Thursday Night Stew & Oyster

On Thursday night Joe and I attended the launch of Stew & Oyster.  I've been quite excited about the opening of this bar for a while - it's the new outpost of Calls Landing in Leeds city centre which for a few years was our favourite local bar.  Since moving to Roundhay the choice of cool local bars has definitely minimised and its about time a relaxed, friendly bar opened in this neck of the woods.

This is just a short post tonight to say that Stew & Oyster is definitely worth a visit - it's stripped back, laid back, with a great range of interesting beers and tasty wines.  There is a fixed menu of their favourite stews and honorary stews (think mushrooms on toast, croque monsieurs etc) and platters including a very tasty looking pork pie option from Wilsons Butchers, as well as changing specials.  On top of this, they do fresh oysters sold either individually, in threes, sixes or a dozen and with champagne or ale.  One of my bank holiday treats is definitely going to be an oyster or two.

So we will be back over the bank holiday weekend, but for anyone looking for somewhere fun to go in the meantime, try Stew & Oyster.

Oh, and as well as tasting some of the stew (very good) we also had a black pudding, new potato and poached egg salad when we got home!  The black pudding is hidden in the picture but it was a very tasty meal coming out of nowhere (I'll thank my two glasses of wine at S&O for that!)

Stew & Oyster's own beer

Our home time drinks...whisky and chambord.  Eek.

Black pudding, new potato and poached egg salad

Wednesday Crispy Salmon

As I write this, Joe is grumbling about the blog.  Invariably we write it after meals, with food and booze squeezed inside us and sleep coming upon us.  This is not a recipe for a happy Joe!  Luckily for us though, I am a much more sunshine happy individual and will beat Joe's grumbling out of him if need be (not really, I'm too weak for violence).  Anyway, I'm not too sure what he's got to moan about - after a 10k run Joe returned home to dinner of crispy salmon on a bed of stir fried noodles and vegetables in a satay sauce WITH PRAWN CRACKERS!!  Take away shmake away....  this boy is spoiled rotten.

Crispy salmon

Stir fried satay noodles

Tuesday - Sausages and Cauliflower Cheesy Bacon

SAUSAGES!!!!

Monday Fajitas

On Monday dinner had to be tv friendly - we were home late and Joe only had eyes for the Manchester derby.  I grumble in jest really, as I'm usually quite happy to watch the football, especially when Manchester United lose!  We went for some particularly un-traditional prawn fajitas with my own secret seasoning recipe (also very un-traditional!).  They were served with the whole caboodle of sides including guacamole, salsa and sour cream (none of which was home made either I'm afraid), rice, cheese, salad and two types of chilli pickle.  It tasted awesome in such a naughty way.  Yum.

The unusual fajita filling - prawns, onions, peppers and broccoli

Joe's very neat fajita.  Mine was nowhere near as organised!

Sunday - Curry with Roast Chicken and Spicy Vegetables

 I am a glutton for a take away, and if it wasn't for a Jo I am sure I would be obese! - I must ask Jo if we can have take away treats 2-3 times a week and she very rarely agrees! But the food she makes is 99% of the time better so I can't really complain (in fact I know I am spoilt!)

So after a grim drive back from Edinburgh on Sunday afternoon, we popped into Sainsburys to pick up some bits including a chicken that was roasted for dinner to go with some curry sauce from the freezer which was livened up with some lentils along with spiced vegetables.

It was really good and much better than a take away! Well done Jo! 

Chicken

Curry sauce that won't rotate!

Spiced vegetables

A weekend in Edinburgh

This weekend we were in Edinburgh, combining some important wedding planning (the food!) with baby Tom's first birthday.  It was a fantastic weekend and Joe and I stuffed ourselves silly with home cooked delights and some wedding food, which will not be previewed here - that's just taking it too far! We also got to catch up with friends and family, including Werner and Zita who dragged themselves from lovely sunny Germany where it was 25 degrees, to Edinburgh where it was about 10 and rained most of the time!  That's dedication to your loved ones...!

Joe and I arrived on Thursday night after a rather treacherous drive up the A1 - torrential rain all over Yorkshire, the A66 closed by flooding, and heavy cloud all over - not so fun!  That said, its rare we ever have a straight forward drive to Edinburgh so it should not have been a surprise.  It was all made better by a warm welcome of spicy pork stew with mash and cabbage and a nice glass of white wine - what could be better.

Mum's pork stew with mash and cabbage

Friday was quite the glutonous day, starting with two food and drink tastings and a wander around Edinburgh.  Zita and Werner arrived on Friday afternoon and joined us for dinner - and with mum in the kitchen again we were quite spoiled!  Dinner was roasted seabass on ratatouille with new potatoes and garlic bread, which was all fantastic and topped off with a lemon tart and a Mississippi mud cake.  As I said, totally stuffed stupid.

Roast seabass with ratatouille, potatoes and garlic bread

lemon tart and Mississippi mud cake - well, how could you choose between them?

On Saturday Michael and Kerstin threw a first birthday party for Tom.  It's hard to believe its been a year since he was born - and its a world away from the tricky times they had at the start.  No more feeding by syringe - he is a healthy little thing who is now rapid on his feet!  He would definitely outrun Michael in the marathon!

Kerstin and Michael cooked up a storm for all their guests - home made pizzas, quiches, breads, cakes and all sorts.  I chipped in on a minimal level with some Thai prawns, tandoori chicken bites and cheese and pancetta straws.  It was a great afternoon, the sun was shining, the drinks were flowing and Joe even now has a tan!  It was lovely to catch up with lots of the family and we had a great time - thanks very much Michael, Kerstin and Tom!

The table, groaning under home made pizzas, breads, quiches, cakes and salads.  All so very good.

Very proud grandparents - Zita and Mum

Home made pizza with courgettes, mushrooms and chorizo

Wednesday - Quick Pasta and Mum Update

Wednesday's cooking was down to me....I was expecting Jo to be home by the time I got back from my run home - but she wasn't as she had to work late. So by the time she got back I had managed to cobble together vegetable pasta with a tomato sauce which was actually quite nice - go me!

Quite nice pasta

In more important news, Mum is in good spirits and is waiting to have the date for her chemo to start. We are hoping that it will be a week next Monday as she is quite rightly keen to get things moving - Brother Dave was home with her on Wednesday and below is a picture of them both....obviously it is not as nice as the one of me and Mum from a week or so ago, as I sure you can see he is the ugly duckling of the family.

Mum and Dave