Seagull Recommends 28/10

Hello and welcome back to Seagull Recommends! Apologies for the lateness of this week's post, we were simply very busy this weekend. Seagull Recommends: switching off for the weekend and having fun with your friends.

If you come across anything coming up in the city that you think we should know about, let us know!

🎶Gigs: Smoove & Turrell, a soul band from Newcastle, is the project of two friends 'hopelessly in love' with the genre. Their northern soul-tinged passion project has moved into a very good sextet, highly recommend you see them this Saturday at Patterns (tickets); also on Saturday, at DUST, is Mizmor, a one-man heavy metal exploration of his loss of faith in Christianity, starting at prayers to God about doubt and depression and eventually moving into consciousness, ideas, mankind and the future (tickets); and to round out the week, Kids in Glass Houses are at Chalk on Sunday: Give Me What I Want, if it Matters At All, and Have A Good Time. If you haven't listened to them and so you don't know if you want to go, give them a listen on a Cold Night under the Sunshine of a Strawberry Sky and see if you Change Your Mind (tickets).

👩‍🌾Farmer's Market: Every Saturday there's a lovely farmer's market at Preston Park, courtesy of the Sussex Peasant. They're also in many other places through the week, but we can only speak for the Preston Park one as we went on Saturday. It was so delightful, there were leaves on the ground and dogs in coats and we got some scrumpy Sussex cheese and some tzatziki and some leeks and potatoes and fennel and pak choi and a brownie and some apple cider and gingerbread biscuits and a sparkling apple and raspberry drink and some mulling syrup for making apple cider and some fancy pitta bread. It was really good.

🔥Samhain: We're preparing to celebrate samhain this Thursday, with barmbrack and leek and potato soup and soda bread and storytelling and games. Our dear friend Ruth had friends over earlier this year to celebrate Passover, which has inspired our editor to connect more with her Irish heritage. A bit more of a chill Hallowe'en this year.

🎃TV: On Sunday, Team Seagull watched Over The Garden Wall, a show about two brothers called Wirt and Greg who get lost in the Unknown, a strange forest adrift in time and get helped by a wise woodsman and a bluebird called Beatrice. It's a charming miniseries inspired by folk art and classic illustrations and takes about two hours to watch all ten episodes.

Our friends Richard and Enid bought a new sofa:

HSL, it reclines, the headrest adjusts, and for us old people the back heats up. three seater ocean blue. It’s not suede, we’re not animals, it’s like a velour. What would you call it. I don’t know. It’s soft. You’ll have to come round and sit on it but only for two minutes and then you’ll be shifted to the old one.

📚Feminist Bookshop: The Feminist Bookshop is closing in four days, and is running a closing down sale. Everything is at least 30% off, and they're offering an additional 10% off with code CLOSING10. They're also offering a free print for every purchase over £5 and a free tote for every purchase over £20!

🍱Food and drink: Team Seagull visited Halisco recently as part of the Octoberbest promotion:

We found it to be a charming, welcoming, tightly-packed dining experience. From the moment we stepped through the door we had nothing but exemplary hospitality (and not just because our server recognised our editor's West Pier necklace). The guacamole was incredible, the tostada a triumph, and the wild mushroom birria was rich, flavourful and soft without being squidgy. The dessert was unlike anything I've ever had, and reignited our editor's teenage desire to grow pumpkins. Even the simple margarita was perfectly balanced. The only disappointment of the night was our most anticipated item: the charred tenderstem with ancho satay sauce, which failed to achieve soaring heights of the rest of the menu—more of a crunch to contrast with the sauce would've been preferred. We award them our highest rating: Simply Delightful.