Lets face it, we all have a best mate who we think is the absolute ‘best’. We’ve all got one of those friends who we have gotten absolutely obliterated with, told our deepest, darkest secrets, cried on their shoulder when an ex broke our hearts and fallen over laughing with at that moment in Bridesmaids with ‘that’ cookie. So for that reason, we always see our best mate as thee bestest. But then there are those diamond best mates, the ones that are literally your rock. Faced with the challenge of describing why my friend was the best diamond there was, by 77diamonds, I figured it was about time I introduced you to my best buddy Steph. You may know her as Gwennie from Eat Travel Love. I know her as Goody, Goodies, Puggy, Mama Bear or Goody Gumdrop Buttons. Last Saturday, because I hadn’t seen her in months and we needed to catch up on everything from male dramas to the brand new episodes of Girls Season 3, I took her out to San Carlos in Manchester for a few bottles of Prosecco and Fillet Rossini’s. I know what you’re thinking, she should be writing this post about me… I’m kidding.
But here is what we got up to…
So we headed to San Carlo’s. Reknowned as pretty much the nicest, most prestigious restaurant in Manchester. I had never graced its doors before but Steph was a well seasoned vet, so she assured me it would be tip top. And absolutely, she was right. Super stylish and slick inside, each waiter seemingly imported over from Italy, complete with sexy spiel and hand gestures to make you feel like the hottest woman walking. We were seated in a less busy area and got to talking each others faces off.
Two months of not spending time together, after spending 5 years living together throughout University, has become really hard work. We are like peas and carrots and pretty much finish each others sentences most of the time, so we had about 50 things we had to cover even before the bottle of wine had arrived. Steph has always been there for me. We were somehow placed together individually in the same flat at Uni at the same time as working at the same retailer in the city. I turned up to the flat to ask, ‘What on earth are you doing here’ and she screamed the same question. From then, we pretty much figured it was fate. We share the same sense of humour, the same dirty mind, the same love of Ryan Gosling and Chicken Liver Pate. We have never fallen out and would probably jump off a bridge for each other. Thats how much she means to me. Definitely got myself a very good egg. I know for a fact that we will be sat together years and years from now, talking about the days we used to Pole Dance in our kitchen and watch back to back episodes of True Blood, each time dancing to the theme tune like loonies.
I’d worn my new Freya gold sequin dress from Lashes of London which fitted me like a dream and I’d curled my hair into big waves for that tousled look. Steph had done the same but opted for a purple midi with leather capped sleeves, so we were both pretty much dressed to impress. Steph is engaged to her beau back in Nottingham, but we always like to make an extra effort when we head somewhere fancy. And as a single gal, well why the hell not?!
Like I said, we drank two bottle of wonderful Prosecco, ordered Fillet Rossinis (tucked between a layer of crouton, pate and madeira sauce), rocket salad and vegetables and finally Creme Brulee and Creme Caramel to finish. Of course, we shared half and half of each dessert and swooned over how smooth the Brulee was, with Steph finishing off the meal with a Brandy so she could feel like some sort of Bond villain. She assured me she was loving it, but just the fumes made my eyes water.
She stayed with me for the whole weekend and had to leave to go back to Nottingham on the Sunday night, not until we had finished stacks of pancakes for breakfast and eaten a bucket full of Chicken Korma for dinner. Not to mention the Harvey Nichols lunch we ate on saturday afternoon, complete with bellinis of course, and the italian we ate on Friday night, again with a bottle of vino. We spent the whole weekend stating ‘Who the hell do we think we are?!’ but lapped it up none the less. At the end of the day, what is the point in working every day of the week if you cant enjoy every minute of your days off?
So there are two things you can take away from this post. First of all, the fact that every one of your friends should be treasured and told how much they mean to you, as often as you can tell them. And secondly, San Carlo’s is a place to visit, as many times as you can physically afford. And if you go, don’t forget to order the Prosecco.
V x
