Chrimble - and the latter part of 2014!

Well once again it seems that time has positively zoomed by leaving me looking a little like a cack writer of blogs! K  I am somewhat ashamed that I haven't got round to posting since August, and I'm afraid I don't even have any kind of decent excuse.  So - enough of the self-flagellation.  What has been afoot?
I did some temping in the local city council offices, in the planning department.  I printed stuff out, I scanned stuff in.  Rather more scanning than printing and it had to be said - it was pretty dull.  It paid however, and that was the main thing.  Much nicer environment to work in than my last place too, which was nice. J Sadly it was just a 3 month contract so I'm now looking for something else after New Year.

Myself and a friend discovered a new cute micropub called the Pig & Pickle Taphouse, that opened this year in Exeter in an old post office.  This is the third pub owned by the proprietor of the original Fat Pig and Rusty Bike.  They have a microbrewery in the cellar of the Fat Pig (in the 2014 CAMRA Good Beer Guide no less) and you can now get their ales in any of their three pubs.  The Pig & Pickle is delightfully quirky, small and very friendly.  They also offer a whole plethora of different pickles, as the name suggests, that you can pick from to make up a platter to have with your pint.
The Doctor chap I was seeing is no more.  Wasn't for me as a long term thing so best to call it a day sooner rather than later.
I've also been cooking, baking, making some chrimbo bits and trying to sort out the vast amount of stuff I seem to own that is taking over the house!  I may have said it before but 2015 really needs to be the year of the life laundry I think.
For the Christmas period I've been back in Dorset with family, and visiting a few familiar haunts.
Studland beach, owned by the National Trust, is somewhere we've been going since I was tiny.  A beautiful long golden beach with protected heathland behind, it's great for a boxing day walk as well as a summer laze.  At the Knoll beach end where we start our walk you can see Old Harry's Rocks in the distance to the west.  Rather tiny in the background of this photo.  J (I know the horizon is wonky - frozen fingers!)

On the way back from Studland we stopped in the small village of Stoborough, just outside Wareham, and had a well deserved pint in The King Arms.  I had a chilli pickled egg too - very nice and suitably warming after our walk.  :-)

Well, this is a quick post just to reassure that I'm still alive out here!  I'm intending to get back to much more regular blogging in the new year, as soon as I get the damn internet in my house sorted out!

I hope you've all had a joyous and peaceful festive season.  All the best for 2015 from me and Zeke cat.  J

Impromptu weekend away #3: South Devon Chilli Farm - Buckfastleigh - Home (Really this time!)

Having another very good and exciting weekend to tell you about plus several recipes I figured I'd best finish off the 'IW' sequence at some point this decade! :-)
So we motored off out of Salcombe, licking ice-cream off our fingers and following the satnav built into the Chaps phone - very handy as we'd never have found the Chilli Farm without it; it's a wee bit in the middle of nowhere! After following some pretty small roads and cutting across others we pulled into their smart gravel car park. There's a bit of an industrial unit thing going on and off to one side is the timber building housing the 
shop with many different chilli items and their cafe; which we didn't partake of but which looked good. There were some interesting books which we mentally tagged as potential gift ideas - or possibly just for ourselves! There was the whole range of their chilli chocolate - including a new one to try that's not yet for sale made with Naga chilli - that was a bit hot for my taste but the others are lovely. Also on offer were dried chillis, chilli seeds, relishes, chutnies and sauces all made with some of the vast number of different chilli varieties they stock.  We settled on some orange chilli chocolate, some smoky chipotle sauce and some chilli chutney.  We then ventured outside to check out the polytunnels and peruse the plants for sale section.

The polytunnels were fascinating - as well as all the varieties they use in their products and sell they have other trial types, also tomatillos which I'd never seen

in the flesh before and remind me of big Cape Gooseberry or Chinese Lantern type plants.  We also loved the look of this purple chilli variety - sorry I can't remember the name but it wasn't one they had for sale yet.

Having had a good nose at all the plants the polytunnels had to offer we carried on to the plants for sale area.  Now - when it comes to plant nurseries or open gardens or farm shops with plants or a wee pasting table in the drive outside someones house I am truly my mother's daughter.  [Although in the case of my mother it used to include pub hanging baskets for 'cuttings' as well!!  Worse part of it is she'd get me to break off the purloined cutting as I was taller than her by the time I was about 12.]  Neither of us can go within a country mile of any or all of these places and not come away with something.  [Hence my mahoosive collection of seeds but we won't mention those - I have plans for those to keep them from taking over any more of the house!]  This inevitably meant that the Chap and I would be adding to our small family of chilli plants for this year.  (A quick aside here - the Chap has got right into the Chilli growing this year with some of his own seeds he planted from our trip to a nursey back in March, seeds from a yellow chilli I had at home that Ma grew last year and a couple of plants my Ma gave us - she's been growing them for years in the lean to conservatory at home in Dorset and makes a mean Chilli jelly - with cheese it's divine!)  So - the only question was which would we go for?  As we sauntered along the shelves checking

out the labels a sudden outbreak of fluttering and cheeping above our heads distracted us - up in the corner a few feet away was a swallows nest and every so often one of the parents would zoom in with some insectile goodness firmly grasped in beak to be met by a renewed cheeping and the 'I've got the biggest flip top head' contest from the brood.  [Excuse the pic quality but I wasn't about to use the flash on them.]  This was entrancing and we could have happily stopped there for a few hours just watching in fascination but we had plants to buy then lunch to find so, with some difficulty we finally narrowed our choices down.  The Chap got a 'Peruvian Purple' and I chose the 'Aji Limon' - one I've liked the sound of for a while.  I will keep you updated with how they do - especially as this is over a month ago now - my bad!!
Next - off to find that elusive lunch.

We ended up stopping in Buckfastleigh which is on the edge of the moor quite close to Exeter although I don't know it myself.  It was that or we were in danger of getting back home before we decided on food.  We pulled up at the Abbey Inn and sadly perused the sign informing us they'd stopped serving food but 5 minutes earlier - then we decided to stay anyway and have a bag of crisps with our pints and just enjoy the view from our riverside table.  When the sun is shining and the water is burbling all you need is a packet of Burts Salt and Pepper flavour and a pint of Dartmoor Best and the Chap and it's bliss.  Trust me.  :-D

Suitably refreshed we toddled on our way and were soon home with memories of some great places and what seemed like a much longer break than 2 days.  If you have the chance and the funds [this was the Chaps treat for which I thank him - he is a star!!] to nip off unplanned try it - it's a true tonic and you don't have to go far to find somewhere you've never visited.  Get out there my friends!!

A tussle - and a summer weekend

Still tussling with the 2nd part of our impromptu weekend post - not sure what's happening there but I will get it to work!!

In the meantime a little update on my last weekend which seemed quite quintessentially English summer to me.  I mentioned I would be in Dorset for at least the Saturday.  So - I caught the train on Saturday morning to Axminster and changed here to one of the Jurassic Coast buses - these take the long way round along the coast visiting all the little coastal villages and towns en route so they're not the quickest way to travel but I've never been on one before and it was a very pretty and relaxed way to see the countryside from the top deck of the bus.  We wended our way up and down valleys towards then away from the sea and passed through Uplyme, Lyme Regis (road full of people dancing with big colourful umbrellas - it was the Jazz Festival so we sat gridlocked there for a while) followed by Charmouth, Morecombelake, Chideock, Bridport (main road closed for an antiques fair), Winterbourne Abbas, Martinstown (great plant stall outside someone's house) and finally into Dorchester through Poundsbury at the top end.  Now these names are a litany from my childhood - guaranteed to spark all sorts of nostalgic and coming home type feelings so to be swaying along in the sunshine surrounded by the green of the beautiful countryside and the sparkling of the sea - well - it was truly great.  Plus of course you get to be extra nosy from the top deck of a bus.  I saw some great gardens and then in the window of a bungalow a toy bear the size of a, say, 10-12 year old child sat in an armchair gazing out.  Their lawn was massive and all grass - it was crying out for veg or even vines given the site but instead was this big featureless turf. Anyway - if people would rather spend hours mowing and scarifying etc than tend their own fresh veg that's their affair.  In Lyme Regis I spotted a shop that seemed to specialise just in roast meat sandwiches - mentioned this to the Chap and he seemed quite taken by the idea of a visit!

Anyway - having met with the folks in Dorch' we made our way to the New Inn at West Knighton.  It's a pretty place; surprisingly large but I think must have been a coach house originally going by this arch type bit into the yard. 

The food was lovely, generously portioned and good value for money.  I had the linguine which was on the specials board as coming with Chorizo, Crayfish tails and Chilli and asked if I could have it without the Chorizo.  This was no problem for them and they made up the difference with extra crayfish (or I assume so - there was certainly loads in there) and peppers and mushrooms.  It was tasty and filling and a testament to the friendly nature of this place.

Having supped and eaten our fill here we pootled back to Dorch and had a quick gander at big sis's allotment plot, stopped into the town centre so I could buy some Dorset Blue Vinney cheese at The Fridge deli then I clambered back aboard the bus for the journey home.

I managed to get one of the seats at the front on the way back - the windscreen was the site of a thousand insectile deaths but afforded a wonderful view.  It's warmer though as you're missing out on the cooling breeze further back from the open side light windows.  I got these views coming into Lyme Regis.  There were masses of holidaymakers at the stops here - I had no idea people still travelled this way so much.

There is one reason I gave up on bus and coach travel years back - the punctuality or lack thereof.  Now we were 20 minutes late into Dorch' due to various festivals and fairs as mentioned.  I was very much hoping this wouldn't occur on the return journey as I had 13 minutes time between the bus getting in and the train supposedly departing...  You've guessed it - we pulled up at Axminster station 2 minutes after my train was due to leave - with an hour before the next one was due.  Well -  bless the spirit of British Rail that still lives on in my train's 8 minute delay meaning I caught it and was soon headed back home to the Chap.

He met me off the train and off we went to a friends BBQ where I could sit down and relax; first having been presented with a glass of Pimms.  How British-summer is that?!

On the sunday we took a little wander down to the quay to see some of the dragon boat racing - this time I took a hat as I was a little pink from the day before in the sun!  We had a can or 2, dangled our feet over the water before heading back for an after-bbq bbq in the arvo to use up the leftovers from the day before.  Time spent well with good friends and family in the sun.  A thoroughly lovely weekend.     :-D

Impromptu weekend away #1 : Bigbury - Burgh Island - Salcombe

After a bit of a rubbish Friday the Chap came up with the spiffing idea of going away on the Saturday for an unplanned impulsive weekend break. *applause*  :-D
He suggested Cornwall and I came up with Burgh Island by Bigbury-on-Sea - which I in fact thought was in Cornwall a fair way down but turns out to be in South Devon not that far from Plymouth.  I had heard of the place from a time a fair few years back when my parents had visited.  It's a tidal island with a (very) exclusive 30's art deco hotel on it and a pub.  It is 'the pub on the island' - which is a bit of a family tale for me but more of that later.

Burgh is on a truly stunning stretch of coastline and has 2 wide sandy beaches facing it on either side of the low headland that rises to Bigbury-on-Sea - a hamlet of what seems to be almost entirely holiday homes built into the hill opposite.  It was very windy here and the beaches were popular with wind surfers and kite surfers whilst we were there.

We walked over the sand to the island and started realising how exclusive the hotel is.  You can't even get near it through the gates without having prebooked.  We saw several big *landy's crossing the sand presumably ferrying the guests back and forth.  [In past times people like Noel Coward and Mrs Simpson stayed here and the hideously expnsive suites/rooms are named after them.]  A sign said you could wander round the marked paths on the west side of the island but the rest was out of bounds as private property belonging to the hotel.  The island climbs a little to the west and south sides - there's some fab rock formations and plenty of sea birds sheltering in the lee of the rocks.  We were hopeful of seals but no luck.  Although whether we would have spotted them through the watering of our eyes in the fierce wind is another matter!

There's a small ruined building overlooking the south side - presumably a look out post was our best guess.  [According to the Wiki link above it could be the remains of the Chapel - very tiny with too big windows though I'd have said.]  The weather had cleared by then as well as the morning had been distrinctly grey and showery - we were rather lucky!  As you circle round and down you can see the roofs of the hotel over the hill and the coastline opposite the island - a beautiful vista.

There was quite the oldest fuschia bush I've seen as we came down some steps cut into the hillside - I had no idea they got all gnarly like this - looks quite odd to see the flowers sprouting directly from what looks like dead wood!  As we carried on down the hillside we more or less got accosted by a walker coming the opposite way demanding to know if we'd seen the pool?  We must have looked somewhat blank as he then expounded that he meant the seawater pool - in a tone of voice that suggested deep disappointment in us for not knowing instantly what he was referring to.  Anyway it turns out this is a pool for the hotel therefore tucked away on a side you can't see.  We carried on down past the hotel's helipad [!] and tennis court and repaired to the pub - the Pilchard Inn for a pint.  We had the local Pilchard ale - brewed on the mainland though rather than on the island - and sat outside in the sun admiring our surroundings.  It's a fascinating place dating from 1336 with tales of smugglers tunnels and a ghost but is now unfortunately split into the hotel guest's and 'locals' bar and the other smaller bar where the rest of us are allowed.  Fantastic setting though and the beer was nice and the staff friendly and a pint cost no more than it does in my local.  Outside is parked the Sea Tractor - a rather fantastic contraption allowing ingress to and egress from the island when the tide is in.  It had quite the cleanest wheels I've ever seen on anything of this size and looks like great fun.  As the tide was firmly out when we visited though we didn't get to ride it.

We returned to the mainland and thought we'd drive into Bigbury-on-Sea and find somewhere to stay - oh no!!  As previously mentioned the place looks to be pretty much all holiday / second homes with nowhere to go - not even a corresponding local to the one on the island!  Having driven round it twice and come to the conclusion that the only thing to do here was visit the local tiny shop cum post office and we'd done that we returned to the cliff top road overlooking the bays and island [where I took the photo at the top of this post from out the van window - so no complaints that it's a wee bit wonky!] and pootled back along the road.  Quick discussion later and we'd decided our destination would be... Salcombe.  I'm not sure if I'd been there before - if so it was when I was very small so I looked forward; and at the map, as Chap drove us onto the next chapter of the weekend.

*Landy - Landrover.  Big burly 4x4 / off roader / ATV.

Oh - for those intrigued by the family tale of 'The Pub on the Island' (anyone intrigued out there?) it stems from a family holiday when I was very small indeed.  I think it may have been somewhere like Solva - certainly right on the coast - and we had a self catering cottage as was normal for our annual hol in Cornwall / Devon / Wales.  I'm guessing the story came about as an inquisitive wee small daddy's girl enquiry as to the whereabouts of her father in the evening.  Certainly what I was told wasn't entirely the truth.  Ma told me that dad had gone off with the earthenware jug (this bit is true) to get some beer to bring back for them.  However - because the pub was on an island (this is the not true bit now) he could only get across when the tide was down that's why he took a while sometimes.  Now, I don't want you to think my dad vanished off each evening of our holiday leaving ma at home with 3 small girls for hours at a stretch but as time seems to expand unrelated to the actual passing of hours and minutes when you're that small I think that the probably couple of pints he had in the local before returning with a jug full of beer to share seemed enough time for the turning of a tide to me aged about 3 or 4.  Anyway - I always believed this and it wasn't until many years later that it happened to come up in idle conversation and I asked as to the exact location of this fabled 'Pub on the Island' - which seemed incredibly romantic and cool to my by then approx 11/12ish year old self.  Well - I was first greeted with somewhat blank looks followed by dawning comprehension on the face of my mother as distant bells got clearer through the mists of time.  'Oh - I made it up' she admitted unbeknownst destroying my entire imaginary vision of the place; a place I'd already firmly set my heart on going to one day.  Dad was completely unaware of the whole story it seemed and after that it became our family tale - a synonym for a place unobtainable and to me, a reminder of a happy childhood holiday scrambling over rocks and falling in the sea and other such things that made up our childhood family holidays.  I was always a little gutted it wasn't real though and thought it would be the best idea for a pub.  Well - many years later and the parents take a wee break in Devon (before I lived here so I guess about 12 years ago now) and they find... [drum roll]... A Pub On An Island!!  You can't imagine how pleased they were to be able to tell me there was one and it's somewhere I've been slowly getting round to going to ever since.  Sadly my father is no longer with us but it was truly lovely to be able to sit outstand the fabled pub and relate the story to my dear Chap.  The sun shone on us and it was a perfect day.  Go there and start your own 'pub on an island' tradition - it's worth it.  :-)

Speedy 'Hola'

We had a nice weekend both in Dorset and at the allotment. Beautifully sunny day and much digging yesterday has left me rather knackered today!
Over the weekend we had lunch in the Wise Man pub in West Stafford. Pretty little village and a lovely looking pub, nicely done up inside. It is a meat eaters menu though, very definitely. There was a total of one veggie and one fish choice on the main menu; and as the fish was battered I chose the veggie option of sweet potato and butternut squash Thai curry. Oh dear - it was quite hideously sweet. Now - I'm not an idiot so I know both the veg in this are naturally sweet and I also eat and actively like both of them. However the sauce this was done in tasted basically like apricot jam had been used to make it. I found it quite inedible I'm afraid. That was once I'd waited 10 minutes to even try my meal as the dish was supernova heat when it was brought out!!
The chap had a steak purporting to be medium-rare but which was a little overcooked on arrival. As his plate was also supernova it was a lot more overcooked looking once a few minutes had passed but he said it was nice. Ma and big sis had a pork, cider and apple casserole and aside from leaving a few larger lumps of apple on the side of the plate declared it very good. A mixed bag then. I did mention to the guy who collected the plates that I found the curry to be very sweet. 'Mentioned' you'll note, not complained. Anyway he came back and told me that the chef said that 'all Thai curries are sweet' said in a slightly bolshy 'you're an idiot' manner that I found pretty offensive. [I used to work in customer service and in fact used to be a manager so I do know what you do and don't act like to customers even if they're kicking right off, or downright lying or whatever. None of which I was doing.] This was a shame as otherwise, as previously mentioned, this was a nice pub sympathetically done up after a fire a few years back. Also - as a big afficionado of Thai Green curry [to the extent of keeping a jar of the paste at work] I take issue with being told all Thai curries are sweet. No they're bloody not. A lot of them have coconut in yes - that does not however equate to sweet. Anyway - if you're a meat eater you'd probably find something to tempt you here, personally I don't think we'll be returning though.
As for the rest of the weekend Chap fixed some leadwork on Ma's roof and took apart the old coal bunker, earning brownie points in the process I'm sure! We visited the Fridge, a very good deli in Dorchester and spent the best part of £20 [!] on cheese, medlar jelly and a jar of pickled walnut chutney!! [Very nice cheese though - of which more tomorrow.] We watched the home nation rugby games in the 6 nations - unfortunately missing Italy beat France for the first time ever [YAY!] as that's when we were lunching.
We also dug over more at the allotment [oh woe my broken fork - how I miss thee] and now I'm aching a wee bit. At least the sun came out and I could get my hands in the earth once again. :-D

A favourite place

Whilst in Dorset at the weekend I wanted to show the Chap one of my favourite places there on the coast. If you drive through Corfe Castle, turn right and follow the road all the way up through Kingston, drive along the top of the ridge (admiring the view as you go) then turn right again you will end up in Worth Matravers. Park in the honesty car park and from here you can walk down past the strip lynchets (medieval terracing system) to the coast to join the SW coast path . (You can see the strip lynchets in this photo taken in January '09 on a much sunnier day. As I have to admit, several of the photos on this post were. The really grey ones are from this year!) Or you can do as we did and scramble down to see the sea at Seacombe. (On the far right of this map.) Now it was, to say the least; a tad windy whilst we were there and the tide was in so we couldn't get all the way round to where we used to spend many a happy hour as nippers dabbling in the rock pools, but we got to see the place, the Chap diced with the idea of being washed away and we had what I believe would be covered by the term 'bracing' walk before retiring back up the [very very muddy indeed] hill to the pub.

Ah the pub - the Square and Compass. This is my very favourite pub, quite possibly also fueled by many memories as a kid of reaching the refuge of it after a similarly bracing [although perhaps slightly more challenging sized 3 feet tall] walk along the cliff tops. It's an old low stone building with a stone roof that nestles into the top of the hillside in Worth Matravers looking down to the sea. It's been in the same family for over 100 years and has appeared in every single edition of the CAMRA Good Beer Guide. They have free range chickens running about and a stone carving festival in the summer. There's roaring fires and a chair made from driftwood and branches. There's a bar that's really just a hatch with barrels of real ales behind. There's a mini museum of fossils and local finds collected by the current landlord's father. [Sadly passed away now.] There's a pumpkin carving festival in autumn. There used to be a semi-tame Raven when I was small but it attacked me once so I'm quite happy that's not around any more. It did also stuff an inebriated man's fiver down a drainpipe one memorable New Years eve to our geat amusement though. There're tables made of massive slabs of rock in the garden and a lovely view to the sea. There's some of the freshest air I know and quite importantly there are pasties. Just pasties. Only pasties. As in - NO OTHER FOOD but pasties. You have to have a pasty when you go there. It's the law, or an old charter or something. Or it should be. Assuming you've done your bracing walk in the howling gale [did I mention it rained too] then you've earnt a nice hot pasty and a pint, whilst you steam gently by the side of the fire. They're scrummy pasties too; from memory and other's comments now. Served on a paper plate with a choice of sauces at the bar and a piece of kitchen towel for your fingers [though there is cutlery if you want it] this is the proper Square and Compass experience. They even have a veggie option these days so I too can have my pasty with my pint. Bliss.

Go there. Do it now.

The Silent Woman - Wareham. A pub not a genuine rarity! :-D

The weekend was spent 'back home' [not sure why I still say that as I've now lived longer away from there than I did there] in Dorset. We had lunch to celebrate little big sis's birthday at the Silent Woman pub just outside Wareham in Coldharbour. [A place which incidentally didn't appear on my road atlas - it's that small.] We've eaten there a couple of times in the last year and a half and the food has always been good. I must admit to being slightly disappointed to see it was the same menu as the last 2 times though but we have always been in the colder months so maybe it's their winter menu...

However, they do have a specials board which always seems to have some good sounding choices on it and this trip was no exception. As well as the various meaty options (beef and guinness pie, some sort of ham hock dish, beef madras, er...) there was a smoked salmon and prawn pasta dish, a mushroom risotto and what caught my eye - *Quorn pieces in a mushroom and brie sauce. As a veggie [or pescatarian to be entirely accurate] I was inordinately pleased to see this and in fact, I can't bring to mind a single other time I've seen a Quorn dish on offer in a pub or restaurant that wasn't specially catering to vegetarians. This made my mind up for me so I really had to choose this. It was a good dish, creamy so somewhat rich - not for those watching the calories. [Mind you if you're eating out you really shouldn't be, at least for that one meal.] The brie flavour came through without being overpowering, which had worried me a little. It was a generous potion and cooked well - Quorn can be ruined if overcooked. Served with a choice of spuds and veg or salad I went for the tarragon saute spuds [not the healthy option again] which were lovely and the stir fried veg which were a little on the greasy side. Overall though a good dish. The others had variously: scallop topped salmon fillet dusted with cajun spices - a hit and the scallops were nice big plump 'uns. This was what I nearly went for had the Quorn not had my allegiance. There was a venison casserole and a lamb casserole (aha - the lamb was the other dish on the specials board). Both went down well also. The final dish of our party was a beef in black bean sauce stir fry with noodles. Said by the Chap to be like stir fry when an English person makes it; apparently the sauce was more of a gravy consistency and the noodles were a bit overdone. Hmm - perhaps they should stick to what they know.

Overall though generally good food, a pretty pub with roaring fires and good Badger beers on tap and the courage to put Quorn on as a main meal choice. Oh and the Silent Woman namesake? In their words:

"Once a smugglers haunt, legend has it that an 'unusual' Landlady (one who talked too much, heaven forbid!) gave away the smugglers' secrets in Wareham market place. Fearful of capture by the ever-present Excise Men, the smugglers silenced her by cutting out her tongue, thus creating that unique phenomenon 'The Silent Woman'. "

Tsk - you can tell a bloke wrote that!!

*Can we assume that after every time I've written 'Quorn' in this post there appears a little 'TM' in the appropriate place. I neither know how to make it 'top-align' [if that's the phrase] nor do I much care. Quorn people - rest assured I have the greatest respect for your product and it's intellectual, market and whatever else integrity. :-)

Phone loss and distress caused thereof

Now the reason we have no lovely photographic images to accompany the last post about Jamie's Italian is in fact twofold. Firstly - the lighting was a little dim - sorry 'mood' - in the restaurant so phone images would have been very poor quality. I in fact had a different image from my Brighton trip to accompany the post. However; my return to Exeter and a night out on Saturday brought the theft/loss of my phone. I'm honestly not sure which as it disappeared from the front pocket of my bag; which suggests theft, but it was ringing up to Sunday arvo, which suggests loss. We re-visited the bar on the Sunday though and rang it and couldn't hear it anywhere so it's now 'black-listed' to prevent use and I have a replacement SIM card on its way.

Now - loss of phone reminds one that whereas we used to memorise many phone numbers now we rely on our handsets to do it. I used mine as my alarm clock too, in common with many. It had a 2gb card in with lots of images on - luckily most of which are on the pc. We have become lazy in our reliance on gadgetry and now - well I am rueing this to a certain extent. Hey ho. Sadly I'll have to go back to the old handset on which the camera is atrocious. The whole reason I bought the lost handset was for the camera which was 5mp and ok in decent light and meant it was always to hand for images for this 'ere blog. [Incidentally it was cack as an actual phone. LG for the record.]

Must get myself back in the habit of carrying my camera at all times - I missed a brilliant picture opportunity on Sunday [that had me reaching for my phantom phone] when we visited the Hourglass for a late afternoon pint. I was trying to see what beers were on pump and my view was obscured by the furry behind of the pub cat! Anyway - sounds like an excuse for a repeat visit to me! This is a gem of a backstreet boozer; the sort you imagine existed in droves in a certain era for the working man to whet his whistle on the way home. This has survived I would say based on it's reputation for great food as it's become quite gastro in it's menu offerings, good beers, friendly and eclectic staff / clientele / interior and a great range of single malts behind the bar. It was several years living here before someone shared the secret with me I know that!

[TBH this picture wasn't taken there but they have served this beer there in the past. Tenuous? Maybe...]

Dorsetshire weekend part 2

Saturday of the weekend had us planned to go for a traipse along the coast the other side of the Purbecks but a rather inclement start to the morning put paid to that. Grump - missed out on visiting my fave pub in the world for a pasty!!

Instead we settled on a visit to Wareham with a stroll along the river and a pub lunch before they headed back up t'North. I must confess that this decision was in no small way influenced by me having heard there was a market on the quay with a cheese stall and needing to stock up on Blue Vinney for myself and a couple of friends I have got hooked on the stuff, mwah ha ha haaa... :-p

So, first to the market and the cheese stall. Mostly the market (small) was the general selection of bric a brac / clothes / household bits / massive packs of crisps that you find at lots of markets but it's saving grace was that there was a small fresh fish van, a very good looking sprawling veg stall complete with yellow courgettes, romanesco caulis (the cool ones that look fractal), fresh lemongrass &c &c and the aforementioned cheese stall. Ahh - the cheese stall. It was a goldmine, I ended up spending over £12 and that was holding myself back!! (I'm very definitely not expecting to buy any more cheese this month!!) They had short dated Camembert at £1 each or 2 for £1.50 [2 - of course I got 2, did you really think otherwise?], the Dorset Blue Vinney I was actually there for, various Cheddars, Stilton, Smoked Cheddar et al. I came away with a very nice mature cheddar called Coastal, which although aged for 15 months isn't the kind that destroys your taste buds but remains still smooth and very, very good. I got a couple of chunks of Manchega at £2 a pop, one can go in the freezer. I have yet to try this but am hoping it's good. I got to like Manchega when I had it in Spain but then got some from the S'bury's deli counter last xmas and was bitterly disappointed at the flavourless plasticy product they'd somehow substituted for something actually edible. A big wedge of blue Vinney as it was being split 3 ways and the most intriguing for me, a blue cheese I've never come across called Fourme D'Ambert. Not knowing what it was like I opted for a small piece of this - MISTAKE!! It's like a blue brie or camembert is the best way I can describe it and super good. Deffo got to stock up on that next time I'm down that way! [On the subject of cheese, as we ever are, I may have to go to this - a cheese festival - what could be better!!]

Laden with cheese we then decided to take a short stroll down the Wareham River (the Frome) to Redclyffe at the end and back. (Yep - shoulda done the shopping after, I know, I know.) New since the last time I was there are these stone benches carved with lines from a poem about rivers. I love this kind of functional item elevated to art by something relatively simple, and wholeheartedly encourage any local councils with a modicum of funding left over to follow suit.

Spotted this intriguing garden across the river, equipped with teepee, birdcage type seating area and 'love' stones, it made me want to be able to have a poke around but this was the closest we got.

After a pleasant stroll - it had turned sunny by now as if to taunt my lack of a visit to the pasty pub - we decided on the Black Bear for lunch, based on this specials board outside. Although we were having a light lunch if the calibre of the specials board is anything to go by you can be pretty sure the rest of the menu should be alright. Everyone else plumped for the crab sandwiches, which was my original choice until I saw they had a pint of prawns on the menu - that's for me then!! Given the moniker 'activity food' by a sister this falls into that area of food where you really are going to have to get your hands dirty, like with moules, or whole crab etc. I love it!! I have to say these were excellent, plump, fresh as anything prawns with that slightest edge of sweetness that tells you just how fresh they are. My only quibble was the distinct lack of a finger bowl but hey, there was soap in the ladies so who's complaining. I'd recommend this characterful old boozer, there's fascinating old photos of the area on the walls in the main bar and they do very good Badger beers, the local beer to this part of Dorset.. Although the pub has a fairly narrow frontage it goes back and back through different rooms until you emerge into the courtyard garden at the back so there's plenty of space. They have a music festival in Wareham on the bank hol weekend and this is one of the venues so I may get to revisit it then. Here's hoping!

Win of the weekend?

A good weekend all round I think. Well...except for the lack of tidying achieved but, meh - it's not exactly scintillating stuff is it?

Beach party at my local on Saturday was good fun after the lacklustre performance in the rugby. Dear me England is a wee bit dire this tournament. Play like that against France and we'll get cheesed.

Fun evening though even feeling ridiculous in a short skirt, flip flops and flowery lei! Promptly lost the lei to the drunken rugby boys - doh!

Sunday was a day of chillaxing and dvd watching, finished catching up on season 3 of Heroes and enjoyed Angels and Demons although I didn't find it totally immersing me.

Really should have got a little more achieved but now the evenings are getting lighter I'm hoping to make the allotment after work this week. Fingers x-ed!