Caro’s Hen Do today was probably one of the more sedate and civilised ones I’ve been to .. no crazy drunken antics, no men in their underwear (ha ha) and definitely no inappropriate accessories for the bride to wear!

We, Caro, Maud, Emma, Anne-Claire and I, started off with a bit of pampering at one of Caro’s and Maud’s local hairdressers with a very nice shampoo and head massage (nearly went into some sort of trance it was so nice!) followed by, for me, a haircut and the others a blow dry. It was actually quite nice to be in the salon – we had some champers .. well the other girls did … and we had some good music … it really was quite a pleasant way to start the festivities.

We followed this with a wine-tasting. Maud had originally organised for the wine-tasting to happen at one of her local wineries but at the last minute he pulled out! Some quick thinking by Maud and a very flexible pub, Mel’s, and we were sorted for another wine-tasting. I was actually impressed by the Mel, the owner of Mel’s, who quickly arranged something for us. She offered all her wines for tasting (except those sold by the bottle) and even supplied us one of her staff to go through the wines with us. No charge except for our olives and bread!

Our guide to the wine-tasting was really impressive – taking us through what wine-tasting was about, what to look for in a wine (the smell, the taste, the legs etc), and explaining each of the wines and how they differed from the last. He was also quite generous with the wine portions (… I think we were all a little tipsy after the end of about the twelve wines we tasted) and that he was kinda cute and charming and had a nice mild Welsh accent didn’t hurt at all. For some reason the girls were actually trying to set the two of us up!

After all that wine we were all more than ready to get into some food so we headed over to Kazan’s, one Caro’s and Maud’s favourite restaurants in Earlsfield. This Turkish Meze & Grill seemed quite popular. Admittedly it was a Saturday night but there was a constant stream of people coming in and out. I could see why it was popular though after we finished with our meal. It was delish. And even though I didn’t think we’d have room for dessert we sat there for long enough that our meals settled and we did indulge. I had to try their baklava which according to Time Out Cheap Eats 2004 is “… one of the best [they’ve] tried.” Happy to report that four years on this claim is probably still quite valid. Mmmmm …