LIFESTYLE, PARENTING
Newcastle is rightly renowned for being a killer night out. And it is killer – your head will not be quite the same after a night on the toon. I’ve been to a few fabulous bars recently with new menus and new things going on, so thought I’d share them here to help you plan your next girls night out!
Champagne and getting your nails done. Sounds like the perfect combination, right? Well it is! And you can find them both at Levoi Champagne Nail Bar, on St. Mary’s Place in Newcastle.
Earlier this month, I was lucky enough to get invited to the official launch night of new Newcastle Thai restaurant, Chaophraya, in the newly refurbished Food Quarter of Eldon Square. I am a huge fan of Thai food and was dying to get a look out at the Monument from Chaophraya’s enviable roof terrace, so of course I jumped at the chance. I had only heard good things since the restaurant opened just before Christmas, but did my experience live up to the hype?
Being on a diet can be tough. It’s hard to stick to a healthy nutrition plan when your friends are asking you to go out for dinner and drinks. You don’t want to feel like you’re missing out but then you have to be the awkward, fussy person who won’t just settle for a trip to Pizza Express. I am kicking my 2017 off with a return to my three week shred – a strict nutrition plan designed to detoxify after Christmas and break all those bad habits I got into. When I got invited out by intu Eldon Square to try their new restaurants, I thought I’d have to endure a night of serious FOMO. But luckily for me, the brief was to prove that eating out can still be healthy. So is it possible to stick to your diet when eating out?
Christmas is all about spending time with your loved ones but it’s easy to get caught up in all the business of buying presents, going out for the work Christmas party and generally feeling frazzled. So when The Pip Stop offered to send me a wine tasting kit to enjoy at home, I couldn’t resist. It gave me the perfect excuse to spend a lovely evening in with my husband and try some new wines that the experts at The Pip Stop recommended.
As I sit here writing this post I am feeling pretty hungover. Yesterday I went to York with 16 of my besties to drink lots of cocktails at Evil Eye and pig out at Ask (if you’ve never been there, you need to check it out – it’s in the old Assembly Rooms and is full of gorgeous marble columns) and I *may* have had a little bit too much to drink. And right now I could really do with a trip back to the beautiful, newly refurbished Ramside Spa at Ramside Hall Hotel in Durham.
Last week I went to check out the new afternoon tea menu at the Hilton Garden Inn, Sunderland. It’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it!
Living in Gateshead and working in Newcastle, I don’t often find myself out in Sunderland. Apart from the odd gig at The Stadium of Light, there’s not really been anything to draw me so far out on the metro line. That all changed when I was invited to visit Katie’s Garden, an amazing hidden gem in Sunderland city centre.
Last week I had the pleasure of trying out one of Gateshead’s best kept secrets and didn’t think I could keep it to myself! Sidegate Gallery, a gorgeous shop and boutique in Sunniside has started to host monthly pop up restaurant. Each month they bring in chefs and offer a three course meal, with a different cuisine every time. This month was the turn of Thai food and Oodles of Noodles were the caterers of choice.
Ever since I discovered I was lactose intolerant, pizza was one of the huge things I really missed. I was such a huge fan of Domino’s that they recognised my number when I called and texted me to say they missed me when I stopped ordering. That maybe says more about my diet than anything else, but trust me, pizza is a tough habit to break. So it is with great joy to my inner pizza addict that vegan restaurants are having a bit of a moment. Because that means dairy free cheese and LOTS of it. The latest to spring up in Newcastle is The Bohemian so I dragged Andrew along to try the launch of their pizza menu this weekend.