Weekly Update!

Leather Trousers, a Hidden Gem & Cute Animals!

After a restful weekend away in Brighton, I was feeling very chilled out this week, and the lovely weather only added to this. On Tuesday I went into Altrincham with my friend Emily, for a mooch around the shops, and we stopped for a drink in a little cafe. I got some leather trousers/ leggings from River Island that were only £10 reduced from £30, which I was really chuffed with as I have been looking for some new trousers for a while- I seem to live in jeans at the moment. In the evening I tried out a new gym that has opened near me. Though it is fairly small, it is super cheap at just £10 per month, and the machines are all brand spanking new. I loved getting back into my usual routine of working out, and I'm sure my figure will thank me for it too!

I spent Wednesday adjusting my CV and looking around at various jobs, some of which I applied to. I got an unpaid writers position at a new online publication called Candid, that goes live at midnight tonight. I am going to be writing one article a week on fashion, film or music that will be put onto the website, which is great experience for me, as well as adding to my portfolio of work. In the evening I went out with my sister and the girls we went to Benicassim with. We started at one of the girl's houses, and then moved on to Wetherspoons in Altrincham before getting a minibus into Manchester to go to Factory. It was a fun and very late night, but it was great to see everyone I had been on holiday with again.

Thursday and Friday were fairly tame days, with a couple of shifts at work, and after another gym session on Saturday I drove to Crewe to see Chris for the weekend. We sat in the sun for most of the day

on Saturday, before going for a meal in Chester. We had looked online for somewhere a bit different to eat, and found Fiesta Havana, a Latin American restaurant that looked really cool. It is on the main street, and is down some steps so it appears to be in an old wine cellar. They had some brilliant deals on, so we had 3 tapas dishes for £8 to share for a starter, fajitas for main which were BOGOF and desserts were 2 for 1 as well! We got battered white fish, chicken in a cream and sherry sauce and deep fried king prawns as our tapas, and then I had waffle and brownies for my dessert, and Chris had orange and chocolate cheesecake. Even a bottle of wine was only £7.95, so despite Chris driving, we got the house red which I polished off once Chris had his one glass!

On Sunday we had a massive lie in, and then went for a last minute look around Reaseheath College, which has a maize maze, a little farm and a zoo. We didn't have enough time to do the maze or zoo, but we spent a while walking around and looking at all the farm animals, including some very cute alpacas, and some rather noisy donkeys! We'll definitely be heading back to complete the visit at some point over the summer.

Benicassim 2011

Days 4- 5

The first performance we wandered into the arena to see was Paulo Nutini, who I must admit, I know a few songs by but I'm not a massive fan of. He was a good easy to listen to warm up act, and got us all in the mood for the more upbeat acts that followed. Plan B was next, followed by The Streets, again both of whom I'm not too fussed over. However, the atmosphere for Mike Skinner et al was electric, and I was surprised at how crazy the fans went!

Afterwards we went over to the other stage where Chase and Status were finishing their set. I kind of regretted not seeing more of them, as they were amazing live, and I realised how many of their tunes I love! Once they had finished up, I saw a couple by Pendulum, and Jack Beats who were awesome, but by then it was gone 3am and I was knackered and had lost the majority of the group, so wandered back to my tent. I had just got into bed when I heard everyone returning, so ended up sat back outside having another couple of drinks- might as well make the most of it!

On Friday we had another quiet day by the tents, and then a few of us went for a meal in a little Italian in town. I had a Big Ben pizza (no idea why it was called that!) which had bacon, onions, ham and olives on and was great after eating mainly bread and cheese for the past few days. We then went back to start drinking before the bands started that evening. The night started with Brandon Flowers, who I thoroughly enjoyed, as he did quite a few Killers tracks, who I saw when I last went to Beni so it seemed fitting. After him there was a slight break so I went back to the tent to change my top and have a quick drink. I ended up staying there longer than I intended though, as our neighbours were there still so I sat

with them and completely lost track of time. I ended up missing Elbow which was a bit of an annoyance, as I saw them last time and they were my highlight. I made it back in time to see The Strokes though, who were one of the main acts I was excited for this year. They weren't as great as I'd hoped, but I am definitely glad to have seen them. After them it was Friendly Fires who put on a fabulous performance, and it kept everyone lively despite the late slot they had. It meant that we were all well up for continuing the party once we got back to our tent, and I eventually went to sleep at gone 7am! (see next week's post for continuation)

Benicassim 2011

Days 1- 4

Two weeks ago I went with my sister and nine of her friends to Benicassim in Spain for the annual music festival they hold there. I went in 2009 with two of my own friends and loved it, so after doing Glastonbury last year I decided this year was the time to go back.

We arrived at around 2pm on Monday 11th July, and pitched our tents before wandering down to the beach to soak up some sun. After a couple of hours, we headed back to camp, stopping for some wine in a little bar down a side street. That evening we stayed by our tents and played some drinking games to mark our first night before hitting the sack relatively early.

The following day we returned to the beach for a full day of sunbathing and sea. Once we had got back to camp in the evening and made ourselves pretty, we went into town. The boys from home that we had arranged to meet up with arrived that day so we decided to go for a communal meal. We ate in an amazing tapas bar, where we had no idea what we were ordering as it was all in Spanish. We made some good choices though, as we had mussels, two types of paella, bacon and cheese croquets, calamari, squid tentacles, tuna and potato salad and some battered prawns that were literally the biggest I have ever seen. Afterwards we went to a bar that was serving pints of mojito for 6 euros, and they were soo good! We stayed there for quite a while, and then went to a club near the arena called Harlem Lounge, that played some absolute tunes and was free entry. I left at 3am as I was really tired, but everyone else stayed around until 5am and had a really good night.

The following day we were all feeling a little worse for wear, but after trekking back to the beach, we collapsed and slept in the sun for the majority of the day to re-cooperate. That evening we made friends with our neighbours, including a pair who had a paddling pool, and we got to know each other while playing some more drinking games. We were introduced to the amazing game that is Dead Man, where the unlucky candidate has to go and stand in a specified place with their head down and is not allowed to talk to anyone until they are relieved of their duties. Typically I was first, and the camp I invaded proceeded to pick me up and throw me in the air, so it was hard to keep a straight face!

On Thursday the excess drinking and lack of sleep was really getting the better of me (and I was horribly sunburnt), so while everyone else went to the waterpark, I stayed at camp with two of the girls and chilled out for the day. In the afternoon we wandered into town for some late lunch, and stopped in a bar with a lovely sun terrace outside. I had a bacon and brie baguette and some iced tea, which perked me right up ready for the start of the musical festivities that evening! (see next post for continuation).

Weekly Update!

A Thai 21st & Brighton Wedding Bells! (postponed from yesterday)

On Thursday it was my friend Lydia's 21st birthday, so after having a few drinks at her house, we went into Manchester for a meal at Ning, a Thai restaurant in the Northern Quarter. They had an offer where it was £13.95 for a starter, main course and side dish, so most of us ordered that, and a few of us shared a bottle of wine, though it was quite pricey as even the house was £15.95.

I had seafood spring rolls to begin with, followed by seafood pad thai which was gorgeous, and chock full of calamari and king prawns. As my main was noodle based, I chose prawn crackers for a side, which came with an assortment of different sauces to dip them in. The restaurant was all decked out in bright pink and black and looked very classy, but unfortunately the service let it down a little. The food was tip-top though, so I would go back again. After we had finished our meal we went for a few drinks in Bluu, before getting a minibus home.

On Friday I packed my bag and got ready to go to Brighton for the weekend for a family wedding. I picked Chris up from the station at 10pm, and we set off the following morning at 7am as my parents and grandpa had to be there to attend the ceremony at 2pm. While they were there, we had a wander around the city and did a spot of shopping, though we came back empty-handed. I was surprised at how big the place was, and how many different areas there were, one minute you'd be eating cockles on the pier, and the next you'd be surrounded by swanky bars and high end shops, then turn a corner and it felt like Camden!

We sauntered back to our hotel to get changed ready for the evening do at around 6pm, and then got a taxi to the Hotel Du Vin where it was being held. The venue was lovely, although the prices stung a little! Everyone looked gorgeous, especially the bride, who wore a low backed floor length silk dress that was very flattering. There were little cones of fish and chips for food

which I thought was nice and quirky, and they had a carrot-cake cupcake tower for the wedding cake- yum! We stayed until just gone midnight, and then went back to our hotel as we were knackered after such an early start!

On Sunday after a lie in and a freshen up, we walked onto the pier again and stopped in a cafe for a drink with the bridal party. It was nice to have a proper catch up with everyone, and throughout the day the 8 of us left wandered around a few bars and pubs and had some drinks. In the evening we went to a little Italian

called Sofia's, where we shared some bread and olives for a starter and then got some main courses. I had a chicken, sweetcorn and onion pizza and my mum got a Greek salad and we shared the two which was a nice compromise. Chris had a pizza with full mussels and king prawns on, it was very impressive! We had shots of grappa with our bill, and then went back to the bride and groom's hotel for a night cap. Then we bundled into a taxi home and fell to sleep ready for an early drive home. An awesome weekend!

Mid-week Update!

The Trafford Centre, Graduation & Lebanese Cuisine

After an amazing week at Benicassim Festival in Spain, it's back to blogging business. As I've got a pretty hectic week this week, I'm saving my Beni posts for next week, so expect good things.

On Tuesday after I had just about caught up on my sleep, I went to see the new Harry Potter film (see previous post) and then afterwards headed for a spot of shopping at the Trafford Centre. I managed to score a really nice dress from USC for £15 in the sale, and it is a gorgeous orangey brown colour, perfect for this season. We were in a bit of a rush to get back, but Zara had some amazing deals on stuff, so it was probably for the benefit of my purse that we left early!

Yesterday was my graduation ceremony, which I really enjoyed. After getting over the initial embarrassment of being in a robe, I had some lovely photos taken and had a few drinks before heading over for the actual presentation. I managed to walk perfectly well on stage despite my 5 inch heels, so was very proud of myself. Afterwards we had a cute picnic outside and some bucks fizz, and my parents got me an engraved Parker fountain pen (Sophia Miles BA Hons!) as I've been after a new ink pen for a while. Luckily the weather stayed fine for us, though it did start raining literally as soon as we got in the car.

Once we had driven home, a quick change of clothes and we went out for a meal at an unlicensed Lebanese and Syrian restaurant in Altrincham called Yara. Upon arrival we got free olives, so it was already a winner in my eyes! We had grilled haloumi cheese, a greek salad and some spicy sausage type kebabs as sharing starters, and then each ordered a main.

I had a dish that was moist rice topped with really tender lamb wrapped in aubergine and sprinkled with pine nuts; it was absolutely delicious. Everyone else was really impressed with their meals too, and because of the BYOB, it all came to just over £60, which was really reasonable for the portion sizes we got. I would recommend it to anyone, and head back in a flash, if you live locally- go there!

Summer Views...

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2- 3 stars ***

I was really excited to see this with it being the final part of what are essentially the books of my childhood. Though some of the adaptations have disappointed (namely The Prisoner of Azkaban) most have lived upto what I expected on-screen, and I was curious to see if it ended on a high or not.

It is difficult to explain the story to anyone who isn't familiar with the plot already, given that it is the finale, so I won't try and delve into it in great detail. It is enough to say that Harry Potter is an orphaned boy-wizard who, having now come of age and mastered his magic skills, is on the final hunt for his nemesis Lord Voldemort, who failed to kill him when he was a baby. With the support of his friends and loyal followers including Ron, Hermione and The Order of the Phoenix (a select group of powerful wizards and witches) Harry hopes to destroy Voldemort, and rid the wizarding world of his evil. Obviously I would be doing J.K. Rowling a massive injustice if I thought this was all that her seven publications are about, but for the purpose of this review, I will leave it at that.

The films have become drastically darker as the story has progressed, and you can definitely tell that the director of the final four, David Yates, wanted to emphasise the more frightening elements when he took over. The Deathly Hallows Part 2 is without doubt the darkest of all the films, so much so that I would hesitate to take a child to watch it, despite the 12A certificate. As there are a lot of battle and action scenes throughout, there is frequent bloody violence and scary images appear regularly. This, however, is no negative point, as I personally feel that if this were to be watered down, it would reduce the credibility of the performances. After all, the most powerful wizard in the world is not going to be defeated with a sprinkle of pixie dust!

As the actors playing the Hogwarts students have become older, their acting skills have been fine-tuned, and so I no longer spent half the film cringing at half-hearted attempts at performing. I am not a huge Daniel Radcliffe (Potter) fan, but this is certainly his best performance, even if it does pale in comparison to the brilliant character portrayals by Alan Rickman (Snape) and Helena Bonham Carter (Bellatrix Lestrange). The special effects are amazing, but then that is to be expected with the advances in technology over the period of the films' releases, but even so, I was pretty impressed. I would recommend seeing this if you have been following the series thus far; if not, hire the box set and catch up, it's worth it in the end!

Weekly Update!

Celebrations, Clearances & Catering!

This week has been my first official one back at home, and it's been surprisingly good. Not that I thought I would hate being back, but more that I expected more things to annoy me, after being used to having a full house to myself.

On Monday I attempted to unpack most of my uni stuff, before going for some drinks in the evening with two of my friends. We had all got our results by then, so were celebrating. We started with a few drinks in Altrincham, before we spontaneously decided to head into Manchester. After a very embarrassing run for the train, which then didn't show up, we eventually got into 5th Avenue nightclub at about 12.30pm. After an hour or so, we realised my friend had had her phone stolen, so unfortunately the night ended rather badly. It was fun up until then though!

On Tuesday I finished unpacking (finally) and then did a shift at work. Wednesday I journeyed back to Lancaster with my dad and sister to sort out the house as there are some tenants moving in next week. After a couple of hours hard work, we stopped for lunch on the way home at a pub called The Boot and Shoe, where I had a chicken and bacon burger with onion rings and chunky chips- delish!

I worked Thursday morning, and then went to visit Chris for a couple of days. We went into Nantwich once I had arrived, which is a lovely little town, and I bought a few supplies for when I go to Benicassim music festival early tomorrow. I also bought a security chain for my Pandora bracelet which is really pretty; it is one of the new ones that has swirls all over it. The following day we went to see Larry Crowne (see previous post) and then I went back home where I started sorting all my luggage out.

Yesterday I helped mum to prepare a buffet she was catering for (see previous post again) and then in the evening I packed my rucksack, and caught up on lots of blogging. Today I went for a gorgeous lunch with my friend Lydia at La Tasca. We had a voucher where we got a starter, 4 courses and patatas bravas each for £10.95, so I was stuffed afterwards, but it was amazing. the whole table was covered! We had meatballs, two types of paella, pork ribs, calamares, fish in batter, peppers in a sauce, and deep fried mushrooms with garlic mayonnaise dip.

Unfortunately I then had to go to work, but it went surprisingly quickly. I am now anxiously awaiting our minibus arriving to take us to Liverpool airport. I'll be back in a week to tell you all about it!

Homemade Recipes!

Catering Queens!

Today (and most of yesterday evening) I have been busy being a sous-chef to my mum, who is doing a buffet for someone's 18th birthday party this afternoon. We are catering for 50 people, and have done a variety of different things, hopefully to suit everyone's tastes. I thought I'd put a few pictures of the things we're doing on here as a bit of a different blog post.

Aside from all the typical buffet food (vol-au-vents, sausage rolls, pork pies, chicken legs etc) we did a few specialities that were tried and tested at my 21st. We did a variation on bruschetta, with olive paste topped with crumbly cheese, as well as the more traditional tomato and basil version. We made lots of quiches, a traditional egg and bacon, mushroom, a broccoli and blue cheese and a cheese and onion. I don't think you can beat a home-made quiche, and they are so simple to make!

But we didn't just stick to English favourites. We constructed chicken kebabs using coriander flavoured chicken breast and red onions, peppers and mushroom, and they add a nice injection of colour onto the plates as well. On the same platter we stuck meatballs onto cocktail sticks, for a more finger- buffet friendly way to eat them. We also made samosas (with filo pastry for a healthier option) and curried potatoes, that could be reheated when the guests arrived.

As well as savoury, of course we made desserts (my personal favourite). We did a trifle and cupcakes, and then mum made rocky road bites and caramel shortbread which disappeared in an instant at my party! Luckily there are always little squares left around the edges that are a bit measly to serve, so I got to nibble on those whilst cooking. We also bought profiteroles to stack up with chocolate sauce, and little mini cheesecakes that we transferred into petit fours cases so they looked slightly more home-made!

All in all, a hugely successful catering session, and to get paid for doing something so fun is always a bonus!

Summer Views...

Larry Crowne- 2 stars **

I saw a trailer for this the last time I went to the cinema, and thought that despite not hearing of it before, it looked like quite an easygoing feel-good film. So when the opportunity arose for a trip to the cinema, and unfortunately X-Men: First Class was no longer showing, I thought it was worth a try.

I love Tom Hanks, not just because he is the voice of Woody in Toy Story, but because I think he always seems to create very likeable endearing characters: just look at Forrest Gump, and Chuck Noland from Castaway. Not only is he this film's namesake, but he is the director, and was also involved in the writing of the script, so it seemed like a good bet.

The plot is (surprisingly) about Larry Crowne, a middleaged worker at a supermarket, who loses his job due to having never attended college. After moping around for a few days, he takes action. He buys a scooter and decides to enrol in a public speaking class at his local community college. There, he meets a motley crew of moped riders run by the bubbly Talia, and develops a crush on his teacher, Mercedes Tainot (Julia Roberts). Miss Tainot has lost all passion for her job and her husband, causing her to hit the bottle on many occasions.

This is a feel-good film, in the sense that it shows how two people whose lives have hit rock bottom, can finally find some purpose in life and begin to enjoy it again. However, one major issue I have with it is that the trailer shows the vast majority of the action in the picture, meaning that even for a short film (98 mins) it feels padded out with meaningless scenes that could easily be removed without detrimental effect to the overall piece.

That said, it is an easy, lighthearted view, and the acting it in is very good, so it cannot be said to be a bad film. It is just not one that will have you on the edge of your seat in suspense. I would watch this if someone lent it to me on DVD, but I wouldn't recommend rushing to the cinema for it.

Personally I also found it a novelty that I saw Gugu Mbatha-Raw, who played Talia in it, at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester in a production of Romeo and Juliet, as the leading lady. She was in it alongside Andrew Garfield, who has also been in some big films recently such as The Social Network and Never Let Me Go, as well as having just finished filming The Amazing Spider Man as Peter Parker. Proof that everyone starts out small!

Weekly Update!

Results, Extrav & BBQ!

On Wednesday evening, it was my best friend Emily's 21st, so we went into Manchester to a bar called Space. It had been decorated with balloons, and they had her own music playing which was cool. We had a few cocktails and then shared two bottles of wine (!) before moving on to Factory, which is a fairly new club that I had never been to. It was only £3 to get in, and a double vodka mixer was just £2, so it's definitely on my list of places to return to!

On Thursday, I travelled back to Lancaster, where I met up with Chris and we had some soup at this amazing little place called Soupanova that we love. Afterwards I went back to my house to start packing, and to wait for my degree results which were coming in. I found out I got a 2:1 (yay!) then very happily started to get ready for our college's Extrav that evening. Extrav is basically a big end of year party that each college has, where there is a theme that everyone dresses up for, and each college's bar is decorated accordingly. Ours this year was 'Once Upon A Time In County' so I decided to go as Alice In Wonderland. Everyone made so much effort with the costumes it was brilliant, and there was good music, good food and good company, accompanied by wine, which always makes things better. I got rather emotional after it began to sink in that it was my last night at uni!

The following day I packed up the rest of my things and after saying a few goodbyes, drove home to Manchester where I had to try and squeeze everything back into my bedroom. Mission accomplished, I did a bit of shopping yesterday after I had done an early shift at work, and stumbled across a lovely new shop in Altrincham called Laundry that I got some beautiful hippy style clothes from; perfect for when I got to Benicassim festival next week.

Today has been spent lazing in the gorgeous sun, writing thankyou letters and reading my book (review coming soon!) before we all had a barbecue with spicy marinated pork steaks, and blue cheese infused beef burgers. Delicious!

Summer Reads...

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters- 4 stars ****

I saw this book in my local Oxfam for £1.89, and having loved The Night Watch so much, I thought I'd give another of Sarah Waters' creations a go.

The Little Stranger tells the story of Dr Faraday, a doctor in rural Warwickshire after the end of WW2. At the beginning of the novel, he is called out to a patient at Hundreds Hall, a huge mansion owned by the Ayres, a wealthy aristocratic family. It is only when he arrives there however, that he sees what a state the house has lapsed into since the death of Colonel Ayres, the head of the household. Lack of funds and rapidly deteriorating rooms mean that much of the estate is falling into disrepair. After a number of visits, the doctor strikes up a rapport with the remaining family members, and begins to call in regularly.

Then, mysterious goings on begin to occur. The family's usually very placid dog attacks a visitor, and is put down. Then strange marks begin to be found around the house, until one night, a fire breaks out at random, nearly killing Roderick, the Colonel's son. Driven mad by the happenings, he is institutionalised and Caroline, his sister, takes up the job of managing the manorhouse. I won't give away any more, as it is just too good to divulge!

This is an extremely well written book, as The Night Watch is. It has an intricate and interesting storyline, suspense and intrigue, and the main character is genuinely easy to empathise with. Not one to read on your own before bed (as I made the mistake of doing!) as at times it is quite chilling, but a really juicy novel that illustrates Sarah Waters' talent excellently.