Archive for the ‘events’ Category
W hotels: directing the fashion crowd
global glam
styling…
Listen up fashion followers and design junkies. As we’re in the throws of a global trend setting frenzy, with catwalks from New York to Moscow set ablaze with the latest designs and hottest new looks, we’re turning our heads to see what the innovative folk over at W Hotels are up to…
Any hotel brand bold enough to appoint their own stylist gets the nod from us, and recently they crowned their new Queen of style, Jenné Lombardo. The new first lady of fashion hails a pretty impressive CV with a unique approach bringing like-minded brands together something W consider right up their street. Her innovative creation of M.A.C. & Milk, connecting the renowned beauty brand with a raw space to create a unique platform for emerging designers during New York Fashion Week.
So what’s up her haute couture sleeve for W Hotels? The run-up to Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York City saw Lombardo beginning to identify the next group of designers for this season’s W Hotels Fashion Next program, a first initiative to hit the industry that fosters and supports emerging designers. With Lombardo at the helm, Fashion Next, will, for the first time in the program’s history, bring emerging fashion talent to a global audience. We can’t wait to find out more…
(1 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)
Loading ...mixing it up W style
Eclipse bar
drink it up…
As we welcome September in and bid farewell to the summer that, well, never was, we’re looking to the sleek and innovative folk over at W hotels as they shake things up for the autumn months. From September 1st step behind the Eclipse bar and enter a world that’ll delight the senses, as you embark on a mixology master class alongside the Eclipse Barcelona’s cocktail gurus.
Discover the secrets behind the world famous Watermelon Martini, W’s very own Venezuelan Mojito and the seductive Passion fruit Martini, trust us your Friday night cocktail parties will never be the same again.
Find out more about the W Hotels here
(3 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5) Loading ...big screens ahoy
floating cinema
on the canal…
Pop up, flip up, or simply just turn up. It seems that this craze has taken London by storm this summer, and don’t we just love it. With the addition of temporary restaurants, boutiques, and cinemas springing up over the capital, its the perfect chance to explore new hideouts and do something out of the ordinary.
For those with a penchant for the big screen with a watery twist then head down to London’s Olympic boroughs from the 1st of July till September. Climb aboard a converted canal boat for free entertainment as The Floating Cinema meanders its way through the waterways of our fair city.
check it out here for an night on the canals
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...happy canada days
cap bon ami
must be canada…
As a special treat to mark the occasion, we figured we’d skip downing shots of maple syrup and snowboarding at Whistler to instead let you in on a few Canada secrets that are sure to have you out on the streets celebrating this awesome country.
polar bears
What better secret to start with than one involving fluffy white polar bears? We at Black Tomato were all sold at this point, but if you need a harder sell than that, does it help to know that we can arrange to have you flown in your private plane to a special wilderness lodge in the sub-arctic Manitoban prairie lands where friendly and docile polar bears and their cubs lounge away the days in front of your very eyes? We thought that would do it.
Even if you’re more city-styler than sub-arctic explorer, we’ve got a Canada secret for you too. Quebéc’s streets are a culture hot-bed, with Montréal and Québec City hosting hundreds of festivals throughout the year, including the world’s biggest comedy and music festivals, not to mention the Red Bull Crashed Ice event; a hair-raising, bone-crunching, spleen-bursting downhill ice race through Quebéc’s streets. Don’t forget your insurance.
That said, Québec can still bring the 18th century explorer in you out, with a trip to Québec’s wild plains to see herds of gallivanting caribou, followed by whale spotting and a spot of air time soaring over the mighty Saguenay fjord.
No need to thank us, have a Happy Canada Day!
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...an epic chat with charley boorman
Charley with his bike
on your bike…
Our brother website Epic Tomato caught up with actor and motorbike adventurer Charley Boorman just days before his latest expedition to Canada to find out what inspires him and what he hopes to learn from his upcoming journey…
And if you fancy a Canadian motorbike escapade of your own, live out your wildest Harley dreams in Québec. Click here to find out more…
What inspired you to go on these adventures, to travel and see as much as you have seen?
I think it was my Dad; he was a film director (producing works such as Deliverance and Point Blank) and would shoot all over the world from the South Pacific to South Carolina and Brazil. As a child I went everywhere with him and was always in his movies…I vividly remember dad’s stunt man teaching me how to shoot a hand gun at age 4, leaning out of the window and shooting sign posts. I guess it was his way of getting a bit of free work…he used to say ‘if you go and sit over there I will give you a tricycle’. Becoming an adult I carried on making movies but was choosing them for location rather than for script. When I met my wife we went to Oz and Africa together to make films and this eventually led to making the TV shows. Now it’s my kids who come out to meet me wherever I am, from Cape Town to Kenya to Tokyo, I think it is really important to instil the travel ethos in kids.
How do you prepare for these kinds of trips, is there a routine that you follow?
(Jokingly) Aside from getting other people to do everything for you? (I am a great believer in delegation!)
When you do go on an adventure and film it, there are endless issues with visas, work permits, film permits etc…for example in Russia every region we travelled through required a separate letter of sponsorship to permit filming.
In terms of dealing with extreme cold or heat like you have had to in the past, is there anything that really gets you through it and enables you to cope?
When we trained with the ex-SAS guys for hostile environmental training, we were taught how to survive and react to border crossings (amongst loads of other things of course) and it was this in particular that I found so useful.
I reckon if you can survive all the preparation then the journey is easy. When you spend all that time and effort preparing for your journey not matter who you are or for how long you are going, it’s very easy to forget to enjoy it; you are always rushing towards your destination but at the end of the day does it matter if you make it that night…or you end up sleeping in the car?
The thing I have noticed over the years is that it’s not the things that that go off without a hitch you remember, it is the things that go wrong; the break downs, the ‘dodgy’ situations, the immigration officials demanding money off you and the ensuing arguments that really stick in your mind…
Is there anything you miss whilst you’re away…something you always take with you?
It’s funny, you fantasise about food a lot; travelling through Africa and Mongolia and all those sorts of places you find there is not much to eat and the food you can buy in shops is not that great, I guess because the indigenous population are so self-sufficient.
So it’s rations all round?
Yeah, a lot of the time we go for those gooey, orange boil in the bags … not very pleasant and it’s at times like those when I start really craving one meal in particular, and strangely enough it is one that I don’t even have that much at home; Bresaola…a dried beef Carpaccio with rocket, shavings of parmesan, olive oil and balsamic with a squeeze of lemon….it’s on my mind a lot oh as well as American hot pizza with extra cheese!
So you are off to Canada in the next few days and are planning to visit all the different provinces…
Yeah, we will be doing all sorts of different things from really fun extreme stuff to interacting with the indigenous Inuit of the north. It’s going to be interesting to just be in one country for once with much fewer language barriers yet massive contrasts between say the Northern provinces and over on the West Coast. I am particularly looking forward to going down to the border with Montana to the areas where there was prohibition to see the tunnels they used to smuggle the booze in from Canada.
Is there one particular thing you have you have learnt about yourself through all your travels?
When you are travelling, the mistakes you make tend to become more apparent so I always hope you can improve on them. I think I am much more tolerant now, I used to be very impatient; as a kid my nickname was short fuse but I think I have got a handle on that now.
I also now have huge faith in humanity; you hear terrible things about certain places; for example we went through Libya a few years ago…people’s impressions are of torture and tyranny but when you are there it is not nearly as bad…I am sure it all goes on, but we stopped in villages where we were made to feel incredibly at home and people were so friendly…the same in Egypt and Sudan…filled with some of the loveliest, beautiful people.
How did you find it riding through the deserts?
Hot! Really hot…but it’s great, it’s what you fantasize about when you are planning the trip; about being baking hot with tyre sets melting beneath your wheels.
It was brilliant at night, still baking hot, lying there in your little silk liner under just a mosquito net looking up at just the most incredible stars in a pitch black African night sky. Once we came off the road and made camp when it was dark, in the morning we woke up to find ourselves right in the middle of these 3 huge kilns that were used for making bricks out of mud…all we could see was a load of guys looking down at us and a whole lot of commotion.
What are you looking forward to most about Canada?
I am really keen to get up into the mountains and the wilderness. We have arranged a whole host of amazing activities including kayaking, heli-mountain biking and swimming with minke whales in Newfoundland tempered with some time with indigenous tribes whose ancient ways of living remain unchanged to the present day.
(4 votes, average: 4.25 out of 5) Loading ...party on down the québecois way
Festival-d-ete-de-quebec
celebrate the good times…
It’s summertime and we love nothing better at Black Tomato than getting out and partying up a storm to satisfy our yearning for fun in the sunshine. This year we’ve set our sights on Canada’s magical province of Québec to check out its festival buzz and experience how it’s done, Quebecois style…
First stop, Montréal, and we know it’s the place to be, having just hosted its annual F1 Grand Prix at the state-of-the-art Gilles Villeneuve track. This year’s race was undoubtedly a classic with the high-octane drama culminating in a gripping win for British driver Jensen Button, and the teams and drivers already talking about a hotly anticipated rematch next year.
To calm the hearts of the race-goers, the world’s largest jazz festival brings a touch of bluesy peace to Montréal’s sun-kissed streets this June and July, with over 800 jazz concerts to groove to at the Quartier des Spectacles. Then alongside two million other guests, giggle yourself silly at Just for Laughs, with comedy galas, theatre, stand-up, and street entertainment all vying for a crack at your funny bone. Don’t forget to also check out the International Fireworks festival, where the mesmerising ‘Pyro-Musical’ will have you staring for hours into the night sky and also Québec’s legendary Summer Festival, when Québec City is transformed into the live music and entertainment capital of the world.
(3 votes, average: 3.33 out of 5) Loading ...high rolling in tel aviv
Tel Aviv
When the summer heat shrouds the cities of our fair planet we say ditch the cars, dodge all those traffic jams and unnecessary waiting, and get a different kind of wheels under your soles. Have a gander at what they’re up to over in Tel Aviv for when the steamy summer months approach the locals take to the roads on rollerblades.
Lawyers, bartenders, families, and singles can be found cruising along the beach front as night sets in for the weekly rollerblading event. Its efficient, eco-friendly, and a great work-out. Whats not to love we say?
See why we love Israel here…
(4 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5) Loading ...romantic high jinks
old books
Calling all you lovebirds, dreamy eyed courtesans and poetry aficionados, this ones got your name on it. James Veitch has brought John Keats’ Hampstead pad to life once again this summer with a flurry of amorous productions celebrating Blightys most famed romantic poets and artists.
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The Romantics which runs from Saturday the 16th of July to Sunday the 31st is a culmination of our love-struck literary heroes, honoring luminaries such as William Blake, Mary Shelley, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lord Byron, Robbie Burns and, of course, Keats himself.
So head down to Hampstead on a balmy July evening armed with a picnic brimming with goodies for some classic odes and unplugged music with your one and only in tow.
(3 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5) Loading ...the great singapore takeout…coming to a city near you
the take out van
Singapore International Culinary Exchange
Last night we enjoyed a sneak preview of the tempting treats on offer at the Singapore Takeout pop up restaurant which has parked up on London’s South Bank for the weekend. The first stop on its nine city tour, the Takeout van will be showcasing the tastiest morsels from Singaporean cuisine in Delhi, Dubai, Hong Kong, Moscow, New York, Paris, Shanghai and Sydney, just to name a few.
dumplings
This weekend and last night saw the culinary exchange of top Singaporean Chef Janice Wong of the 2am:dessertbar and London’s father of fusion food Peter Gordon from the Providores and Tapa Rooms. Busy behind the pop up kitchen the two chefs whipped up a menu of 6 delicious creations inspired by traditional Singaporean recipes. With beautifully presented dishes being offered around the room such as lemongrass infused dumplings, and a mouthwatering chilli chocolate mousse we were in foodie heaven.
Open to the public on Saturday the 11th of June on a first come first serve basis for those with a penchant for flavours from the East we highly recommend popping down. And if you happen to be reading this in New York, Delhi, or Sydney then watch this space…
(3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...down the canal with a paddle
panama canal
the great canal…
On a recent trip to the secluded beauty that is Panama, I was super excited yet a teeny bit apprehensive to find that I would be kayaking the Panama Canal. An architectural and engineering masterpiece; the canal connects the Atlantic Ocean to great expanse of the Pacific, and has seen a whopping 815,000 vessels voyaging through its tropical passage since opening in 1914. Quite the feat you’ll agree. Bearing in mind the closest I’ve come to a kayak voyage before this had been in a swimming pool on the Isle of Wight, you’ll see where the slight concern comes in. However the thought of gliding through the waters with lush jungle lying ahead and giant cargo ships destined for the farthest corners of the globe behind me was just too appealing. So I grabbed an oar and took to the waters.
We set off early in sight of visiting an indigenous community hidden on the edge of Lake Gatun, an artificial lake which links the canal to the Chagres River. With the monstrous ships setting sail for the Far East behind us we glided further into the lake, until we were surrounded by the blissful sounds of nothing, apart from the odd call of a howler monkey echoing from the teetering jungle. After making our way (very slowly) through a dense mass of waterlilies we approached the indigenous community where we were met by the community’s children showcasing handcrafted trinkets forged from local materials, followed swiftly by a brief overview of the community’s past.
Once back on dry land and having conquered the kayak it seemed amazing that we where so close to one of the worlds busiest waterways, yet with a few strokes of a paddle you could find yourself nestled in the midst of a pristine jungle wilderness.
Fancy experiencing the secret beauty of Panama for yourself get in touch…
(4 votes, average: 4.75 out of 5) Loading ...
