So, it’s been four months since my last blog so I can only apologise for keeping you, my adoring fans, waiting and I thank you for your patience and loyalty. Good, now that bit of self-indulgence is out of the way I can continue writing things for myself to read back over and cringe at years down the line.

I should probably clarify that I haven’t not written anything because I have spent the last four months holed up in my room listening to the independent women playlist on spotify and pretending people don’t exist (that obviously accounts for only around 30% of that time). No, I have in fact been far too busy soaking up all the Vitamin D available to me during this fleeting summer season, trying to eat my way to a ‘summer body’ and being too lazy to keep the internet updated on my social life. But fear not, the wanderer hath returned.

I have a few things to write about, which I’ll get to soon enough, but for now I want to start with my most recent date night. It’s my turn in the alphabet dating game and we are on the letter H (Date G was a night at [top] Golf, although I was the third wheel so I am not sure it can be counted). I have some really good ideas that start with the letter H but there hasn’t been a time when Fraz and I have had a day to set aside and do them. So I am going to claim this here date night as the letter H. I just need some time to think of how I can make it fit…

So last Friday I had the night off work, and I decided to book a slot at the ABQ pop-up bar. If you don’t know what I am talking about – basically it’s a Breaking Bad themed cocktail masterclass hosted in a replica of the crystal ship itself (the RV they cook in). Fraz is a huge breaking bad fan, and I like anything in East London that could be classed as ostentatiously hipster so it was win win!

We arrived and waited outside for someone to confirm that this was in fact the correct location and not just the front yard of a group of super trendy millennials living in a recreational vehicle to reconnect with a simpler time/be able to afford their rent AND to eat. (Note to people who work there: you should really have some kind of check-in desk, or maybe even just a sign because I am pretty sure the above scenario has played out in the minds of many attendees).

Anyway, once we got inside (and learnt the importance of having a flow of fresh air through a compact space) we got to put on some yellow suits (see above lesson) and take our seats at a little lab set-up of our choice. There were 4 members of staff there: the guy who kept using the word bitch (I understand the reference, it’s just not the same with a British accent), the guy who silently washed glasses, the French girl who found everything funny and joyful (part of what gave away her international status), and the guy who shouted at us about health and safety, and dry ice, and other things that he was clearly pissed off about.

And then something cool happened: the shouty guy casually pointed out that the reason not everyone had a suit to wear was because we were slightly oversubscribed due to one certain RJ Mitte being in our group (Walter White Jr/Flynn from the actual television programme). After being super chill about the presence of an A-list celebrity (most people just stared at him with open mouths, whilst others declared that he must be a lookalike), we all got on with “cooking” the cocktails which was actually pretty cool.

I won’t give too much away as I hate spoilers, but I will say that I was pleasantly surprised at how tasty the cocktails were considering that I was expecting the novelty factor to outweigh the actual flavours. In fact, we had a really good laugh. And RJ turned out to be a really genuine guy – going around to each group, introducing himself and offering to take photos with everyone there. (I was, of course, extremely British and 75% of our conversation consisted of me apologising for wanting a photograph/interrupting his evening/existing in general, but he was really sweet and it was a lovely addition to our evening).

It was like the best Chemistry lessons at school (when you got to do an actual experiment, not just dip Litmus paper into various, but equally boring, clear liquids) crossed with alcohol – what’s not to love! The bar is open right up until the end of next month, and if you’re a fan of Breaking Bad and cocktails then I would definitely recommend checking it out!

 

Best bit: The unexpected surprise of an actual Breaking Bad star joining us for an evening of science, bitch (sorry).

Worst bit: This has to be between the definite eau de sweat that the suits were sporting, and the fact that there were no face masks for me to take a selfie in (boo). #firstworldproblems

H is for Heisenberg (yep, that works).