Happy hen night

Lou's hen night started off very civilised - afternoon tea at The Tea Box in Richmond, highly recommended. As you can see, she wasn't impressed when the feather boa and headgear emerged!

Luckily I failed to take any decent photos in The Roxy (I'm sure they'll appear on Facebook soon enough) but I haven't danced that much or had that much fun in ages. Might regret it when Logan wakes up in 4 hours time but for now I'm even weirdly enjoying the novelty of being on the night bus at 3 in the morning. I need to get out more!

THE Cornish session beer

Another one for Nigel! Camra gold medal winner last year, Mark says it's smoky and hoppy and generally excellent.

For the next 40 days I will be avoiding...

Lent is a bit of a funny time in our house. Mark is the more religious of us but he thinks Lent is pretty stupid, whereas I'm not particularly religious but love the concept of Lent. I don't know whether it's just childhood nostalgia but there's something about religious ritual that appeals to me (and the idea of abstinence is not solely Christian).

I've given up alcohol a couple of times, with varying degrees of success (the first time I was halfway through a pint, three days in, before I remembered I shouldn't be drinking). But that seems like cheating now that I usually only have a few glasses of wine on a Saturday evening. So this year I'm giving up sweet things.

I think there might be a few caveats as the month goes on - maybe I could have the odd biscuit? We know from years of research that an Eccles cake isn't really a cake, so maybe that doesn't count? I'll let you know how I get on...

@ The Washington

The Washington in Belsize Park

Had lunch here with Isabelle and Lauren (both looking as fabulous as ever). It was quiet enough for Logan to run round (he made friends with some of the locals) but he wasn't impressed with the burger and spicy chips (yum). My risotto was nice though, and I love the decor!

Photos by Logan

Logan got a tutorial in how to take photos from Jo CW at Dave's birthday bash yesterday. He needs a bit of work on the composition but at least they're (almost) in focus...



Daddy!



Fizzy pop



The birthday boy



Brooky

Still life with fruit

Is this a coot or a moorhen?

I can never remember which is which. Anyway, I took this when we took Logan to see the ponds at Hampstead Heath, after a lovely lunch with Isabelle and Lauren at the Freemasons Arms on Downshire Hill (overpriced and a bit pretentious considering it used to be a bit of a dive, and nothing like the "country pub" they claim to be, but very welcoming nonetheless).

I'll put some more pics up on Flickr tonight.

Dave's birthday bash @ Junction Tavern

I know, I know, this could be a photo of absolutely anyone, but you'll just have to trust me that Dave M (who my husband insists on calling Filmstar Dave) is on there somewhere. I don't like the flash dammit!

Five go mad in York

Spent my birthday weekend with some schoolfriends in York, had such a good time! I've not explored York properly before (Jo's hen night and our two-hour visit on honeymoon don't count) so it was good to see the sights.

We spent ages (maybe a bit too long, sorry!) in the Minster, which is stunning but not as good as Durham of course. Those of us not hampered by pregnancy/dodgy hips made it up the 275 steps of the minster tower. It was a bit parky at the top but we could see the snow on the distant dales and moors. Christine also spotted a 32 carat diamond embedded in a chalice in the undercroft, but we couldn't create enough of a distraction to filch it sadly. My birthday cherry necklace made up for it though!

It was a freezing night for a ghost walk but we're northerners so we battled the elements, along with at least a hundred other hardy souls. Our guide, an incredibly hammy Victorian gent (well they are Equity qualified..), took us on a whistlestop tour of York's many gruesome sites (my favourite was the greedy orphan owner who slit the throats of his (weirdly Cockney) young charges in a drunken moment of madness; maybe favourite isn't the right word but never mind). Definitely worth doing but maybe wait for spring!

We warmed up in several of York's more reputable (for which read: cask ale serving) pubs, including the Yorkshire Terrier and The Last Drop Inn (both owned by York Brewery) and the Tap and Spile, which hosts a regular folk jam session on a Friday. The Yorkshire Terrier definitely gets my vote - good beers, tasty food and a lovely old pub decor.

I rather spoiled my birthday treat of afternoon tea by having two over the weekend, but neither of them came with clotted cream so Liberty's still had something to offer! And we managed to fit in a tasty curry too (not a neon waterfall in sight).

If you're thinking of visiting, I'd definitely recommend the Monkgate Guest House, just outside the city walls at Monk Bar. It was only about £40 a night based on two sharing, we all got our own beds and as long as you don't have a teddy bear phobia it's lovely.

We are the champions, da da da da da

This blog seems to be taking a library turn, now the inauguration of he-who-shall-not-be-named is out of the way. Not necessarily a bad thing but I'll try to mix it up a bit (probably next time Logan does something vaguely amusing).

Anyhoo, last week was the annual SLA pub quiz. AUKML's team, the imaginatively titled Team Gav, came third last year so I was feeling the pressure of being the newbie. You know when you wonder whether you'll have anything to contribute other than, "Shall I get the beers in?"

We had a shocking TV themes round (I got Bargain Hunt, to my eternal shame - come on, what else am I meant to do while Logan's throwing his dinner at the walls?), and with two rounds to go we were trailing the Oliver Postgate Appreciation Society (I kid you not) by eleven points. Fortunately we aced the lyrics round so we knew we were in with a shot (I'm rubbish at remembering song titles but ask me to sing When I'm 64 or anything from Mary Poppins and I'm there).

Faced with a list of 20 cocktails and tasked to identify the ten vodka-based ones (where was Linda when we needed her?), our nerve faltered. What we needed was strong leadership; luckily Gav was there with a steady hand and a do or die attitude. "Sod it," he said (I might have made that up) so we gambled on the ten we hadn't eliminated and, remarkably, it paid off! When the final scores were revealed we had triumphed by one point. Bottles of Sue Hill champagne (and some delicious pizza) all round. Hurrah!

Mark's birthday jaunt

Breakfast at Chorak



The jukebox at Big Red rocks, but I suck at pool, boo



Big Red toilet graffiti



Sake bomb! Dinner at Charuwan, just what we needed after an epic movie and a snow storm



Mark's folks AKA The Babysitters