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  • By George the IV (Ware)

    By George the IV (Ware)

    As always my friends are always more than willing to assist In my quest to get out a bit more now that lockdown is slowly lifting, we decided we would go for a nice Sunday walk together and booked ourselves in for a meal in a rather lovely pub just a short walk from the river Lea 

    https://www.georgeivpub.co.uk we sat outside in the lovely courtyard area as the weather was beautifully sunny that day. Although they had a dining area with umbrella’s and a marquee in the garden area.

    The service was very good even though you could tell that a lot of the service staff were young and in training.

    The food however was something else, absolutely lovely and well presented as shown by the selection of dishes below, there were no complaints about the food and not a scrap left from any of us.

    The only downside to the pub is there is very little parking, but there are some very beautiful walks nearby and it is very much worth a walk for the food.

    I am not sue if the restaurant is newly opened as i am not sure how this has slipped past us before but I would highly recommend the pub followed by a lovely scenic walk along the canal.

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  • My accidental Greek adventure

    My accidental Greek adventure

    After months of working solidly during Covid and a tough few years, I needed some time away, I couldn’t find anyone who wanted to go at the time as I think people were a little nervous about travelling, and everyone else having family and work commitments etc. 

    I like city breaks but as I was going on my own thought I would do my research and picked Lisbon as I had never been, it had a low crime rate and is deemed one of the safest cities in Europe , Winner !!

    I had loads of activities planned, bought my Portuguese history books and my travel guide, the week before I was due to fly and it was announced that Portugal was now on the no fly list.

    So at last minute I was forced to change my plans and I have never been so happy that I did. 

    I was determined I was going to get away, if I had stayed in the UK I would have only ended up doing DIY or wasting a week off . So after a panicked search I found a cheap get away to Greece, I had never been to Athens before and since my school days learning about the ancient Greeks I had wanted to go, and so stared my mini Greek adventure….

    Travelling alone with only one rule given to me by my son, not to go out on my own after dark!

    So I had just a few requirements the Hotel had to have a Pool, good transport links into Athens and a bar/ Restaurant so I didn’t have to go out alone in the dark. I stayed in Glyfalda just outside of Athens in the Emmantina Hotel https://emmantina.gr/

    After some slight Drama at Heathrow airport and not being able to get on the plane along with half the plane due to new travel details not made aware to us and overnight stay in a travel lodge I finally got on the plane, a day late and a few more ££ spent than I ideally wanted but I was on my way.

    I had booked a car to take me to the Hotel and the driver was very chatty telling me what I needed to go see and a little about Glyfalda. When I got to the Hotel they had us graded me to a very nice room (I think they took pity on me)

    It was a lovely room, with a beautiful view of the sun Rising over the mountains, it was a little noisy when the windows were open but once both sets of windows were closed it was fine.

    The Hotel was a short walk from all the shops and bars and the main bus stop, there is a tour bus but this was not running at the time, I prefer the local bus anyway so I bought a 3 day bus pass and travelled into Athens most days which took about half and hour.

    As soon as I got off at my stop there was a ruin and the botanical gardens was opposite, everything is well signposted and easy to get around. I cannot put into words how absolutely stunning Athens is the pictures do not do it justice.

    I spent my evenings at the hotel bar as instructed by my son, it was very calm with beautiful 360 degree view of the local area and music playing, so to be honest I was happy sitting there in the evening reading my book.

    I do like a boat trip so one day I booked an all day cruise where went to some of the more remote islands, It was so relaxing and the tour operators were lovely people.

    We stopped at 3 very different islands and you can walk around with the tour guides or wander around yourself.

    This tour is well worth going on to see the varying Greek culture at it’s best, with lunch and a swim in the sea.

    All in all it was an amazing few days, I enjoyed it so much I am hoping to g back to the exact same place this year, if the rules allow.

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  • Spice and all things nice

    Spice and all things nice

    For my birthday this year my friend bought me a 3 month subscription to  https://www.thespicery.com/ , I have never used meal boxes before but I thought i’d give it a go and thought it might be good for inspiration.

    Here’s how it works :

    You get a box sent to you every month you can log in and change or skip if you want to as long as you do before a certain date.

    Each spice box comes with packets of spices labelled for each part of the dish a list of ingredients as below and a step by step set of instructions.

    I would like to note that these are by no means easy cheat type meals, so far I have done two and they were both lovely but consist of mains sides and sauces to be made, so there is a lot to do at once and a lot of ingredients but they are well worth it ….

    I did not take step by step pictures as well to be honest I was doing 4 things at once I ended up getting my boyfriend to fry off the chicken or make some of the dishes while I was doing others. So if you are not part octopus (don’t get me wrong I can multi task with the best of them)

    I suggest having a sus chef to assist, if nothing else someone to help with the pile of washing up left from using just about every pot and pan in the house.

    Both of these meals were a huge hit even with the washing up after.

    KOREAN FRIED CHICKEN SSAMJANG & KIMCHI SLAW

    > A tip before you start cooking your spice box, prep all of your ingredients and get out any equipment necessary 

    KEEMA BURRITOS 

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  • Coleslaw

    Coleslaw

    This is a pretty basic coleslaw recipe but I do make it regularly

    Ingredients

    – 1/2 Cabbage red ,White (in this case was Chinese) Finely Sliced/ grated

    – 2 large or 4 small carrots ( peeled & Grated)

    – 250ml mayo

    – 1tbsp White wine vinegar

    – 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard ( or to taste)

    – Salt & pepper to taste

    Method

    >Shred or grate the carrots and Cabbage

    > Mix the mayo, vinegar and dijon in a bowl until it is to taste

    > mix in mixing bowl

    Simple!

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