In Which We Have *more* Visitings (DC & Amy)
Oooooooh, I got to meet an Amy, that is, ashestothestars last week! And spend time with DC tanngrisnir again too, such fun! The one is staying with the other and had promised a visit, so I got a text checking I was ok to meet up and I don't think I stopped bouncing from that point til the time we were due to meet up :) Albert Dock to the rescue again, as its a known quantity with limited walking, though the weather went icky again, in the space of that morning we had sleet, hail, sunshine, snow, rain and by the time we were heading for Costa coffee, quite fierce winds. Which was ok for me in my comfy warm cab, but not so good for folk battling their way down the road, so lots of coffee and tasty coffee and walnut cake was required to revive flagging energies. Not that one ever needs an excuse for cake, of course :) So so good to see DC again and finally meet Amy, lots of hugs all round and much chat and silly joking and teasing, and I'd got the comfy seats in Costa so I dun good there. We talked books and travel and plans and people and food and all manner of topics in between teas and coffees and more hugs
It was up to me to pick somewhere for dinner too, so we ended up in Miller and Carter as I had such a good meal with Qi there it was the obvious choice, as well as the relaxing atmosphere in the bar there. It was pretty quiet, even for a Tuesday, so there was no wait on a table and we were able to settle in and start munching happily once we felt the urge. I think the garlicky mushroom starter was even more of a treat than the paté I had last time but I succumbed to the lure of the fillet wellington again, though the steak instead was a tad rarer than last time which wasn't quite as good for me, still lovely though, especially with potatoes dauphinoise as a side, yum. DC's t-bone looked very juicy (and very big) and Amy's barbecue chicken seemed equally good quality, but of course the company was the best part of it, much giggling and discussion... Oh and we ended up with dessert also, think I could have eaten more than a stolen spoonful of DC's clotted cream rice pudding but my chocolate fondant was lovely too, though not warm, which was suprising, thought they were supposed to be warm always? Anyways, lovely end to a lovely meal and we sat for a while in the bar until the bar staff made rather obvious "we want to go home now please" type moves and we headed out. The wind was down a bit but sooooooo cold, made sense for them to hop in my cab as their hotel was en route.
And next day we met up again, was very sleepy by the end of the evening so it had been a vague "we could meet here, which has comfy seats but lousy food, or here, which has good food but not great for conversation" before I remembered a new Italian place and a cafe next door I'd spotted before. Except I couldn't remember the names, nor was I sure on directions from Liverpool One if they went shopping first, other than "Ask someone where Whitechapel is". At least by next day google had revealed we were headed for Carluccios, but it ended up being me who needed directions! Yep, the cab dropped me off somewhere other than expected - turns out that "the taxi ranks near Whitechapel" can mean two places, and he picked the other one. I was a bit wobbly after the late night so just stood there feeling utterly lost before getting my bearings a bit. And then I knew I was in Williamson Square, but still perplexed, ended up asking two nice ladies sitting on a bench, and *they* had to stop and think for a bit before pointing me on my way. Down a side street and phew, one Carluccios right in front of me, and things went smoothly from there. I'd not realised it's a chain, or that its linked with Antonio Carluccio but the food was excellent, chairs less so until we asked to switch to the less weirdly shaped ones (I don't have a bad back but I was aching after ten minutes sat on this thing), and getting to spend time with two of my favourite people was again the highlight above all. Rose veal for me, with tempura veg, and a refreshing bowl of mandarin sorbet after (Amy's tiramisu was to die for also, mind), more chat and then a move next door to Patisserie Valerie.
There are few things more enjoyable than a pleasant venue, decent company and something good to eat, and well, they have fancy cakes there and despite just having a good lunch it seemed a shame to miss the chance for a treat... Best cheesecake ever, huge chunk of lemon cheesecake but lightly whipped and not too sweet so it wasn't stodgy or cloying. Those two had pecan tart or some such, looked very crunchy and sticky so I didn't steal any *g* I have a new favourite tea now too, Suki fairtrade tea, which I've never heard of, proper leaf tea that came in a branded teapot with the leaves in a wee holder on top of the pot, and it and the cup on a wooden platter, very posh and lovely, aromatic tea - googling later revealed the breakfast blend which I had is a mixture of assam and another tea which likely explains why I liked it so much. I've been drinking Twinings Assam since I first tried it back in St Andrews in 1990, finally I've been lured away! So much good conversation, oh and pictures, I'd snapped a pic of the tea and cake for mum to drool at (either I'm nice sharing things or mean for showing here unattainable sticky treats):
And she texted back asking for pics of the three of us, which really should have occurred to me. So there was a quick snapping session et voila, people:
Me & Amy
Me & DC
DC & Amy
One of the best things about the visit was the fact that I was feeling so well and in fact for a goodly while was the most bouncy and active of the three of us, and for once in a photo I look *Well*, not tired and drained and pale which is the normal state of things, but happy and healthy and alive. Which is brilliant to see, DC couldn't get over how alert and active I was (though I'd spent the previous days napping after the shopping trip and Qi, of course... :) )
Sadly, the day and the travel began to catch up on folk so we parted company and headed to our respective naps. Though I'm a lovely, caring person and having visited the cash machine for mum as requested doubled back to the Patisserie for cakes to bring home for her and dad - another slice of that fab cheesecake for mum, a raspberry tart for dad, oh and a slice of tiramisu type stuff for me, well, seemed a shame to leave it sitting there, the last cake in the window, it looked so lonely *grin*
I do so love spending time with friends and Amy was just as much fun in person as I expected, and DC is lovely, of course. Hope I get to see them both again at some point! :)
It was up to me to pick somewhere for dinner too, so we ended up in Miller and Carter as I had such a good meal with Qi there it was the obvious choice, as well as the relaxing atmosphere in the bar there. It was pretty quiet, even for a Tuesday, so there was no wait on a table and we were able to settle in and start munching happily once we felt the urge. I think the garlicky mushroom starter was even more of a treat than the paté I had last time but I succumbed to the lure of the fillet wellington again, though the steak instead was a tad rarer than last time which wasn't quite as good for me, still lovely though, especially with potatoes dauphinoise as a side, yum. DC's t-bone looked very juicy (and very big) and Amy's barbecue chicken seemed equally good quality, but of course the company was the best part of it, much giggling and discussion... Oh and we ended up with dessert also, think I could have eaten more than a stolen spoonful of DC's clotted cream rice pudding but my chocolate fondant was lovely too, though not warm, which was suprising, thought they were supposed to be warm always? Anyways, lovely end to a lovely meal and we sat for a while in the bar until the bar staff made rather obvious "we want to go home now please" type moves and we headed out. The wind was down a bit but sooooooo cold, made sense for them to hop in my cab as their hotel was en route.
And next day we met up again, was very sleepy by the end of the evening so it had been a vague "we could meet here, which has comfy seats but lousy food, or here, which has good food but not great for conversation" before I remembered a new Italian place and a cafe next door I'd spotted before. Except I couldn't remember the names, nor was I sure on directions from Liverpool One if they went shopping first, other than "Ask someone where Whitechapel is". At least by next day google had revealed we were headed for Carluccios, but it ended up being me who needed directions! Yep, the cab dropped me off somewhere other than expected - turns out that "the taxi ranks near Whitechapel" can mean two places, and he picked the other one. I was a bit wobbly after the late night so just stood there feeling utterly lost before getting my bearings a bit. And then I knew I was in Williamson Square, but still perplexed, ended up asking two nice ladies sitting on a bench, and *they* had to stop and think for a bit before pointing me on my way. Down a side street and phew, one Carluccios right in front of me, and things went smoothly from there. I'd not realised it's a chain, or that its linked with Antonio Carluccio but the food was excellent, chairs less so until we asked to switch to the less weirdly shaped ones (I don't have a bad back but I was aching after ten minutes sat on this thing), and getting to spend time with two of my favourite people was again the highlight above all. Rose veal for me, with tempura veg, and a refreshing bowl of mandarin sorbet after (Amy's tiramisu was to die for also, mind), more chat and then a move next door to Patisserie Valerie.
There are few things more enjoyable than a pleasant venue, decent company and something good to eat, and well, they have fancy cakes there and despite just having a good lunch it seemed a shame to miss the chance for a treat... Best cheesecake ever, huge chunk of lemon cheesecake but lightly whipped and not too sweet so it wasn't stodgy or cloying. Those two had pecan tart or some such, looked very crunchy and sticky so I didn't steal any *g* I have a new favourite tea now too, Suki fairtrade tea, which I've never heard of, proper leaf tea that came in a branded teapot with the leaves in a wee holder on top of the pot, and it and the cup on a wooden platter, very posh and lovely, aromatic tea - googling later revealed the breakfast blend which I had is a mixture of assam and another tea which likely explains why I liked it so much. I've been drinking Twinings Assam since I first tried it back in St Andrews in 1990, finally I've been lured away! So much good conversation, oh and pictures, I'd snapped a pic of the tea and cake for mum to drool at (either I'm nice sharing things or mean for showing here unattainable sticky treats):
And she texted back asking for pics of the three of us, which really should have occurred to me. So there was a quick snapping session et voila, people:
Me & Amy
Me & DC
DC & Amy
One of the best things about the visit was the fact that I was feeling so well and in fact for a goodly while was the most bouncy and active of the three of us, and for once in a photo I look *Well*, not tired and drained and pale which is the normal state of things, but happy and healthy and alive. Which is brilliant to see, DC couldn't get over how alert and active I was (though I'd spent the previous days napping after the shopping trip and Qi, of course... :) )
Sadly, the day and the travel began to catch up on folk so we parted company and headed to our respective naps. Though I'm a lovely, caring person and having visited the cash machine for mum as requested doubled back to the Patisserie for cakes to bring home for her and dad - another slice of that fab cheesecake for mum, a raspberry tart for dad, oh and a slice of tiramisu type stuff for me, well, seemed a shame to leave it sitting there, the last cake in the window, it looked so lonely *grin*
I do so love spending time with friends and Amy was just as much fun in person as I expected, and DC is lovely, of course. Hope I get to see them both again at some point! :)