Minute44 - Dan Schonhaar

Hi people… lots to share this time. Had a 4 day weekend to be out and about. Friday Myself and Nat took a trip to Nottingham to have some lunch and walk around the shops a bit. We went to Wagamama for lunch, if you’ve never been, go. It’s fantastic. I had the signature Wagamama Ramen and Nat had a rice dish with chicken, vegetables and oyster sauce. We shared a serving of gyoza, Japanese dumplings with chicken and spring onion which are steamed and finished on a grill. Whenever I eat there I always leave with a sense of well-being and content… soul food ftw!

Our journey to Notts wasn’t just for food and shops. The previous week I heard about the Carbon & Chemicals exhibit being in the city for a week starting Good Friday so was determined to check that out. Basically it’s an exhibition of skateboard art and other media put on by Xynthetic, a family of artists brought together by a love of skateboarding. I’d been emailing Gavin Strange (JamFactory) about it over the past week and was pretty psyched. Anyway, we got there about half an hour after it opened and grabbed a goodie bag with all kinds of stickers and posters and badges and had a look around the art and photos. Met Gav (all-round nice guy) and had a bit of a chat before stopping to watch the live art take place. Shot loads of piccies of the event. The music was cool, DJ and friend of Xynthetic, 209 layed down beats all night. Didn’t stay for the whole time and only saw the live art about a quarter finished but you can see the finished article here. You can read about the goings on at JamFactory blog and the Xynthetic blog.

Saturday, Brahn and Laura came round having just been into Derby. Dan had bought a remote control helicopter which was the shizz! After some practice I was able to control it to some extent but it was still kinda unpredictable. Either way, we flew it around for an hour or so before heading into Alfreton for a drink at ’spoons and grabbed a curry before heading back to mine. After consuming a silly amount of chicken dupiaza we were in the mood for flying the chopper again so we did that for a good while more… I also took some pictures of the beast flying around.

See the whole Gallery of those two days.

Sunday was a super lazy day, as all Sundays should be. I stayed in bed watching X Files until mid afternoon. Went to get some late lunch and then got ready to go out. Went to Nat’s dad’s house for some food and drink. It was cool, her brothers came round and we had a bit of a laugh.

Monday, I met Brahn and Laura at Brahn’s house and we had a bit of a play with the chopper again. After that we headed into Derby for some lunch. We went to Pierre Bistro on Friar Gate for the set lunch menu. They do 3 courses for a tenner and it’s good eatin too! I had Brioche with mushrooms to start, then salmon fillet with mussels and sticky toffee pudding for dessert! Was outstanding, I recommend it to anyone who likes European food. We shared a bottle of the house red as well and the lunch offer combined with Laura’s student discount meant that the bill only came to a bit over £35 for the three of us. After that we headed into Westfield for a bit of a walk around before heading back to Brahn’s for some more helicopter action. At about 6 I headed over to Nat’s house. I had some dinner and played with her new dog, Millie; a Jack Russel puppy. It’s a right hyper little shit. Her other dog, Barney was having a fit… he’s the most jealous attention seeking dog ever! After that we just chilled and watched Meet the Parents before I had to head home.

All in all was a nice Easter, enough stuff to do without me lacking relaxation. Shockingly, no trips to the movies over the weekend… I think I’m going to check out The Orphanage on Wednesday as Lucyfer has recommended it to me. Roll on May when the good stuff comes out! Laaaavly!