Every year since we’ve left Uni my muffins and I have congregated to celebrate my birthday and my wifey’s birthday Fi. For the past two years we’ve celebrated in Birmingham, so I think it’s ok to call it annual now, right?!
I travelled up Friday evening after my work Christmas do, and was so excited to be greeted at Fi’s house with the rest of the girls. Friday night we tucked into lots of pizza and caught up on all the goss, which made me realise how much I miss these muffins when I don’t get to see them.
Saturday morning was a lazy one, watching back-to-back cooking shows, gotta love a bit of James Martin on Saturday Kitchen. By the time we were all ready it was probably nearer 2pm, and we bundled ourselves into taxis to head into town, sample the delights of the market, and have dinner at our favourite restaurant.
Town was busy as predicted, but I just love the Birmingham Christmas markets, way better than the winter wonderland in my opinion. Once we got into the market we headed straight for the mulled cider stall, a firm favourite!
Of course I sampled all the different mulled ciders they had to offer, including apple (which tasted like curry), raspberry, and strawberry and lime. My favourite was the raspberry. Yum!
Lots of yummy cider was consumed, and lots of giggles were head reminiscing about funny stories!
The very best friends a girl could ask for!
After plenty of cider we headed off to Bodega for a late lunch. The girls and I stumbled across Bodega a couple of years ago, and ended up having an incredibly boozy lunch. Since then it’s been a firm favourite of ours and we head back every time we all meet in Birmingham. The food was delicious as always, and was of course consumed with plenty of cocktails, and more cider!
Mojito for me
Starters of chorizo, halloumi, and cheesy potatoes.
Fi and I shared nachos and chilli. Sorry for the blurred chilli photo, I think I’d had too many mojitos by this point!
After dinner we made our way through the market back to Fi’s place for X Factor and the promise of a nap. Post nap we decided that rather than go to the pub we’d prefer to just stay in and chat, which was probably a good idea in hindsight as we were all asleep pretty early. That’s what early drinking and getting old will do for you I suppose 
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I had a lovely weekend celebrating mine and the wife’s birthday up in my old Uni stomping ground, and I can’t wait for us to all meet up again in February! I’ll be counting down the days!
Stripes and Snapshots 