Little sister visit: Part II (the dreaded Trafford centre)

Who would have ever guessed that a blog about eating locally would have involved a post about the Trafford Centre.  I am, however, only human, and I have a weakness for spoiling my little sister.  For a fifteen-year-old girl, especially one from the middle of rural Gloucestershire, there can be nothing better than a trip to the Trafford Centre when visiting ones big sister.

I am not really prepared for a visit to the Trafford Centre, I find it rather crowded and overwhelming, and far too stifling.  We had to refresh after a couple of hours and rehydrate with a quite good smoothie.

After a looooooooooong day, a couple of bags and quite a number of hours later the shopping part was over.  N finished work and met us for dinner, which was at the request of the little sister – Tampopo.  She revealed she had already read their menu online a number of times, and knew exactly what she wanted.

tempura vegetables

We shared some starters – Tempura Vegetables with plum sauce, and Goi Cuon (delicate spring rolls – not the deep fried version – filled with rice noodles and vegetables) with a soy and ginger dipping sauce.  My favourite of the tempura vegetables were the green beans, but as N pointed out that’s probably because they were mostly batter :0)  The Goi Cuon were so fresh and scrumptious, and by complete chance I have a book out from the library on street food which has a recipe for them – one to try soon I hope!

Goi Cuon

For mains N had Singapore Noodles – curry sauce with chicken and prawns.

Singapore noodles

The little sister chose a vegan Japanese noodle dish – Yaki Udon – with red peppers.

Yaki Udon

And I went for Chap Chai, which is Korean rice noodles with cucumber and shitake mushrooms.  De-lish!

Chap Chai

So, although this isn’t the homemade, seasonal, locally distinct food that I normally like to cook and eat, it was a fun night out and made the little sister very happy.

Little sister visit – a week of food and fun

My little sister is as I type getting on a train down south – her very first solo train journey (she’s only 15) – to come and stay with us for the week.  I can’t wait!  I am so excited.  Living about 3 hours from my family means that we don’t see them a great deal, well not as much as I’d like, and with a 15 year old sister I would very much like to spend more time with her.

I have been planning her week based around eating and shopping!  Hopefully I will have some yummy food to post about later this week, probably with an Asian twist (she’s dying for some sushi!) and most defintitely vegetarian.  I am also hoping that she will take some fab pictures of my garden and house as she is the talent behind the newly created TheGreenOrchard photography blog – make sure you take a look!