Food: Lunya, Liverpool.

Food: Lunya, Liverpool.

Friday, 29 January 2016

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Exams are finally over, hurray!! Last night my best friend from uni and I met up after four months of not seeing each other. Whenever we meet up we tend to go out for a couple of drinks and then a fancy dinner as neither of us drinks much and we much prefer doing something like that. We decided early on in the evening that Spanish tapas was what we wanted and in the end chose the Catalan Spanish restaurant Lunya, which is on College Lane in Liverpool town centre. The restaurant itself is attached to their very famous deli and I’ve been there quite a few times before with friends and my boyfriend but my friend had never eaten in the restaurant itself before. I thought that was an absolute travesty of course, as it’s one of my favourite restaurants, so that was where we decided to eat. 

The first thing I’ll say about Lunya is that their service is like no where I’ve ever been before. Waiters are attentive, helpful if you need them to be but at the same time allow you the space to enjoy your meal without interruptions. Our server was a lovely Greek man whose name I cannot remember for the life of me and he made the experience all the more enjoyable. We decided to go with 7 little tapas dishes between us, although the menu does recommend 4 per person but in the past I’ve ordered way too much food and ended up wasting so decided that wasn’t a good idea. Firstly, we ordered Chorizo, which we specified to be warm and was absolutely amazing, just salty enough and gave off the most remarkable of flavours. I’m not able to eat cow’s milk because of allergies so of course we ordered Manchego which is my all time favourite cheese- this dish comes with little cracker like biscuits and a jelly which is absolutely out of this world. We got Gambas pìl pìl, chilli prawns in a garlic olive oil. It was a little too spicy for my liking but I’m a bit of a wuss where that’s concerned. We also got pork and beef meatballs which were out of this world, a weird crab and seafood mayonnaise dish which we weren’t too keen on, some black pudding meatballs with spicy tomato salsa and finally my favourite of all, jamon croquetas which were absolutely out of this world. Croquetas are probably one of my favourite Spanish delicacies and these were absolutely incredible and I could have eaten an entire plate of them all to myself. We paired our tapas with glasses of wine (I went with a gewürztraminer, my favourite wine) and had the most incredible evening. We paid just over £30 each which I think is an absolute bargain considering everything that we ate. I 100% recommend Lunya to everyone as I honestly can’t think of a single thing that made the experience one I wouldn’t want to experience again. 

Here’s to subtly hinting to boyfriend that Valentine’s Day is just around the corner… 

List: (Yet another) Homeware Wishlist

List: (Yet another) Homeware Wishlist

Friday, 15 January 2016

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I know it hasn't been long since I last did a homeware wish-list but procrastinating before my exams has led me back to this point, so I thought I’d at least be slightly productive and blog about the items I’ve found. I’ve exclusively used etsy.com this time around and found some beautiful little pieces that would look amazing in anyone’s home. 

I’ve been loving prints recently and I found quite a few which I’d love to have in my house. The first one is this beautiful gold framed print: “When I’m with you all is right in the world” which I honestly think is a beautiful and inspiring print. I’d even go as far as to say that that’s how I feel as far as my boyfriend is concerned (except when he leaves the toilet seat up. That’s not okay.) You can purchase this print here. The second print is one that’s more me than anything else, as obviously my blog name is Hollie in Wanderlust. I absolutely love travel and have been fortunate enough to do a LOT of it in my 22 years of life and while I’m busy studying and living here in the UK I have that tingle in my extremities just teasing me to get back on the road and do some more exploring. This print is purchasable here. 

My third choice is this absolutely beautiful wooden cut out tea light holder. Paul bought me quite a few candles and candle holders for Christmas which I decided to save for our new house so I’ll probably get into trouble for wanting another one, but this is definitely allowed… I just think it would look lovely with the other tea light holders that he chose for me (they’re both wooden as well) and add a bit of fanciness to the room where the light shines through the cut out trees. You can pick this one up from here. 

The last thing I’ve got on my little homeware wish-list is this absolutely gorgeous gold-rose coloured sequinned cushion I think it’s absolutely gorgeous and totally me, so I’m hoping to get a couple of these thrown on my couch within due time! Pick them up here. 

What’s on your homeware wish-list at the moment? Let me know! 

Book Review: How to Build a Girl - Caitlin Moran

Book Review: How to Build a Girl - Caitlin Moran

Wednesday, 13 January 2016

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A friend of my boyfriend’s, who I talk to about books regularly, recently recommended How to Build a Girl by Caitlin Moran to me. I’d never actually even heard of Caitlin Moran, which I’m slightly embarrassed about considering how she epitomises everything I believe in, but decided to give him the benefit of the doubt as normally our taste in books is pretty similar. I asked my boyfriend to buy it for me for Christmas, which he did, and I began it on the train back to my parents’ house the following day.

How to Build a Girl is the story of Johanna Morrigan, brought up in Wolverhampton in the 90s. She discovers a love of music and a talent for reviewing music like no other. She’s chubby, out of place and experiments with her style in order to “build” herself into the perfect girl- or more specifically, her image of the perfect girl. With her new image in tow, as Dolly Wilde she takes a position as a music journalist for an established magazine, befriends rock stars, drinks odious amounts of alcohol and experiments sexually, all the while trying to help her poverty-stricken parents put meals on the table. 

The first (and probably the most important) observation about How to Build A Girl that I feel is necessary to make is that it’s bloody hilarious, almost without intending on being so. Moran has a style so beautifully intelligent and comical that that alone makes this book unputdownable. How much of the book is based on real life events I do not know, but it does feel like it has been based on her own experiences growing up - or at least she has taken from these experiences and fictionalised the rest of them to write a bloody good book. I must admit a few of the scenes at the beginning of the book, particularly the references to masterbating whilst her younger brother was in the room made me feel a little bit uncomfortable and I was a bit unsure as to why my friend- a guy- was recommending such a thing, but, not one to give up on a book, I persevered and I’m really glad I did. I laughed until I couldn’t laugh any longer and even felt that the book was heartfelt in some places, with a message at the end which completely changed my perspective of Johanna. I found Johanna’s character incredibly irritating for the most part, but I think that was definitely the point- I thought her obsession with the rockstarJohn Kite was ridiculous but at the same time representative of females going through their teenage years. I cheered for her when she dumped her good for nothing “boyfriend” and  The writing is a tad crude, possibly too crude for younger readers, so I’m a little bit sceptical at it being considered as a YA book but that’s just my opinion. 

All in all, I’m very happy to have read this book and look forward to reading more works by Moran. I’ve recommended this to a few of my friends already and added “How to be a Woman” to my to-be-read pile. 

4/5.