i felt well and truly spoilt on my birthday, with some lovely thoughtful foodie gifts and a few fantastic meals out too. with a few days off, i went off to manchester with my pal amelia, went away to liverpool with boyfriend sam and on the sunday my mum had made a birthday tea party on the sunday. warning: it's really quite birthday indulgent and picture heavy.
we were in manchester to see the knife at manchester academy. although since amelia is vegan and i've told her all about my fabulous vegetarian meal at birmingham's 1847, it made sense to check that out too. you can read her write up here.
the next day (many rum and ginger beers later), this delicious roast pumpkin, courgette and goats cheese pizza at the kitchenette was more than welcomed. however we had mixed feelings about the place as amelia's pizza came out with slices of ham and parmesan cheese sprinkled on top, after she had asked for no dairy. strangely they had omitted the mozzarella though?
friday came around and sam rustled up a lovely meal for my birthday eve. baked camembert followed by rib eye steak and twice cooked chips, with a bakewell pudding from the official bakewell shop for dessert. bakewell tarts and puddings are truly the way to my heart.
as if i hadn't gone on about my birthday enough, the day actually came around. with a tradition of going away to uk cities for our birthdays, we went along to liverpool for the weekend. i hadn't been before and i'll certainly be returning.
first on the agenda was afternoon tea at the hard days night hotel. tea, cakes and the beatles melodies in the background, what could be better?
for the evening, we went to sapporo. i have to say this was one of the most entertaining, hilarious and terrifying meals of my life. i was familiar with the concept of a chef cooking for a group of people at once, although i hadn't realised the showmanship around it. our chef, who was called ketchup, was putting on wigs, throwing food in our mouths and pulling pranks left right and centre. all at the same time there were flames to the ceiling and a delicious meal at the end of it. very bizarre but a real experience.
as well as all the fun of the teppanyaki, they also do fantastic sushi and japanese inspired cocktails, which i couldn't pass up on. this is the caterpillar roll, made from salmon and avocado.
on the hunt for breakfast, we stumbled across something a little different. bakchich on bold street is a lebanese kitchen, where i had a deliciously cheesy omelette, salad and pitta. not your usual breakfast, but it was actually amazing. fyi, their coffee is super strong too.
our long journey home was gladly met with further tea, cake and sandwiches. the spread featured a chocolate cake that could put bruce bogtrotter to shame, white chocolate macarons, homemade cheese twists, fresh scones and cute cheese sandwiches with cucumber sails.
i think i've gone on about my birthday a little too much now. i'll leave you with some pretty pictures of my foodie gifts (no food blogger can have too many aprons and novelty measuring cups). my mum also made me a cover for my mixer - how fantastic is that? i really need to set her up an etsy shop.
this weekend i've aimed to do as little as possible except read my favourite blogs and start running again. the amount of cake i've eaten this month is ridiculous.
how did you spend your birthday this year? what foodie gifts are on your wishlist?
Looks like an amazing birthday! I spent mine in Liverpool as well this year but mostly out of the city, we spent the day at the beach and went for dinner at my favourite pizza place out in Waterloo (it's well worth a visit if you do go back to the city!). I absolutely love Bakchich, we tend to hang around Bold St a lot when we're there, its great for foodies!
ReplyDeleteI love those little bird measuring cups too, so cute! Glad you had a good time :) x
Thank you! :) it was lovely. You'll have to let me know the name of the pizza place as I'll definitely be back xx
DeleteWowza! Foodie delights left, right, and centre! :D Looks like the rest of your birthday week was amazing as well, I think we should advocate 'birthday weeks' for all ^.^ Glad you had a good time!
ReplyDeletep.s. that choc cake just made my mouth fill with saliva :O
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Hehe birthday weeks all round for sure! I have a little Christmas vegan treat in mind coming yourway... xx
DeleteLook at all that food! A perfect birthday :) 1847 in Birmingham is high on my list of places to go.
ReplyDeleteI know eek! Now it's all about the Christmas food :) You must must must go! x
DeleteI appreciate the time and effort you put into writing this text. Thank you! Solar
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