Eating Out: Dining in the Dark at The Living Room.

If you're a regular reader of our blog,or if you scan through a couple of pages of posts, you'll see that we both really love food. So we were obviously delighted when we were invited by The Living Room in Newcastle to sample their new menu; except this wouldn't be normal dining, oh no, we were 'Dining in the Dark'!


We arrived at The Living Room a bit curious and puzzled about what lay ahead. It was explained to us that we'd be sampling a range of dishes from their new menu whilst blindfolded, then between dishes we'd answer a series of questions and would compete against others in an attempt to be crowned the Dining in the Dark champion. 'Easy' we thought, WRONG! So, it turns out eating blindfolded is difficult, very difficult. You drop your cutlery, you can't find your plate, you end up with food all over your face (that might just have been me) and god help you if you need a drink from your wine glass.








We had arrived straight from work and had major hunger pangs, so had to resist the urge to hungrily stuff the food into our faces (our usual approach) and instead take time to smell and take in the flavours of the dishes. Holding back clearly paid off and it was announced we'd come out on top and we were the winners of a (totally real, obvz) gold trophy!



Despite our difficulties with feeding ourselves, we had great fun and tasted a lot of delicious dishes. Our favourites included- The pork and chorizo burger with a smoked paprika aioli on a brioche bun, Moroccan spiced lamb with apricots, dates and almonds served with giant cous cous, Venison 'shepherds pie' with chestnut Savoy cabbage and the Basil Grande Eton Mess.




'Dining in the Dark' isn't something The Living Room offer to customers at the moment, but they said it's been so successful at the nights held nationwide and they'd consider holding other nights in the future. If you get the chance, definitely give it a go. We've eaten at The Living Room before and were really impressed with the food (they also make some mighty fine cocktails).

Did anyone else attend one of The Living Room's 'Dining in the Dark' evenings or would you try it?


Claire
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Urban Outfitters A/W 2012

A few weeks ago,we were kindly offered by Urban Outfitters to go down to their Newcastle store for a tour of their Autumn/Winter collection, which is split into two sub collections- ‘A Modern Beat’ and ‘Tarot’.
‘A Modern Beat’ features this seasons trend of the androgynous, teddy boy and beatnik style. Key details include- studded collars, zips, novelty knits and stripes. The idea behind this trend is ‘boy meets girl’; which Urban Outfitters have covered really well, mixing girly, mod style dresses with tough biker jackets and slim cigarette pants with feminine detailed shirts. Think Alexa Chung and the girls from The Like and you’ve got ‘A Modern Beat’. While big designers such as Marc Jacobs, Sonia Rykiel and Marni have all featured this style in previous and current seasons; Urban Outfitters offer a more affordable option.




In contrast to the sleek and tailored look of 'A Modern Beat', Urban Outfitters second collection- ‘Tarot’ offers a more relaxed, thrown together, bohemian appeal. It was explained to us the aesthetic idea behind this collection is the image of the ‘well travelled woman’. As with ‘A Modern Beat’ layering is key, but his time the look is created using uneven hems, mixed with decorative lace and tapestry, all topped off with jewellery featuring mystical symbols and precious stones. There’s a strong gyspy style, but with a more sophsiticated feel of the 'boho’ looks of Sienna Miller and pals in the 00s. Abbey Lee and Mary Kate Olsen were used as muses when putting together this collection and it’s easy to see why.



In addition to the UO house collections, there are also a variety of designer labels. These vary from store to store and meaning some of the pieces are exclusive to the Newcastle store alone. Labels available include Mink Pink, Evil Twin and Cheap Monday; but the supply is always updating and evolving.







One of our favourite aspects of the collections and UO in general is how well put together the wall and table displays are. Shoes, handbags and jewellery are all displayed alongside clothing garments to give a good sense of how the collections can we worn. UO has one of the best ranges of accessories on the high street, from a covetable range of shoes and handbags, to an amazing array of jewellery and even make up.







Urban Outfitters are determined to set themselves apart from other clothing stores in the way that they offer so much more than dresses, heels and shoes.As well as female and male clothing departments; UO also have homewear and media departments(featuring books and music), as well as showcasing both regional and nationalart. Currently on display in the Newcastle store are pieces by Prefab 77.











The only complaint we have is that we wish that some of theclothing came in larger sizes, as some items must be no larger than a size 12/14. Having said that, If you’re looking to update your wardrobe for the upcoming colder climates we would definitely recommend checking out what UO have to offer.

Bryden & Claire x

Disclaimer: All opinions are our own. This is not a paid review but were lucky to be gifted an item each from their collection. Many thanks to Charlie from Urban Outfitters for this opportunity and the lovely Ash from the Newcastle store for showing us around.

Nelly High Heels Tour.

Regular readers of our blog will remember, we were recently giving away VIP passes to the Newcastle event which was part of the Nelly.com High Heels Tour. On the promise of a girly night and a free pair of shoes, we went along with local bloggers Ray, Laura, Carla and our best buds Kaite, Sarah and Nicki; not really knowing what to expect.

(Photo taken from Nelly.com, such awkward turtles!)
We arrived at Perdu to be greeted by cases of some amazing shoes and a Swedish guy telling us to choose a pair, enter our details into a near by computer and our shoes would be sent out to us. OK, Swedish guy! No problem!




Now I know obviously we got shoes for free, but we would never big something up just because of free stuff. Before the event we extensively browsed the site to get more of a feel of this brand which is new to the UK. The shoes are affordable and come in a excellent range of styles and colour. There were quite a few Jeffrey Campbell 'inspired' shoes too, available at a way cheaper price than the real thing.


We would definitely order from the site in the future, although we have heard some people have had problems with delivery times. Hopefully these are teething problems, which will be sorted out.

Overall, we had a great night and it was lovely to meet up with some local bloggers. It's a shame there isn't more of these events up in the North East so we could all hang out more :(

Anyway we'll leave you with a photo of Claire making a fool of herself, as usual....

Taken from Nelly.com
Has anyone else attended any of the Nelly High Heels Tour events? Which shoes did/would you pick?

Claire & Bryden
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