I don't know about you...

...but I'm feeling 22! Okay I'm sorry Swift-haters but I couldn't resist that one seeing as I'm going to tell you a little about my 22nd birthday earlier this week.

I didn't have much planned for my actual birthday- if I'm being honest I felt a bit 'meh' (for lack of a better word) about the whole thing, but I ended up having a lovely, if rather chilled, day in the end. I actually opened my cards and presents the night before, as if not my parents would've tried to wake me at the crack of dawn before they went to work the next day and if my 22 years on this earth have taught me anything, it is that I am not a morning person. I was lucky enough to receive a couple more of my beloved silver knuckle rings, Foals' 'Holy Fire' on vinyl, a lovely new leather purse and a MAC lipstick- nothing extravagant but it doesn't take much to make me happy.

I'd arranged to meet one of my best friends, Gaby, in Leeds to take advantage of Pizza Express' annual free bottle of birthday prosecco. She just came back from working in Marbella all summer so a pizza and prosecco was exactly what we needed- I went for the rustichella which is basically a Caesar salad on a pizza, need I say more?

Once we'd finished our food we met up with another of my friends, Susie, to head to Belgrave Music Hall's roof terrace, which I think it's now fair to call my favourite place to go in Leeds. We had a lovely leisurely afternoon drinking Amstel (just a little less sophisticated that prosecco) in the sun, only popping back inside to take advantage of resident Dough Boys' half price slices; because apparently one pizza wasn't already enough..

Like I said, it was nothing too exciting and most of my friends were either back at uni or working, but it was a good day with a few good friends nonetheless. Really I just wanted to post a few higher-quality photos on here as I remembered to take my DSLR camera out for the day- seeing how much better these photos look than iphone snaps makes me really keen to do more lifestyle-y restaurant-y posts. Watch this space!

Belgrave Street Feast

Last Saturday I had another food heaven experience. I know, I keep writing about food at the moment but unfortunately while I'm revising it's one of few joys for me. This one took place at Belgrave Music Hall and Canteen; a fairly new but very popular addition to Leeds' ever-growing bar scene.

I'd heard about Belgrave's street feast and been very intrigued but I'd always still been at uni in Birmingham when they were held, so when I saw that it is now a monthly event I made it my mission to go while I was home for easter. I rounded up a group of friends and headed to Leeds' northern quarter to see what delights were on offer.

The event was held on all three floors, including the lovely roof terrace which I'll definitely be visiting again when the weather is feeling a bit more agreeable. We had a wander round first to see what we fancied. I'd heard good things about Fu Schnickens so I started off with one of their crispy panko chilli chicken Guo Bao. It wasn't like anything I'd ever tried before but it was delicious and a small enough size that I felt okay about sampling a few other things. I didn't get to take many photos which is a bit of a pain when you're describing food, but you'll just have to trust me on this. Fu Schnickens are currently calling Belgrave their home so I think I'll be popping in again for more.

While some of my friends were at the Manjit's Kitchen stall (by the way, they also described their food as amazing) I bought a pint of Symonds cider then went to ogle the delights of the Noisette Bakehouse stall. I opted for a sea-salt caramel brownie to have later as I'd heard great things about them and feared that they'd run out; I can confirm that it was indeed a very good brownie. I'd been eyeing up the Arepa!Arepa!Arepa! stall nearby and decided to check it out. An arepa is a fried maize bread-sort-of-thing. Descriptions are apparently not my strong suit. Anyway, I had one filled with spicy, beer-y beef and it was pretty darn good.

I thought this was where my food for the day would come to a halt alas I couldn't resist trying a slice of the resident Dough Boys' pizza on my way out. From 12-7 every day pizza slices are half price, meaning you get pretty much a quarter of a pizza for £1.30. Basically if you live in Leeds you have no excuse not to grab yourself a slice too.

Long story short- I'd definitely recommend the street feast and I've already convinced my parents that they need to go to the next one. I, sadly, will not be able to attend the next few due to the slightly pressing matter of my final ever exams (when did I get this old?) but I'm already looking forward to returning to Belgrave in the summer for drinks on the roof terrace and perhaps a Guo Bao or two.

Have you been to Belgrave yet?

February

I'm not doing too well with my whole regular blogging resolution am I?

Forgive me; February has been dissertation central- in the past few weeks I've had to give a presentation of my project and then hand in a draft version of it, so I suppose you could say life has been pretty stressful.

But the last month hasn't been all work and no play. One of my housemates, Lauren, turned 21 a few weeks ago so we paid a visit to one of our favourite cocktail places in Birmingham, The Jekyll & Hyde. It's a lovely little place with portraits of dogs heads on human bodies and some of the best cocktails I've ever had. For her birthday she had hired out the gin parlour upstairs which was suitably fancy and we had a 'madhatters tea party', complete with a cocktail to drink out of a miniature porcelain bath.

I also paid a visit to the capital at the start of the month with my sister and her best friend in order to find bridesmaids dresses for her upcoming wedding. I really do love London; it just feels so alive and there's so much to do. I fully intend on moving there at some point, if not purely for the food. I managed to visit both Byron burger (probably one of the best burgers I've eaten) and Pizza East (again, probably one of the best pizzas I've had) in the same 24 hours. In fact, the same 12 hours. Some people eat to live, I live to eat. But it wasn't all about food, we were successful in our dress hunt and I'm so happy with the result. We found the perfect dresses in a little boutique called Two Birds and I genuinely want to wear my dress all day every day. Thank god my sister isn't one of those brides who makes her bridesmaids wear vile dresses just so she looks better.

Of course, February is also the month of romance due to Valentine's day. Alas, my night on the 14th was spent at work pouring pints of snakebite and jagerbombs for the locals of Selly Oak- possibly one of the least romantic places you would wish to be on a day celebrating love. But one of the locals did buy me a pity rose so at least there's that...

Now for some February favourites:

Music: I'm sad to report I've not made any musical discoveries this month. However I have fallen even deeper into my Haim love affair, if that's actually possible, with the release of their new music video for 'If I could change your mind'. Seriously these girls can do no wrong in my eyes; the full choreographed dance routine, hair whipping and their outfits. Perfect. 

Books: Another resolution badly kept- I haven't finished another book yet..and I bought a new one despite having about six already on the go. I know, bad Hannah. I am enjoying my new book though, Norweigan Wood by Haruki Marukami, which I bought while trying to kill time in Waterstones. I had no intention of buying anything, in fact I went in there because I thought it'd be somewhere that I could resist making a purchase. How naive of me. There's something about that Waterstones which just makes me happy. If you're ever in Birmingham you must have a quick look inside (the one on New Street), it's a gorgeous old building with a huge staircase - a quick google has just told me it used to be an old bank. Anyway, this is off topic. I like my book so far and maybe by the end of March I'll have finished it.

Birmingham: It's no secret that I don't exactly love the city I study in. I love my university campus, it's very green and has some beautiful old redbrick buildings, not to mention Old Joe (the clock tower). I've just never found the city centre to be my cup of tea. Though saying that, I don't actually like tea so maybe I should say it IS my cup of tea. Anyway, I do want to take back some good memories of the city when I graduate so I'm going to add a Birmingham favourite for every monthly blog update. This month it's Boston Tea Party, a breakfast/lunch cafe a little off New Street. There are a few dotted around the country but they're all a bit different and don't have a 'chain' feel to them. My friend Sarah introduced me to the Birmingham branch last week and I fear it may become a dangerous addicition; she had eggy bread with bacon, avocado & roasted tomatoes and although my croque monsieur was perfectly nice, I had major food envy. Something tells me I'll be back there very soon. Possibly also motivated by the fact that the guy who served us was certainly what you would call easy on the eyes..

I think I've probably rambled on for long enough now. March will be a month of deadline after deadline so of course I will be doing my best to find some new music, restaurants and cocktail bars to ease the pain.

How was your February?