Before this gig when I told people I was seeing Steps I was met by laughs, jeers and just basic disbelief.
Thing is a lot of their songs remind me of when I was younger and at school as they rose to fame in the late 90s when I was in my early teens.
My sister was a massive fan and so was my gig friend.
I will admit I was excited about this gig and when I saw our seats I was quite happy, we were at the front of a block on the side and had a great view.
The band had two support acts Shock Lady who was poor, just singing covers but she had an MC Mr Smith with her who was excellent.
Then there was another woman, I can't remember her name she was foreign and mimed...plain awful!
Anyway the crowd weren't here for them, they were here for Steps, and when they played a montage of the 'good' old days the crowd went crazy, well if you have seen the Living show you will know they all hated each other.
Then they came on through tubes to Here and Now and the O2 went mental.
I will admit though that I was surprised how many gay guys there were, I knew Steps were camp but I didn't realise just how large their gay audience was.
The band played all the hits complete with dance moves, my sister didn't realise they had so many, I on the other hand could remember the moves for One for Sorrow, Better Best Forgotton and Deeper Shade of Blue.
I have never been to a gig with such an electric atmosphere with everyone dancing, when the band performed Tragedy it was great to see everyones hands in the air dancing the dance moves.
Each of the singers also had a go at a solo performance., I'm sorry but Lisa mimed, her mouth kept moving but no sound came out. Faye's was very camp but fantastic, and Lee's was excellent, I never realised what a great voice he had. Of course Claire just blew everyone away with her superb voice.
We did have a laugh and my sister really enjoyed her second gig ever, although we found out that they were filming it for the Living show I just hope we aren't on there dancing like crazy people.
Steps were just fantastic, cheesy and a whole lot of dancing and laughs.
Ok so they may not be the coolest band I have seen but they were funny and it felt like a girls night out. I just hope the Living show doesn't show them at each others throats.
Set List
* Here and Now
* You'll be Sorry
* Deeper Shade of Blue
* Last Thing on My Mind
* Better Best Forgotton
* 5, 6, 7, 8
* Summer of Love
* Better the Devil you Know
* Lee solo - Moves Like Jagger & Rihanna's S&M
* Faye solo - One Night Only
* H solo - Don't Stop Believing
* Lisa solo - Heaven/Lately/Beautiful People (yes Lately Lisa's own song)
* Claire solo - I Surrender
* It's the Way You Make Me Feel
* Heartbeat
* When I said Goodbye
* One for Sorrow
Encore
* Stomp
* Chain Reaction
* Dancing Queen
* Tragedy
I had a week off this week and on my last day I decided to make some chocolate and orange cupcakes.
I used a recipe out of my Primrose bakery cook book.
You use fresh orange juice, orange zest and melted dark chocolate.
After zesting and jucing the orange by hand, my hands did look as if I was applying some sort of Essex style fake tan, I also got orange juice on my t-shirt the one time I decide not to wear my apron. So oranges can be tricky.
I was a little concerned at first as the mixture was like a mousse and I wasn't sure that it would be light enough for a sponge.
They took a bit longer than usual to cook about half an hour whereas usually they take about 15-20 minutes.
However, they came out really well. I personally couldn't taste the orange in them but other people have said they could and how nice they were.
The icing it just chocolate and I had some chopped milk chocolate left over from my failed macaroons so decided to use that on the top just to get rid of it really.
I would recommend these easy to make and a nice change from just chocolate.
After my exploits in Paris and tasting my first macaroon I knew I had some recipes and thought I would give it a go.
I chose the mint chocolate ones from my Great British Bake Off book, but as it was my first time I thought I would leave out the mint part and just do the macaroons and the cream filling.
I mixed all the ingredients for the main part and it looked ok, I piped it all out, put them in the oven.
Now the mixture seemed fine but I didn't realise they would get big so they weren't the same as the smaller ones in Paris.
I piped out about thirty or so which would of made 15, however, I know you should never blame your tools but my oven is shocking, it is either boiling hot or off no in between.
I knew I would have to keep an eye on them. When I thought they were done I pulled them out and left them to cool, however, I burnt the bottom of quite a few...and they were a bit larger than I was hoping.
So, rather then joining them I have left them as is, as to be honest I got fed up with making them so gave up. It took forever!
At least I have tried, and maybe I will try again another time. They are delicious though.
So here are my attempt...
Last night at two am I finally got back from a weekend in Paris.
Don't get me wrong I loved it, however, we only had three days in the City of Love but seemed to cram a lot in.
Me, Denis and his two friends left at 6am on Saturday arriving in Paris at 9am. The main reason we went to Paris was due to the boys taking part in the Paris marathon on the Sunday.
Saturday was spent getting the boys registered at the marathon expo and catching up on some much needed sleep.
We took the metro quite a few times and I will say it was really good. The map was a little confusing as at times the lines cross over. So a couple of times we got on the wrong line thinking we were going the right way.
The door were a little scary you open your by pulling a handle upwards. It flings back and makes a racket and they open it as the tube is still moving.
What is good is that the drivers can see down the platform so if they can see that no one has got off or on they carry on. It makes the journey go so quickly.
I have been to Paris a few times, with school doing a couple of touristy things, and then about six years ago my boyfriend took me for my birthday. Again we did some touristy things.
This time I did get to see the Eiffel tower, Notre Dame and the Arc de Triomphe, this time however, I came back as a bit of a foodie. The patisseries in Paris are full of colour and food. It is just a feast for the eyes. It does make you wonder how they keep so skinny. So many cakes, pastries and tarts, full of fruit and cream...
I tried a pan au chocolat, the pastry was buttery and crispy and the chocolate was bitter but melt in the mouth.
Another one of the delectable treats I decided to try were macaroons, something I have always wanted to try but never had the chance to so I thought 'When in Paris'. We had vanilla, pistachio, chocolate and strawberry.
They weren't really what I was expecting, they were crunchy with a soft centre with an almond filling and a cream centre - a delicious filling and only bite sized. They were heaven, small and perfect, I loved them.
On marathon day the boys set off at 8.45am so we had to be there for 8am, it was freezing but I will say I love watching marathons it may seem boring but you get caught up in the moment. I saw my boyfriend at 18 mile mark as well which was really good, getting to cheer him up.
He found it hard. This was his fourth marathon, his first in Paris, the other three were in Stockholm.
Now I haved watched the boys in the three other marathons in Stockholm. In comparison I found watching in Stockholm better then Paris. The atmosphere was just not there. In Stockholm the people of the city came out to celebrate, in Paris the shops were all shut and the only people watching seemed to be the ones who had people competing and once they saw their person they left.
Another thing the Stockholm marathon ends in the Olympic stadium so you get to see your person running through the stadium and after it is so much easier to find them after. I never got to see the boys finish, and it was hard after trying to find them.
I was a little disappointed and I know the boys were. My boyfriend said the two parks and lack of sights made it harder to run round.
We found out later as well that two of the French President candidates were holding rallys at the same time.
Nicolas Sarkozy at the Concorde and Francois Hollande in East Paris, we saw on the news they had a big turn out if this had an impact on the marathon crowds, especially as Paris is one of the big ones to do.
At the end of the weekend I fell in love with Paris, it isn't quite up there with Rome and New York but I can't wait to go back again and get to have a foodie experience.
Another weekend another opportunity to make some yummy (proper) cupcakes.
Again from Primrose Bakery I choose Peanut Butter Cupcakes.
Very, very rich but yummy! You start with smooth peanut butter, butter and dark brown sugar, straight off you can tell these are not going to be healthy.
But cupcakes now and again don't hurt and when they are this delicious where is the harm.
You mix that all then add the flour, baking power and vanilla essence, then mix it all up.
I will admit it does look like a massive bowl full of peanut butter.
Leave to cook, in the book they suggest chocolate icing with peanut butter drops. Instead I chose to mix the smooth peanut butter and the chocolate icing together. Then added white and milk chocolate curls.
Delicious!
Pre-icing:
I'm not sure if I have created a trend or joined an already fashionable one.
So the other day I was about to paint my nails and had my five favourite pastel Barry M nail polishes infront of me:
* Blue Moon
* Peach Melba
* Strawberry Ice Cream
* Mint Green
* Berry Ice Cream
I was wondering, pondering what ones to use and then it dawned on me, why I don't just use them all in a Spring pastel fusion. For once being indecisive actually came off.
I think it looks really good and not really noticeable at first due to the pastel colours. I'm not sure if the different colour trend is in fact a trend but now my sister is doing it so can't be all bad.
Barry M nail polish is fantastic, you get a lot for your money and they are usually on offer, I think in Boots at the moment make up is 3 for 2 so why not treat yourself, they are only £2.99 for the colours and £3.99 for the metallics and nail effects.
Check out Barry M's range here: http://www.barrym.com/nail-paints
Boots: http://www.boots.com/
