We're having a spring clean!

We thought our blog was looking a bit dark and wintry so we've decided to have a spring clean and spruce it up a bit. You may see a few changes as we mess about with our posts but please give us your feedback and leave some comments to let us know what you think...be honest...we won't be offended.

The Theme for April

Travel Back In Time

I have been caught up in all of the historical events taking place...the anniversary of the Titanic, the findings of a well preserved Woolly Mammoth - history fascinates me.

This month we are going to do a bit of travelling - time travelling. I want you to discover our past. Travel back to a period that fascinates you and discover more about that time.

Whilst on your travels I want you to look up somebody from that period and find out more about them:

Who are they? What did they do? What impact did they have on society, their country or even the world?

Bring your findings back to the present day and present them in any way that you choose - pictures, drawings, writing an article perhaps.

Then look at the following:

How do you think you would have lived during this time?
Is there anybody today who is similar to the person that you met in the past?
What lessons can we learn from the person that you met?

Finally...

What would you bring back today from the past? Maybe this will spark some debate and discussion at our next meal.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

March 's Dinner... in April

Yes so with all the goings on in our lives, both personal and work related, we couldn't really get it together and set a date for our Intellectual Dinner in March. This I have to say didn't really bother me, "more time to do my theme"  I said to myself. so I kicked back and forgot about doing any work on it until the deadline was suddenly upon me and I had done zilch, nothing, nada. In this situation I resort to serious procrastination, like cleaning the bathroom tiles with a toothbrush and some bleach or deciding it's really time to rearrange items in my fridge. So I was pleased when I got a call from Caroline that very afternoon, letting me know that she was up to similar distractions before completing her theme. Although Caroline had managed to do a full workout that morning, which put my careful tile cleaning into perspective. If you're going to procrastinate, then at least do something worthwhile!

We had a reservation at an Argentine restaurant called Argento Steakhouse situated in Huddersfield town centre. I had high hopes for this evening as the restaurant had been recommended to me by several friends. Also for the first time since October we were five again. Dannie was joining us! We arrived a bit early, so decided to sit by the bar for a drink until Amanda arrived. We ordered four lime and sodas and were surprised when they arrived and were glasses of soda water with a wedge of lime, this was quite refreshing though so we didn't mind.

Argento's is a traditional Argentinian restaurant serving all the cuts of beef you could want, cooked to your preference or served up on a volcanically hot stone so you can cook it yourself. There is also a choice of chicken and seafood for the non red meat eaters. The atmosphere was warm and inviting and the decor matched my idea of what a steakhouse should look like, complete with an impressive cowhide on the wall. The waiting staff were friendly and attentive and it was no problem for our waiter to stop and explain the different cuts of meat for us when we were choosing our order. Amanda, Caroline and myself went for an 8oz rump steak served with chips and a very tasty garlic and herb steak sauce. Catherine had the chicken with a mustard sauce which Dannie began happily pouring onto her steak before Catherine quietly commented, "ahem, that's mine Dannie." Apparently it goes well with steak too. My steak was tasty and cooked to medium rare perfection and the chips and onion rings went down well too. This was followed by a caramel flan dessert that came with a really embarrassing firework and a round of  Happy Birthday to dimmed lighting and my very red face...thanks ladies! But the flan was delicious and so were Dannie's caramel pancakes.


This month's theme was a tricky one, to first write a letter to your sixteen year old self and then to write a letter to your eighty year old self. It was interesting that the letter to our future selves proved the more difficult of the two to write. These are our letters. Some good advice here...

After reading our letters we all sat and pondered life, where we were now and where we wanted to be. Amanda had found the theme difficult to attempt and instead discussed how she was feeling...the month had been a hard one to get through and she felt that writing to her sixteen year old self would have been a bit of a depressing experience. We all agreed that it had been a difficult task, particularly writing to our eighty year old selves...it was hard to imagine ourselves at that age and what we wanted to say and then Danielle proudly reminded us that when she turned eighty Amanda would be a hundred. We thought that maybe Amanda would still be with us at a hundred...frowning at her telegram from the Queen (with pursed lips of course) because the Queen will still be here too...going on and on and keeping an ancient Charles away from the throne!


It was time to go home but not until I had unwrapped all of my birthday presents from the girls! We shouted for our bill and then gasped in amazement at the £1.50 charge for each of our soda waters...we could have bought an entire bottle of fizzy water and a whole lime for less. It had been an eventful month and for some of us it had been a particularly hard month...it was amazing that we had all managed to be here together, but we were and that's partly what The Intellectual Dinner Club is for, if somebody falls we will pick them up.


We dashed out into the freezing cold night and laughed at all of the girls spilling out of the taxis in nothing but tiny mini skirts and vest tops. Oh the memories! I was happy to be heading home with a stomach full of food to a nice glass of red wine and my blanket in front of the television!


I wonder where we will be heading to next?


Phoebe xx