Long Time No Post!

Hola,
Well it has been 18 months since Adele promised review after enlightened review on our dining experiences. Fortunately the fact there haven't been any reviews doesn't mean we haven't eaten out. It's fair to say we've had our share of tasty nosh in the past 18 months. Its just that there was no inclination from Adele or I to write about them.

I haven't even looked at this blog for 18 months and I now have the same problem I always have and thats coming up with a subject worth writing about.

The reason I'm on here today is becuase I have just signed up for a Friendfeed account and looking at all the links that I could have coming through I noticed blogger was one of them. You have to make the most of your interactive interfaces when you get the chance. Facebook, Flickr & Twitter have taken up all my time and as they are so instant it makes me think that the blog (well this one) is a little to slow and not nstant enough. Anything that happens to me, whether thats photographs or interesting tidbits are now feed through Facebook. I haven't really got into to twiiter. My phones prehistoric and want support it, and I cant see the point in using the twitter website. I would have to be online constantly for it to be worthwhile. Hopefully in the not to distant future I will upgrade my phone and I will be tweeting with the best of them.

In the mean time if anybody still checks this page I hope it make refreshing change to see something a little different.

Adios.

Move over AA Gill

Yes we have been rubbish at keeping the old blog topped up with regular doses of self indulgence, but we are both extremely lazy and make no apologies for this. A very valid excuse is also that since facebook came along we have even more to type in an average day, what with work, texting, emails, it's all very tedious sometimes and I'm sure I'm getting RSI. If I even tried to hold a pen I'd fail miserably like someone who just came out of a coma and can't control their muscles. All of that was a long winded way of saying 'sorry the blog has not been updated in 6 months'. If anyone is still checking the LE let alone interested in the drivel, I'll bloody well eat my hat.
Well, we're back and as because you all know what we're up to anyway thanks to facebook, we're taking a slightly different approach this time. It's all about food! I will be reviewing the Northwests finest eateries as and when I eat there (with some archives now and again.)

For those of you who know us we do consider ourselves 'foodies', a cringeworthy term I agree, but one without a worthy synonym all the same. The position a 'foodie' finds themselves is not an easy one. A paradox of a position, a feeling of superiority and unashamed snobbery conflicts with a constant anticipation and excitement before one eats that is rarely fully satiated - well, not in this country anyway.

The British hospitality industry ten years ago was to food what British 70's sitcoms were to diversity awareness. A takeaway coffee was chicory powder in a polystyrene cup. A posh restaurant was the local Italian that served pasta as a main course, potato wedges with the mains and parma ham with melon ON THE SAME PLATE took a lot of persuading. Things have improved greatly I am pleased to say in some parts of the country. Awareness of fresh, healthy and delicious food is at least around amongst some. Those same 'some' of which I include myself will not tolerate poor service, being ripped off and (pardon my appropriate language) shit food. Some call me fussy but we shouldn't put up with it. Britain is not known for it's culinary heritage/appreciation/awareness it is perhaps the most expensive country (except for Scandinavian ones) to eat out, it is not a regular everyday thing for us to do like it might be for Americans or Italians, so it has to be special and it has to be good. Poor establishments beware you will feel my wrath. I'm a compassionate person in most other areas of my life but I have no sympathy for poor restaurants (or cafes) that go out of business, it is is good sign that you good people of Britain know your food and vote with your feet.

There will always be complete dullards that think black pasta is exotic, that Nando's is their favourite restaurant, that TGI's do a bloody good plate of chicken wings and that more than one knife and fork per meal is beyond them. These people drive Fiestas, love the Trafford Centre, wear fleeces over going out clothes, shop in Next and watch dancing on ice. For everyone else I hope you enjoy my reviews.

posted by Adele

Vive La France

We just had a week and a half in Paris and then in the French countryside with the family. I failed to take any pictures in the country but there will be plenty here shortly.

Spot the difference

David Mitchell


Simon Weaver

Sissy Spacek

Santorini

We just had a week in Santorini.

Flickr

I've just created a bean account. Sorry I mean Flickr account. Link to your right.

Hold me back

One of the worst excuses for a musician has recently been on every radio station and TV channel I've found myself listening to or watching.

Last year saw an enormous amount of new male acoustic "talent". Nutini & Morrison joined the rear guard of James C*nt and "O" so clever Damien Rice, the guy who's lived off his "outstanding" - The Times, "inspiring" - The Mail, debut album, which was still being advertised on tv last year regardless of its 2003 release. Another of the "shit how do you write songs again?" pretenders is Ray Lamontagne. Dining out on trouble since 2004.

The latest pile of steaming crap is.... Jesus I cringe when I even think of the name he's given himself. It makes me feel sick its so bad. When this chap writes his songs I'm sure he wants his audience to react but how about vomiting. I really would explode vomit over him & his guitar if I found myself in a room with him "jammin". Have you guessed who it is yet? Probably not. My dislike for him is intense and probably not matched.

Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly.

I don't understand who saw this guy and said "Yeah! We'll sign him. This chaps got real talent". Not to completely bash him. Maybe if he'd had 50 or 60 more years to develop, to live a little. But his lyrics are fresh from the sixth form centre. His voice is weak and lacking in originality.

There must be a thousand singer song writers spraying their drinks over there mates when it hits home that this guys releasing music.

I wouldn't mind so much if he'd been put in the same sentence as McFly of Avril Lavinge, but he's not. The NME have him nominated for awards and Lauren Leverne can't contain herself whenever she has the misfortune of exposing him to us again.


I can only hope he does a BeddingfieldS and drops off the radar when this current buzz buzzes off!

Movie Night

We subscribe to LOVEFiLM and we've had a few movies lying around for a good week. This is annoying as its a waste of money. These problems accur mostly because I have sole control of the films that we have posted. These invariably contain silly comedies, comic book adaptions, action adventures and plenty of sci fi. All of these genres are not to Adeles liking, which means to find a gap to get these babies in results in a little tension from the boss.

So this evening to get the beauties in which were going stale I pulled off a double biller. For your information they were Night Watch & X-Men 3. Both mightly good fun. The tension's not quite doubled but I've definitely experienced an above average level.




I wouldn't have this problem if I had plenty of space on my hard drive, so I could ram it full of this entertaining nonsense. But its close to bursting point. I'm going to have to get myself a new one sharpish.

Geek boy

Everytime I watch youtube for any length of time I want to start saying "dude" and "no way". I getting totally drowned in Americanisms. Sooooo no way, this dude on youtube man. Like you know was soo cool. SHIT I have no control of it!

Anyway this is my first youtube link, and as the heavy fella tell you himself its a bit of mindless fun. But I'll be honest, as much I tried not to laugh. He got to me..

NYE

We had a bit of a do at ours.

A Christmas Day Engagement!

I proposed to Adele on Christmas Day and thankfully she accepted! We had a great day with our friends. The pics are a little taster.

Berlin (with a pinch of punch)

These were a gift from an old Indonesian guy who's restaurant we had enjoyed. Maybe it was little disrespectful.



Christmas Eve curry. I real delight!


Click to Enlarge

Berlin 21st to 28th December

Christmas

We're off to Berlin tomorrow for the festive holidays. It's the first time I've ever been away from home for Christmas. This pushed the last minute stresses of season forward for us. Visiting all the family and delivering and receiving our gifts hectically for the past few days.

I'd like to pass my wishes of a Merry Christmas to the cheery readers of The LE.

And a Happy New Year... (keep the change you filthy animal)...

Work

I've been worrking for myself now for the past couple of months. Last week was the first with no real work and this made me panic bigtime! Being self employed is a real stress. The number of things I get worked up about is unbelievable. One minute its no work, then its to much, then is deciding on whether I'm able to do a job I've taken on, having no concept of time scales, having the customer nose over your shoulders (thats a real anal pain). Even the quoting process is stressful. It leaves me breathless and paniced.

Bring back the call centres, the 9 to 5, the regular wage, the free holidays... Oh Lord.. what have I done...

Well maybe that last paragraph was a bit to far. But honestly I'm going to have to start meditating because I think its as close as I've come to losing it.

Recently I've been doing a lot of flooring, laminated and of the real wood variety. If you know anybody who would like a "fresh new floor for new year" point them in my direction!

Festive Greetings

How! Long Time, No Post.

There was a report today about the business of the blog and how there popularity will wane from next year. It could well be claimed that The LE started to wane this year. But not to worry.

I'm sure most people are similar to me in respect of checking certain sites without fail each day when you arrive into work or put your pc/mac on at home. I have a pretty strict regime and I rigorously check certain sites for what news may be new or for new posts fresh from the mind of friends or family.

Firstly I'll always click onto BBC Sport to check any footy news, thats number one. This will inevitably lead to checking BBC News. This is then followed by a quick check on Gmail, I'll then have a look at my brothers blog which happily, he updates a helluva lot more regularly than I do, I'll check The Muvs, I'll check the Empire site, then eBay (I'm selling all my posessions). Screenselect to see if I have a new dvd on the way. And this is often washed down with the bitter taste of my bank balance. I also sadly check this very blog hoping I've turned into a witty sleepwalking blogomaniac.

If anyone has any crucial sites I can add to my routine I'll be happy for the suggestion because frankly I'm sick of my routine.

To finish up I've put a few pictures below. Adele & I did a little tour of Eastern Europe this summer and this included a stop in Prague. When we got together our first trip was to Prague but in the winter. I took the first photo then and always thought Adele looked like a Ruski spy, I tried to recreate the effect on our second stay, the picture was taken on the same street but my angles were a little off. Adele's gonna give me ear ache over this because she ain't no fan of the close up, and even less a fan of close ups of her published on the world wide web, man! But I like them!

All new

I thought I'd have a change of scenery. It's a little softer on the eye. I like it!

The New Jumback

We just took the new "Ute" up to the lakes for it's maiden journey! We went to Waswater in Wasdale near Scarfell. Not that we climbed it! Adele's very sensitive to exercise so in the interest of public safety we kept the walking to a minimum. We did however take the Jumback up and down the mountains! We found the most precarious road with a 30% incline. No worries for the Jumback.

The World's best market

Posted by Adele

Welcome to my debut, I have been meaning to contribute to this for sometime now but you know how it is, laziness, tiredness, full time job, crap soaps, sleep maximisation on a school night etc etc all seem to take over. You are lucky though, tonight there is football on TV. Perhaps I have very few sympathisers here but I find football incredibly tedious, I'm still reading 'Ladybird's first book of football' I don't understand it (predictably offside rule) I don't know any of the footballers (and not even the fit ones since I left school and could stop feigning mild albeit girly interest) I don't care who wins and I have no concept of how you can hate Man United one day and then say "I support any english teams in Europe" the next, if anyone wishes to enlighten me then please don't, I'll never change.

So, this is why I find myself blogging tonight.


I feel it is my duty, nay, mission, to spread the word on some things that interest me and my latest interest (that is not to suggest it is a fad however) is Bury Market! Ok, 'World's best market' might be a tad generous, Camden, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Barcelona, Marrakesh and Portabello may disagree, but the title 'World's best food market beginning in the North of England' belongs only to Bury.



I won't lecture LE's intelligent readers on why one should avoid supermarkets, particularly Tesco (for no reason other than I just hate them the most and this may stem from the 'Aldi quality-Harrods prices' of Tesco Metro on Market Street which until recently held the monopoly on City Centre food shopping-M&S only counts on payday), other reasons for supermarchephobia should include high food miles on fresh produce, unnecessary packaging, pesticides, not really-so-organic organic food and a desire to support local businesses. Bury market truly is one of the few remaining markets in the most old fashioned sense of the word. The shoppers who've been going for years can't see what all the fuss is about and city slickers like me are acting like tourists. Working class women in fingerless gloves shouting out "2 punnets for £1.50...come and get your strawberries girls..." Three generations of a family cutting fabrics for regulars, bohemian young families from Chorlton jumping on this bandwagon ('cause lets face it who can really afford to do the weekly shop in Unicorn?) buying free range, locally produced, super fresh eggs next to the pensioner from Radcliffe who thought she was just buying eggs! The choice of fruit and veg on offer beats any supermarket in this country, it comes in little brown paper bags, your stuff is weighed on scales, the staff are human calculators as your purchases mount up, you bring your own shopping bags, theres no other packaging, some of the food is organic not in a "Look at us, you simply MUST eat organic darling" way, often they don't even realise, a sign for tomatoes last week read "Local tomatoes pollenated by bees". The greatest thing of all about Bury market is it's down to earthness, yes, it is working class and a real treat for people watchers, every Peter Kaye-esque character that ever there was can be seen there, there's even a few regular crazies with their predicatable repetoires but the food on offer is as sophisticated as it gets. Now take Radiccio lettuce, its just a lettuce, it might have a fancy name but whats in a name? At Bury market they do not believe in fancy names for fancy lettuces, radiccio is known under it's more Northern moniker - 'Posh Lettuce' No word of a lie! See it for yourselves and do your weekly food shop while you're at it! Enjoy.

News

I know I always seem to start these updates with a "it's been a long time.." etc etc intro. And it has, well been a long time.
I truly can't be arsed. Its a chore. My computers on all of the time and I look a the short cut to the blogger hundreds of times a week and my mind goes blank, or remains blank. It's a pain to put it quite simply. I also have the added problem that my cameras shite so at the moment don't even have lovely snaps to add.

This isn't to say I've been up to nothing. In fairness the opposite can be said now. It's a busy and enjoyable past month.

Highlights including the whistlestop trip to the capital to watch Alton Ellis in a gig in Camden, for which I owe Gaz a sincere thanks for being mightily sharp on the blower. This was my first reggae night ever. I've never even been to a club unless you count some heavy dubage at the rear of the musicbox. And what can I say other than that it was amazing. I can't put it into words. I was moved. The chaps in his seventies and he was belting the numbers out pitch perfect and his band were amazing. To hear the rocksteady tunes so loudly and performed so perfectly was great. I thought he was pretty great anyway but now I'm listening back with a greater appreciation. Seek him out if you can Mon...

Other than that and to bore those who know and inform those who don't. I'm no longer an employee of B&Q. I wanted to take the company forward but the management wouldn't allow me to cascade my ideas to my team mates. Bolderdash, I'm now seeking self employment. My Joinery course finished in July and the work is starting to come in. I shall be setting myself up properly in due course. Please contact me if you have work. Needless to say I'm competitive, and erm honest!

September's also been heavy on the birthday calendar. Sister Weaver turned 30, which is well old (as a youngster I fell I get away with saying "well" in a sentence, it probably wouldn't sound right from a 30 pluser). Jude & Shandy turned 26, with which a hangover is still gnawing away at me, hell of night mind!

It's been one hellova start to the footy season. The Villa, sorry I mean the mighty Villa showing their true colours holding the top 5 up. Early days I know but my entire Villa supporting life has been one mundane result to the next and the recent headlines have invigorated me. What can you say they now have the best named chairman in footy history.

And that brings me to a close for this evening. The nights are beginning to close in, the leaves are getting tired and our summer's about to become autumn. Get your reflective armbands out and dust off your winter coats.

Bier? Just a small one please!

Where'd she come from?