Only suitable for 18 years and over

A breezy but warm Sunday afternoon. A waterside wedding. A group of 30 year olds and one baby stop into a local pub on the way back into town. We enter and are overwhelmed by the loud, crass music coming from the ajoining room. I glance at the lead singer - a little too old to be singing those tunes as are the local fauna dancing away to it. As we hestitate, deciding what to do, we are stopped by the publican. "where are you headed? You cant bring THAT in here". We look down to where his hand was jestering. "its under 18 you see..." well yes, generally babies ARE less than 18, this one is by 17 years and 40 weeks. As the parents stoid stunned, i jumped in to clarify that we were heading to the dining room and was that ok. Im not sure what stunned us more- the fact he referred to little Audrey as an IT, that he actually thought we' take a new born baby into THAT band area OR that he came to check up on us like we were a bunch of well dressed, sophisticated trouble makers..... Well it was Belmont afterall.

Chocolate cravings

When the need for chocolate and the desire to socialize result in a Saturday night visit to Max Brenner, get in early or be prepared to wait.... A long time.
As a thankyou for spending my Saturday doing a working bee at his house, my brother took me to Max Brenner. After parking in the wrong carpark at Charlestown, we walked through the ghost town shopping centre into a buzzing courtyard. The line up to be served was the full length of the shop so we promptly exited. The seems to be this Max Brenner craze that has hit Newcastle. I'm not that into it. It's expensive, it's rich and you feel sick after it (not as sick as you feel after leaving Sushi Train next door).
We still got our chocolate fix as we went to 3 Monkeys for brownies n ice-cream. I must admit, Darby is still a much better option-more single pretty people.

Birthday dinner

As I washed my car this afternoon, my neighbour popped his head over the fence to ask me advice on where to take his wife to dinner for her birthday tomorrow night. I stood there stunned - not because I was washing my car with a pair of old undies but because I couldn't think of a fancy place to eat dinner. My only suggestion was Bistro Tartine but apparently they don't do French. I think this is a sad state of affairs - I am 30 and am still waiting to be taken to dinner at a really fancy restaurant. I must clarify that I have been to fancy restaurants but it's generally with friends, family or, if I have gone with a man, it's because I organised and probably actually paid.

My neighbour joked that perhaps he could just take her to KFC but somehow he didn't think his wife would appreciate it. My reply was "No she wouldn't, trust me" because unfortunately, I have been taken to KFC for a date..... I continued that where ever you take her it sets the bar for your birthday later in the year. His reply was that you should get your own birthday in first then dump her before hers "Isn't that the way it goes Janet?"he asked innocently. Yes it is Brent....... Yes it is.......

Is service included?

Apparently not at Silo. When you reach 30, you start to have different expectations when it comes to dining out. Firstly, you survey the menu to see which meal has the least amount of carbs. Then, decisions on what you are going to order are made taking into consideration cost, what you couldn't make at home, how hungry you are and finally, what looks good. Also, when you turn 30, you expect a little more from your wait staff. The reason? Well, they are generally half our age and quite frankly one should respect their elders.

Four 30 years old and a baby had a windy Autumn Sunday lunch. I ordered the mussels and when it arrived there were about 6 mussel shells and a slice of baguette. My friend sitting next to me ordered the same thing. We looked at eachother and said "doesn't it come with chips?" We waited til all the meals to arrive but when we endured the usual "would you like crack pepper with that?" we realised our chips weren't coming. My friend asked the waitress who gave a half hearted apology and returned with a small bowl of chips. I waited, thinking well, we ordered the same meal so my chips must be coming. Now, I'm generally not one to squabble over a small plate of chips but considering there were only about 3 actual mussels in those shells, I decided that I was gonna need those chips. Somehow in the negotiation to get the remainder of the meal I ordered, they tried to charge me extra for it.

Chips aside, their desserts were delicious and I wished I'd ordered one because I'm unlikely to go back there. I still hold a grudge to that place when, once, they made 1 too many cocktails for us, which we didn't order, and wouldn't take it back. But, because we then drank it, they charged us for it......