It was the 18th January, 2020. Mo and I woke up to a day of celebration as exactly 10 years ago, we met for the very first time on our blind date. Now I’m sure most couple would have planned a really romantic getaway, tried to re-enact the moment, gaze into each others eyes over a candle lit dinner… Well I’m pretty sure you know me well enough by now to know that pfft that was never going to happen! We couldn’t re-enact the moment because the place we met has actually shut down (not because of us I should add) and Mo and I have realised over the years that there’s always time for romantic mome ..read more

Happy New Year!!! I am a huge fan of new year hype. I love that whole ‘starting fresh’ feeling and I love celebrating the new year, we always have a mini party at ours for our friends to watch the fireworks (thank you BBC for featuring CRAIG DAVID this year!) and I also love setting new goals. I should point out as much as I love setting resolutions and have all the best will and intention to keep them, they very rarely come into fruition. HOWEVER That being said, I still feel it’s good practice to at least start the year off with the intention to achieve something by the end of it. I suppose ..read more

Ahh yes, the festive season is upon us. Am I ready? No. I’ve been nattering on about it for weeks on the Dead Good Show but I still can’t quite get myself into the holiday mood. Now you’re all rolling your eyes thinking, well you’re Muslim and you’re not celebrating it anyway so what the heck am I complaining about… Regardless of whether I celebrate it or not, I usually find this time of year is filled with happy and joyful ambience. But I’m just. Not. Feeling. It. Shall we blame the politicians, I mean who organises an election for the end of the year?!? Who has time and energy for that drama ..read more

It was my sister’s 30th birthday and my Dad was adamant to take control, it’s what he does and we (kinda) love him for it (did I say love? Love actually might be a bit too strong of a word!). So this year for her big one, he had the perfect idea that he knew she would love, something competitive, something that requires skill, agility and a real sense of competitive spirit.  Yup, I’m talking about combat archery.  20 friends.  Three teams.  All armed with bows.  One arena.  Fighting for arrows and to stay alive during the game.  Let the games… BEGIN.  &n ..read more

Last month I queued up for a number of hours to bag Mohs and I a couple of cheap tickets to the Book of Mormon at the Palace theatre. It was worth every second spent in the rain as the performance absolutely blew us away with its ingenuity, humour and fantastic acting. One of the things I commented on when I tweeted about it later was the audience at the show was like no other I had seen, engaged, lively and compared to normal theatre audiences, pretty wild. But hey if I thought they were wild, I really hadn’t seen nothing yet… Many of you have heard me bang on about Manchester International F ..read more

I feel like every year Ramadhan becomes more and more special. Maybe it’s because I’m getting older? Appreciating the beauty and benefits of the blessed month more? Or maybe because I’m getting used to the long fasts and knowing how to handle them better? Whatever it is, this year was wonderful but of course it felt like it went really fast and I wish I had done more. Nevertheless Eid arrived on Tuesday and Mo and I spent the day visiting and enjoying the company of our family and friends. Wednesday, back at work and then our usual Eid tradition after catching up with loved ones is complete, i ..read more

It’s been some time since we last visited Sapporo teppanyaki in Manchester. I’ve always had fond memories of our time there, usually because they’ve been occasions to celebrate. But Mo and I have never really been just because we fancied a meal out. When i received the invite to visit and try out their new menu, just the two of us, I have to be honest I hesitated at first. Wondering if we needed to invite others along as it might be strange just the two of us going, no-one else to share the experience with. Because eat8ng out at Sapporo isn’t just a meal, you get entertainment thrown in too. I ..read more

I’d been hearing about Karam on the grapevine for some time. Having worked in Cheshire for many, many years I have always had a soft spot for visiting and being invited to the launch night was a perfect excuse to head back. Hale isn’t a destination town, if you were thinking of somewhere to go and eat around Greater Manchester, you wouldn’t necessarily think to travel to Hale. As a group, we’ve often travelled to outside the city centre in pursuit of a good meal, and every time we do Mo and I often reflect and wonder why we don’t do it more often. There are so many great restaurants hidden aro ..read more

It was the 18th January, 2020. Mo and I woke up to a day of celebration as exactly 10 years ago, we met for the very first time on our blind date. Now I’m sure most couple would have planned a really romantic getaway, tried to re-enact the moment, gaze into each others eyes over a candle lit dinner… Well I’m pretty sure you know me well enough by now to know that pfft that was never going to happen! We couldn’t re-enact the moment because the place we met has actually shut down (not because of us I should add) and Mo and I have realised over the years that there’s always time for romantic mome ..read more

Happy New Year!!! I am a huge fan of new year hype. I love that whole ‘starting fresh’ feeling and I love celebrating the new year, we always have a mini party at ours for our friends to watch the fireworks (thank you BBC for featuring CRAIG DAVID this year!) and I also love setting new goals. I should point out as much as I love setting resolutions and have all the best will and intention to keep them, they very rarely come into fruition. HOWEVER That being said, I still feel it’s good practice to at least start the year off with the intention to achieve something by the end of it. I suppose ..read more