Last night the Ooh.com team ventured out to Hoxton in North London to get our sweaty hands in the boxing gloves at Kick Fitness by way of reviewing the whole setup. We were very pleasantly surprised.

Sophie, who set up Kick fitness after reaching black belt in Thai Kickboxing, welcomed us warmly to our trial class. She wrapped our hands in special binding cloth to prevent injuries from all the punching we’d be doing, then set us to work skipping to warm up.

Once warmed up, Sophie took us through some stretches and taught us some powerful Thai boxing elbow and fist attacks, which we practised together. (Not punching each other mind…)

Once we’d sussed the moves, we went into some pad punching to hone our skills. This was tough, but universally our favourite bit; time to work off some stress!

Sweaty but invigorated, Sophie’s trainees posed for a pic at the end of a tough but great fun session. The consensus the Ooh.com team reached is that Kick Fitness is a fantastic way to work out and about a hundred times more fun than the gym…

Sophie rounded off the session with some more stretches and some great advice about eating fruit immediately to restore our blood-sugar levels and then eating some protein when we got home to repair the damage we would have done to our muscles with the vigorous workout.

If you fancy trying your hand at a Kick Fitness session of your own (and we highly recommend you do) you can book yourself in here.

This week we’ve chosen two very different $100 winning listings. One very cold, one very hot.

First up, snowshoeing in Spain’s Sierra Nevada and Alpujarras. Not only a fantastic day in stunning scenery, but a great and informative listing too! To read more about this trip and book your place, click here.

Our other winning listing is this day’s bread making course in the Lake District. Spend the day in the friendly Cumbrian farmhouse kitchen making not just white, wholemeal and seeded , but also light malt bread, soda bread, wholemeal chelsea buns, oatmeal bread, basil and garlic bread, teabreads, herby breads, brioche, rye bread, potato bread and many many more …

We’ve put photo and video highlights on our Facebook fan page, where you can hear our latest news, tease us with comments and let us know about stuff you love to do!

Following a great response to our last competition with Food Safari, today we’re launching our next free giveaway with Farncombe Estate in the Cotswolds.

Farncombe Estate lists many of their fantastic residential art and creative courses on Ooh.com. Set in 300 acres of privately owned parkland with stunning views, they offer a range of 1 and 2 day leisure courses in subjects from Art to Zen. There are 53 comfortably furnished ensuite bedrooms, so guests can take the opportunity to learn a new skill (or enjoy an old one!) whilst enjoying a relaxing break, eating delicious locally sourced food, meeting new people and being looked after by an award winning customer service team.

Our lucky winner will receive a Farncombe gift voucher to the value of £250 which can be used to book 2 people onto any of the day courses at Farncombe Estate, plus overnight full board accommodation.

All entrants will receive a discount offer from Farncombe Estate.

As always, there are no nonsense questions or procedures, just click here and then complete your name, email address and click “Submit”! The competition is open to UK residents and closes on the 10th April, after which a winner will be picked at random.

Good luck!

Knitting has got cool, very cool. Lots of people are at it, and lots more want to learn.

Here’s your quick guide to the cool world of knitting, and some of the best people out there doing it.

Guerilla knitting

Guerilla knitting is a new and fast-growing phenomenon. Just to be clear, this is a gorilla knitting:

And this is guerilla knitting:

When it comes to guerilla knitters there is a lady out there, @deadlyknitshade, who is the brains behind Knit the City, “a crack team of woolly warriors” and “part of an ongoing campaign to guerrilla knit the city of London, and beyond that the world.” A founder of Stitch and Bitch London, she describes herself as a ‘graffiti knitter’. She’s making our world a woollier, more colourful place and we salute her.

Knitting podcasts with Electric Sheep  

In this New Wave knitting world there is a weekly knitting podcast from Electric Sheep.  This isn’t a meek little lamb giving updates on patterns and the softer side of knitting, this is a feisty sheep not afraid to pour scorn on journalists at national newspapers who dare to refer to knitting groups as “new book clubs of the middle classes” or imply that girls sit around knitting and drinking cosmopolitains. Here she is, and she’s well worth a listen.

Knitting blogs

There are lots of knitters around the world who swap knitting needles for keyboards and write some great blogs on the subject.

Anna Hrachovec lives and knits in Manhattan. She’s the founder of Mochimochi land, the land of small knitted things, and writes a blog dedicated to them. From Tiny Carrot:

To Tiny Dino:

From Knitting Knoobie who is knitting and blogging away in New York, to Knit Purl Gurl in Pennsylvania who blogs and has her own Fiber ‘Tudes radio show,  there are lots of funny, inspirational and educational knitting blogs out there.

Knitters on Twitter

Twitter is buzzing with twittering knitters. And they’re not talking tea cosies and blankets. @SugarPlumFerret is a grad student who says she can make cosies for condoms and dildos.

@knittingwithrat says she doesn’t knit for rats, but with her brood called Eli Archie and Cooper.

@GingerKnits  - “I knit and I am ginger” - has a good knitting blog, and makes a fine pair of socks.

We’re also fans of @Knitworks and @Knitting. And when there’s a vicar that knits, you have to follow her too @KnittingVicar,

@craftycrafty is a great blogazine with a dedicated knitting section. Enjoy the tongue-in-cheek vegan fox stole they’ve featured on one of their latest blog posts.

Etsy

Etsy is huge, and knitters all over the world are selling their woolly wares on it. These Star Wars characters are the brainchild of knitting genius Lucy Ravenscar and have had a lot of web attention. Check out her blog where you can see all the other characters she designs. Here’s Chewbacca:

And here’s Yoda.

@Knitworks is keeping ahead of the knitting curve with her iPod and mobile phone socks.

And here’s the modern take on the tradtional tea cosy. A coffee cup holder, available here on Etsy.

Folksy

I like the Folksy site a lot, and the folk on it like knitting a lot. Nothing grannyish about this knitted dog called Hugo by Sara Carr.

Canny knitters are getting in on the cupcake trend. Crazy Dazy Knits is selling patterns to make these on Folksy.

At Ooh.com we’re jumping on the yarn-filled bandwagon and we want to help spread the woolly word. There are lots of people out there who want to learn to knit, so if you offer knitting courses or classes, list them for free on Ooh.com!

We’re big fans of adventure and off-the-beaten-path travel.

But sometimes we all fancy a bit of luxe in our life. So swapping backpacks for Burberry luggage, and hostels for hot stone treatments, here are some of the most luxurious vacation options on Ooh.com. These really will let you travel and unravel.

Just say the words ‘yoga’ and ‘Bali’ in the same sentence and we start to unravel. Add in delicious, fresh vegetarian food, pampering in a spa and a beautiful setting, and you’ve got this 7 day ‘ultimate unwind’ in Indonesia.

Combining sessions of yoga and pilates, these breaks in Spain will stretch out any desk-tense muscles and leave you plenty of time for meditation, walking, hiking or bicycling in the local area.

This week in Spain is more about stretching your literary muscles than your physical ones. A cross between a literary festival and a luxury poolside holiday, the week comes complete with guest authors and good food.  Perfect for people who want to do more than read books on a beach.

There’s big rest to be had on Big Island in Hawaii during this 5 night stay in a tropical estate villa overlooking the ocean.

This fully inclusive 4 day break in Marrakech combines yoga, reiki, trips to the Atlas Mountains and Agafay Desert, and nights spent sleeping soundly in a luxurious riad and spa.  A great combination of culture and relaxation.

Why are you still reading this blog? Get packing…

So our first giveaway, in partnership with the fantastic Food Safari was a big hit.  We were featured, tweeted, emailed and facebooked about all over the place.  The competition is now closed, and we are pleased to announce Karen from Luton as our first winner, who will now enjoy a fantastic Seafood in a Day course with lunch and wine for two.

Karen found the competition via Facebook.  Want to keep up with news and developments but not yet a fan?  Go there now!

Stay tuned for another big ticket giveaway in the next couple of days…

What better way to explore the remote regions of Mongolia than on horseback? This trip is for people with a sense of adventure and a desire to get off the beaten track. The areas you’ll visit are difficult to get to, with erratic flights and challenging roads. This means you’re unlikely to encounter any other foreigners there and tourism really hasn’t made it to the places you’ll be visiting.

If you like the idea of exploring vast wilderness, following new routes, experiencing new places and riding where the mood takes you, then this is the trip for you.

We’re completely sold on it.

To find out more click here.

“Food, glorious food”. Hear hear to that, and with food and cooking being one of the most popular categories on Ooh.com, here’s a round-up of some of our favourite screen-licking food blogs and their writers:

Helen Graves, Food Stories

Helen sums herself up with “I like to cook and eat – a lot”. So a girl after our own hearts then. Helen often focuses on the more unusual angles of food – so while saluting a great burger, she’ll be hot on the trail for the best buns.  Throw all this in with recipes whose ingredients lists don’t make you tremble with larder fear, mix it up with the quest for the perfect macaroni cheese and you have a great blog.

Twitter: @FoodStories

Luisa Weiss, The Wednesday Chef

Sigh. We are in awe.

Luisa Weiss is a writer and home cook in Berlin, having previously lived in New York City. She has recently signed a book contract to write about Berlin, her life, cooking, home, family, love, about being divided and – in her words – ‘about a city and its recipes, and a girl who’s learning how to find her way again’.

If you’re one of the few people who hasn’t yet read ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ by Elizabeth Gilbert, don’t worry, read Luisa’s book when it’s out and I think you’ll have read something just as good, maybe even better. In the meantime, limber up with her blog.

Twitter: @wednesdaychef

Elaine Lemm, Elaine’s British and Irish Food Blog

If anyone’s qualified to write about British and Irish food, it’s Elaine Lemm. Elaine has been a successful chef, restaurateur, writer, teacher and food consultant. Her British and Irish Food Blog aims to show people that “these islands are more than fish and chips, roast beef and colcannon’. She’s currently writing patriotically about food and recipes for St David’s and St Patrick’s Day.

Twitter: @britishfood

Julia Parsons, A Slice of Cherry Pie

When Julia’s partner goes out for the evening and she can cook what she fancies, she blogs, ‘…no girlie, light snack for me, oh no. Instead, I went for a huge man-sized steak baguette with a fried and sliced Portobello mushroom (which you can’t see in the photographs as it was hidden under the steak) and rocket. I devoured the lot. It was glorious.’

You can’t help but love her and her blog. Julia has a book out later this year.

Twitter: @JuliaParsons

Béa Peltre, Tartine Gourmand

 Béa Peltre is a French expatriate living in Boston. Not only food mad, Bea also works as a food stylist and photographer. And it shows. The photographs on her blog are sensational, and quite often I’m so busy drooling at the pictures that I forget to read what’s she written.  The photo of her pea risotto makes me want to lick my computer screen, and it’s just a quick snap of her daughter’s lunch! Enjoy (and don’t get caught licking your screen).

Twitter: @tartinegourmand

Allison Areval, Local Lemons

Escaping Brooklyn for the sunny skies and year-round produce of Berkeley in California, Allison says ‘One of my favorite things about Berkeley, besides the food, is the smell. Every time I walk outside I breathe in citrus and roses – hence, Local Lemons.’ Reason enough to read this blog.

Twitter: @LocalLemons

Madalene Bonvini-Hamel, British Larder

When a food writer describes the perfect partnership for delicious cheese as being roasted grape puree and caramelized white onion bread, you know you’re in a safe pair of culinary hands.

And especially when it’s followed with a blood orange sticky cake like this.

Twitter: @BritishLarder

Don’t forget, if you run food courses, classes or workshops you can list them for free on Ooh.com, and take direct bookings from customers. Just register with the site, click ‘list things to do’ and then start uploading all your details…

And if you live in the UK, or are visiting in March, here’s a round-up of  just some of the foodie things that are going on.

HAPPY EATING & COOKING!

This week we’ve chosen two $100 winning listings very nearly 10,000 miles apart. I used wolframalpha.com to find that out, and while I was there, I discovered this distance takes a plane travelling at 550mph about 17 hours and 40 minutes, but takes light only about 73 milliseconds (1/4 of the time it takes for a human eye to blink). It’s also approximately half the circumference of the earth.

Such is the power of Ooh.com…!

San Francisco  Electric Bike Tour

We loved the look of this innovative means of getting around and seeing San Francisco, and especially liked that the tour takes you across the Golden Gate Bridge – a must-do if you’re about to head out there with flowers in your hair…

Kilimanjaro Riding Safari

Our second $100 winner this week is Jan Schovsbo, who runs mind-blowing horseback safaris and around the Arusha National Park in Tanzania. Your route takes you close to the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro with spectacular views of the mountain and surrounding landscape.

The riding area is unfenced and game moves about freely, so expect to see plains animals like zebra, wildebeest, giraffe,Thompson’s and Grant’s gazelle, gerenuk, jackal and others. Jan tells us his tours often encounter sizeable herds of elephant and occasionally the bigger cats… In a word, unmissable.

We’ve put photo and video highlights on our Facebook fan page, where you can hear our latest news, tease us with comments and let us know about stuff you love to do!

Just a small something that whetted our appetites on a Friday morning – not that it takes much, it’s a pretty hungry, food-loving desk at Ooh.com, in fact as I write this the team is ploughing into an enormous mountain of croissants that needs crampons and ropes rather than just a knife and napkin…..

In these cheese classes in New York fromager Max McCalman will set out to prove his point that cheese is a “near-perfect” food. He also says that it can help you to live longer.

The school offers classes in cheeses from all over the world, as well as cheese and wine classes where you’ll learn how to match fantastic cheeses with their best-suited wines.

So if you fancy becoming a curd nerd, book one of these courses. We’re going to.