Weekly Update!

Sunshine, Haircuts & Afternoon Tea!

This week has been jam packed! I like a busy one now and again, so it's been loads of fun. On Monday the weather was gorgeous, so I went to The Church Inn in Mobberley with Abi, Dave and Tasha for some lunch outside in the sunshine. I had the club sandwich with chips, which was hearty and stuffed with chicken, bacon and salad, I didn't need to eat much in the evening as I was still full.

On Tuesday I ate at the country club, and had one of the specials - eggs benedict but with crab meat rather than salmon or bacon, topped with asparagus spears. It was amazing, and the crab really went well with the poached egg and Hollandaise sauce combination. I stayed at Mo's afterwards, and on Wednesday I took the plunge at the hairdressers and had my hair chopped off, which was scary but I love it! It's so much easier to do stuff with now, and takes ages off getting ready. I ate at The Blue Pig afterwards with Mo on his lunchbreak (see previous post) and then he stayed in the evening.

On Thursday my friend Kirsty came round during the day for tea and cake, bought from Peter Herd, the bakery in the village where I now live. We had a homemade warm hot cross bun each, and then I had a mini battenburg cake, but it was chocolate and lemon sponge with lemon curd, and then half dipped in chocolate! I think I prefer it to the traditional version.

On Friday I went out for a few (non alcoholic) drinks in Piccolinos and Hogans in Hale with Tasha and Abi, and managed to make it until nearly 1.30am before I drove home as I was knackered. Yesterday after a lovely yoga sesh  I spent the day cleaning the flat and preparing food for the Spanish dinner party I had (see previous post).

It was nice to wake up today sans hangover, and I had a great day out with my mum in Chester as a belated birthday present for her. After a spot of shopping (and some purchases in Primark!) we went to Oddfellows for afternoon tea where I have been before. We got mini sandwiches (chicken caesar, cheese and coleslaw, tuna mayonnaise and egg and cress) currant scones with cream and jam, and then a selection of mini cakes - a lemon cheesecake, almond bakewell, tiramisu and a weird thing a bit like a large jellytot (this wasn't so nice!). We washed it down with cups of tea before heading back home, and now I am chilling at home before the start of a new week!

Homemade Recipes...

Spanish Night!

Last night, I had people round for a little dinner party, and decided to do a Spanish theme. There were six of us, a nice number for sharing dishes, so to start I did some tapas - garlic prawns and meatballs in a tomato sauce, along with some bread with balsamic vinegar and olives. It went down very well, and was all fairly simple to make - I cheated a little and used premade meatballs, but apart from that I cooked it all up myself. I was particularly impressed with the prawns, they looked and tasted amazing to say it was literally garlic cloves browned in olive oil and then used to flash fry the king prawns.

Getting in the spirit of things I also made a jug of sangria (though unfortunately I am still doing the no drinking thing so had to pass myself). It was made with two parts red wine, two parts orange juice and one part lemonade, and I put apples and oranges in it and left it in the fridge for a few hours before serving. The recipients said it was really fruity and not as rich as normal Spanish sangria, which was obviously a good thing as none was left over! 

For the main course I played it safe with a paella, another great dish to make when serving a larger group. It only took half an hour and was a very straightforward recipe to follow (found in one of my mum's Spanish cooking books) I chose to include chicken, pork, chorizo and prawns, and borrowed one of the traditional large pans from my mum to cook and serve it in.

We were all pretty full afterwards, but had just enough room to fit in a slice of the amazing blueberry cake that Anna, one of the guests, had made. It was huge and covered in delicious cream cheese icing and blueberries. Later we also had cheese and biscuits, I went to bed that evening feeling very indulged!

New Tastes...

The Blue Pig, Northern Quarter

Yesterday, Mo and I met up for lunch after I had my hair cut (short!). I normally decide where we eat, as I have a long list of places in Manchester that I want to try at some point; but this time Mo had a suggestion, so we went along with that. We went to The Blue Pig in the Northern Quarter, which is French themed, and really lovely inside - full of greenery and has loads of large glass windows to watch the world go by.

During the week it has a lunchtime offer where the whole menu including specials is half price, which made the meal really reasonable, not that it is expensive full price to be honest. I chose the special which was a steak and rocket ciabatta with caramelised onion chutney; it was filled with proper strips of meat as opposed to a sandwich steak which I was impressed with. Mo got the burger, which had a huge patty in it along with red onion, blue cheese and salad, and was accompanied with some amazing half skinned chips that were seasoned to perfection. I had a latte, as was feeling a little sluggish, while Mo just stuck with a tap water, and it all came to just over £12 - bargain!

The Blue Pig is a great place for a quick bite, and I'd be interested to see what it's like in an evening, as it has a huge array of unusual spirits and a great cocktail menu, which are good ingredients to draw in a bustling crowd!

Weekly Update!

Chester & A Roast Dinner!

I did absolutely nothing sociable this week until Friday. I saw Mo a couple of times during the week and on Tuesday I had Turkey breast katsu with stir fried bok choi in a chilli, soy and lime dressing at the Country Club, but forgot to take a photo! The one exciting thing that took place was the moving in of my pet rabbit Saffy to the flat - lovely to have a bit of company.

On Friday I went back to the Country Club to eat, this time for pleasure as opposed to work (not that I'm complaining!). I went with Abi, and as I wasn't super hungry I opted for a small plate, the Thai fishcakes with chilli tomato salsa. I got three decent sized cakes, so it was perfect as a light bite, and lovely to catch up with Abi - we worked out it had been a month since we'd seen each other!

On Saturday I cleaned all of the flat for the first time, which was surprisingly time consuming. I managed to fit in a lovely yoga class though, and dye my hair ready for a night out in Chester. I picked up Tasha, Emily and Smeed and drove us all to Hannah's where we were staying. We all had pizzas for dinner and started getting ready, and then Mo and his friend Mohsen who was visiting arrived and after a few drinks (mine soft of course!) we headed out.

We started in a place called Fiesta Havana which was playing good dancey music, and is in a sort of underground cave which has a great atmosphere. It is Mexican themed so does lots of cocktails, and was really busy so started the night well. Then we moved onto Red Door, another bar but smaller with a dancefloor, so we spent the rest of the night in there until I got too tired being sober so went home.

Today we travelled home and then Mum and Dad have just been round for a roast pork dinner, which went really well and they were very impressed with!