Pesto’s Christmas Picks 2012
- Cairngorm Christmas Reindeer
Deck the halls it’s the first of December! Presents, parties and diet-busting over-indulgence are just a few weeks away and at Pesto we’re definitely in the festive spirit.
As it’s December, this months Pesto’s Picks delves into the best Christmas activities on offer in Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, Cheshire and Bradford and first up we look north to Glasgow.
St Andrews Day festivities are still going strong in Glasgow as the celebrations span over the weekend, culminating in an epic event on Sunday December 2nd featuring ceilidhs and kilted caricaturists soundtracked by none other than the Ayrshire Fiddle Orchestra.
You can join in the action today and tomorrow in Glasgow’s stunning George Square, which in addition to the St Andrews Day activities also hosts the Christmas market, perfect for grabbing gorgeous little stocking fillers.
George Square is a short walk from Pesto St Vincent Street, if you’d like to make a reservation for a romantic Christmas meal for two, office party or a get-together with friends click here or call our team directly on 0141 204 0979
- You probably won’t see anything like this at the zoo…
Looking southward to Cheshire, Chester zoo is a short drive from the newly opened Pesto at the Dibbinsdale Inn, Pesto at the Cabbage Hall in Tarporley and Pesto Widnes.
From November 24th – December 23rd Chester Zoo is running the Lantern Magic event whereby kiddie visitors can make Christmas wishes under the Cedar Wishing Tree and sit on Santa’s Lap. Adults are also welcome to make wishes, but having a go at Santa’s lap is probably not advisable.
Tickets for the Christmas Lantern Magic events are selling fast and are £9.99 for an adult lantern walk and £8.99 for kids, while under 3′s are free. After a magical day together why not visit one of the three closely located Pesto Restaurants, or if you’re coming from further away treat the whole family to an overnight stay at Pesto Dibbinsdale. Click here for dining reservation enquiries and here for room reservations.
In Liverpool this month Christmas revellers can visit the world famous Cairngorm Reindeers at Queen Square on December 6th, 13th and 20th from 4pm til 7pm and best of all it’s completely free!
Other festive freebies include the Christmas classics screenings at the Big BBC Screen in Clayton Square on December 6th, 13th and 20th.
The special screenings kicked off last Thursday with a the Dudley Moore classic ‘Santa Claus, The Movie’, the upcoming titles are still firmly under wraps, but we’ve got £20 and a box of Quality Street on a screening of ‘A Muppet Christmas Carol’.
Our team at Liverpool One are on hand to make your festive outings genuinely special and can help arrange a bespoke reservation for you and your family and friends.
Lastly we look to Manchester where our brilliant Trafford Centre and Deansgate restaurants are located at the heart of two of the best shopping spots in the country.
Last night Manchester enjoyed the opening night of the theatrical production of Disney’s classic 1994 title The Lion King. Running from November 30th 2012 to 20th April 2013, the Lion King at the Palace Theatre is a show not to be missed. With dazzling staging and highly imaginative costumes, masks and puppets, this production is family theatre at its best.
If you’d like to treat the whole family to a spot of shopping, Pesto have locations at both the Trafford Centre and in the city centre on Deansgate, both ideal for an early bird lunch (check out our special menus) or a relaxed meal before a special festive theatre trip.
To make a reservation enquiry for any of our restaurant please click here or click here for our phone numbers, our team of staff are always on hand to help.
http://www.scotland.org/culture/festivals/st-andrews-day/
http://www.fiddleorchestra.com/
http://www.chesterzoo.org/
http://www.pestoatthedibbinsdaleinn.co.uk/reservations/
http://www.cairngormreindeer.co.uk/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bigscreens/locations/liverpool
http://www.manchestertheatres.com/lionking.htm
Pesto’s Picks January 2012
The New Year is almost upon us, and with 2011 having been the second warmest year on UK records hopefully our New Year celebrations won’t be blighted by freezing temperatures and relentless rain. Or perhaps that’s just wishful thinking…
With many of us about to embark upon the mission of sticking it to a long-standing vice, enter into battle with excess Christmas weight or seek out a new career as part of our New Year’s resolutions, what better time to take your mind off all that stress-inducing good behaviour and enjoy watching someone else sweat it out for a few hours, bringing us to the first pick of the year; TNA Maximum Impact Wrestling IV at the Manchester Evening News Arena. (Friday 27th January)
According to the MEN “Wrestling legends Sting and Kurt Angle head up the roster of stars from TNA’s flagship television programme Impact Wrestling.
“TNA World Heavyweight Champion Sting will be making his first wrestling appearance in the UK for almost a decade alongside Olympic Gold Medallist Kurt Angle.
“Also starring at the Manchester event will be Gail Kim, Rob Van Dam, Beer Money, Crimson, Mickie James, Gunner, “The Phenomenal” AJ Styles, “Samoan Submission Machine” Samoa Joe, TNA Knockout Velvet Sky, Mr. Anderson, Matt Morgan, Bully Ray, Mexican American and many more.
“Speaking ahead of his Manchester visit, Sting says: “It has been too long since I’ve been back to the UK. I promise you there will be Maximum Impact in January 2012. It’s going to be Showtime!
“Fans will see lots of bodies flying through the air, broken tables, chairs everywhere. We call it professional wrestling. We call it IMPACT WRESTLING”.
Ooh er.
- Stern
Next up from the North West we have something altogether more relaxing and a little more high-brow from the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Beethoven’s Pastoral (Wednesday 11th January).
Conducted by Vasily Petrenko with Nikolai Lugansky performing Beethoven’s Overture, Prometheus, Piano Concerto No. 4 and Symphony No. 6 ‘Pastoral’ the evening is set to by truly magical, ideal for anyone wishing to wind down following the excesses of the festive season.
“One great composer: three incredible worlds. From blazing joy to blinding rage, no composer captured human emotion with more passion – or poetry – than Ludwig van Beethoven.”
Tickets range from £13 to £36, but there aren’t too many left!
Back from the 90's
Yooooooou’re gooooooorgeous! Probably words you’ve heard exchanged many times over the Christmas period if you’ve visited at least one bar with at least one over-zelous festive reveller. Well, if you’re in Glasgow this January 31st and would like to hear the song as it should be sung, britpop one-hit-wonder Babybird, or Stephen Jones as he’s less-commonly known will be performing at Glasgow’s legendary King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut.
Jones’s brand of off-beat pop will be sure to brighten up your post-christmas midweek blues, and at only £12.50 a ticket it won’t break the bank either. Support comes from the Sneaky Russians, who appear not to be Russian, but must have sneaky tendencies to have wormed their way onto the bill with their dire brand of long-deceased garage band indie-pop.
Well that’s it folks, our picks of the month for January. Next month, what with it being February and all, we’ll be doing a Valentine’s special – watch this space!
www.men-arena.com/?page_id=1867
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2080355/Feeling-hot-2011-second-warmest-year-record-hottest-spring.html
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Angle
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Petrenko
lugansky.homestead.com/
www.babybirdmusic.me
Pesto’s Perfect Trees!
Carrie and Big. Bert and Ernie. Cookies and milk. Some things just work better together, and without a tree Christmas just doesn’t work. The festive aroma, the decorating ritual and above all, presents underneath are part of what make Christmas, er, Christmassy!
Now, with there only being one days left till the big day itself, we’d hedge our bets that some of you are still scrambling to find the time to even choose a tree, never mind get it dressed up in time for Christmas morning. This is where we’re on hand to help! Here are Pesto’s top five tips for choosing the perfect tree!
1. Size does matter. If, like most of us, every inch of living space matters the last thing you want is a monster Redwood Christmas tree eating up your lounge. If you’re struggling to squeeze in a Tesco pot-plant, steer clear of lavish big trees, however tempting! Pick the perfect space for your tree and measure it before going shopping to save yourself a world of hassle later in the day.
2. Age also matters. A recent Facebook post from a most unlucky festive relative served as an excellent reminder that choosing where you buy your tree is every bit, if not more important than the tree. The relative in question splashed out a rather decadent £75 at her local farm shop only for the tree to wilt and die within ten days. Finding out whether your local tree stockist buys in their stock weekly or if it’s one big delivery will allow you to gauge how ago the tree was cut and judge whether it’s likely to be a duffer by Christmas morning.
3. Hate hoovering? The Norway Spruce might not be the tree for you…Some trees emit that gorgeous festive aroma, others retain their needles long after they’ve adopted that delightful shade of brown. For best needle retention the Noble Fir might be best for your household, while the Norway Fir really captures that festive scent.
4. Shape matters. As most Christmas trees in commercial shops have already been stuffed into nets, it makes it nigh on impossible to guess whether the tree in question has a classic Christmas tree shape, or is in fact a Side-Show Bob bonsai nightmare. Short of ripping the net off in-store (and possibly being removed from said shop) all you can do is try to find a small platform from which to gaze down the top of the tree to assess how even the branches are. Or you could try grabbing a tree from a local seller, who tend not to net their stock.
5. Fake it. If all of the above just seems too strenuous for arguably the most time-consuming month of the year, pop into John Lewis and buy a fake. Buying a fake does have its upsides; no messy pine needles, no faffing with nets, no watering around hundreds of potential fire hazards and best of all you can shove it in the attic and drag it out next year saving you time and money in the long run. All that aside, fake trees are rather naff, and it might just take you all year to find one that looks anywhere near as pretty as a genuine festive fir.
Struggling for a last minute stocking filler? Pop into Pesto today and pick up a gift voucher!
Keep up with us on Facebook and Twitter for more frequent updates.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrie_Bradshaw
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norway_Spruce
You can also find us on
