Weekly Musings

2017 - Week Forty (Part One)

'Rather a broken bone than a heart of stone.'

(K. Tolnoe)

This has been one hell of a week, and it's not over yet! Those of you that are observant may notice I am writing this on a Friday evening instead of my usual Sunday, and this is because at the crack of dawn tomorrow (4am to be precise) I am heading to the airport for a quick jaunt to Hamburg in Germany with my dad and sister. As I am sure we will cram lots of antics in despite only being there for 36 ish hours, I thought I would do a separate post recommending stuff to see, food to eat, and mainly, establishments to drink in when I get back on Sunday night, so check back in for that!

Back to this week, and I HAVE to tell you about the most incredible dessert place I tried out on Tuesday with my friend Timna - Icestone Gelato. It is on Oxford Road in the city centre, just near Footage, and I sampled the peanut butter waffle, which had the obvious peanut butter on, as well as chopped up Snickers bars and caramel sauce, served with vanilla ice cream, man it was good!

That evening was Matter of Sound's fifth Band and Bean event at Grindsmith in Salford Quays, and although one band cancelled very last minute (grr) we had Lyons and La Zel, and Taff Jr playing, who were both perfect. The former have a reggae feel to their material, and the guitarist manages to beatbox whilst simultaneously playing the flute which was quite the spectacle! I have stuck a video of them performing on the night above, as my track of the week is in part two of this post, but I didn't want you to have nothing to listen to as you read, and they are a cracking little duo. 

On Wednesday a group of us met up for food at Byron Burger on Deansgate, as a last goodbye to Laura who leaves to travel around South America/ Australia and New Zealand next week. I had the Oreo milkshake, and chose the Byron Burger (a beef patty with bacon, cheese, burger sauce, red onions, tomato and lettuce) and shared sweet potato fries with Ellie. The food, when it finally arrived, was classic and tasty, but the service was shocking; it took the waiter ten minutes to come over for us to order drinks and get the menu, and over forty for our food, which considering there was only us and one other table was unacceptable in my eyes. We had chosen there as we had a voucher for 50% off food, but despite the discount I wouldn't rush back as my experience was marred because of our excessive wait.

Yesterday I went into Manchester with Moj to check out Manchester Food Festival in Albert Square. I got crab fritters from Holy Crab (omgosh, amazing!), rhubarb flavoured prosecco from a cute little metal trailer and we sat and listened to Larkins who I saw at a Sofar Sounds a couple of years ago who happened to be performing inside the tent. We went for an espresso martini by the open fire in Albert's Schloss afterwards, and a final cocktail in Impossible before heading home.

Today I packed my case and am heading to bed soon ready to be up with the birds!

Weekly Musings

2017 - Week Nineteen

'An ounce of performance is worth pounds of promises'

(Mae West)

This week has been really enjoyable and varied; I have done a lot of different things but am still ending the week rejuvenated and chilled out, a state which I haven't been too familiar with recently. I am the first to admit that I hate being stuck in my flat feeling bored, but sometimes chancing upon a few solitary hours with nothing planned, or even just doing something a bit more low-key than a mad night out, is exactly what my body and mind needs.



My track this week is from NAATIONS, another Candid Magazine find. It is a massive throwback to '90s house which I love, but also has a sort of Chase & Status modern vibe to it too. After being sent it a couple of weeks ago it was featured as a track of the day on Radio 1 this week, so I'm being that person that says I found it first!

On Tuesday it was the second Band and Bean event for Matter of Sound at Grindsmith coffee shop in Media City. This time Fears Chella, Gazelle and Cassia played, although due to finishing work late I missed the first act which was a shame. Lots more people turned up and it was another cracking night, I'm glad to be a part of the team again!

On Wednesday it was a glorious day, so Abi and I spontaneously went to Carluccio's in Hale after work for a few bevvies in the sunshine. Abi was on the Aperol whilst I opted for the Lemon Spritz, a refreshing concoction of prosecco, limoncello and soda water. It definitely got us feeling summery!

On Friday after work I met up with Ellie and Hannah at the Old Granada Studios in Manchester for an event called Cocktails in the City. The room was filled with pop up bars from notable joints around Manchester, who had each developed their own signature cocktail for punters to try for the price of one token (£6.50). Tickets were £12 + booking fee and included entry, a brochure with all the options on offer and their ingredients, a Duppy Share rum cocktail, a token for another drink of our choice, and a free £20 membership to CITC for the year to celebrate it being their fifth anniversary.  

I actually attended last year, so was excited to sample some new tipples after having a ball trying some really quirky concoctions last time. Unfortunately it was way too busy this time around, so the majority of the night was spent stood in queues, including for the food kiosks and toilets outside in the rain which ruined the atmosphere somewhat. However, the tunes were on point, and the featured establishments had pulled out the stops making their areas look themed and funky. The cocktails I had were tasty, even if they weren't all my first choice (some of the ones I wanted had upwards of a twenty minute wait). I had creations from Laundrette, Tusk, The Alchemist, Cottonopolis, and The Washhouse - click each for details!

After the event ended - last orders were 11.30pm - we walked to Albert's Schloss for a few more scoops and some dancing, and ended up in the ol' faithful 24 hour McDonalds on Oxford Road at 2am. It was a blessing as thanks to excess chicken McNuggets I woke up at 9am feeling fresh and hangover free yesterday!

I spent the morning cleaning the flat, and then went into Altrincham to meet Emily at her bridal hair trial and we had a coffee at Velo Espresso afterwards - just two weeks until the big day! A quick food shop and I headed home to catch the train into Manchester to meet my cousin Stephanie arriving from Leeds. We went to Atlas Bar for an elderflower gin on the sun terrace, where we met Jasmine and her friend Frankie, and then we went to Castlefield Food Festival held under the big arches of the railway bridge which was a cool arena. We had cheese toasties to eat (mine was with pepperoni, the girls had caramelised onion and mozzerella) and a variety of different flavoured ciders, I opted for sour cherry which was bright green and looked radioactive!

It started getting a little chilly around 9pm, so we sought shelter in Dukes 92, which was rammed but raving! Stephanie had a suitcase with her, which some hot guys who were clearly off their tits on something took onto the dancefloor as a prop, much to our amusement. It sort of set the level for the night, as we then got approached by a similarly wired Irish guy who was entranced by my red hair, and his truck driver friend, who chatted to us for the remainder of the night (needless to say, no romance ensured!). We left at midnight as Stephanie had an early lecture today, and all had a girly sleepover back at my flat.

This evening I went to Salford to a clothes swap event that my friend Hattie was running. The premise was to take any old clothes you didn't want anymore, make a £5 donation to charity (Girls Out Loud) and take home as many items of clothing as you wanted. It was such a lovely idea: we had prosecco, the hosts had baked some amazing healthy sweet treats, and despite donating five items I managed to come home with seven! Two pieces - an olive green playsuit from Zara and a pastel blue tasselled skirt from H&M - still had labels in, and I also scored two French Connection blouses, a grey waterfall style blazer, a sparkly peach jumper and a silk floral track jacket - see picture above. I ended up giving £20 as I felt bad taking so much home for only £5, and still made it to Mum's in time for a roast dinner to top off a bloody brilliant week.