I bought lots of lovely fresh veg at good prices, and a ham hock from the New Forest Farm Stall. Then into Waitrose for a few more bits. I sat down with my free coffee, and had a pleasant chat with another lady of similar age and height [we were both struggling to clamber onto the barstools!] Off to drop off - but not buy anything - at the CS. Then home...
Valentine's Menu
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Smoked Mackerel Pate
with Rye Crispbread & Red Pepper Garnish
***
Slow Roast Ham Hock,
with Roasted Root Vegetable Melange
Gravy & Apple Sauce
***
Gu Zillionaires Cheesecake
with Fresh Cherries
***
Coffee & Chocolates
***
Nero D'Avola Sicilian Red Wine
The meal was almost all homemade, I did buy the Finn Crispbread, and the Gu puddings [and Bob's favourite wine] but I made everything else from scratch. The veg mix [thank you Peter for the celeriac idea] was celeriac, sweet potato and squash.
I added a heart garnish to the starter and stuck paper hearts on the after-dinner chocs. And lit the candles in my new candelabra. It was all very romantic, and very well received. The cost of the ingredients of the food we actually ate [not counting the 50%of the meat left for other meals etc] came to just TEN POUNDS for the two of us. A very happy Valentine's day
There are so many places with those bar stools as seating. Do they really mean to exclude people of a certain age or stature from drinking their coffee there?
ReplyDeletePerhaps they do. They don't mind giving a free cup of coffee to loyal customers (with eco friendly reusable mugs) but they don't want the store cluttered up with lots of little old grannies like me having long conversations with each other!
DeleteA lovely balanced and tasty menu Angela. Mackerel pate is one of my favourite things to eat too. I’m sure that Bob appreciated it very much
ReplyDeleteThe Finn Crisp Rye Biscuits were particularly pleasant. They didn't crumble when you put the pate on them
DeleteWhat a wonderful meal and so nicely presented, too, with the heart garnishes. :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely meal - you put me to shame - I only managed a homemade card, some heart shaped jammy dodgers courtesy of Ikea and sheperdless pie that was the left overs from the previous night!
ReplyDelete