Happy Christmas from Hastings Battleaxe – and a Google weirdness….

Just back from the Midlands. Grim drive in pouring rain. 

     Have had punishing, but very pleasant, few days of catching up with friends and family.
     On Wednesday we drove up to my sister’s near Bedford and stopped the night.  As well as Pat and David, it was nice to see my niece Sara and her youngest son Joe.

     Next day we went on to Brum, and from then until Saturday lunchtime was a continuous round of catching up and eating – we are talking coffee, lunch, tea and supper with different people each day, including fetching Eve from her last day at school. She had won a prize draw with £50 worth of vouchers!  Not that she would tell us anything about it, of course. You ask her what she has been doing at school and she says ‘I don’t know…’. Still, I remember how boring it was to be asked such questions by grandparents or even parents.
     I feel incredibly fat and it is not even Christmas – on Tuesday, I had an enormous meal down here with the WI Committee ladies, on Wednesday an Indian meal with my relations, on Thursday another lovely meal with friends, cooked by Sue, with whom, as usual, we were staying. 

     The crowning glory/horror was a meal the next night at Carters, a very classy Moseley restaurant. We went with Philosopher’s old friend/colleague Alan, who is very into Fine Dining – I have to say we are not…. Anyway, they just serve a five course set menu. No room for veggies, food faddists or allergy sufferers round there, because the ingredients included black pudding, pig’s cheek, raw fish and beef.  It sounds terribly gluttonous but the portions were tiny Heston-type creations like black squid ink crackers with dots of mackerel pate foam on top. And don’t forget the devilled nasturtium leaves…..
     It was fiendishly expensive. Don’t get me wrong, I love my food but I can only stretch the value of any eating experience so far – swallow it down and that’s it.  It seems the restaurant is getting national recognition. Fair enough, the young people who run it were very pleasant, and if you appreciate that type of experience, then that’s the place for you.
     This will be the last Battleaxe blog before Christmas. Have largely done my Christmas shopping, except, would you believe, a copy of the Highway Code which Philosopher wanted – don’t ask me why.

     Anyway, must get on and make mince pies – neighbours are here for drinks this evening.

     Before I finish, here is our Christmas tree.  It is a real tree in a pot we got a few years ago and which has been lurking outside ever since.  It is good to give it a moment of glory but actually it is a bit dead in the middle and the branches are too feeble to hang heavy baubles on.
     I have only taken this picture and posted it to see if Google grabs it and makes it twinkle. It happened with a picture that Philosopher took, and I see it has now happened with this. Google has apparently invaded my iphone camera roll, pinched the photo and the tree now appears twinkling on Google+. All very strange and a bit spooky. So far it is not twinkling on this blog. Oh…. yes it is….

    
  
Have a Great Christmas and a Happy New Year!