Bowery Mural

Burgers, at Palomino

Thursday, 7 March 2013

...not involving horsemeat. I hope!

A few months ago I discovered a blog (via Twitter) called James Vs Burgers. Yes, it's about James eating his way through most of the burger joints in Glasgow, and beyond. I read it and my mouth watered with every page click. I decided that I wanted to try some of these burgers.

It's been a while since I ate a proper nice burger. Any burger really come to think of it. I haven't eaten a fast food burger for about a year. Phew. I decided that I'd take a few day off in March for my birthday and so me and Linda decided we would head to Glasgow for a little day out and go to one of those restaurants selling burgers.

On Monday we headed on the train early to Glasgow. We stopped off at Cafe Wander and had breakfast. A much needed bacon roll and tea. We headed out onto the thankfully quiet streets and wandered about, shopped, wandered some more and shopped. Then it was time for lunch. 

Via James' blog, I had set my sights on The Butchershop Bar and Grill but it's a bit of a way out of the city centre so looked at other places. Next I wanted to go to Cocktails and Burger but that didn't open until 5pm. Then i saw Palomino. The review was pretty good - if you don't count the skinny fries. It was on Bath Street, prefect. We wandered along there about 12.45 and went inside. It's a nice place. Dark furniture with downlights above. We sat in a comfortable booth so we could sprawl out after a morning on our feet. There was only about 4 other people in at this point. That didn't bother us. 

We ordered a drink then set about looking at the menus. It's two courses for £13.95 lunch menu or you can do an express lunch at two courses for £9.95. We opted for this. I chose the sliders (cheese royale burger and pulled pork), Linda chose two cheese royale burgers. With that comes a bowl of skinny fries. (The sliders are £7.50 on their own). The food came around ten minutes later. Nicely presented on an oblong plate with a little silver bowl of skinny fries. The little slider burgers were perfect looking. The brioche buns shining in the low light.
only got one picture. pulled pork on left, cheese royale on right.
I tucked into the pulled pork in BBQ sauce. Wowsers it was tasty. I got it without the grilled pineapple. It was sweet along with the bun but not like dessert sweet, just BBQ sweet. Tasty stringy pulled pork like I've never had before. Yum. I savoured that for a minute then ate some fries. Next I tucked into my cheese royale. This too was tasty, although I'd have preferred more runny cheese. The burger was really juicy, I squeezed it to test it. There was pancetta ham on top too which added to it. I had to cut both burgers in half as i find it hard to bite into anything just now with my brace but i coped well with the halves of these little sliders. I finished off the fries too. The were quite salty, which is good because I like salty fries. But they were just fries, nothing more. 

In between times we were being asked if we wanted more drinks. We didn't. And do you want to know why? Because what they served as drinks was a 200ml mini glass bottle of Coca Cola. And guess how much that was, for one bottle? £2.50... Yes. Two Pounds and Fifty Pence for a 200ml bottle of Coke. In the end, 2 drinks cost me the same amount as half of the food I ate. A FIVER!!! Oh my God! Now come on good people of Palomino. You could at least serve the decent sized bottles of Cola. Or a can. Even a can of Coke for £1.50. It's lucky we were in a good mood because as Linda pointed out we could've got 3 cans of Coke for £1 from the Poundshop just down the road.

For dessert we had sticky toffee pudding. It was nice. I'd say the square slice was a bit too big but it's fine, i left some. Luckily we weren't being hassled to get out as it was Monday lunchtime and the place was near empty, but the lovely waitress kept asking if we wanted more drinks. There comes a point you just have to get up and move.

We'd had nice food and a great chat and I would go back. Next time i might have the full sized pulled pork, it was that nice.

Angela x
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#NOTD OPI The Colour of Minnie

Tuesday, 5 March 2013

As you know, red is one of my favourite colours. Before 2010 I would always have considered red nails to be 'tarty'. How very old fashioned of me! (Cringe).

But look at this... This luscious candy cane red is OPI The Colour of Minnie from the Vintage Minnie Mouse collection that was released in summer 2012. I bought this from my usual eBay shop last year along with I'm All Ears from the same collection.

I really love this red. It's shimmery and not at all glittery. It is enough to brighten up any outfit and as a classic red it goes with most outfits. The consistency is not too thick nor is it too thin. The wide OPI helps the polish glide on. Two coats are best. I use OPI nail envy matte as a base coat these days as my nails really quite dry and ridged and that seems to be the only thing to help them out these days.

But back to the colour. Look at it. You could just pop it in your mouth, BUT DON'T!! It's my go to red shimmery polish at the moment. I always find myself drifting back to this one. I wouldn't say it's a dupe but it's pretty close to Chanel Rouge Karat that I have too. Except this is more shimmery. Rouge Karat has tiny golden shimmer running through it and is less candy-cane-esque. So actually probably not a dupe at all.
you can see the shimmer better here
Overall a really nice red shimmer polish.

Angela x

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I'd like Acne...boots

Tuesday, 26 February 2013

I'm a sucker for a nice shoe. I don't have any real high end designer shoes like Louboutin's or Jimmy Choo's or YSL pumps or anything like that, however I do like a good quality shoe. My first pair of expensive shoes were a pair from Topshop about 5 years ago now. They were a very high heeled type shoe with a thick heel and platform sole. Great to walk in and the neutral colour means they go with most things - jeans, trousers and skirts. They were £75 at that time. Proper expensive.

Then I bought a pair of Karen Millen wedges for summer about 3 years ago. They're a bit more tricky to walk in since the back is strapless but still a 'go with most things' summer shoe. Nice.


In between all this I usually have a pair of Converse or Toms as a comfy back up. My trusty red ones at the moment but I've had white, pink plaid and purple ones too.

Other than that I have about 5 pairs of All Saints shoes and the famous Damisi biker boot that is great in the winter with a pair of skinny trousers.



Last year when I started to get to know other high end fashion brands, I discovered Acne. Acne are a Swedish brand so you can imagine how clean and simple and stylish their clothes are. The standout for me are the really smart looking boots. Their Pistol boots being the most famous ones, probably because most other brands did a copy - Topshop did a good one. Anyway, whilst browsing Harvey Nichols shoe department (because frankly browsing is all I can afford to do there) I finally saw a pair of Acne Pistol boots, in the flesh so to speak. I tried them on. It's usually not wise to try things on because it makes you want them more. That's why they're displayed right there in front of you awaiting your delicate touch.
Source: shopbop.com via Angela on Pinterest

At £350 a pair these boots aren't cheap by any means. But I tried them on nonetheless - with absolutely no intention of buying, but trying them on is fine. I was a little disappointed. I think they're meant to be ankle boots. But when I tried them on the 'apron' (front part) seemed too high and the sturdy, great quality leather was digging into my lower shin. Maybe my shins were a bit chunky for the comfortable wearing of these boots. Hhhmmm. I took them off and quickly put them to the back of my mind. They are gorgeous boots though.

Then I saw these babies on Pinterest!
Source: farfetch.com via Angela on Pinterest


Another pair of Acne boots...The Acne Star boot in a light pink blush leather. These would be great for spring summer 2013 I thought to myself. If only I were a millionaire. Again I didn't think much of them but then I saw them for real again Fraser's in Glasgow last weekend. They were really nice but they are extremely expensive for me.

I browsed further through the shoe department and came across this pair from Carvela at Kurt Geiger. I give you the 'Standard' boot.

They look almost the same as the Acne Star boot, right?! Except not in that lovely soft pink blush leather of the Acne pair. Sigh. They're on sale from £150 to £70 right now I think. I'm seriously considering them as a summer boot. I think they could look cute with my black shorts I got from Zara last year.

Anyway, I forgot about them since I don't have a spare £70 til I get paid. I decided to see if they're available on the Kurt Geiger website and they are! and for £70. Wow, tempting. But whilst browsing the Kurt Geiger website I clicked Brands and what do you know, Acne appear to be housed in the Kurt Geiger family too. Can this be true? These boots must be the 'cheaper' version of those pink blush boots. I really am now tempted by this pair.

Let's see...

Angela x

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