This week’s Songs of the Week were all heard on vinyl only. Some were from records I had for my birthday, others I bought with birthday money.
Stars and Stripes American Classic Car Show, Tatton Park
Over the weekend of 2nd and 3rd July 2016, there was the annual Stars and Stripes Classic American Car Show at Tatton Park. Featuring all kinds of classic vehicles from the USA, and from different eras, it was – as always – a fantastic day out.
Luckily the weather was pretty good this year, so my family and I made our way to the park for a day out.
There were plenty of cars for me to drool over, dozens of stalls selling all sorts of paraphernalia, even a mini fun fair for the kids. Not to mention food and music. Of particular interest to our party this year was an Elvis impersonator, who was doing a mighty fine job. Thank you very much.
As always, I took a crazy amount of photos, which I can share with you here now.
And now, one of my favourite cars ever. A Plymouth Barracuda (in lime green with racing stripes): 
Finally, a pic of my daughter looking super cool! 
Chiquito Restaurant Bar & Mexican Grill, Broughton Park
Regular readers will already know how much I love Mexican food. It’s fair to say that I’m pretty obsessed with grub from south of the border, be it tacos, enchiladas, burritos or whatever. Just wrap it up in a tortilla and I’m one happy hombre.
Of course, I have been to a Chiquito restaurant before, there’s one at ChOaks (that’s Cheshire Oaks, amigo). However I was anxious to try the newer establishment at nearby Broughton Park, if only because – well, it’s nearer.
I got my chance on a lunch time visit with work colleagues. I saddled up my pony and rode over the border home into Wales for some refreshment at the Chiquito cantina. Even though the website says Broughton Park is in Chester (England), which it’s not. Minus points for racism, Chiquito. 
As we only had an hour before the banditos would be back on our trail, starters were skipped. Which is a shame, as there were plenty of tantalising items on offer. Likewise, I didn’t opt for an alcoholic beverage with my meal, though I could have chosen from an array of suitable beers.
Instead I had a coke, but the good news was that there were free refills! Just ask your courteous waiting on staff. I like that.
So on to the meal. After some deliberation, I opted for a chimichanga – a dish I love and have enjoyed before at other establishments. Now for those of you who are unschooled in the ways of Mexican food, a chimihcanga is essentially a fried burrito. Still none the wiser? Take a tortilla, add the filling of your choice (in my case pulled pork) and throw in some rice, refried beans and sauce. Roll it up and cook/fry.
El Taco Grande enjoying his meal
The chimichanga was accompanied by fries and the usual suspects – salsa, sour cream and guacamole dips.
This was all very tasty, and I really enjoyed the food. It had a home cooked feel to it, not mass produced and thrown together at all.
The only thing that confused me was the serving style – the food was presented in a little deep frying metal container. This looked very cool, but wasn’t the easiest way to eat. Unless you’re supposed to pick the chimichanga up and eat with your hands – surely not? I must be wrong.
All in all, my experience was very good – with a couple of minor criticisms. Firstly, although the style and decor of Chiquito was really groovy, the music was a bit hit and miss. It seemed like every other song was Enrique Iglesias, mixed alternately with some more authentic Latin sounds. Enrique may be OK for the ladies who lunch crowd, but I expect more genuine Mariachi music.
My delicious chimichanga. Half eaten, sorry.
But then Chiquito is Tex Mex, rather than just Mex. They even have a steak and fish menu, as well as burgers. This may be far too normal for my tastes, but I suppose that it may entice some Brits in – they may even, one day, try something a little more exotic than chips and egg.
I have no real problems with Chiquito – the food and service were both great. I really enjoyed my meal and was impressed by the large amount of choice on the menu. Go give Chiquito a try – but please, try the Mexican food!
Food Quest Test
Chiquito, Unit 19 Broughton Chopping Park, Broughton CH4 0DE
01244 530564
The Chiquito website is here.
How’ve you been? Well I hope. Here are five more songs heard in the last seven days that I particularly enjoyed.
I love ABBA, but that song earned it’s place in this weeks top 5 after my daughter sang it all week. Good choice!
Well then, I missed a week out on this fascinating weekly musical review. And this latest edition is late. Oh well – this isn’t about sticking to rules and regularity. It’s all about the joy – and freedom – of music.
Here’s five songs from last week that resonated:
A lot of vinyl played this week. Here are the top 5 songs from the last seven days:
And by that I mean the playlist is random, not the driving. OK?
Driving back from the North Wales coast recently, here are the random songs that were chosen by the iPod for forty minutes of the journey.
Dozens of songs listened to, here are five that stood out:
Just for you!
A few years ago, I had an urge to get me an old school set up. I already had my everyday double kick street machine, but I felt I needed something that reminded me of my skateboarding youth in the 1980s.
This Santa Cruz Street Creep was the answer.
I remembered the Street Creep from those halcyon days. I never owned one at the time, though I did own other Santa Cruz decks (see the blog about my Rob Roskopp deck, for one). The Street Creep was a very cool shape and a cool graphic.
Luckily for me, numerous skateboard companies have been re-issuing the old shapes as collectors pieces. I picked this re-issue up fairly easily. I fitted it with some new, wide Independent trucks and some old Santa Cruz Slime Balls wheels and it was ready to go.
The wheels were rescued from an old relic of a board that was passed to me a few years back. I always wanted some Slime Balls, finally I got a set!
The result is a rad skateboard that brings back loads of memories. The shape is great, though it takes some getting used to after skating shorter, thinner boards for ages. It’s a fantastic skateboard for blasting a few old tricks on – I find no-complys and some boneless manoeuvres easier on this set up.
With the big, softer Slime Balls attached, this board is great for carving up some of my favourite banked skate spots. In particular, there’s a messy old “bowl” I like to skate – tarnished with grit and stones, but very skateable with this monster.
Plus there’s the graphic – if you’re an old 80’s skate hound like me, it’s all about the skulls! Check out the close up the graphic and you’ll see dozens of smaller skulls and faces within the image.
Skateboards are a thing of beauty; this Street Creep looks and rides superb.
Top graphic
Platinum Al's Virtual Hot Tub 