Last month, my sister came to Leeds for her annual visit, which meant exploring a few new places. When looking for places I knew we'd both be interested in, I was recommended a visit to Bronte Country. I had been tempted to go before, as it looks really beautiful and the museum seemed like it would be fairly interesting. However, my husband has no interest in the Brontes so it never happened.

Luckily, my sister is a Bronte fan so I knew she'd be a much more willing participant in the day out, which definitely proved to be the case. Unfortunately, I didn't have my trusty pink car at the time, which meant dealing with the joy of public transport to get there, although this worked out the best in the end as navigating some of the windy streets looked liked it'd be an absolute nightmare. Plus, I obviously needed a cider in the afternoon.

After the madness of moving house in less than four weeks and having to cancel so many plans that I was looking forward to, I was in desperate need of a fun day out with a lovely person. I was lucky enough to be able to plan just such a day on Easter weekend, which, of course, included some delicious food.

I met up with the always-awesome Rai on Easter Saturday in a surprisingly lovely Leeds. We didn't really have plans for where we wanted to go as we had been unable to book a table at the place initially suggested. After a bit of a wander around, we ended up settling on The Botanist.

I've been to the Botanist once before with the husband for a meal on our second wedding anniversary and it was really great. For some bizarre reason, I hadn't been back since, which is a shame as the restaurant is absolutely lovely. Even though it was fairly busy on a Saturday, we were able to get a table with no waiting, although it did take us a little while to decide what to have because everything on the menu sounds delicious. 

Earlier this month, my sister came to visit. We had a few days of exploring different places but she also helped us move so I figured she deserved a treat. She's just as big a fan of Japanese food as I am so it seemed I had the perfect excuse to finally pay a visit to SushiWaka.

A couple of my friends go to SushiWaka quite a bit and have said to me numerous times that I need to try it, but I've always ended up going somewhere else instead. I gave my sister a choice between Mexican, Japanese and Thai food, so when she picked the one I was sure she would I knew I didn't have an excuse to put off my visit any longer.

You'll find SushiWaka just down the road from The Grand Theatre, so it's nice and central and easy to get to. It is definitely one of those places that you don't judge from the outside, as the building seems quite plain and nowhere near as fancy as some of the restaurants in the area. However, inside is clean, there's great little details on the table, you can see into the kitchen and - most importantly - the food is amazing. 

After having an absolutely delicious meal at Amalthea Bistro last month, I was thrilled to be invited to try their latest limited edition specials menu, featuring food from North Greece. If you read my last blog on this fabulous little restaurant, you'll know that I'm about ready to jump at any opportunity to eat there as everything from my initial visit was absolutely fantastic.

This time around, I took the husband for a mini date night and so he could try some of the meat dishes on offer. As I hadn't stopped saying how badly he needed to go for a meal at Amalthea, he didn't even complain that we were going on a work day.

Arriving at the restaurant when it was dark was quite different from when I went during the day. While the place is always really pretty - even when I drive past it during the day - once it's dark, all the fairy light in the window get turned on and all the candles get lit, which makes it look so warm and welcoming. 

Let's just start this blog off by saying that if you haven't eaten at Sukhothai, you need to. Like, right now. I'm not kidding, make a reservation this instant because this place is not to be missed and has quickly become one of my favourite places in Leeds. I'm already trying to come up with excuses to go again because it was one of the best nights out.

Usually, when it comes to Valentine's Day, we don't do much. If we both happen to have the day off work, we might go somewhere, but when it comes to the evening, we always stay in. I usually end up cooking a three-course meal - sometimes he gets four courses - and we enjoy a candle-lit evening in with a movie.

However, this year, I didn't really want to cook a meal I wouldn't be able to eat much of. After spending hours in the kitchen, there's nothing quite worse than not being able to physically eat all the food you've prepared, so the husband actually agreed to take me out for the evening. 

When looking for somewhere new to try out for Valentine's Day that didn't limit choices to a set menu and had plenty of pescetarian options, a friend at work recommended Sukhothai. I've never been to a Thai restaurant - I've made some inauthentic meals at home - and have only had one really good Thai takeaway, which also turned out to be from Sukhothai.