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Five Dope Tracks – The October 2017 Edit + podcast

Matilda — Sun, 01 Oct 2017 11:00:12 +0000

During my recent ‘fun-employment’ (aka freedom from the 9-5), I decided to do something I’ve wanted to do for ages: record a podcast. Well, tada! You can now check out the very first Five Dope Tracks podcast, featuring my friends Justin Onyeka and Rasheed Dauda .It’s all about Janet Jackson’s The Velvet Rope album, which turns the grand age of 20 on October 7th. Admittedly, it’s a little weird this record – but that made it all the more fun, getting reacquainted with it and identifying its Five Dope Tracks (which you can listen to just below). The podcast is on Mixcloud (although unavailable in the US, sorry – copyright rules!).

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Three wonderful things you should check out this autumn

Matilda — Tue, 05 Sep 2017 07:30:58 +0000

I’m here for all of this awesome:

A post shared by Matilda (@megerecooper) on Aug 12, 2017 at 5:07am PDT

Billy Smokes at The Institute of Light

Apparently, an Indian summer is on the way this month. If that doesn’t turn out to be fake news, pencil in brunch at the latest Billy Smokes residency. The grown-up BBQ experts have been serving up finger lickin’ charred meats at the mega cool The Institute of London since July. While the weather’s good, bag an outdoor seat and try their slow smoked Texas-meets-Brit specialties. billy-smokes.com

A post shared by Carmody Groarke (@carmodygroarke) on Aug 29, 2017 at 11:02am PDT

Basquiat: Boom For Real

I’ve been counting down the days until this incredible retrospective of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s work finally arrived in London. Well, it’s only a few more weeks to go before we can delve into the world of the multi-talented artist from September 21st. For those unfamiliar with the name, Basquiat rolled with Warhol and took the 80s downtown New York art scene by storm until his untimely death in 1988, aged 27. Beloved by everyone from Jay-Z to Leonardo diCaprio, one of his pieces recently sold at auction for a record $110 million. barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2017/event/basquiat-boom-for-real

A post shared by Ayok’a (@ayokadeco) on Aug 17, 2017 at 4:01am PDT

Ayok’a

This new online platform gives emerging and established black artists a chance to share their work with the world. Founded by Alice Gbelia – who hails from the Ivory Coast -Ayok’a features gorgeous wall art, tees and accessories you can get your paws on when it opens for business in October. In the meantime, join the mailing list: ayokadeco.com

What are you looking forward to this autumn? Let me know in the comments!

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Five Dope Tracks – The September 2017 Edit

Matilda — Sun, 03 Sep 2017 19:35:03 +0000

So…

I wasn’t 100% sure what I wanted to do for this month’s Five Dope Tracks (as I’m actually looking forward to the October Edit which may or may not be a podcast!?!? Waaaahhhh….We’ll see).

Anyway, I knew I wanted to make this month’s more artist focused. Jill Scott popped into my head as I haven’t heard from her in a minute – and it turns out her third album The Real Thing: Words and Sounds Vol. 3 is officially 10 years old (!) on September 25th. Sure, it didn’t match the mega success of her first two projects, but it’s just as musically accomplished – so I’ve rounded up some of the album’s dopest moments for a mellow Sunday eve, and a couple of her other tunes for good measure.

ENJOY

(You can read about why I started this little music project here. And feel free to follow me on Twitter here)

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Five Dope Tracks – The August 2017 Edit

Matilda — Tue, 01 Aug 2017 07:30:46 +0000

It’s August! My birthday month! And I’m excited! Can’t you tell? So without further ado, here’s the latest edition of Five Dope Tracks, inspired by the year of my birth ;-)

Check out the playlist below – it’s currently on Spotify and if you like what you hear, spread the word, follow Five Dope Tracks on Twitter, send me a message, or leave a comment below!

(PS – I did two playlists this month because the music made me do it (lol). Here’s part 2.)

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Five Dope Tracks – The July 2017 Edit

Matilda — Sat, 01 Jul 2017 08:00:14 +0000

Happy July everybody! You good? Everything straight? Your people okay? Nice. I’m FINE although I’m not satisfied with the few hours of summer we’ve had – and the little that came and went absolutely nuked the grass in the communal garden. Not cool. It doesn’t help that I always consider July as the start of the steady descent to autumn – so I’m already thinking about what boots I’d like to rock soon (I’m thinking a suede Chelsea in maroon could be a cute look).

BUT – as it’s supposedly still summer, I’ve gone for a late, balmy night at a rootop party vibe for the second edition of Five Dope Tracks. The theme I had mind was ‘nostalgia’, thanks to this brilliant artist from LA I recently came across called MarcLo. His throwback Neptunes style gets the playlist started this month, followed by the original R&B It girl Kelis, the inimitable Janet Jackson and Canada’s underrated neo-soul star Slakah the Beatchild. Q-Tip brings things home with a song from Kamaal the Abstract – the album he released in 2009 that nobody could quite get their heads around. But hey, I liked it.

Check out the playlist below – it’s currently on Spotify and Google Play – and if you like what you hear, feel free to share it, follow Five Dope Tracks on Twitter, send me a message, or leave a comment below!

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Home life: meet my little workspace

Matilda — Mon, 29 May 2017 17:08:06 +0000

I posted a snap of my living room on Instagram a few months back and the feedback was insane: loads of people really liked my space! Thanks y’all! I haven’t shared much about it since, but the guys at Hubble – a start-up that helps SME’s find their perfect office space – got in touch recently to let me know about their #itsmyspace competition. It sounded brill – it’d be a chance to explain my inspiration and why I love where I work when I’m not at the day job.

When I moved flat, I wanted to create an area that could double up as a chill zone and a functional home office where I could blog, work from home or do the life admin. It had to be light and airy (#noclutter) but bits of visual inspiration here and there was all good. I love black and white photography (in this case, the work of late Malian photographer Malick Sidibe) and of course, I love London – hence all the books! Here are few more tips I followed:

Go grey

I fell in love with grey walls after visiting my brother’s revamped flat (thanks to my design savvy sister-in-law). I also stayed in this gorgeous room at The Laslett hotel in Notting Hill that had a thing for grey too. It’s totally the new white and not only is it a solid neutral basis, but it suggests sophistication and calm (my modus operandi if I say so myself ).

Get plants

There’s something about greenery in a space that just gives it life, right? I plan to get a few more succulents, but in the mean time my plants keep my space feeling vibrant, and this helps me get into work mode when I need to.

Have an ‘optional desk’

I’ve got a “lampstand” in the corner of my room – but technically, it’s a sweet little laptop table from Ikea. I usually work spread out on the couch with Macbook on my thighs, but sometimes having the table helps me to be a bit more focused (and not doze off on the sofa when I’m working late).

Finally, I turned to brands like Made, Ikea, H&M to make it all happen. Who says you’ve gotta splash serious cash to have a nice space?

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Something you should do… brunch at the Social Pantry in Battersea

Matilda — Fri, 04 Nov 2016 07:57:13 +0000

You know what’s great? Brunch. Saturday brunch. Saturday brunch in places that understand how to make the unique marriage of breakfast and lunch go the distance – you know, ’til death do them part or until ‘Linner’, ‘Dunch’, ‘Lupper’, or ‘Sunch’ ever becomes a thing (although, I highly doubt it). I don’t mind if the menu’s a little more breakfast-y, but give me some dope teas, some cakes, some good tunes and just vibes and I’ll rate you. So Social Pantry, consider yourself highly rated.

This lovely cafe is on Lavender Hill and it won a Time Out Love London Award in 2015 for being the best cafe in Battersea. It’s easy to see why. They do brunch, a proper good one too, judging by the queue I walked past when I was invited down a fortnight ago.

A lovely spot with alot going on

I loved my fry-up, which came from a seasonal and creative menu, with produce sourced from the likes of Ginger Pig. But next time, I’ll try to squeeze in their beans on toast – it’s made with cannellini, kidney & butter beans served in cajun sauce. MATE.

Aside from brunches, this lovely spot seems to have alot going on with supperclubs, catering and their charity work to help young offenders, which is brilliant. But for even more reasons why you should get here the next time you’re in the area, head over to the Social Pantry website.

And check out snaps from my recent visit below:

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Somewhere you should go… the Chinese Food Festival

Matilda — Wed, 17 Aug 2016 07:23:09 +0000

This weekend I intend to eat all the Dim Sum.

The dumplings.

The rice noodles.

And the pork buns.

Why? Because the Chinese Food Festival is happening. I love Chinese food. And here’s a fest that wants to remind folks of how awesome this legendary cuisine can be. So what’s going down? For three days there will be over 20 stalls and restaurants whipping up authentic dishes, but other highlights include a swanky 10-course Shanghai Supper Club, pro chefs demo’ing their next level skills, a street food competition, a night market and traditional Chinese performances. Just note that the fest doesn’t accept cash, so you’ll need to get your paws on a Food Card you can buy on the day or in advance – it doubles up as a membership card which gives you discounts at various Chinese restaurants in town. Sweet!

The Chinese Food Festival kicks off on Friday, August 19th with an opening ceremony and runs until August 21st. For more details visit www.chinesefoodfestival.com.

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What we’ve been up to… ice cream at Four Winters

Matilda — Tue, 24 May 2016 07:53:22 +0000

I could be wrong, but I do believe ice cream weather has FINALLY arrived in London. I’m especially excited about this because there’s a new ice cream parlour in my hood which I’ve wanted to write about for ages, but with torrential rain / winter making an unexpected cameo in recent months, it made no kind of sense. But take a look outside. You see that sunshine covering this city in its wondrous glory? I think we should talk about ice cream now…

So, Four Winters. This spot is big business in Jordan, and they opened their first London outlet a couple of months ago on Gloucester Road. Their whole schtick is whipping up pretty treats using liquid nitrogen, which to be honest, isn’t new. Heston’s been doing that for yonks, not to mention a few other spots in the capital. But that doesn’t make this slick newcomer any less impressive. Their big on using quality ingredients and they change their flavours according to the different seasons (so surprisingly, they’ve even got you covered this winter).

I was invited to sample their Spring menu and I gotta say, they do some seriously good ice cream. There’s loads of flavours and toppics to pick, from your standards (vanilla, chocolate, strawberry) to quirky combos, like the marshmallow passion(fruit) – and the best bit? You’ll get plenty of licks for your bucks. PLENTY. Check out pics from my visit below, but for more info, head over to www.fourwinters.co/united-kingdom.

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This running life: here’s how I plan to smash the Royal Parks half marathon this October

Matilda — Mon, 02 May 2016 07:00:51 +0000

I’m a runner – fact. But not a very strong one. Fact. And by that, I mean I can put one foot in front of the other and by God’s good grace, run the distance that a race requires of me: 5k, 10k, 13.1 miles, 26.2 – you name it, I’ll do my best. But after running Tokyo marathon in February and pretty much finishing in the same time I achieved for my first marathon last year (note: I thought I’d be at LEAST 5 minutes faster, womp womp), I’ve realised I need to be alot more serious about my strength training, as well as my nutrition. Still, most of my lightbulb moments mean absolutely nothing without a goal, so I’ve decided that May is the month I put my new fitness goals into the action. Here’s the plan:

I’m going to run Royal Parks Half Marathon in October and in the words of my pal Cory “duppy da ting”. To me, that means achieving a time of 1:45 or less. I’ve run Royal Parks a few years ago, and it’s such a gorgeous race that covers some of the best parts of the westside of central London so it’ll be a real pleasure to run it again, especially with an aim in mind.
I’ve joined a new gym (the super-fresh Gymbox), where I plan to do three strength training classes a week (the recommended number to get results, so I’ve been told), plus a cardio session.

A photo posted by Matilda (@megerecooper) on Apr 20, 2016 at 11:37am PDT

I’ll be using a fitness diary via Medium to keep me in check.
And I’ll keep an eye on my progress with a FitBit Blaze. It’s one of the new ones on the market and while it does all the usual stuff of clocking your activity, blood pressure and sleep, it can also alert you to your text messages and phone calls. Madness. It’s basically the Apple Watch of Fitness (but why I need to know I’ve got a text or call in the middle of pumping out a set of burpees is anyone’s guess). I’ve been trialling it out over the last few weeks and couldn’t for the life of me figure it out, but I’ve slowly got the hang of it and look forward to seeing how it’ll help me stay focused.

Do you have any major fitness goals this spring? Let me know in the comments!

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