave, Ben Folds, Freakzone Favourites and anything else deemed worthy.
And maybe a bit of Smiths. If you are good.

Got an interesting record you want to share? bring it along…

Entertainment this month at The Fishmarket

nookcafe — Mon, 17 May 2010 23:25:46 +0000

Goodness its been a while!

This week is jam-packed with entertainment at the Nook Cafe. On Thursday 20 May we are very pleased to present Eric’s Tales of the Sea – A Submariners Yarn

Eric has been receiving rave reviews all over the shop so get your tickets early for a truly magical evening of whimsical story-telling. Here’s what the press have said…

“A gifted raconteur, Eric has a story to tell, and he tells it superbly. In fact he doesn’t just tell us, he shows us too; with the aid of some astonishing visuals we get an insider’s view of the mysterious world beneath the waves in a Royal Navy Nuclear Submarine. Audiences will be transported to an underwater existence where edgy camaraderie, black humour, death and destruction are the closest of bedfellows…Truly Excellent” ***** (Fringereview.co.uk)

“Unique, riveting, funny and poignant, this superb comedy is not just another stand up show, but a cross between comedy and theatre…Deftly Emotional – a Quietly Wonderful Show” (The Times)

Tickets are £6 and are available online from wegottickets here or you can pop into the cafe Thursday daytime and swap real cash for some real hand-printed ones!

———————————————————————————————————————————————–

Then on Saturday 22 May at 8pm we host the welcome return of our favourite misanthrop in An Evening with Winston Echo the variety show/therapy session/ego trip starrring Winston Echo and friends.

Guests include MORGAN ORION from somewhere in the USA playing folk songs

also THE MIDDLE ONES from East Anglia playing folk songs, and there will be videos from ‘internet celebrities’ SOCRATES ADAMS-FLOROU and CHRIS KILLEN, and lastly but not leastly a reading of a NEW PLAY by CHRIS EAST and CRISPIN BEST

It will as always be deligtfully shambolic in places and an utter bargain at just £3 a ticket, either from me in the cafe or on the door.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————

Next week we have…

MONDAY 24 MAY6-9pm

Iron Cupcake #3 ‘Sci-Fi’ Cupcakes-as-art baking competition wheels out the edible glitter. If you want to bake please drop me a line, eaters tickets are £5 on the door and include free tea and coffee.

THURSDAY 27 MAY 8-11pm

Purple Monkey Comedy Club… Gerry Howell headlines with Henry Widdicombe and Clint Edwards supprting alongside our regular MC the wonderful James Acaster. Tickets are £4 / £5 on the door.

FRIDAY 28 MAY7pm

The Xcerts on tour Tickets £6 available online from wegottickets.com

‘Charged with youthful hope and exuberance, every riff and anthemic chorus points to a bright future for these talented lads.’ Kerrang! 4/5

Small Beautiful Things

nookcafe — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 00:21:42 +0000

A box of hen’s eggs – three brown three white with a perfectly placed wisp of feather, direct from Verity’s happy little chickens. They’ve just been whipped up into a batch of rasberry and vanilla cupcakes (recipe courtesy of Sara, reigning Iron Cupcake Queen) whilst listening to Adam & Joe. What else would one be doing at 1am…?

Party in the Gallery & Sunday on the Square

nookcafe — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 11:13:37 +0000

Well its been a busy few days, we launched Stephen Mattewson’s new gallery show ‘My Heart Spins on the Grill’ on Friday night… Friday afternoon was a flurry of activity, last minute touches to the show and a lot of food to prepare! I learned how to make Austrian potato salad by the ton from Dieter (the drummer from the Brain Manangerz – Stephen Matthewson’s band). Come 6pm we were all ready and I even had time to put my lippy on before the punters arrived. phew.

Dan from the Skulls and Robots shop was BBQ king for the evening and everyone enjoyed chicken and potato salad before the Brain Managerz fired up their amps and entertained us all.

And yesterday I had a lovely afternoon on Northampton Market Square for the first Sunday Art Market of the year…

Pitachio & Carrot Cupcakes & Millionaires Shortbread

My good friends Alex and Kate joined me to supply the browsers and sellers with tea and cupcakes (between bouts of dancing along to the delightful afternoon jazz and sampling of cakes – well we have to make sure they all taste good enough to sell!). Liz and Geri did their usual epic task of getting everyone on and off the square without anyone dying and we even had a spot of sunshine! We are all looking forward to the next one on the 2nd May, artists who fancy having a stall should contact Liz directly… Email lcarroll-wheat@northampton.gov.uk

Kate & Alex selling their wares at The Sunday Art Market

Now I’m off to rehearsals - ‘Dying for It’ is on next week at the Playhouse on Clare St. Its a really great script, very dark and funny and we are having a great time bringing it to the stage (complete with coffin, tuba and epic set-painting job). You can get tickets from The Masque Ticket Hotline (see the Masque link for details) or The Works costume shop on Adnitt Rd (Tue-Sat 10-6pm) or on the night – The Playhouse is a great little venue, if you have only ever wandered past the slightly austere front door and wondered what lay behind then I encourage you to come and have a look!

Moira Buffini's 'Dying For It' at The Playhouse 20-24 April 7.45pm

Marinades, Beautiful Bikes & Frou-frous…

nookcafe — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 00:21:45 +0000

Tomorrow will see the launch of the Fishmarket’s new gallery show, Mr Stephen Matthewson has been adding the finishing touches to his glorious ‘My Heart Spins on The Grill’ lo-fi narrative directly onto the gallery walls today. It looks awesome – I knew there was a reason I liked working in a gallery! Tomorrow (technically tonight as I am doing my usual midnight admin session) that is, Friday at 6pm we will be firing up the BBQ so you can sample some of Stephen’s homemade BBQ marinaded chicken wings for that truly immersive gallery experience!

Gallery 2 has an equally beautiful exhibition of modernist drawings from Mark Farhill, small and perfectly formed they will be accompanied by a specially commissioned publication.

Elsewhere in the leafy shop-lined suburbs of the fishmarket (ahem) you may chance upon a new bicycle / creation from the Monday Night Project group of Messrs Pollard, Brodie and Co.- the ‘ Skulls & Robots’ shop will be showing the glorious hand-built, hand-painted two wheeled beauty. Bicycle fetishists may be permitted to view and possibly even touch said objet d’art and if you ask VERY nicely you might even be permitted to buy it.

Further up the street two new shops are slowly emerging… watch this space for news on the newbies!

Meanwhile back in the cafe I have been baking like a woman possessed. There are Walnut Brownies, Date Flapjacks and Bannoffee Muffins on offer and if i can find some rasberries tomorrow that won’t bankrupt me I shall make Coconut & Rasberry FrouFros – just because I like the name and because I have some very sexy toasted coconut strips from daily bread just waiting for the right cake to come along…

Cupcake Queens, Comedy Kings and a lovely rest…

nookcafe — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 11:27:02 +0000

Well I’ve had a very lovely few days…

I’m just back from a weekend of sleeping, eating and drinking and very little else at my cousin’s wedding whilst my poor comrades in the Nook Cafe dealt with the Bicycle Basket Bazaar crowd (always our busiest weekend of the month!). If you’ve never been to a BBB it’s a great day to come and view the Fishmarket – full of people selling their home-made creations from their Bicycle Baskets! It’s always the last Saturday of the month and well worth a visit particularly if you have gifts to buy (nothing says I love you like a leopard-print chicken-shaped doorstop). If you would like to book a pitch at the next one on Saturday 24 April then pop in and see Lauren and Dan in the Skulls & Robots shop in the Fishmarket who will be happy to book you in!

Earlier in the week we hosted our first Iron Cupcake Challenge (on an Alice in Wonderland theme). Sara Langley was crowned this months Iron Cupcake Queen with her glorious ‘Curiouser Cupcakes’, rasberry and white chocolate creations dotted with tiny sugar fob watches and top hats. We had 38 different flavours to try and a room packed with punters all stuffing ourselves silly with tea and cake. For more piccies of all the winners please have a look at the Iron Cupake Blog Page…

Curiouser Cupcakes by Sara Langley

Thursday night was our first Purple Monkey Comedy Club of 2010! Our own rising star of stand-up James Acaster was back to host the night which featured the spiky observational stylings of Broderick Chow, the surreal and heart-breaking beauty of Darren Maskell and the sheer awesomeness of our headliner Mr Mike Wozniak. It was a great night and set’s us up marvelously for a summer packed with laughter (including a load of Edinburgh Fringe Preview shows in July!)

At the end of this week, all partied out we fell into our bed’s and dreamed beautiful dreams of mad bicycle-powered tea-parties with ladies in extravagant millinery, elaborately moustached boys and piles upon piles of the most decadent cupcakes – it’s a hard life…

First Contact.

nookcafe — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 23:15:00 +0000

Well hello there!

Welcome to my bit of the new Fishmarket website, where Josh, Sally and I will be keeping you up to date with what’s happening in our own corner of the Fishmarket universe. We have loads of events in the pipeline, the first of which is this Monday (22 March 6-9pm) when we host our first Iron Cupcake Event. Over 30 bakers will be expressing themselves via the medium of the cupcake to battle for a selection of awesome prizes – the theme is ‘Alice in Wonderland’ and if you would like to join in then drop me an email!

Next up is the Purple Monkey Comedy Club on Thursday 25th March – hosted by the rising comedy star James Acaster and with headliner Mike Wozniak (whose list of accolades is too many and various for me to list here) suffice to say he is pretty amazing and we are very lucky to have him in our little venue!

Tickets are available on wegottickets.com or come and see me in the cafe!

Keep an eye out for future events including An Evening with Winston Echo (poetry, films and music hosted by Northampton’s favourite misanthropic celebrity!) and the ever popular Bicycle Basket Bazaar on the last Saturday of the month.

This Weeks Nook Cafe Menu includes… Mushroom & Thyme Soup, Feta & Spinach Puffs and Homemade Cakes including Chocolate Ganache Easter nests and Fresh Cream & Strawberry Vanilla Sponges! All homemade and therefore only till they’re gone! …