Photo Diary: Altinkum, Turkey

I've been on girly holidays and raving holidays and holiday with my partner but for some reason this felt like my first holiday as an ADULT. How odd. It might be down to the mature and diplomatic way we handled each day or the relatively off the beaten track place we stayed, I'm not sure but it was nice!

I went away with two girlfriends Kirsty, who I've been friends with since college and Louise who I met at university. We stayed in a large 4 bedroom apartment with huge balconies for sunbathing on. The area we stayed in had very few English speaking people in so we felt like we were getting an authentic Turkish experience, gesturing for bread in the local bakery with the lovely older gentleman counting out two liras from our sweaty palms.

We eventually ventured into the town, catching the local dolmus (bus) by standing on the dusty roadside and waving our arms when the bus beeped at you. Most mornings we ate fresh fruit and yoghurt and tea (I never travel without teabags!) before going sightseeing or shopping...but mostly we sunbathed on our balcony, occasionally going down to the pool to cool off.

In the evenings when we went into town there were way too many British tourists and the whole seafront catered to Brits in a way that was understandable but a bit, well, sad. We kept asking for places that served authentic Turkish food and the waiters thought we were mad! We did find one in the end but I've forgotten the name, and a gorgeous restaurant at Didim marina that served amazing seafood and a gorgeous halloumi salad.

We checked out Apollo's Temple for some culture which was really awe inspiring. We bought some fresh pomegranate juice on our walk down from the bus stop to the ruins.

We spent a little bit more money to take a private sunset boat trip with Flying fish Altinkum rather than join one of the huge touristy boats. Best decision!
We felt like we were in a music video as we cruised around, swam in the sea, developed a crush on the silver fox Turkish captain, jumped up and down to Ellie Goulding and Calvin Harris as the sun set and docked thoroughly exhausted. I'd definitely recommend them if you want to escape the crowds.

We also managed to see an incredible Turkish market, selling fruits, vegetables, spices, nuts; things of every shape and colour, it was truly a feast for the eyes.

We did all the usual touristy bits and cheesy bars too of course, and our fave restaturant on the strip was Vista Bar, where my parents had been earlier in the year. They really looked after us there (free shots and dessert. Result!) Ask for Robbie Williams if you end up there; you'll know why when you see him!

I had a lovely stay in Turkey and it kicked September off in a great way because September is always and important month of changes for me. I came back refreshed, rejuventated and fighting for the last quarter of the year!

Watch: Glue E4

Autumn is always a good time for drama in the UK. TV programmers have cottoned on to the fact that we need something good on our telly box as the nights get darker sooner and we mourn the summer evenings when we did things al fresco. E4 have got teen drama so right over recent years with Skins and Misfits (although both series' dragged on too long and weren't great in their final seasons) and are back with an 8 part crime drama, Glue.

Set in a fictional village called Overton in the Berkshire countryside, this is country life that is far from idyllic and the first episode which aired on Monday night, featured lots of sex, drugs and wild nights for the youngsters; there was a particularly disturbing scene between Rizzle Kicks star Jordan Stephens (making his screen debut as Rob) and Charlotte Spencer (female jockey Tina) doing drugs with carrier bags over their heads in the bath. Not as sexy as it might sound...

Written by Bafta winning Jack Thorne who has also written for Skins and This is England, this dark drama sees a close knit group of bored and dysfunctional teens rocked by the murder of one of their own, 14 year old Cal, a young Romany gypsy, and thus begins the whoodunnit.
I'm particularly looking forward to what should be a more accurate depiction of Romany gypsys, the subtitles for the Romany and coarse British accents speaking it was a nice touch.

As well as a winning writer, there's a stellar young cast of up and comers, including the amazing Yasmin Paige (Submarine) and some familiar faces like Kierston Waring (Eastenders, Top Boy).

Beautifully shot scenes of country life contrast the seedy recklessness of the drugs and sex and I can already see some love triangle stuff brewing between wild Tina, her drug loving boyfriend Rob and the brooding Eli, older brother of murdered Cal...who also seems to inspire some power struggle between Tina and local Romany cop Ruth (Paige) who was once a part of the gang...

I'll certainly be tuned in to see how secrets unfold. What did you think of Glue?

Eat: Meat and Shake

Exposed brick work, illuminated bulbs, red leather booths and views of the kitchen? Sounds more like a Shoreditch eatery than an unassuming burger joint in the quiet area of Tooting in South West London, doesn't it? But Tooting has had an injection of cool in recent years, with independent coffe shops, tasteful restaurants and cool pubs and bars springing up in the area; theres even a branch of Honest Burger now.

Tooting is down the road from me so has clear advantages when choosing somewhere for a mid-week bite to eat, however when we turned up at Meat and Shake the place was packed and we had to wait around 20 minutes for a booth to become available. Our lovely waitress Savannah said that the place has always been pretty busy on weekends but now weekdays are heading the same way, so be prepared for a bit of a wait as there's a no booking policy.

The venue is small but not in a cramped way, more an exclusive vibe, with queues continuing out the door for the duration of our meal. Menus arrive on clipboards and are suitably smudged with BBQ sauce prints and waitresses have some sort of digital order pad slung over a shoulder.

Tooting has a large Asian population, so meat is Halal, there's no alcohol on the menu and the ribs are beef rather than pork which suited the Mr. as he's always on the look out for beef ribs.
The burger offerings are extensive and experimental; the Truffle Shuffle ( truffle mayo, Gruyere cheese,  honey and onion truffle glaze) and the Ruby Murray (Tikka Masala sauce, tomato, spinach leaves, seasoned chicken breast, red onion, Montery Jack, red chillies, coriander, yoghurt, poppadum) sounded interesting! The veggie section is severely lacking, the Rostie Postie (Harissa mayo, tomato, lettuce, sweet potato rostie, goats cheese, beetroot, alfalfa sprouts, red onion, aioli) was the only offering...so I went for that.

The Boy went for the Rib 'N Cheese (aioli, pulled beef rib, BBQ sauce and Montery Jack cheese) and was very impressed. We also had sides of onion rings and sweet potato fries and were feeling the presentation; cute sauce squiggles and tiny flowers on the plate which was way more than I expected from a burger spot.

The sweet potato fries were lovely and although the onion rings tasted a bit stale they did come in a huge stack and may just have been a bad batch. The real star of the show however are the milkshakes! The list is long and doesn't stick to the tried and tested, there's Basil infused Creme Brulee, Stem ginger,  lemon and honey, Rhubarb and Custard and Apple Pie flavours! I went for the Salted Caramel and was far from disappointed. The shake cups are huge frosted things and the shakes themselves are super thick and creamy. The little bits of Angelessy sea salted caramel floating about in the vanilla ice cream was just divine!

Meat and Shake need to improve their veggie options (I know meat is in the name but stilllllll would a mushroom hurt?) and taught me I still don't like goats cheese. But I'll defo be back for another shake!