Gijon

Last Saturday Nicole, Jon, Bekie, Jus, Dean, Sarah, Darren, Bal and I all took off for a long weekend in Gijon in Northern Spain, arriving at the regional airport Asturias. We took a taxi to Gijon taking around 25 minutes and costing 40 Euros. Initial thoughts as we sped past the harbour were that we were back in Ramsgate.

We paid the driver and checked into the Mick Jagger suite at the Hotel Celuisma Pathos.

After unpacking we headed to the local Sideria to sit in the afternoon sun and relax.

Heading back to the hotel to change and shower we stopped off at the local market in the old town plaza and bought some local pastries to soak up the booze and tide us over until the evening meal.

We met up with Bal and Darren in the hotel bar after their epic journey and we all headed out on the town. Stopping at various bars for tapas and ending up in a resturant for a slap up meal of Entrecote of beef, a Veal dish, Calamarie and scrambled eggs with baby eels... Yummy.

We ended the night at the excellent Kitsch Cafe and all staggered back to the hotel in the early morning.

The next morning Nicole and I promenaded along the beach, its huge waves crashing in and the sea air clearing our heads. Nicole had a craving for some chips so after a brief walk around the town we ended up in DOS 40, a tidy resturant for lunch and both had a hangover curing "Huevos con frites un jamon" Ham eggs and chips in a spanish stylie.

The rest of the crew turned up in the bar after their walk about and we all settled in for a long afternoon of freshly sliced ham, paprika crisps and various other tapas washed down with Cava, Rioja, Spanish lager and sherry only broken up by brief walks.

The food looked good so we booked a table for the evening and set about translating the menu. Everyone had their own plate this time and the meals and starters included in no paticular order as follows;

"Fabada" which is a rich stew of white beans, morcilla (spanish black pudding), chorizo, pancetta (bacon) and saffron, Which I would highly recomend if you visit Asturias,

Confit de canard, a french dish,

Magret de canard, also a french dish,

Grilled Vegtables, that looked delicious and a whole meal in itself,

Calamari's, this ended up being white fish gijons for some unexplained reason,

Revuelto, a spanish style scrambled eggs,

Prawns with garlic mayonnaise,

Steaks,

The biggest crab salad i've ever seen,

Mushrooms and grilled peppers on toast,

Huevos con frites un jamon

plus other treats that escapes me.

The next morning we all hit the town with our credit cards out, Skinny jeans being the main item on the girls lists and boots. I am pleased to announce that after about ten years of searching Nicole has finally found jeans that actually fit her so she bought two pairs!

I bought surprise surprise for those who know me an Asturian cookbook, the ingredients for Fabada, and some Sardine paste, a favorite on our summer picnics.

We got to the airport in good time and treated ourselves to a last spanish lunch before boarding the plane back to Stanstead.

A big thank you to Lord Jonathon Stringer for organising the trip and can't wait for the next one...

KK...

Click Here for our snaps...

New Bedroom

Our new bedroom is finished after a long slog with new boilers and radiators, a partition stud wall, matching the coving and ceiling paper, fixing the floorboards, installing a new door and the final selection of wallpaper, carpet and matching up paint to it.

We were unable to match the picture rail so my dad (Aka Poppa) made his own and we replaced the skirting and dado rails completely and stained and varnished them. Nicole has not stopped grinning like a Cheshire cat all week and we are off to Homebase this weekend to get a chandelier and a new set of blinds.

The room has been finished to a brilliant standard and I would like everyone to know what a fantastic Dad I have for all his weekends he has put in, to get the job done and all the tips and tricks he has shown me over the past weeks, he even let me have a go at the plastering, NOT!!!
Thanks Poppa...

I have added a few before and after shots, let me know what you think.









On to the next Job Now DOH!

Toucan Crossing

Whilst taking part in the Thanet Yomp 2007 I was disappointed to see on that the Pedestrian and Cycle crossing signs otherwise known as Toucan Crossings had no reference to the Birds at all.

I would therefore like to suggest that Thanet council scrap the current road signs and replace them with a sign designed around the image of the Bird.
My suggestions are as follows:

OR
Anyway the Thanet Yomp 2008 is to take place on the 13th September and if anyone would like to take part in the 30 mile sponsored walk around Thanet please email me.

Alternatively sponsorship details will be published soon.

Great Scott!

I recently visited The Ramsgate Brewery run by Mr Eddie Gadd to purchase some of his splendid Ales, Eddie has a selection of ales on draft that you can take away with you in plastic containers to enjoy at home at a very reasonable £6.00 for 4 pints.

I could choose from the following ales:

Seasider – Bitter-sweet with slight citrus and orange notes

Storm Warning – My personal favourite
Great Scott – Bitter-sweet & Faintly Smoky

I decided to try Great Scott and found it to be excellent.

It has a lovely smoky finish with the peaty flavours coming through.

Eddie says he tried to produce the ale with a faint reminiscence of top single malt piercing through every now and then and I think he has achieved it.

Also on sale are some fantastic bottled beers from Europe and a few from the Dark Star Brewery – Sussex including the extremely popular Espresso Stout.

So get yourself down to the Gadds Beer shop and support our local brewer.

Happy New Year new song needed.

Don't ya just love the Scots, they sure know how to write a good beer tune, although AULD LANG SYNE has had its day, in my opinion.
I think we should start a new traditional song to celebrate what the New Year means to us all now.

What do you think of my choices, add comment if you have any better!

Chumbawamba – Tubthumping

Marilyn Manson - Off The Wagon

Dead Kennedys - Too Drunk To F**k

NOFX – Punk in drublic (Any song on the album)

And finally to all my auld acquaintance I hope you all have a Happy New Year...

Merry Christmas

Christmas started this year for the Silk family with a visit to St Luke’s church in Ramsgate to join in on their carol concert and enjoy a few mince pies.

Christmas eve I cooked a lamb keema curry and Nicole cook our turkey for the following day which turned out to be delicious. The mini Silks were beside themselves with excitement getting there last minute Santa orders in and sprinkling Reindeer food on the lawn. They left a drop of Port and a mince Pie for Santa and a nice big carrot for the Reindeer. Nicole and I spent the rest of the evening watching Hogfather on the TV.

Our Christmas day morning began at 04.00 with Jed at the end of our bed not quite sure why and a bit miffed that there was an enormous sack on the end of his bed. I skirted the questions and got him off to sleep in our bed for a few hours more.

Georgia announced that Santa Claus had been at around 06.30 and we all set about opening our Presents. Nicole received a kettle from Santa in the spirit of the 1950’s house wife tradition and I got a bottle of Prada fragrance. As always on Christmas morning our house looked as if a bomb had blown up in Hamleys stock room. However, we all had a fantastic day together with a splendid turkey and all the trimmings dinner cooked by Nicole and lots of Adnams bitter, Nicole has found her new favourite pudding from Marks and Spencer’s (The chocolate one on the advert) and I indulged in my new fascination with Brussels sprouts.

Keith’s excellent Brighton adventure

Recently I spent a few nights in Brighton and found it to be an excellent city, especially the area called the lanes with its buzzing restaurants and bars. After work each evening I went for a stroll to find somewhere to eat. The First night I had a splendid lamb Dansak, followed by a few beers at my new favourite pub, Fiddlers elbow where they were playing Nick cave plus other off beat music to my delight.

The second night I ended up in Momma Cherri's Soul Food Shack. I had watched the Gordon Ramsey show and thought I would give it a try.

I ordered the meatloaf with greens and mash potato and a bottle of American beer. Enjoyable tasty food although the meatloaf was a bit salty. However, this was overshadowed by the price of the meal a whopping in a £20. I think Momma has been bitten by the corporate bug, I thought soul food was all about good wholesome family food! If I took my whole family it would cost £100 for four slices of meatloaf... Gordon, Have a word...

The next evening I found myself at Momma Cherri's original soul food shack, which has now become the blue man North African restaurant. This place is fantastic. I started with a beer from Casablanca called Flag and some complimentary marinated chick peas that were extremely addictive. I had a starter Merguez Sausages which are homemade spicy lamb sausages with homemade salsa and also very tasty. For my main I had Khrouf, a Rich lamb tagine with cinnamon, prunes and chickpeas on the side was couscous and pita bread. The whole meal and service was excellent and I will be returning on my next visit to Brighton.