Yesterday I woke up to the sound of RAIN falling on my laundry on the roof (damn) but after that the skies cleared and it turned into a fabulous birthday. Peter had come up with a plan for the day and it was a good one. We started off in the best way possible – a plate of jamón Ibérico and some lovely sherry at Las Teresas. Then it was off to do some birthday shopping (more on that later!). And then it was time for lunch.

I couldn’t decide where I wanted to go and so Peter came up with the idea of going back to Porta Rossa, which used to be my go-to spot for birthdays (back in the day, before I became queen of tapas). I hadn’t been there for years and it was like revisiting an old friend. It was difficult not to just order “all the usual favourites” and try something new, but Piru the owner made some great suggestions, including giving us two half orders of pasta when I couldn’t decide between two of them.

The dishes were: artichoke crepes with mascarpone and parmesan sauce, spinach and cheese gnocchi and ravioli in butter sauce, grilled beef tenderloin in black peppercorn vodka sauce. All absolutely delicious. I never order desserts, and even if I did wouldn’t have been able to eat anything else after this fabulous lunch, but Piru brought me this one perfect profiterole with a birthday candle, which was lovely.

The plan for after lunch was to go for a penúltima at nearby La Azotea in Calle Zaragoza and then take a ride on the C5 bus (really, it’s such fun). But I was so FULL and suddenly tired (the now constant abdominal pain is wearing me down) that I suggested taking a break and relaxing at home for awhile. I reckoned that after a short rest I’d be ready to go out again. Wrong! So we ended up spending a quiet evening hanging out, watching a film, and had an early night. But it was all very nice – thanks for a great day, Peter!