Y Viva Espana!

Last week: I had my first homecooked Spanish meal

A lazy Bank Holiday Friday spent mostly in pyjamas in front of the TV could have no better conclusion than a dinner invitation. Although I am passionate about cooking, nothing beats being catered for and waited on and the idea of a Spanish hostess was particularly appealing. Maria and her Belgian boyfriend, Rémy, promised us a typically homecooked Spanish menu with substantial amounts of alcohol to wash it down: They did not disappoint. Unfortunately, I don't get to indulge in Spanish cuisine very often. It's way too many years since I holidayed in Spain and we are not exactly falling over decent Spanish restaurants here in Liège. There are several tapas establishments, but outside of Spain, tapas bars are the very antithesis of what they should be and often set you back a small fortune for something that is little more than an average bar snack.

This was going to be a great evening...

We were greeted with a very refreshing aperitif called Pomada, a Menorcan Xoriguer gin based cocktail which helped liven up my demeanour after my sloth-like existence of the previous hours. Conversation flowed and we listened to a vastly eclectic soundtrack of everything from 90s Spanish Indie to 50s Surf Rock with a few Bix Beiderbecke numbers thrown in for good measure (appealing to the budding tapdancers amongst us). Maria and Rémy's flat is a great place to hang out, its 16th floor panoramic peninsular view being one of the finest I've seen of Liège.

The food was nothing short of heavenly. First of all we nibbled on lomo and slices of bread smeared with tapenade and a fairly mild but tasty Spanish cheese called Queso Idiazabal from the Navarra area of Northern Spain. Maria's homemade tortilla (or Pincho de tortilla, as it was served on bread) was by far the best I've ever tasted and I'm hoping that it's not made according to some top secret family recipe as I'd like to steal it and try it for myself. Next up was Rollo de berenjena con jamón y queso - a simple but elegant starter of ham and cheese enrobed in aubergine. Right up my street. I'm not sure what technique was employed to make this cheese melt in the mouth so beautifully and burst with so much flavour and creaminess, but I'm pretty sure I could never pull this off. For our main meal we had cod baked in a rich tomato and pepper garlic sauce - Bacalao a la vizcaina. My parents taught me that it's impolite to lick your plate at the dinner table, otherwise I can guarantee I would have had tomato sauce in my eyebrows.

Maria informed us that the dessert was her first attempt at a family favourite that hadn't gone according to plan as it was too fluid in consistency. I think the idea behind Natillas de chocolate is similar to blancmange, but Maria's version hadn't set properly. She was disappointed, but it didn't stop us guzzling down the tasty chocolate pudding (everything goes down the same way) and we decided that we should add a little alcohol, just because there was a bottle of Licor 43 that needed finishing off and it would've been rude not to. Scrumptious indeed.

The evening was rounded off with a couple of rounds of whisky and a few parlour games. 'The Rizla Game' is one of my personal favourites; the person sitting to your left sticks a cigarette paper to your forehead bearing the name of a famous personality and your job is to ask the right questions and discover your identity (as played by the Nazis in Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds and during many a fun night round at our house with friends and family, long before that American horn-rimmed chancer dreamt it up). On this occasion, all I managed to reveal was my poor political knowledge, taking forever to guess that I was, in fact, sleazy Italian leader Silvio Berlusconi, which I then embarrassingly mispronounced as Berscolini and called Roberto. Oops. Well, I can name the entire cast of Dallas and all the members of Spandau Ballet and their wives, but politics is just not my strong point.

Another game that we embarked upon was a card game called 'Jungle Speed', which is basically a more sophisticated version of old favourite 'Snap'. When I say 'sophisticated', I mean more complex, as there is nothing sophisticated about fighting to the death over a wooden totem, which you have to be the first to grab if your card matches your opponent's (possibly also played in Nazi Germany). Rémy informed me that the last time he played, he managed to break a girl's tooth. I contemplated wearing a helmet, gum shield and shin pads. The game is both fun and so tense that you can hear each of your opponent's heartbeats racing. I am proud to announce that I cleaned up with all my teeth still intact, although Maria may have the odd bruise.

Would I try this again?: Copacabana! There's no place like la casa.