howies®

next Tuesday, 7th September we have the creators of  ‘the ride journal’ joining us at Carnaby Street to do a Wee Do Lecture.

they will be here to tell us all about the inspiration behind the books, how they put their ideas into reality, the huge success they have now become and what’s going to be happening from here. 

if you missed your chance to get hold of the first 3 they are available to download from the website and are well worth it, issue 4 is still currently available to buy but be quick because i doubt they will hang around for long.

the lecture will begin at 7:30pm, if you would like to come down or know anyone else who may like to come then just drop us an email at carnabyst@howies.co.uk or ring us on 0207 287 2345 and reserve your free tickets.

the usual beers and juices will be available to quench your thirsts.

we hope to hear from you all soon!

REAL BREAD

1.Local, stoneground flour

2.Water (more if its wholemeal flour – wholemeal keeps absorbing water after its made into dough)

3.Seasalt (has the potassium, magnesium and other trace minerals lacking in table salt)

4.Yeast (fresh or a sourdough starter)

5.Time & patience (rise once in warm area, re-shape, then leave to rise overnight – slowly risen bread is reportedly more easily digested)

6.Bake in a very hot oven and moisten with a spray of water.

That’s it – Tom enjoys keeping things simple.

Thank you to everyone who turned up to Tom Herbert’s Wee Do last night at the Bristol shop, and to Bristol Beer Factory for providing the beer that helped all the bread go down so well.

Tom gave away lots of bread baking tips and tales and I’m going to try and share the highlights with you now.

If anyone is reading this who attended the talk and feels I have neglected to mention a useful titbit of information, please feel free to comment.

We discovered that the history of civilisation is all about growing the grains that make the bread – flat bread to start with , then the canny Egytians sealed grains away for storage and accidentally invented sour dough.

Wealthy people always had white bread because it was harder to produce white flour.

‘The upper crust’ was eaten by the wealthier ‘upper classes’ because the bottom of the bread always got burnt.

My favourite tale from Tom’s family baking heritage is that his grandad used to sleep on top of a huge container of raising dough, and would get woken as it tipped him of in the morning, all risen and ready to be baked!

Tom is involved with the Real Bread Campaign who have home baking advice and tips on how to source ‘real bread’ from local bakers.

If you check out the Bristol Local Food Directory you can find where to source fresh yeast and local flours.

After many bread baking dilemma questions were answered we got down to the business of sharing the bread. It was a fun evening so thanks to everyone who made it.  We’d love to hear how people have got on with their new bread baking knowledge so do let us know.  If you haven’t given it a go yet here is the recipe Tom was using to make the dough last night.

Next Thursday, Tom Herbert from Hobbs House Bakery is going to be talking about all things baking and artisan bread.

As usual there will be free drinks on offer and maybe this time even some nibbles.

If you would like to reserve your place please tweet us @howiesbristol, email bristolshop@howies.co.uk, call 01179298928 or pop into the shop and pick up a ticket, you could also accept our invitation on facebook.

Its the last Wee Do whilst I’m still working at the Bristol shop so I hope to see all my favourite Bristol customers in attendance to say farewell. See you there, Amy :o)

                                       On July 29th we have our second Wee Do of the year. As usual there will be free drink and good conversation on offer.

Come along and listen to a woman who has been changing lives for the better since she began the Deki project whilst still at University in Bristol. Find out what motivated her to not just chatter about the state of the world, but do something to make a difference.

Pop into the shop to get your ticket or reserve your place via email at bristolshop@howies.co.uk or call on 0117 929 8928.

Our Wee Dos are always a relaxed,  inspiring way to spend an hour or  two on Thursday evening, whatever the weather, so see you there.

we still have a few places left so get in touch if you would like to come along!

On July 29th we have our second Wee Do of the year. As usual there will be free drink and good conversation on offer.

Come along and listen to a woman who has been changing lives for the better since she began the Deki project whilst still at University in Bristol. Find out what motivated her to not just chatter about the state of the world, but do something to make a difference.

Pop into the shop to get your ticket or reserve your place via email at bristolshop@howies.co.uk or call on 0117 929 8928.

Our Wee Dos are always a relaxed,  inspiring way to spend an hour or  two on Thursday evening, whatever the weather, so see you there.

Good news, after a short break we have the Wee Do’s back  up and running once again.

Sofia Hagberg co founder of ‘End of the Road’ music festival will be coming along to tell us her stories of how she turned her dream festival into a reality. She will be sharing with us her reasons for doing it, where her ideas came from, how it got off the ground, the high and low’s and all the behind the scenes happenings of a festival that you normally never get to hear about, it’s going to be a really interesting talk. (click on the ‘End of the Road’ link above to find out more about the festival).

if you would like to come along for a drink and a listen then please email us at carnabyst@howies.co.uk or give us a ring on 02072872345 and reserve you seat.

the talk will take place at 7:30pm on Tuesday 20th July here at the shop and we will be supplying the usual range of beer and juices so go don’t go home after work, bring your friends and come join us!

Thank you to all those who came to the Wee Do last night, it was a lovely, relaxed  evening.

For those who could not attend, here is some of the fascinating stuff that you missed…..

Dan Wedgwood from The Adventurists told comedy tales of how Tommy set up the mad cap adventuring team and explained that they are moving away from vehicle based trips to horse journeys, a dug out canoe race down the Amazon and the Pedal Walla rickshaws around Bristol. The Pedal Wallas created the biggest buzz, such a genius idea, and if they manage to get permission they may very well be taking people up Park St too with a bit of electrical assistance! The first major outing of the Pedal Wallas will be at the Harbourside Festival so look out for them there. They are looking for keen cyclists and co-operatives of cyclists who know Bristol well to be the Pedal Wallas of Brizzle, go here if that is you. Money raised from the Rickshaw Run across India that The Adventurists organise, goes directly to Frank clean drinking water projects throughout India, currently funding around 28 projects.

“Access to safe water is a fundamental human need and therefore, a basic human right. Contaminated water jeopardizes both the physical and social health of all people. It is an affront to human dignity.”

United Nations Development Programme.

Did you know that bottled water from the likes of Evian travels on average 666 miles to get to you and therefore has a rather large carbon footprint, not to mention the plastic packaging and the fact it is owned by a huge multi-national?  Frank water on the other hand sources spring water from the UK and wants to put itself out of business because it wants to support refill bottles instead, so that they have a smaller carbon footprint. But whilst bottled water is still needed for specific events where refill is unavailable, all of Franks profits go to clean water projects in India that use suitable technology and train local people to do any basic maintenance needed. All projects also including education programmes so pass on potentially life saving information about hygiene and keeping water safe from contamination.

Frank is currently championing the ‘Turn Me On’ campaign which includes a petition to Bristol council to re-establish drinking fountains throughout the city so that people can refill their water bottles on the go (remember we have a refill point in our shop if you ever need a refill, Carnaby St shop has one as well.) It’s part of a country-wide campaign you can find out about here.

The next Bristol Wee Do is by Vashti Richards from Bristol-based micro-loan organisation Deki on 29th July and all details will be online very soon.

bath ales are providing the Freedom organic lager for tonight

You can pick up tickets from our shop or reserve them via telephone or email.

A while back we blogged about The Author Blog Awards 2010 and how Emily Benet was on the shortlist to win it. Well out of 500  nominees, her blog “Shop Girl” came first, beating several well known authors!

Emily, who gave a talk at howies Bristol in December, is grateful to all her new readers from howies, especially those who voted.

At the moment, Emily is running a competition through her blog to win signed copies of the book “Shop Girl Diaries”. So if you have your own tale from a funny visit to a shop, why not enter. (Maybe you had a wacky experience here in the howies store in Bristol!)