Living for the Good Life: day out

Showing posts with label day out. Show all posts

A couple of weekends ago me and B finally arranged a catch-up and decided to start the day off with brunch at Carluccios, one of my favourite places to eat out at the moment.

As usual when we get together, the waitress had to come back and forth a number of time before we were ready to order because we were too absorbed in our conversation that we hadn't even looked at the menu!

For drinks we both opted for bellinis, which were like nectar from the Gods. I drank mine far too quickly and promptly ordered another...it was a Saturday after all!

After much conversation and deliberation, B opted for the Eggs Royale, which after one bite she stated was the nicest one she'd ever had. I went for the herb frittata, with added grilled tomatoes.

It was hands down the best omelette I've ever had, and it takes a lot for me to be impressed by an omelette, trust me!

We devoured the food and the drinks, and were left thoroughly satisfied.

After our brunch, we proceeded to do what we do best - shop and enjoy each other's company.

Love you, B! x

On Friday it was my graduation for my undergraduate Sociology degree and of course, it was a brilliant day!

I started the day by getting my hair done at Andrew Collinge, with my favourite hairdresser Louise, so that already started the day off on a good note.

I got my hair cut slightly shorter than usual, but I love it as it's made it feel a lot healthier, thicker and fuller, which it really needed.

Anyway, after the hairdressers I went home and did my make-up, put on my new French Connection dress and new heels and was ready to be picked up by my mum and step-dad. They arrived and came up to my flat and surprised me with some lovely graduation gifts!

I knew I was getting a bracelet from Chlobo, my favourite jewellery brand, but the rest was a surprise.

The bracelet is so gorgeous and it matches loads of my other jewellery, as well as my new tattoo...which you'll be seeing shortly!

They also got me a bottle of Cava (they wanted champagne but didn't have time to buy it hahaha. Apparently it's a nice one though...)

As well as some lovely Decleor goodies.

Presented in a beautifully presented box.

The Hydra Floral BB Cream.

As well as the Aroma Confort Moisturising Body Milk.

I'm really excited to try both of them out as I've never used anything from the brand before.

On top of all this they also got me some fridge magnets from Stratford-Upon-Avon, which I'd specially requested because I'd lost some of my old ones.

I'm a big fan of Shakespeare and I think he's highly under-appreciated these days by my generation, which I think is mainly down to his use in English lessons in school, which makes people fed up with him, unfortunately. Luckily I was brought up with him and will forever hold a love and appreciation for his work.

I was so grateful for my gifts, and after opening these we all headed off to collect my graduation gown and get pictures taken.

After having our pictures taken, we all headed off to either the Student Union (my grandma and grandpa went here to watch a live stream of the graduation because unfortunately they couldn't get tickets), or to the Cathedral for the ceremony.

I met my course friends and we took our seats within the Cathedral, whilst my mum, step-dad and dad took theirs.

The cathedral looked magical, like something out of Hogwarts.

The ceremony took place in all its splendour, and I took to the stage to shake the Chancellor's hand and receive my certificate.

Afterwards, the obligatory pictures with family began.

And I proudly showed off my certificate.

Once the photoshoot was done we headed for a quick coffee to perk ourselves up and then it was off to Piccolino's for a celebratory meal - myself, the boyfriend, my grandma, grandpa, step-dad, mum and dad.

It was a perfect day and evening, and we all left feeling very merry and content, with bellies full of food and wine, and I was officially a First Class Bachelor of Science in Sociology.

Con Amici is really one of the only places to go to eat if you're in Denbigh, and is where I tend to meet up with one of my bestest friends, B. It's an Italian bar and kitchen that offers delicious food at decent prices.

We headed in, were seated and offered both the main menu and the lunchtime specials menu. I rarely look at lunchtime special type menus wherever I am because for some reason I always find they're mostly, if not entirely, full of meat-based dishes, and being a vegetarian that's no use to me. However, I was pleasantly surprised by Con Amici's offerings.

We both opted for water to drink, and deliberated over the menus for much longer than necessary.

Mine and B's problem is that because we rarely get to see each other, when we do, we could talk for Britain. It usually takes the waiter 3 times of asking if we're ready to order before we actually are.

We finally decided to both have exactly the same dishes. Feeling greedy, we opted to have a starter and went for the 'dolcelatte e noci aranchini', described as dolcelatte cheese & walnut risotto balls, red wine poached pears, frisee lettuce & grain mustard dressing.

I'd had this starter before, a long time ago, and remembered how impressed I was by it.

It's a really grown-up dish flavour-wise, and one that I've never noticed in any other Italian restaurant I've been to. The flavours are intense, and the risotto balls are gorgeously gooey, pairing beautifully with the poached pears. I was nearly tempted by the bruschetta, but then I thought that you can get that pretty much anywhere and so wanted to go for this more unique dish.

For main, we went for one of the options on the lunch time specials menu - the 'Gnocci al pesto', composed of gnocci pan fried in garlic butter with cherry tomatoes, black olives, pesto, rocket & grana padano shavings.

Gnocci can be stodgy and too filling sometimes, but this one had a beautiful crispiness to it from the pan-frying, and the portion size was spot on. I can be fussy with pesto because too much makes me feel a bit sickly, but the amount they added was perfect and complimented the tomatoes and olives wonderfully.

We were both stuffed and groaning by the time we'd finished our main, and quickly declined the dessert menu. However, we then proceeded to chat for so long that our main had gone down a bit and we both wanted more and had to embarrassingly ask for the menus that we'd previously shot down so intently.

I was feeling particularly naughty and opted for ice cream, whilst B chose a hazelnut latte.

You get 3 scoops, and I went for two chocolate and one cappuccino.

Unfortunately the chocolate was disappointing, but then I hit the last scoop, the cappuccino, and all was not lost. It was gorgeous - the perfect strength of coffee flavour. I wish I'd of just had all three as cappuccino now!

B's hazelnut latte, like my chocolate ice cream, was disappointing. However, that is mainly due to the fact that we went to Patisserie Valerie not long ago where she had the best hazelnut latte she's ever tasted and so now nothing compares. Maybe there will be a post on that place in the not so far future...

Overall, it was a delicious meal and we couldn't believe how reasonable the bill was when it arrived. Con Amici is our traditional meeting place now, and I'm sure we'll be back again soon.

Check out Con Amici's menus here.

This August bank holiday, around 2,000 re-enactors have flooded to Chester in order to perform a re-enactment of the historic Battle of Rowton Moor, which was the last major battle of the English Civil War.

Although the original battle, which took place on September 24, 1645, was actually fought around 2 miles away from the city, the re-enactment's make-shift battle ground is Chester Racecourse.

I actually had no idea this event was taking place until around lunch time today, when I was sitting eating my lunch and watching YouTube videos and all of a sudden started hearing booming drums in the distance outside. I popped my head out of the window and saw the great hoard of re-enactors marching in formation across the bridge from Handbridge to Chester, making their way to the racecourse. I ummed and ahhed for a few minutes as to whether I should venture outside and see what was happening, and eventually decided that I couldn't miss it.

A little known fact about me is that I actually did exactly this type of re-enactment, same time period and everything, from basically birth until I was around 10, and so seeing so many re-enactors brought memories flooding back and filled me with nostalgia.

I raced down to the racecourse (sorry, had to be done), settled down in a prime viewing grassy spot and watched the battle unfold. This is a pretty picture heavy post, so brace yourself!

The troops marched onto the field...

As the Royalist forces took position, the Parliamentary forces began to march onto the battleground.

As they did so, the Royalist musketeers started to open fire.

In no time, the cavalry were charging around the field.

More musketeers began firing and the battle truly started to commence, with both sides starting to march towards each other, ready to fight.

By now, the field was starting to become clouded with gunpowder smoke, as the battle's intensity grew and troops were edging closer and closer to each other.

Cannons were firing left, right and centre, and the troops collided.

After watching the battle unfold spectacularly for about an hour, I'd had my fill of action for one day and decided to head back, not before taking one or two overview snaps of the battle as I left it raging on.

I didn't get to see the battle end, but what I did see was truly brilliant to watch. I'm so glad I chanced upon hearing the troops marching to the racecourse because otherwise I would of missed out on the whole spectacle! It was a really brilliant event, which will be carrying on into tomorrow with the battle being played out all over again for the spectators to goggle at. Seeing the battle and all the re-enactors made me feel truly nostalgic and almost made me yearn to be a re-enactor again. However, I do think I've had my share of it for one lifetime and will perhaps just stick to watching it as a spectator whenever the opportunity arises. That said, I think it will always spark memories and yearning in me - they were such fun days and I couldn't recommend it enough.

Congrats on making it this far, and here's a bonus fact for you before you leave. One of my middle names is Fairfax, which is after the Civil War general Thomas Fairfax, who controlled the parliamentary forces at the time - the forces that me and my family re-enacted when I was younger. I was born into re-enactment and dressing up and acting as one of Thomas Fairfax's followers, and so I guess my mum and dad saw it fitting.

Let me know if you've ever been to or even taken part in any kind of re-enactment - I'd love to know what you thought of it!

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