hchhewitt: girlband hits genova

As i'm writing this post i'm wincing in pain. I've just come back from a weekend in Genova and there were just too many laugh until you cry moments for my abdominals to handle.

It's Jess's birthday next week. She'll put her birthday shoes on, chink prosecco out of one birth year and mojito her way into a new one, then the night will descend into chaos, fireworks and horse faces. Something a bit like last years celebrations in Bordeaux. Unfortunately we can't be there. Bad friends. So instead we brought the celebrations forward. Any excuse for a reunion right?

Just a short train ride away from Genova is Camogli, a sherbet-hued fairytale beach town. Channeling our inner German, we packed our bags presto and headed there early to bagsy the best spot on the beach.

Birthday gal

Caffè crema

Alice with her lemon granita

The next day Jess donned her tour guide uniform and showed us her town. Kicking off with a cappuc (cappuccino to you and me)

We looked around the old Palazzo's of Genova, pretending to be all educated and cultured.

And at the top of one of the palazzo's is a rooftop with a view of rooftops. As sarcastic as that sounds it was preeeetty cool.

Now for a self-confessed addict like myself, the word Genovese runs synonymously with pesto. If you ask me, there is no meal big or small that couldn't be bettered with a big dollop of creamy, basil-y, pine nutty goodness. Which is what we told the slightly dubious waitress when we asked for pesto on top of our salad mountain.

Salad improvement x100.

Birthday girl and pesto aside, the town mice (Me & Soph) and the country mouse (Al) really just wanted to see one thing. The sea. So off again we trotted to the less sherbety but closer seaside town, Nervi.

Before heading home for some birthday cocktails & aperitivi. Aperitivi is something of an institution in all the best parts of Italy. Aperitivi hour is handily three hours, 6-9pm. Select your drink carefully, cocktail envy is not a laughable thing. Grab a plate and load it up with salads, focaccia, pizza, olives, meats, cheeses etc etc. There were even oysters for the brave! Then head back again for seconds, thirds, fourths and fifths.

I went for some rhubarb & raspberry gin creation and Soph hit the jackpot with a pineappley-minty-rum-heaven-in-a-cup. In fact it was THAT good that we all ordered it the next time around.

But then cocktail envy struck in the cruelest way possible.

It looked the same, it smelt the same, except it just wasn't the same. Soph's uncontrollable laughter was infectious and the whole thing descended into hysterics. Alice (whose Raspberry Mule gave her cocktail envy immunity) sneakily grabbed the camera and shutterbugged the episode.