Bongo's Bingo, Boxing and Beats

Wow. What a week. 

Steaming 2 nights on the trot. Expect a writeup of Bongo’s Bingo, but with a twist. Blog post is probably going up on Saturday. There’s a psychology twist. 

House music collective Dissociate returns to Off the Square this Saturday for another night of tech house. I ran a meetup for this last time and everyone was really cool. I’ve not uploaded a meetup for this second venture as nobody on Meetup has mentioned the second event. Also it clashes with the Fury v Usyk rematch. 

I’ve not organised a meetup for this either as I’m not 100% on who’s showing it. It’s the wrong time of year, really. That and I’ve generally been disorganised. 

There’s unlikely to be a meetup event for some weeks now.

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Markets Meetup

With Christmas Day a mere 10 days away, the festive events are already under way. 

Friday night I joined a load of work colleagues for Bongo’s Bingo, an outrageous night of prizes, raves, inflatables and cross dressers. Blog post pending. I’ve already written a few posts already from pre pandemic: a quick search of the site will bring them up. This write-up will be somewhat different, though. 

But how? But HOW?! 

Saturday night: Meetup to the Christmas markets. Small group, 4 lads, got drinks and food.

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Glad I finally got there. Couldn’t find the sweet stuff like chocolate fruit skewers etc. May have to drop back in. 

My Insta comment - on a video in which a Scouser takes the phrase 'Drive Thru' a little too literally - got 1700 likes. Woo.

Bulgur Wheat

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I cooked Bulgur Wheat with Roasted Peppers, Tomatoes, Feta and Pine Nuts on 22nd October, then completely forgot to write it up. I think I stumbled across a reminder in my phone when trawling through the OmniNotes app, which – usually – I use effectively for storing information. I wrote it up on the 7th November with Teeline notes from a notebook. 

From Rukmini Iyer’s The Roasting Tin, this was a pretty simple recipe to follow, although I put the pine nuts in a little too early. It all seemed to go together well though. Tasted nice. The only issue I had was my own doing: this recipe is printed on the right hand page, with a different recipe on the left. This particular double page spread features just the text of the recipes, with no pictures (these are on other pages). I kept glancing at the wrong recipe, thinking, did I even buy that ingredient? Eventually I had to drape a tea towel over the irrelevant page to stay focussed. 

This is my life. End result worked out well.

House Music and Christmas Markets?

The Santa Dash is over and I will stop banging on about it and can now eat and drink what I want for the rest of the year. Hence… 

Saturday night: it’s finally time to see the Christmas Markets. Food, drink and merriment with both Manchester Nightlife and Manc Mates. I haven’t drank alcohol in months, but I’m going to on Saturday, and pretty much for the remainder of December. Hot food from the stalls, Baileys hot chocolate, sweet treats and – for those who like it – mulled wine. Dress warm. We’re starting in Slug and Lettuce at Albert Square, then heading into the markets outside the Town Hall. Get involved! 

On the blog there’ll be another writeup of a long-overdue visit to wacky club game Bongo’s Bingo. Cannot wait. Not a meetup.

 

Meetup Update

Manchester Nightlife Meetup group surpassed 400 members this week. Steady growth. I have tons of ideas for events to run, but it’s December, everyone’s broke, it’s freezing and we’re all really busy. 

Also, the Meetup site is being an arsehole at the moment. They are trying to charge me, as they will do for being an organiser, but they’re saying there’s an issue with my card. There shouldn’t be, as I just used it in Tesco, Asda and Aldi and there was no issue there. Plus I’ve done a load of Christmas shopping without incident. Unless it’s sorted, Manchester Nightlife, Manc Mates and Manchester Psychology Social Group will either be taken over by someone else or disappear eventually. All because Meetup won’t take my money. Absurd. This is after putting up their prices a month ago. If that’s the issue, why haven’t they emailed me to check I agree to pay the increase? People are furious.

Loads more to blog about. See tomorrow’s post.

Santa Dash 2024

Well, I dieted for 9 weeks and lost… 5 kilos. Great. I was hoping for 9. 

Back in early October I explained I was going to focus on getting fit for the annual Saddleworth Santa Dash, a 5km sprint through Uppermill and surrounding villages to rise money for local causes. Organised by the Saddleworth Round Table, the event has now been running for 10 years and today – the day of the Dash – saw 2600 Father Christmases racing. My family and I were among them.

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Brilliant run. Very wet, very muddy. 5Km in 31:09. Could have run faster if the weather was better. And if I hadn’t eaten so many flapjacks and paninis. But here we are. This is the psychology connection: If I could have just resisted temptation, I’d be a lot lighter and faster. Cravings are a huge obstacle for me, and sometimes I can fight them, and other times I can’t. I’ve been running a local 5.4km route that I’ve done reasonably well with. No PBs during this period, but it’s given me some stamina. I’ve also done a ton of treadmill work, resulting in 10 mins at 14.8kmph for a new PB. So there’s that. 

Fun project and fun day, despite the rain. Now to eat junk, get steaming and enjoy Christmas. 

January is Veganuary. I’ll go vegan for a month for health reasons. More later. In January, obviously.

Santa Dash Saturday

Here it comes. The Saddleworth Santa Dash whistle is blown at 12 midday on Saturday, setting off a thousand runners in Father Christmas suits through the hills of Uppermill and surrounding villages. I’ve undergone weeks of training… and I’m still a fat bastard. 

Whatever. I’ll do okay. Always a fun race with great food, drinks and music afterwards. 

Later that night, 90s rave group Ratpack (Searching for my Rizla) perform in Ashton’s Chute bar. I can’t guarantee I can be there so no meetup for this, but I’m tempted. Chute’s lineup has recently featured Bez from Happy Mondays, DJs who’d played in iconic club The Hacienda, and others known for long-closed clubs like Venus and Ampersand. 

Can’t wait to have a curry tbh.

WeRoad / Oldham Road Calamities

One week to the Santa Dash. Under 75kg but the 72 target is seemingly out of my reach. Can it be done in a week? Unlikely. Lacking willpower. Getting insanely strong if recent pump classes are anything to go by. (Lots of barbell work in time to music.) Last time I was 72 I don’t think I was carrying anywhere near as much muscle. Treadmill work is also going well with a recent PB. Getting reasonably good times for my local 5km running route. 

So that’s a positive. 

Friday night: WeRoad, adventure company, ran a meetup in Freight Island in which they’d cordoned off an area for attendees. Good group of people, some familiar faces, some new.

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Saturday was not so successful. I ran a meetup to Oldham St in the Northern Quarter but people were seemingly not enamoured with the idea, and the few attendees listed reversed their RSVPs at the last minute. I of course didn’t realise this til I got to Rewind, the meeting point. Plus Peter Kay was in town so the traffic was horrendous. I now consider him to be even less funny than I originally did. More of a Jimmy Carr man myself. Anyway, it seems Oldham St isn't the most appealing area, and to be fair, from the street, it's a shithole. It's only once you step inside the bars that the visuals improve. Anyway, a friend of mine was in at the Manchester Socialising and Language Exchange Meetup, over in the Ape and Apple just off Deansgate. I should have walked, but I decided to fight through traffic to get there, which was made more complicated due to traffic lights being stuck on red near the Town Hall. By the time I got to Ape, they’d gone. I was in no mood for wandering around so made it home. Which of course also took aeons.

Roast Lamb with Apricots

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A tasty recipe, but not without its challenges: how do you chop pistachios without them going everywhere? I just had to throw them in whole and cut them open once they were cooked. I think I should have shelled them, if the recipe photo is anything to go by. Also I mistakenly assumed I had mint and parsley, as I’d had them in my spice drawer for so long without using them. Turns out I’d ran out. Always check! I think I substituted with dill. 

Was supposed to take 1 hr 15. Took me 2 hrs. Oh well. I enjoyed it. Lasted a few meals.

Oldham St Bar Crawl?

Who fancies doing a few bars in the Oldham St area in Northern Quarter? Manchester Nightlife Meetup group have got you. Saturday night we’re starting at 9 in Rewind, the retro movie rental store themed bar, then taking a look at other venues like the boudoir chic Behind Closed Doors and the South African joint Chakalaka. Possibly Matt & Phred’s jazz club if we stray to other streets. Wrap up warm; this might be the last Manchester Nightlife Meetup for a while.  

Manchester Psychology Social Group is still meeting weekly in Hinterland. We now have over 150 members and 6 or so attendees at each meetup. Throughout the week there’s some good psychology chat happening on the discussions tab. If this interests you or you know anything about it, feel free to get involved, even if all you do is contribute to discussions online. 

One more thing: I need a new phone. Android, under £300, SIM-free, solid camera and battery life. Recommendations?

Cloud 23 Meetup

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This week: My Meetup group Manchester Nightlife now has more members than Manc Mates, a group I took over that had been running a while before I became an organiser. I haven’t uploaded much to it Got a follow back on Bluesky from Reece Dinsdale of ID and Emmerdale fame.

Shadwell Army!

— Reece Dinsdale (@reecedinsdale.bsky.social) November 18, 2024 at 8:24 AM

Discussed my Sing Date appearance with August Skye. 

Highlight was the views from Cloud 23. We had 10 people claiming to be coming – on the day, there were 3 of us. Such is Meetup.

Honey Roast Parsnips and Carrots with Quinoa and Rocket

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This should have taken an hour and 10 – it for some reason took me just under 2 hours. That’s even with somehow putting the temperature 50° too high. I then only put in part of the water because, from how I’d done it, I’d have drowned the contents. Sometimes I just cannot explain what’s taking so long. I added a little feta in at the end that I had left over from the last recipe; that seemed to bring a bit of substance to it. A few chicken pieces that needed using made it more filling. I bunged them in the oven on a tray a rack below. 

Not one of my favourite recipes from Rukmini Iyer’s The Roasting Tin, tbh, but glad I ate it.  

Come to Cloud 23 with Manchester Nightlife group

Fancy seeing Manchester from a different angle? How about from 23 stories up? 

Cloud 23 is Manchester’s longest-running observatory bar, having opened in Beetham Tower in January 2013. The views and cocktails are incredible, even after dusk. Saturday night, Manchester Nightlife Meetup group are headed there, meeting first in Atlas bar at the corner of Deansgate and Whitworth St. We’ll then head to the Beetham lobby and get the lift up. There might be a queue, but the views and atmos will be well worth it. 

At the time of writing there’s already 6 attendees signed up. 

On the blog, over the next few weeks, I may also have an investigation into party drugs, a recipe review and a piece on brain injuries and MRI scans.

Kitsch Overload at the Simmons Bar Meetup

Manchester Nightlife Meetup group headed to new 80s bar Simmons on Deansgate last night. 

 

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Gaudy, live music, brash. It’s new, so I wanted to run a meetup there. I doubt I’d be back. We then headed into Spinningfields, to Oast House and to the new – and presumably temporary – Miracle on the Avenue, a Christmas-themed bar with cheesy pop and a huge toilet queue. Spinningfields needs something a little more low-key just to balance it all out; sadly Miracle’s drinks prices are competitive, as are, I expect, their overheads. 

So yeah. My Meetup groups are growing. Another similar Manchester Meetup group closed today as the owner stepped down and no one took it over. I didn’t because it was too similar to Manc Mates, a group I took over a few months ago (and have kinda neglected). 

More Meetup ideas in the pipeline.

Bengali Popcorn Shrimp

Tried this protein snack from Rukmini Iyer’s India Express book. 

Prep time was listed as 20 mins, I did it in 21. Getting faster at first attempts. After a 1-hour marinade time, I set up a workflow with prawns, flour, egg and breadcrumbs. Then I dipped and fried a batch. The first lot needed a little longer than the 3 mins to properly crisp up, possibly due to pan / hob size. I dunno. 

Enjoyed it though!

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