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| Plus, Christmas gift inspiration, local charities to support this winter & turkey alternatives |
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A specially curated guide to help you enjoy the next 48 hours in Bristol
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BEAUTY MUST-HAVES | ELEGANT STYLE
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Hourglass Foundation Stick
A foundation stick with the coverage of a concealer, the Hourglass Vanish Seamless Foundation, £45, is designed to provide long-lasting full coverage with minimum product, the fluidity of a liquid, the weightlessness of a powder, and a waterproof formula.
Tom Ford Lipstick
Velvet. Matte. Long-wearing. The Tom Ford Colour Matte Lipstick, £40, offers sophisticated, unadulterated colour. Formulated to create a luxury matte finish, the richly pigmented hues play a starring role in great party looks and can be relied on to last through the night.
Both products can be purchased online and in-store at Harvey Nichols
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LUXURY GIFTS | A GLASS OF BARCELONA'S FINEST
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Cava to indulge in
Fill the bath, grab a good book, light a candle and pour a glass of organic cava. Sounds like an impeccable evening.
This Christmas gift pack from Vilarnau is a perfect present. Contained within the beautifully designed presentation box are two bottles of vegan-friendly organic cava – one Brut Reserva and one Brut Reserva Rosé Delicat – and also a decorative candle inspired by Gaudi's famous mosaics. Recreate a relaxing minibreak-in-Barcelona mood for the senses and the soul, without leaving the comfort of home. Established in 1949, Vilarnau is a boutique and modern cava producer with a touch of the Barcelonian avant-garde about it. £37.
harveynichols.com
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MAKING THE NEWS | GLOBAL RECOGNITION
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| Silverback Films acquired by international group |
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Bristol-based production company Silverback Films – the brains behind David Attenborough's most recent documentary David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet, has been acquired by international television, film and digital production and distribution group All3Media.
Silverback Films, founded in 2012 by Alastair Fothergill and Keith Scholey, has also been commissioned by the BBC to produce a five-part series supporting the launch of The Earthshot Prize – the most prestigious environmental prize in history and the brainchild of Prince William and The Royal Foundation.
Enjoy a nine minute read here
Image: Silverback Films co-founder Keith Scholey
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EXCLUSIVE FEATURE | BILL BAILEY
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The West Country comedian, musician and actor impressing on 2020’s Strictly Come Dancing also has a new book out. From paddle-boarding down the Thames in a Santa hat to wild swimming in a glacial river, Bill ruminates on the exhilaration of the outdoors, as well as quieter pleasures. We’ve got our hands on the dancing chapter...
Enjoy a four minute read here
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DECEMBER ISSUE | OUT AND ABOUT & LOOKING GOOD
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| IN PRINT & ONLINE |
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As always, there are so many great reads by our team of wonderful writers and contributors as well as beautifully presented advertising by Bristol's best businesses. We hope you'll enjoy the read.
Every month 15,000 copies are delivered door to door in selected residential areas, and you can pick up a copy at many places around town including our floor stands at John Lewis (Cribbs Causeway), House of Fraser, Harvey Nichols and at Waitrose stores where we top up regularly.
Alternatively, you can read it online here
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COUNTING DOWN TO CHRISTMAS | TAKE FOUR
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The most magnificent memorable gift
Nobody is going to forget the day they received this magnificent three-litre bottle of Super Tuscan red wine from Carpineto – all for just £55.
Dogajolo combines the power and deep flavours of a young wine, with the elegance and balance from the oak ageing. Full bodied, yet soft on the palate with fruity cherry notes interlaced with coffee, vanilla and spice, this is complex and well-developed. 2017 is a unique vintage due to the severe drought that affected the vineyards, which resulted in significantly reduced yields and a limited production.
dbmwines.co.uk
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Vina Loca's Xmas Tipple Box
Vina Loca's Xmas tipple box is a mixed box of top quality premium wines suited for the festive dinners ahead. Celebrate with Prosecco and top-class South African Cap Classique, and enjoy well made wines with a luscious port to finish things off. This is Vina Loca's best Christmas deal this year; a great-value buy and saving for such top quality wines. Free delivery to the Bristol and Bath areas. Price: £59 for six bottles; £115 for 12 bottles.
vinaloca.co.uk
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| QWERTY Beer Box |
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The QWERTY beer box includes eight Cotswolds Craft Beers selected for their incredible taste – five pale ales, one unfiltered lager, one bitter and one golden age. It's the ideal gift for a beer enthusiast or first timer – include a note if you wish. Price: £36.
qwertybeerbox.co.uk
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| Home wine tasting kit |
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Combine your love of films and wine with these home wine-tasting sets, for groups of two to four and six to eight. Each set comes with a selection of wines, full instructions, plus tasting guides, scorecards, film trivia and wine notes. Price: £35/£55/£97.
bristolfilmfestival.com/shop
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WEEKEND FOOD | TURKEY ALTERNATIVES
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| Whole roast salmon (GF) |
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Preheat the oven to 180c/gas mark 4.
Chop a mixture of prepared vegetables (sweet potatoes, parsnips and red and yellow peppers all work well) into similarly-sized chunks.
Drizzle 2 tbsp olive oil across the bottom of a large baking tray, tumble the vegetables in the oil and season well.
Make 4 slashes on one side of a 2.5kg (approx.) whole, gutted, scaled salmon.
Combine 1 handful of of freshly chopped dill with 2 handfuls of freshly-chopped flat-leaf parsley, the zest of 2 lemons and 1 tbsp olive oil.
Rub half of the herb/lemon mixture into the cavity of the fish with a couple of slices of the zested lemons.
Place the fish on top of the vegetables and distribute the remaining lemon/herb mixture along the top, pushing it it gently into the slits.
Season again before roasting, uncovered, for 45 minutes until the fish is just starting to flake.
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| Roast duck |
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To release the fat under the skin for a crispy result: pierce the entire skin of 1 whole duck with a skewer.
Place it in a rack in the kitchen sink and pour 2 full kettles of boiling water all over it.
Pat dry with kitchen paper, put on a large plate and refrigerate for 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 200c/gas mark 6.
Place the duck on a rack over a deep roasting tin (the duck will release a lot of fat into the tin), salt the skin well and roast according to weight, generally around 2 hours for an average 2kg duck. But when cooked, don't discard all that fat!
Strain well and use it to make the best roast potatoes ever. Duck fat is also great for searing meat, poultry and certain types of fish, deep-frying chicken, croquettes and french fries... and even for making deeply savoury popcorn.
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| Herby lentil bake (V) |
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Preheat the oven to 190c/gas mark 5.
Grease a 500g loaf tin and line with greaseproof paper.
Simmer 200g red lentils with 400ml vegetable stock until the stock has been absorbed and the lentils are soft.
Strain into a sieve and put to one side.
Sauté 1 finely chopped onion and 1 diced red pepper in a little olive oil until translucent, adding 1 clove crushed garlic and 1 scant tsp each of dried oregano, thyme and sage for the final minute or so.
Tip the lentils into a large bowl and combine with the sautéed onion/pepper mix, 1 beaten egg and 1 handful grated cheddar cheese.
Season well, pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for around 40-50 minutes, until golden brown and firm to the touch.
Allow to stand in tin for 5 minutes before turning out.
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| Stuffed peppers (VG/GF options) |
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Preheat the oven to 200c/gas mark 6.
Halve and deseed a mixture of large red and yellow peppers, allowing for two pepper halves per serving.
Make one quantity of couscous (allowing approximately 80g dried cous cous per serving) according packet instructions; meanwhile, sauté diced onions, crushed garlic and dried herbs of your choice (oregano and thyme both work well here) until fragrant.
Substitute the couscous for quinoa or basmati rice to create a gluten-free dish; add cranberries and pomegranate seeds for a festive spin; add toasted pine nuts or flaked almonds for a nutty crunch; add black olives, sundried tomatoes and fresh basil in place of the dried herbs for a taste of mediterranean sunshine; add a vegan cheese or yoghurt alternative for a creamy finish.
Stuff the pepper halves with the stuffing and bake for 20 minutes or until the peppers are soft and sweet but still holding their shape.
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OBJECT OF INTEREST | DESIGNS BY CHOPARD
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Le Petit-Fils de L.-U. Chopard & Cie S.A., more commonly known as Chopard, is a Swiss manufacturer and retailer of luxury watches, jewellery and fine accessories.
Founded in 1860 by the 24-year-old Louis-Ulysse Chopard, the son of a farmer in Sonvilier, Switzerland, Chopard's innovative designs helped him gain a reputation by making watches for 19th-century nobility such as the court of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. The precision and reliability made his pieces highly sought-after, and remain the foundation of the business today. Louis-Ulysse Chopard has been owned by the Scheufele family of Germany since 1963 and the brand is one of the most respected houses of desirable luxury items across the globe.
As well as an excellent range of ladies' and gentlemen's watches, here are just two of Chopard's most popular pieces.
Chopard classic black acetate polarised sunglasses; £305
Chopard Ice Cube Lady black quilted calfskin leather handbag; £1,610
Discover more at Mallory: mallory-jewellers.com
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LOCAL CHARITY | CHRISTMAS DONATIONS
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A Christmas gift for Bristol families
Barton Hill-based theatre company and children's charity Travelling Light has created an illustrated storybook to distribute to children and families this Christmas as a free gift.
They have teamed up with designer Edwina Bridgeman to create a special book, inspired by their winter show, Igloo, a co-production with Bristol Old Vic. The original show is wordless, and this book also tells the magical story through illustrated pictures, with no words.
They have launched a fundraising campaign to help raise the funds needed to print enough to enable hundreds, even thousands, of children to enjoy a magical seasonal story this Christmas and to say thank you to the early years settings and key workers who have contributed so much during this difficult time.
To find out more about this campaign and to donate, visit: travellinglighttheatre.org.uk
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CHRISTMAS CAMPAIGN | INDIE SHOP SHOUT-OUTS
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| Say thank you to #BristolsBest |
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Has someone really stood by you this year? What about a client or customer who has been amazing? Or a friend who has helped you carry on smiling?
Yours.Sincerely, are running a pre-Christmas campaign called #BristolsBest to shout about the businesses and people that have been there for us this year.
The idea is that people take a few seconds to thank a Bristol-based business or person on social for something they've done this year, and Yours.Sincerely will send out random little gifts (from Bristol independent businesses) to the business you love.
Use the hashtag #BristolsBest and tag Yours.Sincerely into your post.
yourssincerely.online
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CHRISTMAS LIGHTS | GET INTO THE FESTIVE SPIRIT
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Bristol ADVENTures bring Bristol Together at Christmas
If you head to the city centre this Christmas, you're in for a bit of a surprise… If you can ever really be surprised in a city as wonderful and creative as Bristol, that is.
Bristol ADVENTures, a new arts project spearheaded by Bristol City Centre BID, is lighting up a new building each day with a selection of the jolliest and iconic Christmas lyrics, with a trail of 24 locations to be completed by Christmas Eve.
The project is part of the #BristolTogether collaboration which brought thousands of people to the socially distanced 'Hearts in Parks' this summer. For this initiative over 100 businesses have come together to make a little bit of magic happen for the city. Expect some glowing building frontages, some messaging under your feet and plenty of surprises emerging across the city centre.
Twitter: @BrisCentreBID
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ON THE BOOKSHELF | ADVENTURE STORIES
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| Written by Lu Fraser and illustrated by Kate Hindley |
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| The Littlest Yak |
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"On the tip of the top of a mountain all snowy, where the ice-swirling, toe-curling blizzards were blowy, in a herd full of huddling yaks, big and small, lived Gertie . . .the littlest yak of them all." So begins this winning wintry tale that is perfect for fans of Rachel Bright and Julia Donaldson. The Littlest Yak by debut author Lu Fraser is a joyous, rhyming adventure about Gertie who is feeling stuck in her smallness. She wants to grow UP and have bigness and tallness! It turns out that there are some things that only Gertie can do and she comes to see that she's perfect just the way she is. The witty art and characterful creatures by local illustrator Kate Hindley make this a rollicking and heartwarming tale. The whole book has the feel of a story perfect for the colder season now upon us.
Simon & Schuster, £6.99
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| By Chris Riddell |
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| Alice's Adventures in Wonderland |
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Another classic gift for Christmas is Chris Riddell's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, a brilliant full-colour illustrated edition. Lewis Carroll's story is more than 150 years old, but the drawings are brand new and quite stunning. Every page has something to look at – from the map of Wonderland at the beginning to the amazingly detailed and amusing depictations of favourite characters such as Alice herself, White Rabbit, Cheshire-Cat, the Mad Hatter and Queen of Hearts. We famously follow Alice down the rabbit hole to a world full of crazy creatures, magic... and danger. Decapitation-crazed queens must be avoided at all costs! It's a very readable story for young people – a bit mad, but still great after all these years.
Macmillan, £25
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ON THE BOX | THE GOLDEN AGE
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The Golden Age is reevaluated through the eyes of alcoholic screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz (Gary Oldman), racing to finish Citizen Kane (1941). Mank is steeped in glamour and sleaze, corruption and glory. Filmed entirely in black and white, the atmospheric cinematography makes this film ever-more enticing.
Directed by David Fincher and written by his father Jack in the 1990s, David originally intended to film it after he completed The Game (1997), with Kevin Spacey and Jodie Foster as the leads. It never came to fruition, and Jack died in 2003. The film was picked back up again in 2019 and Hollywood legend Gary Oldman takes on the title role.
Released in cinemas in November but out on Netflix today, the film stars big Hollywood names including Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins and Arliss Howard. Mank is not one to miss this weekend.
Watch it on Netflix on here
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Bethelehem Cultural Festival; 3–7 December; online
Bethlehem Cultural Festival is a new virtual festival offering the world a chance to come together and experience Bethlehem’s rich seam of artistic and cultural talent. Viewers can ‘walk’ around the streets of the not-so-little town of Bethlehem in Palestine, and music, film, dance, cookery and panel discussion will feature both world-renowned and up-and coming performers and film-makers. Viewers will also be able to join Palestinians in celebrating the ‘real time’ lighting of the Christmas tree in Manger Square.
bethlehemculturalfestival.com
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Bristol Palestine Film Festival; 4–13 December; online
Bristol Palestine Film Festival is celebrating its 10th anniversary this month. Moving its screens online, the festival will be showing a great selection of short films over 10 days to celebrate the decade. Running from 4 – 13 December, the films will be free to watch but a £10 donation would help support the festival. BPFF is set to be packed full of inspiring cinema, reflecting life in Palestine. To mark the milestone, Palestinian artist Taqi Spateen, who is based in Bethlehem, created a mural to go up in Jamaica Street. Although Taqi was unable to paint it himself due to the current travel restrictions, a group of local artists and volunteers finished the piece.
bristolpff.org.uk
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Jess Glynne announces Forest Live dates for 2021
Jess Glynne has announced that she will play Forest Live, the summer concert series presented by Forestry England.
Through her debut album, I Cry When I Laugh (1.2 million album sales and counting) and platinum selling follow-up Always in Between, Jess Glynne has become established as one of the most successful acts of the past decade and holds the record for most number-one singles (seven) scored by a British female solo artist.
Forest Live is a major outdoor live music series and over 1.9 million people have attended a Forest Live gig in the last 20 years. Going to a concert helps Forestry England create beautiful places for people to enjoy, run important conservation projects and keep growing trees. Every year they plant some eight million trees sustainably, caring for the nation’s 1,500 woods and forests and welcoming 230 million visits annually.
forestryengland.uk
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| The Easy Squeeze Love Seat from Loaf |
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Surrender to life in the slow lane and relax in this deep, wide, British-made love seat. Big enough to snuggle down - with or without - your favourite human or non-human companion.
Shown here: Easy Squeeze Love Seat in grey daybreak clever laundered linen; £995.
Visit the Loaf store at Cribbs Causeway or view the Love Seat range online at: loaf.com
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PROPERTY OF THE WEEK | NEW ON THE MARKET
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| Priors Close, Kingsdown, BS2 8ET |
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A rare opportunity to acquire an outstanding architect designed family home located in the Kingsdown/Cotham area with breathtaking views over the city below. The versatile interior is set over three floors offering on the ground level an extensive kitchen/living space with twin doors opening out to the south facing rear walled garden. In addition there is a utility room, cloakroom and storage cupboards. The spacious entrance hall offers fitted storage cupboards and opens through to the main hall and staircase which leads to the upper and ground floors.
There is a shower/wet room and two double bedrooms one with a walk in wardrobe and both enjoying views over the city.
The upper floor offers a landing with access to the roof terrace, shower room and a superb master bedroom with commanding views over the city and doors leading out to the very private roof terrace.
The house is offered with allocated parking and a beautiful south facing walled garden to the rear. The house forms part of this exclusive development which is ideally situated close the heart of the city. The city’s main shopping quarter including Cabot Circus and all the central amenities are situated only a short distance away.
An excellent opportunity to live in a beautifully designed home offering superb views over the city. Offered with no onward chain. OIEO £825,000.
For more information about the property visit Howard Homes website: howard-homes.co.uk
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