Jettisoning January

Since my last blog I have moved a step closer to making a living from my love of food and my pen wielding attempts.  The boy found an exciting prospect for me in the local paper, an advertisement seeking budding restaurant critics.  I called the number and was asked to send a sample review which I did last weekend (we ate at the Gourmet Burger Kitchen in Nottingham last Friday.)  They liked my review and have accepted me as a writer.  On Tuesday me and the boy are going to review an establishment in Holbrook, we get free dinner in exchange for my 210 words.  Nice work!  I may also be reviewing a gastro pub in Belper on Friday.  I'd better not tell you the name of the publication or the places I'm reviewing yet, once the publication has been published I will.  Exciting times.
Anyway, back to the good stuff, what have I been eating in the last week?
As mentioned we ate at GBK last Friday, which didn't disappoint.  Its a chain but the standard of food was good.  The burgers are mahussif!  The selection of toppings and sides was really mind boggling.  We had homemade onion rings as a starter, washed down with a nice cold Budvar.  The rings were huge, and really crispy, tasty and just the right kind of greasy, how an onion ring should be.  I went for a classic cheese burger and the boy opted for a hot and spicy habanero burger.  The burgers didn't come with fries which I initially found disappointing.  We ordered a side of fries and when the burgers came we realised why they came solo...I only managed about 3 fries in the end.  Great burgers, made with good quality beef and cooked to your liking, which in our case was medium rare.  All the right extras; big gherkins, salad etc.  Cute little tomato shaped ketchup dispensers on the table.  A good budget option if you're sick of Nando's.
We stayed over in Nottingham, as a kind Facebook friend who is a mover and shaker in London's art world, donated her hotel room to us when she couldn't make it up for the opening of the new exhibition at the Contemporary.  The hotel was the city centre Ibis.  It was great to be so central.  After GBK we tried to see Black Swan but both city centre movie houses were sold out.  This forced us to hit Brass Monkeys for cocktails; one of the best cocktail bars in the UK, in my humble opinion.
http://www.brassmonkeybar.co.uk/
I giggled inwardly whilst supping a "Lil Ginger Bitch".  Yum.
Saturday we paid a visit to Murat, the Turkish supermarket, and actually purchased a tub of "Cemen" dip.  It is kind of like a Turkish harissa, but contains lamb stock so is not vegetarian.  (I'll state the obvious, shall I?!) We used it as a marinade for vegetable kebabs, served with their delightful, baked on the premises Turkish flatbread.
We visited the Contemporary before heading home and really liked Jack Goldstein and Anne Collier's work, particularly Jack Goldstein's records.  Check it out.  The bar is good too.
This weekend has been  a gourmet extravaganza to see out miserable January.  The entire Burns clan descended upon us for the weekend.  Friday I cooked a vat of Thai Mussaman curry, chicken to ring the changes.  It was beautiful, I used on the bone chicken pieces and cooked it for a couple of hours until the meat was falling off the bones.
Saturday I grabbed a sandwich for lunch, but this was not just any old sandwich.  It was a sandwich from Jack Rabbits:
http://www.jackrabbitskitchen.co.uk/about-jack-rabbits/

Jack Rabbits is located on Queen Street, opposite the Dolphin pub and Red Zebra wine bar.  They cook up lots of gourmet food and sell it to individuals to re-heat at home in a gourmet, TV dinner stylee.  2009's disastrous cottaging expedition was fuelled by vats of Jack Rabbits Mongolian curry.  As well as "Home cooked meals to take away" they do cobs.  They will only do one kind of cob each day, based on whatever meat they have roasted.  Saturday it was roast pork, served in a bakery fresh ciabatta roll, with rocket, tomato and wholegrain mustard.  Wrapped in greaseproof paper and tied with a ribbon no less.  The freshest, tastiest, most attractive cob for miles around.
Saturday night we made a traditional Burns night supper, complete with haggis, neeps and tatties.  The haggis was from award winning Scottish butcher Simon Howie.
http://www.simonhowiebutchers.co.uk/
It was the best haggis I've eaten and I've had haggis for Burns night the last 3 years in a row, it is becoming a new and welcome family tradition.  We avoided whiskey this year but made up for it with vats of wine, and a pub quiz marathon, good times. 
Today we drove out to Osmaston to have lunch in a country pub.  The village is picturesque, lots of the buildings are thatched.  We went to the Shoulder of Mutton pub, next to the tiny little village shop and post office.  There appeared to be some kind of Landrover convention going on.  The pub was busy and they don't take bookings but we managed to secure a table straight away.  The wait for food was quite long but there are signs up warning of this, everything is cooked fresh from scratch so during busy periods it can take a while.  We enjoyed anticipating our food and had a couple of shandies and a good bit of banter.  Funnily enough all the ladies had scampi & chips and all the boys had roast beef.  I hoovered mine up, I'd better get those running shoes on tomorrow, porky gourmet is not a good look.
During our post prandial stroll we found a big tree to climb with a swing and everything, and I spotted snowdrops coming through, a heart warming promise of spring.  Bye bye January.