This month I have...

I’ve been a bit rubbish at updating this lately haven’t I? Here’s a quick update of the last month…

L’Enclume

We drove over to Cartmel in the Lake District, stopping off in Grange Over Sands for a nose around as we couldn’t check into the room until 3pm. The room was very nice with a beautiful view of the Priory. We then had a walk around Cartmel (it’s not very big so it didn’t take long!) and I bought a necklace to go with my outfit for the evening. Back at the room we watched the first half of the football while we got changed – then Darren switched off the TV and dropped to one knee to propose to me! Of course I said yes, but it took me a while to stop shaking!

We celebrated with a glass of champagne to start our meal. It’s difficult to describe the experience of the meal itself. We went for the Underground, a meal of at least 20 courses (we actually finished with 21). Some are staple dishes to the restaurant, for example the Razor Role Reversal which has clam and chestnuts served in an eggshell and chicken served in a razorclam shell. Sometimes the staff were as puzzled as us about what was in a dish and had to check with the chef – “he’s experimenting” as one of the waiters explained to us!

There are a few dishes and elements that really stand out for me. BBQ pig with sweetcorn puree, cola jelly and deep-friend oregano was brilliant. Expearimenthol frappe was pear jelly, mint cream and coffee flavoured crushed biscuit served in a shot glass. The slow drop duck egg which had been cooked for two hours but was perfectly runny. Liquid chocolate – it looked like cake and felt like cake at first, but then dissolve to liquid. Foie gras ice cream (it takes a couple of mouthfuls to get used to that one!) All of the dishes were presented like works of art, but then that’s the difference between a great restaurant and a Michelin star restarant.

The staff were particularly wonderful. They served the meal with humour and we got the feeling that they were perfectly aware of how bizarre the idea was. They were attentive but we never felt pestered. The sommelier helped us pick an amazing bottle of red wine for the second half of our meal (we started with a white). I don’t think we’ll spend £65 on a bottle of wine very often, but you can taste the difference – the depth of flavour was incredible.

I struggled with the final few mouthfuls and just couldn’t face the coffee and chocolates (served on skewers). It was back to the room to collapse on the bed and allow my body and mind to digest everything! We also had breakfast at the restaurant, which was probably the best breakfast I’ve ever had. I was surprised I was hungry at all! We had another wonder around Cartmel, picking up some of the world’s best Sticky Toffee pudding on the way (we’ve since devoured it and it’s truly wonderful). I think I want to live in Cartmel. It’s the food capital of the world…



Marillion – Somewhere Else

I’m not sure what insanity drives us to travel to Glasgow to listen to an album that’s out in a few weeks and that I could probably download if I were that desperate to listen to it. Especially when we’d already heard over half of it. Such is the life of a Marillion fan. It was an opportunity to catch up with some friends as well, always worth a journey. The listening party was held in Arta, a lovely if expensive bar. The soundsystem wasn’t particularly good though, and the heavy bass combined with the chatter made it quite difficult to really assess or appreciate the album.

There were two tracks that we heard at the Convention that I was very much looking forward to hearing again. Most Toys is probably the most catchy song Marillion have ever produced and The Wound is dark and moody. Opening track The Other Half again appeared to me as a song of – ironically – two halves, the first being my personal favourite. Of the songs I hadn’t heard before, No Such Thing stood out the most in it’s quirkiness, and the title track definitely has potential as a grower. Overall it’s quite unusual for a Marillion album in that all the songs are relatively short and many are of a basic song structure. It’s really quite Beatle-esque. Although I couldn’t hear much of the lyric, what I heard was quite dark, both on a personal and a global level.

Afterwards I got a chance to chat to bassist Pete Trewavas (who recognised us from our exploits in Luxembourg a couple of years ago). Even he thought the bass had been too loud! He was in fine form and we had an excellent natter about the album. Unfortunately it was all too short as he had to go and mingle further. The album is out on the 9th April – I can’t wait to hear it properly!

A Lucky Weekend

Not only did I win £150 on bingo last Saturday, I also managed to nab a couple of Glastonbury tickets! This is VERY exciting! I’d never thought of going to Glasto before, but we thought we’d give it a go and after half an hour of refreshing browsers I managed to get through. Now where are my wellies...