A special birthday with two good and great friends

Hello friends,

Yesterday was one of the best days so far in the year 2025 and the great reason was to be able to meet two great friends at the same time to celebrate the birthday of one of them, namely my friend and colleague who is none other than Giuseppe.

Yesterday, Saturday morning dawned radiant, with a brutal smell of spring due to the last rains, with a pleasant temperature that encouraged me even more to what was to come.

At around 1pm, I left home walking calmly through the centre of Oviedo, I wanted to enjoy the walk to the place where I had arranged to meet Giuseppe and Cristina for lunch.

The place, chosen by Giuseppe to celebrate his birthday, was the Restaurant La Jamoneria, located in one of the main streets of the city and very close to one of the striking buildings of the city, which is its congress palace.

This restaurant is one of the restaurants that the three of us like the most, but due to a traffic accident suffered by the cook of this restaurant it was closed for a year and a half. So, when we heard about its reopening less than a month ago, we didn't hesitate to go to its reopening.

Once there, we took a seat at the bar to have an aperitif with a good vermouth and catch up, as the three musketeers hadn't met for more than two years.

During the initial conversations there was a lot of laughter and a lot of joy, mainly on my part as I am the funny one in the group and I was scolding our friend Hector by WhatsApp, who was initially going to come with us, but as usual he left us hanging. Since he is a father his free time is limited.

Then, after a couple of snacks and as it was almost 14:30h we decided it was time to sit down for lunch, so we went to the area reserved for meals with a flirtatious decoration.

The striking tiles that always leave funny phrases related to the world of the hotel business stand out.

Once seated and having reviewed the menu, we decided to order a series of different portions, all to share, based on typical products of Spanish gastronomy such as Iberian sausages, garden produce such as artichokes and also seafood such as squid in its ink and baby squid with onions.

All these dishes, with a great quality of product and good presentation, were served with a white wine, denomination of origin Rías Baixas, a denomination of origin that both Giuseppe and I liked. Unfortunately, Cristina cannot drink alcoholic beverages due to a serious illness with which she has been struggling for more than a decade. So every meeting with her is very special for me.

But of all the tapas we ordered, there was one that stood out above the rest and that was this leek garlic cake with clam marinade which was spectacular and which undoubtedly surprised us all with its texture and combination of flavours.

The finishing touch to such a succulent and varied lunch was to order three different desserts, all three very characteristic of Asturian gastronomy, such as rice pudding with burnt sugar, baked Asturian cheesecake and cottage cheese with walnuts and honey.

And it was at that moment, during dessert, that I gave my friend Giuseppe a special gift. A bottle of wine of one of Giuseppe's favourite wines.

Wine that we hope to be able to taste in the near future on one of those nights when we meet up to watch the Champions League football in the hope that his beloved Real Madrid can lift the cup once again.

After this meal, and with our bellies full, the age of the three of us is unforgiving and we decided to retire after a good coffee to our homes, to have a good siesta.

We are Spanish and traditions such as the siesta after a good meal are a must.

Best regards.