Sorry it's late this week - we have just returned from a weekend in the West Arms Hotel which is in the village of Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog - a small place nestling beneath the Berwyn mountains and about 10 miles west of Oswestry. Although it is only about 150 miles away as the crow flies, it takes an absolute age to get there as the roads meander all over the place and many of them have grass growing up the middle! The reason for this trek to the back of beyond this particular weekend, was to meet up with the Weekes clan (Sue's late husband's family). The West Arms Hotel is one of two pubs in the small village which seems to be the Mecca for off road motor cycling and other manly outdoor pursuits and gets no mobile phone reception! So on Friday, 9 of us descended to sample a weekend of gourmet food and catch up with Branwen's family - Branwen is Sue's Mother in law, a remarkable woman in her late 80's with a razor sharp mind and the wit of a 30 year old and who grew up in the area.
Friday's dinner had an interesting selection of items on the menu and I eventually settled for Thai fishcakes follwed by rack of Welsh lamb and a lemon tart to finish. The Thai fishcakes were OK but I didn't get that authentic taste of Thailand - the lamb was beautifully cooked, pink and moist and the wilted cabbage and Daupinioise potatoes both complemented the meat well. The lemon tart was equally praiseworthy, zesty and sharp! The full Welsh breakfast had to be devoured on Saturday and Sunday mornings - too good to miss the locally made sausages and black pudding! Sue and I spent Saturday visiting Llangollen and Chirk Catstle whilst the others went off walking in the mountains. Saturday evening's dinner was as good if not better than Fridays! A pork terrine to start follwed by fillet of beef and an Eton mess to finish! No more cream for me!
Other culinary acheivements this week have been few - but the prawn and noodle salad on Wednesday and the Red Thai chicken curry with bamboo shoots on Thursday were both very tasty.
Next week I'm going to try more bread making - in between playing golf, that is, and am looking forward to episode three of "Out of the Frying Pan"!
Growing old is mandatory, growing up is still optional
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