Botanico

Went to Botanico for dinner last night with Kelly and Danielle - early birthday dinner as I'm away this weekend for my birthday.

I went to Botanico for brunch with Holly not longer after it opened back in October and been wanting to go for dinner. We got there at like 7:15pm and it wasn't too busy and got a table without having to book.

Service was a lot better than when I went last time which I'm glad as it has been open for a while now.

I got a matcha latte which is very random especially with dinner but I love a matcha! It wasn't good though and looked better the last time. This was just hot frothy milk, couldn't taste any matcha even though it was green

Ravioli Lobster - £18

Filled with lobster, served in a creamy sauce

I got the lobster ravioli which was nice. The crab & lobster one from Al Dente was better from the other weekend though. That's set the mark for ravioli now!

Italiana - £13

Mozzarella, Parma ham, rocket, cherry tomatoes, and parmesan shavings

(Please note the toppings on this pizza are served cold)

Danielle's pizza

Nduja - £15

Tomato sauce, mozzarella, Italian sausage & Nduja topped with burrata

Kelly's pizza

They both couldn't finish their pizza so boxed them to take home

After food Kelly told me I needed to go the toilet so they could write my card and asked for the bill then they did the awkward Happy Birthday with a cake over. A strawberry cheesecake as she just said anything that wasn't chocolate

Strawberry cheesecake - £8

Didn't get a photo with the sparkler candle!

It was very sweet with a lot of strawberry sauce

Was a nice night and food was good and reasonably priced. Would go again for dinner. Need to try it again for brunch as service was bad the last time.

Didn't get a photo with Kelly so looks like I just went for dinner with Danielle!

Off to Barcelona tonight for my birthday with Holly. Very much needed holiday! Need sun, time to chill and some paella which I'm so excited for. At the time of writing this as well I'd just about packed because I've just been so busy working. Barcelona posts pending...

Twitter || Instagram || Tumblr || Bloglovin || Google+ || Pinterest || Last.fm

Christmas Eve Eve

Christmas Eve Eve - gym session in the morning then home and showered to go to nanny Wing's for the Wing's Christmas gathering. Think I'm fully roasted out already as my mum and dad made roast lamb on Tuesday night then did a trial run on Thursday night with a turkey leg to see how it would go for Christmas day and ended up having turkey and pork at grandma's! Too much roast going on don't even want a roast on Christmas day no more.

Annual cousin Christmas photo!

Baby Billy's first Christmas

Was nice to see all the kids even if they didn't appreciate the food and hate roasts

After I went into town to meet Kelly, Danielle, David, Josh and Matt for our annual Christmas gathering. They went bottomless brunch in the afternoon and I just met them at The Old Bank pub. Danielle was only there for a bit when I got there. 

We then went to Woolton Village - Liberty Tavern. I stayed till 11:30am as I needed to get up early to get a gym session in. On shift in the gym 12-4pm 

David got Kelly these creepy little hands and glasses off Temu for their Tenner on Temu secret santa.

Been saying this for a few years but even more so this year it just doesn't feel like Christmas at all. I guess working 2 jobs now is making it less Christmassy. The gym was so busy that we couldn't even do the close we wanted. People getting their last minute workouts to eat what they want and it's shut tomorrow but back open 8am Boxing Day.

Merry Christmas!

Hope you have a good one!

Twitter || Instagram || Tumblr || Bloglovin || Google+ || Pinterest || Last.fm

Botanico

Went to Botanico in Woolton Village for brunch this afternoon with Holly. It's only just opened - it was previously Crust then changed to Il Ristorante by Crust which didn't last long and now Botanico Brunch & Bistro, Bakery, Afternoon Tea. Still has the Italian vibe as it does woodfire pizzas and pasta from 12pm. Brunch is served all day till 5pm. They have a bakery at the back with baked goods, cakes and gelato.

The interior was great with all the plants - the new thing now. A lot of places are going for this vibe.

It was really busy and we booked for 12:15pm and was 15 minutes early. The host girl didn't know what to do - so the manger who was running around had to deal with the situation.

Holly got a Soy Cappuccino and I got a Matcha Latte. Holly said her coffee wasn't great and really bitter. My matcha didn't look great and wasn't made properly. They didn't give me a spoon to mix it and it was really bitter. I only managed to drink half of it.

On the menu they do Buttermilk Chicken & Waffles and Pancake stacks. But no other waffle option so I asked if I could get the waffles with one of the pancake toppings

Waffles with forest fruits & lemon creme fraiche - £9

The fruit was really sour and I wished I went for something savoury. It would have been better if it was American waffles and I wished I asked before ordering it!

Holly got Smashed Avocado on Sourdough - Topped with crumbled feta, toasted seeds, roasted cherry tomatoes, green salsa and added 2 poached eggs - £10

The interior was nice and the menu looks good and we want to go back for dinner but the service was awful. There was a lot of staff but most of them didn't have a clue what they were doing. Our drinks went to the table next to us. They didn't bring us the jug of water we asked for. We got our food, finished it and had our plates taken away then our waitress came over to ask if we had our food! We asked for the bill and paid on card, then as we were putting our coats on, our waitress came over to ask if we needed the card machine. The host girl was just useless was watching her as people were coming in and she just had no service and just didn't want to be there at all. She wasn't greeting people and didn't know what to do. We were early by 15 minutes but that shouldn't have thrown her off as she had the screen up with all the bookings so should have just went ok let me just check if your table was ready and she just stood there like "I don't know what to do" until the manager came over to sort the situation out.

Considering the awful service we do want to come back and try dinner - they also do afternoon tea. The food did actually come quick and hopefully given a bit of time the staff will find their feet and know what they're doing - so we hope anyway! I hope this is just new place nerves and they do find their feet as this is definitely something we've been after in Woolton village and hope it does well.

Twitter || Instagram || Tumblr || Bloglovin || Google+ || Pinterest || Last.fm

Il Ristorante by Crust

 

Crust in Woolton Village last summer changed to Il Ristorante by Crust. It's a combination of Il Forno and Crust. Il Forno - is an Italian restaurant in town which I haven't actually tried and then Crust which is still open on Bold Street. Not been to Crust for years after the last time as the pizza wasn't great. It was sloppy and wet so that put me off from going again then it changed to this so hopefully this would be an improvement.

The menu has a lot more mains and pasta where as previously when it was Crust it was predominantly pizza and did have quite a few pasta dishes with like 2 salads. But now it has salads, fish, meat. A bigger variety menu.

I went with Danielle today for lunch. It was dead when we got there, there was only a dad with his daughter in there but not sure if he was staff or knew the people. It was 1:45pm on a Saturday afternoon. 2 families did come while we were finishing and seen people coming in to make a booking.

Ravioli Bufala E Melazane - Fresh homeade ravioli with buffalo mozzarella D.O.P. and aubergine - £15.50

Calabrese - Tomato San Marzano D.O.P. mozzarella, Italian sausage, n'duja topped with burrata and virgin olive oil - £13

(You got a choice of base, Original Crust, Five Grain, Black Dough, Organic and Gluten Free. We went for Five Grain)

Wasn't sure if the ravioli was going to be a white or a tomato sauce but the pasta was very al dente. Definitely could have done with a couple more minutes. The filling was nice though but Very small portion. There was only 5 pieces! They were big but still very small and wouldn't have filled me if I got that for myself. We also got a pizza and thought this sounded a bit different. It was sloppy and wet bec because the base was too thin which was what put me off from going there since. So the pizza hasn't improved or changed then. It was also really salty and I was really thirsty when I got back.

I'm not sure why they changed it and did a complete refurb as it only opened in June 2018 as me and Holly went on the opening day. I think it was fine being Crust but needed to improve on the pizza but clearly the refurb was just the interior and not with the food and chefs. They need new pizza chefs as the pizza was nice just too wet and sloppy! Probably wouldn't go back for pizza unless they do improve and change

 Twitter || Instagram || Tumblr || Bloglovin || Google+ || Pinterest || Last.fm

Woolton Village

Lunch catch up with Danielle to One Percent Forest this afternoon post gym. I've been here before with Holly last year. It's a cute little Icelandic, Scandinavian style cafe turns bar of a night.

I was on an eating out ban for January but there really isn't anything to do really if you don't go out for food sadly!

I got the Smörgåsbord (open sandwich) - toasted sourdough, oak smoked arctic salmon, homemade beetroot hummus, fresh dill and rocket. There was actually a lot of salmon on the soughdough. I should have said no rocket as I hate rocket but Danielle did eat it.

Danielle got the Chilli Ploughman's Sandwich - cheddar, tomato and chilli chutney, cherry tomatoes, rocket and sriracha on sourdough. So much cheese!

They seem to be really generous with the ingredients. Really didn't need that much cheese or rocket! It's nice to support cute little Independent places especially when it's only a walk away. So I don't feel that bad that I've broke my eating out ban as I am helping a small local business! 

Twitter || Instagram || Tumblr || Bloglovin || Google+ || Pinterest || Last.fm

Post Christmas

I've not had a day where I've stayed in and done nothing since Christmas Eve. Every day I've been out seeing people. On Friday I went out for lunch with Sarah to Wagamama. I've not seen her in ages as all she does in work. She was actually in work after we met up.

Sarah got the cod ramen.

I got the teppanyaki yaki soba but in soup. This is what I usually get but I get it with udon noodles from the teppanyaki but I didn't want something that was fried. I asked the waiter who had to ask the chef and ask around. He came back and said it was fine but they didn't know how it would turn out. I said it would be fine because with noodles you can have it dry or in a soup. I did ask for udon noodles but they did it wrong and gave me yaki soba noodles which was fine I didn't want the hassle of the food going to waste.

I did take a photo of Sarah with her food but I clearly mustn't have as there is no photo which is really weird and never happened before.

I went home and later on in the night I met up with Kelly and Josh in Woolton Village. I met up with them in Pickled Olive where we had a drink then went over to Nowhere but it was packed so we walked back out. John Kelly's brother came to meet us and we ended back in Pickled Olive as it wasn't as busy and had another drink. Then we went over to the Elephant for a drink. We ended up in one of John's mates family parties down the road. (Kelly knows him too). I wasn't even drinking as I had my car and didn't get back till 1am. It was a weird night but it's always nice to catch up with Kelly as I won't see her for a while now!

So I made waffle mix on boxing morning before I went to the match when I made scones to make them in Tracy's as she has a waffle maker but there was so much food we didn't end up making them so she asked me to go back yesterday to make them.

Good job we didn't make them on boxing night when everyone was around as it was so messy. It just over flowed out as the maker wasn't deep enough to hold it all in when we didn't even fill it up that much! I'm so glad I don't have one as I would probably use it once and realise the mess and never use it again as it was a nightmare to wash. Definitely going out for waffles and not making my own or someone else can make and do the cleaning up.

They turned out alright but the recipe I used was a bit rubbish they weren't really sweet you have to have it with something but I guess you wouldn't really eat them dry. The mix ended up making quite a few so I used up all the mix and brought them home to just toast them to warm them up. They taste alright once they're toasted like they've just been freshly made.

This is is it for the year! It will officially be 2020 after tomorrow. The year has flown by - I feel like I've done loads but also haven't like there was so much more I could have done. I did run a marathon, go to Canada and a cruise - which I need to finish posting which I will eventually... Hope you've had a good 2019 and an ever better 2020!

Twitter || Instagram || Tumblr || Bloglovin || Google+ || Pinterest || Last.fm

The Polar Express

Our annual Christmas day where we go to the cinema and have food. We were back at Woolton Cinema this year to see The Polar Express. We went to the 11:30am screening which was full of kids and families. Me and Hannah have never seen the film before. I can't say I'm a fan of it and when it started I didn't get how it was a kids film as it was a bit creepy and wasn't that christmassy but did end up being christmassy towards the end.

After the cinema we went to The Coffee House pub as we had time to kill before afternoon tea at Coast. 

We exchanged our secret Santa gifts. This year everyone had a theme of what they wanted so their person had to buy them stuff from that theme they picked.

My theme was The Killers and or Bastille. David got me and this is what he got me...

He decided to go out the box and got me a book on serial killers and french themed things - French Fancies and a giant French baguette as Bastille the band is named after Bastille day which is France's national day which also happens to be the same day as lead singer Dan Smith's birthday - 14th July.

Not what I had in mind when I picked my theme and the baguette was a nightmare to carry round and needed explaining to people when I had it with me around the village.

I got Danielle - her theme was narwhal so I got her a narwhal mug which had a teddy in it from Dunelm. Danielle had Hannah - her theme was alcohol and holiday so Danielle got her a luggage tag and a green lime margarita cocktail set but didn't have enough in the budget to get her tequila. Hannah got Kelly - her theme was sloths so she got a mug, notebook and blanket that all had sloths on them. Kelly got David - his theme was alcohol and he wanted a pack of cards so Kelly got him a bottle of alcohol from Lithuania where she was at the weekend and a pack of cards. She also made him flapjacks which was an in joke we have.

Afternoon tea at Coast

We got a mix of smoked salmon and cucumber, egg mayonnaise, ham and mustard and cheese and pickle sandwiches.

Got scones with jam and clotted cream, Victoria sponge and we weren't sure what the other cake was. Like a sticky toffee/syrup cake.

Afternoon tea was nice. I wasn't fan of the ham and mustard sandwich - definitely don't like mustard. The cakes were alright too.

After we just went to the loft pub to have a drink. Our Christmas day is always a nice catch up where we're all together and is a tradition now. Hopefully see them again after Christmas before the new year before they head back down to London! I also got the best Christmas card off Kelly.

Twitter || Instagram || Tumblr || Bloglovin || Google+ || Pinterest || Last.fm