Manchester Christmas Markets

On Thursday I got the train into Manchester (very early in the morning :-( ...) to work with a collaborator for the morning. We ended up in a small cafe near Oxford Road station for the morning, working and planning. But my train wasn't until 4pm so I ended up wondering around the Manchester  Christmas markets for some time.

Markets

They had the (in my opinion slightly creepy) Santa on the roof again.

Creepy Santa

The best things about any Christmas market is alway the food and drink! I had a very nice lunch of  hot dog (they made me my own GF one specially!) and garlic mushrooms. Though the mushrooms were called "Navy Mushrooms". There is no way they would serve those on a ship in a close space; there was too much garlic for me (and that takes a lot!).  The people on the train on the way home did not like me!

Giant cupcakes

I also had a nice glass of mulled apple wine.

Wine!

Little figures (not sure of what exactly)

I liked some of the gifts stuff but I have all my presents sorted out. I did buy some sausages though! They are really good! I ended up with a mixed bag of 7 different sorts, including one which I used to buy all the time when I lived in France and practically lived on it! Very happy.

Baubles

Reindeer whistles (You blow through their bum!)

The markets are very pretty. But I have to admit I do prefer the Birmingham ones, mainly because they have winter Pimms! I only went around the area by the town hall. The same stalls repeat in each of the sections it seems so there isn't much point.

On top of the pub

Cooking

Unfortunately and unsurprisingly it rained so I didn't stay very long. (It is North England after all.) But I did manage to go when there weren't many crowds (possibly the time of day, and the weather).

Rainy markets.

I escaped into the town hall for a bit where they had stalls selling clothes and jewelry. The only I saw was some lovely masks. (But it would be tricky to get the back to the States and I am trying to not buy things - I have to move everything in 6 months; the less the better!)

Town hall

Masks

I fond you really can't spend 3 hours around the markets so found a cafe with WIFI for a coffee for an hour before getting the (packed) train home.

Locked in a chocolate shop!

Friday night, I got locked in a chocolate shop! And not just any chocolate shop. A Hotel Chocolate shop! Katherine and I went to a chocolate tasting adventure, run by Hotel Chocolate in celebration of National Chocolate Week. When Katherine and I got to the Ardale centre in Manchester, the shop was shut so we got a drink. Then at 6.45pm, Katherine got impatient, picked up my things and went to stand outside the shop. :-) So we stood at the window grinning like idiots until they let us is. We were the first ones there. They opened the shutter for us and shut them behind us, thereby locking us in. And then a good looking guy asking me if I would like a glass of Prosecco.:-) If only all nights were like this!

Very happy!

Katherine, equally happy!

Nice man pouring Prosecco.

When everyone else arrived (another 14 people), we settled down for the chocolate tasting. Over the evening, we tasted 13 different chocolate and learnt a lot about chocolate. The most interesting bits were when we got 2 or 3 pieces at one time so we could compare. Usually when I eat chocolate, I just open a bar and eat it. I never realized different chocolates could be so, well, different. Cacao trees are very delicate. They only grow 20 degrees above and below the equator and they don't like too much heat or sun light. So the farmers grow other trees such as coconut trees around the cacao trees to shade them. So the cacao beans take on flavors from whatever is grown around them. The beans can be completely different.

Cacao pod, cacao beans, and bread to cleanse the palate

Also the percentage doesn't mean the amount of coco solids, but the lack of sugars. So dark chocolate has less sugar than milk. But the taste can be just as mellow. The main factor is hot much conching is used, which is basically how much they mix the chocolate. The more they mix, the more mellow the taste.
It was a really good night with loads of chocolate. And then I spent a load of money on chocolate (and port!). Some of it was presents, so I don't feel so bad. And we got a free goody bag on the way out (the 3 items on the left in the picture).

Haul from Hotel Chocolate (3 on the left from the goody bag)!

NAM 2012 - Manchester

So I have spent the last week at NAM 2012 in Manchester. Here is a quick overview of the week. It was exhausting but nothing really big happened. So...

Monday:
I spent Monday in the Manchester Science Museum and Natural History Museum. I was a bit disappointed in the Science Museum. They had a lot of interactive parts but even I couldn't figure out exactly what some of them were trying to say. The air and Space part had some great aircraft but seemed to miss the Space part. I liked the trains but really wanted to sit in one (the 5yr old in me) instead of just look at them. The Natural History Museum was good though they need to turn up the lights. I loved the life-size tiger, lion and polar bear. I think I went at the wrong time as a lot of the exhibits were being changed over so in disarray.
Monday night I went to the public lecture which was good but nothing I haven't heard before. Though I was very impressed with how the speaker handled some of the questions. One day, I hope to answer awkward people that smoothly.

Tuesday was the first full day of talks. Personally for me, there were no really interesting talks that day that I saw. On the evening, there was a reception at the Natural history Museum so I got to see a few things I had missed the day before. But it wasn't the easiest place to network. I introduced myself to random people. But some people look at you very oddly when you do that. After that I went for food and drinks with Rob and some people he knows. We were going to go to the comedy club but they didn't serve food in there. So I ended up eating and drinking wine from a plastic pint glass. Class in Manchester!

Wednesday ... Again none of the talks were really that interesting. On the evening I meet up with Victor for a drink and food and talked about possible research stuff. It was a good meal, at somewhere called Red Hot Chinese which lived up to it's name. Very nice food but spicy. It was good.

Thursday:
There were some more interesting talks. I was supposed to give a poster presentation (of about 1min) but there was another session I really wanted to go to instead about all the cool telescopes and instruments that were happening so I went to that instead. The Conference dinner was on the evening in the Town Hall which is beautiful. T hey had a picture of Jeremiah Horrocks. If anyone wants to know more about him have a look for the book Litmus on Amazon. The first chapter is on him and the forward (written by yours truly) explains the transit. I sat on a table with a group of first year postgrads. Not the best place to sit. But then meet up with Jayne, a friend from when we were at the AAO in Australia and it was great to catch up.

Friday was the last day and by then I was exhausted. Some of the talks were good though the names and abstracts didn't really match the talks. The careers lunch was interesting and depressing at the same time. There are so many things for people after one or two postdocs. But little to no help for people trying to start. And I wasn't the only one to think so. The only advice was to get one through your supervisors. So I am totally screwed. But still, I will stick to the plan. And hopefully not go insane while trying to do so...

It was an interesting week but I am exhausted. And I have to do it all again next week in Italy. Sigh. Early night tonight I think.... :-)

Weekend in Preston (sort of)

I spent last weekend in Preston having a great time with my friends.
On Saturday, I meet Katherine, Tricia, Alan, and Alan's parent to go to see Heidi's dance show. Heidi is Tricia's niece, and studies dance with the aim of working on the cruise ships. The show was amazing. Very professional and slick. The moves were effortless and some of the lifts were amazing.
On the evening, Katherine and I went to Pond for a meal. We had a very nice bottle of wine and a lot of food. (We went a little over the top.) We could barely move after it.
Sunday was a beach day. After a few errands in Preston, we picked up Abi and Kitt and went to Southport. To start off we played crazy golf.

Katherine kept the score

Kitt, the new Tiger Woods

Abi, waiting her turn

I got trounced. Apparently mini golf is not not my sport as I got my ass kicked by a 6 yr old. Though I  am suspicious of his counting! And every one managed to get a hole-in-one. Except me. After all that hot work, we went for the first ice cream/ice-lolly of the year.

Enjoying our post-golf reward

After that we wondered down to the sea front. As it is Southport, the sea was nowhere in sight. But we were going to let that stop us from paddling. So we paddled in the puddles instead and had a great time hunting for shells and finding crabs. We found some really big ones and a sea urchin shell, which is rare this far north. And we got very messy and muddy!

Kitt with his new shell collection.

Sunday evening, Katherine and I meet Tricia at King Dynasty, the best Chinese in Preston. They do a great set menu, which is really nice and great value for money. We spent 3 hours eating, catching up and setting the world to rights.
All in all, a really great weekend. :-)

Spa Day and Markets

Last week, thanks to a LivingSocial voucher, I went with 2 friends, Tricia and Katherine, to Spa 303 at the Hilton Hotel, Deansgate, Manchester. It was fantastic. We were booked in for facials and the sauna, steam room, pool and jacuzzi.

The pool is above the lounge of the reception and has windows looking from inside the pool downwards. Unfortunately I didn't see any one through the windows, even though I did send a fair amount of time swimming down and looking. :-)
The pool area was surrounded by 3 walls of glass. The view from the main wall was dull but the view at the two ends was better.

So we all spent time in the pool and jacuzzi. It was nice just to relax.

 The facial was lovely. My skin felt great afterwards. We were all a little worried as it was described as a pressure point and drainage massage. What are they draining!?! I was a little unconvinced by a facial massage. She ran a roller over my face which was a bit odd. But, overall, it was really relaxing.

After the spa, we went into the Christmas markets and meet up with some others.

The markets were very nice (the same Christmas market you find in every main city in the UK this time of year but still, nice). The main problem with these markets is there is too much food to try in one go. It is very hard to choose which to have! I was also surprised how early it closed on the evening. But by that time, we were all tired anyway, so after a drink at the pub, headed home.

It was a very nice day and great to just send time with some friends relaxing. Definitely a must-do again!