tapas & tarts

Last Friday, I met a friend for a TGIF dinner. Not just any old dinner - we went for a spot of fancy tapas at Dehesa.

I hadn't known of this place, and thanks to her there's yet another must-visit-again restaurant on my list. It's a stylish and sleek restaurant, with equally elegant plates of goodness.

We chose one tapas from each category of fish, meat and vegetables.

Up first were the courgette flowers stuffed with goat cheese, drizzled with honey.

Fried cheese with the delicacy of the courgette flowers, all topped with a good dose of sweetness. It's hard to go wrong.

Our fish choice was the octopus, on top of some kind of flavourful, velvety pillow of beans.

And the meat - beef bavette with kale purée, braised shallots and grilled fennel.

We were definitely happy with our choices, as everything was seriously delicious. Although the volume of each dish wasn't a lot, it actually filled us up quite nicely, but of course with room for a little dessert.

We headed to trusty old Le Pain - Tarte Tatin for her, Mixed Berry Tart for me. Le Pain is my go-to place for no fuss, foolproof place for cakes and pastries that aren't too sweet and made with fresh ingredients.

Girly chats over good food is one of my very favourite things.

bell x1 @ union chapel

This isn't so much a documentation of a gig as it is an ode to a friendship.

When I started at a new school aged 14, I made a very special friend who has been with me through thick and thin ever since. She's one of those friends that I can't really imagine how one goes through life without.

At my previous school, I had struggled somewhat to fit in; it's not a sob story, I wasn't bullied or mistreated in any way and had some very nice friends there too. But it just wasn't really for me.

One of the things I tried so hard but failed miserably at, was keeping up to date with mainstream pop music. Funny story: I used to try and memorise some lyrics of top of the chart songs before going to birthday disco parties so I didn't have to feel like an idiot! (like that didn't make me one...)

But I loved the music my dad liked, like the Beatles, U2, Bruce Springsteen, Queen... I was an old soul at heart, I suppose.

Anyway, then I met my friend S. She introduced me to bands and singers I probably would never have discovered myself, like the Frames (the lead singer stars in the movie Once). For my 19th birthday, she took me to their concert in an intimate venue where we were standing right up front, because at the time they weren't as famous as they are now. It was one of the best nights ever.

Another band she got me into was Bell X1. I listened to their first two albums over and over through lots of little milestones in my teenage years, as did S.

So when she told me she had got us tickets to go as a birthday gift, I was beyond excited! I never thought I would see them live.

The concert was at Union Chapel, an amazing venue with a cosy atmosphere.

They played some of my favourite songs, including the beautiful Eve the apple of my eye, which gets to me every time. Their songs have fantastic lyrics, and they just speak to you.

Here are a few more of my favourites by them if you're up for a listen:

Next to you

Slowset

The End is Nigh

The Great Defector

I'll See Your Heart & Raise You Mine

I hope S and I will have many more nights like these!

thai green chicken curry

For a Saturday dinner with friends one weekend ago, I decided to make a ginormous batch of Thai green chicken curry. Last time I did prawn, but this time I stuck to the classic and used chicken.

I pretty much just winged it - I wanted lots of leftovers, so I used an entire jar of Thai green curry paste (sorry, I couldn't face the hassle of homemade!), 3 cans of coconut milk, 4 aubergines, a bag of green beans, and over a kilo of chicken thighs. And a mountain of rice.

I chopped everything up, stir fried the veg, added chicken, and flavoured the coconut milk with lots of coriander, lemongrass, lime juice and fish sauce.

Brought to a boil, and simmered on low heat for about 45 minutes. I wanted everything to be melt in your mouth delicious.

Served with a simple salad with an Asian dressing (sesame oil, lime juice, white wine vinegar & fish sauce) and jasmine rice.

I would say it turned out quite well - I'm no expert when it comes to Thai cooking, but I love the ease of it and the fresh flavours are good any time of the year.

As for dessert - C had prepared the world's most delicious Tiramisu!

What with this and her spectacular gifts, she's going to be in my good books for a long time.

We burnt off the sugar (or some of it, at least) with Absolute Balderdash.

It's a fantastic game to play with your family and friends - we love it, alongside our favourite Taboo.

Do you have any recommendations for another fun game to add to our growing collection? We aren't ones to stay out late clubbing or doing anything remotely wild, but give us a good old board game and we can stay up 'til the crack of dawn laughing our heads off.