Goodbye Xmas Tree

The lie in until 09:30 was gratefully welcomed by both of us after getting up for work the last 3 days. Sustenance of sossie sarnies was followed by the ritual taking down of the Xmas decorations and tree :o(

Nic commented on FaceBook "House looks awfully empty without the tree, doesn't it?" to which I responded "Awfully empty without Connor 'Goose' Bramley too and he left before the tree did". Thanks to Si for sealing our sentiments with a post of "And he took away even more light than the tree". Kind of shows how much we miss him really.

Anyway, after the decorations were packed away into the garage loft the tree was loaded into the back of the car and it was off to the tree drop at Alexandra Park, Cramlington for recycling. Mind you, at least we did not see that someone had dropped off a 'fake' Xmas tree this year like someone did a couple of years ago.

Job done we decided to head off to The Feathers Inn, Hedley on the Hill for a spot of lunch. Thankfully Nic tweeted our plans on the drive over and received a response to advise that the pub was not serving food again until 15th January. A detour to Corbridge found us suitably unimpressed with the choices available (unusual as we have had many a nice lunch there) so we headed off to David Kennedy Restaurant at Vallum Farm for a considerably larger lunch than planned.

On the day we settled for (apologies for no pictures, but we will get better, honest): -

Starters

Fresh bread basket with 3 different breads (white, walnut and  rosemary & raisin)
Game terrine with fig jam, salad & mini toasts

Vallum cured salmon with confit lemon & crispy fried breadcrumbs with parsley

Mains

Home made black pudding quiche with salad

Venison burger served rare on a home made muffin with winter coleslaw and roasted parsnip chips

Puddings

Caramelised walnut parfait with passion fruit

Orange and pomegranate Eton mess

The 3 courses cost only £12.95 each (could have had 2 courses for £10.00) which we thought was exceptional value considering how excellent the food was.

Suitably 'stuffed' we headed home via M&S to pick up some food for an evening meal of seared tuna with white & black sesame seeds, asian salad and steamed rice.