How is it still January? It might be the last day but god that month went on forever didn’t it. I didn’t bother with dry January, I enjoy food and a good drink too much, and it took me until half way through the month to finish off all my Christmas sweets and chocolates. So needless to say my January has been filled with lots of good food in Newcastle, and two trips to new places.

I had been meaning to pay Violets on Newcastle quayside a visit for so long as it always looks so cute, but with quite short open hours id never previously managed it. On the first weekend in January I was in town early for some sale shopping (Reiss had a good one but that’s about it), and I wandered down that way. It was just as cute inside as I’d thought, and I had a really good lemon and raspberry drizzle cake with an elderflower lemonade.

I didn’t realise but it’s not just your typical cafe food, they serve proper meals too, hot breakfasts and lunches and the carbonara on the menu definitely caught my eye. I enjoyed it and would go back, although I’d be parking down on the quayside because I thought I was going to pass out after hiking all the way back up Dean Street let me tell you.

I paid Cake Stories in Jesmond a visit for breakfast one weekend as well, which is an old favourite because it’s small, the staff are so nice and I love their breakfast in a jar.

Sunday dinners have been a big thing for us this month, and one weekend we drove up into Northumberland to Longframlington for lunch at The Granby. I used to go years ago with my grandparents, and it was exactly the same as it was back then. A cosy real pub with friendly folk and good food. A walk to the pub further along for the football afterwards and I was perfectly content.

Mid January saw the return of Restaurant week to Newcastle City centre and I went to Dobson and Parnell and As You Like It. Dobson and Parnell menu was the same pretty much as last year, you can read about it here. It was really delicious and a good one to go to when there’s offers on as it usually isn’t all that cheap.

I went to As You Like It for a friends birthday and although service was a tiny bit rusty, the food was way better than expected. I had Thai sweet chilli tempura prawns which if I’m honest could have done with a bit more dipping sauce, but the shin of beef that a few of us had for main was so good. We all had a mocktail or two as well seen as we were driving.

My work life has been pretty hectic since the Christmas break, and in the first week back I’d booked trips to all over the place. Last week was my first time in Copenhagen, and although most of it was spent in the office I did get some time to myself on the Sunday. I loved exploring the city and seeing the Scandinavian way of life. I’ve wrote posts on what to see in 24 hours in Copenhagen, and how to find incredible 360 degree views from the Round Tower.

I’ve got a post planned on the places that we ate coming soon too, but I’m in Copenhagen twice more in the coming weeks so I’ll save it for after those visits.

When this goes live I will be in Tallinn, which is my second work trip in as many weeks. Again I’m not going to have much time to myself, but I always try to get up extra early to go for a walk before heading in to the office even if it’s just to see a bit of the city near to where I’m staying. Writing this on the plane there the pilot just announced there’s heavy snow, so this should be interesting! I’ll have evenings to myself as well and I’ll be doing the same thing, weather permitting.

Quick update* since I wrote and scheduled this post I got a brief half hour in Tallinn Old Town and it’s totally beautiful…

I’ve wrote a few more blog posts since the new year, one being 48 things to do in Newcastle in 2018. You don’t realise how quickly your diary fills up and there’s some events I always like to make sure I get to. I’ve covered everything from the races, music events, comedy, the Great North Exhibition and just some general things to do in Newcastle so give that one a read if you need some ideas.

I also got a post written on our stay at The London Hotel in New York, I can’t recommend that hotel enough for location it was perfect especially as we weren’t there long. I’ve got more coming on New York so look out for that.

I also wrote a post on Philadelphia’s Old City, which I’m so glad I got to see when we were over there. It’s such a pretty place and full of American history. Even if you aren’t interested in a history lesson take a look at the gorgeous buildings and streets.

I’m barely at home in February. I’m in York for a girls day out to visit my cousin with my mum, sister and auntie, then I go off on another work trip to Hamburg, Paris, Copenhagen and Oslo all in one go. The way the flights have fallen it was easier to stay in Paris for one of the weekends rather than fly home to fly out there again two days later, so my mum is flying out to meet me for the weekend. She’s really excited and so am I, we plan to wander among the beautiful streets, drink wine and eat good food – I can’t wait there’s nowhere I’d rather be ‘stuck’.

At the end of the month I’ve got a non work trip planned to Amsterdam with my lovely uni friend Danielle. We see each other a couple of times a year at most, usually on flying visits to London so we booked a fairly spontaneous weekend and again plan to drink cocktails and I’m hoping see a more luxurious side to Amsterdam than I’ve done previously. Very excited for that.

I’ll be posting all my travels on Instagram and Instagram stories (loving those at the moment) so follow along.

Have a great February x