BILLY THE KID IS GLAD WE ARE HOME WITH MOST OF HIS TOYS

Billy was glad to see us when we went to pick him up at the cattery. He came home and examined every corner of the place doing shouting noises and loud cat barks (stuff he must have learnt from the other cats at the cattery) and eventually settled down, ate a lot of food and followed us to bed.

Billy is darkening with age and looking more "blue" (dark grey really). He is still only 9 months old.
He has been more settled today but later on we realised that although we had brought back the duck called "chicken" and "easter bunny" the  finger puppet, the hair elastics had got lost and so he had to be given a new one. He usually only gets the old ones he steals from the dressing table in the bedroom.

All these possessions are kept, by him, close to his food bowl.

As you can see "easter bunny" is the present favourite and it and the new hair elastic have been put safely in the biscuit bowl.

Duck/chicken is kept close but is not so in favour at the moment.
Sadly Billy must return to the cattery later on whilst we while away more time elsewhere.
But the toys will go with him.
Cheers Gillian

Eating Italian in Smithfield, London and Pub Grub at The Flask in Highgate

I didn't bother to take the camera's battery charger on holiday. I might have made it if I hadn't left the camera on and then held it by touching the screen. The touch screen took a continuous photo of the palm of my hand and then ran out of power, so the links on this post will lead you to some lovely illustrations and background info.

The property we stayed in at Smithfield, was above an Italian Restaurant so we very happily trotted downstairs on our first evening to have an "Italian". It was called Amico Bio and was rustic, warm and friendly and could fit us in on a Friday night. It was only after we had perused the menu for a while that we realised it specialised in vegetarian, organic, ... and if wanted...vegan and gluten free. DJ had wanted some chicken and I had fancied a pizza with pepperoni and stuff on it. So a complete re-think produced broccoli and cauliflower fritters, followed by cheese and spinach stuffed ravioli in a tomato and basil sauce. All absolutely delicious and pics of the ravioli are on their website on the link above. But I do still think that I greatly prefer real Parmesan cheese rather than the soy version

The next night we went to Carluccio's. There, we did get some chicken. Chicken schnitzels with green salad. They were delicious, freshly prepared and tasty. This is a modern, high ceilinged, well lit place but comfy and friendly too. Plenty of real, tasty parmesan on this meal

The third night, still not having had the pizza that I yearned for, we went to Attila's on the Farringdon Station side of Smithfield Market. We had nearly been lured in before by their spruiker but he was hard to resist when we were so hungry. We snuggled into the corner at the far end and buried ourselves in the menu. Once again the pizza lost out and I plumped for the Spaghetti Carbonara and DJ for the Fettucine and Meatballs.
Absolutely wonderful and a bowl of parmesan just for me. These were followed by espressos and limoncellos and smiles all round. There is no website but the reviews here do just as good a link.

On the Monday we caught a No.4 bus from the Barbican to Archway and then climbed slowly up Highgate Hill through Waterlow Park and then the High Street shops until we reached The Flask. It was a gloriously sunny day again and the pub garden was full but we had reserved a window table just inside and were joined by more family for a big lunch and lots of natter.
Our last day started early...not only had the smoke alarm started to beep at 5.15am...but we had decided to visit the Smithfield Meat Market before we caught the train home. We therefore travelled up to Darlington with a couple of fillet steaks for our tea!

I suppose it will have to be back to the diet now. If we stick to it, the 5:2 diet seems to work well. Two days of fasting/controlled intake, somewhere in the week seems little effort to have to make for the benefit it gives.
That is until about 5pm. Something often happens about then that melts the resolve so easily set earlier in the day. Oh for more days in the week...

Cheers Gillian

Bank Holiday Break in London...Cloth Fair near Smithfield

We have rented a Landmark Trust  property in Cloth Fair which is across the road from Smithfield market and a short walk from St Paul's Cathedral.

It is the old home of John Betjeman and has been maintained in the style he might have left it.

Together with no TV, radio, music, wifi etc. But  plenty of books. So it is a truly peaceful haven in the City of London. The building was one of the only houses to remain after the Great Fire in 1665, but has of course been changed a bit since then.

St Bartholomew the Greats church is over the road and strikes the hour to rouse us now and then. Its churchyard contains two of the largest trees I have seen on such a small site. There don't appear to be any birds and we don't hear any birdsong but there are squirrels and the wisteria is beautiful.

This afternoon, wedding bells rang and we went out to watch the wedding parade and all the guests pour out of the church. The bride and groom were the last to leave in a wonderful RR with glasses of champagne in hand. We exchanged a wave. Others left in convertible Bentleys, Audis and beamers and the rest took up at least three vintage Routemaster buses. Good luck to them all. Being a nosey biddy I checked them out on the internet. They had a traditional Nigerian wedding in March and the traditional English one today.This is a link to the Nigerian one.
It was Friday when we arrived and after settling in we walked around for a couple of hours noting St.Pauls, Barts Hospital, lovely back streets, the Holborn Viaduct, The Old Bailey and the lovely old Routemaster buses which still operate on the routes 9 and 15.

At the end of the day it is customary for the city workers to hang around at a local pub, drinking with their mates. They don't all fit into the small corner pubs of the city and so this is a common sight.

More news soon.
Cheers Gillian

Joining Bloglovin

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Josie left a comment on my blog and  I noticed that she belonged to Bloglovin. |So I joined too! It's worth clicking on the button at the side or the link above and checking out a few more blogs. You can get facebook and twitter to let you know when there is new stuff but I don't do that but if you become a follower you can take advantage of it.
Cheers Gillian

Easter Outings in the North of England...Ullswater, Bollihope, Low Force/High Force

To start with, a pic of Billy being happy enough to show his trust in us.

Followed by us showing our trust in Billy. I put the picnic basket on top of the fridge to keep him from leaping up there. It didn't work!

Easter came and went with a variety of weather over the country. We watched the sunshine forecasts for the North of England and went to Pooley Bridge on Ullswater, in the Lake District, on Easter Saturday. A gloriously sunny day. There was still some snow on the tops and young lambs below in the fields alongside the lake.

It takes less than an hour and a half to leave home, pick up the papers and stuff at Sainsbury's, drive along the A688 past Raby Castle and the deer park, through the pretty village of Staindrop and the lovely town of Barnard Castle and on, up and over the Pennines to this place. The journey is better than the best coach tours.

I shan't tell you where you can park with views like this and spotless facilities for £4.50 a day!!!... Oh alright I shall. Park Foot Campsite

Next doors campers/parkers had a young lad with a penchant for cetaceans and we met him first with his shark. He offered it to us but we declined. We are older and wiser and can see when something is deflating of its own accord.

He was fonder of his Orca and worried about its possible beaching on the rocks.

Our walks along the lake later in the day showed the levels of water activity. Still far too cool for me to join in. This sort of thing in April needs very young blood and a very good wet suit.

On the Easter Monday we drove through the Bollihope valley south of Frosterley. An ancient and unique environment. Remnants of Roman settlement meld with mining activity through the ages. Lead, iron and limestone have all been vital to this area.

These are old but artificially created landforms.

On Easter Wednesday the weather was too good to go to the pictures to see "Noah", so we went for a walk instead. We headed up to Low Force. DJ had walked Low Force to High Force before while I was at painting class,and wanted to show me how lovely it was.

To get there you have to cross the footbridge at Bowlees.

One at a time.

Low Force looks like this...

and after a two mile gentle hike through the Strathmore Estate to the south of the Tees, High Force looks like this...

On the way we walked past lots of sheep...

and sheep with with lambs...

At last we returned to the car park at Bowlees, cooked some bacon butties and then went down to the Visitor centre for an ice cream.

Cheers Gillian

Lovely Little Lambs

We went over to The RSPB site ...Saltholme...near Teesside.

The birds are not bothered by the industry, It makes no noise and only has small smells.

In the distance are some large gas and fuel containers and in the greater distance is the cute shape of Roseberry Topping..

I love the Transporter Bridge too but..........

Someone, somewhere inside the Saltholme "Lambing Shed" had helped this lovely Shetland Black Sheep mum give birth to two white babies. The second baby shown here is only about ten minutes old and hasn't yet found how to suckle.
If you live nearby it is a grand place to go to.
Cheers Gillian

A BIT OF A BIG BLOOMER

I cleared out the house freezer and made all the little left-over loaf ends into a bread pudding.

It helps me to feel less wasteful and it does instead of fruit cake with the morning coffee for a few days. I do this one with lots of fruit and a tablespoon of marmalade for a nice tang. I did forget to put it away last night and even though it was well wrapped in foil, Billy has had a taste too!
Then I put some stuff in the breadmaker to make dough, so that I could get it out and form it into a different shape for a change.

It ended up like a bloomer and I scattered it liberally with wheatgerm to give it a nice topping.
After it had been in the oven for a few minutes I smelled burning and discovered that wheatgerm is not a good topping choice...it burns easily.

Never mind. The loaf came out beautifully risen and with a lovely texture. It was a half and half wholemeal and white. Next time the wheatgerm will go inside the bread. I was determined to use it because it had taken me four supermarkets to track some down and at last I had found it in Morrisons.

We had some for tea with a bowl of pasta.
Cheers Gillian