Friday, February 25, 2011

Our road trip to the sea

My father-in-law was on business in Bristol for a week and after his meetings, popped up to visit us in Mickleover! We were all craving some fresh sea food and also wanted to take a road trip! Also, Dave has picked up a new hobby - kite boarding! The east coast is the perfect spot for this and we were even lucky enough to see someone practicing when we got there.

It was about a two and a half hour drive - not bad considering it takes us over five hours at home just to drive to Dale Hollow Lake!

Our first stop was Gurney's Fish Shop!



It was a quaint little shop, full of the freshest catches of the day.



There was so much to choose from, we didn't even know where to start!

Hmmm....decisions, decisions....



Success! We ended up ordering a dozen oysters, lobster, crab and crawfish dip.



Oh by the way, the cute little seaside village we were in is called Brancaster. We chose the perfect day to go too - sunny and in the high 50's!

Also, had to take a pic of this little guy - he was waiting outside the shop for his owner. I just wanted to take him home!!



Shot of the town:



While at Gurney's - a man who worked there said we HAD to visit the Jolly Sailors Pub! So, of course, we obliged! Also, we hadn't eaten breakfast or lunch yet and were starved!



The tide was out at this particular beach spot, so we took some pics and drove to the next village.



Panoramic shot!



Beautiful!



Look at that hunk!











We headed back home and had our seafood feast! Yumm!

Just call me "Julia!"

Much to my mother's dismay, I did not receive her genetics when it comes to cooking. Well...I'm not sure if it is the missing genes or my lack of desire, but either way, I'm no Julia Child! So, in an effort to become better acquainted with all things culinary, I've been experimenting with some new recipes.

When we were skiing in France last month, we had lamb shanks for dinner one night - and they were amazing - fall off the bone, juicy! So, I thought what better time to conquer this dish than now!

I had an idea of how I wanted to prepare the meal - I've been keeping up with Jamie Oliver (he's pretty big over here in the UK) and other shows. So I walked to the store - it was a beautiful day yesterday - sunny and 54! Picked up my ingredients and got back home around 3:30 to start cooking.

I flash fried both lamb shanks in olive oil to help seal in the flavor of the meat; then removed from heat and set aside in a casserole dish. I then cut up a couple cloves of garlic, a whole onion, two stalks of celery and a handful of small baby potatoes. I quickly fried these all together in the left over juices/olive oil from before and put them in the casserole dish with the lamb shanks. I added chicken stock and had some beef stock left over from another meal, so I used that too. Not sure if that's the proper way, but I didn't want these things to be dried out. I seasoned with a mix of herbs and spices, salt and pepper and covered. Cooked for an hour, then removed the lid, then cooked for another hour.

Below is my mini-masterpiece! Maybe I am as good as Julia (or at least well on my way)! Next on the list: Beef bourguignon!





Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Valentine's Day with an order of stomach flu


We celebrated our sixth Valentine's Day together and unfortunately, one of us succumbed to the dreaded, miserable, uninvited stomach flu.

We had planned to have a nice dinner at home to celebrate the day - I was going to pick up pork chops, spinach and potatoes, as well as ingredients to bake a dessert - until I received a text at about 10:00am from Dave saying he was achy and that his stomach hurt. I told him to finish up what he was working on and come home. Of course, he didn't listen.

I went for my daily run as usual, thinking by the time I got back home, he'd be there. Well, he wasn't. So, I thought maybe he was starting to feeling better. I got ready to run to the store when a second text from Dave was received on my phone saying he was feeling worse. I told him I could make him some homemade chicken noodle soup, but he said all food sounded horrible. I again told him he needed to get home to lay down, and decided to skip going to the grocery altogether.

An hour or so later, the front door opened and he was finally home at the early time of...4:00! My workaholic husband - poor guy.

Sickly, frail, and with a high fever, he still managed to pick me up a beautiful bouquet of flowers and the sweetest card!



I felt like yelling at the poor thing because he should have just come home and not worried about the flowers! Anyway, he took some Tylenol and drank some water and headed to bed.

Our Valentine's Day, although not what we expected, turned out...well, "crappy" but, we had each other, and that's all that matters!

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Toby Lerone

So Dave needed a hair cut and has been regularly going to Hair For Men in Mickleover - a local establishment just down the street from our neighborhood. Anyway, there are three people who work there and Dave has gone to two of the three of them - but every time, wanted the owner (who appears more experienced, and for later on in this story, he's the one who wears eye glasses and is always booked up all the time). Anyway, Dave texted me asking to please get him an appointment for this Saturday. He said to specifically ask for Toby. I automatically assumed it was the owner's name as well as the man he's been wanting to cut his hair all along. I of course, obliged. He then said again, "please ask for Toby Lerone." I texted back, "OK."

I call up the barbershop and ask to schedule an appointment for Dave with "Toby Lerone."

Now, some of you may be reading this and thinking - is this a joke? - and maybe a small fraction of you are reading this and not getting it....not getting it like I didn't get it at first!

So the man who answered the phone said, "There is no Toby here, only a Stuart and...." and I can't remember the other names he said, but he then said, "One wears spectacles, and the others don't." And since, I went with Dave the first few times, I remembered he wanted the guy with glasses, so I said, "spectacles." Upon uttering the full - TOBY LERONE name, I realized what came out of my mouth and felt like a complete moron!!!!! I could hear a little laughter in the man's voice! Of course there isn't a man there named Toby Lerone - who honestly is named after chocolate!!!!!!!!!



Just another funny story not only to keep all you readers entertained, but a great indication of how Dave and I try to keep our lives interesting! Haha! Great laugh for ALL of us! Needless to say, Dave got a great hair cut, and I, well, I will get him back eventually! Stay tuned! =)