Archive for the ‘Venue Reviews’ Category
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2
Sep
2010
Spanish Wedding – Medieval style (Architecturally Speaking – not dress up as Buxom Wench speaking)
This weekend I went to a wedding in the lovely, picturesque town of Ayllón en Segovia. It´s only an hour from Madrid and the area is dotted with other, equally delightful little towns (Riaza is worth a stop). We discovered you can still walk into a little tavern in a fortress wall or looking over a medieval plaza as the bullfighting plays on the television (or indeed, if you go at the right time, the town’s bullfighting or running of the bulls festival might actuall be going on live in the plaza) and buy a beer for one euro. And you thought Spain was all beaches and 15 euro cocktails.
The wedding venue, The Cloisters of Ayllón, was breathtaking. These are the kind of ruins you find all over Spain – there are so many medieval castles and ruins people literally don’t know what to do with them. The volume is simply too big for a National Trust type scheme to meet the task of restoring them all. (The government runs Paradors as part of a conservation plan – historical buildings converted in to affordable hotels and you really should stay in at least one if you visit Spain).
2
Mar
2010
And the award for best yum cha/dim sum restaurants in a family friendly environment goes to…
I spend a lot of my time thinking about food. I’d like to pretend otherwise – but I’d be fooling no-one. And when it comes to food, my number one interest, nay, OBSESSION, is yum cha. A.K.A dim sum to those outside of Australia. Ah yum cha. The yum of dim. The ‘cha. I dream about you. How I love your flakey pastry puffiness. How I savour the sweetness of your porcine pieces. How I worship at the altar of your gelatinous dumpling marvelousness. You get the picture.
Sometime ago I promised to write a post about the best yum cha to go to with children. The answer is most of them. Seriously. I can’t think of a better place to take children out to eat. Tiny, young, older – is there another place you can think of (bar the hideosity of children-themed restaurants) that they don’t care when food is spread all over the table? Where the noises of screams are drowned out by angry Chinese voices? Where the food is brought by your table in small portions so if it is spat out you can just start again? Where the whole meal can be ordered, delivered and eaten in 45 minutes if necessary? My children had both been to dim sum before they were two weeks old. Yum cha. In the words of the almighty Nike, just DO IT.
16
Feb
2010
Family friendly chic resorts – an urban myth?
these are my feet. Really.
OK, I know holiday reviews of places that you are unlikely to go are fairly annoying. (Ooh ooh, look at me and my awesome holiday – whatEVER). But last year we went on a family holiday which had some serious advantages, so I thought I would highlight some of them as I think they are worth looking out for in any family venue.
I should start by saying that a ‘family resort’ is my idea of hell. Visions of snotty nosed screaming children running amok, primary coloured laminex surfaces and heinous buffet meals. But last year we were seriously in need of some time off and wanted the lowest fuss holiday ever. We got it in the form of the Sani Resort in Greece. If you aren’t able to kick it sans kids in St Barts (our next holiday. Probably. Well, depends if you ask me or the Captain), then this kind of place is a good way to do it in style with the little tackers.
- Can I recommend TripAdvisoras a seriously awesome place to research accommodation? It’s based on reviews from actual guests – sometimes hundreds or even thousands of them and I have used it a dozen times now, and have been satisfied each time.
12
Feb
2010
San Miguel Food Market Madrid
The San Miguel Market (Mercado de san Miguel) in Madrid is an exciting culinary and entertainment addition to the centre of Madrid, long overdue. Very overdue in fact. The building sat empty for over 10 years. It has been beautifully renovated and the food displays are a pleasure to look at as well as feast on. You can sip on champagne while sliding back freshly shucked oysters or grab a tray of tapas and a beer to enjoy under the high ceilings of the light and airy interior.
If you go on the weekend, try to arrive outside of 2:30 to 3:30 when it gets a little bit crazy – but if you arrive at peak hour, the insiders trick is to enter through the “back door”, the entrance farthest from plaza mayor where there is more space than the hordes realize. We found a space even with pram in tow.
San Miguel Market and Surrounding Buildings
31
Jan
2010
Women in piggy tails – why it can be so right.
Last week I watched a grown woman in a blond piggy tail wig and pinafore dancing around and running away from a grown man in a bearskin. No, much to my disappointment I was not at a new avant garde club night. What I do after hours is on my other blog, www.fetishtastic.com.au (shame on you for clicking).
No, I was at an under 4s performance of Goldilocks. I did spend the entire 45 minutes wondering what led these two people to be performing in this show — I am presuming they were wannabe Eastenders stars or perhaps more serious Shakespearean types. Or maybe I am doing them a gross disservice, maybe there is a whole children’s acting career path – starts with a being a giant sandwich in a mall, next stop the dizzying heights of Disneyland? I am NOT dissing the acting which was nothing short of superb. Let’s face it, anyone who can keep a group of about thirty under 4s mostly spellbound for the better part of 45 minutes is a shoo-in to win the X-Factor.
15
Nov
2009
Kid-friendly restaurants in London
Ever since I read Jac’s post on the Baby Deli 
in Madrid, I have been thinking about similar locations in London. Now I don’t mean to rub it in Jac, but we are a bit spoilt for choice here in the capital. There are lots of restaurants that are child friendly. That is, places where you can take your kids and they help you out with high chairs, kid’s menus, early eating, etc. There are also nicer places that are great with kids – both of which I have listed below. However I am fundamentally a selfish person who does not like having their meal interrupted by sticky fingers, babies crying and people crawling around my feet. The exception would be yum cha/dim sum which is MADE for children – mess and noise is positively welcomed, chopsticks were designed to be thrown, there are inevitably fish in a tank to look at, and the whole thing is over in an hour.
But some clever people have cottoned on to the fact that I am not the only parent in the world who likes a nice meal, but doesn’t always want to pay for a babysitter. Thus, the brilliant child-minding restaurant has been born. See below for some details. And if you’ve got any in your hometown, let me know and I’ll continue the research into other cities….
11
Nov
2009
Baby Deli Madrid
Madrid has a new(ish) and very cool destination for parents and children, the likes of which we’ll hopefully see more of before too long. Baby Deli is the project of interior designer and Mum Tatiana Arelle and her three business partners, all young, successful Mums. Among them is fashion designer Carolina Herrera. The shop includes a food and toy range (of ecological and commercially-just products), cafe, and classes for babies, mums and infants.
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- Baby Deli Madrid
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- Entrance
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- Activities Board
9
Nov
2009
Pregnancy massages – or why there is discrimination in the world’s leading expert field.
I consider myself a bit of an expert on pregnancy massages. Not one of the world’s leading experts or anything. Although I would be more than willing to throw my hat in the ring for the role. Except if it involved being pregnant again. Which it probably would. Surely that’s discrimination or something? I should email the people in charge of giving out these World’s Leading Expert roles and point out my skill set – surely someone could run it up a flagpole for discussion? I’m very good at thinking outside the box and being strategic. ANYWAY.
The best pregnancy massages I ever had were at Body Freedom in Melbourne. Just a smallish salon but my god, do they know their fat-bellied women. Seriously good stuff. None of this hole in a table business – beautiful body length pillows and crisp white sheets on a comfy futon. I don’t know if she’s still there, but Jacqui has magic fingers and makes you feel all floppy and sleepy – the sign of a good massage for me (even though those World’s Leading Experts people don’t know a good thing when it emails them).
12
Oct
2009
Child-friendly but still posh pub
The Olde Bell in Hurley is a bl**dy brilliant pub just outside of London. We visited a few weeks ago with some very groovy friends who generally know the cool food places (hanging off their coat tails as I am neither groovy nor cool) and it turned out to be a great location for us and the small people. The food was fantastic. And they have a MASSIVE garden out the back. 
The kids slept in prams during lunch (it’s on the slightly posh side so it’s not really a place for marauding toddlers inside – no chicken nuggets on the menu, put it that way.) However, the staff were amazingly welcoming and one lovely lady even babysat the prams while we all had a drink in the bar. (She didn’t look like a child-stealer). However, the garden was the highlight and the kids ran around for hours after lunch. It was raining (quelle surprise for London) but the kids didn’t mind and this suited us perfectly. Would be gorgeous as a spot for an adults-only lunch (or weekend, it has accommodation and there seemed to be a few more b’nb s down the tiny road), but as a summer destination, this would also be amazing – has its own bar and heaps of tables outside and children can run amok whilst parents eat the restaurant lunch or more casual BBQ lunch and get slowly sozzled in beautiful surroundings. With one person remaining the designated driver/responsible parent. Obviously. I wish there was a list of every child friendly pubs in every city. See here for their website.
