Girls' Night Out with Cocktails & Sex in the City II (11th June 2010)

Stacey and I hosted a joint event this evening, gathering a group of close gfs for a girls’ night out and what better way to round up the girls with Sex in the City II movie hitting the big screens this month! It has been a very long time since I last organised a group of girls to do something together (the last time was in high school maybe?). As you all know, I tend to hang out with boys more so than the girls and this would be a good start for me to have my own group of girls whom I can do girlie things with :)

Caught up with the boys at work for a beer at The Malthouse at 5.30pm then headed over to Monsoon Poon on Blair St to meet up with my girls for a few cocktails and dinner. I was the first to arrive and shortly friends Pip, Rissa, Stacey, Chris and the rest of the bunch trickled in. I attempted to book us a table earlier this week but Monsoon Poon does not take bookings so we had to all be there by 6.30pm in order to be seated together. Alright ladies, time for a cocktail!

Us girls had a fun time catching up, sharing stories and chatting over our yummy cocktails and food. My first cocktail was a Jimmy Choo! Very Sex in the City hehe…A generous pour of apple infused Bacardi Superior glazed with Cointreau, perfectly balanced with fresh lime and Apple Soürs, this cocktail is fruity and refreshing served in a martini glass with a lychee at the bottom and a pair of disposable chopsticks clipped at the side. My main meal tonight was my usual favourite, the Malabar Fish (fish fillets in a curry mix of a coconut, chilli, mustard seeds, tumeric and onion) served with a side serving of rice. Girls Rissa and Chris who were seated near me had the Shaking Beef (Vietnamese style wok seared beef, with garlic, spring onion, red onions and lime dipping sauce) and Sichuan Style Clay pot (zucchini, eggplant, fresh chilli and tofu wok fried in a Chinese hot bean paste) respectively, both delicious – must try them on my next visit!

Monsoon Poon is an Asian fusion restaurant and a sometimes place for me due to its cost (mains from $15) but the food and cocktails are consistently good, plus it’s always bustling and busy in this upmarket restaurant – a fun and funky twist to traditional Asian restaurant setting. Plus tonight was a special occasion so it’s ok for me to splurge a little :) More chatter, cocktails and laughs at our table - I’m having a good time with the girls! Had another cocktail, the Jet Li (lychees muddled with passionfruit syrup and fresh lime, then shaken with cloudy apple juice), another fruity drink but too sweet for my liking. Still preferred the Jimmy Choo. Oh, and you must try the desserts here! I’m so full but the dessert menu was tempting me. Tried their mocha brulee – so evil but SO good! Photos taken at dinner: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8070917@N05/sets/72157624146975923/detail/

Around 8.45pm, we headed over to Readings Cinemas for the 9pm movie. I had bought the tickets in advance so we could get most of the back row seats to ourselves. There were supposed to be 9 of us at the movies but Amalia was MIA (Stacey reckon she’s sick) and Ruwi pulled out last minute (she was ill). Fortunately one of Rissa's friends, Verity, was able to take up Ruwi's ticket and joined us at the cinema. Coincidentally, Verity's bf, Ingo, was also away on the Man Weekend with boys Ben and Jono. Ah yes, Ben's organised a man weekend away to the Woolley's bach and it was really pure chance that my girls' night out and the man weekend were on the same day! And I think it's really cool to have a man weekend where the boys can just chill out together and do boyish things - I mean, true, these boys see each other almost every Friday after work for drinks but it is quite different to just spending time together away from the normal routine. Good on Ben for organising it! In fact, I think the gfs should all get together for a Girls Weekend the next time the boys go away for their Man Weekend - would be good fun!

The girls starting heading into the cinema while I stayed back to wait for Ella (I had her ticket). To be honest, I wasn't expecting Ella to want to see this movie - she has a background in movie production and I didn't think Sex in the City was quite her cup of tea. But she still made it, arriving 10 minutes late (thankfully the ads were still playing) and tipsy. I kept an eye on her throughout the movie just to make sure she was ok - the poor thing spent most of the movie crouched on her seat sleeping. Though she 'enjoyed' the movie in her own way, I say kudos to her for keeping to her word and showing up!

The movie itself was its usual over-the-top New York lavish lifestyle, high in fashion and heels (no way in hell would anyone wear 3 inch heels walking the desert!), rather unrealistic but in its own ways continued to emphasized the need for good friends and fun. For me, tonight's event wasn't really about the movie, but to be in good company of girlfriends and the movie was lighthearted with laughs, a nice way for us to end the night after a long week at work.

The movie ended at 11.45pm and we split into groups and said our goodbyes. I hope you ladies all had a good night out - I actually thought it turned out pretty well. Must organise another one soon! Ella, Rissa, Verity and I then walked over to The Welsh Dragon Bar where Ella was meeting Shane. Rissa, Verity and I had a beer and chatted about our lives and relationships and at some point, both the girls had texts from their respective bfs on their whereabouts and turned to me asking if Jono texted me too. Haha, no, he's probably on the wheel! It was interesting to find that despite us having a girls-only night out, the topics of conversation still revolved around our boys and I wondered if the boys were doing the same, talking about us too. Hmm...

And kudos to me too for successfully hosting and organising my first NZ girls night out!