Tuesday 15 May 2012

Sunday - Stew & Oyster Part Deux

This is a follow up on our other Stew & Oyster posts as we have now finally tried the food.  You'll think we're obsessed with the place but you must forgive us as it's quite refreshing to have a good bar in strolling distance from the flat!  Anyway, we are a food blog so it's only right we do actually comment on the food!

On Sunday, after Joe had run the half marathon and I had made the short run from home into town (a pathetic 4.5 miles compared to all those marathon runners!)  we went to Stew & Oyster for lunch before watching the Super Sunday football.

When we arrived it was nice and relaxed, with good music playing and the papers distributed on the free tables.  We quickly settled down at the best seat in the house - the sofas next to the wood burning stove - and ordered a nice tea.  S&O have cottoned on to the trend of tea loving that has been growing over the last year or so and offer a variety of teas including a local Yorkshire, Chinese Jasmine, Earl Grey and some herbal types, complete with optimum brewing times and some seriously insulated tea pots. 

Tea
Once refreshed we moved onto the food, and how could we go to S&O without trying the oysters?!  A first for Joe, he looked a little hesitant before wolfing down the beast topped in one go.  I thought they were lovely, served with piquant shallots in red wine vinegar, Tabasco and lemon, and will definitely be having more when the sun finally comes out!
Our oysters
Me and my massive oyster!
Joe, looking a little scared of his oyster....
We followed the oysters up with the Mediterranean platter and half a Wilsons' pork pie plate.  The Mediterranean platter comes complete with tomato and herb focaccia, sun dried tomatoes, hummus, olives, oil and vinegar, salad and Italian meats, including a really tasty, spicy sausage.  The bread was really good, as were the meats and the hummus.  My only (and very, very minor) disappointment was that they put the oil and vinegar in a deep pot.  It matches everything else but makes it very difficult to get to the tasty balsamic!

As for the pork pie, well who can say a bad thing about a Wilsons' pork pie?  The menu has the option of a whole pound pie, or a half, which was more than enough for us and at the bargain price of £3.95.  The pie is served warm with a number of pickles including piccalilli, branston, brown sauce, mushy peas and mint sauce.  There is something to suit all tastes, but my personal favourite was the tangy piccalilli.

Overall, the food was great and perfect for a taster lunch.  You could eat as much or as little as you like, and while away the hours with good drinks, the paper and great company. 
The Mediterranean platter
The half pound pork pie

The Leeds Half Marathon

After years of a sedentary lifestyle, I took up running last January when we moved very close to Roundhay Park in Leeds - if living opposite one of the largest public parks in Europe didn't inspire me to get my bum into gear then I decided that I would be a lost cause in the exercise stakes! I'll be honest my first 'run' was really embarrassing - my friend Paul joined me and when I say I couldn't go for 5 minutes without gasping for air it's not an exaggeration; in fact it had to be abandoned after a just 15 minutes!! - pathetic.

But I kept it up for some reason. My first organised run was the Leeds 10k last May which I never thought I would get round in one piece! Looking back now that seems a little silly but it felt like a real achievement and my time of 46 minutes wasn't too shabby considering.  Next was the Hoylake 10k (fast and flat), the Bradford Half Marathon (nails - 1hr 45m 50s), the Stockport 10 miles (too far away - 1hr 17m 05s), the Liversedge Half Marathon (nails - 1hr 40m 50s) then a run called the Spen 20 miles which in March (super nails! - 2h 50m). Looking back I have actually achieved quite a lot considering the terrible start to my running career in January 2011!

So this leads me to last weekend with the Leeds Half Marathon on Sunday. The night before a run, my dinner has been a carb-tastic pizza and this continued on Saturday night. Ever the dutiful wife-to-be, Jo made a pizza dough in the afternoon which was then topped with spicy pork, chorizo, spinich and mushrooms - delicious huh!

But after a couple of minutes cooking, the oven stopped working! Jo managed to use the residual heat to cook the pizza as much as possible but it was touch as go as to if it was edible or not. Although it was pretty doughy (some may say undercooked!) we decided it was okay and demolished it all but Jo was pretty dissapointed that it wasn't as she hoped. To be honest my tummy was a little delicate on Sunday morning......

The half marathon went quite well with a time of 1hr 40m 9s and it was a good training run with the Edinburgh Marathon looming at the end of the month!
The pizza minus two pieces
My running number
My finishing time
My medal!