Writing, fatshion, me: Lunch Out with Helen

Tuesday, August 1, 2023

Lunch Out with Helen

In the middle of June I went to Ashton-under-Lyne to meet my friend Helen for lunch. I hadn't seen her since November 2022 so it was well overdue! I don't mind driving to Manchester but suggested Lily's in Ashton as it's just a bit closer than driving into the middle of Manchester. As it turned out that was a great idea because it was a really hot day and I was glad to not be stuck in traffic anywhere! My satnav took me through Holmfirth and over Saddleworth, which is a very pretty drive and in this case was the fastest.

I've been to Lily's before, twice - with Amy and then with her and Lee and some others. It is all vegetarian and a lot of the food is vegan too. This is very exciting to me as it means I can choose anything on the menu! Helen was keen to try it too as she had heard good things. So I booked a table and we were set!

I was slightly early so went in anyway and got a cool drink. Helen arrived and we ordered mocktails (passion fruit and mint, which were delicious) and poppadums and pickle tray, which was also nice. I went for samosa chaat, which is one of my faves, and cheese masala dosa. I love dosas but not everwhere does them so I was excited for it. I realised I wouldn't eat everything so ended up bringing about a third of the chaat and half of the dosa home. Perfect for lunch the next day!

I bought some snacks in the deli on my way out. Lee wanted some curry so I bought him some aloo palak which he had for tea later. I went home on Woodhead Pass which goes more directly to my house, and made it home in about an hour which isn't bad considering. We then had to go to my mum's to pick up Lee's car because it had been in the garage. It had a fault way back in early May and ended up needing its entire turbo replacing. However after that it still wasn't working properly so it had been back in twice for more mending. Hopefully now that's the end of it because it was driving me mad!

As it's now summer I have been trying to wear my contact lenses more because that means I can wear my fun sunglasses instead of my prescription ones. My current prescription ones arrived in a Covid lockdown so they don't fit properly on my face and due to the size of my lenses are very uncomfortable to wear. I'm hopefully getting some new ones soon, but these are rubbish. So contacts and fun sunglasses it is! My aviators are some of my very favourites, too. I was wearing my hand dyed tie dye top and green Scarlett & Jo skirt, a very summery outfit!