The 2 best pizza toppings, guaranteed. (Spinach, asparagus & ricotta/ Parma ham & fig)

So the World Cup has kicked off (literally) with full force, and like my pal at work says, you certainly cannot beat them, so you may as well join em.

Personally, I quite like the World Cup. I never watch football and support no team really (I am one of the few lucky ladies in England who is not a football widow, Will has no favourite team) but every 4 years I like to make an exception. I think a lot of my love - well maybe that is too strong a word, let's say "contented tolerance" - of the World Cup bonanza comes from my Dad, and his clever scheme to get a house full of women not interested in sport into the world cup.

Our favourite food in New Orleans

Maybe, like me, today you'll be celebrating Pancake day aka Shrove Tuesday aka Mardi Gras by swapping your normal Tuesday night supper of salmon and veg (ok ok pasta and cheese) with a little bit of batter, lemon and sugar. Mm mm mmmm.

Or maybe you are like 2017 me, or a lucky resident of New Orleans Louisiana and you are going to spend today catching beads, drinking hurricanes and dancing in the street. Mardi Gras, NOLA: its tagline is "the greatest party on earth" and I am not gonna lie, it is pretty fun if you are ready to embrace it - and you give the drunk guy vomiting down himself on Bourbon Street a wide berth.

#QUEENSONTOUR in Cinque Terre - 7 dos and donts to make your trip boss

Can I pull off boss? Or indeed a hashtag in the non ironic sense? Never mind.

Recently, I uncharacteristically booked a holiday a whole year in advance. Normally I just go wherever the bargain Ryan Air flights take me, but I had some air miles and I fancied visiting the insta-porn which is Santorini so next September, off I go!

Talking of insta-porn, in case anyone wants to be equally organised and book a holiday for October next year, or even April/May I can recommend Cinque Terre, a collection of beautiful little coastal towns, about 45 minutes from Pisa.

Cinque Terre I like to think of as the poor man's Amalfi coast, and I mean that as a massive compliment as a poorer Amalfi coast is still a lot richer than me. And some restaurants in Cinque Terre sell prosecco for like 13 euros a bottle which I am pretty sure nowhere in Amalfi does...

Cinque Terre translated from Italian means "5 lands". "Lands" I think is a little bit of a stretch, more quaint colourful villages built up the coast side, which at night make the whole coast line looked like it is covered in lanterns and fairylights. It is uber romantic, but I really liked visiting with my gals, who I felt indulged my swoons at the views and relentless instagramming more than Will anyway. ;)

Padella inspired spicy sausage, mascarpone and parsley pasta

Lols that the week following my PS where I promised I was back on the "I'll start posting every Sunday again" wagon, I only went and didn't post on a Sunday. My excuse was going to be that I am horrifically jet lagged following my trip to New Orleans, Miami and central America and I am still on Eastern standard time, but if I am on Eastern standard time it would just mean I am posting this only 43 hours late, rather than 48 so, yeah...

Anyhoo here is a "recipe" (I use that word loosely, as this thing is so damn easy to make you can do it even when you have just basically stumbled off a plane and into your kitchen, and are mainly only looking for a vehicle to transport parmesan cheese into your mouth). It was inspired by a bangin' (yes I said that) meal I devoured in Padella in Borough. The queues are long, but the fettucine is all the a-ok hand emoticons. Top tip, go on a rainy Monday at 5 to get a table and it will be the only time you don't have to wait in line.

A wholesome trip to Amsterdam

In early July, my pal Lynsey and I went to Amsterdam to celebrate our 20th friendiversary, that's a thing right? We've been friends ever since she waltzed into my year 3 class, the new girl, and we bonded over the love of our hamsters and Sweet Valley Twins.

This is a bit of a weird one as far as travel posts go, as we went to Amsterdam, and we didn't go to the Van Gogh museum, we didn't go to Anne Frank's house, and we didn't even try the umm... local delicacy. And I am not just saying that because my Mum and Dad are my keenest subscribers. Honestly, we didn't smoke anything, we didn't go out out in the red light district, and we didn't go to any sex museums or shows. Although I did see two prostitutes in the window, but that is beside the point and immature to mention, sorry. It was really, truly, a genuinely wholesome time. We were in bed with the Gilmore Girls on our ipads by half 11 each day, and it was exactly what I needed. Amsterdam is exactly the type of city to just wander, and snack and do not that much in. (Though I am not suggesting you go there and sit in bed watching the Gilmore Girls, one episode per day to fall asleep to, max. would be my advice)

When I grow up I would like to live in Whitstable (you should go there)

I first visited Whitstable 2 years ago. I went for my pal Gita's hen do, and even through the blur of apple sours and prosecco drunk in pyjamas (not together, I don't think) I knew I wanted to live in that little Kentish coastal town when I became a fully fledged grown up. Ok, perhaps that feeling was in part because of the aforementioned apple sours and prosecco, but even the next morning as I got on a train to travel the 1 hour and 23 minutes back to London Victoria in a slightly delicate state, the feelings, unlike my hungover-and-about-to-get-on-public-transport face, had not paled.

Quick! 2 barbecues to squeeze in before summer ends (and a recipe for a chilli tequila cocktail)

Those bacon skewer things have scallops in the middle of them.

So a large part of the reason I have fallen off the blogging band wagon again is because this summer with the help, blood and sweat of my generous and long suffering parents my boyfriend and I have replaced the deck in our garden. We had one before, but it was rotten with nails sticking out of it and bits you couldn't stand on for fear of falling through and the NHS advised you have an extra tetanus shot before walking on it, so it was not the place to host barbecues and citronella candle lit al fresco soires. But now, 45,640 metres (not the real figure) of decking and 1000 screws (genuinely the real figure) later, boom chacka lacka lacka boom, I have a new deck. And I am the first person to write boom chacka lacka lacka boom in text, probably.

4 great birthday cake recipes, to make for people who don't like birthday cakes

The Easiest Ever Ice Cream cake by A Beautiful Mess

Happy Sunday-but-really-like-a-Saturday-morning! I hope you are enjoying the long weekend. Mine is being a little laborious at present, as we are attempting to paint our white lounge white, but we're making it up to ourselves with plenty of homemade aperol spritzes in the sun, and takeaways in front of the telly once we've finished for the day.

So anyway, birthday cakes. Most of my friends birthdays seem to congregate around summer, don't ask me, must have been something in the water in the winter months of the late 1980s. Despite my humungous addiction to sugar, I am not the biggest fan of birthday cake. All the butter cream icing and the dense rich cake, it is just too much.

4 different and surprising nights out in London which aren't all about prosecco

Last week I went to 3 of my friends birthday parties. (I know! What happened 9 months before the beginning of May in the late 80s ey?) A bottomless prosecco brunch (of course), a night out drinking aperol spritzes and dancing in a bar before throwing up into my jacket as my boyfriend snoozed beside me in an uber (of course), and finally a Time Run (what's that you say, I'll get to it).

Now for an honest confession more shocking than me writing on the internet how I was sick in the back of a taxi: Out of all of them, for some reason I was possibly least excited about the Time Run. The tickets were £30, and that didn't include bottomless prosecco, it was on a Thursday night (though you can go any time) and basically it just wasn't what I was used to. It was out of my comfort zone.

I live in one of the most exciting and enthralling cities in the world (lucky so and so), a city whose name is printed on t-shirts alongside Tokyo, Paris, New York, a city I pay an arm and a leg to live in (less lucky) and yet so often I end up letting my hair down in the way everyone across the UK lets their hair down - going to a pub and drinking prosecco. Now going to a pub and drinking prosecco with friends is always going to be my staple, but I want to be better at branching out once in a while, and getting out of my London rut.

When I started Loner. Lover. Friend, I wrote a post where I compared London life to having a really expensive gym membership - one with all the add ons - free towels, a steam room, someone who irons your shirts (yes there are some city gyms that do that!) And like having one of those expensive gym memberships, there is no point having it if a) you don't use it at all or b) you do use it but you just go on the treadmill, you bring your own towel, you never get anyone to iron your shirts. My point is, why the flip do I pay so much to live in a city if all I am doing is going to the pub on a Friday night? (Which also is probably more crowded and less pretty than a lot of pubs all over the country. And it routinely costs £5-£6 for a pint.) I need to take my own medicine and start using London's steam rooms and getting it to iron my shirt.

Now that might be going to an amazing restaurant, trotting down to a cat village or going to the theatre. Or it could be a weird combination of all 3 of those things, like in my little list below. (Without the cats actually, sorry for getting yours hopes up there). A lot of these nights out are pretty top secret, and don't let you take pictures, so I am afraid we'll just have to stick with Cate Blanchett's face summing up all my emotions about my time there:


1. Time run 

So worth every penny in that £30, even though they didn't include even a single glass of prosecco with the ticket price. Say whaaat. Without giving too much away, Time Run was this amazing experience where in our little group of 6 (it is for groups of 3-6) we went through different time portals, finding ourselves in rooms full of clues and things to do. Basically like Crystal Maze but maybe better, and less pressured without all the mula to win. I am now looking for my next Time Run-esq thing to do, and am tempted by this one - Clue Quest, which looks pretty similar. Maybe I will just become a clue fanatic and travel the world doing all the different quests, and be in the guinness book of records for my quick clue solving times. Maybe not, but definitely am planning on taking Will and my family to one soon.

2. The Gingerline

Gingerline is sort of the original "pop up restaurant in a secret location" which is now what approx. 47% of London restaurants now are. When I headed down there for their Chamber of Flavours, it was weird and wonderful on a whole new level. It is the sort of night that is so bizarre it is tricky to talk about without sounding like you are making it up. At work the next day, colleague: how are you today Vicky, did you get up to anything last night? me: I went to this place nearby with a couple of my friends, where after getting in a coffin and being pushed through a flap, we ate our starter in a treehouse and picked it from the trees, drank cocktails in an adult sized ball pit, had dessert on a flight simulator with a drag queen air hostess, before taking a huge slide back into the bar area for some drinks. What did you do?

3. The Lost Lectures

Enchanting talks in enchanting places. I've been to a couple of Lost Lecture talks now, which are all about taking learning out of musty old lecture theatres, putting them somewhere fun, and getting a few interesting people who are experts in everything from jelly to global inequality to take it in turn to talk for 20 mins. A ticket to them makes a great present for people who like to learn (like Dads) and you come away having laughed, got all emotional and having learnt some really cool stuff. One thing that really sticks with me is learning about a parasite which may affect what the infected are afraid of. For example when mice have it, it makes them weirdly attracted to cat urine, rather than afraid of it (cos cat pee = cat nearby, not so good for mice) and they end up getting eaten, and then passing that parasite on to the cat. Weirder still, 40-50% of humans in the world are infected.


4. Immersive theatre

The first time I went to an immersive theatre experience, it was at Battersea Arts Centre, and my friend Lucy and I went to support our friend Liz, who was volunteering for the event. I got in a wardrobe, knocked on the back as I had been instructed, and then crawled through an opening into a tunnel lined with clothes before coming out the other end where there was a woman in her underwear who insisted that I dress her, and then she accessorised me. Later I got kidnapped in the back of a van, and some youths rapped at me. It was nice. And again, great water cooler conversation. That was a few years ago, and ever since Liz, Lucy and I find ourselves keeping an eye out for theatre we get to play a part in, as it is just so weird and funny. We've been to a great one by the National Theatre, and I am keen to go Punch Drunk which I've heard really good things about, and are meant to be the bees knees of immersive theatre.


PS. A crazy cool thing to do in London that is partly about all the booze. 

Copyrights: Cate Blanchett via pinterest

3 ways to brunch with baked ricotta

Raspberry meringue baked ricotta (recipe 3 below) with wholemeal seeded waffles and maple syrup

Happy Sunday!

I hope you've had a lovely weekend so far, and are in for a lovely lazy day today. I am gearing up for a day of pottering, after having spent some of yesterday at Quaglino's near Green Park enjoying a bottomless prosecco brunch with some of my old school friends. I am really into the bottomless prosecco brunch thing (I have one next weekend too!) and am sort of tempted to put together a post on my favourites, but it would just be all the ones I've ever been to, as I don't think anywhere has given me limitless prosecco and I've decided I don't like it!

I went to see Benedict Cumberbatch in Hamlet and he wasn't that good (Kidding! Made you look!)

Kidding!! Made you look!

As predicted he was excellent.

My amazing friend Lucy got Barbican membership and kept refreshing her screen for 7 hours over a year ago to get tickets to the crazily sell out production of Hamlet, starring oscar award nominee, and Laurence Olivier award winner (twice!!) Benedict Cumberbatch this year. I went with my 3 friends (btw by coincidence, all married and man that is a weird moment when you realise everyone else is going home to their huuusbaands - said in my head in a Beyonce accent - and you are suddenly like shit, I really am a grown up. The income tax and that mortgage isn't lying.) Anyhoo my point is, Hamlet in general and Benedict in particular were marvellous.

Be aware if you don't know Hamlet this post does have some spoilers!

I know a few Shakespeare plays quite well having studied him all the way through school and then my degree, and I probably know Hamlet the best as that was my A2 Shakespeare. I have always been a bit of a Shakespeare fan, at one point as a teenager I went through a weird obsession phase where I had a "Shakespeare notebook" with a picture of Shakespeare on the front (it came like that) and loads of my favourite sonnets and lines from plays inside, sometimes with clippings of Leonardo Di Caprio playing Romeo, or Joseph Fiennes playing Will himself (it did not come like that).

I have grown out of Shakespeare scrapbooking but in all serious, I do agree with Ben Jonson (who wrote a foreward to Shakespeare's collected works back when they were released in 1623) that Shakespeare really was "not for an age, but for all time" - for me, he really taps into what it like to be human, he has good stories, and his poetry is shit hot.

Back to Shakespeare today, (or last week for me) at the Barbican: the set was incredible, goodness knows how it was so big and I do not envy whoever cleared it up at the end of the night as there is so much going on on it. (And not because they have to clean up knickers that have been thrown by Cumberbitches, though apparently that does happen).

All the performances, not just Benedict's were spot on, and made me see the play in a different way. Polonius, who I have not really cared for before I found a really funny character, and I slightly warmed to his nosey busybody personality, and was dreading him getting stabbed. Ophelia, who - this sounds horrible but - I often see as a pretty weak and pathetic character, had so much dimension and I liked her too (in part because of her fabulous wardrobe of mustard yellow jumpers and cool lacey monochrome dresses which is sort of the look I am going for this Autumn too). When she commits suicide, it felt so poignant and so tragic. Even Claudius himself seemed both scarier than usual, but also still had that fear of being found out that makes a baddy believable. (Played by the King-beyond- the-wall Ciaran Hinds).

Having studied Hamlet all the way through my final year at school, and barely glanced at it since, it was interesting to revisit the play 10 years later (oh good grief it is 10 years ago that I was in year 13). It occurred to me a little bit of what Hamlet seemed to be having - aside from the death of his father, the ghost of his father, the marriage of his mum to his uncle, and the fact he is a prince - a bit of a quarter life crisis. The standard realisation that you are a grown up, your parents are just people, the relationship you are currently in may be the one you stay in forever, and you've inadvertently made a decision about what job you'll be doing the rest of your life. Ok, so there is a much more suicidal depression running along for Hamlet, but never the less it was interesting to visit it as someone a little bit older. The question of whether Hamlet is mad (did he really see the ghost of his father) is one of the key themes in Hamlet, but mad or not, looking at Hamlet now, I recognise he definitely had some serious mental health issues, very bad depression, and as a grown up I empathise with that far more than I did in school, and Hamlet (play not the man) gets a little more interesting because of it.

Yet despite all of this, the wonder of Shakespeare (and some great comic timing by Benedict Cumberbatch and the cast) is that there are still some bits that you laugh at, and you don't walk away feeling like utter crap and a bit sad face, but more pleased as punch you did something so damn cultural on a Tuesday night.

Ok, so it would be silly for me to be like "yeah just go and get some tickets" as they are difficult as hell to come by (and fyi they check ID with the name of the person on the ticket on the door so there is no point buying a super expensive ticket off ebay) but my main take away from this is I would like to see Shakespeare more often please. How lucky I am to live in the country he was born, and in the city where his plays are constantly on. If you are desperadoes to get tickets to see Benedict because you are a massive Cumberbitch, then you can try and get one of the on the day tickets, by waiting outside the Barbican before they open at 9 (though I've heard those go like hot cakes).

I was a good girl, and like asked by Benedict, took no photos of the show so I can't share them, but what I will share is this short clip of Beyonce and her huuuussband singing Coldplay, just because:

PS. More things for cultural cumberbitches.

Copyright for top photo - Evening Standard

Carter's Steam Fair - When not to wear your favourite Hawaiian mini dress

The other weekend I headed to Carter's Steam Fair. Now I love even the roughest around the edges of fairs - when I was a teenager, the night the fair came to my local town was one of the best ones of the year: candy floss and rides that turned you upside down, followed by sleepovers and smirnoff ices and karaoke at my friend's nearby house. But Carter's Steam Fair is not like the typical fairgrounds that have toured England since the 1980s, it is like one out of Carousel or The Notebook, though with no Ryan Gosling to clamber up the Ferris Wheel and ask you out. *emoji of the man with the gritted teeth here*.

I first discovered it on one of my biggest blog crushes - Take Courage. To see Carter's Steam Fair in all it's glory, head here to read Cat's piece Strangers on a Train and look at her absolutely beautiful photograph's of Carter's Steam Fair.

My experience was not quite as instagram worthy as Cat's, it was more skirts flying up across my face on the banana boat, blinding me whilst revealing my knickers to everyone on the right half of the ride, whilst I was powerless to stop it as letting go meant falling off... so less of a kodak moment, but crying with fear on the Ghost Train and laughter at the Banana Boat pant incident- well Carter's certainly was fun.

Basically the lesson is, if you are going to take gorgeous atmospheric photographs of the fair, then dressing in a fabulous vintage mini dress which was originally purchased in a Hawaiian gift shop in the 50s makes sense. If however you are going to go on the Banana boat, wear trousers.

It's doing a little tour round London (next stop Stoke Newington) this summer, and then tours throughout the UK - you can have a look where they are next by visiting their website here.

Photo by Bessie Jewels

PS. Peckish for Korean food in Bethnal Green?

An east London bucket list

You know when you go to a party and you know that you'll see that boy you kissed who never texted, or the bloke you had a thing with but he let it just fizzle out, and you want to look damn good in hope that he feels a bit sad he let you go.

I don't think I've ever managed to do that - whenever there is any sort of occasion where I want to look nice, I crumble under the pressure and start experimenting with lilac eyeshadow and micro minis...

But today I've been out and about riding pedalos in Victoria Park, and strolling around Bethnal Green and she's certainly made me feel bad about leaving her. Sunshine, blossom galore on all the trees, people bustling around with arms full of fresh flowers from the Columbia Road flower market or sitting in Victoria Park drinking Sri Lankan chai tea and eating peanut butter and pomegranate tartines. Waaaaaaaa.

I am going to miss Bethnal Green so much when I move - eating artisan cheese at Broadway market on Saturday, buying flowers at Columbia road market and eating burritos on Brick Lane on Sunday... running and brunching in Victoria Park, eating and drinking out on Paradise Row, and just feeling so darn in the centre of everything.

So I've been trying to make sure I do all the things I wanted to do in and around Bethnal Green before I go. I will still work in Shoreditch, Bethy G's snazzier neighbour, so I figure I'll still get to hang around plenty there, but who knows how often I will stumble that extra half a mile down Bethnal Green Road...

Some of my favourite things for me to remember (or do this week if I haven't done them yet!) and things for you to do if you are around the area:

1. Flower shop on Sundays at Columbia Road
I love the crowds on Columbia road, and go and pick up flowers from there almost every Sunday. I head there just before the market closes at 3 when you can get some really good deals. Will finds the market crowds too much, but I don't mind it for a little while, and my walk there through the lovely little east London square is dreamy too. I once attempted to take slightly better photos on my big camera there, so will do a throwback post of all the beautiful Columbia road flowers soon...

2. Go and see a movie for less than a fiver at Richmix or Genesis
In these times of £12.50 Vue cinema tickets, I feel pleased as punch that I have not 1 but 2 cinemas where I can catch a flick for less than a fiver. At the top end of Bethnal Green road, you can see any film at Richmix for £5 (£6 if 3D) on Mondays or Tuesdays if you have an Idea store library card. And Richmix is probably the nicest and cleanest cinema I have ever been in - it does lots of foreign and art house films, plus some pretty wonderful events too. You can go and see a film (and eat pie!!) at Genesis cinema in Whitechapel for £4 on Mondays.

3. Pedalo on the lake in Victoria Park
Finally one of my bucket list dreams was fulfilled today (!) when my pal Rebecca and I went for a stroll, an oatmeal and raisin cookie and juice at the Pavillion (aaah) and half an hour on the pedalos in Victoria park. Much harder than I thought it would be, but that means I am going to count it as one of my exercises for the week...

Sorry for the scanky trainers...

4. Brunch at Bistrotechque
Pavillion does great brunches (as well as great cookies and juice) but the bookableness of Bistrotechque and the jazz pianist boosts it up in my book. Bistrotechque is a bit of a curve ball in terms of location, it is in the dodgier bit of Bethnal Green and tricky to find first time, but swanky and cool. It feels like you might be in New York. And the white decor and bloody maries are all you could possibly want and need on a hangover.

5. Vintage markets on Brick Lane
I'm sure I'll still pop to Brick Lane when I live South of the river, but it will be sad to not have it 10 minutes from my house when I am craving vintage clothing and market food. One of my favourite London memories is of walking home from the bus stop with my housemates, down Brick Lane after a night out South of the river. It was 4 something in the morning, and all the market stalls were setting up and it made me feel all triumphant about staying out so late (as I am generally an early to bed kinda gal).

6. Early morning swim in London fields lido
I went for my first swim outdoors of 2015 on Tuesday evening, and it broke my heart it could be one of my last outdoor swims in London fields lido. The place is heaving on sunny weekends, but fine on a pleasant evening after work. I am going to try it in the mornings before I go, though I sort of regret never taking a wintery dip there. Maybe I will have to save that for my new local lido when I move...

7. Pottery at Hackney City Farm
Hackney City farm - another fabulous breakfast venue, somewhere you can also see baby chicks and lambs and humongous pig and also pottery! My friend and Katy went there a couple of weeks ago, and once my pots have been in the kiln I'll be writing up a little review soon.

8. Go to the Tower of London for £1
If you live in the borough of Tower Hamlets, and you have a library card, you can go to the Tower of London for one bloomin pound instead of £22! That is a 95% off!

9. Tea at Tiosk
I am more of a green tea kinda girl than a coffee one, so this coffee shop for tea drinkers (though the do sell all the coffees too) is perfect for me. Every tea under the sun, perfect for taking away and then artistically strolling with through London Fields.

10. Breakfast at E. Pellici's
Quite possibly the thing I will miss the most about Bethnal Green is crossing over the road for breakfast at E. Pellici's every Saturday. Sure their fry up is damn good - think proper meaty sausages, freshly made hashbrowns and expertly grilled tomatoes, but the best thing are the people who work there. They are all such wonderfully friendly and eccentric people filling the little art deco cafe with chatter which switches seamlessly from Cockney to Italian. Every time I go in, they seem to be genuinely interested in how my week is going, want to show me pictures of their adorable babies, tease my boyfriend about his gym work out (the main guy walks past the gym window and sees him every day), treat me to custard tarts and the whole thing just gets my weekend off to such a great start. I will sorely sorely miss the Pellicis. You shouldn't come to Bethnal Green without a trip there (but FYI as an Italian Catholic family, E. Pellici's is of course closed on Sundays).

10 more to come in another post next weekend, but for now, I am off to enjoy this lovely evening sunshine, hope it is shining wherever you are too!

If you want to catch the rest of my list fosho, feel free to follow me on bloglovin! 

A quick review of Letters Live

Yesterday evening I went with my sister to the opening night of the five night stint of Letter's Live - a production where acclaimed and celebrated actors read aloud to an audience beautiful and important letters written by both super famous people and very ordinary people and in one case, a fictional person. 

It was held at the Freemason's Hall in Covent Garden (a beautiful building built in the 18th century, and historically a meeting place for the Freemasons - is it only me who can't help but envisage the Simpson's Stonecutters as soon as Freemasons are mentioned? anyhoo...) it's a building I've always wanted to go in, and was almost - but not quite - as beautiful as the letters themselves.

Letters Live, which has previously popped up at Hay Literary Festival, at the Edinburgh Fringe and the Southbank Centre to name just a few, describes itself as "a celebration of the enduring power of literary correspondance" and I guess that describes it just right.

The event certainly pulled in the big names this time, with Benedict Cumberbatch reading every night, alongside plenty of other amazing thinkers and performers - Russell Brand, Caitlin Moran, Richard Holloway, Juliet Stevenson and Louise Brealey to name a few. Tom Odell provided a few musical interludes, songs about letters ending on Fats Waller, "I am going to sit down and write myself a letter" which suited Tom's folksy slow rockish spin so perfectly.

There were rofl-icious letters, like the letter to (and reply from) Barbara Bush by Marge Simpson, Nick's Cave letter to MTV asking for his nomination for best male artist to be withdrawn (no thank you - he's not competitive), and the memo from South Park movie creators to the agency which rated the age certificate suitable for the film. "Although it is not animated yet, we put a new storyboard in for clarification in the scene with Saddam Hussein's penis. The intent is you never see Saadam's real penis, he is in fact using a dildo both times"...

And then there were letters that actually made me well up and cry a little, and I got so invested in these other people's relationships, even though they had only been read for 5 minutes and I hadn't even heard of the penman or the recipient before yesterday. So many beautiful letters from men and women so desperately in love with someone who had left them - by dying, by falling out of love, by just being a bit crap. 

In someways I sort of felt like I was intruding in some private space of the people who had written them, they were never meant for my eyes and ears after all. But mainly it was everything to see all that love and all that humour in all these letters, to sit and wonder about the writers and to remember how similar and connected we are as humans, regardless of where we are from, the troubles we are facing or which century we are living in.

I wonder if in 100 years time, people will read my drunken love texts to Will and think they are a beautiful and real expression of love?! Looking at the last drunk text I sent Will (future text readers would have to sort their way through quite a lot of "I'll be 15 mins" and "did you remember to get the chicken out to defrost?" if they decided to look for my love texts) it reads "I love you! Now where are you and my creme egg mcflurry?" Maybe not the stuff of theatre... 

I panic bought tickets to Live Letters, not even know who I could spiel into going, thought about selling them and I am just so glad I did go, and I said yes, made me realise I really should do it more often!

And by the end of the night I felt like quite the cultural biatch. Or should I say cumberbitch....

It is pretty tricky to get tickets to Letters Live in Freemason's Hall now, but you can try here, or otherwise keep your eye out for the next lot here.

And finally a couple of videos to help you procrastinate! Fats Waller and Homer Simpson:

Like the sounds of Letters Live - how about Hay Festival?

Have you seen 50 shades of Grey?

Ok. Probably yes, as I realise I am a bit late to the party on this one, I haven't even read the books!

On Monday, I headed with 3 of my best girlfriends to Genesis cinema in Whitechapel (£4 for a ticket on a Monday! In central London!) to watch the long anticipated film version of that book, and eat pie and mash (oh yes, it ain't just nachos at Genesis, they offer a whole new level of carbs...)

I, like everyone else in the world, heard quite a lot about the book when it became such a huge mummy porn sensation back in 2011, increasing sales of kindles, as so many people didn't want anyone to know that was what they were reading it on the tube!

Even the weekend the film came out, I heard the London fire brigade on the radio saying they were expecting to see a rise in 999 calls from people handcuffed to beds and wotnot, as they saw an increase when the book was at its peak!

So my thoughts on the movie were mainly, I found Jamie Dornan very attractive (though maybe not as attractive as I thought, was it just me or did other people find he looked almost off-puttingly like a bear cub when he smiled?) and the film in general very funny. There were sections where we were crying with laughter: when Jamie Dornan (ok Christian Grey) kept on putting those ill fitted sex jeans on with such drama whenever he went in the playroom (just think how gross they'd be by now in real life with all the action and bodily fluids they are getting), the bit where he ate a large bit of her toast in a seductive way, the use of fashionable homeware and accessories as foreplay - stroking Anastasia with a peacock feather and then a leather tassle. Pretty sure I have saw both of those in the accessories section of Forever 21 the other day actually.

But the funniest thing of all was the whole idea of the book/movie -

Anastasia: "Are we going to make love now?"
Christian Grey: "Not until I have your written consent"

How every average relationship starts no?

And what that written consent is - a contract- is crazy! (Again, sorry that most of the world has already had this revelation!) See a physician of his choice to prescribe oral contraception, limit your alcohol intake, exercise regularly, only eat a list of approved foods?? The S&M stuff is one thing, but telling a girl she can't have that third glass of wine after a tough Friday at work? Hells no.

So you get the gist, although doing well at the box office, the film has done less well with the critics, but it can be rofls galore if you approach it in the right way.

Having said that, the day after International Women's Day (Sunday 8th), going to a film about a "dream man" who sure is rich and attractive, but ultimately ridonculously controlling did leave me with a little bit of a sour taste in my mouth.

In loads of ways, you could argue 50 shades has sexually liberated thousands of women, and is credited with getting couples all over the country back into the bedroom after dry spells. But why are women turned on by this? What is the appeal of being the exception to the rule of basically a bad man? Being the one girl this not that nice and respectful man allows to actually sleep beside him after sex, allows to touch him, approves them going on dinner dates?

Ok, there has never been a super hot billionaire in my life trying to control me, but I like most girls have been attracted to the not so nice boy who hardly has an excellent cv when it comes to women and dating, and wished that I will be the one he makes a proper commitment to, the one he properly falls for. And it has never worked out...

E.L James' book, the film, the franchise could never have been made without the women who marched and burnt their bras and demanded for women to be seen as equals with the right to make our own choices. Written by a woman and read mainly by women, a certain amount of sexual liberation had to happen for a book like this to be adopted and a-oked by popular culture.

But even in that freedom to read and write and watch things like 50 shades of Grey, it almost demonstrates we are back where we started. All those women shouting "What do we want - freedom of choice!" And what do we choose... a rich man to provide for us, basically at the cost of our freedom. Yes, with freedom and self sufficiency comes some difficult things - Mr. Grey tells Anastasia how nice it is being a submissive, how comforting it is, how you don't have anything to worry about...maybe a bit like a child or a 1950s housewife? Sort of feels like we are back 60 years ago.

So I think, if you don't mind a film being a bit "so bad its good", then go and see 50 shades of Grey if you haven't yet, especially if you can do for just £4. But that doesn't mean we should forget that our right and ability to choose, is actually probably better than having a rich and hot billionaire as a beau. Even one as hot as Jamie Dornan.

"If you live long enough, you'll see that every victory turns into a defeat." 
 (Simone de Beauvoir)

Corr blimey that was a little bit like going back to uni and writing an essay on popular culture and feminism. Fancy something a little lighter that you can do with your pals? How about an afternoon tea?

"You will attend an important event one day in November." Happy Chinese New Year!

As I waffled on about in my last post "A Valentine's message from Gwyneth and I" I really embrace any reason to celebrate in the soggy, grey early months of the year. Something to put a little spring in my step, even if the season is still a couple of months away.

Although (as you may have guessed from my photo) I have no Chinese heritage, for the past few years living in London, I've headed into Chinatown to celebrate Chinese New Year. London's Chinatown, though not able to compete in size with the Chinatowns stateside, is still such a vibrant and unique part of the city, which comes even more alive for the new year.

On Thursday, the first day of Chinese New Year, 7 pals and I started off with bellinis at the National Portrait Gallery restaurant bar - a restaurant I am now desperadoes to try out because of its amazing views of the west end, from Trafalgar Square to the House of Commons. We then headed on to Tao Tao Ju, one of the 80+ Chinese restaurants in the group of streets behind Leceister Square, and drank Tsing Tao and feasted on prawn toast, spicy ribs, fried seaweed, chicken dumplings, crispy beef, chicken in black bean sauce and more food I don't want to list anymore as I am starting to feel sick and yet impressed at how much I ate. All for the pricely sum of 20 smackeroons.

And the best thing about Chinese is obvs the fortune cookies.

Last year I got the loveliest fortune ever, which I still have stuck with blue tac to my computer at work, in hope that it will come true:

Happiness will be you for the longest time.

This year my friends and I got a few that made me rofl a bit. (But maybe in part because I was full of bellinis and beer).

You will attend an important event one day in November. (Received by my friend Clare, I enjoy how specific the fortune cookie writer has gone with that one).

Whether you choose love or fame, you can handle it. (Received by my friend Steve, who then started his pros and cons list of which one to choose)

If you don't dream too extravagant, they will come true. (A cynical fortune cookie there sent to my colleague Zina.)

And mine (I had 2, piggy).

Dancing is just like walking to music. (Hells yes)

You have a wild imagination. (True dat)

Happy Chinese New Year everyone! If you're in town, this Sunday festivities will fully overtake China town to celebrate the dawn of the year of the sheep. Check out other ways to celebrate here.

I've stopped labelling posts loner, lover or friend in the title, but you can still see everything split out by clicking on the pages or the labels at the bottom, and I am still gonna keep a completely even mix of the 3. (Someone might have noticed I owe you a lover post, as I skipped it, it is on its way). Some more ideas of things to do in London with your pals? Check out "Friend: My favourite London afternoon teas"

Korean food and cocktails with bourbon and prosecco (that taste nice, seriously)

I grew up in a happy and lovely but sleepy suburb, and as a 15 year old it was a pretty exciting thing when my Friday night plan was not to stay at home and watch TV, but to go and split a Margherita (cheese and tomato kind) and tap water with my pals in Pizza Express.

I'd pull on my super unflattering, midrift and hip flab revealing, ultra low slung jeans that we also used to wear, my trusty kitten heels and be really pleased with my £4.74 night out. I'd be picked up by my Dad, home by 10:30pm and had basically zero chance of meeting a boy or anything more thrilling happening than a whole Sloppy Giuseppe to myself, but I looked forward to those nights, and saved my pocket money up for them. (Obvs I realise a whole Sloppy Giuseppe pizza is still one of the most thrilling nights a girl can have, but you get the gist).

When I went to uni in Manchester, and even more so when I moved to London for work, I went out to nice and interesting places to eat all the time, more as a way to avoid having to cook dinner than because I saw it as anything exciting. Instead of looking forward to cocktails and dinner, I started to see it as the norm, and actually if anything sometimes I got more excited by a night where all I had to do was eat soup and cheese and watch the telly.

The lack of contrast between nights in and nights out meant that even when something interesting and memorable hit me bang smack in the face, I didn't really appreciate it.

So when I started Loner. Lover. Friend, part of my reasoning was that I might have more nights in writing this blog, but by writing about things and by having more nights at home, I'd start to appreciate how lucky I am to live in such a vibrant and amazing city. I'd start making reservations again. I'd research places to go, rather than stumbling into the nearest happy hour I'd been to one thousand times before. I'd begin again to think about what outfit to wear to dinner, or at the very least put some extra lippy on in the work toilets before heading out.

Having said all that, sometimes on a very very chilly Monday evening, after a very very long day at work, a girl just needs to go somewhere where it is totally appropriate to wear your ugg boots, have messy hair and just have someone cook for you while you share a bottle of red with one of your best pals.

Enter Hurwendeki, Bethnal Green. Korean Restauarant/ Hair Salon/ Coffee shop in the best way possible.

Photo by Bessie Jewels

My friend Beth has started getting her haircut there - it costs just £14 and they do a lovely job and you don't have to sit in a "salon" that looks like Mr. Toppers. Like, its an actual salon and everything. We wanted to try out the restaurant part, so we headed there on Monday night, armed with a Tesco's half price bottle of red (it's BYOB, amazing, I know).

The first thing that made me realise this was not going to be just a slightly prentious and hipsterish attempt at a Korean restaurant (I mean where other than London's east end would you find a salon-coffee shop-Asian restaurant hybrid) and was potentially something more authentic, was that there were Korean people eating and cooking there.

The new trendy Asian cuisine, now that Thai, Chinese, Indian and even Vietnamese are old news, I have been to a couple of "Koreans" in my time, which have largely focussed on kimchi and the spicy but delicious Korean fried chicken. (Jubo and Japanese Canteen I've found do particularly good ones).

I was surprised to find no KFC (as in Korean Fried Chicken, not the Colonel's) on the menu, but I guess the menu was a more authentic one, ticking off a few of the Korean classics - bimbibap and kimchi - but also had lots of dishes I hadn't seen at the KFC joints: like Jeon - Korean style pancakes, and jiggae - Korean style stews.

Beth and I shared a portion of kimchi and seafood pancakes (as it is almost pancake day) which was squid and kimchi in what tasted like crepe mixture, but it actually really worked. We polished it all off.

For mains, I had samgyeopsal - crispy pork belly (just remembered that name off the top of my head....naaaaaat) with kimchi and doenjang (a soy bean paste) sauce.

Beth had chicken bulgogi - a Korean style barbeque with rice and vegetables. It was all fabulous.

We also added a portion of crispy seaweed - a healthier but not quite as moreish a version as the Chinese one covered in salt and chilli.

The wait staff were so lovely, and best of all it was super cheap. £26 for both of us!

Which meant it was completely ok, to sneak in an £8 cocktail or two in Satan's Whiskers on the way home.

I've never actually been in Satan's Whiskers before, though I've walked past the bar whose window looks a little bit like a display at the Horniman museum which has collided with  hipster pop up bar: a taxidermied badger in the window shaking a cocktail shaker, the skeleton of what I think is a dog, birds and snakes, frozen and stuffed, candles and cocktails.

Inside the dim lighting give it a speakeasy feel, but the 90s hip hop music assures you you are very much in 2015, or at least some year after 1994.

We drank rebel flip's - an adventurous mix of bourbon and prosecco, and it was delicious o' clock.

Costs:

Check out Hurwundeki here, and Satan's Whisker's here.
I've started leaving out whether I've categorised something as Loner, Lover or Friend in the subtitle, as some of them were getting a little lengthy, and I figured the Lonely ones fosho might look a bit weird on bloglovin...

But for another yummy places to eat with a pal, check out Forza Win - Friend: Eat melted cheese with everything at Forza Win(ter)

Friend: 9 ways to be a better pal in 2015

Ok, so I am not really qualified at all to tell you how to be a better pal. I have no degrees or A-Levels in pyschology or anything to do with human friendship and interaction, however I did just spend 43 minutes dragging my arse (which seems to have grown by realistically 1 stone but feels like 147 over Christmas) around Victoria Park trying to distract myself from all the pain of my first January run by thinking about the things I do that make me good and bad at friendship. So that is something. I think when it comes to me and friendship, there is certainly room for improvement. I am not a bad friend in an Eastenders way - I am not sleeping with my friend's boyfriend and plotting to kill them - just I could do better. I could be the one to text first more, make myself more available, be a little more supportive. So I guess this post should really be called "How I am going to be a better pal this year" but I am hoping there are some thoughts in there that anyone who reads this can take with them too.

Over Christmas I watched Sex and the City the movie for the first time in years and then inspired dusted off the box set. The big love stories in that series aren't between Carrie and Big, or Charlotte and Harry, or Steve and Miranda, they are between the girls themselves. And it made me realise, I don't have friendships quite like that. I do have many wonderful wonderful friends, who I really love and who make me laugh, make me cry, make me want to be a lovelier person; but I don't see them or speak to them every day - which the SATC crew seem to do even though they don't live together - , not all of them know the most up to date and most intimate details of my life, I don't know who I'd pick as my bridesmaids if I was getting married tomorrow, nor indeed who if anyone would pick me.

In a lot of sitcoms around friendship - Friends, How I Met your Mother, the Big Bang Theory, Sex and the City people seem to have practically no friends outside of the group. Who in real life has that?? 4 friends of course would be pretty manageable, but in reality we have loads and the numbers just grow and grow as we get older, when our spare time gets smaller and smaller (and if you are me, your bedtime gets earlier and earlier).

Easy peasy to put time into your friendships when you are 12. Sure you are not so dramatic and fall out over your friend copying you and buying the same pencil case nowadays, but back then take you really did put in the hours. You had to - you were legally obliged to go to school, which handily is where all your pals hung out. At university, sure I had a little side project - "getting a degree" - but whatever, my main project was friendship, and I had all the time in the world to work on it. And indeed the energy - I was never so tired at the end of the week that watching TV, eating pizza and going to bed at 11 seemed like a better idea than going out.

But now the hours each day I put into working, and indeed sleeping, has increased ten fold (ok that is an exaggeration), and I have a boyfriend. Bloody hell, and that is a drain on your time and energy if ever there was one. And cocktail nights with the girls cost like 6 times as much now we are no longer satisfied with mixing white wine, vodka and red bull in a mixing bowl, and pouring it in a glass with an umbrella in it.

So how can you have friends like Friends, whilst living in the real world? Well, I am not sure whether it is always possible, but these are the 9 things I am going to vow to do in 2015 to make me a little bit of a better pal.

1. Respect my friends are different from me, and that is ok. So I was tempted to put a collage of me and all my pals on various drunken and silly nights out, and then I thought, "hey my friends might not want me to post unflattering photos of them tipsy on the internet for anyone who wants to to see" so ta da. No collage. I am not really the most private person, so posting my innermost thoughts on the worldwide web isn't particularly scary for me. Similarly I'll tell my friends everything and anything, and I associate that open-ness with friendship. But actually, everyone is different and just because your friend doesn't fancy sharing intimate details of their sex life/ that they are applying for a new job/ how much they hate their future mother-in-law etc doesn't mean they're not a friend. People are different, my friends are different from me, that is what makes the world, and our friendship, interesting.

2. It is never weird to send that text/card/email etc. You see a picture a celeb posts on instagram that reminds you of a trip you've taken with your pal, but you haven't spoken in ages. You remember it's your friend's birthday and you see a card they would find hilarious, but you don't send each other cards, you normally just text. You see a cute little present which is super cheap, and is perfect for them, but there is no occassion. The number of times I haven't done the nicer thing because I am wary of coming over too nice - creepy. But unless the person who is sending me pictures/cards/texts because they "thought of me" is actually some weird man I gave my number to 4 years ago, I don't find it creepy, I find it flattering and sweet. So this year when I have a nice thought, I am going to act on it.

3. Do one better. Not as in "oh thank you for your £10 gift voucher here is a £50 0ne", trying to do one better than you friend, but make a bit more of a quality contact than you normally would. Eg. if you're friend has taken a fun photo on instagram, and you're about to place a comment, why not send a text instead, saying how you love it and asking how they are? If you're friend asks whether you are free one night and you're not, instead of sending a text explaining why you can't make it, why not call them, explain on the phone and have a little catch up? Obvs you can't do it every time, and of course there are types of contact which are completely out of proportion to what you want to say (don't ask your friend to meet you for cafe just to tell them you found their tweet lols galore).

4. Speaking of which...use a phone. I always text or meet up with someone, but there is a middle ground which is nicer than a text and not as time consuming as going for a coffee and that is the phone. The blooming phone. In 2015 I am going to start using minutes again, you know those things people put on your phone contract alongside data and texts.

4. Give better gifts. I think here is one where I don't score too badly - I am, as I waffle on about constantly, a fan of the experience gift, but you can't afford and it might be a bit showy if you were constantly taking even your mate you only saw a couple of times a year to afternoon tea at the Ritz. But there are always those pals you give chocolates too, or random earrings from New Look who you could get more thoughtful gifts to, without it breaking the bank. Instead of buying a bottle of wine, what about making your own amaretto? (It's really easy).  Perhaps make them a salt scrub, instead of getting them bath bits.

5. Manage expectations. Originally this post was going to be about a hoola hoop festival I was going to with my friend Rowan, because even though I was busy pretty much all of Saturday with prior commitments, I told myself and Rowan I'd swing by for a couple of hours. Of course I bloody couldn't, my time is like my money, I am always trying to spend more than I have. From now on I am going to take Will's advice from his time selling kitchens: tell people expectations you can definitely meet, and then you have the chance to exceed them.

6. Merge your social circles. When I was younger, the worst thing in the world was when my "best friend" started hanging out with someone else, especially if I thought that someone else was closer to me. Two friends who I met first hanging out without me was to be avoided at all cost, but now I am all about the merging. Inviting uni friends to work friends drinks if they are passing by, inviting a school friend I've just had coffee with to come with me on a night out with my old housemates, and inviting Will everywhere, the lucky man. Having compartmentalised groups of friends means you are spread way more thinnly.

7. But on the flip side - still make time for one on one time. A lot of this post has been about the little things, but they don't undermine the importance of the big things. Dinners where it is just the two of you, old style girly sleepovers and spa breaks are going to be the things that keep you feeling like they are one of your best friends.

8. Be creative when it comes to finding time. My friend Rowan (the hoola hooper) work relatively near each other, but slightly too far apart for a lunch break together and we move in completely different circles meaning regular group trips to the pub, or dinners out are not so common. But we breakfast. Get up a little earlier for work, and we normally go to Dishoom for a chai tea and bacon naan roll which is more than worth setting your alarm early for starters, but getting to start your day chatting to your mate is absolutely worth missing 30 mins snoozing your alarm for.

Dishoom. Mmmm.

9. Be more supportive. Cheer more marathons, applaud more performance, eat more bake-off cupcakes. But I also want to be more supportive in the humdrum every day - not be as argumentative and not be so quick to pick holes in their ideas. I don't mean to be critical of my friends, but it is my tendency to be argumentative (not in a confrontional way, but I do like playing the devil's advocate) and I like to share what is on my mind. But instead my mantra for this year will be "does it need to be said and do I need to be the one to say it".

The bit that always makes me cry in "It's a wonderful life". Waaaaaa Christmas is over.

Phew that was a long one! Fancy something shorter and easier? This one is basically all pictures...well GIFs even better...Lover: the pros and cons of moving in with your boyfriend as told by Beyonce's Visual Album

Friend: Mum and daughter red wine drinking at Vinopolis

So as I am desperately still clinging to it being Christmas goddamit, I am going to file this under gift ideas, even though regrettably I know most Christmas gifts will already have been given by now. But you know, just in case there is someone out there somewhere who is having a belated Christmas celebration, or indeed you have someone in your life with one of those pesky January birthdays so you have to rack your brain for presents twice in one month. Or indeed your family are still in town, then this could be a thought if you need something to do with your days which isn't playing charades and eating stilton (though why anyone would want to stop doing that I don't know).

If you know me or have read Loner. Lover. Friend before, you'll know I am a big fan of the experience present - taking someone somewhere wonderful, giving them a nice memory to keep, rather than a gift.

Normally, I am quite good at thinking of things people will enjoy, if I do say so myself, (very hard for me not to break into Jay Z Drunk in Love rapping here FYI) but when it came to my Mum's birthday at the end of September I had a little trouble.

Previously I've taken my mum to Afternoon teas, and silent cinemas and had some good, albeit generic, ideas. But I was all out, and although I can think of loads of weird and wonderful things a lot of people in my life might like I realised I didn't for my mum. My lovely mum. What did my mum like doing? It sounds really awful, but I was a bit stuck. I think my mum, as a mother, has spent so much of my life doing what the rest of the family wants to do that I have no idea what she likes doing? How terrible of me. How tricky to buy her a nice experience gift.

And then I suddenly thought, I know what my mum really loves, a full bodied French merlot. Or indeed any red wine really.

Hello Vinopolis London. Vinopolis is a "wine tasting" experience, where you can wander around and take your pick from trying over 100 different wines, including champagnes and then some spirits.

Strolling around under the arches (it's built beneath the trains), it sort of feels like a weird wine theme park. Or at least a fairground. You get a card topped up with the tokens you've bought, and you mooch around with your special tasting glass, choosing wines kept at their correct temperature in a fabulous wine tasting vending machine, paying for it on your card. How good it would be if they had one of them next to the coca cola one in my office.

Depending on the rareity and retail price of the wine, depends on how many tokens you can use, but most of them just take 1 or 2. Mum and I mainly tried the 1 token wines, but we saved them up and tried a 6 token wine at the end, so that was nice, and exciting to lift a £50+ wine to my lips.

Now I am not gonna lie, I wouldn't say I came out of Vinopolis a wine expert, but you do a little bit of learning about how to taste a wine, I got a bit more of an understanding about how different wines grow in different climates (like I've never thought about it before but there is a northern strip x above the equator which is good for wine eg - Southern France, California, Italy etc, and a southern strip x below the equator which is a good climate too - Argentina, South Africa, Northern Australia etc) and I learnt about which type of wine I like - via both a lot of wine tasting, but also these cute little interactive games like those you get at the science museum, but about wine.

Learning we are well bodied red girls. As if we needed a game to tell us...

The drawback with Vinopolis might be the cost. It is £27 for the wine tasting experience which includes the lesson and 7 tokens - so 7 lots of the lowest price wine, but this is not 7 glasses, this is 7 shots (each of the measurments from the machine is 25ml, ie a shot) and for £4 a shot, I'd expect to get a jaeger bomb. For another fiver you can get another 5 shots of wine, so a much better deal (less than £3) a shot, and makes it worth trying maybe one of the whites before moving on to red red red.

However, I think one of the best ways to experience Vinopolis, especially if you are buying it for an experience gift and want to make it all last a little longer. Vinopolis have a range of experiences on their site - from Burns' nights to chocolate tasting to nights with Oz Clarke, the wine man of the nineties.

I took my Mum to Vinopolis Sundays, which for £35 per person includes a two course roast lunch, a bloody mary, and 7 tokens for wine tasting. We then topped up those 7 with another, 4 tokens, which you can buy for £5 when you get there.

You eat in Vinopolis' restaurant, Cantina, which is actually pretty lovely. It is no Michelin starred silver service, but it is nice, more than Harvester nice, more than pizza express nice even, and actually a bloody good roast. (With bloody good salted caramel sticky toffee pudding for dessert).

Cantina, Vinopolis' restaurant

I don't mean to keep waffeling on, but also it is nice going on a Sunday as a) you don't have to queue for the clever wine vending machines like on a Saturday and b) it's totally respectable on a Sunday evening to go home and fall into a red wine induced slumber at 8:45pm.

So yeah, Vinopolis: wine and fun vending machines and finding out my mum and I both like "well bodied full reds". In the genes I guess.

My beautiful Mum, pleased as punch cos she is off to have a lot of red wine...

You can book on Vinopolis Sundays or any of their events here, and right now it is "buy one get one half price" on their wine tasting experiences, so more shots of wine per £.

Got something for your Mum, but need an idea for your Dad? I've taken him on a walking tour and a food tour and he was happy as larry, check out my post on them here: Friend: Go on a walking tour right where you live