Thursday 30th August (Nicki's Birthday)

Cool, made it up to about 15C in the afternoon. Sunny with a few torrential showers. Went to Wales to visit the MIL. Motorways busy both ways (especially the M6 south in the evening). Walked 1mile after we got home.

We ate (from the Chinese Takeaway):

Chicken in Peking Sauce

Duck with mushrooms

Noodles

Wednesday 29th August

Cold. Wet. 12C at 4 p.m.! Still managed to walk 1.7 miles (in the rain) - somehow seemed like harder work than usual.

Regret that I can't get to my Cousin's wife's funeral, but it's 300 miles away and my back won't stand 12 hours driving.

Actually did a bit of work today - concerned that there'll be so much to do when I return ...

counting down to our trip to Nice - only 10 days to go. Have been very restrained (for me) and only have 1 restaurant booked. It's in Nice Port and we've never eaten there. Also planning to visit a restaurant that a) has no phone, b) is always booked solid, and c) only takes cash --- what fun!

We ate:

Cottage pie, peas, gravy.

Tuesday 28th August

Warm; sunny; 22C.

My cousin's wife passed away yesterday. She'd been fighting cancer for many years. I'm very sorry for his loss.

Walked 2¼ miles today via Weoley Castle:

The ruins at Weoley Castle are over 700 years old and are the remains of the moated medieval manor house that once stood here. The site has been inhabited from the 12th century and, according to the Domesday Book, was part of the estates of William Fitz Ansculf. Weoley changed hands several times between 1485 and 1531 when it began to fall into disrepair. In the centuries that followed, stone from the castle was removed to build a nearby farm and the Dudley no.2 canal. Today the site is a scheduled Ancient Monument of national importance (taken from the website). I feel really fortunate to have a site like this on my doorstep (and in the middle of the 2nd-largest city in the UK).

It's felt like a really busy day, so dinner was simple.
We ate:

Seafood risotto.

Monday 27th August

Showers and much cooler, Max. 19C. Managed 1.75 mile walk (am pretty tired at the end of this). We decided that we needed a new vacuum cleaner, one that could deal with hard floors better than the existing one. Still like Dyson machines and the design has moved on quite a lot, so we ended-up with a DC24 Animal (means you get a little powered brush as an extra). Couldn't believe the difference in prices (+ a trade-in deal) - to our surprise, Currys was by far the best (saving us about £70!), and the reserve online/collect at the store thing worked well.

Planned to cut more lawns, but foiled by the weather.

We ate:

Smoked salmon with cucumber

Italian chicken (tomato, olives, mozzarella) with crushed new potatoes

Cheese

Sunday 26th August

A pleasant day. Not warm, maybe 20C, but has stayed dry, contrary to the forecast.

Went shopping for food this a.m., saved about £12.00 with Tescos vouchers (were obliged to buy a bottle of champagne - terrible, or what?).

Walked 1.5 miles: mowed the big lawn (only 3 left). Ali finished altering the new curtains for the lounge.

A note to my readers: There's a lot of you out there now, but no comments. Do you want more detail? More personal information? Recipies? Whatever?  Let me know and I'll see what I can do.

We ate:

Seared tuna on a bed of puy lentils

Sirloin steak, potatoes boulangere, peas

Cheese

(Frankly, we enjoyed this more than last night's expensive meal.)

Saturday 25th August 2012

A busy Saturday. Food shopping. Then we were looking for a new mattress. This involved driving many miles to look at different outlets, before finally buying online. Drove through a very heavy thunderstorm at lunchtime. Otherwise there were a few showers and a temperature of 21C.

We went to Turners in the evening - a 1-star restaurant close at hand. We ate their tasting menu (because you don't have a choice on Saturdays). The review I posted on Trip Advisor is below (except they wouldn't let me use 'bastardisation' - they seem to think this is profanity!).

The backstory is that we’ve visited Turners many times over the years, from when Richard Turner began cooking there until soon after he won the star; at that point, though the food remained good, portion size decreased until the point when we took a Chinese guest and left hungry.

We thought we’d try again, though I think that the compulsion to have the tasting menu on Saturdays is misguided: the only purposes I can see are to maximise profit and make life easy for the kitchen.

The food was very good, though not truly remarkable and with some strange touches: horseradish snow – why? Lemon verbena ice-dream AND raspberry coulis in the soufflé? Some components of dishes were enormously salty, for no apparent reason.
However, some dishes were great: I’ve never had better cooked grouse (though I’ve had grouse that tasted better) and I particularly liked the tiramisu pre-dessert (the espresso water-ice/granita/whatever that was on top was splendid). Overall, we thought that the tasting menu was very good, but not really worth the money: £75 is a lot and you’d get more for your money at some other starred places (e.g. The Crown at Whitebrook or Champignon Sauvage, Cheltenham).

I’m unconvinced about the service, though it was – in its way – exquisite. Surprisingly, there were 5 front of house staff for 20 covers – rather excessive, perhaps. Certainly expensive. There were weird touches, too: why are women diners offered cushions to rest their handbags on on the floor (and there’s only 1 per table!)? Is it really necessary for the table to be de-crumbed after every course? (I think this is intrusive and unnecessary.) We thought that Turners had succumbed to the British bastardisation of the Michelin ideal that argues for large numbers of waiting staff and an overwhelming formality.

I don’t think we’ll be rushing back; Birmingham has plenty of restaurants that are this good – even if they don’t have stars!

Friday 24th August

Showers again; cooler.

Felt like a really busy day, but wasn't, I guess. Went to the local DIY store to pick up colour cards since Ali wants to decorate the bedroom (again) - we've chosen 'Green Parrot 4' apparently.

After much discussion with my mother, we've sent out invitations to a party for her 90th birthday next January - will be interesting to see what the response is, but she's really excited about it and looking forward to family being there.

Walked a bit more than a mile going to the Square and back.

We ate:

Murghi Channa Korma.

Thursday 23rd

Pleasantly warm (21C) with a couple of light showers. Exercise consisted of walking Ali to the dentist and then walking down to Weoley Castle Square to buy postage stamps. (Ali's tooth needs to be crowned, but she got all the preparatory work done, so it's just a case of cementing the crown in place next week).

Getting quite a lot of work sent from Brunel University (where I'm an external examiner) - the Post Office seems to be truly excellent at tearing the 'special delivery' packages open in the process of delivery! Starting to think more about returning to work, too (And still more about our forthcoming vacation in Nice - just over 2 weeks to go!).

We ate:

lamb brochettes (pieces of leg marinated in a red wine/vinegar/sugar/garlic/mint mix for 6 hours)

Couscous with courgettes, red peppers, chili, onion, garlic, mint, parsley ...

Wednesday 22nd August

Sunny, a couple of light showers, max 21C. Ali broke a tooth this morning. We both suffer from having been born too early, so we have mouthfls of fillings; some teeth are more filling than tooth. She'll see the dentist tomorrow and isn't in pain.

Spent a lot of today doing 'real' work for the start of the next academic session - it's more tiring than I expected.

Triumph of the day: walked 2 miles to Bohemia in the evening. This is the furthest I've walked for more than 6 months. Fairly shattered, but pleased that my stamina is improving (driven home, though).

We ate:

Trout pate

Chicken livers, broad beans and pancetta in a sherry cream sauce with onion bread

Torbay sole with samphire

Confit pork belly with black pudding charlotte

Lemon mouse with raspberry coulis.

Tuesday 21st August

A much cooler and less humid day. About 21C, showery and breezy. Visited by a colleague.

Went on a new, longer walk and managed 1.5 Miles. It was a bit hillier (is that a word?) than I expected so surprisingly tiring. This is, however, all part of the strategy that may let me walk to Bohemia Restaurant on Wednesday - weather and health permitting. It's 2 miles, so I certainly won't be able to walk the return as well; but there's a plan for that, too!

We ate:

Savoury lamb (this was made up of lamb leftovers, some from the roast leg last week, some from the lamb stew of a few weeks ago [which had been frozen]) with rice and sweetcorn.

Monday 20th August

Showery, but quite warm: 23C.

Went to the Office to discuss my return to work (due on 17th September) and to meet with colleagues, since I'll be resuming the role of Programme Director when I return.There'll be some limitations on what I'm able to do for a while, though.

Walked 1 mile as exercise.

We ate:

Prawn, mussel & squid risotto, flavoured with turmeric.

Sunday, 19th August

Fairly nice day: 21C: sunny.

To Sutton Coldfield to visit my mother. Went to Miller & Carter in Sutton Park for lunch.

We ate:

Venison steak, chips red wine sauce x 2

Smoked haddock with a crispy poached egg.

Banoffee pie (!)

Creme brulee

It's not a bad place if you accept the limitations of mass cooking. The waiting staff work hard and remain quite cheerful.

Saturday 18th

Warm with slight showers: 24C. Went for the weekly food shop and then into Birmingham – Ali was looking for trousers for work, but didn’t find any. I was looking for pig’s feet and I found lots! I have plans for these as a starter pieds de cochon farcie (if my French is right). [This counts as my daily exercise, too – we walked about 1½ miles.]

We did some gardening – sharing the lawn-mowing. I still can’t carry the bags full of clippings.

We ate:

Prawn & cucumber on sticks with chilli sauce

Cold sliced duck breast, pickled plums, cucumber, broad beans vinaigrette

Roast (rare) leg of lamb, crushed new potatoes with shallots and garlic, peas, red wine sauce.

Friday 17th

Another cool-ish, occasionally showery, day. 22C. Usual exercise, though 1.1 miles for a change; only got slightly wet.

Did some work starting to prepare for a return to work.

Went out to our favourite local ‘Indian’ restaurant (the menu is actually Bangladeshi). We ate:

Poppodoms

Chicken Passanda + naan

Tandoori murghi massalla

Thursday 16th August

Showery and not very warm. Went for my walk in Senneleys Park: it rained torrentially! Never mind.

ADT seem to have fixed the alarm system, so Selwyn came round for a tutorial. I also managed to sell him my old autoharp!

We ate:

Sausage sludge (I've mentioned this before and it's MUCH nicer than it sounds. A home-made tomato and mushroom sauce with chopped-up grilled sausages served with penne pasta.)

15th August (Wednesday)

It was supposed to be a nice quiet day at home ...

ADT called to replace the alarm system (for the 2nd time this month). Was going really well until the engineer discovered that he's got the wrong PCB and had to go to get the correct one. In the middle of this a colleague called to take me out to lunch - which was very pleasant (chicken livers on onion bread). ADT returned when they said and seem to have completed the job. Now need to provide the keyholders with a tutorial on how the new system works. Maybe this is an end to automatic phone calls in the middle of the night?

There was a LOT of rain today; temperature 22C; high winds. Got the usual 1-mile walk in, though.

We ate:

Fishcakes (made with smoked haddock, spring onions & breadcrumbs), gratin potatoes, stringless beans.

Tuesday 14th August 2012

Despite the forecast of rain, it was a mostly sunny day, getting to about 24C by the afternoon. Visited by a work colleague (and did some work!).

Out in the evening to Buonissimo in Harborne with Selwyn. Food was very good (and reasonably priced) as was the wine.

We ate (I stole these descriptions from their menu):

Bresaola Mozzarella e Peperoni
A platter of marinated bresaola (Italian style cured beef), bocconcini of mozzarella and roast peppers. Served with toasted ciabatta bread.

Frito Misto
Deep fried king prawns, cuttlefish and red mullet fillets, in a crispy coating. Served with an aioli dip and wedge of lemon.

Linguine al Nero di Seppia
Black linguine pasta with garlic, fennel seeds and olive oil. Tossed with king prawns, swordfish and baby spinach.

Pollo Ripieno con Peperoni e Formaggio Caprino
Free-range chicken breast stuffed with roast red pepper, goat cheese and basil in a spicy tomato sauce. Served with potato wedges, thyme roast carrots and peas with pancetta.

Filetto al Vino Rosso e Porcini
Prime fillet steak, pan seared in a red wine and porcini mushroom sauce. Topped with rocket, pecorino shavings and truffle oil. Served with roast cubetti potatoes, thyme roast carrots and peas with pancetta.

Spiedini Mare e Monti
A combination of two grilled skewers, one with king prawn, salmon and swordfish; the other with chicken, lamb and chorizo. Drizzled with a lemon and pea coulis, served with a dressed salad, potato wedges and fried zucchini

Cherry Cake X2

Monday 13th August

An interesting day on a number of levels: weather was mostly dry and about 18C. Looked after a sick friend all day, though visited by another friend/colleague. Only managed the 1-mile walk through lack of time. The cat (Kat) spent the day in our bed avoiding all contact with strangers. ADT have promised to renew the alarm system (again) on Wednesday: we'll see. The nose-pad broke on my glasses (again).

Unexpected guests for dinner, so we ordered from the local Chinese takeaway:

We ate:

Cantonese sweet & sour chicken

Crispy duck in plum sauce

mixed-meat chow mein (!)

Pork in Peking sauce

Chicken & mushrooms

Fried & boiled rice

Sunday 12th August

Warm, but not sunny - 22C?

Went for a short cycle in the early morning: just a couple of miles and no big hills. Then a 1 mile walk later in the day.

Spent most of the evening travelling across the city to collect a relative who'd ended-up in A&E in Sutton Coldfield. Nothing too serious, as it turned out.

The Olympics are over -- many complaints about the closing ceremony - I was unsure of the relevance of ageing pop stars. How'd you like to bet that there is no quantifiable economic gain from the Olympics?

We ate:

Scallops on pea puree

Chicken roulade (with black pudding & pancetta), gratin potatoes, broad beans.

Saturday 11th August

Warm, but not very sunny: 24C. To Wales to visit the Mother-in Law. Roads were busy, because of the holiday season, I guess. I'm becoming less tolerant (if that's possible) of other [implied: lesser] drivers who get in my way. Have to try not to intimidate them too much with the Rav.

Didn't do much all day, but was pleased that I could finally connect to the Internet with the dongle (quite good speed, too).

Out to eat at the Crosskeys just outside Llansantffraid.

My desktop computer (this is on Sunday, I tend to write at least 1 day behind) finally gave up the ghost - corrupted registry and the restore disk doesn't work, so I'll have to go shopping ...

We ate:

Salmon goujons (pretentious, or what?) x 2

Pate

Steak & Kidney pie

Plaice & chips

Fillet steak & chips

Nice enough food, and not expensive by Birmingham standards: shame they feel obliged to serve tons of chips with each dish.

Friday 10th August

(Writing this from the Mother-in-Law's house in Wales, connecting with a 3 dongle.)

 A good day. Warm and sunny (24C again), actually, not quite so sunny as Thursday. Mowed the top 2 lawns; Ali mowed the middle one.

Went shopping at ASDA Oldbury (this is part of a plan - ASDA is supposed to be the cheapest 'big' supermarket, and one is to be built quite close to where we live, so we thought we'd check-out the nearest store. The petrol was cheap too. Food was good and the fresh vegetables better than Sainsburys.) Bought fish for dinner (more below).

Daily walk replaced by walking to Weoley Castle Square (which is round) to visit the optician. Need new glasses and wanted to get a floater checked-out (it's fine). New glasses in about a week with very high index lenses (1.73 apparently) + new sunglasses. Well, it's only money.

We ate:

Sea Bream fillets with broad beans, new potatoes and tartare sauce.

Thursday

A much better day (personally, at least) sunny and warm (24C).  Did a lot of sitting in the garden and went for the 1-mile walk.

We ate:

Gammon in a mushroom sauce with broad beans and rice.

Wednesday 8th August

For reasons associated with yesterday's excess of exercise (and I'm aware that it wasn't much in absolute terms, but when one is still trying to get fit after 12 months+ inactivity, it was a lot -- believe me!), I have no idea what the weather was like in the morning. At 16:00 hrs it was sunny and quite warm.

We ate (from the Chinese takeaway):

Special foo yung: chow mein.

(I'm expecting normal service to be restored from Thursday!)

Tuesday 7th August

Showers early on, got drier later.  Did steps on the Wii: walked 1 mile: cycled 1 mile. (This turns out to have been far too much - I regretted it in ways that I'm only disclosing to close friends -- ask if you need to know).

We ate:

Takeaway Pizza (Meat Machine, Super Supreme [Pizza Hut's 2-for-1 deal].

Monday 7th August

A long day. Sunshine and showers (again) 19C. Computing in the morning: the desktop PC is really a long way from the first flush of youth and needed maintenance. Some of it is better now, though the DVD RW steadfastly refuses to write: a power supply issue, I think*. Can't decide whether to try to fix it or just upgrade the machine. Then I'm into the desktop/laptop debate again ...

Walked 1.1 miles in 20 minutes ( a new route).

Went to the hospital to be reviewed by the consultant. Appointment was 14:30. Was actually seen at 16:55! Harangued by a guy who was also waiting (for a different consultant) describing how "He'd told them ..." (a list of things designed to get him seen earlier/compensation for being seen late/Etc., Etc.) wonderful - not. Progress seems to be in the 'normal' range, so I can try to do a bit more.

We ate:

Saffron risotto with squid, mussels, prawns.

* it was the power supply, quick, cheap fix.

Sunday 5th August

Sunshine and showers (the story for August so far). Many Olympic medals won (note that BBC commentators have - to their shame - forgotten how English works, e.g. one doesn't fail to defend a title by losing: it's just an unsuccessful defence). 27 Olympic channels on cable: little to watch on any of them. Still can't understand how professional 'sportspersons' are allowed to compete.

Nicki came for lunch. We ate:

Roast duck with Apache potatoes, fresh peas (surprisingly good this late in the season) Welsh* onions.

Chocolate pudding.

* This is chopped onions cooked covered slowly on the hob with a lot of chopped sage + salt & pepper. Takes a couple of hours but is well worth it. Works well with pork, too.

Saturday 4th August

Mostly dry: an occasional shower: 19C.

Went to dinner at our friends in Malvern Wells.

We ate:

An appetiser plate (prawns in Marie Rose sauce, Stuffed peppers, anchovies, salad).

Chicken casserole, potatoes, runner beans, broccoli.

Strawberry fool.

Friday 3rd August

Mostly sunny, occasional heavy (really heavy) showers. A little thunder.

Went to the GP this morning to arrange more time off work, since I'm some way from being fit enough for that yet. More drugs (some of my usual stuff, but loaded up with free paracetamol, too). GPs a really nice guy, originally from the Netherlands. Spent half the consultation discussing why the French don't seem to like the Dutch and why I'm taken to be Dutch when I try to speak French (terrible accent).

Otherwise a calm and quite peaceful day.

We ate:

Mozzarella, roasted peppers & broad bean salad.

Rump steak (rare), garlic mashed potatoes, peas.

Thursday 2nd August

This is the day I should have been reviewed by the consultant and wasn't. I'd like to say that it's a  good thing that the hospital had noticed the difficulties I'd experienced on a previous visit and reacted to them --- it would have been so much better if they'd done so more than 1 day in advance!

Showery today.

This evening was Bohemia's 'Beef Night' - Ross, the chef, produced a special all beef 4-course menu.

We ate:

Amuse: Beef consomme

Carpaccio of beef with poached rhubarb

Sirloin steak with 'twice-cooked' chips, sweetcorn, onion rings, coleslaw, salad.

Suet jam pudding

It was pretty good, though not perfect. For me, the carpaccio was too peppered and I'd have liked my steak to be a bit less cooked. Nevertheless, a splendid evening, good atmosphere. Hope they do it again (well, something similar).

Wednesday 1st August

A dry day, temperatures got up to about 21C. Selwyn arrived to have his alarm system fob re-coded.

I was due to be reviewed by the hospital tomorrow, but they rang to change the appointment (this is based on the fact that they know I don't trust the individual who I was due to see) [This was an interesting experience earlier in the year: I refused to be seen by this person and was asked to wait in the adjacent waiting room while they sorted it out - every so often the door would open a crack and someone (well,  as series of someones) would peer out to see what sort of a being could cause all this trouble!] Initially, they wanted to re-book for September, but (eventually) they agreed to Monday. Interestingly, I was resigned to seeing the person I didn't want to (if that makes sense), so I'm irritated by the additional delay, but not really displeased.

Had a nasty virus (Ukash) on the PC, but seem to have managed to remove it ...

We ate:

Murghi channa korma (chicken & chickpeas)

Gooey chocolate puddings.

Tuesday 31st

More sun ans showers. Went out to lunch with a colleague - nice change. Walked the big block (no change). Olympics still on. New alarm system seems to be fine. Kat spent most of the day in our bed (well, the doorbell rang twice), so it's a special pleasure to be trying to get her fur off the sheets at bedtime.

A couple of months ago our solicitors were closed down by the Law Society for (we think) 'financial irregularities'. They were doing some work for us at the time, but - more importantly - they were holding our property deeds and wills in their vault. We actually got them back today!

Felt like a really busy day. We ate (From the chip shop):

Fish & Chips

Steak & Kidney pie & chips