A Weekend Round-up

Jo has just had a stern word with me about not doing any blog posts over the weekend - after all we pitch ourselves as daily food bloggers! With her away on a hen do in sunny Blackpool, my plan was to do a whistle stop tour of the weekend all in one go - that's my story and I am sticking to it!....so here goes....

FRIDAY:
With Jo working in Manchester for the day, we didn't get to hook up until after 7pm at the Deer Park in Roundhay. She has been working very hard recently, so it was nice to have a relaxing couple of drinks before heading to Marlows Fish and Chip Restaurant to use a Living Social Voucher that I had recently bought. Although I can highly recommend their fish and chips, in retrospect it probably wasn't the most exciting place for a young couple to spend a Friday night....you live and learn!

Great fish and chips

SATURDAY:
Jo had been planning to go for a half an hour run in the morning...she definitely wasn't too keen though when she woke up! After trying to push her out of bed to go (for her own good), I decided that the only way to get her out was for me to go with her....which is what I did. It was actually very nice to get out together before she headed off for her hen do in Blackpool at 10.30 - she didn't take any photos and doesn't want to do any words for the blog, so if you see her make sure you ask her about it! - arf!

With Jo out of my hair, I put into action what I had been planning since I found out that Jo would be away....doing a little work, speaking to Grandad, making picked onions and burger and chips along with drinking White Russians and an after dinner Espresso Martini!....PARTY ON! So I got the wheels in motion with a trip to Haley and Clifford to get some lovely bread for the burgers and also pick up a couple of tickets for a foodie event they are holding in a couple of weeks. It is a brilliant deli that I will definitely be buying some treats from before Christmas. Next was a quick pit stop at the Deer Park with the Times followed by a walk to Tescos for all the ingredients I would need for the next 24 hours. I got home at 5pm and next few hours up to Match of the Day were spent eating, drinking and watching really shit tv...when I decided this would be the best way to spend a Saturday night I don't know!

Cocktail ingredients

Pickled Onion ingredients

Home made burger and oven baked chips

SUNDAY:
Today started well. I woke up at 8am, watched the last episode of Top Boy and they went out for a 10 mile run that I did in a reasonably good time....go me! On my return I set about my next two tasks which were putting the ham in the slow cooker with the apple juice for dinner of ham, mash and parsley sauce, and also to finish off the picked onions - two jobs well done....

Whilst pottering in the kitchen the news came on Talk Sport about the death of Gary Speed after he allegedly hung himself in the night - what the f**k!? - he was Football Focus on Saturday morning joking around with Lauro and Shearer. He was a young man with a wife and two kids, who was manager of a really improving Wales football team, with a great career behind him and potentially in front of him - he must have been going through some horrendous personal stuff to commit suicide, but I guess you never know what is going on behind closed doors...RIP Gary Speed.

It was great to have a tired but not too hung over Jo back this afternoon. We have caught up, read the Sunday Times and relaxed - all the good stuff!!.......and dinner was a triumph - certainly compared to the stew disaster!!...now its almost Monday - again!!! 

North Wales part 1 - Review; The White Eagle, Rhoscolyn

A couple of months ago Manc Mike mentioned that his family had a place in North Wales that they were interested in letting it out. Never one to pass up an opportunity, I offered our services to stay for a weekend and we agreed on a date in October. It is in Rhoscolyn, North Wales and sounded just up our street with peace and quiet, quality walking/ running, water features and a local pub serving good food - more on all of this later.

So after a lovely breakfast at The Spotty Blue Teapot in Hoylake we started the 2 hourr drive to Rhoscolyn with a plan to stop on the way in Conwy on recommendation from Mum.

My breakfast plate accompanied by a flat white

 It took about an hour to get to Conwy, and we were pleased we decided to stop. There isn't a huge amount to see, but what there is is lovely! The best thing was the Conwy Castle and walking all the way around the town on the castle walls.

Joe on the pier in the harbour

Jo on the wall, with a brilliant view

 As we strolled the cobbled streets I was delighted that we stumbled on a butchers with the accolade of the 2011 North Wales Champion in the Pork Pie Category. Unfortunately it was probably the worst pork pie I have had on the Pork Pie quest - it tasted just like one that you would buy in a supermarket and was the total opposite of what I want in a Pork Pie - bland and tasteless meat (although the pastry was quite good).

The award - no idea how they got it!

 We then continued our journey to Rhoscolyn and the below is what we found on arrival. There will be more pictures on the next post, but we were both really really impressed! The house is the very last one down a narrow dirt track and is surrounded by grass, cliffs, the beach and sea - awesome!

The house we stayed in in Rhoscolyn

After a couple of hours exploring, Frenchie Dog Eyes and Sam arrived, and it was great to see them both. We have been on weekends away with them a few times now, and we always have fun and there is never any drama!.....at 7.30pm I strapped on my head-torch and led the way as we all walked along the beach to the White Eagle pub which we had heard really good things about - over to Jo for the words here. 

One of my favourite things is finding a brilliant pub/restaurant in the middle of nowhere.  The White Eagle is in Rhoscolyn, which honestly looks like it has a maximum of 50 houses and is just down the road from Trearrdur Bay.  During the week, it opens at 6pm and serves food until 9pm, along with a range of ales and vino.

Joe and Frenchie Dog Eyes got stuck into the ale, trying brews from Llandudno, Conwy and Chester while Sam and I stuck to the rose (in a bag!)  The food on the menu is more restaurant than traditional pub, with a number of specials on offer. 

Ale from Chester

Rose in an ice bag

Drinks sorted, there were a lot of tasty sounding food on the menu.  Joe and Frenchie plumped for a warm cheese and chive scone with ham hock and leek and cheese sauce.  Although they said it was nice, the fact that it was an actual scone slightly threw them (I think they were expecting something along the lines of a potato scone perhaps...).  I had the prawn cocktail and Sam went for the coarse country pork liver pate.  Mine was lovely, and Sam's was a proper home made terrine.  A good start.

The ham hock scone - definitely a scone!!

Sam's coarse pork liver terrine, which came with gherkins which were amazing!

My prawn cocktail - a nostalgic moment

For mains, Joe and Frenchie decided to match again!  They went for a barnsley lamb chop with pearl barley risotto with chorizo (we were told it was called a barnsley chop because the meat is shaped like a B, but the more likely story is that it originates in Barnsley!).  This tasted absolutely amazing - really tender and rich, almost like a good steak, and the pearl barley risotto was a very nice surprise.  Sam opted for fish and chips, which was also really good, and I had the slow cooked belly pork with stir fried vegetables, which was also very good.  The belly pork was perfectly cooked, and went really well with a savoury soy based sauce.

The Barnsley chop

Fish & chips

Pork belly cooked in soy with stir fried vegetables.  My only slight critcism was that there was too much liquid, which was more like a broth than a sauce.  It was still good though.

Frenchie Doy Eyes enjoying his ale and lamb

Quaffing Joe

A good espresso - another sign of a good pub

And would you believe the boys even made room for dessert?  Eyes definitely bigger than their bellies, Joe went for chocolate bread and butter pudding with chocolate sauce, while Frenchie had raspberry ripple icecream in a brandy snap basket.  Admittedly, they were both really good desserts and between the four of us we did finish them both...chubby kids.

Chocolate bread and butter pudding

Raspberry ripple icecream in a brandy snap basket

The White Eagle pub - if you're ever in the area, seek it out!

And all the info you need...

Oh, and as they were not full enough after all the ale and food, Joe and Frenchie then returned to the house to finish Frenchie's Johnnie Walker Blue Label, which he has been savouring for a year now.  Boys will be boys...

Johnnie Walker's blue label, based on the original 1867 blend

Tuesday - Little post exercise snacks (well almost)

Ok, well maybe not quite a snack for me...I left work a little later than I had hoped so I went for a quick (ish) 10k home (52 mins which was more of a struggle that I was hoping for!) with a smoothie when I got in. I put milk, chocolate protein, a few strawberries, some oats and whizzed them up until it looked like this;

It tasted better than it looked

Even though this was more than it enough, it didn't feel like I was eating a proper meal so I also had this about half an hour after.....fatty Joe!!

Cheese and ham toastie with salad

Jo was much more refined in her choice and put together a lovely looking bloody mary prawn salad (without the vodka) with a brown pitta - I wasn't a bit jealous!