Friday Night Dinner

Last night we had Friday Night Dinner at The Tilbury in Datchworth.  What a fab start to the weekend, I don't think I've laughed so much in weeks.

The night started with us trying to rearrange the tables - disaster!!!  We so should have left it to our lovely waitress as when she came to help it was all done in seconds - we'd got in a right mess!  Danny & Mike warmed us all up - not with hugs I hasten to add - just by putting logs on the fire!  We had a table in the cosy Snug area of the restaurant which is truly perfect for a group.

The food was delicious, a really great choice of loveliness.

The burgers looked amazing - even from a veggies point of view, and the plate of pig looked fabulous.

The laughter was non stop, with the tone getting lowered even further by Mr Bannister and his erection comments!!

Most of the group had never met each other before but you'd have never known, the conversation flowed and a good night was had by all.   We went through some ideas about future events, and I can't wait to get planning our snow weekend, trip to Paris and the P Party.  Mike dressed as a pilchard is going to be hilarious!

Pottery Class

Today we had pottery class.  Sarah, Helen and I braved the fog and the cold and arrived at The Artshed at Westmill Farm, Ware.  We joined the other ladies in the Artshed and settled in.  Everyone was really friendly and it seemed nobody had a clue what they were doing either so that was reassuring - except for the teacher of course!!

We started off rolling out our clay ready to make our vases.  That in itself was tough work, I've always battled with clay and found it hard to use - what on earth was I doing on a pottery class?!  Once the clay was rolled out to the required thickness we then had to choose what indentation or pattern we wanted on our vases.  We chose from designs on various wallpapers and stamps.  I chose a wallpaper with a fairly raised pattern, this had to be placed face down on the clay and then rolled over with the rolling pin.

The clay was left to dry out a bit and we moved onto making pinch pots.  Taking a large ish lump of clay we had to make it round and then stick our thumb into it to make a hole.  Then whilst trying to make the pot stay round - easier said than done - we had to work the clay to make the pot by pinching and stretching out the clay.  Hmmm my excuse was having nails really doesn't help with clay work.

My pots were a bit rubbish to be honest, I wasn't especially proud of them, but hey I gave it a go.

Ok maybe they don't actually look to bad in the photo, not bad for a first attempt.  Sarah and Helen seemed to be doing a much better job.

Once the pots were made we moved onto Christmas Decs, woohoo this was much simpler.  We simply rolled out the clay and using cutters cut out the shapes we wanted to use for your decorations.  We used lace and stamps to make the shapes have patterns on them.  I chose to make a lot of hearts using the lace to make a cute pattern on them. I hope that by choosing hearts, and glazing them white, I can use them all year around and not just at Christmas.

The next tricky part was making the actual vase.  We cut out the bases and then rolled out clay (that we had prepared first thing) around it.  Not as easy as you think people!!   Looking around the room there were a variety of different designs of vases, everyone seemed to be pulling faces, and looking a bit anxious.  BUT all seemed to go well and after a while there were a lot of happy faces.

Now onto the decorating.  We started glazing our pots, vases and decorations.  There was a wide range of colour schemes going on throughout the room.  I hoped for a shabby chic look for my pottery so opted for white.  Fingers crossed it turns out how I envisaged it too once its been fired.

We had a great day at The Artshed.  Becky was telling us all about the other courses they run and I'm keen to get us booked in for some more soon.  It will be good to get Hertfordshire Creative Stuff more creative.

A Win for Saracens!

This afternoon we went to watch Saracens play Treviso in the Heineken Cup.  It was just us girls, none of the Hertfordshire Social Stuff guys came with us, so it was a girly afternoon at the ruggers.

It was the perfect afternoon for rugby, all sunny but chilly ish.  We got good seats in the North Stand and then had a good old moan that there was no screen to see replays etc.  It took until at least half time for us to notice there was indeed a screen, just facing the other stands, and not ours!  Oh well ..... next time!

Sadly within the first five minutes of play Justin Melck was injured and was stretchered off.  Despite Twitter searches and googling during the match we were unable to find out if he was ok,  but we really hope he is.

The match was great, Saracens were whizzing ahead of Treviso, so there was lots of jumping up and cheering going on ' Stand Up For The Saracens, da da da da ........"  There was an incredibly cute little girl in-front of us in a South Africa jersey and she was frantically waving a flag, that was about the same size as her, every time we got a try.  She was super cute.

It was John Smit's debut match for Saracens today, ok ok I hear you say, how on earth does she know all about him?  Well I used to go watch all the Sharks home games when I lived in Durban, so its a name I'm familiar with.  But hey ok not that familiar with, as I was totally clueless that he was coming to Saracens :-)  It was purely a coincidence that we were there today, but a good one, and he got a try on his debut, so it was all good.

Here's a pic I just 'borrowed' from a news site, of todays final try - eeek ok I know thats naughty!

The final score was 42-17, and yes we won.

We're planning on going again on December 4 to see Saracens vs London Irish, who is coming to join us?  Wrap up warm ..... it got pretty chilly in the second half!

Fabulous Fireworks

Hertfordshire Social Stuff celebrated Bonfire Night with a bang at The Plume of Feathers in Tewin.

What a great place to be for fireworks, they have a huge garden with room for a massive bonfire.  The fireworks are set up in their neighbouring fields so are far enough away from the large crowd.  There was a fair few of us Social Stuffer's tonight, and we braved the cold and got a table right at the front in the garden with a perfect view of the show.  One  by one we all gave into the BBQ in one way or another and enjoyed chips, hotdogs and burgers .... and ok I admit I had a toffee apple also!

Toffee apples are just simple delicious, I just love it when they are in the supermarkets and just happen to jump into my trolley!  

Anyway back to the fireworks .... I can dream of toffee apples later.

Nigel, from the Plume does a spectacular job of the fireworks.  The Plume was packed and everyone ooooohed and ahhhhhhed superbly.  The fireworks were stunning, they went on and on for ages.  

A good night was had by all.  We also managed to catch up on all the goss, and plan some girls nights out too.  Watch this space for more events to be revealed.  We have plenty in the pipe line.

I hope you all enjoyed the fireworks over the weekend and your pets and little ones stayed safe.

Pub Quiz

Well tonight we had our thinking caps on and actually did rather well at the quiz.  Girls on Top (our team name) actually did alright, we certainly weren't cringing when they read out the scores which makes a nice change!

The quiz at The Old Barge in Hertford is a really good one, with a variety of questions on a full range of topics.  Having a specialist subject doesn't really put you at too much of an advantage, as there is such a random mix of questions.  I guess the only thing that is useful to do to prepare is to read the papers or the news online and to have a knowledge of what's going on in the world.  Somethings you just know, somehow, and somethings you simply have no clue whatsoever about.  Fortunately tonight we had less of the 'no clue whatsoever' moments and more of the 'how the heck did we know that' ones!

We shall be quizzing again on the 9th October so dust off your thinking cap and come and join us.

Dinner at Loch Fyne

Friday night was Loch Fyne night for Hertfordshire Social Stuff, although as it was just us ladies it might as well have been a Hertfordshire Ladies event.  I love Loch Fyne so am happy to find any excuse to go for dinner.  We had this amazing offer, two courses from a set menu - yes with choices that you'd actually eat - for just £9.95 so it would have been rude not to have taken them up on it wouldn't it!

As usual the restaurant was buzzing and busy but the service couldn't be faulted.  I think thats why I like it there so much, great food, fabulous service ..... oh and its practically on my doorstep!

We had a lovely evening, fully of yumminess, chatter and laughter.  A perfect start to the weekend, can't wait to go again ladies.

Columbia Road Flower Market

Today we went to Columbia Road Flower Market, a place I'd wanted to visit for a long time. And now I'm wondering why on earth I've not been before as its truly beautiful. As you walk down through the market you come across so many different flowers and plants, practically anything you want. I'm pretty sure even if you wanted the weird and wonderful, they would be able to source it, or at least point you in the right direction. The flowers are simply stunning and we were spoilt for choice.

What on earth is a girl to choose?

I settled for some stunning cream roses, a bargain £7 for 20 long stems

From Columbia Road we strolled through to Brick Lane which was buzzy and bustling. There is so much to see in Brick Lane, its an amazing place. We stopped to chat to street food vendors, looked at stalls selling lovely things and others selling a load of old toot, and soaked up the atmosphere.

The food was fabulous, we stopped at The Boiler House for lunch and had a spectacular choice of foods from all around the world. Sara and I wandered from stall to stall tasting samples of foods as we went. All the stall holders were so friendly and helpful and were keen to tell us all about their cuisines. I chose Jamacian food and had Ackee and Salt Fish which was delicious. Sara chose Chinese and others chose Japanese, Spanish Paella and Cuban. We also picked out some cakes for pud, including a big slice of Red Velvet Cake .... mmmmh yummy!

So we had a lovely lunch and then walked back to Liverpool Street Station, via Spitalfields Market - it would have been rude not to stop and have a look at the beautiful stalls with all the lovely clothes, gifts and goodies. All in all it was a blissful day, full of flowers, food and fashion. I can't wait to go back ..... who's coming next time?

Show Me The Funny

Tonight we went to see the first night of The Show Me The Funny tour staring  Patrick Monahan, Dan Mitchell and Tiffany .... (someone).  Patrick was the overall winner of the TV show, although I'd never even seen it.  I just figured that a comedy night might be good fun.

And fun it was.  Patrick Monahan was truly hilarious, and the well deserved winner of the show.  He was so funny, and spent at least the first 30 mins of his act just ad-libbing (is that a word?!) and generally chirping the audience.  So he is obviously naturally funny and not just scripted funny, which makes him even better.  Plus he gives out free hugs, so we were lucky enough to get a somewhat sweaty hug at the end of the show!

A great night of comedy, lots of laughs and good to catch up with everyone.  Looking forward to next comedy night.

Movie Night - One Day

Having read and loved the book I was very excited to go and watch One Day at the movies.  I loved it.  I've actually just looked at some online reviews that are pretty negative, and I'm so glad I didn't read them before we went tonight, so they clouded my judgement.

Anne Hathaway played a great Emma, although yes, her accent did slip on more than one occasion, but who cares, we all know she is American, and to be honest who watches a movie to sit picking faults in the accents anyway.  Jim Sturgess just got better and better with age - the movie is set over a 20 year period, and mmmmmhh age is kind to Mr Sturgess ladies!!

You can't help but get on Emma's emotional roller-coaster, despite knowing the story, I got totally swept up in it all over again.  Cried, smiled, gasped and at times wanted to punch Dex!

I personally would recommend this movie, if you are a book worm then I'd suggest you read the book first, only because its never the same after watching a movie. But for those of you who don't do reading, just go see it.  It will make you smile and will more than likely make you shed a tear too.

Don't just take my word for it, check out this site for all the movie details: http://focusfeatures.com/one_day 

Why not join us at our next Movie Night?

Our New Blog Home

Welcome to the new home of the Hertfordshire Social Stuff Blog. Our old blog was part of our website, which was all very well but it occurred to me that all of you who are not already members can't see what we are up too.

So who are we and what are we all about? Hertfordshire Social Stuff is basically what the name suggests a Hertfordshire based social group. We have members from across the county and also some from further afield (Basingstoke … and Denmark!). Our members range in ages from early 20s to late 60s and somehow, just somehow it just works. Everyone gets on, everyone just mixes and there never seems to be an issue with mixed ages, backgrounds or anything really. I'm pretty sure we are just lucky, and one day we are going to get a totally bonkers member, but for now we are pretty normal, well as normal as a group gets.

I set up the site as I lived overseas for a couple of years in South Africa, and on my return, broken hearted, I began to worry about what on earth I was going to do with all the spare time I suddenly had. Who was I going to go for drinks with on the weekends, who was I going to go to the movies with? I still had all my friends from here, but life goes on whilst you are away. Friends don't just sit in waiting for you to get home, on the off chance that you fancy a dance on a Saturday night, or that you want to go and watch the latest chick flick on cheapy Tuesday. So I decided that I'd better do something about it….. But how on earth do you make new friends as an adult? Its not like going to university where you get ready made friends in your Halls of Residence, or starting school when you get 30 newbies all together in need of new friends. This is the real world, where people suddenly judge you for needing more friends, where people are so busy going about their everyday lives that they don't think to call to see if you'd like to go for coffee. Now I'm a chatterbox and have no problem chatting to anyone, BUT there is a difference between striking up conversation whilst putting your lippy on in the dimmly lit toilets of a bar, or in a queue in the coffee shop, and actually getting someone's number and arranging to meet up. Its not dating after all, I'm sure someone would think I was hjitting on them if I randomly said 'do you fancy going for coffee sometime', or that I was a total looser if I said 'I really need some new friends, please come out with me'! So whats a girl to do …..? Set up Hertfordshire Ladies, that’s what!

I set up Hertfordshire Ladies originally, and overnight ladies signed up. I wasn't alone, I wasn't the only saddo wanting to meet new people. Woohoo, but OMG, I actually have to do something about this now. So I arranged drinks, and eeeek 12 ladies signed up to come to it. I was terrified, it was like going on a blind date with 11 people, only this was more important, this was new friends. Goodness knows what I was worried about! I dragged my sister along for moral support and we nervously waited. Nicola arrived first, she was the first member I met and is still very much a part of Hertfordshire Ladies / Hertfordshire Social Stuff today, and a wonderful friend. The other ladies arrived, some alone and some in twos and threes, everyone just started chattering, everyone was in the same boat. That night we came up with a long list of events to be organised and it has just flown from there.

Two weeks later I launched Hertfordshire Social Stuff, the mixed group and the rest as they say is history.

Now we have a great site with numerous sub groups, including Hertfordshire Social Stuff, Hertfordshire Ladies, Hertfordshire Ladies Who Lunch, Hertfordshire Sporty Stuff, Hertfordshire Photography Stuff and Hertfordshire Creative Stuff. There are usually at least three or four events running each week, across the groups, and events are held county wide. Past events have included: bowling, movie nights, stand up comedy, theatre trips, punting, weekends away, dinners, book club, going to rugby matches, picnics, drinks, brunches, Go Ape, and much much more.

Membership of the site is just £4 per month, payable via paypal, and membership gives you access to all the events within all the sub groups. You can join as many of them as you like, its all included in the membership fee. Members reguarly suggest events, and discuss suggestions in the forums. The site has grown and has got really interactive, its great to see so many new members chatting on the walls. Hertfordshire Creative Stuff was set up a couple of weeks ago as some ladies were chatting about knitting and crafting, so we decided if we all like crafty stuff then why not schedule events to be creative together.

I'm so happy that Hertfordshire Social Stuff has become a success, now its time to spread the word. There must be loads of people across the county who just want to meet new people, who have maybe come out of a long term relationship, or perhaps they have just moved to the area. Online dating has become so socially acceptable, why on earth isn't meeting new friends online as accepted? There still seems to be a stigma linked to it and its ridiculous. Some of my closest friends are people I've met through Hertfordshire Social Stuff.

So forget the stigma, forget the norm, get out and about, meet new people and enhance your social life with Hertfordshire Social Stuff. Join us and get 10 days free membership to check us out and to find out what we are all about.

I look forward to seeing you soon


Louise x