February is over already and we’re heading into March. The summer will be here before we know it. Just like last month we’ve compiled a round up of selected highlights from our blogs in February. Then after we’ve added the items that didn’t make it into a stand alone blog post.
Restaurants
Turtle Bay Newcastle – Near the Gate
We were late in the uptake to Turtle Bay, but eventually got to visit this place. WOW, I love it! The food his spicy with a great kick. The atmosphere has a twist of Caribbean beach bar to it. While the theming doesn’t miss a beat.
After an arson attack a few years ago, the New Bengal has come back to life as the New New Bengal. The restaurant has been updated and the food is very well presented. I nice surprising night out at the local restaurant.
Comedy Nights Out!
Steffen Peddie – 99 Problems and the Chips aint one.
Catherine has a big fan of the North East series Hebburn. I had a slight vested interest as one of our distant relatives is in the show. Anyway, when Cat saw that Steffen Peddie was touring near by we hopped in the car and headed to Washington. Steffen’s agony aunt premise bonded the night together.
Chris Ramsey – Is that Chris Ramsey?
Catherine has a big fan of the North East series Hebburn. I had a slight vested interest as one of our distant relatives is in the show. Anyway, it’s almost like I’ve relived this night before. It turns out until I get to see Vic Reeves in stand up, I won’t have seen the entire cast of Hebburn on stage!
Chris Ramsey was keeping strict to the No Filming policy. So as a result I tried my hand at sketching the stage set up!
Something Different
The weather gave us a nice little break so we decided to take off up to Hexham for a spot of Geocaching. This time we were joined by our friends the Walkers. Their son is really into Geocaching and it was a great chance to take him on a long walking loop.
Annie Sloan Paint on Furniture
Catherine was desperate to attack our coffee table with paint. So after several months of talking about it, we went and bought some chalk paint. Paint it on, wax it and buff it off. Easily doable in 1 day!
The Lambton Worm at the Customs House
At the End of last years customs house panto, they announced that 2017’s panto would be the Lambton Worm. We semi knew the song, so decided to try and find out a little more about the local folk song. Catherine found a walking trail that passed by key points on the song, including the well!
What the Hoopers left out from February.
Over February we visited loads of places, that we’re worthy enough for their own blog post. Some items we’re incidental or part of another adventure. So we thought we’d share a few extras.
The Boatside Inn – Sunday Lunch
After a 3 hour geocaching walk we ended up at the Boatside Inn in High Warden. We we’re sure what to expect and to be honest Cat and myself were going to rush off. The walkers were thinking about sitting down for dinner. So we were easily persuaded.
Cat had the turkey dinner. 4 slices of Turkey, a large slice of stuffing, 3 roast potatoes, mash potatoes and mashed turnip. And then a side plate of cheesy leeks, carrots, broccoli and other veg came out.
I opted for the Large Yorkshire pudding. The Yorkshire pudding was FULL!. Inside it was 3 roast potatoes, a slice of stuffing, 3 slices of pork, 3 slices of lamb, 3 slices of turkey and 3 slices of beef. A scoop of Mash and turnip and cheesy leeks, plus the extra side plate of veg. It was very good value for money and we were tempted to blog about it in full, maybe next time.
Sing the Movie
Our two wanted to see sing and kept asking again and again and again. Eventually we caved in and used out vitality tickets for Sing. Abigail loved Ash the Porcupine and couldn’t resist getting her rock on. The movie was good and I was tempted to do a full review. It may still come, as the kids saw the film twice by the end of the half term holidays!
Fazal’s Cafe
Fazal’s cafe is a diner that offers grill food, wraps and kebabs, but also has an amazing desert bar. Again this was to be a full on blog review, but something cropped up…. The Blaydon Race. Entry for the Blaydon race was released while we were ordering our food, so I sat on my iPhone standing in queue to by my race entry (which I got). If I wasn’t stuck on the browser I would have photographed the food aswell as the deserts. Kids love it here and it is a very relaxed café.
I had a slice of Banoffee cake with a scoop of Strawberry ice cream. Presentation couldn’t be faulted, likewise teh flavour was lush. Abigail had a slice of ferrero rocher cake with toffee popcorn ice cream.
Asda’s Wonky Veg Box
As I walked past the veg aisle in ASDA I spotted a stack of boxes. I assumed that they were to be put out on display. But as I walked past them, I spotted the content was a mixture of veg. The Wonky Veg box was almost hidden in plain sight, if it wasn’t for the £3.50 price tag.
I fully back the idea and if they sell enough of them they will become more readily available. Basically the vegetables that we buy are graded in terms of quality. When you buy a leek in the shops it’s always a certain thickness or length. Potatoes are a set size. Onions are all the same etc. Unfortunately nature isn’t as kind as it should be and not all vegetables come out the ground looking the same. So if it doesn’t meet the grading standard it is discarded and not sold on to the retailer. Which could mean that a farmer chucks out 3 out of every 10 parsnips because of their shape.
The idea behind the wonky veg box is to sell the veg that would usually be wasted. In our box we had 6 onions, 3 potatoes, 3 leeks, some carrots, 3 parsnips, 2 peppers and a red cabbage. Below is one of the potatoes. One and a half potatoes made enough mash for 5 people’s Sunday lunch! At a guess it would be around A5 in size.
Thanks again for your support in February, we really appreciate all of your comment and interactions. Although we create this blog mainly for ourselves, it is fantastic that you’ve taken the time to read it.
I wonder what March will bring us?
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