The Sunday Shop

I think we had both hoped for another lazy start to the day - no chance. Steve was up at 06:30 with a coughing fit that lasted for nearly 45 minutes. But at least Nic managed to last a bit longer until she made it downstairs (09:00). Probably a good thing for Nic, but not for Steve, as we both have spells working away this week :o(

Today breakfast consisted of egg sarnie & sossie sarnie then a relaxing morning before heading down to Silverlink for a quick bit of shopping then a cuppa at Paul & Joy's catching up on the Stu/Chandler final few days and the saga that was the drop off at the airport (a story for another day). New Years Eve storied exchanged we headed off for the weekly shopping trip with Nana (aka Steve's Mam).

On arriving at the house it was the 2nd loft visit of the weekend putting her decorations away then Steve made some attempt to ease her stiff and sticking porch front door (afraid it's a gonner - needs a full replacement) before another quick cuppa and off to Tesco Extra at North Shields (Yay!) for the weekly shop. Shopping completed it was then back home for a griddled steak sandwich - rare of course.

A lazy afternoon followed for Steve - though including some prep for dinner, an old favourite of Welsh cawl, Nic's mum's recipe of a whole gammon joint poached with leeks, neeps, potatoes and carrots in broth until tender. Nic made all the final arrangements for the skiing in February: transfers, lift passes, ski hire etc; then booked the camping trip in May. Starting to build up to the next batch of holidays (real proper Yay!) :o)

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.

 
 

Fresh and Zingy

Toast for breakfast and leftover pasta for lunch. Aren't leftovers lovely? They beat a grotty prepack sandwich hands down.

We were both in the mood for spice, that much was clear from a brief exchange over IM. And it was time for something light and fresh. So Steve braved the chill winds of January to get the ingredients for crispy fish tacos, then set to in the kitchen.  Breadcrumbed, baked fish strips wrapped in warmed flour tortillas were zinged-up with yoghurt and cucumber, fresh salsa and one of our favourites: pink pickled onions from Tommi Miers' Mexican cookbook.  A few jalapenos may have sneaked their way in there too ...  It was vibrant and jammed with flavour:  a great kick off to an evening of catching up on the Sky+ yet again!

Pink Pickled Onions

Fish Tacos

Back To Work

Well, it had to happen sometime. Nic and I were back at work today, although lucky enough to be working from home. So that was an earlier start for both of us than we have been used to for a while (07:45), with Sarah getting up a little bit later.

After breakfast of bacon sarnies and a cuppa when Sarah surfaced she loaded up the car and set off on her drive home while we returned to work.

Lunch was reheated left over dinner from New Year's Eve (slow roasted lamb shoulder), tasting just as nice the second time around and then back to work.

Early finish for me (15:30) as I could not get warm all day and felt all stiff and achey. Annoying cough and sore throat did not help either.

Dinner was a pulled together by Nic - an old favourite of chilli tuna pasta bake saving a trip out to get food in. We will need to do some shopping on the way home tomorrow though. 

Dinner was followed by an evening of catch-up with the Sky+ recordings nibbling on crunchy Bombay shards from Chocally - we are so far behind.

New Years Day 2013

Despite getting to bed at 02:30 we were still up and about by 09:30 with Steve preparing a light breakfast of brioche french toast with caramelised banana, accompanied by cinnamon sugar, pure maple syrup and golden syrup to drizzle over.

Exercise for the day was a walk around Northumberlandia (Northumberlandia is a unique piece of public art set in a 46 acre community park with free public access and 4 miles of footpaths on and around the landform). It was blowing a hoolie so the cobwebs were certainly shifted. In fact, on a couple of occasions we were nearly blown of the head and left boob.



Northumberlandia



Northumberlandia



Steve & Sarah



After the walk we headed for a mid-morning pick me up at Archer's Ice Cream Parlour in Jesmond. Flavours between the three of us included chocolate, jersey cream, pistachio, raspberry pavlova and strawberry. As usual, the cups of coffee came with a miniature cone with Snickers ice cream, and I can safely say, it was absolutely gorgeous, even if it was a little bit savoury. Will have to try a full scoop next time we are in.

Feeling decidedly lazy at that point it was a quick trip to a supermarket to get some fish soup and crusty bread for lunch.



Settlers of Catan

 Afternoon saw another game of Settlers before Nic headed off to create an extremely flavourful and moist paella. Flavours were helped by the donation of some of the Spanish chorizo that Sarah's brother had brought home for her for Xmas. Much tastier than the one we bought at the UK supermarket.

New Years Eve 2013

Knowing we would be having a late session on New Years Eve we decided to call it a night at 01:30 on 30th December and we were all up again by 09:30 with Nic serving up Huevos Rancheros for breakfast. Absolutely gorgeous and just what was needed after a relatively late night.

Suitably fed all three of us made a beeline for the coast. I say three, as Sarah was stopping over and living almost equidistant from the East & West coast of the UK she takes any opportunity she can to walk on a beach.

Beach Art?

Nic & Sarah

After a leisurely stroll along the beach and back, a round trip of about 3.5 miles (from the beach huts at Blyth to Seaton Sluice) we headed to the Fish Quay at North Shields for a round of fish and chips at The Waterfront.

Haddock, Chips & Mushy Peas

Three portions of extremely delicious haddock and chips with mushy peas later we headed back for a game of Settlers of Catan and to start preparing the evening meal - 5 hour braised shoulder of lamb.

The lamb was marinated in a paste of garlic, cinnamon, cumin and lemon, cooked in pomegranate juice and glazed with pomegranate molasses. Nic also made a salad of roasted carrot, spinach, feta and pistachios and finished off the middle eastern experience with couscous mixed with apricot, red onion, mint and chickpeas as well as a yoghurt and pomegranate drizzle.  Too full for puds after that little lot!

Snack and dips were the order of the evening accompanied by champagne, white wine, red wine & port. After, rousing cheers as Big Ben struck midnight followed by slightly 'tipsy' dancing to "Auld Lang Syne" we decided to set off a lantern in the street. Eventually lit, it would not fill with enough hot air to take off and proceeded to move sideways across the street and attach itself to the wing mirror of Sarah's new car and start to catch fire (Now we know why you are supposed to have water and/or sand on hand).

After dousing the fire with much foot stomping we returned indoors to listen to some music, finally hitting the sack at 02:30.

An Idea Shared

"You know what, I fancy doing something different next year", said Nic. 

"What's that?" I replied.

"I want to have a blog. Will you help me set one up?"

That's how the conversation started and it turns out we had both had the same idea between Xmas and New Year (2013). Not only that but we both wanted to blog about food. Bit odd that as everyone says that's all we talk about.

So, here goes. Mostly food related but expect to see other things creeping in now and again.

Hope you find it an interesting read.

Steve & Nic