Date Night With Chiquito's

I have to be completely honest, I haven't been to a Chiquito restaurant in a very VERY long time. In fact, I think it was well over 10 years ago. Almost as long as I've been with Matt. It's his fault! Matt doesn't 'do' Mexican food.

So when the people at Chiquito offered me the chance to try out their tasty new menu I hesitated a little. Matt and I have promised ourselves to do regular date nights and this would have been ideal but I didn't even ask him because I knew what the answer would be. Then I asked myself "Why should I miss out because of Matt?"

I also had a superb idea!

Use it as an overdue GIRLY DATE.

I get to treat a friend and get out for a bit for some adult conversation. Win-win!

My best friend and I don't see each other as often as we'd like. I've blogged before about how different our lives are now and lately she's been jet setting everywhere. We've had one proper night out for dinner/drinks since TC was born, I think. The thing is though, we've been friends for 32 years now and I think we always will be friends - we have too much info on each other for a start!

So, the other week my friend and I headed out for an early dinner date to Chiquito's at Cheshire Oaks. We decided to go early as we were both tired (probably due to the fact we are both 40 next year!) and dealing with lots of personal stuff.

We were shown straight to the table and given a menu.

Wow!

I couldn't believe how much choice there was on the menu. It was like a book!

It took a while to decide on what we were going to order and we both changed our minds throughout the process.

It was a really extensive menu with a lot of food even Matt "I don't do 'fancy' food" Lucas would have loved. Ha! His loss.

We did have to wait quite a while to be offered drinks. In fact, by the time we were offered these we were ready to place our order. It would have been nice to have had the drinks whilst we looked over the menu.

I was driving (I'm such a good friend!) so my date ordered a White Russian which she was disappointed with as it came in a really small glass. She said it also just tasted like Bailey's (other brands of coffee liqueur are available, obviously!). She said it wasn't worth the £5.79.

But then came the food! Hurrah!

For starters we ordered Peri Peri chicken wings which came with a sour cream dip. They were amazing (really needed a finger bowl though). My friend ordered potato skins which she really enjoyed too.

There was definitely more than enough for a starter and my groaning hungry stomach was very satisfied.

Then came the mains. We'd both taken so long to decide what we were having and my friend changed her mind at the last minute and ordered the same as me. She was glad she did.

We both ordered the South-Western Meatballs and they were amazing.

What's not to like about this?

"Seasoned pork and beek meatballs in our signature tomato sauce served over sliced peppers, onions and Mexican spiced rice. Topped with sour cream, salsa and guacamole".

In a word. Yum!

And, because we were filling our boots we ordered a side of garlic bread with cheese.

Yup, that's how we roll!

So, I bet you're reading this and your mouth is watering? I bet you're also thinking that we couldn't possibly have room for dessert.

Well, you'd be wrong. Of course we ordered dessert...we're not mad!

My friend ordered the Banana Taquito (a whole banana fried in a cinnamon tortilla served with ice-cream). She said it was really nice but a little dry and could have done with some sauce.

I went for the Golden Nugget Cheesecake. Just look at it? Amazing or what? I sent that photo to Matt by text and I found him crying when I got home*

Our bill came to exactly £55. For a 3 course meal, drinks and a side for 2 people I think this is really good and I can't complain about the food or the atmosphere. I'll definitely be considering Chiquito's in the future. I did have a look at their Kid's Menu and it looks really good. I think MC would like it.

If, like me, you've not tried Chiquito's for a while then it's worth checking out their extensive new menu.

Also, it's a lovely reminder for me to make sure I get out more with my friends.

Thanks Chiquito's!


* Not really, obviously.

This is not a sponsored post.  

I did receive a £50 voucher to spend at a Chiquito Restaurant 

but all photographs, words (apart from quoting from the menu), 
views and opinions are my own.

Flashback Friday - Laganas 'Ladies'

I missed Flashback Friday totally last week.  The long Bank Holiday weekends and the good weather went to my head and I've been totally slacking in the blog department lately. So I'm making up for it with a bit of an epic this week.

I'd always been fairly long-term relationships from the age of 14-15 then got married first time around at the age of 22 so I never got to experience a 'girls holiday'.  To be perfectly honest, the idea of a holiday with a massive gang of girls in some 18-30 club never really appealed to me.

When my first marriage ended in 2001 I lived with my best friend for about 2-3 months until I was able to get my own place (there was no way I could have lived with my parents - as much as I love them).  I still owe my friend and her Son, who was about 8 at the time, so much.  He gave up his cabin bed for me and slept in with his Mum whilst I took over his bedroom. Having her Son at a younger age my friend had never been abroad for a girly holiday either.

We decided to go for it - we both deserved it!  Her Son was more than happy to stay with his Nan and Grandad for a week and my friend and I booked an apartment on the island of Zante, Greece for July 2002.  We ended up in Laganas.  I believe now, this is the biggest (and noisiest) resorts on the island.  I'm not saying it was quiet when we went - far from it.

My friend and I had 'bumped' into a gang of about 14 rugby players from Bradford in a bar on our 2nd or 3rd night I think.  Okay, I hold my hands up...I fancied the pants off one of them and in my drunken stupor practically forced my friend to go and check him out for me. The whole "See my friend over there? She really likes you" thing.  All very cringeworthy but it worked!  We ended up with them all night dancing and larking about then staggering back to the apartment and dunking each other in the sea at 6am.

The next night we had loosely agreed to meet the two lads at 'Cocktails and Dreams' (!!) but they didn't show - turns out afterwards they were in the bar opposite all night.  My friend and I ended up getting absolutely slaughtered as we forgot (!) to eat dinner. We got chatted up by two Swedish guys - it's hard enough to understand someone from another country trying to speak your language when you're sober, nevermind when you're totally wasted on vodka and cocktails.

I dragged my friend away because I needed to be sick - lovely. I found a little spot down a side street that was home to some litter - the height of class.  In true 'friend' fashion my mate photographed the occasion.

Somehow the two of us managed to make it back to our apartment about 3am.  Well, I almost did.  I fell asleep on the bench on the road outside our apartment and woke up about 5 or 6am still holding my handbag! My friend was out cold in her bed in the apartment with the patio door wide open - we were on the ground floor! I really shudder now to think how totally irresponsible we were.  We stayed in bed until about 4pm that day as we couldn't move - apart from fighting eachother over the toilet or sink to throw up in.  Not good.  We vowed never to drink again but after a greasy late afternoon fry up we were fine again.

As it happens we did see our rugby friends again. I actually got a serious relationship out of it back home traveling between Chester and Bradford for a fair few months. He was a lovely guy but I ended it and broke his heart - it's not often you make a rugby player cry. I'm a bitch yes, but it was for the best (long complicated story) and I'm sure he'd thank me for it now.

I've called this post Laganas 'Ladies'...we were far from lady like but it was a great week!

I've been umming and arhing over which photos to post.  I didn't feel it was right to post photos of all the lads (I have some corkers!) incase someone recognises one of them and I didn't want to post the photo of me throwing up near an empty packet of hula hoops down a side street.  It's also unfair to post any of my friend as, at the moment, she doesn't know about my blog.  So, here are two of the shots which sum up what sort of week I had.  Look at the state of me...

Totally wasted!
Before I threw up then slept on a bench.
What the hell am I doing? 

Back on the cocktails.
I really think I'm the dogs doo-dars...
I look like Rudolph.

Now head over to Cafebebe and check out the other entries...

F is for...Friends

It's quite apt that I'm posting this on International Women's Day 2011!  My friends are all amazing women.

I've mentioned my friends in quite a few of my blog posts before.  That's because friends are so important in my life.  Friends are the people you choose to share your life with you - whereas you're kind of stuck with your family. Thankfully though, I'm blessed with a great family.

Friends are the people in life who should always be there for you, when you're happy, when you're sad, when you're excited and when you're angry.  They will be the first people to congratulate you on good news and the first person to offer you their shoulder when you're upset. They'll also be the first person to hold your hair back when you throw up after too much vodka...but that's another story!

I've known friends who drop off the face of the earth when a new man comes along in their life and I've always tried not to be one of those people.  My husband doesn't really 'do' friends.  He's a bit of a loner in that sense.  He has is best friend who lives over 100 miles away but other than that all his friends are partners of my friends and he very rarely sees them.  It's the only bone on contention I have with him really as I just don't understand it.

My friends are all fantastic and I love each and every one of them dearly.  I'm not mentioning any names as only one of them reads this blog occasionally.  I've kept my blog quiet from my closest friends and family...for now anyway.

My best friend and I have been friends for 30 years this year.  It's hard to believe really, especially as our lives have taken us on totally different paths. She had her Son at the age of 19 whereas I was out every night pubbing and clubbing.  Now her Son turns 18 this year and she is the one out most nights whereas I'm in most nights with my (almost) 2 year old.  In our adult years we've only ever had 2 disagreements.  One of which, was last year.  But you know what? They've just made our friendship even stronger and I'm so grateful for that.  I'd be lost without her.

Then I have my close set of 3 girls.  We used to be really close but we don't see eachother as often anymore but when we do get together it's like we've never been apart. I love them all so much and couldn't imagine my life without them. I've known them 20 years, 18 years and 13 years.   We are all so different but the greatest of friends.   One of them has emigrated to Australia and I miss her but we keep in touch via the occasional email, text and Skype.  Hurrah for modern technology!

Last, but by no means least, have my 'ho's'.  My fabulous ho's.   I used to work with the 3 of them and we've have known eachother over 8 years (I think?) but I feel like I've known them longer.  We all started calling eachother 'ho' as a term of endearment (honest!) and it just stuck.  We try and get away together each year, just overnight somewhere - we've done London a few times, Buxton and other places. We also meet regularly for coffee catch-ups and always have a massive blow out night out at Christmas. We just all click together so well despite our age differences....the oldest is 43, then we have 38, I'm 36 and the youngest is 26 (but to be honest she acts the oldest!).

All these girls mentioned in this post are my nearest and dearest.  The girls I turn to when I need a laugh or I need a hug.  I'd be devastated if any one of them was no longer part of my life.  They are my rocks and they have my heart completely.

I really want my daughter to understand the importance of friendship which I touched on in this post. Friends are such an amazing part of life and I want her to have the same love and support in life from her friends as I do in mine.


Photo credit top right: vichie81

Part of my A to Z posts

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Flashback Friday - School's Out

This photo was taken on my last day of high school some 20 years ago.  My best friend is on the left and I'm the extremely pale looking one between her legs (WTF?) on the right with the seriously bad perm.

I honestly don't know what we were thinking when we posed for this photo but then, I guess the prospect of leaving high school behind was obviously making us a bit giddy.

We've been best friends for 30 years this year and talking about her in my 80's post the other day made me dig out this photo.

Why not air your photo memories and link up with Karin?

I'm back...and I'm cheerful again!

I've been in on the wonderful Michelle's Reasons To Be Cheerful from the start but I've been absent the last couple of weeks.  Basically I've been in a bit of a shitty place.  It's been building for a while but I finally went over the edge due to a couple of reasons, one that I can't talk about right now.  BUT...the good news is I'm feeling much more myself and am getting back on form so here goes...

1. My life

I'm truly blessed in my life.  I have a wonderful daughter and an incredible husband. Yes, he's fractured his ankle.  Yes, he's a waste of space at the moment.  Yes, I'm doing everything for him.  But you know what?  It's temporary.  I've had my nose in a lot of blogs over the past few weeks and some of the heartache and problems that people are going through are unreal - I can't even begin to imagine what things are like for them. I on the other hand have just been feeling sorry for myself over problems that pale into insignificance compared to others.  I should be thankful for what I've got...and I am.

2. Laughter

The laughter in my life this week is mainly down to my daughter.  She's just turned 23 months and she's hilarious.  Today we went into town together and she was just amazingly cute.  Of course we just HAD to go to the Disney Store or "Minnie Mouse Shop" as she calls it.  She's obsessed with Minnie Mouse and as soon as we get anywhere near it she starts running down the street squealing "Miiiiiinniiiiieeeee Mooooouse" really loudly which delighted all the shoppers passing us.  Then we went to Starbucks, as a treat, for coffee and cake (coffee was just for me obviously) where she entertained the patrons with her newly acquired Minnie ears!

3. A 'free' meal

My best friend is going through a truly awful time at the moment and I'm supporting her as best I can.  We decided we both needed a break and a nice treat so we booked a table for 2 at a lovely French restaurant last night.  We had a lovely evening and a really good long natter for a few hours over 4 courses and some wine with no distractions.  My husband demanded he paid for our treat so he sent me out with his credit card.

What are your reasons to be cheerful this week?  Join in the hop...