What a wonderful weekend ...

So this weekend was full of good friends and good food. 

Friday: 

Our friends from Cumbria travelled down for a quick visit. They had been to stay a few weeks ago but unfortunately fiancé had to work both days so this time it was nice for him to be able to see them during the day. Hehe it was also nice that there wasn't an lengthy gap between visits like there had been for the last visits. As anyone will tell you its hard to organise visits as you get older as life gets in the way and everyone has conflicting plans so it was great to get to see them so soon, also good as S is one of my bridesmaids hehe 

For dinner fiancé served up a delicious chicken, prawn and chorizo paella, it was delicious as ever. Boy makes a mean paella. We try to serve something different whenever we have friends visit to make sure we mix it up, having friends over is also a great opportunity to try new things and experiment/expand your repertoire in the kitchen. 

Along with our paella M brought ingredients to make raspberry mojitos ... yum. They were awesome, he used fresh raspberries crushed in the bottom with the mint and sugar. Really fresh and fruity, they were a delicious cuban treat with our spanish paella. 

Giant paella pan, check, crusty bread, check, mojitos, check ... 

After dinner we sat and watched a film whilst drinking more mojitos, the drinks and company were excellent the film however was not. Got off to a good start then failed miserably but oh well. 

Saturday: 

On the morning we took our friends up to Lumley Castle to have a look as they had not seen the venue for the wedding, then we had a spot of lunch. Roast chicken submarine rolls and crisps. Then they had to get home as M was going away on business Sunday so needed to pack (last minute packing is such a boy thing) 

Saturday evening we went round to some local friends for a chilled BBQ. Unfortunately it was rained off so we did indoor BBQ hehe you have to be prepared in the UK, bloody temperamental weather.

Good night chilling with friends and catching up with come people we haven't seen in a while.  Lots of wedding talk from the girls, the hosts got married just under a year ago, I am nearly finished my wedding planning and our other friends have just booked their wedding so started the planning in earnest. So of course we were looking at dresses for C and I got to see L's finished wedding album, its really nice to chat with other people who are getting married or who have recently got married as you get to compare and swap ideas. 

Sunday:

Today is full of busy, its the last day of our holiday :( sad face back to work tomorrow, we started with brunch, then home for fiancé to watch the first game of the season for Spurs then round to my mams to car pool up to my brothers for a family birthday tea. 

So brunch ... it was awesome!! 

I was chatting with a friend from LA last night and told her we were having US style brunch she replied by asking what we considered a US style brunch ... I answered honestly with I wasn't sure but thats how our Texan friend had described it. My friend then described some of their brunches and I have got to say us English are lacking on the brunch front, the Americans know how to brunch! 

As this was our first visit to N's house for food so I took along a hostess gift, brunch appropriate boxes of Twinings fruit tea. Usually when we visit friends for food we take a bottle of wine and a dessert but that didn't seem appropriate. 

N then introduced us to Texan style breakfast tacos. It was amazing, homemade flour tortillas filled with huevos rancheros (scrambled egg, chorizo and pepper mix) topped with cheese and salsa!! It was delicious, these are apparently available at Texan schools pre wrapped in foil for the kids to eat for breakfast ... I would have loved to have these before school. We also had bowls of greek yogurt with fresh fruit and some granola with Earl Grey tea. It was amazing, we shall definitely be stealing the recipe for  the eggs and trying it again. 

After brunch we came home and the fiancé sat and watched the football while I blogged. (he is very happy as his team, Spurs, won) Now we are off to my mams to head up to my brothers for family birthday tea. Its a family tradition we have, and since my brother and his wife's birthdays are close together we tend to have a joint party either between or when its convenient ie best weekend around them for a family get together. Well I best be off. Blog later. 

xXx