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 Thirty Nine

'If you laid in your own thoughts, would you sink?'
(Anie Hart)

I started Monday by getting a poem up on Instagram, read it here. The beginning of the week was fairly unremarkable, so I will stick my track for this week in below; it is one that I am sure you will have heard as it is everywhere, but you can't ignore the public opinion when it is this en masse, Cabello is killing it!



On Thursday I went on a date with Moj to a restaurant that we have both wanted to try for a while - Randall & Aubin in Manchester centre. It is the second branch to open, the first being in Soho, London, and is predominantly a seafood and fish place, famous for its fresh oysters. We got the French dozen, served with tabasco, lemon and an onion relish, and they were delicious. As a big seafood fan, I was surprised at how different they tasted from everything else I have previously tried, and varied so much in flavour from the cooked and battered variety, which I sampled whilst in Boston a couple of years ago. 

For main I actually had one of the starter dishes: six Manx scallops served with pancetta and a caper, lemon and garlic butter dressing, and ordered a side of potato gratin to accompany. I would recommend R&A to anyone who likes a chance to dress up and go somewhere a bit classier than the average eatery, but are still conscious of overspending; it is a tastefully decorated, well thought out venue with a tasty menu to suit all budgets. The bill with a tip came to approx 30 quid a head, which I think is reasonable for two mid-price-range courses, albeit that being sans alcohol with my current sober status.

On Friday Aum had a random day off school, so we invited his friend Anay over for a playdate and then I took them for lunch at Pizza Express in Hale, an easy go-to. I tried one of the new pizzas, the Campana (pork and fennel sausage, garlic oil, tomato, mozzarella, friarielli and parsley) it was so huge I had enough to take home for my tea as well! That evening I met up with Lydia and Tasha at The Elk in Hale for a couple of drinks (though still just coffee for me) it was mint to catch up with them both and we had a proper gossip/ giggle.

Yesterday I had a chilled day, cleaned the flat and got some washing done, then rewarded myself with my first alcoholic drink in three weeks at Laura's leaving party for her going travelling, which was at The Con Club. She is a super popular girl so there were lots of people to mingle and chat to, and I surprised myself by not going too overboard on the espresso martinis - I actually feel pretty perky today! I have just got back from having tea at Mum's but apart from that I had a lovely little lie in and then walked the dog today, top Sunday.

Weekly Musings

2017 - Week Thirty Eight

'Hate is a self-destructive emotion. It is how a soul commits suicide.'

(Michael Faudet)

First things first, my song for this week is below, and I am buzzing off her at the moment, if you're a fan of wistful sounding female vocalists mixed with experimental electro noise then check her album out. She was the girl discovered by Pharrell - you may have seen the video that went viral where she played him Alaska her debut track.

It has been a week of tranquility and rejuvenation, which doesn't happen very often in my life! On Monday I did a yoga class in the evening, which always gets my week off to a gorgeous start and helps to detox my mind of any chaos still remaining from the weekend. On Wednesday I met up with Moj at the gym that we are both members of, and we went in the sauna/ steam room/ jacuzzi which was a way of saving money on a date but still getting out of the flat and doing something!

I had tea at mum and dad's on Thursday as my grandpa was visiting, and on Friday I had a night playing domestic goddess and made a veggie curry and some sugar free spiced carrot scones from Fearne Cotton's Cook Happy Cook Healthy book. On Saturday we drove my grandpa home to Yorkshire and then went to see my other grandparents nearby. I spent the evening watching crap telly and browsing Rightmove with dreams of moving into a house, whilst being fed copious cups of tea and sweeties, and was in bed for 11pm. Today (after watching a tractor rally drive past my grandparent's house!) we took the dog to Hornsea beach for a run around, and then drove back home and I'm currently catching up on some TV, I'm nearly finished with Riviera, a crime/ drama with Julia Stiles set in Monaco that's decent. 

I think most would agree that the body craves a bit of mindless downtime now and again, but for me whenever I am at home I get swept up into doing odd jobs, feeling guilty about work that I should be getting on with or invariably get called up for a spontaneous drink that turns into regret and a hangover. It was so relaxing getting away even if only for a night, and recharging my batteries. Listen to your bodies folks!

Weekly Musings

2017 - Week Thirty Seven
'Intuition is really a sudden immersion of the soul into the universal current of life, where the histories of all people are connected'
(The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho)

This week has been one of those that steadily plods along with plenty of activity to keep me occupied. I saw Moj on Monday, babysat Tuesday, and on Wednesday evening I met up with the Matter of Sound crew to celebrate our third anniversary. We went to The Deaf Institute to sample the new menu there, which includes lots of yummy veggie and vegan options. 

I gave their vegan hotdog a try which is made with seitan, a wheat gluten apparently (thanks Google). It had a slightly strange taste, but as meat subtitutes go was decent enough, and it was covered with mac and cheese, 'bacon', sweet potato cheese, jalapenos and Tijuan barbecue sauce so there were lots of other flavours to satisfy me. I also upgraded the accompanying fries to 'pimped' ones, which were topped with sweet potato cheese, red peppers, guacamole, jalapenos, cashew sour cream, siracha mayo and Tijuana barbecue sauce; needless to say I couldn't finish it all! I am digging how places are amping up their veggie and vegan menus at the moment, it makes my part time veggie habits much easier to stick to.

On Thursday I went for a walk at Chorlton water park during the day with Mum and Ferryn, who got rather muddy! On Friday evening Moj and I went to Levenshulme night market, which I had wanted to try for a while. It was full of trendy hipsters, had live music on and lots of really tasty food stalls. We shared a box of mixed samosas from Samosa Shack to start with, and then I had a Peruvian pulled pork roll from The Hungry Llama Street Food followed by a construct-your-own dessert from Yes Doughnuts. Mine was filled with custard, glazed, and topped with pretzels, oreos and walnuts - incredible! We popped into Heaton Moor on the way home for a drink at Tusk which had a funky design inside, though I have given up drinking for a few weeks so was I good and had a coffee.

Yesterday was a chilled, quiet one. I met Mum for a wander around Sainsburys and John Lewis in Cheadle and we stopped for our usual free hot drink and cake in the cafe (you get a voucher every few months with a My John Lewis card which doesn't cost to sign up for - go  go go!). We stuck with two classics, carrot and chocolate fudge cake, and afterwards she came back to the flat to dye my hair. FYI - the track for this week above is one I've found through Candid and I love the summery vibe it has, I'm clinging on to the sunshine for as long as I can get away with! I also got a poem up on Instagram, read it here.

Today a few of the girls toddled over to Abi's for coffee and a catchup, as we have not seen each other since Hana's wedding. I then drove into Manchester to meet Moj at Chapter One Books, a super cute coffee shop that has a beautiful interior complete with fountains, statues and fairy lights, and is open 24 hours a day! You can also buy second hand and new books from there so I was in my element lounging on one of the massive sofas oogling them all. We also finally had 'The Conversation', where we both said though we like spending time with each other and are happy continuing with how things are, neither of us really see it having a proper future, which was quite a relief to know we are both on the same page (pardon the bookstore pun). For now, I'm happy going on pleasant dates with a fit dude until the time comes that I want something more concrete.

We both felt a bit peckish after coffee so decided to stay in town for some food. Moj suggested Habesha, an Ethiopian place in the gay village. We shared two dishes: yetsom beyaynetu, a combination dish of various vegan curries and vegetables served on injera, a thin spongy pancake type Ethiopian bread with a slightly sour taste, and lega tibs which was a tomato based stewed dish with cubed lamb and vegetables. The injera is used to scoop up the dishes with your hands so no cutlery is needed, which was a fun experience. It was cool trying something completely different to anything I have eaten before, and the restaurant had a very casual vibe, almost like being sat in someone's house. For all its flaws, that's something I enjoy about the whole dating game, discovering new places to visit from people. I am back at mine now, stuffed and feeling strangely unburdened after our emo chat, ready to begin a new week!