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!