Weekly Musings

2017 - Week Twenty Five

'You can tell me I have a pretty cover but I only date men who read.'
(Lauren Eden)

This week has been quite quiet by my standards; on Wednesday I met up with the girls for a couple of drinks at Carluccio's in Hale as we hadn't had chance to give Hannah her birthday present. It was a welcome mid-week catch-up to break up working, and I had their lemon prosecco spritz again, which is tasty.

My track for this week is an oldie that came up on shuffle on my iPod a while ago, and I have been playing it most days since. It never fails to give me goosebumps, and I love when the beat kicks in right at the beginning, such a fab uptempo record.  



On Thursday I went on a first date with someone who 'super-liked' me on Tinder (that's a new thing since I've been back on it, and to be honest I still don't entirely get the concept). I wasn't going to stick with the app in the UK after coming back from Magaluf (one failed two year Tinder relationship is quite enough for me), but everything deserves a second chance right? With this one (let's go with F) we had been chatting for a while but with my birthday and being in Barcelona we hadn't had chance to meet up. He was better than I expected, more attractive than his photos, cracking banter, and considering I kept him hanging around in town by himself for nearly 2 hours because I finished work late he was good company, and we seemed to have a lot of random kooky things in common, which is a plus for me!

We started in Kosmonaut for a few drinks, and then moved onto Cottonopolis at about 10pm which I hadn't been to before. It's rather swanky in there, all exposed brick, moody lighting and copper pipes, and I had a lovely margarita before scuttling off to catch the last train home. F was an ideal combo of gracious enough to let me do lots of talking, but bold enough to take control now and again, including making the first move to kiss me, which I definitely didn't complain at!

On Saturday my friend Claire came to visit from London, and we took Ferryn to Styal Mill for a little walk before heading home for some slow cooked beef casserole made by yours truly, and to get doled up for my birthday night out on the town. Amanda had come over from Paris for the weekend, and Timna popped out for a couple, as well as a few of the girls who came to celebrate with me as well. 

We started in Epernay champagne bar near The Great Northern, which has a gorgeous little terrace overlooking the square for sunny days, and does loads of different champagnes and other fizz by the glass for really decent prices. We managed to get through 4 bottles (whoops!) before heading over to a new bar called Impossible, where I was kindly bought an industrial strength zombie cocktail made in a conical flask, by Amanda. We finished the night in The Liar's Club, but to be honest the music was shite, so we didn't stay long - old school hip hop is one thing, but monotonous rap is kind of difficult to dance to!

The following day Claire and I had a lie in and then after breakfast went into Didsbury to And The Dish Ran Away With The Spoon, one of my favourite cakeries. I had a snickers brownie with a chai latte, and we went for a walk around the Maker's Market that happened to be on. It was a successful shopping day! I got a beautiful vintage 9ct gold ring with topaz and diamonds in with some of my birthday money, and found a cute poster of some sheet music with an S drawn over it for 3 quid to add to my hallway wall in the flat. I nipped to Mum's afterwards for a cuppa and to collect the dog, and gave Claire a lift to the airport before coming home, and posting a new poem up on Instagram, read it here. I am now firmly stationed on the sofa with champagne truffles (cheers Claire!) for Love Island, which I am getting right into!

Weekly Musings

2017 - Week Twenty Four

'I love people with curious minds and stubborn hearts who simply can't do small talk.'

(Bridgett Devoue)

It's birthday week! Those that know me will attest that I've always been one of those people who makes a birthday list months in advance, incessantly counting down the days and then drawing out celebrations for a lengthy period... this year was no exception! Firstly though, on Tuesday we had our third Band and Bean event for Matter of Sound at Grindsmith in Media City, click the link to watch the video from the night. We had three acts playing, Tuscan Sun, who are super talented young guys from Blackpool, Hannah Ashcroft who has retro vibes and Stillia, who are very well styled indie lads from St Helens. I enjoyed an Aperol spritz style cocktail and took Ferryn along, who was super excitable and got lots of attention!

My track for this week is by PVRIS, a band I have featured before as they are one of my favourites of recent times, and whose lead singer I have an insane girl crush on. I am pretty thrilled that they had a new release the Friday before my birthday, so it wouldn't feel right not including it in this week's post.

On Wednesday it was my 27th birthday, and after from a pretty typical day at work, I caught the train into Manchester to go to Tattu for a meal with a few of the girls. It is a Chinese restaurant in Spinningfields that I have wanted to try for a while; the aesthetic in there is very swanky, low moody lighting, dark wooden booths and the pièce de résistance is a huge cherry blossom tree in the centre of the dining area with pink fairy lights as the flowers.

 I had the pink lemonade cocktail (gin based of course) and two small plates: peking duck buns which came deconstructed, and a mixed dim sum basket (wagyu beef, silver cod & prawn and Thai chicken), and I shared a portion of duck and sausage fried rice with Abi. It is a bit pricer than your standard eatery, but the food was incredible and the experience makes it worth it. I had a fab night and got some great presents, very lucky to have such thoughtful people in my life.

Thursday was spent packing and preparing for a trip to Barcelona for my friend Hana's hen do. After a 4am start and a nightmare with the taxi, we eventually arrived on Spanish soil at 10.30am where we met up with a few others who had travelled from London. We reached our apartment on Passeig de Gràcia near Gaudi's house - which was fricking AMAZING - and then went on the hunt for some food and the beach. 

 

We stopped and had tapas style bits, and huge steins of cava sangria before sunbathing for a few hours and a dip in the sea. It has been Sonar Festival this weekend so it was super busy, and there were lots of indie boys around which were very easy on the eye. Hana's childhood friend Kate who I have met a few times before shared a bottle of wine with me at one of the beach bars to escape the sun for a while in the afternoon, and we had a couple of bottles of cava between us on the beach.

That evening we stayed in for food and lots of fizz, and played some games before a few of us headed to a club around the corner for a night out. We didn't stay too long, but it was fun to have a dance and to see some of the nightlife, and we still managed to roll in at nearly 5am so not a bad effort!

Yesterday morning after a buffet breakfast in the apartment, most of the girls left for a bike tour of the city, whilst a few of us decided to have a wander and do some shopping instead. We had food and coffee at a little joint on our street called Tapa Tapa which had a deal where you got 2 pinchos - which are like little bruschetta - I had one with squid and salmon and another with spanish omelette and pancetta, a salad (tomato, feta and olive) and a drink for 8 euro, and it was to die for! We walked to the cathedral and Gothic Quarter, stopping for a browse in some of the boutiques, and then walked to the port where we had a jug of Pimm's in Black Lab Bar before mooching back home to get ready for a night out.

That evening we had booked a table for us all at Bar Cañete, a tapas restaurant that had been recommended. We just ordered a load of dishes for the whole group to share, which included marinated sweetbreads, aubergine crisps, barbecued squid, cannelloni, paella, a mixed seafood platter, gezpacho, sardines... the list is too long to mention, but everything got demolished and I can see why it was so highly rated, definitely check it out if you are visiting Barcelona.

After we had finished we did a booze run and then caught the metro - where we did lots of rowdy singing to The Spice Girls and other childhood classics, much to the other passenger's amusement - to watch the Font Màgica display, which was wonderful. We got lots of awesome pictures of us all enjoying ourselves, and then went back to the Gothic Quarter for some drinks in a bar called Ocaña with an underground dungeon-like club that we were pulled into by a drag queen! 

We had more prosecco and played 'I Have Never' which was entertaining since most of us hadn't played it since uni, and then Kate, Fay and I who had gone out the night before continued the night in the club next door called Jamboree. It was ten euro entry and was on two levels; the first played indie music, and the basement was more dancey. I kissed two of the hottest piratey looking guys to date, I even took a photo as evidence (and wasn't disappointed upon sober re-inspection), they were Argentinian and absolute babes, I'm quite proud of myself!

As we didn't get in until nearly 7am, you can imagine the state we were in today, especially since we had to be up and ready at 11.30am to catch a bus to Parc Guell. It was a really beautiful place, but us three couldn't hack it and had to have a siesta whilst the others looked around. We managed to carb load with some pasta in the afternoon and then had to rush back to pack and get to the airport - though we needn't have bothered as I am currently stuck at the airport with a three hour delay, never has the acronym FML been more appropriate!

Weekly Musings

2017 - Week Twenty Three

'I don't want to be the one who tucks you into bed; I want to be the reason why you can't sleep at night.'

(Lang Leav)

This week has been so much fun! On Monday we unfortunately woke up to rain, but we didn't let it deter us, and after a lazy morning getting ready it had stopped so we caught a bus into Palma city centre for some exploring. The 104 bus stopped pretty much outside our hotel, and cost 3 euro each way for a 35 ish minute ride so was definitely worth it. We had paella for lunch and then did a spot of shopping, I bought some amazing laser cut blue heels in the sale for 25 euro from Mango and some perfume from Zara, and we wandered the narrow streets, taking pictures, popping into the odd shop (there was one vintage store that I could have spent a fortune in!) and stopped for ice cream at Amorino (I had cherry and dulce du leche) which specialises in making the cones look like roses, so cute. 

We went home around 7pm, cooked pasta in the room for tea and started getting ready for a night out. B from Tinder who I met up with on Sunday had a night off so had said he'd take us out on the strip, so he joined us for a few pre drinks and we eventually went out at 2am, which is pretty normal there apparently! We had one in Capitol and then went to Alex's where he works, which is split into separate areas each playing different music. We went to the Lounge bar (house/ chilled) first and then moved across to the r&b bit for a dance - we got so drunk as all our drinks were free, but it was a good laugh, and I got a piggy back home which is always a bonus!

On Tuesday we needed some r&r after our heavy night; I was a lone ranger for the day so got some food at the pool bar and hung out sunbathing and napping whilst Bex stayed in bed, and then when we were a bit more alive in the evening we got ready and sauntered down to Magaluf beach front for some food at Pirates Bar & Grill which had been recommended by a few different people. I had a steak with blue cheese dressing which came with corn on the cob and seasoned fries, and an elderflower and wine cocktail that was delicious. The menu was varied and the place had a bubbly atmosphere with live music and plenty of people in there. We went for a couple of drinks at Robinson Crusoe's beach bar afterwards, but then called it a day, definitely a case of hair of the dog!

My track for this week is a song that one of my writers reviewed for Candid; it has an '80s darkwave vibe to it that I love and the singer is a major hottie, you can read their article here.

On Wednesday we woke up at a decent hour feeling fresh, so went back to Zen this time for brunch, where we got a drink and breakfast dish for 8 euro - bargain! I had eggs benedict which came with roast potatoes, and a bucks fizz as well as a latte to perk me up. Afterwards we walked to Magaluf beach and spent the day there. It was roasting and the sea was lovely to cool down in, and I also had a pleasant walk along the water's edge whilst listening to my iPod for a bit of alone time.

We had been persuaded into joining in with an organised bar crawl from 8pm that evening, but had already arranged to eat at the hotel restaurant as we were given a free three course meal when we arrived as a welcome surprise, so we walked back at 5ish as the table was booked for 7.30pm. I had tomato and basil soup to start followed by monkfish and then tiramisu for dessert, but we really had to rush and still got to the bar crawl nearly an hour late! 

We met at Alex's again, then went to Chaplin's which was an absolute dive, then back to Capitol and the night ended in a club called The Car Wash, which had an open bar and a Holi event on so we were given bags of coloured paint to throw at each other, I had to chuck my shoes away in the morning as they were bright blue! We were easily the oldest in the group, and the music was the same in every bar, but we just embraced the evening and ended up having a fab time, the club took us back to our Sugarhouse uni days, sticky floor and all. The whole thing cost us 40 euro which was a little steep, but we rinsed the open bar and it included entry everywhere, as well as free shots and 2 for 1 cocktails, so we just about got our money's worth.

On Thursday we went to Palmanova beach for the day, and in the evening we got dressed up and caught the bus to Puerto Portals the port area, which was beautiful (and full of beautiful people!) we ate in a restaurant called Malbec which we had been told to check out, and it was awesome, Bex and I both had butterfly chicken with avocado, sweet potato wedges and salad, and I washed it down with a fabulous margarita - found one in the end! Afterwards we walked down to the dock for a gander at all the yachts, and stopped for an espresso martini/pina colada in Cappuccino and did some people watching, such a great spot for it.

On Friday we were lucky to have a really late flight home, so could make the most of a last full day in the sun. We started with a farewell brunch back at Zen, I had french toast with fruit and yoghurt this time, and then we sunbathed by the pool before going back to Palmanova for a mexican meal at La Cucaracha; I had prawn enchiladas and another margarita, and then we had a last cocktail at Godfather's before heading back to wait for our coach transfer home. It has been SUCH a blast of a week, Maga may be tacky and heaving with rowdy English stag and hens, but I won't knock it again, picturesque beaches, top people and a lot of giggles were had. Just the girly break I needed!

Yesterday morning we got home at 7am, absolutely shattered. My friend Timna was dropping someone at the airport just before lunch so popped in for a cuppa. Bex left mid-afternoon and I started getting ready for a night out in Manchester. I met up with a group of friends and we went to play Junkyard Golf which was super cool, even if I was shockingly bad at it! Afterwards we decided to go for a few drinks and chose Refuge, the bar underneath The Principal Hotel owed by Volta which has the most incredible Victorian style interior, and then I scoped out Wood & Co which I had read about, it is a speakeasy type underground bar on South King Street. I had an earl grey cocktail served with a biscuit in a china tea cup, not hipster at all ha! We ended the night spontaneously in Mojo, and I got home at 5am, continuing the Magaluf traditions obviously.

Today I caught up on some sleep (and washing) and then have just said goodbye to my parents, grandparents and sister as we went for a Sunday roast at The Ashlea in Cheadle, and then they came back to mine for me to open some birthday presents and cards as my parents are away for it. Really chilled day, but still quite excited at the prospect of an early night after a jam packed week.

Weekly Musings

2017 - Week Twenty Two
'I was always best dressed with bedroom eyes and a strut that could outrun freedom'
(Lauren Eden)

The extra day off on Monday was appreciated after a busy weekend. I went for a run in the sunshine to collect my car from Gatley just after lunch, and met up with people for a curry in the evening at Essence in Altrincham. It's one of those places that looks a bit dated from the outside, but the interior and food is worth a visit - I had the lamb tikka massala with a chapatti (I don't often eat rice) and it was top notch. There was a good crowd out and we had a laugh about the events from the wedding.

My track for this week is a cracking tune by Reiko. I have been listening to a chilled house playlist on Apple Music in preparation for my holiday and it was on there - great little find to get me in the mood for lying on a beach.



On Tuesday I was back in work, but it has been the school holidays this week so I had Aum all day. He had a friend round and we went to Laser Quest and then for lunch at Nando's which (shock horror) I have not actually had for nearly ten years. I was a bit of a cop out and had a portobello mushroom and halloumi wrap with a chickpea, mint and bean salad with an avocado and buttermilk dressing, but it was bloody tasty, and I challenged the boys to try the hottest chilli sauce, which created some excellent videos. 

The rest of the week was a bit of a blur at work and prepping for Mallorca, although Aum and I had chance to go for a little dog walk to Cheadle on Thursday where we stopped at Nice Ice for an ice cream (I had cookie dough but his salted caramel was much better!).

On Friday I finished earlier than expected and Bex arrived around tea time. I made us a curry and we had a gin before setting off for the airport. It was a bizarre experience as our flight was the only one left to leave the terminal after midnight, so all the shops were shut and the bar was super quiet - it didn't stop us from having a (really pricey) wine though. We got to our hotel in Palmanova (the Rosa Del Mar) at about 5am which was a bit disorientating, so we slept until midday before getting up for a wander around our base for the week!

The resort we were in was a two minute walk to a gorgeous beach and loads of shops and restaurants; we stopped for a toastie and some sangria for lunch on the seafront and then went back to the hotel for a chill by the pool. The weather was beautiful, around 29 degrees, and the sun stayed out until after 7pm which made us feel like we still had plenty of the day left despite our late start. Back in the room Bex persuaded me to join the world of Tinder as it has a new option to join up to meet other groups of people, so I (reluctantly) obliged, but I have to say, the calibre of men over here is much better than the UK!

That evening we got ready and went out for dinner at a lovely restaurant called Zen. We shared lots of tapas dishes and a bottle of prosecco (which was surprisingly actually from Italy) and went halves on a s'mores skewer for dessert. There was a guy musician playing recent chart songs on guitar in the corner who was a decent performer, and it made for a chilled atmosphere, and with the bill only coming to 42 euro it got our night off to a great start!

We decided to go for a walk and have a few drinks, and it was then that we discovered that we were pretty much in Magaluf! Having never been anywhere like that before, we were both up for checking it out, and initially were dragged into a bar on the outskirts of the main drag called Bar 29, where we got a goblet of spirit and mixer and a shot of tequila for 3 euro, insane. From there we went onto the strip - daunting to say the least, literally neon lights and huge groups of pissed girls and boys EVERYWHERE - to a random little place where we downed a cheap drink and left, and then I had an Aperol Spritz (7 euro but tasted awful!) in Temple Bar and we ended the night in a sports bar called The White Horse. We had a bit of a boogie and I kissed a very handsome Portuguese guy called Ruben who was on a Stag do, and we swapped numbers to meet the group later, but sacked off joining them at a club in favour of getting some sleep! 

Today Bex was deathly hungover, and I had woken up early and got chatting to a guy with cool tattoos and quirky street style on Tinder (see, I'm giving it a go!) who invited me out for an ice cream, so I thought I'd be spontaneous and make the most of the day (enter B). He is a promoter for one of the bars so I was slightly wary of the reputation, but he is older and seemed a sound guy and we had a fair bit to chat about so I enjoyed myself. Not sure of anything romantically but it was fun to talk to someone new and get some insider tips on places to go, and being able to go to the beach on a Tinder date was a definite perk! We went for a cider afterwards and then I went back to the hotel to check Bex was alive, and we spent the rest of the day napping by the pool.

This evening we walked along the front to the other end of Palmanova, where it was like a time warp to the '80s! We found a cute Italian called Brisas (I had hangover cravings for pizza all day) and they had an absolute bargain of a set menu for 16 euro - starter, main, dessert and a glass of wine and portions were massive! After eating we went to Godfather's bar on the beach for a cocktail and to watch the Manchester One Love gig on a big screen, which actually got me quite emotional, definitely even more proud to be a Mancunian after seeing the reaction of the city to recent events.

Excited to see what next week in Maga brings!