Love is Shellfish.

Valentine's day has been and gone, (not that we really give a toss) and as you may have guessed, the boy and I showed our devotion at the weekend with some gourmet offerings.  On Friday I made moules mariniere.  I challenge you to find a better way of showing you care.  Flowers?  Chocolates?  Sickly little teddy bear holding a lacy heart?  Try standing at the kitchen sink for an hour, scrubbing mussels and scraping barnacles in icy water; now that is true love.  It was worth it though, the mussels were plump, firm and orange, no stringy, watery creatures here.  The simple, classic sauce, consisting of shallots, garlic, white wine, butter and parsely set them off beautifully.  We accompanied the steaming bowl of shellfish with some frites and french bread and another glass or two of sauvignon blanc.  So French we could have been in gay Paree.

The boy returned the favour on Sunday with a slow cooked beef in Guinness stew, flavoured with thyme and served with new potatoes and brussel sprouts.  I felt rather jaded, due to the rubbish, rainy weather, and spent the day watching films and reading, with the comforting aroma of the stew permeating the house.  Cosy.

As an aside, I'd like to share a link with you to a couple more food and drink related blogs I have discovered lately.
http://hungryhollowaiians.tumblr.com/
The hungry Hollowaiians is a good old London friend of mine and a couple of her buddies, trying new recipes weekly in a Monday night supper club stylee.  The recipes are created, reviewed and costed in an easy to follow manner.  Rather different to the chaotic, rambling nature of this blog.  But that's why you like me, right?

http://coldcounter.co.uk/
Cold Counter is the project of friends of above London friend, executing a genius idea.  As the blog says; "We try the UK's obscure cold drinks, so you don't have to".  With tongue firmly in cheek, an ever expanding range of the strangest sodas in the country are dissected.  Best of all they take submissions.  I have a can of Red Thunder hanging around somewhere, courtesy of Aldi...not dared drink it yet though....

After such a hefty session I needed something to mop up the boozy toxins.  Perusing the kitchen cupboards for inspiration I came across a bag of pearl barley and I tracked down this recipe for a pearl barley risotto on the Channel 4 food website:
http://www.channel4.com/food/recipes/healthy/pearl-barley-risotto-with-roasted-squash-red-peppers-and-rocket-recipe_p_1.html
Pearl barley risotto with roasted squash and red peppers.  It might sound  like it'd be a bit chewy and virtuous but actually it was gorgeous and perhaps healthier than a normal risotto, as pearl barley isn't quite as refined.  It certainly did the trick of making me feel wholesome again.

Gastro Gout and a Mile of Wine...

Writing for my supper was a good experience.  The boy and I went for two "Gastropub" type meals during the first week of February.  This month has been very busy so far.  I've has some refresher driving lessons free through the AA, bonus, just need to get a new car now, one that lasts longer than 2 months...I've signed up to the Derby 10k again and stepped up the running, much easier now the outside temperature has struggled above minus four.  I spent a Saturday drinking far too much wine in some actually pretty nice bars in Derby.  I spent another  happy Saturday rummaging through the spoils when Judy's Vintage Fair came to town:
http://www.vintagefair.co.uk/
 Back to the suppers, the publication I was writing reviews for is out at the end of this month, and I think I can tell you that it is the first Derbyshire Food and Drink Guide.  You may have come across the Nottinghamshire version.  At their request we ate at the Spotted Cow in Holbrook, a favourite of mine anyway, and Twenty Four, the pub in the Red Lion hotel in Belper.  The Red Lion is one of the Finesse group of hotels which include the Lace Market hotel in Nottingham and the Cathedral Quarter hotel in Derby.  I'll talk more about my reviews once they publish the magazine but generally, although I had to write with a "positive spin" I didn't have to stretch my imagination too far and enjoyed two really nice meals.  I felt a bit self conscious doing it, and felt like a free loader being treated to bottles of wine and a three course dinner for two, when all I had to do was write a few hundred words?  I got over that anxiety pretty quickly though.  It was fairly challenging getting a well balanced review with comments about all aspects of the dining experience; food, decor, ambiance etc. in a paltry 210 words, so I did have to work a bit.  I also felt like I was going to get gout by the end of the week, due to a large amount very rich food and wine.  Occupational hazard I suppose.
Speaking of wine, Derby is quite famous for it's ale, micro breweries and the drinking "Mile" down Ashbourne Road.  Well, always a trailblazer, and not much of a real ale drinker, myself and two trusty wine drinking cronies have mapped out our very own "Wine Mile" for your delectation. 
We started in the DEDA (Derby Dance Centre) bar.  This is a pleasant space currently showcasing a stunning photography exhibition by a lady called Hilary Shedel.  Nice decor (I wanted to steal the colourful plastic chairs for my garden) and a  nice wine list were let down by zero atmosphere and grumpy staff who looked like they couldn't wait for us to leave.  So leave we did, on to the Red Zebra wine bar, where we were greeted effusively by proprietor James, who said we could come in if we were "over 18".  As we have a collective age of around 100 (hah hah!)  This was high flattery indeed, the smoothie.  We drank a very good bottle of shiraz.  Little touches such as the bowl of olives which was placed on the table when we arrived, the decadently sized wine glasses (wanted to steal these too, didn't) and the charmingly decorated, frou-frou little bathroom made Red Zebra an eclectic treat, I'll certainly be back, I'd like to try one of their wine tasting evenings.
http://www.redzebradrinks.com/
Finally we moved on to bar 16 in the Cathedral Quarter Hotel (what is it about the Finesse group numbering rather than naming their establishments?)  Again we couldn't fault the hospitality, but the bar was a touch dark, and a touch overpriced.  We consumed a  third and a fourth bottle of red.  things got rather fuzzy after that.  I managed to skin my knee but not ladder my tights, good skills!  I hope you enjoy the "Wine Mile" should you decide to partake.