Sunday 22 May 2011

Dad's Birthday Bash


On May 18th it was my parents' birthdays. Yep, they were both born on the same day, but two years apart. Two years ago we celebrated my mum's 70th and last night we went out to a restaurant called Portofino in Hanley to celebrate dad's. My younger brother, David, unfortunately could not make it from Brighton, so it was just the five of us (dad, mum, Keith, me and my older brother Lee).

As we arrived half an hour ahead of time, we called into a pub acros the street called Fat Cats, for pre-dinner drinks. Seeing that they had a beer garden, and the weather being okay-ish, we decided to go outside and take a few photos.



Portofino is a lovely restaurant, and I've been there a few times. Last time I was there was almost exactly a year ago, with Sue from Carlisle. She had come to visit while Keith was away in New York and I took here there while showing her the heady delights of Stoke!! They do a fixed price menu that varies from time to time. You get three courses plus coffee and all you pay is the price of the main course you choose. That menu is limited of course, but they have an a la carte menu too with some delicious dishes. I had smoked salmon with rocket to start, and a lovely salad of chargrilled chicken.

We demolished four bottles of wine between us! My dad was amused to see that the wine had his name, as you can see in the picture below!!



When it was time for dessert we all sang Happy Birthday to dad (and mum) as the waiter brought out a little mini cake with candles that I had arranged earlier. Dad was surprised and I hope not too embarrassed, as people from other tables were joining in too!




All in all, a lovely evening. And the best part? Dad picked up the bill!!! Thanks Dad! Looking forward to your 80th!!!

Tuesday 3 May 2011

Travel Season!

On Thursday I'm off to Carlisle to visit my friend Sue. It's been a long time since we got together and we're way overdue a bottle of Veuve! We bought it ages ago and will finally be drinking it on Saturday night.

On Friday we're off to Falkirk for the night to see tribute band NU2. We are both looking forward to that. It will be our last chance to see them as they are actually disbanded now and are just getting together this one time for a special gig to raise money for the Falkirk Football Academy.

Three weeks after I get back from Sue's I will be off to Santorini, a gorgeous Greek island, for two weeks. I have been visiting Greece for over 20 years and Santorini is the only place I have ever revisited. This will be my third time. The combination of pristine white buildings, narrow winding streets with sophisticated and eclectic shops, fabulous restaurants, dramatic volcanic landscape (complete with black sand beaches), and sunsets that people throng the streets in the main town to witness, makes Santorini a very special place and I can't wait to be back.

I'll be blogging about both trips, so check back soon.