Why it's never wine o'clock for me

I got out the habit of drinking alcohol in the evenings when I was pregnant and then breastfeeding. I acquired a taste for Beck's Blue Alcohol-Free Lager and have continued to drink it ever since. It's particularly nice on a sunny evening like yesterday.

There are some advantages of not drinking wine in the evenings any more. I sleep more consistently, and am less likely to snore. Plus it is nice not to have hangovers. I think my skin looks better. And drinking fewer calories means I can eat more cake and chocolate without getting fat.

Linking up with this week's Photo Gallery at Sticky Fingers - check it out if you want to see what other people are drinking.

Frankie and Benny's cocktail menu

There is a new cocktail menu at Frankie & Benny's. All the classics are there, including my favourite cocktail: the Cosmopolitan. This is described on the menu as follows:

A ladies favourite! The combination of Eristoff vodka, triple sec, fresh lime juice and cranberry, finished with an orange zest.

So it was with a happy heart that I headed the Nottingham City Centre Frankie & Benny's with a voucher in my handbag for two courses and two cocktails. I met up with 7 other local bloggers who also had the same vouchers and we had a lovely time.

I had two Cosmopolitans and they were delicious. Not too sweet and very refreshing, especially after a hard day at work.

The food was good too. I had the goats cheese and red onion wrap with fries and a mango sorbet for dessert.

Here are some photos of us enjoying ourselves:

Left to right: bloggers from Baby Budgeting, Alexander Residence, Super Lucky and me.

Left to right: bloggers from The Mummy Diary, Love Chic Living, MummyLish and The Ana Mum Diary.

We did have a few suggestions as to how it could have been even nicer:

• turn the music down, so that it is easier to talk without having to raise voices
• make the cocktail menu easier to read, the lettering was tiny and didn't show up clearly against the dark-coloured background
• for the cocktails with ice, more cocktail and less ice would be good.

But even with these minor quibbles, it was a fun evening, and a real treat.

Disclosure: I received vouchers for two food courses and two cocktails (or other drinks), and so did the friends I was with. All reviews on this blog are completely honest.

Thank you to Becky for the photos of people - I only remembered to take photos of the cocktails!