Home Again

We’ve returned from England with a condition few have ever experienced. We’re tan. The sun shone and shone and shone.

I am a bit at a loss to describe an adventure with so many parts to it. For a start, if you want to eat good English food, you must know people.

Sunday lunch is just a downright experience. If you’re not related to someone in England, then start making friends, because you want to be invited to Sunday lunch.

It is also helpful, if one of you was apprenticed as a chef (aged 15) in England. (In fact My Loving Spouse spent the Christmas he was 15, plucking pheasants all day for the Christmas dinner.) Apprenticed with another lad and that ‘lad’ went on to be something of a ‘legend’ at the Colchester Culinary Instituted.

If that Lad and partner now owns a restaurant where you can get Sticky Toffee pudding, (oh be still my heart)…

…as well as fish & chips…

It is not a good idea to have Fish & Chips from the local ‘chippy’ (Fish & Chips shop), even the photo doesn’t process it. We did this twice, before our stomachs won the day and we swore off them for the rest of the trip.

THE ‘Lads’ had been apprenticed at le Talbooth, which has always been a world class Michelin guide restaurant.

THE Lads lived across the river with other male employees of the restaurant. They might have reminisced about leaving work late at night, waving to their boss as they passed his window. They then ducked back and climbed up the outside of the restaurant to where the waitresses lived for after work parties.

Our ‘surprise’, planned by THE Lad, was a tour of the current Le Talbooth’s kitchens, dinner at Le Talbooth with a jazz band and spending the night in their ‘old’ cottage, which has recently been turned into an elegant two bedroom cottage.

Being such a fancy place, I was on my very best behavior. This shot was only for My Loving Spouse.

It was an amazing treat to experience all around!

Besides ‘good’ beer or bitter, My Loving Spouse was looking forward to full English breakfasts…

I will say he enjoyed quite a few, complete with broiled tomato and black pudding, no I didn’t try it.

‘Good Indian’ food was also on the list of ‘wants’. I liked all of the Indian food I had, but the ‘take away’ was not quite as good as the restaurant where we ‘sat down’.

Garlic free and delicious can often be a hard combination, but this was so good.

The relish tray was unique to each restaurant, which was sort of disappointing as the beet relish was so flavorful! I would have loved to have it again.

There is so much more to our adventure, but I will save it for another day.

We are home…grateful and indeed we are blessed.