Archive for the ‘Life’ Category

Last Tuesday, we headed over to the Brown Cow & Dragon to celebrate my dad’s birthday.

The Brown Cow & Dragon is a traditional English pub. And Thai restaurant. It’s an interesting combination with a selection of traditional Thai dishes and then bangers and mash on the menu.

Despite being determined to get some Thai food, I gave in when I saw they had BBQ ribs on the menu. They couldn’t complete with the amazing ribs I had while in Edinburgh but were never the less very enjoyable and the portion size was good – not too much, not too little.

We decided to take advantage of the long weekend by heading over to the beach. Flamborough seemed like a suitable choice because, given we’re in the UK, it seems a bit silly to go to a sandy beach to do some sunbathing when all you will get is wind and cold.

The drive over wasn’t too bad – most people seemed to be heading home from the weekend, so most of the traffic was going the other way. We got some sun in the morning but unfortunately, the tide times had changed quite a lot since I checked them a few days before, which I didn’t account for, so we arrived at exactly high tide.

Never the less, after a walk round the headland and some lunch we got down to the beach where we found a seal in one of the corners. Afterward we walked back round the headline, which was a good chance to get some photos.

Enjoying the long weekend, we headed over to Stick or Twist to enjoy Sunday Club – a traditional roast dinner in true Wetherspoon’s style (ie, with a beer). After leaving we went in search of an ice cream, only to find that none of the ice cream vans were to be found. What kind of lazy ice cream people can’t be bothered to work on Easter Sunday?

On Wednesday, after a long absence due to my attendance at Perspective Citywide, I headed over to York for the monthly meet up of York Brights.

Despite organisers’ Ewan and Gill being on holiday, the conversation was lively and engaging and ended up continuing long into the night – well, until gone 11pm, which is quite late when you get to my age and still have to drive back to Leeds that evening 😉 .

What would a post Wendy Sunday be without Fry Up Club? This month featured an extra special amount of pork, which is always a winning combination and a continuation of our tradition of screening Monty Python in the background, this month featuring The Holy Grail.

Most importantly, we finally got Viki to do some cleaning. Maybe there is hope for her after all.

Following on from our cocktail based adventures we hit Wendy House which turned into a bit of an old school reunion with Sarann joining us and Norm making it down in the end as well!

Again, thanks to Kat, who I have just stolen the photos from.

Having finally got my hands on a cocktail shaker (after so many times of being denied by Marko’s lack of stock) I decided to throw a bit of a cocktail party before Wendy House. After all, the last cocktail party we threw, ended very, very well 🙂 .

Thanks to Kat for the photos.

On Friday, myself, Si and Sarann headed into town to grab some dinner.

We ended up at Cafe Rouge in The Light, which was looking fairly empty for a Friday night – ideal for some good conversation. Service was a little disappointing given how few people were in there but the quite atmosphere was enjoyable.

The food was mediocre, I went with the Steak Rouge which was OK, but given there are so many great places to have steak in Leeds, it wasn’t any more enjoyable than say the £6 steak I had enjoyed at Wetherspoon’s the previous Tuesday.

Afterward, we headed over to Browns for a few rounds of cocktails. Apparently they will mix anything to your order but we didn’t put them to the challenge and rather opted just to work out way through their signature menu.

After a few rounds of cocktails and the wine I had had at dinner, I found myself leaving the bar somewhat intoxicated whereas Si, the supposed teetotaler until a year ago, didn’t seem to be feeling it. Maybe Si is a secret alcoholic after all?

Elina had recently jumped ship on her accommodation again and this time moved to St Mark’s, which is located just behind the Eldon. In celebration, she invited me over for dinner. I was very much looking forward to trying herring casserole, but this was mainly due to the fact that at the time I was mixing herrings up with storks for some reason (herring, herring gull, stork maybe?) though when I found out it was just pork instead, I was equally contented.

The flat was charming, which I’m sure you’re all aware is a nice way of saying that it’s a shit hole. The tiny kitchen table suited the two of us very nicely but would have been a push to get four people round, as is traditional with any student kitchen, the gas stove spark didn’t work and to top it off the showers don’t seem to produce any hot water. Ah, student days.

After dinner we settled down in Elina’s room and watched Star Wreck, which is a Finnish film parodying Star Trek. It waas well worth a watch and the questionable production values only added to it’s charm. Much like the actual Star Trek it gives it’s audience something to aspire to (just in this case it was being Emperor, rather than that whole Utopian future nonsense 😉 ).

Fonze having missed most of his birthday meal, we headed down to The Elbow Room to shoot some pool.

What looked like a slightly disappointingly stocked bar when we first approached, turned out to actually offer a great selection and we were soon enjoying some Ketel One vodka. I’m not a fan of the American style pool tables as their ridiculous size pockets mean that it’s very demasculating every time you don’t pot anything and the white goes in on almost every shot.

However we struggled on none the less and having taken the first game I suggested Fonze and Elina have a game, after all we had the table for another forty minutes so that was plenty of time for them to play and still get plenty of other games in.

Turns out I was quite wrong about that ;). A fun night none the less though.