Ate o´ Clock Restaurant Review, York

We stumbled across this restaurant by chance while we were in York and thinking that Chloe would need feeding soon and that it looked very charming and pleasant, decided to eat there. The restaurant is tucked away down a little alley or side street.As it was such a beautiful day we chose to sit oustide on the picnic style benches,which are surrounded by flowers. Unfortunately, we didn´t take any photos but I have to say this is one of the best meals we had during our trip to England and it was also one of the prettiest restaurants. Inside it was fairly modern with clocks set at eight o´clock and the toilets, which were upstairs, with Hollywood film set memorabilia such as clipboards.

There is a lunch menu for lighter lunches but you can also choose a menu of two courses for a fairly reasonable price(can´t remember exactly how much it cost now!). We all went for the two course menu,my inlaws chose soupof the day,which that particular day was tomato and basil and my husband and I chose the Vegetarian Black Pudding. It was a very unusual dish but really tasty.The Vegetarian Black Pudding was actually a bit pinkish in colour and I couldn´t identify what it consisted of.It was a cross between sweet and savoury and was accompanied with a sauce or jus and strawberries...beautiful presentation. My husband wasn´t as convinced about it and he identified the taste of cinnamon in the Vegetarian Black Pudding.My inlaws enjoyed their soup too.

For the second course two of us chose Pork sausages with thyme, apple mash and shallots and unfortunately I can´t really remember what the other two chose....maybe fish(this only proves that I should try and post as soon as possible otherwise I forget!!)What I do know is that we all really enjoyed our dishes. In the end,my daughter fell asleep and we had to wake her up to give her her dinner.My only complaint with this restaurant is that they had nowhere to change my daughter but as we were sat outside and we were the only ones around(we were still on Spanish time!)we just changed her outside on the picnic bench seats.

I´d thouroughly reccommend going to this restaurant if you are in York. You can find out more about Ate o´Clock restaurant by clicking on the link.Enjoy!

Hyltons,The Lake District

I´ve been on my travels hence the absence of posts. I went back to my roots in Lancashire and it was great to meet up with family and friends and show Chloe where I´m from, even though she´s too young to probably remember much about this trip!! One of the places we visited
is The Lake District, or Bowness-on-the lake, Windermere to be more precise, which is one of the most beautiful areas of the British countryside. Chloe enjoyed seeing all the swans, ducks and Canadian geese. Beatrix Potter, the famous children´s author who created Peter Rabbit was from the Lake District and we visited the Beatrix Potter World attraction, which Chloe loved.

We stumbled across Hyltons by chance and even though it was packed we managed to find a table.Hyltons is in the centre of Bowness-on-Windermere. It is a modern, fairly spacious and pleasant restaurant which serves traditional British food and European dishes such as lasange etc.The staff were very helpful and friendly and the food was served quite quickly,despite the fact that the restaurant was fairly busy, so it is obviously a popular place too! It was child-friendly too as highchairs were available...I can´t remember if there were child changing facilities.There is also a children´s menu but my daughter was so hungry that we gave her a jar!

Although, I´m not a big fan of fish and seafood, I decided to choose an old fav of mine,scampi and chips and everyone else chose fish and chips. The scampi was succulent and covered in a lovely crisp and crunchy batter and the chips were thick and golden....delicious. Everyone also enoyed their fish and chips...tender haddock in a crispy batter,not a greasy batter...I tried a little bit and liked it too...it didn´t taste too fishy!! The portions were quite large and filling so we didn´t have room for dessert unfortunately! The food was a reasonable price so all in all a great place to eat. In fact, it was one of the best meals we had during our trip to England. I´d definitely reccommend eating here if you are visiting the Lake District!Here are more reviews of Hyltons.

Spa weekend in Seville and two restaurant reviews

I haven´t been doing much wandering lately since I got pregnant and having Chloe but finally about a month ago now, we managed to escape for a short weekend break at a spa in Seville, taking Chloe with us of course. We met up with my parents in Seville and they also stayed at the spa, Andalusi Park, with us to help look after Chloe while we enjoyed the spa. We also gave them a night and a spa circuit as a favour for them looking after Chloe. The Andalusi Park is a lovely hotel, very clean and modern, with spacious rooms and we were really lucky and had the biggest balcony to sit out on and enjoy!Breakfast was included and comprised of a buffet which you could help yourself to as little or as much as you wanted. The spa, although fairly small was very relaxing and just what I needed after all those sleepless nights after Chloe came along. I´ve never been to a spa before but thoroughly enjoyed it, from the sauna-style room, to the water jets, jacuzzi and massage. My fav part was the jacuzzi and massage and my least favourite was the hot shower followed by a swinging bucket which when you pull the cord, drenches you in freezing cold water. Now why would anyone willingly tip freezing cold water over their heads? I would definitely reccomend this hotel & spa with it only being a hop,skip and a jump away from Seville city centre (about 10mins drive and there is also a shuttle service from the hotel) and it is also a reasonable price, around 65 euros per night with breakfast included.

The first night we arrived, we decided to eat locally at a restaurant within a short walk of the hotel. We ended up at a lovely restaurant, La Alacena (Cabo de Gata, Benacazón), which was decorated really nicely for Christmas.It was quite spacious so there was enough room for Chloe´s buggy. For starters we ordered some seafood bits & pieces (I can´t remember what exactly as I didn´t eat any of it seeing as I don´t like seafood very much) and some ham croquettes, which were very tasty. My mum and I ordered the "presa iberíca",a pork cut from the shoulder blade as far as I can gather with apples and a toffee sauce, which was absolutely delicious. The pork was lovely and tender and the sauce not too sweet or heavy.

My husband had fish and my stepdad had lamb chops. We were all too stuffed to order any dessert. I´m not sure what the bill was but dishes cost between 15-25 euros. Definitely worth a visit if you are in the area.

We spent a lovely day in Seville seeing the sights. I don´t know who enjoyed it more, us or Chloe...she loved taking in all the new sights and sounds and hardly slept a wink all day.That evening we decided to go back into Seville and try a Japanese restaurant.I haven´t eaten in many true Japanese restaurants and they don´t really grab my attention much as I don´t like fish or seafood much so sushi is definitely a no-no! It took us awhile to find it but with the help of the SatNav we finally arrived at Sakura (Avda.San Francisco Javier 19). It is a fairly small restaurant with modern decor and Japanese touches such as prints and pictures. I had a meat & vegetable dumpling to start with, which was tasty although I don´t know where the vegetable was as it tasted a bit sausagey! I then had rice and if I remember rightly duck teriyaki. Everything was delicious but the portions were fairly small and it probably cost the same as the previous night but for a lot less food. The food was very nice and I´d reccomend this restaurant if you want something a bit different but for me the portions were a little on the small side. Unfortunately, I didn´t get any photos of the food as I didn´t have my camera with me!

Touring Vietnam & discovering it´s cuisine Part 2- Hoi An & Hue

After Halong Bay, it was back to Hanoi to catch a plane to Danang and then on to Hoi An.It was a long day especially as we were both still recuperating from the previous night´s upset stomachs! I forgot to mention that near Hanoi there are restaurants which serve dog.However, we didn´t come across any of these restaurants luckily as I don´t think I could eat a poor little dog. Mind you, we do eat little lambs and piglets (roast suckling pig) so I suppose it´s not so different!

Hoi An is a sharp contrast to Hanoi with its much quieter and laid-back streets full of little shops. We visited the Japanese Covered Bridge, the Assembly Hall of the Fujian Chinese Congregation, Tan Ky House and then wandered round all the shops stopping of course at Yaly, one of the more famous shops, which makes tailored made-to-measure clothes of any design and with the material of your choice. I settled for a black and white flower patterned dress. We also took in the sights and strange smells of the market of all the local delicacies from dried shrimp and other dried fish to all kinds of exotic fruit.

In the evening we found a lovely restaurant called The Secret Garden, which our guide had told us about, but it was definitely very secret as it is hidden away down a side street and is very difficult to find. However, it was worth searching for as the restaurant is set in a sort of terrace outside in a beautiful garden with a pond.It is very beautiful and romantic especially at night when it is all lit up. There is also traditional live Vietnamese music playing while you are eating. We opted for a set menu for 2, which if I remember correctly consisted of: white rose (Bánh Bao Bánh Vạc)-a kind of dumpling filled with meat and prawns or toppd with them (delicious), Rice Pasta Rolls ( Bánh Cuon) -a type of spring roll filled with pork and mint and coriander (very fresh tasting due to the mint and coriander but not my favourite) and beef curry (CaryBò). The beef curry was divine, melt in your mouth tender beef, star anise, potato, carrots and some other vegetable or something which could have been taro.The flavours combined to make a really tasty dish. However, it wasn´t a curry as I know it as it wasn´t at all spicy, to me it was more reminicscent of a type of beef stew but anyway the main thing was that it was absolutely delicious! Dessert was a more simple affair of pineapple and watermelon. For me, this was one of the best restaurants we went to on our trip to Vietnam. The Secret Garden also does cooking courses but unfortunately time was short otherwise I´d have loved to have had a lesson in Vietnamese cuisine.

We also visited My Son, the ruins of an ancient Cham temple and the Marble Mountains. On route we stopped at a farm where they made rice pancakes and the owner showed us how she made the pancakes and we were even given the opportunity to have a go!

After Hoi An, we then travelled to Hue, Vietnam´s former imperial city, where we visited the Citadel, the impressive and beautiful Imperial Enclosure and went on a boat trip on the Perfume River. We were going to eat at this floating restaurant on the river, very near the bridge but everything we asked for, they didn´t have so we decided to go somewhere else. We found a lovely (but empty) restaurant set in a beautiful garden again . I think it was very late by the time we wanted to eat. We weren´t very hungry so only ordered a salad and banh khoai, a typical speciality from Hue, which consists of a rice flour pancake filled with prawns,pork and bean sprouts and fried. The food in the restaurant was of high quality and was quite expensive for usual Vietnamese restaurant prices. The banh khoai was absolutely delicious but very filling however I think because we weren´t that hungry we weren´t as keen on the salad and couldn´t eat much. I think we ate the banh khoai again during our time in Hue but the one from Rendezvous was definitely the best. We didn´t realize until we went in that the restaurant belonged to the Morin hotel but I´d definitely reccommend this restaurant as the food was exquisite and again a lovely and romantic setting. It was just unfortunate that we weren´t very hungry and didn´t like our choice of salad. We also ordered beef with lemongrass which was also delicious but we were just so full we couldn´t eat it. Unfortunately we don´t have any photos of the banh khoai.

I can´t remember what this is-prawns in a crispy panko type batter with a cute penguin/snowman made out of cucumber that we ate in a different restaurant!

Touring Vietnam & discovering its cuisine-Hanoi and Halong Bay

Originally we had booked to go to Thailand for our honeymoon but after all the trouble with the Red Shirts in Bangkok, we decided to change to Vietnam as it was still Asia and it also meant we could use our flight.

We booked a guided tour for 13 nights,which started in Hanoi and ended with a couple of days to relax on the beach in Nha Trang. I hadn´t tried much Vietnamese food before our trip so was looking forward to trying this unknown cuisine. As we had chosen to go on a guided tour, lunch in a restaurant, usually with a set menu,was often included in the day´s visit. I however think that this was a more Westernized version of Vietnamese food as during our whole visit, we didn´t even get to try one of Vietnam´s most well-known dishes, Pho!! I really enjoyed Vietnamese food and its fresh, herby, sour and sweet blend of flavours and the next few blog entries will be about my experiences and food discoveries. Hopefully in the future I´ll also include some Vietnamese recipes as I couldn´t resist buying a Vietnamese cookbook!

When we arrived in Hanoi, we had the first day to ourselves to explore so after dropping our stuff off at the hotel, the first thing on our agenda was to find somewhere for lunch.We found a little café,which unfortunately I can´t remember the name of, and ordered a sausage sandwhich and braised beef. Both were delicious especially the braised beef which was really tender. One of the main things that hits you when you first arrive is the amount of traffic especially motorbikes in Hanoi that there is and also how chaotic it is. Crossing the road is definitely an adventure and an experience-I was pretty scared each time I had to do it!

We wandered around the Old Quarter taking in the sounds, smells and sights of Hanoi. One common sight is women carrying all kinds of strange fruit or other things in special baskets hung on a wooden pole carried across their shoulders. You can also see motorbikes which are completely laden with products, like in the following picture:

The following day we visited the typical sights of Hanoi, such as Ho Chi Minh´s Mausoleum, One-Pillar Pagoda, the Museum of Ethnology, the Temple of Literature etc. In the evening, we ate at a lovely restaurant,Dinh Lang Thuy Ta, which overlooked the Hoan Kiem Lake. Although expensive by Vietnamese standards, it is worth it for a romantic meal with beautiful views, the wonderful food and service and also traditional music while you eat. We shared a lotus flower stem salad which had a crunchy texture from the lotus stems and the peanuts (pictured below)

I chose steamed chicken with lime leaves-the meat was lovely and tender and the overall dish had a nice taste although I wasn´t too keen on the lime leaves which seemed to overpower the dish a little.


My husband chose a beef dish, hot and sour I think (sorry I´m so bad with the names!!) which was delicious and I actually preferred it to my dish!

We took the waiter´s advice for dessert and chose lotus seeds and dried longans in a syrup . The lotus seeds had a nutty, almost white chocolatey taste which wasn´t too bad and the longans were a bit like raisins.

We also tried agar-agar with dried longans in syrup. Neither of us were too keen on either of the desserts unfortunately but of the two, the lotus seeds were the best. You have to try these things!!

After a couple of days in Hanoi, we made our way to Halong Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage site. We stayed aboard a typical junko and took in the breathtakingly beautiful scenery of more than 2000 rocky islands jutting out of the sea.

As the food on the boat was mainly fish and seafood which I´m not that keen on we ordered something different for me. I got mainly meat dishes but one dish in particular looked a bit green around the edges but tasted fine. Unfortunately that night I started with bad stomach pains and both me and my husband, who had also eaten some of this meat, spent the vomitting and with diahorria!

Food & Don Quijote (El Mirador de la Mancha)

I have been doing some cooking but due to my hectic schedule, I don´t have much time to experiment or get too creative...barely have time to get something on the table and eat it,never mind take a photo of it and blog about it!I will be blogging about one of my Gran´s recipes,once I´ve tweaked it a bit and perfected it!!

It was my birthday a couple of weeks ago so my parents came to visit and we had a lovely weekend stuffing ourselves. We went to Villarubia de los Ojos with my parents and my boyfriend´s parents to a lovely restaurant called El Mirador de la Mancha, which is completely made of wood and is very cosy. It is nestled at the top of a hill in the sierra with windows overlooking the valley below so you have great views while you eat your meal. The first thing you see as you make you way to the restaurant is a giant Don Quijote made of wood and some great lookout points. There are plants and a little waterfall and the surroundings are stunning. The restaurant also has cabañas (wooden chalets) and a swimming pool so would make a lovely escapade for a weekend in the country.


We ordered various typical starters from the region (Castilla-La Mancha)which included migas -a dish made of breadcrumbs, garlic, green peppers,chorizo and sometimes grapes, duelos y quebrantos -a dish which is a bit like scrambled egg with Iberian ham and chorizo in it (I´m always a bit dubious about this dish as I think it sometimes also has brains in it!!)-, gachas- a paste made from flour ,with a consistency similar to porridge, with small bits of chorizo in it and goats cheese with caramelized onion (probably not so typical of the region but divine anyway -definitely my fav of all the starters!)


Most of us chose either cochinillo (roast suckling pig), which was accompanied by roasted red pepper and potatoes or paletilla de cordero (lamb shoulder)which was also accompanied by potatoes and red pepper,if I remember correctly. I went for the cochinillo, which was tender and succulent on the inside and had a golden,crispy skin on the outside-perfect! The portions were fairly generous and unfortunately I was too full to do it complete justice. We skipped dessert as we were all too stuffed! The main dishes were reasonably priced too, at 15 euros each. Definitely worth a visit if you are ever passing through Castilla-La Mancha! There is also a little chapel a little farther up from the restaurant which is good to visit for the views (the chapel itself was closed when we went so I can´t comment on whether it is worth entering!)

Taking a bite of the Big Apple

Let´s see if I can remember with it being so long ago!! When my boyfriend´s parents visited us, we also went to New York for four days. It was our first time there and everything was amazing. We did the usual tourist attractions, going up the Empire State building around dusk to see all the city lit up, the Rockefellar Centre, Times Square with all the neon lights flashing. It´s definitely an unforgettable sight. Unfortunately, we didn´t make it to a Broadway show (all the more reason to go again!) but for a slice of real Americana and the next best thing, is the Stardust Diner. It´s a typical diner from the 1950's, evoking memories of Grease and Happy Days. The food is all American comfort food and family favourites, from hamburgers, meatloaf, reubens to milkshakes, pies and ice cream sundaes and floats. I think my boyfriend and I had hamburgers and fries and shared a slice of cherry pie with ice cream (my new fav pie/dessert). The food is hearty and homemade and certainly fits the bill if you are looking for a real American experience. Throughout the meal, the waiting staff put on a good show, constantly bursting into popular songs, such as Man I Feel Like A Woman, in between serving, and creating a feel-good vibe.

We also took the ferry to the Statue of Liberty and walked the grounds of the Statue of Liberty, then boarded the ferry to Ellis Island and visited the Museum of Immigrants, which was very interesting. We then walked round the Financial District and Wall St, and paid our respects at Ground Zero. We also visited Chinatown and saw a strange-looking fruit, a Jack fruit, which I´ve never seen before (pictured below).

I didn´t get round to trying it though. Chinatown is also home to the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory and I couldn´t resist trying one. Among the many exotic flavours were green tea, black sesame and lychee and after a difficult decision, I finally settled on the lychee flavoured ice cream. It was delicious although I couldn´t really taste the lychees, it tasted just like vanilla ice cream to me! We also passed through Little Italy, apparently very reminiscent of scenes from the Godfather.

We had our evening meal in an Italian restaurant called Pasta Lovers or something similar, which was quite close to our hotel (We were very near Times Square, which was very handy!). I had pasta (of course) with Italian sausage and a tomato based sauce. I can´t remember what everyone else had but everything was pretty tasty.

In my opinion, the best meal of all was a little French-style bistro(I think it was called Balthazar ) in SoHo we came across. It was a very popular place as it was crowded and we had to wait to be seated. The worst thing about it was the noise, it was far too noisy. You could hardly hear yourself think. We had snails to start (well, I couldn´t quite bring myself to eat more than one, so I just mopped up the garlicy juices with the French style breads they brought to accompany it!), I had duck confit with potatoes and my boyfriend had halibut en papilotte (if I remember correctly!) We shared a tarte tatin between us. Everything was absolutely delicious and definitely has my thumbs up, just try to go on a less busy night!

Discovering Niagra

My boyfriend's parents came to visit us in Pittsburgh for about 10 days in July so we did plenty of eating out. The first day we showed them round the Cathedral of Learning, Oakland and Downtown and took them to Gullifty's (Murray Ave, Squirrel Hill),a restaurant famous for its award-winning desserts. Food here is the usual American fare of burgers,ribs etc and is tasty but the main reason to come here is for dessert and also the live jazz music and relaxed atmosphere. Unfortunately though the live music is only twice a week and we went on a night that there was no music. I had a veggie wild mushroom pasta dish served with garlic bread and my boyfriend's dad had the BBQ ribs. Although I was pretty full, I couldn't say no to a dessert especially as that is the whole point of coming!! I went for a Key Lime Pie, which had just the right amount of citrus tartness and sweetness to counteract it!

We then drove to Niagra Falls(the Canadian side) stopping en route at Volant to see the Amish (unfortunately we didn't see any!) Our hotel was the Hilton and we snuck a peek at the restaurant, which looked lovely and had a great view of the Falls and then went up to the bar, for a drink. I'd totally reccommend it as it also has great views of the Falls and is very tastefully decorated....it'd be very romantic at night! However, prices are fairly steep. The Falls are very impressive in themselves and we bought an adventure pass which includes the 4 main activities and is definitely worth the money: Thunder Behind the Mist(you go behind the waterfalls and can hear the thundering noise of the falls), Maid of the Mist (a boat ride which takes you up close to the Falls-an amazing experience), the White Water Rapids walk (the most dangerous rapids in the world) and the Fury(a multimedia interactive show). We also managed to squeeze in a couple of other sights such as the Spanish cable car which crosses the whirlpool rapids.

, We also got to witness two firework displays.We didn't know when we arrrived that it was Canada Day so they put on a firework display, then the following night we saw fireworks from the American side.I think they were having an early Independence Day celebration!

As we had already been to Niagra Falls before and knew some good restaurants, we ended up going back to many of the same restaurants. One of which was Coco's Steakhouse, Pizza bar & Lounge, which always has a wonderful aroma of a wood-burning stove and meat spit-roasting wafting through the air. We usually went there just for breakfast though as they do a great buffet style breakfast for only $14-$15! You can get toast, coffee and tea, cereal, fresh fruit, bagels, bacon, sausages, scrambled egg, pancakes and maple syrup and Eggs Benedict(which is delicious and is actually where I first tried it!). The only problem is that I tend to eat too much!!

The final night in Niagra we had dinner in the Skylon Tower,which has a revolving restaurant with great views of the Falls and the rest of the city. The food is delicious too and it's really romantic, great if you're just a couple! I had pork chop with veg and potatoes with a Peach cocktail. The cocktail comes in a special Skylon Tower glass which you get to keep as a souvenir. I can't remember what the others had and nobody had dessert as we were so full. Plus, due to the views it's pretty expensive but again worth it for that special moment!

Road Trippin´ California style- I am back!

I´m finally back and firstly, I have to apologise for my infrequent posting recently. One of the reasons being that I haven´t made anything worth posting recently and the other main reason being that, I was on a road trip in California for two weeks!

I had wanted to do a (gourmet) food trail suggesting various foodie places and restaurants, however as there was a big group of us,we were all on pretty tight budgets and often had to eat on the go, we sometimes ended up in cheap chain restaurants or roadside eateries. So foodwise the trip was a little disappointing, however we did find some great and affordable places. The scenery and places we visited more than made up for it though.

Our California road trip was more than a little ambitious. We started off in San Francisco for 3 days, where we visited the different neighbourhoods, toured Alcatraz by night and biked over the Golden Gate bridge. We did lots of walking and as San Francisco is very hilly, I think we must´ve ended up pretty fit after this holiday! We found a great seafood restaurant on a pier in Fisherman wharf, Pier Market with reasonable prices. My boyfriend had the clam chowder, an apparently typical dish in San Francisco, which came in a sourdough bread bowl, which according to him was very tasty. As I´m not too keen on fish and seafood, I had a pulled BBQ pork sandwich with fries, which was delicious. The pork was so tender,it melted in your mouth and had just the right amount of BBQ sauce. I tried a little clam chowder and found it to be quite nice,not too fishy, to my surprise! We shared an Apple Crisp for dessert which was also exquisite.

Our next stop was Yosemite National Park and more walking but worth it for the breathtaking and stunning scenery. I couldn´t believe the squirrels were so tame that they would take food right out of your hands(despite the signs saying Don´t feed wild animals, lots of tourists do!)Didn´t see any bears though, fortunately! We stayed in Santa Cruz and then travelled along Highway 1, which is a lovely drive following the coastline and making stops at Monterrey, Piedras Blancas to see the elephant seals and Santa Barbara.

We had lunch in Monterrey, again on the pier in a restaurant which had lovely views of the sea.Unfortunately, I can´t remember the name of the restaurant to reccommend it but the lunch menu was again very affordable. As it was another seafood restaurant and didn´t really cater for those who don´t really like fish or seafood, I had no choice but to eat fish. I went for the coconut encrusted Tilapia with veggies and rice. It was really nice and presented beautifully with a decorative flower on the top as you can see in the photo. My only complaint would be that the rice needed a sauce.

Dinner was in Santa Barbara and as it was late, it was difficult to find anything still serving food. We stumbled across this great bar/restaurant The Sandbar serving Mexican food, which had an outdoor terrace complete with a fire and with modern, trendy but at the same time comfortable decoration. Again, I didn´t take any photos of the food unfortunately. I shared a beef burrito and a meat taco which came with refried beans, guacamole and rice with my boyfriend and was really tasty.

We visited LA and the typical things, then spent the day at Newport Beach & Huntingdon Beach, visted Malibu, Santa Monica and Laguna Beach and San Diego for a day. We went to Las Vegas, we wanted to visit the Mojave dessert en route but got a puncture so ended up going straight to Vegas. With all the car trouble and by the time we had eaten, it was 11pm so we hit the casinos and went from casino to casino visiting them (not gambling!) Most of us didn´t know how to play blackjack,roulette etc! It was 3pm before we knew it so we tried to get into a club but no luck, they were all about to close. So much for Las Vegas all-night partying! So unfortunately we didn´t really"experience" Vegas to the max! We were all so exhausted from travelling by this point though and the following day we slept till qbout 1pm!We had lunch in the Stratasphere Tower which has a rotating restaurant with excellent views of Vegas. Perfect for a romantic meal for 2! The food is pretty good too, it´s slightly more expensive due to the views but good value. I had chicken with pasta and peppers and courgettes in a garlicy-oil sauce and my boyfriend had veal escalope stuffed with proscuitto ham, veg and roast potatoes.

We then made our way to Flagstaff, pausing to see the Hoover Dam on the way. The following day we went to the Grand Canyon, which was very impressive and stayed in the Grand Canyon Village. We had our evening meal in Yippee-ei-oh (pictured above)which takes you back to the Wild West as the decor is all cowboy-orientated, with saddles and all the waiters are wearing stetsons. I shared a Outlaw´s dinner (if I remember correctly!) with my boyfriend, which was a good job as it was huge. It consisted of 1/2 portion of BBQ ribs and BBQ chicken, corn on the cob, baked beans and a jacket potato. It was also supposed to be served with prickly pear jelly but I realised after that you were supposed to ask for that if you wanted it. Everything was delicious and for me it was one of the best meals of the trip although my curiousity wasn´t sated as I would´ve liked to try the prickly pear jelly. Oh well, maybe next time! For dessert, I had warm cherry pie with vanilla ice-cream which was the perfect ending to a wonderful meal and I think is one of the best cherry pies I´ve ever eaten!