Whats On NI Shortlisted for Irish Web Award 09.

UntitledWe are all delighted that whatsonni.com have been shortlisted for an Irish Web Award 2009 in the Category “Best Social Media Initiative”.

The Awards Ceremony is due to take place on Saturday 10th October at the Radisson SAS Royal Hotel Dublin.

Best of luck to all those shortlisted for an Award.  It’s a great honour for us to make it to the shortlist – it’s a testament to the power of social media that this category was created and all credit to the Irish Web Awards for giving social media initiatives some recognition.  It’s a very powerful medium when used correctly to raise your profile and get your message across on a shoestring budget and hope this will encourage people not already using social media to get on board!  We will keep you up to date.

To check out all the categories and shortlisted nominees  go to www.awards.ie.

Causeway Speciality Market Coleraine – definitely one for the foodie diary!

Causeway MarketDissapointed at the cancellation of the Lough Neagh Food Festival this year I forced the kids into the car again and headed for Coleraine town centre for the monthly Causeway Speciality Market.

Not many people know this but the Causeway Speciality Market is a regular, monthly feature on the Coleraine Borough Council’s Events Calendar.  I have to admit I had other personal reasons for making the trip – to offer my support to a new friend – Thana from Whoosh Catering who I would not have met were it

Thana and Therese of Whoosh Catering - Almost Sold Out!!
Thana and Therese of Whoosh Catering - Almost Sold Out!!

not for the growing Open Coffee movement.

Thana’s speciality is home made Thai and Vietnamese food and even though I made it to Coleraine early – she was almost sold out when I got there, but I snapped up a spicy chicken salad, some spring rolls with the most exquisite dip and  a thai beef and noodle dish – all were so fresh, spicy (but not too hot) and very very tasty. For more details go to www.eatwhoosh.com (or you can follow Thana on twitter @whooshcatering).

Ted Jensen - The American Cookie Company.
Ted Jensen - The American Cookie Company.

We were also treated to an array of hand made crafts, artists, musicians, faith healers ( at least that’s what I think was going on – the signs had been taken down – if you can shed any light please get in touch!), freshly home made American Cookies – thanks Big Ted!, Asian Curry Sauces from www.currysauceni and much much more.

The next Causeway Speciality Market will take place on Saturday 10th October – go along and sample (and there are plenty of samples) some of the fresh local produce for yourself – and ladies – put that together with some relaxed shopping and perhaps some lunch with some take home Thai Food and you have the day all wrapped up.

Unbelievable talent on display.
Unbelievable talent on display.
Decisions, decisions.....
Decisions, decisions.....
Hot samples to try from currysauceni.
Hot samples to try from currysauceni.
S.D. Bell - Tea and Coffee Specialists
S.D. Bell - Tea and Coffee Specialists

Chicago!

Ciaran Campbell kindly agreed to pen the following review of Chicago at the Grand Opera House for whatsonni. Thanks Ciaran!

Ciaran is a very good fb friend of ours – he is a live entertainment promoter and graphic designer (add him on facebook – Stage Door Entertainment and check out his upcoming events) .

chicago“Chicago in Belfast’s Grand Opera House was simply outstanding. Sassy, classy and sexy are the words best used to describe it. One young performer Twinnie Lee-Moore from London easily stood out as her vocal and dancing capabilities were amazing – not bad for a 22 year old playing Velma Kelly.

Gary Wilmot & Emma Barton (Honey – Eastenders) were the headliners in this cast as smooth-talking lawyer Billy Flynn while Emma played murderess Roxie Hart. Unfortunatley I attended a matinee and didn’t get to see Emma perform but her Understudy Miriam-Eli Sutton was more than capable of stepping up to belt out me and my baby, we both reached for the gun and much more.

Gary Wilmots voice had a superb tone and quality and simply a pleasure to listen to particularly during All I Care About.

Over all a fantastic show and I’m glad I caught it while I was in town – the entr’acte in 2nd act was a pleasant surprise – a melody of all the Chicago songs that got me in a lively mood. Well worth the money. Hats off to the production team on this one as they’ve done the best possible job they could do to make this as true to the original production as possible, yet not creating a cover version.

The re-creation of Bob Fosse’s original choreography was a joy to watch. Chicago is currently in Dublin’s Olympia Theatre”

Ciaran Campell

Stuck indoors with bored kids? Here are the Top 10 suggestions from our fb friends…

Last week we asked our facebook friends for suggestions to keep a couple of 7yr old twins entertained at home (it was raining – unusual for NI I know). So we have compiled a list of our favourites and here are the top 10. Enjoy!

10  Lego – every box a winner! – every house should own at least three buckets of lego. (Martin McAfee)

9. Jigsaws Another old favourite from Susan McKeever – check out Susan’s art exhibition – details at whatsonni.com.

8. Board Games – Monopoly, Kerplunk, Guess Who, Scrabble etc etc (thanks Jeff Whur!)

7. Photo Collage – make a collage from some old family photos (thanks to Margaret Ramm for that great idea).

6. Baking/Cooking – anything that involves making a mess – thanks Haly Mullen, Sioban Hagan and Stephanie Curry!

5.  Treasure Hunt with a map of the house and prizes – Jeff Whur was full of great ideas – thanks again Jeff.

4. Make Your Own Musical Instruments from elastic bands and empty cardboard boxes then let them make a music video! thanks Patrick for that suggestion – that would really go down well in our house!

3. Beading – if you have no beads cut up straws or use pasta? – suggested by  Tracey.

2. Family Fun Theatre get the old bed sheets and ends of make up and become their favourite fairy tale, or have an x factor party take turns at auditioning and judging my nieces and nephew love it!!!  Thanks Anthony (of Ant and Dick fame  who are at the Wedding Extravaganza at the Odyssey this weekend. That’s bound to be  firm favourite now it’s x-factor season!)

And my personal No 1 favourite comes from Patricia Macbride:-

1.Worm Racing. We spent a rainy afternoon in Dingle last week with arms and legs inside sleeping bags seeing who could crawl fastest along hall, stairs and landing. Ran it in several heats, two at a time with a grand final and a prize of a giant ice cream sundae for the winner (my 8 year-old). Downside – you’ll have to wash the sleeping bags afterwards. Upside – your floors will be immaculate!

Now even though this didn’t make it into the top 10 I just felt I had to give a big shout out to Jamie Merrins for his suggestion, and I quote ” next time you are havin dinner with the family…turn to your kids and tell them due to the economic downturn we are goin ta have to let one of you go.” – drastic times!!!!!!

Huge thanks to everyone who contributed – it certainly brightened up an otherwise wet and gloomy day.  Don’t forget if you are looking for something to do – adults and kids – check out www.whatsonni.com.

Jacqueline