I've had some amazing birthday meals and a great holiday, so thought I'd share what I'd been up to and recommend some great places to go if you're ever in the areas.
P.S. this is going to be a long one...Sorry! I'm making up for my absence.
Birthday Celebration 1 - Las Iguanas, Newcastle upon Tyne with Chris
I forgot I'd signed up to Las Iguana's email offers, so was very surprised the week before my birthday to receive an email offering me a free main meal for my birthday. This was an offer I couldn't let go to waste so I managed to convince Chris to join me for a Mexican birthday meal.
I've been to Las Iguanas in Newcastle a few times and it's always busy, definitely book a table if you plan to go! Thankfully Chris had done so for us, otherwise it was a 45 min wait for a table. It's not the biggest of places and because it's always busy it was quite noisy. But we didn't mind.
The waiters were very friendly and helpful, and when they found out we were celebrating my birthday they brought me a free (non-alcoholic) passionfruit and orange cocktail. It probably wouldn't have been my first choice from the drinks menu, but it was a very nice alternative to diet cokes.
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| My free drink! |
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| Chris' Burger |
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| My Chicken |
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| My Wraps and Extras |
We both decided as a birthday treat to get desserts, naughty choice but totally worth it. I had an absolutely huge slice of chocolate orange fudge cake with vanilla ice cream. The cake was beautiful. Very soft and moist, the sauce was hot, very chocolatey and had a strong taste of orange, but not too overpowering. It was probably one of the nicest fudge cakes I've had in a long time. Chris choose just to have ice cream but regretted that choice when he saw my cake. Moral of the story, always go for the chocolate cake if you're being naughty and having dessert anyway.
Overall it was very good birthday celebrations with a very good friend.
Birthday Celebration 2 - Rialtos, Northumberland with Omar and DVDs
As we weren't going to get to spend my birthday together this year as I was away on holiday, Omar took me after work to our favourite little Italian restaurant in his village. We've been a few times before and never really had a bad meal so I was quite happy to go again for my birthday.
We both chose to have starters of potato skins with garlic sauce, and then a main each. I had penne arribiata, and Omar had a kiev pizza. My pasta was lovely, very fresh and a good size portion but very spicy. I struggled to finish it because of how spicy it was, and wouldn't have got even close to finishing it without the glass of water and diet coke I drank. It was still very nice and I would most likely have it again. Omar's pizza was a very good size but didn't have as much taste as he's had in some of their other pizzas. It was still very fresh and very good for the price.
Full from our starters and mains we opted not to have dessert and enjoyed the nice walk back in the sunshine to his house for some chocolates and DVDs. I got spoilt with my birthday presents from him and his Mum.
I got a bit forgetful at this point and didn't think to take photos of our lovely food. Next time I'll try doubly hard to remember!
Birthday Celebration 3 - Caffe Riva, Bowness upon Windermere with Mum and Dad
What an amazing meal! After considering a few different places to go for food in Bowness we ended up in Caffe Riva, a little Italian on the main road down from town to the lake which has only been open under the current owners for 2 months.
We arrived without a booking and were greeted by a very nice waitress who went to see if there was a table for us, there wasn't, but she was very friendly and helpful and said there would only be a twenty minute wait for a table. As everywhere else we'd passed seemed just as busy we decided to wait and took a seat near the bar.
The drinks menu wasn't too badly priced, in my opinion, we paid £12 for a bottle of Pinot Grigio and £5 for a pint of Peroni. We thought we would just order at the bar whilst we waited but as my Mum got off her seat another very helpful waiter came over and took our order. We only waited a few minutes before the drinks arrived, along with a small bowl of peanuts. Enough to keep us going until we got our table.
The overall wait for a table wasn't long and the staff were very friendly and apologetic as we waited, regularly asking if there was anything they could get us and talking us through the specials menu. We soon got our table, placed our orders and our food arrived a little while after. And it was unbelievable.
I chose Breaded Chicken Escalope with Linguine Napoli, expecting a small portion of pasta and one piece of reasonable sized chicken I was very surprised when my plate arrived. I had a portion of pasta that I would have expected from any other Italian as a main course on it's own and two massive chicken breast escalopes. I wish I'd taken a picture of it because it was so amazing. Everything on the plate was so fresh that I just had to keep eating, even when I felt full. The food was so nice I couldn't stop eating. I even ignored a lot of the garlic bread pizza we'd got to go with the mains because the food was just so nice, and I never ignore garlic bread!
My Mum had linguini with cream, egg, parmesan and pancetta. Again the portion size was unbelievable, but again she battled through and ate the majority. I didn't try any of hers but she assured me it was just as nice as all of ours, and it did look it.
But I think the best meal of the night was what my dad ordered. Fregole alla Riva. Fregole (which is little pasta balls that look like risotto but taste and cook like pasta) with bacon, roasted red peppers, caramelised onions, spinach, in a light creamy sauce. I had a taste and it was absolutely gorgeous. I'd never had Fregole before but I will definitely be having it again. Such amazing flavours and textures all mixed beautifully together. It was a special on the night and came recommended to us by the manager, and he wasn't lying to us when he said it was good. Again, the portion size was unreal but it was so nice my Dad ate every little bit.
We were too full after mains to consider deserts but I'm sure they would have been just as amazing.
Possibly one of the best things about the restaurant was seeing the Manager's daughter helping out. I'm not good with guessing ages but I'd suspect she was about eight years old, and all night she followed her Mum or Dad around taking orders, handing out bills and making some drinks. It was so nice to see the interaction the whole family had with the restaurant and how welcoming they were to all their customers.
As we left the manager asked how we'd found everything and we openly said it was amazing. He turned to his daughter, put his arm round her and said "See Francesca, I told you we would do well". It was lovely to see how involved the whole family was the restaurant, and how much they all cared about it doing well.
I really like Italian food and I have a list of places that I think does nice Italian food, but this place tops the list. Everyone was so friendly, the food was amazing and I'll definitely be returning.
Holiday Accommodation - Windermere Marina Village
I love the Lakes and have stayed in a few different locations, in a variety of different accommodation types. I love Bowness on Windermere. The lake is gorgeous, the town is small but has a variety of different independent and high-street stores, as well as loads of cafes and restaurants to choose from. Windermere Marina Village is slightly out of the way, a ten to fifteen minute walk, of the hustle and bustle of the town centre, but it's worth the walk.
We stayed in a 2 bed Ghyll Cottage in the Marina Village, able to sleep up to 6 people. The cottage is an up-side-down cottage with 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms downstairs, and an open plan kitchen/living area upstairs with a balcony overlooking the marina and the boats. It was gorgeous. Everything was so clean and tidy, the kitchen was really modern, the beds and sofas were comfy, the bathrooms were spotlessly clean and had amazing showers. You couldn't fault the quality of the place.
The village has it's own private beach leading right onto the waterside, with two bbq areas, jetties and picnic tables; a pub and restaurant right in the heart of the marina, and lots of boats to admire. I didn't want to come home at all! It's not the cheapest place to stay but if you want peace and quiet, and amazing views (if you like boats and water anyway) I can't recommend this place any more.
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| The Private Beach |
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| View over the lake from the Private Beach |
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| The views as you walk around the lake into town |
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| Views on the walk |
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| Panoramic View from our Balcony |
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| View from the Balcony as I enjoyed my Kindle |
Day Out - South Lakes Safari Park
I loved the safari park. I've been to zoos before and they've been amazing but this was something else. The safari park is split in two areas, one is very much like a zoo with animals kept separate in their own areas not really mixing with other animals but with plenty of space to roam around, the other had everything running everywhere. You were walking along pavements with lima's jumping over your head. It was unreal.
You don't get to touch the animals but you are so close you could if you wanted. They just run around. Obviously it's not the ones that could kill you, the lions and tigers etc were in the more pen type side of the zoo, but all the emus, ostriches, donkeys, goats, ducks, birds, deer, limas, some monkeys etc were just running around.
There's loads of talks on the animals with the different feeders and you can get the chance to feed some of them. I missed the chance to feed the penguins which I'd have loved but the kids who did get to do it looked really pleased to have the penguins waddle around so close to them!
We also got to see how like us the monkeys are when one of them managed to steal a shoe that had dropped off the foot from a little girl in her push chair and ran off deep into it's enclosure with it. They were like children playing with a new toy, throwing it around, chasing after it and trying to eat it. I wouldn't have been impressed if it was my shoe but it was amusing to watch. They're very clever creatures.
It's not very big but they have plans to expand and I'll definitely be returning when they do. I'd recommend if you go to take a picnic as the food was alright but not wonderful. Just make sure you eat it before you go into the run free side of the park as you can't take food in there.
We went on a school day so the safari park was fairly quiet, I could imagine this being a nightmare place to get parked and around if it was busy. But I definitely think it's worth a visit whether you have kids or not. Here's just a few pictures of the animals we saw:
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| Emu |
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| Snuggling Lima's |
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| Bird! |
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| Turtle |
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| Donkey and Goat (The Donkey took a liking to my Mum and tried to follow us) |
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| Lima! |
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| Kangaroo |
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| Prairie Dog |
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| Tiger |
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| Penguin (These are so cute) |
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| Rhino |
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| Monkey waiting for Banana from it's feeder |
I did have lots of other days out but the safari park is something I thought I should share with everyone. It is definitely a place to go if you're in the area, it's such a nice experience and seeing animals walking free is so nice.
Sorry for the long rambling post, but here's just a recap of the last two weeks of my life. I'm really disappointed to be back home as I enjoyed the holiday so much but I can't wait to see all my friends and Omar again.
Sarah x
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