Breakfast
We're currently driving back to Bath after a week in the Highlands of Scotland. We just had a gut-wrenching breakfast in Morrisons in Penrith. You wouldn't think it'd be possible to destroy bacon, egg, beans and toast, but, yes, Morrison's managed it! If we hadn't already waited 30 minutes for our food, and were not in a rush to get going, we would have sent it back. The couple sitting at the table next to us sent theirs back and had to wait even longer. So, in true British style we soldiered on and worked our way through the mixture of congealed protein on grease soaked cardboard. Quite what they had done to the baked beans defies belief!
Last night, Lucy had a dream. She was eating in a beautifully set bistro, white linen tablecloths, silver cutlery, and she was sipping a delicate glass of perfectly chilled delicious white wine. She looked up and Clare Birch, the cook at Rose Cottage, came out of the kitchen. It was a good reminder to me that at Rose Cottage, we are not cooking food because we want to cook food, no, we are cooking food because we want to treat ordinary people like royalty.
Highland Fling
After another week of jury service (two more trials), we finally got away for our week in the Scottish Highlands. Talk about contrast. One day I am sitting on the X39 bus between Bath and Bristol and the next I am walking with my daughter Gemma up in the mountains to a special valley called Coire Lair. Stunning.
On the fishing front, I've tried to catch a salmon without much success. I hooked and lost a smallish sea trout on Sunday and an absolute monster followed my fly yesterday. I have caught several small finnock - 0.5lb of iridescent blue/green and silver as well as a bunch of small brown trout.
It can be eerie standing waist deep in water surrounded by such lofty mountain grandeur. The spooky honks of rutting deer echo across the polished surface of the loch. A salmon leaps just a few feet away making me jump. Beauty and wilderness.