Volunteer: Tempest

Rained during the induction however it ultimately turned into a fair night. Sound is still not perfect although much improved on the first two nights.

Film Review: Yalghaar

This movie feel more like a advert for the Pakistanian army rather than a straight story. Its full of nationistic pride, and long lingering death scenes which allow praise country and Allah. Only saving grace is that some of the combat scenes create tension through their heavy use of tracer rounds. Shaan Shahid, Humayun Saeed, Adnan Siddiqui Dir: Hassan Rana "One Nation, One Army, One War " Genre: Action, War

Film Review: Baby Driver

Great action movie with great characterisation from everyone involved. Twists and turns add to the drama. Ansel Elgort, Jon Bernthal, Jon Hamm Dir: Edgar Wright "All you need is one killer track." Genre: Action, Comedy

Film Review: The Book Of Henry

Maybe not for everyone but I enjoy films with super-smart kids which outplay adults, and this has this in bucket loads. Henry (Jaeden Lieberher) is very likeable as the genius who will fix everything. Naomi Watts, Jaeden Lieberher, Jacob Tremblay Dir: Colin Trevorrow "Never leave things undone." Genre: Drama

Film Review: Churchill

This film focuses (too?) heavily on Churchill in the few days preceeding the D-Day landings. Churchill (Brian Cox) struggles with his Great War demons, and the upcoming certain death of many soldiers. Brian Cox is excellent in this role. Brian Cox, Miranda Richardson, John Slattery Dir: Jonathan Teplitzky Genre: Drama

Film Review: The Mummy

Reasonable action flick which ticks Tom Cruise's normal Mission Impossible boxes. Story is shallow and the character chemistry is a little lacking. Tom Cruise, Sofia Boutella, Annabelle Wallis Dir: Alex Kurtzman "Welcome to a New World of Gods and Monsters" Genre: Action

Film Review: Hampstead

Enjoyable love story, where James Nortan (Philip) carries the film with his grumpy attitudes. Diane Keaton is okay, but all the other actors are weak and you just want to slap them. James Norton, Diane Keaton, Brendan Gleeson Dir: Joel Hopkins Genre: Drama, Romance

Event: Chilli Challenge

Hot on the heels of my food eating challenge with Scott, Mark throws down the gauntlet for a Hot Wings Challenge. He’s apparently found a super-hot chilli recipe and wants to give it a go. Of course, I’m game and look forward to our next family get together.

The way Mark tells it, the recipe asked for certain chilli variants however it wasn’t possible to buy them in Tesco so instead he substituted with the strongest he could source. He wasn’t sure on the final strength but brewed them up anyway to make his potent sauce.

As you probably know, chilli’s strength is measured in Scovilles (SHU), and commentators generally use the Jalapeño as the base of all comparisons. Kinda like swimming pools for volume, and trips to the moon for distance. Anyway a medium Jalapeño comes in about 10,000 SHU. Just one of these is normally enough burn for a family. The official Guinness World record for the strongest chilli is the artificially engineered Carolina Reaper. This bad boy comes in at a whopping 2,200,200 SHU, some 220 times stronger.

Admittedly without realising its strength, Mark decides to include the Carolina Reaper in his concoction of pain. But not happy with just one, two, or three he adds four of these ugly monsters. The fact that he included a two bags of Red Chillies, two bags of Bird Eye Chillies (about 200,000 SKU), two tablespoons of Cayenne Chilli Pepper and a bottle of hot chilli sauce seems somewhat irrelevant. His sauce is a killer.

After a day in the chilli potion, the chicken wings (8 each plus some spare) are fried and the cooked sauce poured over them. It is ready.

Mark and I start the challenge and quickly finish the first wing. About half way through the 2nd one the taste starts to come through, and by the 4th it is burning. The eating rate drops to a snail’s pace as we contend with the burn under the tongue and on the bottom lip. Sauce is all over our hands, face and fingers but it is the month that is biting.

We battle on until the 8 wings are clean then sit back for the 5 minute wait time. It’s a long 5 minutes but surprisingly as we near the end of the time the pain has already started to subside to ‘bearable’. On the buzz, we grab our glasses of milk and extinguish the worst of the pain. It’s a full 30 minutes before our mouth eventually returns to normal. Challenge complete!

I’ve heard of some strong chilli sauces having a very unpleasant flavour because of secondary chemicals in these hot chillis, however Mark’s chilli sauce was actually very tasty. I would however suggest that tiny bit on a teaspoon would be enough for a normal family chilli opposed our over indulgence. Thanks Mark.

Event: London Monopoly Challenge

As kids, we’ve all spend endless hours moving the Boot and the Iron around London’s famous streets. Pall Mall, Fleet Street and Mayfair were first introduced to us as places with scary hotels. Monopoly did for London what Risk did for world geography (Kamchatka anyone?)

Despite years of living and travelling in London, I couldn’t place some of the squares on the Monopoly board, so it was with some delight that I heard about the Monopoly Challenge. There are several variants of the challenge, many using alcohol, however I like the idea of walking every location in a single day. People reported it to be about 13 miles, so it sounded like something the family could tackle, and it wasn’t long before I had convinced Sue, Heather and Adam to join me. Only Heather was keen to walk every step, and Sue/Adam would use public transport between a few of the long walk sections.

So weather was perfect, and with the car parked in Acton (we booked someone’s driveway and paid online just £7 for the whole day), we travelled by tube to Elephant & Castle and finally walked a mile to Old Kent Road. We had left my Mum’s at 7am and only at 10:30 did we actually start the walk.

It was an interesting day, as we weaved back and forward across London looking for each of the locations. Finding locations to represent the non-street locations was particularly fun. Free Park involved buying some chocolate in Lidl so giving us Free Parking for 2 hours. Chance was to bet on a horse called “Give It A Chance”, which we lost. Community Chest was to give money to every beggar we passed during the day (surprisingly we only found 16 people begging, which we helped with £2 each). Water Works was a fountain in Leicester Square. Electricity Company was a street junction box at Marble Arch.

By the end, Fleet Street, we were all very tired and hungry. My Garmin tracker showed that the actually distance walked was 23.5 miles and took 11 hours 59 minutes. With the walking at the start/end, this would mean we did about 26-27 miles in total. Although we had a few detours, to 221b Baker Street, platform 9¾ and my Soho office, I think others underestimated the distance. Ultimately a fun day, which was challenging without be too overwhelming.

Event: Visit Dr Who Experience

Generation after generation, every family has someone who is fanatical about the time travelling adventures of Dr Who. Many years ago I enjoyed a bit of Tom Baker but can’t really be bothered with the latest incarnations. Sue and Heather however are obsessived about each episode and can’t wait to sit down, lights out and lose an hour to the next improbable battle.

Since the Dr Who Experience first arrived in Swansea, my two household fans have pushed for us to visit the exhibition. The fact that the show will close at the end of the summer eventually put the pressure on to act now, and before long I had booked a day off work and we shot down the M50 to make our visit.

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much more than some dusty old costumes from episodes that I had never seen or had long forgotten. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised to find the BBC had put on a half decent exhibition. The first part, The Experience, was a dramatic visit to various settings (including the Tardis) with explosion, light effects and a little audience participation.

Once we had finally saved ourselves, the second part was more what I had been expecting. Lots of costumes from different eras. Displays of different daleks and cybermen through the years were particularly interesting. So even if you aren’t a die-hard fan, there is certainly something here to keep you entertained for a couple of hours.

Volunteer: Tempest Opening Night

The Tempest's opening night goes off very well. Somewhat cooler than the previous night but not too uncomfortable. I spent the morning reading the programme and now understand the story so tonight I actually followed the story.

Volunteer: Tempest Rehersal Night

Rehersal night at this year's Shakespearian event, Tempest, goes off very well. Its a lovely warm evening and proves very enjoyable sit and watch a great play. Even if I dont understand most of it. The final rehersal is only open to staff and friends so it effectively runs itself. If only it was always this easy.

Film Review: Gifted

Nice family film about a gifted girl who's father doesn't want to treat her any different, however everyone else wants to hot-house her. Chris Evans, Mckenna Grace, Lindsay Duncan Dir: Marc Webb Genre: Drama

Film Review: After the Storm

Interesting story of a father who's unable to get his act together, and risks not seeing his son again. One minute you feel sorry for him, the next you think he deserves his troubles. As in his life, you have little idea where the story is going. Hiroshi Abe, Yôko Maki, Satomi Kobayashi Dir: Hirokazu Koreeda Genre: Drama

Volunteer: Ironman Tee-Shirts

After yesterday’s hot work at Chasewater, I had a second session today at Shugborough Hall, Stafford. This time my job was to handout tee-shirts to every Iron Man finisher. As it was a little quiet at the beginning, I was temporarily allocated to Transition 2 (Bike to Run) to give the guys working this area a break. Standing in the full sun, this time about 30 degrees, I had soon sunk all my water. It was amazing to think that I was simply helping competitors hang their bikes on the rack and then point them in the right direction, and still I was sweating buckets. I did feel for them as they prepared for a half-marathon. T-shirts was very rewarding. Some competitors were obviously broken, and just providing a congratulations, a little light banter, bottle of water or two, and a tee-shirt gave many the little boast they needed. Again the team I was with loved a laugh and soon flew by. Again highly recommended.

Volunteer: Ironman Transition One

Today was Iron Man 70.3 triathlon’s check-in today at Chasewater, Brownhills. I had volunteered to help out at the swimming practice however it seems they already enough staff for this and I was reallocated to Transition 1 (Swim to Bike). The job was to inspect every bike and helmet being checked into the temporary compound. Given that most of the time we had 3 volunteers, and between us we checked in over 2000 bikes, I can confidently state that I know how to quickly check a bike’s brakes are working. It’s astonishing how many of these athletes don’t know how to adjust a bike helmet correctly, so a lot of my time was used adjusting straps and ensuring a good fit. In the roasting 29 degrees heat, I think we each drunk a few gallons of water. Being kept busy, and the fun banter between us, the time soon flew by. Highly recommended.

Film Review: Norman

Reasonable film following the story of Norman as he tries to scam his way up the New York social network. Richard Gere is the film's strongest feature and he shows off his acting prowess with easy. It was a pity that after the build up, the film's climax didn't throw a stronger punch. Richard Gere, Lior Ashkenazi, Michael Sheen Dir: Joseph Cedar "The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer" Genre: Drama

Film Review: The Shack

Over-long, lumbering piece which spells out Christian belief morals at a painstakingly slow pace. Everything is spelt out in such fine detail that even the village idiot could follow it. Sam Worthington, Octavia Spencer, Tim McGraw Dir: Stuart Hazeldine "You're never as alone as you think." Genre: Drama

Recipe: Turkey Curry

Left-over Christmas turkey in June? Getting ready for my birthday party we needed to make space in the freezer and some turkey needed to go.

This was a basic curry although I decided to switch out half the potatoes and replace with a butternut squash. The swap worked well and gave the palate more variety of textures.

I used the curry paste I had just made, and although I expected it to be mild I think it was a little too mild for my liking. Tasted more like a stew than a curry.

Recipe: Curry Paste

I spotted a turkey curry recipe which included curry paste as one of its ingredients. Instead of buying it, I decided to follow Jamie Oliver, and created my own.

Given the kids don't like too much spice, I thought I would start with his Korma version.

All went well although I think a little extra oil is needed to turn the mixture into a smooth paste

Recipe: Strawberry Jam

Following fast on the heels of the raspberry jam, here's is my attempt of the strawberry.

Using the same recipe, I boiled up the strawberries, sugar and lemon and waited for it to firm up. This time it seemed to take longer than with raspberries however we got there in the end. Although still very tasty, the final jam is a little firm and I guess that I just left it a bit too long.

Volunteer: Ironman Induction

A few months ago I spotted that the Ironman event was returning to Stafford, and decided to see whether I could be part of it. As a competitor, my swimming isn't good enough so I investigated volunteering. Tonight was my induction event at Shugborough Hall. I have offered to support 3 events: Practice swim at Chasewater (Sat AM) Event ready at Chasewater (Sat PM) T-shirt handout at Shugborough (Sunday) I now have my goody bag containing two T-shirts, water, a programme, ID badge, a snack and a Pot Noddle. More Pot Noodles to come. Yummy. ;)

Film Review: 29 + 1

Well adapted from a one woman play, this is a beautifully crafted story of 2 woman coming up to the age of 30. How each of them tactical this milestone, and the comparison between the approaches, is the main focus of the story. Acting is great, and with the solid script (even if its sub-titled) this never disappoints. Chrissie Chau, Joyce Cheng, Babyjohn Choi Dir: Kearen Pang Genre: Drama

Film Review: My Cousin Rachel

Period drama where they keep the audience in the dark about the true goings on. Don't think the end works as well as it should do, so left me somewhat disappointed. Rachel Weisz, Sam Claflin, Iain Glen Dir: Roger Michell Genre: Drama