Ian has been in London this last week, conferring with the company that Matt D works for. Something to do with rostering systems, I believe. Before that, he and the GRUC had been in Canada at a conference, and prior to that, with Austin and Kaori in Nagoya and Tokyo.
Anyway. He’d finished his work in London and made his way to somewhere in the depths of the countryside near Ely, where lives his mate Tom in an ancestral pile he inherited (somewhat to his surprise, I think) a few years ago, thus necessitating a rather sudden relocation from Australia. It has to be said that the house is magnificent. And their gundog puppy one of the shyest, most hesitant dogs I think I have ever met. She behaved as though she was expecting someone at any minute to throw her into a blender and turn it on!
So, after a somewhat hasty Saturday morning, The Builder and I leapt into The Vixen and made our way down to Ely to collect him, leaving behind Tabitha and Gareth’s tent, not to mention all the stuff they left at hour place when they went home in August. Sigh!
We rocked in at about lunch time, terrified the dog, relieved Tom and his wife Marina of a large bag of apples, captured Ian and went into Ely for a small spot of lunch.
The Kings Arms, where we went for lunch about a year ago, seems to have changed hands and doesn’t seem to be doing food any more. So we went to The Lamb instead and had a magnificent lunch – but being mindful that we had a booking at Loch Fyne in the evening, so taking care not to overindulge!
On to Cambridge, and a pleasant stroll into town, followed by a mini-pub crawl. We were extremely lucky with the weather. The only rain we saw was a short but very sharp downpour, while we were in the Anchor and able to watch the rain bouncing on the river without ourselves getting in the slightest bit wet!
Loch Fyne was lovely. I was a touch surprised that our hot and cold platter to share only had hot mussels and clams – I had expected a mix of hot and cold prawns and lobster as well. But it was nevertheless a magnificent platter. It looked much like a seafoody wedding cake! And I was extremely impressed when I asked for a box or a bag or something to take home the oyster, scallop and clam shells I had saved for my collection in the bathroom – they gave me a proper, sturdy plastic box with lid and everything. It now has a whole new life as a fridge container at The Sidings. Today it has left over pumpkin and fromage frais mash snuggled in it. And I don’t think it was all that expensive, either, when you consider that it is a seafood restaurant, and 5 of us had three courses, and coffee and were not abstemious in the alcohol department.
We took a taxi back to Alex Wood Road :-)
Sunday gave lots of options. The most popular option (lunch in the pub in Fen Ditton) wasn’t actually available because all the tables in the restaurant were booked until 4pm, which was a bit late for us, and we didn’t want to risk there being a table on the patio. So what to do. It’s the start of the new academic year (tomorrow, apparently, according to the University Calendar) , so the pubs in the city centre were likely to be full of young people with their parents.
Somewhere out in the country then.
We ended up going beyond Milton to a pub which had been catching Tabitha and Gareth’s eye for sometime. It advertised a Sunday carvery. Sunday carveries can be a bit hit or miss, but it’s usually worth giving them a go – even if only once. However, it was much too early for lunch when we set out. So we called at the Old Rectory farm shop and bought bread rolls and biscuits and rabbit stuff for Bricknell and Henny and eggs and all sorts of yummy and useful things. We patted the donkeys’ soft, soft ears and admired the pigs and the trout lake.
Then we went to Denny Abbey, which was once a monastery, then a convent and then a farm mansion and is now in a state of disrepair. It is, nonetheless, a magnificent building and the grounds house an interesting farming life museum. We have been before (well, not Ian). Last year, we called in when they had some sort of festival on, but the weather wasn’t as good and we didn’t really potter around as much.
Ian, Tabitha and Gareth indulged in a bottomless coffee pot AND Victoria Sponge. At midday. Before lunch!!!!
I nearly caused an international incident! I was typing a text message to Tabitha which said: “In the gift shop looking at things. Lunch time! Time to go.” Which is all very well and would have been perfectly meaningful to Tabitha. Except that I oh-so, oh-so nearly sent it to Tony instead, which might easily have puzzled him quite a bit!!!
We enjoyed the carvery. It was a fine Sunday lunch. Possibly not worth making a special trip for, but easily acceptable if you happen to be at Denny Abbey at lunchtime on a Sunday. Next time, though, I want to try the Lazy Otter. Except that next time is likely to be my birthday weekend when I intend to have a Sunday Lunch table booked well in advance at The Plough in Fen Ditton!
We abandoned Tabitha and Gareth and headed home. We didn’t need much in the way of food in the evening, having eaten magnificently all weekend, so I decided to make some onion and mushroom soup and to have that with grated parmesan and with warmed garlic bread. The Builder was surprised to find garlic bread. He didn’t realise that I’d bought any. And indeed, I hadn’t. I made it with our own garlic and some of the bread rolls from the Old Rectory. I hesitate to blow my own trumpet – but that soup was every bit as magnificent as the other stuff we’d been eating over the weekend. Not that I’ll ever be able to duplicate it. I made it with ham stock from the freezer and the left over sauce from Friday’s beef and ale stew.
Tabitha and Gareth had a new housemate. Her name’s Magda and she hails originally from Poland. I do hope she won’t mind that I accidentally used her milk and her olive spread while we were there. I had failed to think that some of the food would probably be hers!
No comments:
Post a Comment