Accursed Snow

Location: Home
Mood: Antsy
Listening to: Radio 4 (programme about Henry Moore)
Reading: 4-4-2

Our sleep patterns are all screwed up. We weren't asleep until 4.30am last night, and now it's half eleven and I'm barely awake. The whole day gets lost this way and I loathe it.

On a more positive note, we at last managed to visit Andrew Fairlie's on Tuesday. It was supposed to be a surprise for Fisher - her last birthday present - but Fairlie's phoned earlier on Tuesday and left a message on the phone asking us to confirm the table that night. Naturally, she listened to it. She still got a surprise when Kai and Ina turned up as our 'cab', and another one when Wheeler and Phid were sitting at our table.

The food was excellent, although I can't say it blew me away. To start with I had crispy egg with truffle oil and artichoke salad. I wanted to compare it to the similar dish I've eaten at Devonshire Gardens, and it wasn't as good. The coating was much more of a generic batter than the crispy shell at DG. The salad was delicious - full of little cubes of flavour, and the truffle oil was superb.
My main course was lamb: a roast loin, a kidney, and confit neck. It was lovely, but again, not particularly innovative. The loin was a small roundel, and Ina - who had the same - was slightly disappointed that hers was tough. I didn't find mine tough, but I wasn't impressed with the confit, which I thought slightly underflavoured and a little dry. The kidney, though, was delicious. And to finish I had an extremely good cheese plate, with Artisanal cheeses from France. There were about 9 small slices on the plate, which is an excellent and if there could be any complaint it was that there were too few accompanying crackers. But only by one or two, so I managed.

The highlight of the evening, food wise, was probably Fisher's dessert. She had a chocolate brownie with brambles and basil & thyme ice cream. The brownie was a small sphere served in a case of chocolate - over which was poured hot chocolate sauce. The hot sauce slowly melted the chocolate coating, revealing the brownie and ice cream inside. Clever! It was the first sign of real innovation, and we all appreciated it very much.

So, while I don't come out of Fairlie's thinking I've experienced something new and different, we did all come away having thoroughly enjoyed our meals and having had a very lovely night. Especially enjoyable was the wine: Felton Road's pinot noir from New Zealand. Deliciously easy to slip down - so we had 2 bottles. Mmm.

Of course, all this did nothing for my calorie count - but I had a small lunch, and it doesn't seem to have knocked me off course. Yesterday I consumed about 1300 and burned off 400 at a half hour gym session. If my BMR is around 1700, that means I burned at least 2100 during the day - 800 more calories than I consumed. Which is ok - especially as it'll be a little more than that owing to a mile walk with the dogs.

Alas, we are now sitting under a good few inches of snow again - so it's back to slippery roads, running inside, instantly soaking dogs, and general irritation. Grrr. Feeding Epona and Shah tonight, too, and we need to go shopping. So I must start getting the day underway.

Adio'.