  Well Yelza was nice. Really nice. Easy to miss on from the street, they have their windows all shaded up so you can't see inside - only a menu stuck behind the glass.
It was the menu that got me in there actually, I think I was lured by the thought of mushroom pie with truffle oil (appealing to a semi-vegetarian). Turns out the menu in the window was defunct anyway (maybe it's just there for marketing purposes now, I don't know) and the dishes change every day now.
Which was ok, as the food was great - T had a big fat steak with a pile of the creamiest mash I think I've ever tasted and I had a mixed seafood grill (I said semi-vegetarian, I've been told pescatarian is the term but that sounds more like a religious denomination). The meals were lovely and the surroundings were beautiful - lots of dark wood, red velvet and dim lighting. My only problem with the place was the lack of desserts. None. And I was really up for some rich chocolatey gorgeous thing.
Anyhoo, I'd certainly recommend it, even just for drinks. *** Friday night T had the night off the Espy again, which was nice, and we made the trek out to his Mum's place in Tecoma for a family dinner while his sister was back from London for a few days. T and I have been together so long I've seen his family change over the years - moving from a tightly-bonded group of four to living thousands of miles apart and rarely seeing each other.
All of a sudden, his oldest sister and husband (a couple who, when we were younger, modelled ourselves on) drift apart, now their separated and we don't know what's happening with them from one week to the next. They all used to seem so close and the family dinners would be brimming with "yay us" family propaganda. Now it takes a marriage or a death for them to get in the same room and relationships are falling apart with nothing said and no support.
Now I feel like the exist predominantly on hot air and I appreciate my family that doesn't hype itself up but just enjoys being together. I think I'm getting to that age where you start to see the baggage crystalising on those around you. It's a scary thing to witness. 
