Weekly Musings

2018 - Week Six

'Love in such a way that it haunts the hate in others.'

(Christopher Poindexter)

This week was mostly spent waiting around until Friday when I finished work for ten days, woop! I got a poem up on Monday, view it here, and enjoyed a chilled afternoon as I didn't need to collect Aum from school. I started watching Luther (over ten years late to the game) and managed to finish the whole series in a few days; though in my defence it is only sixteen 50 minute episodes so not the worst case of couch potato-ing.

On Wednesday I met Timna in Kro on Oxford Road for some lunch; she too has just bought a house about ten minutes from mine, so we both had a proper chinwag about our plans and Pinterest boards. I had avocado and eggs, which were delicious, and gotta love a student gaff - I paid just over 8 quid for that and a large latte, and discovered free two hour parking around the corner so will definitely be back! That evening I heard the new release from Editors, one of my favourite bands who have been truly missed, check it out as my track for this week below. 

  

On Friday Jasmine and I took Mum to The Clink as a belated Christmas present. It is a restaurant at Styal women's prison based in an old church entirely staffed by the inmates. All food is cooked and tables waited on by the prisoners as part of a scheme to help provide valuable job skills and qualifications to reduce the percentages of reoffending upon release by offering them the chance of a career. We had the four course gourmet set menu which was £39.95, and it was honestly some of the best food I have ever had! 

I started with the seared venison carpaccio with picked red cabbage and toasted pumpkin seeds, followed by an intermediate dish of beetroot and maple cured salmon sashimi, pickled horseradish and fried capers, and my main was prosciutto wrapped tenderloin of pork served with black pudding mash, rainbow chard, apple gel and sage jus. So many incredible flavours and the dishes were really beautifully presented, the starters even had edible flowers on! 

 

For dessert we chose three of the four options and shared them all - caramel custard tart with coffee and mascarpone ice cream and pecan crunch, ginger cheesecake with a warm orange and winter berry compote and a ginger and orange tuile, and a good ol' fashioned cheeseboard which came with a selection of three cheeses, crackers, grapes, chutney and crudites. We even got homemade chocolate truffles with tea and coffee at the end; our feedback was to sell boxes of them in the shop they were so yummy! All the staff were exceptional, their attention to detail and friendliness added to an already amazing dining experience. I am looking forward to going back with Chris at some point as he seemed pretty envious when I told him we were treating Mum for Xmas.

Yesterday I forked out a small fortune to get all four of my tyres replaced and went for a look around the HUGE Next that has opened (probably a while ago, I don't go there very often!) and Outfit in Handforth. I got a sexy little maroon double breasted silk blazer for twenty quid in the Topshop sale which made the trip worthwhile. In the evening Chris and I went into Manchester to meet up with all the girls and respective partners at Crazy Pedro's in the Northern Quarter. We had a half and half Summer B (wild mushrooms, spinach, garlic ricotta and truffle oil) and Nacho Libre (chili sauce, American cheese, jalapenos, tortilla chips, guacamole, sour cream and pico de gallo) pizza, and then went to Bluu bar afterwards for a couple of drinks. It was the first time Chris had met most of the group; we had a top night and it was great to get everyone together for banter and bloody tasty scran.

Today Chris was teaching his fortnightly Make a Ditty lesson at Boho Utopia in Withington, so I met him once he had finished for their signature vegan goods. I had the fishless finger butty (it was my first time trying a fish substitute and I was impressed) with cheesy chips, whilst Chris had the mac and cheese hotdog. We have continued the junk food theme with nuggets, sausage rolls and chips for tea as well, whilst binging on House of Cards - we are hooked now!