Weekly Update!

Celebrations, Clearances & Catering!

This week has been my first official one back at home, and it's been surprisingly good. Not that I thought I would hate being back, but more that I expected more things to annoy me, after being used to having a full house to myself.

On Monday I attempted to unpack most of my uni stuff, before going for some drinks in the evening with two of my friends. We had all got our results by then, so were celebrating. We started with a few drinks in Altrincham, before we spontaneously decided to head into Manchester. After a very embarrassing run for the train, which then didn't show up, we eventually got into 5th Avenue nightclub at about 12.30pm. After an hour or so, we realised my friend had had her phone stolen, so unfortunately the night ended rather badly. It was fun up until then though!

On Tuesday I finished unpacking (finally) and then did a shift at work. Wednesday I journeyed back to Lancaster with my dad and sister to sort out the house as there are some tenants moving in next week. After a couple of hours hard work, we stopped for lunch on the way home at a pub called The Boot and Shoe, where I had a chicken and bacon burger with onion rings and chunky chips- delish!

I worked Thursday morning, and then went to visit Chris for a couple of days. We went into Nantwich once I had arrived, which is a lovely little town, and I bought a few supplies for when I go to Benicassim music festival early tomorrow. I also bought a security chain for my Pandora bracelet which is really pretty; it is one of the new ones that has swirls all over it. The following day we went to see Larry Crowne (see previous post) and then I went back home where I started sorting all my luggage out.

Yesterday I helped mum to prepare a buffet she was catering for (see previous post again) and then in the evening I packed my rucksack, and caught up on lots of blogging. Today I went for a gorgeous lunch with my friend Lydia at La Tasca. We had a voucher where we got a starter, 4 courses and patatas bravas each for £10.95, so I was stuffed afterwards, but it was amazing. the whole table was covered! We had meatballs, two types of paella, pork ribs, calamares, fish in batter, peppers in a sauce, and deep fried mushrooms with garlic mayonnaise dip.

Unfortunately I then had to go to work, but it went surprisingly quickly. I am now anxiously awaiting our minibus arriving to take us to Liverpool airport. I'll be back in a week to tell you all about it!

New Tastes...

La Tasca, Didsbury

Last night, I went to La Tasca in Didsbury for a meal with my parents and sister. It was a sort of belated birthday meal for my sister and mum, and a welcome home from uni meal for me (despite me now being back!). Personally I love tapas, as not only does it make a meal

feel a lot more sociable, but it means you get to try loads of different dishes, perfect if you find it hard to choose something off a menu!

As there were four of us, we decided to choose two things each which we would then share, as well as a salad dish (tomato and goat’s cheese), a large portion of 'Patatas Bravas' (of course!) and three different types of bread, just to have some variety. We went for one with goat’s cheese and caramelised onion, one with aubergine and cherry tomatoes, and then classic plain garlic bread. Even though these were just on the normal menu, we asked to have them as a starter, which was a nice way to start the evening, and accompanied the house red wine very nicely.

There were just two members of staff on, and considering that when we arrived they were afraid that they wouldn't be able to fit us in as the tables were fully booked, you can imagine how busy they were. Despite this, the service was very good, there were slightly longer than normal waiting times, but this wasn't really a problem as we liked having the extra space between courses!

When our tapas dishes arrived, we were all very much ready to tuck in, and the food pretty much covered the table, so there was plenty to go around! We had ordered calamares and king prawns with garlic mayonnaise off the fish section of the menu, and as always they were both delicious, and despite being deep fried, weren't greasy at all. Off the meat list we got two portions of meatballs in a tomato sauce, chorizo in red wine and garlic and an amazing slow cooked beef dish with potatoes that was in a creamy peppercorn sauce called 'Ternera a la Piemienta'. We got a Spanish take on ratatouille ('Berenjenas Gratinadas') for a vegetable dish, which had aubergine and red pepper strips in, as well as the usual courgette and tomatoes, and then finally off the chicken section we got 'Pollo Marbella' which was 'chicken breast cooked with paprika, chorizo, peppers, onion and a white wine & cream sauce.' This was by far my favourite, and unusually one that we hadn't tried before. It had a slightly cheesy taste to it, which really complimented the chorizo and peppers, and the chicken was so succulent it absorbed all the favours perfectly.

After a bit of a rest, my sister and I ordered some desserts, which we shared between us all. We had a 'Crema Catalana' (kind of like a crème brulee but cold and not as crunchy on top) and 'Turon' which was simply vanilla ice cream with smashed up almonds and chocolate on top. Not the most adventurous, but yummy all the same. Perhaps one thing that was a little annoying about the dessert menu, was the amount of dishes that contained oranges, as if you don't like them, the choice was quite limited. But I suppose it is a fruit widely used by the Spanish in their cooking, so at least it was authentic!

We had printed off a 50% off voucher from the internet (I'd recommend using one, they're dead easy to find!), and the desserts were 2 for 1, so with everything that we got as well as all the drinks, the bill came to slightly over £50, which I think is brilliant for the quality of food that we had. One thing with La Tasca is that even though it is a chain, inside it really doesn't feel like it, as the service is like that of a privately owned restaurant, and the food is clearly prepared from scratch on the premises. If you haven't had the joy of tapas before, or have but not by this particular brand- get to it! You won't be disappointed.