Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Time away



S and I head off for a girlie spring break. Booked at the last minute we’re none the less hopeful that the Red Lion at Burnsall will be an improvement on last year’s booking in Alnwick (beautiful hotel, shame about the rancid fruit).

Initial impressions are favourable; the light is starting to fade, but there is enough twilight left for us to see that the setting is excellent, the bedrooms are luxuriously wonderful, the log fires in the bar and lounge roaring and the food...ah the food!

Just look at the words from the menu: Wood Pigeon, Chorizo, Venison, Wild Mushrooms, Mustard and Potato Rosti, Home Cured Gravadlax of Salmon, Dill and Coarse Grain Mustard Sauce, Locally Shot Pheasant and Partridge Terrine, Cumberland Sauce, Whitby Crab Risotto, Fresh Hake, Tapenade, Vine Tomatos,Goat’s Cheese, Confit of Duck Leg, Blackcurrant Sauce, Garlic Crostini, Free Range Calves Liver, Tuna Steak, Ginger and Spring Onion, Wharfedale Lamb, Redcurrant Sauce.

And as for the puddings...S’s Chocolate Fondant Pudding with raspberry compote and vanilla ice cream is positively obscene in its decadence and my rice pudding with apricot and sultana is creamy heaven, none-the-less neither of us can even make it half way through our respective dishes before we have to admit defeat.

Overfull we sit in front of the wood burning stove with our tea and coffee and fight off the tiredness.

This is a good kind of over-tired.

A good start.

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