Wednesday 21 February 2018

Pancakes & Valentines

Hi there everyone

Last week brought both Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Day, and Valentine's Day.

A week or so ago, as Martin was going to be off work, I asked if he fancied nipping out for lunch on Pancake Day ... to one of our favourite places to eat, The Pear Tree Creperie, or if not, then did he fancy it for Valentine’s Day.

He started grinning and, him not being one for much in the romantic gestures stakes, surprised the life out of me by telling me he’d already booked it ... for Valentine's Day.

We both just love pancakes, sweet or savoury, we are not too fussy. We’ve eaten regularly at The Creperie ever since we met and we’ve never been disappointed so I was looking forward to a sneaky mid week treat.

It wasn’t the only romantic gesture he made. As well as a card, he bought me a gift. Not roses, jewellery or chocolates, but a six pack of hot cross buns from Asda.

You may laugh, but for the past three or four weeks I’ve been saying “let’s get some” whilst we’ve been doing the weekly shop but, we’re trying to be good, so we didn’t succomb.

So, it was hot cross buns for breakfast ... with real butter left over from Saturday night's dinner party. They were a real treat, I can tell you.

We decided we'd head out early and do a bit of mooching about before we had lunch so made our way to a local garden centre for a wander, though it was freezing cold and throwing it down with rain so it was definitely more of an indoor wander than an outdoor. I can’t wait till it’s plant buying time, but we have a while yet.

Then there was time for a quick stop off at at Blackbrook Interiors, a local place we discovered last year ...
On their website they describe themselves as ...
"An emporium of antiques, furnishings and furniture for your home and water features, statuary, animalier, architectural pieces for your garden and so much more."
It is an absolute gem of a place, and from the minute you arrive there is plenty to grab your attention ...
Inside there is room after room, stuffed full with antiques and all manner of other strange and wonderful things ...
There is also lots to be seen outside, out the back. It was far too wet and cold for outside today ...
... but we’ve managed to find a few bits here before. Our garden ‘spinny thing’ came from here last year ...
As time was getting on we headed off to The Creperie, which is situated within the Heart of the Country  shopping village. There was just time for a quick look in our favourite oak furniture shop and the French kitchen shop ...
... before heading into the warm 
We were glad to get out of the cold and the wet. The ambiance in The Creperie is always really lovely. It's toasty warm, welcoming and there is always a buzz, with traditional French accordion music playing in the background. Probably not everyone's cup of tea, but we love it.

We completely over indulged ... with seafood for Martin and smoked salmon with cream for me to get us started ...
... followed by the daily special of BBQ meat feast for Martin and my favourite ... mushroom strogonoff with cheese for mains ....
... accompanied with a bowl of mixed salad, just dripping in their own home made vinaigrette. Not that healthy, but a real favourite with us ...
We finished off with Nutella and strawberries, topped with Caramalito ice cream for me and profiterole, topped with Maple and Walnut ice cream for Martin ...
Washed down with a couple of ciders, we didn’t have much joy with the crossword but it was a really scrumptious midweek treat.
Fortunately by the time we were ready to leave it had stopped raining ... but it was still absolutely freezing.

It was lovely to get back home to the warm for an afternoon snuggled up on the sofa with a good film.

Safe to say, I’m still not missing working, retirement and this life of pottering is suiting me very nicely thank you 😉

3 comments:

  1. Excellent walk and tasty food! I really liked your shops.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We love finding a new shop full of interesting and unusual bits and pieces 😃

      Delete
  2. Great post, fun and full of information. But most of all, I like the way you write. You have to tell me what they will do about Valentine's Day Deals

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for taking time to comment on my blog. I love to hear what people think about what Martin and I have been up to.