Birthday Phase 2! (Saturday)

We had a relaxing day - didn't really do anything blog - worthy until the evening.

Oh - I made a nut loaf for Sunday... I normally make them with breadcrumbs in, but because my Sis in law Gill is more or less vegan, and bread has milk and butter in it, I cooked some risotto rice (its more sticky than normal rice) and put that in instead.

I put in... chopped mixed nuts, cooked rice, mustard powder, a bit of veg stock powder and bashed it all together with a couple of eggs (Gill can eat them) Once in its loaf tin, it cooked for about 3/4 an hour and is now ready to eat!

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Douglas took me into town yesterday evening, to a very nice, and fairly new Italian restaurant for a meal. We put our glad rags on, and I put my shoes with little heels on (wow! Yes! Anna in heels!) and went down for the Tram.

We walked through town to the restaurant, got there just on time, and on request they very kindly gave us a window seat :-) D ordered two cocktails for us.. both long ones.. mine was a lovely fresh lemon lime one, and Ds was a fruity berry one. I've no idea what was in mine, but it was very alcoholic, so before my starter had arrived I was already feeling rather cheerful!!

Starters

Anna : Brushetta (a little bit of toasted bread, garlicised, with chopped fresh tomatoes on, some herbs and some more garlic) .. very nice fresh tasty tomatoes.. the whole thing was wonderful.

Douglas: Calamari (deep fried squid rings with some ?mayo in a pot to dip them in) D said it was really nice but the Calamari was a tiny bit too chewy but even so, jolly nice. D says it was roasted garlic mayo - mild but garlicy, just as he likes it!!

Main Course

Anna: Pizza with goats cheese. Again, very tasty, and the cheese had been melted on.. not just dumped on like some places do :-) I was a happy bunny, it was soo tasty, and the pizza base had been hand made and baked in their special oven.

Douglas: Roast Halibut on a bed of seafood risotto. He says that it was excellently cooked, if a little cool, but the lump of fish looked a pretty good size and D was very happy with it.. one of the best meals out hes had!

Pudding

(are you all salivating madly by now?)

Anna : Chocolate fudge pudding (with, bless them a candle for me to blow out on top) The outside was crunchy, and the middle was nice and soft.. choc sauce and real home made vanilla ice cream was bliss too..

Douglas: (pushing the boat out, and ignoring his dietary restrictions, for a change) had Double Chocolate Torte.. with chocolate sauce, white chocolate ice cream (home made and very delicate) and a couple of raspberries to finish it off!

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Well we were full after that lot.. and as Douglas had ordered a very nice bottle of Chardonnay to go with it, I was not quite as steady on my feet as usual!!!

The service at this place was 2nd to none.. the waitress was attentive without hovering over us.. very smiley and (as Douglas noticed) as quite pretty.. and the general manager was just lovely. very cheerful and also (as I noticed very quickly.. was handsome and had a very pinch able bum!!) .. no dear readers.. I didn't!! lol

We very happily wibbled back to a taxi rank, and from there, home to a quiet rest of evening and an extremely solid nights sleep!