Our Wedding Anniversary Trip Out

I always love an excuse to go to Whitby and a trip to the Magpie. Last Friday was our wedding anniversary, so what better place to go to celebrate than over the North York Moors and far away. But not before we had done some jobs. I armed myself with the hedge cutter. Jack to the chainsaw to get some bushes and plants cut back in the garden. Getting that done was better than getting a soppy anniversary card. As far a bunch of flowers -Jack doesnt do soppy -well that is what he says. He has been known to come in with daffodils that have bent over. Shoving the yellow heads in a milk jug in front of my desk. And it wont be the first time I have found a bunch of bluebells on the side. Whitby is only 38 miles from home and easily done in a less than an hour. Gone are the days when I could clag it there in 35 minutes. In those days there was no speed cameras. Nor was there so many cars on the road. We were lucky to take advantage of the fact parking was free until March the 1st. Despite Jack thinking we could "just park outside and nip in" we braved the winds blowing off the North Sea. We parked up near the whalebone and walked down. Walking back up wasnt quite as easy, but then we were full of fish. It was lovely to see the sea and the rolling waves. I always remember an old friend ,Peter Gascoigne-Mullet, who used to say " Whitby, my beloved Whitby". Lovely memories of Peter and our times with him at the Star in Harome. After the fire brought down the middle section of the Star last backend I immediatly wondered what Peter would have made if it all when his bedroom had gone up in flames - a replica of Ancient Egypt and its treasures. We soon got seated in the Magpie and sorry that Ian wasn't about ,but the staff looked after us very well. I had the most amazing crab pate to begin with and Jack had kippers topped off with strawberry jam and bread and butter. The jam was quite runny and I thought any minute it would land down the front of his shirt but glad to say the shirt escaped a jammy finish. Jack had a large pot of proper tea with tea leaves and master the art of catching the tea leaves very well.I stuck to my usual tipple of tap water. All too soon it was time to come home. We were too full to eat anything else and the fresh air soon had us both snoring.

Oh to be beside the sea.

Oh to be beside the sea

At times like this we all day dream of being in different places. I love the sea. These photo remind me of the last time I was there with my friend Susan .She lives on the coast so she likes to come in land . To be truthful I think we should all be grateful we are just well and ok and about to be at home.

I know a lot of my guests at the bed and breakfast like to come to stay with us . They like  the countryside views rather than looking out to sea , the wild birds singing rather than seagulls squawking. We dont have fog horns and sea frets. We have beautiful sunrising and sunsets.  We have wonderful restaurants and eating places even places thats serve up amazing fish and chips and sea food dishes...

 but I will continue to dream about going to the seaside ...to Whitby ...to the Magpie ... and eating fish that tastes as if it has just jumped out of the sea.  My last supper at the seaside when I chatting with Ian Robson and we put the world to rights.  I do hope we will meet up again before too long maybe Ian will venture over here into our territory and we will eat simple country food.
To eat with friends is the best thing in the world and what I miss the most. I eat with my best friend ever day but we both look forward to sharing our table with friends.

Playing Host

This week I hosted Keith Gilks who is a journalist for Cycling World Magazine. I was lucky to be able to call on a few businesses I know to help make Keith's stay even more tasty.
Primarily he was in Yorkshire to cycle ,but I wanted to make sure he had the very best of food and drink too.
The White Swan in Ampleforth feed the very tired Keith and after a few pints of baa baa Black Sheep his aching legs were a thing of the past.  He started with Pork and Apple Terrine and had Plaice rolled in Smoked Salmon to follow in the most sublime of lemon cream . I mirrored him on this, while Sarah Barrowby who had come along to talk "cycling" we must not forget why he was in the area. Sarah opted for the Plaice as well but started with homemade soup. There was no room for puddings.  Emily Slingsby very kindly organised that Keith receive a selection of Ampleforth beers which her husband Andy brought to the White Swan for him. A real ale man, Keith was delighted. It was a vey pleasant evening spent in the White Swan which has been newly refurbished and was lovely and warm too which is something the some eating places just don't seem to get their heads around . Quite "Hygge" infact.
After a nights sleep that Keith said he had slept like  King ! It was time for me to serve breakfast. A full Yorkshire of course complete with my son Nicholas's venison sausages.
Soon it was time to say goodbye to Keith and off he went on his next cycling adventure heading in the direction of Sutton Bank.
Hunters of Helmsley had kindly made him a packed lunch with goodies from their deli counter and some Hustwaite apple juice.  Hunters won the Best Local Shop in Great Britain and rightly so ...we love their rare beef sandwiches. As we were not sure if Keith was a rare beef man they opted to make him a cheese and ham one,which I guess was very tasty as they cook their meat on site. I often  get a whiff of their meats cooking when I go by their doors.
Keith's next port of call was Whitby and home for the night .I  just knew he shouldn't miss a trip to the Magpie and a quick call to Ian's team and a place was booked for him for 7pm. The last thing I heard of Keith was a photo he posted on social media of a very large portion of fish and chips curtesy of the Magpie.
Thank you to all you wonderful businesses that made it possible to turn Keith's trip into an even better one than he had expected. Jack often says to me if you are going to do something, do it right and I think we all did .

A meal by the sea

Nothing quite beats a day at the seaside. Whitby is an hours drive from us and when it is a sunny day I always begin to think ...paddle,sea,sand.... and when you get there it isn't as warm as it is in land and the sea is cold and the sand gets between your toes. But one thing that never fails to disappoint is the Magpie Cafe - proudly stand overlooking the harbour decked in black and white. In fact inthe dusking light it could be said to stand regally .While others come and others go you can always be sure of the best seafood on the table. It was my cousin's birthday and I could believe she had got to the grand old age of 58 and never been. Monday evening at 8pm in May you wouldn't have expected to queue .But it wasn't long before we were sat down and eagerly awaiting out chosen dishes.  I know how much choice they offer, so pre-warned is pre-armed and I had advised Gillian the night before to scale the menu via the internet. There is nothing worse than you knowing what you want and the rest of the party dilly and dallying about.  Gillian opted for a medley of hot seafood, while I went for 2 starters  the risotto with scallops  and salt and pepper squid. Never had oysters before ,that had to be remedied, I ordered one for Gillian and she dutifully got it down .In fact she decided

she quite liked it after a bit of face pulling - she always was a picky child eater !
Lets say the finally plate says it all ...and no there wasn't a pattern on the plate but what had rested before on it was truly delicious. And now the Magpie has another convert - not that it took much doing .

Lunch Out...

Tricia and I went into Whitby to take the jet I had found to get made into a piece to hand round my neck. We left the chunk at the Black Market.Time had flown, it was lunch time. We were disappointed as we went to La Rosa - a place I had wanted to eat at for a long time. The board outside showed they were open but they couldn't feed us so we head out of Whitby to Raithwaite Hall where we had both been before. The mushroom risotto was delicious. It was quite busy and we had a lovely waiter from nearby Hinderwell.It is so nice to be served by young local people, so top marks Rathwaite for that. We shared an assiette of sweets but the risotto was the winner for me. It made for a very pleasant couple of hours