Wildwood

Unbeknownst to me (probably due to the insulating nature of Lancaster), Wildwood restaurants have been popping up all over the place.  In celebration of recent tides of fortune, the fella took me out for dinner last night, and we ended up in the Ely branch of the chain.

For those who haven't yet encountered Wildwood, expect warmly modern restaurants (clean designs with lots of stone and wood) with a friendly, semi-formal atmosphere.  Think of a more comfortable Pizza Express, a less "themed" Angus Steakhouse and a slightly classier version of your local Grill, mash them altogether and you might be close.  The menu covers a modest range of pizzas, pastas, salads and grill items, a handful of complementary starters and desserts, and an extensive range of wines, beers and soft drinks.  Prices are around £8-15 for a main, £3-6 for starters and desserts, and £2-6 for drinks.

Ely Wildwood

After some deliberation we decided to share a "Meat" pizza (no messing around with the Italian names here) and a pasta with peri-peri chicken in a creamy sauce.  Service was perfectly paced - quick enough to stop you eating your dinner companion (Frankie and Benny's, I'm looking at you), but not so quick that you questioned whether the food was even prepared in-house.  The pasta arrived, quite conventionally, in a wide dish.  The pizza arrived on what can only be described as a bread board, and even that wasn't quite big enough - we had, admittedly, ordered it in size "giganti", but, to paraphrase my partner, not size "ridic".

peri-peri chicken pasta with spinach and cherry tomatoes

apologies for the blur, but you can see how giganti "giganti" really is

Both meals were absolutely delicious.  I'm still recovering from a cold, so the spicy pasta was a flavourful delight to my taste-buds, and the pizza, in all it's meatball-peperoni-ham-salami glory, was equally as gorgeous.  The dishes were gladly shared, and tasted fresh and wholesome.  Out of sheer greed (and because nearly everything on the dessert menu seemed irresistible), we also shared a Chocolate Sundae (which won in a coin toss against the Eton Mess), complete with Maltesers, Oreo biscuit, chocolate sauce and Bailey's.

Chocolatey Sundae-y Bailey-ful Loveliness

Overall, our visit to Wildwood was a welcome treat, and the service and atmosphere - let alone the meals - far surpassed my expectations.  I'm still watching my pennies a little too closely to be rushing back, but it's definitely going to be a restaurant of choice again.  Well done Wildwood.

Baggage Reclaim

I've been back for just over a week from our month-long stint around Thailand, and have already made it up to cloudy little Lancaster, which, needless to say, feels a million miles away from where we've just come from.

The original plan for this post was to whip up a couple of lists; one that included of some of the things I would really miss about Thailand, and the other detailing a few of the reasons why it would be so good to be back home.  The intention was also to write this up at Abu Dhabi International, where we were supposed to have a two hour respite from our 13 hours in plane cabins...  As ever though, it seemed like time sped up as we got further from our tropical paradise and closer to little ol' England - our flight arrived late, leaving us with about ten minutes to walk through security and back to our departure gate and boarding our next flight.  I had hoped to have time to finish this post after getting back to my Mum's, but what with unpacking our washing, distributing holiday trinkets and the obligatory photo-sharing with the family, somehow the time slipped away there, too.

Anyway, as I've finally got down to planning and writing these lists, I've found that actually most of the Thai peculiarities that were initially daunting have become comfortingly familiar to me over the last month, and conversely, the exotic spoils that made our trip so exciting - well, they're just no comparison for the home variety.  So, without further delay or ado, I present to you my list of what has made both leaving Thailand so difficult, and arriving at Heathrow such a relief.


1) Weather

I'm a Brit, so I'll get it out of the way first.  Don't get me wrong, nobody could complain about the clear blue skies, the gorgeous golden sun and the perfect gentle breeze to take the edge off the heat.  That 34-degree heat was relentless though, and as soon as the wind dropped (Koh Tao), or the sun hid behind a layer of city cloud (Bangkok), the sweat hit.  I'm not just talking about a brisk-walk-to-the-bus-stop sweat - I mean racetrack sweat; sauna sweat.  On top of that, to break the sodden humidity, it did occasionally shower.  And by "shower", I mean the heavens opened and unleashed a tropical rainstorm that on several occasions cut the water and electricity in one of the more remote guesthouses we stayed in.  Thuderstorms are nice at home, aren't they?  You can turn the lights off and open the curtains and relish the possibility of an exotic stalk of light cracking across the sky.  Well it's a bit different when you don't have a choice.  No aircon, no showers, no toilets, no kettle, no cookers - just waiting out the storm.

Taxi-boats fleeing the impending rainstorm

I guess the weather was decisive though - here we're stuck with weather so drab that you can get away with packing a light jacket and you'll be pretty much sorted for any occasion.  The same light jacket in Thailand will get you nowhere at all.  Feel some spits of rain?  Ditch the brolly 'cause you'll only get drenched anyway - head for a bar and wait 30 minutes for the sunshine to reappear.

2) Critters

Mmmm... Cockroaches, rats and stray dogs with heart-wrenchingly mangled limbs were definitely not on my holiday must-see list.  Nor was getting more mosquito bites than I could bear to count on my must-do list.  Nor sharing my beach with ten million tiny crabs that emerged from the sand and made it look as if the whole shore was crawling.  Eurgh. Why are bugs and beasts so much more unpleasant abroad?

In fairness, I will miss laying about and watching giant butterflies and vibrant dragonflies darting above the pool, and my first encounter with a firefly (although initially terrifying) was memorable to say the least.  I will also miss having skinny little feline companions at dinner, looking up from beneath the table with their great big "feed me" eyes before disdainfully stalking off when they realise you've only ordered a drink (my chubby little cat at home doesn't quite pull this off).  I just won't miss them THAT much.  On the whole, the interesting creatures we encountered while away just weren't my fave.  I can save myself from the odd spider, just keep your roaches and centipedes and other creepy-crawlies away.  Far away.

a sleepy dinner companion on Koh Samui

3) Thai Service

I'm using this term loosely.  Yes, it's annoying in this country that when you need a taxi or a bus there is never one around.  In Thailand there is always someone a few steps away offering a tuk-tuk, taxi cab or taxi scooter - how helpful, right?  Yep, SUPER helpful when you've CLEARLY JUST GOT OUT OF A TAXI.

 And Thai table service is a phenomenon in itself!  You seat yourself, they bring menus, and after about a minute, maybe a minute and a half, they're back to take your order, regardless of whether you've even turned the first page.  Of course, you can ask them for another few minutes, to which they'll politely take a single step back from the table, and continue to watch as you pick your food.  Apparently they don't feel the awkwardness.  They're also pros at serving one of you their food about ten minutes before the other (obviously just bringing it out when it's ready), and then clearing any empty plate, regardless of whether everyone at the table is finished - again, just a little quirk that differentiated Thai and British dinner routines.

ideas on "standard dining" differ completely across cultures

At least it was prompt though; nothing drives me more crazy than slow service, which we are notoriously bad for.  The whole dinner trip in Thailand would generally take about 30-40 minutes, which maybe isn't that relaxing or romantic, but when all I want is a reasonable meal at a good price, I resent waiting for the food for much longer than it's going to take me to eat it!  Thai restaurants definitely need to brush up on their dining cues, but I think our servers could learn a lot more from them.  The whole dining debaucle brings me neatly onto my next point though...

4) Food

About two weeks in, I got really homesick for western food.  Chip-shop chips, in particular, but also pizza (they don't quite get the tomatoes right in Thailand), non-seaweed-flavoured crisps and just about any kind of sweet that wasn't dried fruit.  This passed pretty quickly though (aided massively by the discovery of a good curry house, a couple of fantastic Tex-Mex bars - we all knew I'd sniff them out - and a place that did authentic, home-cooked chips), and now I'm back I definitely miss Thai food.  Don't get me wrong, I didn't eat anything "weird" - I didn't even dare try a fresh coconut - but considering what a fussy eater I am, I did branch out quite a lot.  Thai food is generally quite spicy, sometimes unbearably so, and on more than one occasion we deliberately asked for or opted for the milder meals, but between us we had a couple of hot curries, soups and rice dishes, which I'm glad I tried.  When we got back we were pretty surprised to find that our much-anticipated, home-coming curry - from the usually fantastic takeaway in my village - was heartbreakingly bland and relatively tasteless.  Somewhere along the line we had become accustomed to the variety of spices and flavours imbibed in every Thai dish. 

pad thai, thai-style rice with chicken, chicken with cashew nuts

Anyone who knows me can vouch for how unadventurous I usually am with food,  but most Thai cuisine isn't really that far away from the stuff available at Chinese takeaways, and I'll be incorporating a lot more noodles, soy sauce, garlic and pepper in my meals from now on.

5) "Toilets"

I'll keep this brief.  Thai sewage systems don't allow for "debris" to be flushed down the toilets, so you're armed with a "toilet hose" - or bum gun - to spray everything clean before drying up with loo roll that you then bin.  Bum gun. Google it.

The first encounter was terrifying, and it was a bit of a worry each time you were confronted with a new one (pressure and hose length can vary, you see), but actually, the standard of Thai toilets (both public and private) were generally much more consistent than the ones at home.  Heathrow arrivals, for example, had one blocked cubicle and another with a faulty lock before I found a usable one.  Although there was a lot of faffing at times (especially as a girl, to put it delicately), the bum gun was arguably very hygienic, and I can definitely see why it's caught on.  Generally speaking, the standard Thai toilet is easily on a par with UK ones.

However, I had two occasions where I longed for normality.  One was when faced with a squat toilet at a service station.  The dark green porcelain bowl was surrounded by a questionable looking puddle, and there was a pot of water to use as a flush.  Now, I'm not saying that there is a right and wrong way to design a water-closet facility, I'm just saying that I have preferences.  At the other end of the spectrum, on a brief visit to a swanky shopping centre I was mortified to experience an automated toilet - complete with a heated seat (definitely creepy) and buttons to start and stop the "bidet" and "air" function, as well as adjust the temperature and angle of said bidet and air.

I just like to have chief control over what happens to my nether regions, alright?

nobody needs a toilet pic, so enjoy the Emerald Lagoon, instead!

6) Adventure

The last thing that I will both miss and not miss at all is the adventure of it all.  The travelling experience in itself.  I didn't mind not having a plan for the most part - it was so relaxing to say "you know what, we like it here, lets ask to stay another week" - but it's when those plans don't work out that it could get stressful.  For example, we went to the main ferry agency a few days before we intended to travel, only to find that they were fully booked for the next fortnight.  An entire fortnight!  We ended up doing a panicky dash to the nearest cafe with wifi to explore our options, before calming down and realising we'd actually have been much better off all along - both financially and geographically - to go to the coach depot and book a couple of VIP seats.  Totally unnecessary stress, that you just don't get when you know the transport systems of the area, and know that if you're stuck everybody will speak enough English to help you out.  Travelling is exciting, and, maybe it's just the child in me, but getting aboard transport is exciting - in two weeks we had been on a plane, a 2-seater tuk-tuk, a 4-seater tuk-tuk, a vehicle ferry, a passenger ferry, a sleeper ferry, a bus, a coach, a VIP coach (oooooh!), a couple of scooters, a taxi cab, a pick-up taxi and a taxi boat... see why it's also exhausting?  Of course I'll miss the excitement and perils of being abroad and navigating new towns and cultures, but that's why we go "away" to do that - it's just too much to be doing every day.

Bangkok traffic.  'Nuff said.

So, there you have it - my rather indecisive summary of our trip, that somehow crams 32 days worth of adventures and 32 nights worth of sunsets and cocktails into seven measly bullet points, neither truly honouring Thai habits, nor celebrating our own.  Looking back on being away, where I indulgently slipped into an almost constant state of joie de vivre for a month, is utterly bitter-sweet, as I have re-shouldered the worries, doubts, commitments and responsibilities of being a post-graduate on a job-hunt, in grey little England - and right now it feels a lot heavier than a backpack.  At the same time though,  although I obviously can't wait for my next trip away, right now I'm more satisfied with being at back.

countdown to freedom

Gosh, revision (and procrastination) has been getting the better of me lately!  I haven't been up to a great deal, so to make it nice and easy I'll summarise in montage form;

 job hunting - reed has been pretty good for a variety of jobs across the country

White Russian cocktails: Kaluha/Tia Maria, vodka, milk (or frijj)

nachos (of course) - these are from Oscar's and came with chili - absolutely delightful

baking (yoghurt cake with roll-out icing, with a raspberry jam and butter icing centre)

bingo! surprisingly enjoyable, I honestly now think everyone should go once

fringe. updates are likely.

Good luck to everyone with exams left!  Summer is, at long last, on its way...

Los Tres Joes, Lancaster

Revision period is always a risky time in terms of falling of the "healthy" wagon: although turning down a night out is manageable if your schedule is rigid enough, avoiding the boredom munchies is nigh on impossible... so here is my new coping method: planned feasts.  Preferably of the Mexican food variety (what else?!).

So, last Sunday, as a reward for a fairly healthy week, I was at Los Tres Joes, Lancaster - it's near Waterstones, underneath the Crows Nest hotel - and my gosh did we have a feast:

Nachos.  They don't exactly photograph well...

(Obviously)

Burrito (Sam had an enchilada) - apologies for the phone-quality pictures

Sangria? Oh, go on then.

For a light(er) bite, I still recommend GoBurrito, but if you want to enjoy a slower meal or have a larger party, then Los Tres Joes is brilliant.  The portions were massive, our waitress was lovely and the prices are reasonable (and include a 10% discount if you whip out your student card).  The menu isn't especially varied, but there are still options for those less inclined towards cheese-topped salsa-y goodness (ya little weirdos)!

I've got to stop here, I'm getting hungry.  Go forth, and enjoy!

Hazelmere Cafe, Grange

Firstly, a quick apology for the last post, which was somewhat lacklustre!  In short, this week went from bad to worse.  I won't whinge on, because it's OVER AT LAST, but suffice to say it's been pretty rotten, and I needed a hand pulling myself out of a desperate desire to wallow in my self-pity.

Thankfully, help was here in the form of Sam, who whisked me off on Thursday for a night in the Lake District, purely to get out of town.  After a lovely stay at the Westmorlands Hotel, on Friday we went into Grange-over-Sands for a little mooch around the shops and some brunch.

We stopped by the Hazelmere Cafe, after previously being intrigued by their huge selection of teas, and decided to push the boat out and order a taster tray (as well as a sultana scone with jam and cream) - photos below for evidence.

tea, scones, tea and the shop front - low quality courtesy of my tablet

I won't lie, it was a bit strange - I wasn't sure if I felt like a loser or a hipster - but the quality of the service and the general quaintness (or weirdness) of  the whole endeavour definitely cheered me up.  So if you ever get bored in the South Lakes, I definitely recommend a visit - it won't matter if you're not a tea connoisseur; we were very open about our "tea virginity" and the staff were kindly instructive. Other than their beverages, the Hazelmere had a delightful selection in their bakery, and the shop had a lot of local produce on offer, which is one of my favourite things about the Lake District.

Memo from: my sick bed

After a delightful trip home, I'm back in Lancaster.  Unfortunately, I'm also feeling totally rotten, and rather than get on with something productive (as was the plan), I've elected to nurse myself back to health with my electric blanket, some oranges, and some Modern Family.

(The cast of Modern Family - I own absolutely no rights to this picture, of course)

If you haven't heard of it yet, it's an American sitcom, based around one, extended family and their daily lives.  Now, I'm usually pretty sceptical that American humour can ever truly translate to us Brits, but in my opinion, Modern Family totally nails it.  Sometimes it's silly, but it's usually pretty clever in its humour, and it's also easy to pick favourite characters without absolutely hating others (I cannot stand shows with deliberately annoying characters).  In America it's shown on abc, which I think is Sky1 here, if you want to take the conventional viewing route.  Episodes are around 30 minutes long without ads, which is making it very difficult for me to stop myself from watching "just one more" tonight.

And with that, I will leave you.  I hope you're all enjoying your Easter break/looking forward to the bank holiday weekend!

First Class.

Term is finally over.

I've just realised how long I've been waiting to say that.  Wow.

So, from the comfort of my cushy first class seat on the Virgin train back to Euston, I will share just this with you;

http://img44.imageshack.us/img44/6182/music.swf

I know it's in a similar vein to my last post, but the site is too addictive and mesmerising to keep to myself - and as I've already been on it for half an hour, I thought it deserved a post to itself rather than being bundled in as an edit to the first list.

A quick thanks is in order to Mr. Luther, for sharing the link with me in the first place, and please do comment if you know any other particularly addictive sites of procrastination - I've already been told off for forgetting to mention reddit (http://en.reddit.com/) in my last post!

I wish you all a laid-back Saturday, weekend and Easter break - enjoy the snow.

Memo from: my desk. By which I mean my bed.

If you're anything like me, when you've got something that needs to be done, you spend as much time avoiding doing the thing as you do actually doing it.  Even worse - sometimes you actually have to find things to do when you're avoiding doing the thing you're meant to be doing - which can be equally exhausting!  What if you spend ages finding the thing to do (instead of doing what you're meant to be doing), and it's a really boring thing to be doing?

N i g h t m a r e ! 

To reduce your procrastination headache, here's a reminder of awesome things you probably discovered a long time ago:

www.incredibox.com

www.theuselessweb.com

www.liquidnonsense.com

http://www.sporcle.com/games/GeoGod/allharrypotter

www.freerice.com

http://gobarbra.com/


You're welcome x

Memo from... a busy woman

So my schedule is currently overwhelmed with essays, presentations, applications and client consultations, which have dominated my life for the last couple of weeks and will probably continue to do so until Easter.  In the meantime I'll be looking longingly at my bookshelf and DVD stack, fantasising about what it might be like to have enough time (and peace from rowdy flatmates) to actually enjoy some good ol' fashioned escapism.

Here's the "watch" list for films - none of which I've seen yet, most of which I know very little about:

                 Rififi
                 The Killing
                 Twelve Monkeys
                 Quick Change
                 Princess Mononoke
                 The Bank Job
                 In Time
                 Inside Man
                 Heat
                 A Bag of Hammers
                 The Town
                 Three Kings
                 Waiting for Superman
                 Taken
                 Meet Joe Black
                 Sideways

If anyone has any additions or comments to make; fire away.  I have no need to waste hours of my life watching something if it's going to be terrible, or if there's something that I really, REALLY shouldn't miss then please let me know!

There's a reading list too, but I think I'll take things in baby steps.

Memo from in front of the telly.

So I spent this weekend holed up in a beautiful little cottage in the Lake District (Ambleside, to be precise), eating and drinking and watching the box with my fella.  Saturday night we ended up in front of Catfish - this documentary-style film following a guy called Nev, and his online relationship with a family who he's never met (a bit of a limp description I know, but whatever else I say will definitely ruin the film when you watch it).
There's some controversy over whether the action is real or fabricated, but either way the story was totally addictive, and had us speculating in every ad break as to how it might progress.  It's pretty easy to follow and generally the message of it seems quite obvious... until a particularly unassuming character comes up with this little anecdote out of the blue:

"They used to tank cod from Alaska all the way to China - they'd keep them in vats in the ship. By the time the codfish reached China, the flesh was mush and tasteless. So this guy came up with the idea that if you put these cods in these big vats, put some catfish in with them and the catfish will keep the cod agile... And there are those people who are catfish in life, and they keep you on your toes. They keep you guessing, they keep you thinking, they keep you fresh. And I thank god for the catfish because we would be droll, boring and dull if we didn't have somebody nipping at our fin."

Now, maybe out of context it really doesn't have as much meaning, but it's pretty much what drove me to write this memo.  Without the agitators, the people who challenge us, and push us to keep going and changing and working, we'd be... mush.



Okay, that's all the deep stuff done with.  I promise the next post won't be so wishy-washy... Or I will as long as you go and watch Catfish.

Memo from GoBurrito, Lancaster

I’ll put my cards on the table now: I LOVE Tex-Mex food – tacos, nachos, quesadillas, burritos, enchiladas… you get the picture.  It’s versatile, it tastes amazing, and quite simply there is no excuse not to like it.  I’ll end the sermon for now, but the current trend of little burrito-bars bursting into town centres means that, if you haven’t already, you should jump on the bandwagon and try some Tex-Mex soon.

Anyway, as most towns now host one or more of these dining paradises, I've been making it my business to try them as I see them.  Having now sampled a handful from Southampton to Edinburgh (and one or two abroad), I'm here to say: none has yet surpassed Lancaster’s GoBurrito.  Suitable for Tex-Mex virgins and veterans alike, GoBurrito has a solid menu, competent staff and a big personality, all packed into one modest little unit.

Now, with burrito bars, the most important part for me is the quality of the food – I like to know that if my favourite filling isn't available then my second choice will taste just as good.  GoBurrito totally nails this, and although the shredded beef has been a bit over-cooked once or twice, the meat in general is never fatty, and flavoured to perfection.  All the toppings and sauces taste pretty good too, and it definitely helps that you can see the ingredients being prepared and cooked fresh in the kitchen and kept hot in the bar as you order.

The menu is, of course, another big priority.  I'm a fan of chicken in Tex-Mex dishes, but in GoBurrito they offer a good meat and veggie chili - though I'm too carnivorous to try the latter just yet - the beef that I already mentioned, pulled pork and chorizo, as well as a vegetable medley.  On top of your main filling, you also get the choice of soured cream, cheese, lettuce, salsas (mild, spicy or both) and for a little extra there’s jalapeños and guacamole too!  Portions are in small, medium (best) and large, but if you’re not too sure on the foil-wrapped delight of a burrito parcel, then everything can be put onto nachos instead, and surely there’s nobody in the world that doesn't like a nacho?!

chili nachos -the burritos are too good to not devour immediately, so no picture of them at the moment, sorry!

The format is pretty standard; like Subway - pick your filling, pick your topping et voilà – but better, as the staff seem to genuinely enjoy their job, and whether the shop is packed or quiet, there’s always a friendly, upbeat atmosphere.  If you’re curious, you can find GoBurrito on Lower Church Street in Lancaster, opposite the taxi rank, and they have a blog, facebook page and a well-kept twitter page (@goburrito).  If that’s a little bit far from you, I’m really sorry! But I can guarantee this won’t be the only Tex-Mex on my memo, and I unhesitatingly urge you to go find your local outlet (and let me know about it)!

Finally, I realise that I've gushed a lot here, but in case there was any confusion: if we’re headed to a heaven, mine serves Tex-Mex.

Memo from the beginning.

I'm the sort of person that leaves memos – reminders of pictures, places, videos, websites - EVERYWHERE.

They’re only ever short little notes, but the sheer volume of them means they can get a bit overwhelming - scrawls covering the back of my hand, lists pinned across my noticeboard and digital sticky labels taking over my computer desktop (because actual sticky labels have already claimed my real desktop).

I've been meaning for a while to compile them all together somewhere and I've realised posting them to the Internet might reduce my clutter…

As a result, this blog is more of a list of the things I discover/remember/decide, so that I’ll know where to look if I forget them.  I'm also aiming to keep these things in a half-decent way, so that they might be at least a little bit interesting for people to check in with now and then.

If that doesn't make sense, hopefully things will become pretty clear as I get going, and if a blog-post is just too long for you, feel free to catch up somewhere else – Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest - whatever you like.

Enjoy.