Saturday - Hangovers, Anniversaries & Kebabs - Joe

I had a great time at the old boys lunch, and there will be a post about that soon! I woke up with a hangover today, but I have definitely had worse. It was great to see mum and old friends (including the Demon Headmaster) but I was keen to get back to Leeds to hang out with Jo.

We got engaged this time last year, and I can't wait to be married - the big day is 29th September 2012 in Edinburgh - Jo's home town. We got engaged in Gisborough Hall.  I did pretty well and Jo had no idea that I was proposing - she was too busy enjoying the suite and the afternoon tea!  It was an awesome night and roll on the next 10 months!

The living room of the suite

Afternoon tea

Post engagement champagne

And the ring which doesn't photograph that well

Gisborough Hall in all its morning glory

After a couple of drinks at the Roundhay Fox headed home for dinner of Kebabs!! - made my moi; and very nice they were too. Jo thinks she will will watching x-factor but it will soon be going off for Senna!!

A Lazy Friday Night

So Joe is out on the town with his old school friends...photos already appearing on instagram and I'm expecting him to do an update post tomorrow!

I got back from another day in Manchester in good time today - off the train at 6.40 and home by 7.20.  Not so shabby!  On route I stopped off at Marks and Spencer for a lazy Friday night dinner.  I opted for a curry and some onion and sweet potato bhajis, not the most inspired choice but I wasn't in the frame of mind for deliberation!  I did at least spruce up the curry a bit with some spiced veg and rice.  And to round of my rock and roll Friday night in on my own, I think I'm going to grab a glass of wine and watch a rom com.  Rock on......

Sweet potato and onion bhajis

The spruced up chicken jalfrezi

Thursday Night - Abandoned and Late!

At the grand old age of 32, Joe has started to embrace nostalgia and the past, and tomorrow is attending his school's "Old Boys' Reunion".  I am fairly convinced this is just an excuse for Joe, Frenchie Dog Eyes, Josh etc.  to drink a lot (when I say fairly convinced, I mean I know this for a fact) but fair play to them for trying to put a grown up name on it.

So this means until he rolls home on Saturday afternoon with the hangover from hell, I am Joe-less for a couple of days.  Add to this working in Manchester and I'm feeling a little out of sorts (especially since my bloody train was late! Bastard Northern Rail!)

So having returned home at ten to nine tonight, it was a quick dinner of black pudding, halloumi and grilled vegetables.  A little eclectic, and for some reason I used the world's hottest chilli (not really, I'm being pathetic today).  Anyway I was quite a pleased with it - give black pudding and halloumi a try!

Black pudding and halloumi hot salad

Thursday treats in hoylake!!-Joe

I am back home for a couple of nights as I am going to a school reunion lunch in Liverpool tomorrow (see blog soon!). It's been great to catch up with mum, as it will be seeing old friends tomorrow. Hopefully Jo will be ok in Leeds without me! She should be doing a post too tonight...(ps. This is done using a blogger app so unsure how it is going to look!

Wednesdsay - Stew and Pasta...eh?? Sounds weird but good!! (Joe)

I am sure we are both getting into work earlier and finishing later....we go in to work together, as we work across a dual carriageway from each other in central Leeds. In the evening it depends on what we have on - I ran home today (I much preferred running when it was lighter....I don't wear headphones now incase a ruffian tries to mug me in the dark!) and Jo took the car - we weren't both back in till after 8 - phew! A long day which is becoming more and more the norm! Lucky we both enjoy what we do!!

With hunger pangs attacking we used what we had available for dinner - left-over stew with pasta and huge pile of  red cabbage on the side....

PS!....HELLO AUNTIE KAREN!!!! SEE YOU AT CHRISTMAS!!!! xx

Tuesday night experiments!

When I don't have enough time to cook I get a bit stressed.  For some reason, cooking is one of the few things that really relaxes me after work, so I get huffy when things get in my way!  After having to ask Joe to make dinner last night, I didn't care that we didn't leave until after seven - I was cooking!

Today was also experiment time - a veg box from Riverford last weekend means we have lots of food in the fridge so it's a perfect time to try something different!  Tonight was potato cakes with a poached egg and tomato and chorizo sauce.  It took quite a lot of simultaneous activity but ended up pretty good!

Four pans on the go - just before the eggs went in!

And the finished product...poached eggs on potato cakes with a tomato and chorizo sauce

Oh and also an excellent wine delivery.  Fifteen bottles just before Christmas.  Awesome.

A Boring Monday Post - Stir-Fry (Joe)

Tonight I made stir-fry with chicken, and tempura prawns (Tesco's Finest) on the side - it was nice. Now its time for bed and we are both still in recovery from the weekend! - night night.

With this Sunday dinner you are really spoiling me!! - Game Pie

I love anything slow cooked, and if it comes in pie form then all the better!! After a night of dancing and drinking until the early hours (sorry neighbours!) we all had pretty fuzzy heads so the day was spent lazing around the house, although we did mange to go for a stroll around Roundhay Park before Smartie headed home.

Jo and Smartie at the park

We have just finished dinner and it was top drawer (not that I would expect anything less). We had game pie with a puff pastry lid, red cabbage and roast parsnip - delicious!

Saturday - Smartie & Dinner at Distrikt 9/10

Yesterday a good friend of ours came to visit, with an expectation of food, drink and good times!! I have know Smartie since early school days and it was great to have him about! On arrival he stated that he must return to Liverpool with a pork pie!! After some discussion, we decided that we would drive to Wilsons in Crossgates - the pork pie kings! We returned with two large pies, with one that was quickly demolished and the other to take back with him....

At 4pm - ish we headed into Leeds, with a loose plan of a some drinks in a few different places followed by food at Distritk which we had heard good things about. So we went to The Hotel Victoria and Commercial, Aglassto, the Bierkeller, the White Swan and ended up at Distrikt at 8.30pm.....over to Jo for the review (apologies for the poor pictures - the iphone flash is crap!!).

Smartie

Distrikt opened in 2009 as a new independent bar serving good drinks and food in a subterranean setting.  We used to live only a stone's throw from it, but had only ever been for drinks before (I'm sure having places on your door step makes you lazy!).  It seemed like a perfect place to grab some food and drinks on Saturday evening.

Distrikt serves an eclectic range of tapas dishes drawing on influences from Britain, Europe and the Middle East.  The menu is quite small but there are a couple of specials to try as well, including some on a foraged menu!  We opted for a range of dishes to share - charcuterie meats with chutneys and cheese, dukka spiced chicken wings, sticky balsamic pork ribs, foraged beef carpaccio and a rocket and parmesan salad.  Everything was really tasty, and I would definitely recommend the ribs and the beef carpaccio.  The food was a good choice for some sustenance during drinks, but I would go back for proper dinner too! The staff are attentive and knowledgeable - we had a slight wait for our food because a large group had arrived just before us, but we were kept informed and that's good enough for me. And if that's not enough to tempt you, on Wednesdays the tapas is half price and accompanied by live jazz entertainment.  Brilliant!

Balsamic ribs

Charcuterie platter, which included some excellent chorizo and parma ham

Rocket and parmesan

Dukka spiced chicken wings

foraged beef carpaccio with home made crisps and coleslaw