Cocktails at Cay Tre & Blueberry Bar

It's the season for Christmas jumpers and Christmas leggings.  The dread of stepping out after a hot shower and accepting the cruel hair that winter hats give you.  I'm also going through a phase of having Heinz soup ALL THE TIME at work.  First it was tomato but now it's chicken (all the while having a faint Northern accented monologue running in my head a la radio advert).

Cocktails at Gaucho Tower Bridge

I tried being a vegetarian once for a week.  I won't use the word grim but I will use the word...oh hell with it, it was grim.  Don't get me wrong, I like vegetables but as soon as you self impose (and I don't even remember why I did this) something you can't eat, it takes a lot of will power not to leap out of bed in the middle of the night and run towards the nearest McDonalds.

So it was smiles all round when I went to Gaucho for dinner with friends. I don't know much about Gaucho but I know it's not a place for vegetarians.  This was validated by the conversation I had with a vegetarian who unwittingly went there for a work dinner and left a hungry (and possibly traumatised) man.

Cocktails at The Dark Circus Party Holborn

In the words of Missy Elliot, I got my freak on this weekend.  Although I guess she meant in some rude, offensive way (I do love her though; I have her greatest hits album) and I meant abnormal events because I went to the Dark Circus Party at the Bloomsbury Ballroom.  I'm going to classify attending this party as necessary research.  Whilst it's a year away, I already have "Circus and Showgirls" as a working theme for my 30th birthday party next year.

Purl Cocktail Bar Review

I organise Payday Cocktail Club sometimes quite far in advance because I adhor the thought of turning up and either not being able to get in or standing up because all the tables are taken.  This is the few times in life when I'm actually organised.  The other time is when I'm planning holidays (my boss remarked recently that my personal life seemed more organised than at work when he saw my colour-coded tab system on a travel guide book I was reading in preparation for Iceland.  Ouch.  He's Dutch, it's not something to get hysterical about...plus I barely have a case to dispute anyway). 

 

Cocktails at Burgers & Cocktails Marylebone

I generally shun hard work, ungirly outfits and dirty old man pubs.  However there's times when it's not bad to stop being a bit of a princess.

I was tagging along with a group who were going out for dinner in London and we ended up at Burgers & Cocktails.  Burgers & Cocktails is actually part of the Giraffe group which initially created some confusion and also because whilst no one said it, there was a distinct feeling amongst us of "It looks too cool to be a Giraffe".

Searcys Club The Gherkin Cocktail Bar Review

I live in zone 5 so that classifies me as a Great(er) Londoner.  Yes, I'm trying to lay a more glamourous claim on my residency in the "grey zone".  Perhaps I should be smug and revel in that fact that I avoid the cost of London living yet I can easily get in and out of the capital.

Which means my hard-earned money can be spent on enjoying London life and and this week I was at the Searcys Club | The Gherkin.  I've been to a few places with a bar with great views across London but there's something satisfying seeing London landmarks from a London icon.

Drinks at the Zetter Townhouse

It was London Cocktail week and I was on antibiotics which kind of sounds like something Alanis Morissette should have worked into her lyrics.  It was actually my friend who reminded me I couldn't have cocktails because I totally forgot.  Bah.  Killjoy.

However other than the obvious reason, I didn't get involved with London Cocktail Week.  We needed to loiter around Holborn as we were going to Bea's of Bloomsbury  for afternoon tea before seeing Top Hat at Aldwych so we thought we'd use the time to go for cocktails just to add a dimension of girliness because it was currently far too masculine.

Cocktails; the best models in the world

OK, so this post was supposed to be me reviewing the Ninetyeight Bar in Shoreditch but I had a new camera which I was still figuring out, the lighting was a little too romantic and I had a few drinks and lost my wits.  Therefore any cocktails photos are far too shameful to show.  Plus you can read my previous review on it here.

Therefore I'm using this post to explain how I take photos for these posts.

Cocktails at the Rooftop Film Club Peckham

I watched the movie 'Ted' at my friend's house last night and now I want to watch 'Flash Gordon'.  It looks so indescribably cheesy and melodramatic all in one.  They just don't make films like they used to *sighs like an old lady*.

On the topic of old films, payday cocktail club was one of my favourites as it was watching the classic film 'Cocktail'.  This brilliant concept is run by the Rooftop Cinema Club (http://rooftopfilmclub.com/index.html) and ticks so many of my checklist of requirements it's unreal.  The Rooftop Cinema Club runs at a number of places around London and this particular night was in Peckham at the Bussey Building.   

Cocktails at Browns Brighton

I find myself getting quite pissed off with men at the moment.  They're self centred, childish and think they can get their own way.  Basically a male version of me which is why a relationship with me is doomed to failure.  Perhaps I should consider becoming a lesbian.  Then perhaps I could have been involved with the Pride parade at Brighton at the weekend.  I did see a girl who I thought was very pretty.  Maybe the potential is there.

Cocktails at Hermitage Rd Hitchin

When my friend recently confessed (I say confess although really she said it more as a statement) that she's not bothered about going out and the whole partying scene and ALL my other friends nodded in agreement except me (I may have hastily replaced my disgusted look with a look of mild agreement), I came to the dreaded realisation that my friends are actually acting their age and I appear to have missed the memo.

Cocktails at the Crown Wolverhampton

My philosophy for dressing for events is that is better to over-dress than under-dress.  This philosophy doesn't quite apply to material coverage of which then it's under-dressing over over-dressing.  This was verified when a friend gave me a dress the other week that she no longer wears because it's too short and she thought of me as a suitable recipient.  What can I say, my friends know me so well.

Cocktails at Paramount Soho

I am not suffering from PMT.  Just warning you now.

I wasn't wildly impressed with pay day cocktail club this month for a number of reasons.  Firstly, I spent the day travelling a total of 7 hours to present  at a meeting for half an hour.  Secondly, the stupidly unpredictable weather; glorious sunshine the entire time I'm on a train and then raining when I get back into London in the evening.  It's June.  JUNE.  (A reminder; I am not suffering from PMT).

Opium Cocktail & Dim Sum Parlour Cocktail Bar Review

My parents are Vietnamese which may explain my interest in Eastern Asian things (it may also explain why I like taking lots of photos, talk quickly and/or loudly and am a bit of a geek) - except Hello Kitty.  That cat can get run over for all I care.

Red Sky Bar Bangkok Cocktail Bar Review

I like to chase sunsets.  Imagine the movie Twister but instead of a raging tornado it's a pretty pink or golden sky and instead of some speeding 4x4 or whatever car they're driving, it's a Ford Fiesta and instead of some Crocodile Dundee style get-up they're wearing, I'm in my work clothes.  On a serious note though, I am close to my most happiest when I see an amazing sunset.

The London Cocktail Club Shaftesbury Avenue Cocktail Bar Review

The only bearable thing about my driving commute is that I get to listen to my music.  Loudly.  Although a little too loudly today whilst I was having a solo rave along to Swedish House Mafia.  I was so caught in the moment I didn't notice the fire engine with the sirens and lights speeding down the street until it was right up behind me.  Oops. 

The Hoxton Pony Cocktail Bar Review

I am a very girly girl.  I have over 70 pairs of dresses.  I like pearl necklaces and hairbands.  I love Blair from Gossip Girl, Charlotte from SATC and Kate Middleton.  So when my friends were having a joint birthday bash at the Hoxton Pony, 104 Curtain Road, EC2A 3AH (www.thehoxtonpony.com/), I have to admit I had some concerns about having anything suitable to wear.  I love Shoreditch but I'm not sure it loves me.  It's quirky, alternative and non-traditional.  However I think it's perception from non-Shoreditch people means it's probably being diluted with us tourists anyway as the Shoreditch (Shore-dites?) flee to some other cool part of London.

Nightjar Cocktail Bar Review

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I am pretty sure we're not going to get a summer.  I feel like I should get this out in the open so that we can deal with it now, rather than pining for something that will never arrive.  Wear your summer outfits indoors with the heating on, make cocktails with little umbrellas even if it's lashing with rain outside...or do what I'm doing and blow all my money going to Thailand and Ibiza this year so I can have at least 3 guaranteed weeks of being in sunshine.

Cocktails at Chino Latino Vauxhall

I was at a house party on Friday night and the night before going, I was in one of those stingy moods whilst perusing the alcohol aisle of Asda and I decided, as it was a few quid cheaper than Absolut, to get some suspect vodka brand which I've never heard of.  Unfortunately the £3 I saved, paid me back with a vengeance and I spent the second half of the night nursing the toilet bowl and experiencing that manic head spinning pain only paint stripper could do to you.

Evans and Peel Detective Agency Cocktail Bar Review

Pay day cocktail club this month started pretty awesomely.  I had a meeting with an agency who had a view of the Shard from their meeting room, can't even begin to describe how fantastic that was and I ended the day with meeting my friends for pay day cocktail club at the Evans & Peel detective agency, 310c Earl's Court Road, SW5 9AQ (http://www.evansandpeel.com/).  I found out about this website from www.doingsomething.co.uk but as soon as I saw it, I thought why go with a guy when I could go with the girls.

Cocktails at the Big Chill House & Bounce

For all my boasting that I could drink all day long, I proved this weekend that this definitely is not the case.

It was my best friend's birthday bash and when she announced it was likely we would be drinking for at least 10 hours, I saw this as a personal challenge to survive to the end.  Given my recent cocktail hiatus (unintentional) and also that I only had one cocktail the night before, I thought I best make up for it.

Cocktails in Ninetyeight bar, Shoreditch

As I write this entry, I came to the startling realisation that I didn't have a single cocktail in the whole of January, WTF?!  However, before you think I'm going to be virtuous and say that I had a dry January, it's shamefully been quite the contrary and I've been forsaking my martini glasses in replacement of Grey Goose, Moet and Dom Perignon.  Oh the life of being a minus z list and taking advantage of the fact that I've made a minor appearance on a Saturday night dating program.

Cocktails at All Bar One Reading

This time a year ago, I was like a little skinny rat; a size 4 dress would be a sack on me (anyone wanting to lose a serious amount of weight, go through a traumatising break up, seemed to work for me).  One year on and I've climbed up a few dress sizes (which I'm happy with) and whilst I can attribute some of this through becoming a normal functioning human being once again who eats, a lot of it is largely due to my slight addiction to cocktails and how the frequency has notched up since me being a southerner once more.