Moving away from the town that has been my home for the past three years broke my heart a little, I'm not going to lie. I've made some of the best of friends there, worked my absolute butt off, got my first real job, graduated and bought my first ever pet that's really mine in that town. Although I was super glad to move out of my student house, moving to a new town has definitely been tough for me, especially with my mental health. I've moved away from living with one of my closest friends, and living five doors down from another, to being in the middle of nowhere in a town in which my social life is non-existent.
So, when one of these lovely ladies had her beautiful baby boy a couple of weeks ago I knew I had to go back. Me and my boyfriend needed to sort out the final bits on our student house, which we'll be officially free of after paying our final bills (thank god!), so it was the perfect time to head down for a couple of days. I had the best of time having newborn baby cuddles with the weeniest little two week old bubba and it was so nice to catch up with his mum, a lady that I couldn't miss more now that I live far away!
We then headed over to a different part of Leamington to spend the evening and stay the night with my old housemate. It feels so strange not to live with her anymore - no more facemask and Vampire Diaries binge nights for me *cue crying*! So, we decided to make the night extra special with a little round of cocktail making (of course). Is there anything better than a night in with your girly in your PJs and a cheeky glass of tipple? Nah. She's a little more experienced than me in the cocktail making department, so I handed the responsibility over and designated myself as Number One Cocktail Taster and Photographer. Of course.
Here's how we made the gorgeous cocktails I snapped above. To start, we bought a cocktail syrup set with simple coloured sugar and a bottle of prosecco. We had mango, raspberry, mandarin and grapefruit flavours and they were heavenly. This set actually came from ALDI, so it was by no means an expensive cocktail making session! Sorting out the sugar rim was the hardest part for sure: we had to pop the sugar on a plate, make the rim of the glass wet and then swirl it in the sugar. We then popped a shot's worth of syrup in each glass, and filled the rest up with prosecco. Finally we slotted a raspberry on the rim of the glass, because, aesthetics y'know?
These were such fun and easy to cocktails to make and I had a great time visiting a town that opened its arms to me!
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I am a snacker. There's no two ways about it really: I'd rather graze all day on small meals than *shock horror* be confined to only eating real meals a couple of times a day. It's probably down to my hatred for routine, but also has a lot to do with my general love of all things food.
As summer started to hit in the UK (I say that now mid torrential downpour, but it did happen for a week or so, I promise), I really got the urge to try my hand at making some cocktails. If you've read my final cocktail night post, you'll know that I love the idea of making my own cocktails! Plus, I'd seen some really cute brownie skewer recipes on Pinterest, and just HAD to give them a whirl.
So, I set about to baking and creating to bring you these goodies, which, btw, pair perfectly for when you have guests over. Not only are they the perfect sweet nibbles, put this cocktail is remarkably easy to make. Before y'all cocktail buffs get all aggressive on my butt, these are only 'sort of' mimosas, as they contain sparkling wine rather than champagne #sorrynotsorry.
The brownies
I used Zoella's white chocolate brownie recipe for the brownies, which is fast become my favourite brownie recipe of all time. Seriously, you need to give them a try. My housemates devoured them, and I practically had to elbow my way through to get a peek.
So, once you've got all of your brownies whipped up, ready and cut into squares, you can get started on the skewers. Be very careful when skewering the brownies; they're a little fragile and it took me three or four heavy handed attempts before I was careful enough to get one on without it crumbling. Then chop some strawberries in half and get your marshmallows ready. I used a pattern of marshmallow - brownie - strawberry - marshmallow - brownie - strawberry. You can arrange it in any way you desire.
Then you're good to go. If you're feeling super fancy, drizzle the skewers with a compote or melted chocolate.
The mimosas (ish)
What you'll need:
- Sparkling wine
- Pineapple juice
- Lemonade
You're totally welcome to use homemade lemonade or pineapple juice for this, and it would be totally #culinarygoals, but I just wanted a quick and simple cocktail making session, so went for the shop bought varieties.
Traditionally the cocktails would be served in champagne glasses, but you can use whatever kind you want! You basically fill the glass up one third with sparkling wine, then one third with pineapple juice, and finally one third with lemonade. We garnished ours with a piece of kiwi fruit (going for a tropical vibe naturally), but why not experiment?
I really hope you enjoyed this post - let me know if you give either recipe a go!
What's your favourite snack to make for guests?
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Confession time guys: I had NEVER been to a Revolution bar until a couple of weeks ago. Apparently that's pretty much some kind of foodie crime as everyone and their mother has been to try some of their awesome cocktails and tasty-ass food. So, when I went to visit my sister in Plymouth a couple of weeks ago (more on that in the near future!) I HAD to give it a go.
Me, her and my boyfriend all obviously needed to give some of their cocktails a whirl. They had a deal on whereby you got two of the same cocktails for a certain price (possibly £7-ish - don't quote me on that though!). We picked up a couple of Gin 'n' Juices to start. This one was Beefeater gin with elderflower liquer, strawberry puree and a fizzy drink called ting. To be honest, anything that combines gin and elderflower is probably going to be a win in my books, and we all loved this one!
Next up was Blue Movie. I may or may not have picked this one purely because it has blueberries in - any way to cram some extra nutrients in is a good way right?! This had Absolut Berry Acai vodka in with lemon, apple juice and lemonade. This was definitely my favourite flavour of all the ones we tried, plus the mini milk bottles with candy striped straws these came in were adorable!
Next up we moved onto their 'blank canvas' cocktails. This is Stoli vodka with lemon juice, sugar, soda and a flavour of your choice. Altogether we tried sour berry, big apple, pear drop and most importantly: birthday cake. When my little sister saw this on the menu she HAD to give it a try, and it was oddly quite tasty without being too sweet - it even had a little bit of a sour after-kick. Pear drops was my favourite flavour out of these though, as it tasted EXACTLY like the sweets I used to have as a child, nom! There are masses of flavours to try out, and next time I go I want to give fruit salad and salted caramel popcorn a go, mmmmm. Best of all was that the 'canvas' of these cocktails did indeed arrive 'blank' and you had a little pipette of the flavour and colouring to pop in and mix yourself!
Have I really rambled on that much about cocktails? This was meant to be a short post - whoops! Anyway, on to my favourite part: the food. Although our service was wonderful and our waitress was absolutely lovely, I was totally disappointed by my dessert, or lack thereof. I ordered it at the beginning of the meal, and when it came to the time that they ought to have brought it out I was told that the kitchen was closed. I wouldn't have minded at all if I had ordered it later on, but I've worked in a restaurant before and you can't just not bring food out that someone has ordered at the beginning of their meal. They didn't give me any warning that the kitchen was closing soon and I legitimately almost cried. I mean, I was meant to be getting a salted caramel and chocolate fondue with fruit (does that not sound like heaven?!) and instead I was left with nothing.
However, my starter and main were honestly divine. I went for nachos to start (of course) and I think they were possibly the best nachos of my life. If you've read my Las Iguanas restaurant review you'll know that a restaurant is only as good as its nachos in my opinion. These were so tasty, and Revolution had added vodka to the salsa as a little twist, which made it a bit sweeter than normal, but still totally nom-able. I could eat these time and time again and never get bored. One word of caution: if you're not a fan of spice AVOID THE PEPPERS, they had such an intense after-kick to them I turned into a spluttering tomato after accidentally swallowing one whole.
For my main I decided to go for something a little different with their panang curry. This came with jasmine rice and was such a nice mild dish. It didn't contain any dairy, as it had coconut milk in instead of cream or yoghurt. My sister and boyfriend both opted for burgers and were pretty envious when this came out of the kitchen!
All in all, we had a great time and I really want to go back again for some yummy food and innovative drinks! *This was not a sponsored post*
Have you ever been? I'd love to hear about your experiences and food & drink recommendations!
I'm currently effectively obsessed with South American food, so Las Iguanas has become a firm favourite in my restaurant repertoire. Nachos are treats from the gods, and in my mind a restaurant is only as good as its nachos (true story). So, when I got some good news recently, me and the boyfriend headed out to Las Iguanas to try a whole range of goodies. Although the restaurant was busy, we had managed to make a booking just a few hours before so didn't have to queue up. Unfortunately we were seated in a really dark corner so the lighting wasn't as great as I would have liked for photos, but we still received great service throughout the meal.
Here's what we picked:
Cocktails:
I decided I was going to try as many cocktails as possible for you guys and I may have failed a tad - not drinking for a while + three cocktails meant I was fairly KO'ed. BUT, I did get to give four a whirl for you, even if I didn't manage to finish them.
Strawberry Red (Malibu, strawberry liqueur, lemon & cranberry juices
& lemonade.)
This is probably my all-time favourite Las Iguanas cocktail. It's not too sweet, and not too bitter. Plus strawberry flavoured anything is pretty much a winner in my books.
Vanilla Mai Tai (Havana Club Especial rum, Absolut Vanilla vodka, lime juice,
almond syrup & bitters.)
This is one of Las Iguanas' new cocktails this season, but was actually my least favourite of the four. I found it a little too strong and bitter for my liking - I like a good amount of mixer!
Pink Passion Fruit (Pink Pigeon vanilla rum, apricot liqueur, Funkin passion
fruit purée, vanilla sugar & pineapple juice.)
This was basically heaven - tropical flavours with vanilla and an extra dose of sweetness, mmmmm. Even my passion fruit hating boyfriend enjoyed this one!
Pisco Power (ABA Pisco, Funkin guava purée, agave, apple & lime juices)
This was recommended to us by a friend and is another of Las Iguanas' new cocktails. Cocktails rarely seem to contain apple juice, but this was so tasty I think they definitely ought to more often!
Food
Now onto my favourite part. A few years ago I would have hated to have a meal at Las Iguanas - spice was my worst nightmare, but now I pretty much fantasise about some of the dishes here on a weekly basis.
Taco Sharing Tray
Me and my boyfriend got this to share as a starter (be warned - it's fairly large!). You get to choose three taco fillings, so we got the braised lamb, chipotle chicken and shredded beef. With this you get a small bowl of salsa and one of salad as well as 6 or 7 wraps. Our one disappointment with this was how little salad you got, but the meat was very well seasoned. My personal favourite was the beef - I would definitely recommend giving it a go!
Nachos
If nachos are on a menu, there's a 99% chance I'll order them, so I couldn't give these a miss. I opted for a standard topping of cheese, salsa, guacamole and sour cream (NOM). These were fairly standard nachos for a fairly standard price, so I was hardly wowed, but they did the job.
Pato Taquito
This is honestly what dreams are made of. If you only want to try one thing at Las Iguanas you NEED to give this a whirl! It's roasted duck with caramelised onion in a soft tortilla accompanied by cranberry salsa and oh my word it is tasty. I couldn't finish my meal, so took this home with me and it totally passed the test of still being tasty for the next day's lunch!
All in all I had a fab time at Las Iguanas with good service and yummy food. We didn't have to wait too long for anything (bar the bill - it always seems to be the way, right?!) and I would definitely recommend giving it a go if you're a fan of South American food!
*This post was not sponsored, it simply contains my honest review of the food, drinks and service we received on a busy Saturday night*
Have you been? What would you recommend?
