3twentyone

The lovely folk at new Deansgate restaurant 3TwentyOne kindly invited me for dinner to sample their wares last night. The restaurant had a soft opening on Friday for friends and family and on Saturday it turns out the much maligned MCR foodie contigent were being offered up a sneak peak.

Myself and B rocked up a little early for our pre-dinner cocktail and a good nose around the place (which is situated above the Deansgate pub at the Castlefield end of Deansgate).
It has a great cocktail menu, taking it back to the basics with a decent selection on classics done well with top drawer spirits.
If there's one thing I love, it's a Martini and the 3TwentyOne signature Monkey 47 gin one here did not disappoint. A subtle hint of elderflower and with an orange peel twist it was fresh and clean and delicious.
A much more daring B chose a tall chili vodka and watermelon concoction that quite frankly nearly blew her head off. She liked it, I didn't. Let's move on.

The place is smart. Clean and shiny and new and ready to be enjoyed. The staff are all attractive and neatly turned out in their uniforms. It goes without saying that on only the second night of running the service is not going to be perfect, it felt a little young and lacking in confidence, but this will of course get better.
It has one of those open kitchens which I think are great for diners as it allows us to see what's going on but is less great for the staff, because you know that everyone can see what's going on and there's immense pressure to not balls anything up.

We ordered starters; big boy ribs for myself, these were mighty meaty pork ribs in a BBQ glaze. Really tasty and a very generous portion (for one so dainty) but annoyingly they were a little cold. I could've forgiven this for being intentional had it not been for my chum Sarah on the next table remarking that hers were piping hot all the way through when hers arrived. Alas, they had that intense well smoked BBQ taste and the meat peeled away from the bone and that for me wins it.
B, on the other hand had the BBQ king prawns and whilst the dish was pretty she said they lacked in any depth of flavour and were under-seasoned. Nice, but nothing to shout about.
The 8oz ribeye done medium-rare came in good time and with a side order of Bernaise sauce and the roasted balsamic candy beetroots. Although my immediate thought was 'it looks a little anaemic', once I'd taken my first bite I was pleasantly silenced. A beautiful steak. Yum. The candy beetroot was delightful too and a lovely surprise to see it on the menu.
There was a little apprehension for B as when she placed her order for the beef short rib she was asked how she wanted it cooked and replying "uhm, medium?" we both were unsure as to what she was going to be presented with... Thankfully, it came well done and falling off the bone, as a beef short rib should be. A beast of a piece of meat covered in a beautiful bourbon glaze. A side order of sweet potato fries arrived cold but once rectified were divine. Crisp, sweet, salty and moreish.
We both had dessert. A baked blackberry and vanilla cheesecake went down a storm with B and the English cheese selection for myself. To be honest, I was done in by the steak and if it hadn't been for peer pressure I would've happily called it quits with a coffee but, I'm not one to let my friends down and I powered through.

We both enjoyed our food and aside from the newby hiccups I see 3TwentyOne getting settled here.
Get yourself in for a good feed. They don't mess about with portion sizes and the menu is reasonably priced.
They have a pizza menu that I'd like a crack at some time soon too.

Lovely stuff.

The horrendously written blog returns.

After, coming up to four months of 'nothing but coming home from work and sitting at the dining room table and completing my coursework' I'm pleased to say I've done it.
In all it's taken me just over two years to achieve the qualification and this summer I'll register as a Pharmacy Technician. With this will hopefully come a new job and a pay rise. It's been a struggle but by Jove I hope it pays off!

I'd like to convince myself and you, fine folk that whilst I've been completing my studies I've been wholly focused on my work and haven't ventured out at all for fear of spoiling any study time with a hangover or tiredness or that unmistakable lack of concentration you get after meeting someone hot in a bar and all you can do is think of them etc etc... well, point is, I did go out.

Quite a bit to be honest.

My social life didn't *really* suffer...

Foodie stuff-wise there was the AWESOME G'Vines Gin Connoisseur Programme where the creme de la creme of Manchester's bartenders created and served some outstanding cocktails in a bid to become the worlds best gin bartender, much to my appreciation; Liquor and Burn set afloat their breakfast menu and we can now all breathe a huge sigh of relief that our morning burrito-needs are well an truly met; much excitement and food and bowling with my chums at the Black Dog Bowl launch; Geurilla Eats happened again and I helped out (I had a great time and was able to match faces to Twitter names FINALLY) and I had a luscious evening with my homegal Lauren learning about the origin of Kahlua and drinking copious White Russians - what a nightmare *sideways glance*, along with those handsome fellas The Liquorists at The Market restaurant. All of that interspersed with some great dinners with my nearest and dearests, winter birthday BBQ's, the most gorgeous weekend away in idyllic Anglesey with the most gorgeous girl I know (Anna, FYI), oh, of course another beltin' weekend away with the other three most gorgeous girls I know (B, A and Esme) in the Motherland.

I kept up my whinging and whining throughout the last three months about 'HOW MUCH WORK I've got to do' of course. I just couldn't possibly find the time to write about it too because as soon as I looked at my laptop I felt immediately wracked with guilt if I wasn't writing about fucking medicine or interactions or contr-indications or what I deemed to be an 'appropriate' way to handle nuisance patients (smack them round the face and tell them to GTFO). So I went to a few things, just to get away from anything work related really.

I like waffling on here but do occasionally question the true purpose of a blog. Is it for freebies? Is it because you enjoy writing? Are you a show off? Is it because you don't have anyone else to talk to and it's the only way you can let off some steam?
I just wanted to know if I was capable of stringing a sentence together without any swear words - writing it down is a great audit trail.
Turns out I'm shit at it.

Anyway, je suis back in the building.

The ice is thawing.

I've missed you x

I just want you all to know I'm not being a lazy fucker, I'm taking a little hiatus from any dedicated writing stuff because I have a catastrophic amount of work to do.

Also, in cold weather, my fingers don't work properly and typing is a bit of a clumsy challenge.

pfft.

Love + merriment x

I'm certain I was cut out for a life of greedy eating and long lazy days in the sun. This whole getting up and going to work lark sure does make socialising a little trickier.

Another late night poem. 

Read it and weep. 

I do.


By Rabindranath Tagore 


In life after life, in age after age, forever.
My spellbound heart has made and remade the necklace of songs,
That you take as a gift, wear round your neck in your many forms,
In life after life, in age after age, forever.

Whenever I hear old chronicles of love, it's age-old pain,
It's ancient tale of being apart or together.
As I stare on and on into the past, in the end you emerge,
Clad in the light of a pole-star piercing the darkness of time:
You become an image of what is remembered forever.

You and I have floated here on the stream that brings from the fount.
At the heart of time, love of one for another.
We have played along side millions of lovers, shared in the same 
Shy sweetness of meeting, the same distressful tears of farewell-
Old love but in shapes that renew and renew forever.

Today it is heaped at your feet, it has found its end in you
The love of all man’s days both past and forever:
Universal joy, universal sorrow, universal life.
The memories of all loves merging with this one love of ours – 
And the songs of every poet past and forever.

When first we faced...

I adore Philip Larkin. It's like he speaks and feels and writes just for me sometimes. 

When first we faced, and touching showed

How well we knew the early moves,
Behind the moonlight and the frost,
The excitement and the gratitude,
There stood how much our meeting owed
To other meetings, other loves.

The decades of a different life
That opened past your inch-close eyes
Belonged to others, lavished, lost;
Nor could I hold you hard enough
To call my years of hunger-strife
Back for your mouth to colonise.

Admitted: and the pain is real.
But when did love not try to change
The world back to itself--no cost,
No past, no people else at all--
Only what meeting made us feel,
So new, and gentle-sharp, and strange?