Sunday 13 May 2018

The week of eating

I've been out for food three times this week. THREE times! I don't think I've ever done that, even when I've been on holiday. We were actually supposed to be going out tonight as well but then the sunshine suddenly decided to come out to play, and sunshine = BBQ, so we're staying in. I'm honestly not sure I could manage a fourth trip out. The whole food outside of your own house situation is lovely, but there's always way more than I would normally eat. And I always have to get pudding too. And then three meals later I find myself rolling home...

Anyhoo, I thought I would let you know about some of the places I've been to because they were all mighty fine! 

First up, The Wellington in Wolviston. We were originally going to go to the pub over the road from this one, but then we found out it only had a 2 star food hygiene rating and that is not good at all, so we opted for this one instead. And I'm so glad we did! Other than Dave accidentally ordering me the wrong burger (so forgetful!) which actually made no difference at all as the one I got instead was equally as delicious, the whole meal was flipping delicious! 

Dave got the lamb shank which looked so tender that it was just falling off the bone, with chips and seasonal veg. His mam opted for a chicken and brie pie, lose the chips/mash option, also with seasonal veg. And I had the chicken stack burger with chips and salad. I thought it was great that they were willing to swap your options around or indeed not even have one of the things listed on the original order in the case of Dave's mam's no-potato choice - this is great if you have any fussy eaters with you who will only have certain foods in certain ways. I'll tell you what else was great - the chips! Definitely homemade, most certainly chunky and oh so tasty. This is probably going to sound so northern but you really can tell the quality of pub grub when they take the trouble to make their own chips.

Shall we talk puddings? Their brand new menu offered the option of 4 mini puds - of course that was the one I went for. I never can make my mind up what I want anyway, why not get to try four of them out! Dave's mam went for crumble and ice-cream, but that's mainly because she is an ice-cream fiend and will always choose it off the menu! My four puds were blueberry and prosecco cake, cookies and cream profiteroles, tiramisu, and a salted caramel chocolate brownie type thing. Honestly they were all delicious but I'm still trying to decide for top place between the profiteroles and the salted caramel brownie - SO GOOD! 


I would 100% go back there again, mainly so I can try out the original veggie burger that I ordered, and also to try more puddings. Yass! I've also recommended it to my parents which is always a sign of a good eating place. Take a trip sometime - you will enjoy! 

Next up! Restaurant Week in Middlesbrough. The concept of this is that restaurants put on offers for one week only to encourage people to go out to eat, try new places, that kind of thing. Me and my work wife Rach opted to go and try out an Italian place that I'd heard good things about but had never been to. Step up Elianos Brasserie - to be found located down what looks like a v. dodgy road but don't let that put you off. Once you're inside it is charm personified! 

It's honestly like stepping into another world. Full of rustic charm, checked tablecloths, wine bottle candle holders with wax dripping down the edges, warm wood from floor to ceiling and lots of nice space between tables so you don't feel like you're eating with the next door table that you've never met before! 


The portions are huge, the food is delicious, the lemonade is Sicilian - sharp and tangy just the way I love it, and the puddings are the size of small babies. I had pasta (of course) with chicken, roasted veggies, toasted pine kernels and parmesan shavings, all in a dreamy creamy sauce, topped with lashings of black pepper and more parmesan (those last two were entirely my own choosing by the way). Boy it was good! And even though I felt so stuffed I'd already ordered the cheesecake so I just had to man up when this quarter slice of lushness arrived piled high with fruit (had to be at least 2 of my 5 a day) and cream on the side. Oh man. When I stood up from the table I honestly wanted to just find somewhere to lie down. 


It took me until at least lunchtime the following day to genuinely feel hungry, so bear that in mind when you go. And I urge you to do so - as soon as possible. It was pretty empty when we were there, but when I posted about it on my socials it turns out that it's a proper little gem that people seem to keep to themselves in case everyone else starts going. Well I think everyone should go, cos it was flipping fab! 

And now for my final meal of the week. Are you feeling as full as I have been yet? I was out and about in town yesterday after getting my hair did, doing a spot of holiday shopping and I was getting more and more hungry so food was definitely needed! It's a regular haunt of mine but I popped into Baker Street Kitchen for some lone lunching. I had my book with me at first but once my meal arrived I put my book aside, and basically chomped my way through my lunch. 

I opted for one of my faves - the open toasted sandwich with mozarella, tomato, pesto, rocket and parma ham. When it arrived it truly looked beautiful and it took all of my willpower not to grab my phone and take a photo. I'd earlier decided that I was going to live solely in the moment and not take any photos, which I regretted almost instantly cos my dinner was sooo pretty, but (self-imposed) rules is rules. 

To see the prettiness for yourself you'll have to pop along and see their newly refurbished place. It's worth a visit for the floor tiles alone, as if the totally divine sounding sandwich isn't enough to convince you that you need to go. They also had a lush looking strawberries and cream cake on offer but I manfully resisted this and called around the corner to Bedford Street Coffee to bring home a brownie for me and Dave. 

Just on a one woman mission to keep the economy of Middlesbrough alive in one day there! 

Where have you been out to eat lately? There's so many cool new places popping up that I want to try - I can't keep up with them all. And neither can the button on my jeans - meh. Bring on all of the food, I love it so! 

Sunday 6 May 2018

B U S Y ?

A couple of weeks ago I read this great blog post from The Anna Edit all about how not to get consumed and overwhelmed by being busy and it really got me thinking. The word busy is everywhere - you read it, you hear it, whenever you meet up with people you haven't seen for a while it's almost always the first word that is spoken by both of you - it's definitely a way of life now rather than just a word. The thing that tipped me over the edge and prompted this post was an email I was copied in to, in which someone had replied to the question 'how are you?' with (and I quote word for word here) "Frankly, I am insanely busy" ... I'd never seen anything like it! Such a weird thing to say to people that you have never met! 

So are we all busy? Or is it, as I've suggested above, really just how life is these days?


If you're going to be literal, then yes, I am very busy. I rarely have time to myself, I often don't sit down on an evening until 9pm, on weekends we have commitments and family responsibilities, but do I think of myself as busy? Not really, it's just kind of what we do. 

We always have the olds in our family expressing concern for us both - oh life is so changed these days, everyone is so busy, there's no time for people to catch their breath. I wonder what it must be like to look at it from the outside? Does it look like a massive whirlwind as people rush around from one thing to the next? And the biggest question of all, was life really slower back then? Or was it just simply different? 


What do you think? Honestly I would love to know. Are you busy? Or do you agree that it's just how it is now? I reckon it's fair to say that anyone who is working right now knows all about being busy - employers expect a LOT for little in return. There's increasing pressure on people as teams get smaller but workloads get larger, more demanding and everything needs to be done yesterday. I tend to think of myself as being constantly reactive and then times when I can proactively plan ahead and get things done feel like a real win...

But here's my next point. If you're bopping along being all busy, when you actually do stop, have some time to yourself, to refresh, it's truly AMAZING! It feels soooo luxurious, lush and pretty special. Even if it's only thirty minutes on the sofa before bed with my current read, it's flipping lovely and does me the world of good. But would I want to do it all the time? To have hours on end stretch ahead of me with nothing to do? Nahhhh I don't think so! I think I might even be in danger of being a bit bored... 


It's fair to say that I'm probably guilty of taking too much on at once. We both are, me and Dave, but it truly has become kind of what we do, who we are. And I think as stuff around you happens (like big life stuff) it makes me more and more aware that you gotta live this life up right! I want to get to the end and say YASS that was so much fun! I had an absolute blast! If you want to get all deep and meaningful about it, there's a whole eternity awaiting of doing absolutely nothing - give me the busy-relax-busy-relax-busy thing right here, right now!