Black coffee Jupiter vermouth

Black coffee Jupiter vermouth in a small container
Black coffee Jupiter vermouth

During a interesting time in Barcelona recently, me and my partner went to the University of Vermouth. A workshop about vermouth, where you get to learn about it, how its made, where it came from, taste a selection and even make your own. It was really good, as I hadn’t really thought much about Vermouth beyond sweet, dry and rosso (which is just added caramel), in cocktails I make or order.

Like cocktails there is a wealth of differences and unique tastes. (I will be looking out for Noilly Pratt Vermouth), although it was a interesting point of Vermouth as a lower alcohol alternative, especially when mixed with just ice cubes.

Anyway, we got to make our own Vermouth and I got to say, I really enjoyed this part and thought quite a bit about what I’d put into a Vodka or Gin Martini (if you don’t know, its generally 1 part Dry vermouth and 4-6 parts Gin or Vodka)

How to make the black coffee Jupiter vermouth

Making the Vermouth quite important.

So I made Black Coffee Jupiter Vermouth, which includes.

  • 10 droplets of Blueberry
  • 10 droplets of Strawberry
  • 20 droplets of Juniper
  • 5 droplets of Rosemary
  • 10 droplets of Coffee
  • 10 droplets of Chilli
  • 10 droplets of Cinnamon
  • 10 droplets of Black pepper
  • 10 droplets of Hyssop
  • 10 droplets of Black radish

I can’t explain the taste but its smooth and long lasting, I can’t wait for the next party to use the rest of what I have left. Although I may try making it at home? Yes its that good…

32 times for the love of Shambhala

Shambhala is a steel roller coaster located at PortAventura World, in Salou Spain. The ride opened to the public as Europe’s tallest roller coaster, taking guests up 76m (249ft) high before allowing them to plummet back towards the ground below. In this video we’ll explore the type of ride experience Shambhala offers, as well as its many statistics and developed theme.

Its certainly one of my favourite rides. With 32 rides in one day.

The call of the Barcelona sun mix

One of my mixes from Barcelona I didn’t upload first time, so I re-uploaded it for the collection. Lots of familiar tunes mixed together with some classics such as Tears and Hello. At just over the hour mark, its a nice energetic mix to add to the collection.

Enjoy!

  1. Helsinki Scorching – Super8 vs Dj Tab
  2. Against the flow (Astuni & Manuel Le Saux Extended Re Lift Dub) – Stine Grove
  3. Hello (Jerome Isma-Ae remiix) – Above & Beyond
  4. Avenue – Paul Van Dyk
  5. Labyrinth (Paul Keyen remix) – Lee Cassells
  6. Embrace (Ferry Fix) – Embrace
  7. Nebula One – Warren K
  8. Frosted (Foreign Force remix) – Kyamoto
  9. Shelter (Photographer remix) – Dash Berlin feat Roxanne Emery
  10. Ecstasy – Eddie Makabi feat Einat
  11. Tears (Protoculture remix) – Markus Schulz presents Dakota
  12. Nailed (James Dymond remix) – Paul Webster
  13. Valhalla (tonerush remix) – OneBeat
  14. Its time (ferry corsten’s flashover mix) – Ferry Corsten
  15. B29 (extended mix) – Attila Syah & LTN

Airbnb illegal audio monitoring?

Airbnb monitoring warning

Me and my partner decided on Airbnb for our trip to Barcelona. We found one  and booked it. Generally the flat was ok,

However there was a warning on the kitchen door, stating they are listening for noise 24 hours a day and will cancel bookings if there is loud noise. Looking around I think the device is this thing…?

Airbnb monitoring warning

It certainly put a terrible taste in our mouth and made us feel uncomfortable. Although we didn’t complain straight away and by the time we thought about it, the internet connection was down and if its really connected and not a poor joke; it was no longer going to work. Didn’t cause the host(s) to come and find out what was wrong, even with us complaining about the lack of internet (I debugged it as much as I could, but ultimately we had European roaming data and wasn’t in the flat that much)

This has to be a breach of privacy and I’ve finally complained to Airbnb. Especially after rethinking and re-reading things like this.

Update – Thursday 13th Sept

Since my tweets/toots and this blog post. I had quite a lot of people and journalists get in touch… But I still have seen nothing from Airbnb or the host. So I decided to take one of the journalists up on their offer in a form of social justice. No idea how what I wrote will come across or be edited but as I was seeking out the legal ramifications of what the host had done, I saw this on the Airbnb help site…

Rules for hosts
If you’re a host and you have any type of surveillance device in or around a listing, even if it’s not turned on or hooked up, we require that you indicate its presence in your House Rules. We also require you to disclose if an active recording is taking place. If a host discloses the device after booking, Airbnb will allow the guest to cancel the reservation and receive a refund. Host cancellation penalties may apply.

With that I rewrote to Airbnb and Airbnbhelp to demand a refund on top of everything else I previously complained about.

Sure to update everyone once I hear something….

Update – Friday 15th Sept

I was contacted by Airbnb by phone, the woman ran through a few questions and we talked about what happened again. She agreed this was clearly a breach of the Airbnb terms and could see the listening device and the warning in a few of the photos (as like me, knew what to look for). She said they would block/ban that listing which they have done. They also issued a refund to me and my partner, which is great news as our un-comfortableness certainly had a slight affect on the holiday in Barcelona.

Personally I’m glad I found the Airbnb term above, as that drove things along much quicker. Previous to that, it seemed not a lot was being done?

In our conversation, it was worth noting an Alexa, Google Home, Baby monitors, etc would count as listening devices which must be declared upfront before the guest books.

From Airbnb…

To summarize, we will follow up and investigate the host’s account following your report of a surveillance device in the listing. We take these reports very seriously, once again, thank you for bringing this issue to our attention. Your participation helps keep Airbnb a safe and trusted community.

Its time to regulate Airbnb…

No Tourists allowed - thanks for your collaboration

There has been a lot said about Airbnb in the media and to be fair I have talked about it myself a few times. But I keep on reading them anyway. Then I read the comment is free piece in the Guardian, right before I go to Barcelona too.

Barcelona is a city-break destination practically all year round, which means it’s struggling with more than just a surfeit of drunken stag parties and queues outside tapas bars. Landlords have realised they can make more money out of short lets to well-off Airbnb users than from renting to conventional tenants who live and work in the city year round, so when contracts come up for renewal it’s not uncommon to find the rent suddenly shooting up to levels that young Spaniards can’t pay. Once they’re forced out of the neighbourhood, the empty flat promptly disappears into what’s still sometimes euphemistically known as the “sharing economy”, although what happens next sounds like the antithesis of sharing. Those lucky enough to own a desirable property get steadily luckier, by pimping it out to the highest bidders. Meanwhile, those who don’t have such an asset become ever less likely to get one, as property prices are pushed up across the city. Thus does inequality harden, and resentment deepen, while the failure of mainstream parties to solve the problem drives the young and frustrated ever closer to the political fringes.

All the stuff mentioned in others but then, but then the killer to my hippyish ideas for Airbnb.

So much for the earnestly hippyish vibe of the original Airbnb model, which was supposed to be all about creating a cosy-sounding “global community” by linking up adventurous strangers in search of more authentic, home-from-home travel experiences. And so much, too, for the idea of democratising the travel industry by letting the little guy make a buck on the side. In some tourist hotspots Airbnb is now morphing from an amateur operation into a slick professional one, with landlords amassing multiple properties just as they once did with buy-to-let, and using agencies to manage their burgeoning empires.

The romantic, if sometimes risky, fantasy of swapping lives with a local for a few nights and seeing the city through their eyes is being replaced with a more corporate, impersonal experience. Sign here for the keys; check out promptly in time for the next guest to arrive. Too bad that what could have been a young couple’s starter flat is now just another asset to be sweated, and one that probably stands empty half the time.

As the piece says and I am somewhat in agreement about regulation in this sense, as things have gotten out of hand. But the pressure needs to come from both sides and I don’t know if people care to do the right thing? For example there are still a lot of listings on Airbnb for Barcelona which don’t have the LUT number which is required for Barcolona Airbnbs now.

it’s uncomfortable knowing that your cheap getaway comes at such a hidden cost, guilt seems unlikely to put many travellers off

It would make sense if Airbnb would check this somehow or even more fundamentally, provide a space to input this info and highlight it to potential Airbnb guests. Right now you have to tack it on the end of the description which isn’t ideal.

When looking for somewhere, I asked a few Airbnb hosts for their LUT number and one all but laughed in the message back. If Airbnb really gave a crap about whats happening to these cities and locations its the least they would do.

Manchester Werewolf Chapter – March 2012

This is Wednesday in my busy social week

Manchester Werewolf Chapter March 2012

If you’ve missed the other Werewolf games we’ve been playing recently, shame on you!

We’re getting quite a few people coming along every 2 months. A big part of which is working with Larkin About.

On Wednesday we had another great game of the Thing, then a game of Werewolf finished off with look down look up.

As usual everyone had fun (except I got killed at the very start as usual, which game me plenty of time to do lots of photos) and the villagers just won at the last moment even through there was some disagreement with putting 4 werewolves in a game for 25 people. Barcelona Bar is still a excellent place to do Werewolf and we’ll be back again at the end of May for sure, so look out for it.

Manchester Werewolf Chapter March 2012