I only ever have pancakes once a year, which actually amazed Jenny (an American whom I’m sure has them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner), but yesterday I made some and it made me wonder why I don’t have them more? The fact is that it’s probably good I don’t have them that often as they are gorgeous and had 3 to myself yesterday (with lemon and sugar).

The throat is feeling a lot better now but I still have white spots on my tonsils so still some way to full recovery but lots of soluble aspirin, throat spray, and throat sweets are doing their job. I’ve not got much else to blog about yet so bear with me.

It’s a bit tight at this end of the month, but why should that mean I miss out on some lovely grub? Fast food doesn’t need to be expensive or unhealthy so yesterday I opted for Tortelloni Prosciutto (pasta with a pork and ham filling( and finished it off with a poached egg on top. I’m not sure if that’s the way the Italians would do it, but it was the way I did it. The Tortelloni cost 79p a pack for fresh pasta (boil for 8 mins), and the free-range egg cost 16.5p, so for less than a quid I had a nice dinner.

There’s some interesting stuff you can find out on the internet and one of them I’ll share with you today is that Vegetarians used to be called Pythagoreans until 1847 when a meeting was held (30/9/1847) at the Hydropathic Institution, Northwood Villa, Ramsgate and the Vegetarian Society was formed. You can read more about the meeting here.

Ok, I need to make a slight admission that the term ‘vegetarian’ had been in use 8 years prior, but it wasn’t until this meeting happened, and the birth of the society, that the term ‘vegetarianism’ became official and entered common vocabulary.

You can read all about this in Colin Spencer’s ‘The Heretic’s Feast: A History of Vegetarianism’ which, thanks to the wonders of the internet, is available for you to read in it’s entirety on Google Books.

The pages relevant to Ramsgate can be found on pages 252-253. Either click the link or read below in the embedded book.

Going out isn’t always cheap but if you are heading off to any well-known restaurant chain then there are often many vouchers that you can print off from websites that will offer discounts ranging from 50% off, to buy one get one free offers. The best place I’ve found to get updates on these vouchers is on Martin Lewis’ Money Saving Expert website where there is a section especially for restaurant vouchers, deals, and offers.

Currently there are offers for Burger King, Pizza Express, Pizza Hut, Strada, Café Rouge, ASK, Zizzi and plenty of others. Yesterday I printed off a voucher for for ASK which offers 2 for 1 on main meals, and went out to ASK in Canterbury with Emma. I had Polpette al Forno, Garlic Bread, and a coke, whilst she had the Terrina Mediterranea and a coke and this came to and a grand total of £17.45. Bargain.

If you are planning on going out for a meal then it’s worth remembering that there are plenty of offers out there, and a couple of minutes on the web can save you a fair bit of money.

Last night I had a house party to celebrate New Year instead of doing the usual pubcrawl and the place is a tip today. The last guests left at 4:30am and then it was off to bed for me. There’s been very little tidying up done yet and I’ll save that for tomorrow and today is a day for resting.

The dining room is a bit of a state.

I hope you all had a good New Year’s Eve and hopefully 2010 has started well for you.

I really wasn’t feeling too brilliant last night and I think part of it had to do with all the big dinners I’ve been having over the Christmas period. Couple this with my sprained ankle (photo here) which has meant minimal exercise and it all all adds up to a very stodgy me.

For a snack today though I thought I’d try out some of my frozen snails I bought on my trip to France, and below you can see a photo. OK, so not that interesting to you, and in all honesty they weren’t overly fantastic but it made a change from meat and two veg.

Escargots a la Bourguignonne

I cooked dinner and it all went very well for me, my mum, and my sister, although I did cook a LOT, probably enough for at least six people. That means that I’ve got plenty of leftovers but my sister is constantly coming back to the table and nibbling, which is what she does.

I am suitably stuffed though, and we’re currently watching the Top of the Pops Christmas Special on BBC1. Time to relax after slaving away.

Lots of food

My plate, and yes that is mint sauce with beef!

Merry Christmas everyone and I hope you are all having a happy day no matter what you’re up to. Today I will be having my Mum and Sister around and I’ll be doing the cooking for them as it’s my first Christmas in the new house.

I’m currently peeling away and need to get the beef joint in the oven soon, then comes the perfect timing of when to cook all the bits and bobs and remembering not to forget anything.

Getting things ready for the roast

It’s actually very peaceful at the moment and it’s nice to think that for at least one day a year all (most) of the shops shut, the pubs shut (apart from some open at lunch), and families get together with very little other distractions apart from what to watch on TV in the afternoon.

I’d better get back to work now, so have a great day. x

In the tunnel

Yesterday I went to Calais, but instead of going on the ferry, I went with Eurotunnel and I must say that it was such an easy experience. Everything about the process was very simple and I would definitely consider using Eurotunnel again. Check-in was 30 minutes before departure, and I was pleasantly surprised when all I had to do was drive my car up to the barrier, which then automatically recognised my numberplate and printed out my boarding card.

After a bit of waiting we drove straight onto the train and after about half an hour we were driving back-off and making the short journey to Cité Europe. I bought lots of booze, some bread, and also picked up some snails too. I’d booked the 4:50pm (local time) return, but we were all done by 2:30pm and managed to get on the 3pm return train instead, which yet again was very helpful.

Job well done

It all made for a good day out, especially as tickets were only £15. On Sunday I am back over to Calais but this time with P&O and will be visiting for the last day of the Christmas Market. Less booze cruise this time and more of a cultural visit although I shall have to wrap up warm as yesterday it had been snowing in Calais and the lakes and ponds had frozen over.

Below is a video showing what it’s like on the train.

On Saturday I went out for my Birthday meal at Churchills Tavern, Ramsgate, and I had a great time, so thanks to those who came along for the meal (Emma, Ian, Paul A, Phil, Emily, Paul F, Dan, Adele, Chris, Emma, Tom S, Jonny, Ben, Pip, and Anton) and those who came out after for drinks.

It was great to have lots of people out and that was one of the reasons for choosing Churchills which I find to be one of the most welcoming and relaxing venues in Thanet. Going to a restaurant in a big group can sometimes be more trouble than it’s worth so somewhere like Churchills was ideal where it’s easy going,  the food tastes great,  is good value, and more importantly where they serve good ales! I opted for the steak and ale pie (the most meat in a pie ever! official!) and also supped on the Chocolate Stout and had a few pints of Touché. There was even a band on that night (the Slug Pixies) who were pretty good, but as they got louder we decided to move on into town and headed to the cafe culture for somewhere a little quieter where we could all have a chat.

Gadds Beers

Now I’m not really one for wine bars as the main problem is that they’re usually pretty expensive and they usually don’t serve pints, but my view of Miles’ Bar has changed sinced they started serving Gadds ale. For example a bottle of lager (330ml) costs between £3-£3.50 but now you can get a 500ml bottle of Gadds Dogbolter or Gadds No.3 for the same price so I’m more than happy to go there now. After a few pints and some lounging upstairs we made a move to the Belgian Bar (which was very quiet for some reason), and then headed back to mine for drinks.

After thursday’s 2am bedtime, I followed this up with getting to sleep just after 6am, and then having to drive to London at 11am. To say I was tired was an understatement but I pulled through and had a great few days to celebrate my 29th.

Next Up: Planning for New Year’s Eve.