A day in pictures

I keep hoping for a dry weekend, so that we can work on clearing the garden plot and start planning ahead what to grow, except its been another drizzly wet weekend. Yesterday we decided to explore the East End of the city this time. So please join me, I hope you enjoy the tour.
We've been to the Peoples Palace and Winter Garden before, but I recall parts of it being closed due to restoration work. The Peoples Palace opened in 1898. These days it is museum of social history and showcases stories of the people from 1750 to the present time.

First stop was the Winter gardens, an elegant Victorian glasshouse where you can chill out among the tropical and exotic plants.

It is a peoples museum, but you'd be surprised how many people show lack of consideration to 'other people', hence the need for this very necessary sign. It is a reminder of the reality of what some fellow human beings have to face in some parts of the city, even the country as these incidences do happen, quite often I am sorry to say.

I loved these pieces of metal work which depicted the story of Saint Mungo, the founder of the city of Glasgow. Saint Mungo is said to be an immigrant himself, a refugee who arrived in Glasgow in about 540 CE. Saint Mungo is said to have performed four religious miracles in Glasgow. These are all represented in the city's coat of arms. The following verse is used to remember these: Here's the bird that never flew, Here's the tree that never grew, Here's the bell that never rang, Here's the fish that never swam. The verse refers to the bird (see below) Saint Mungo restored life to the pet robin. The tree (you can just about see it int he above photo) Saint Mungo had been left in charge of a fire in Saint Serf's monastery. He fell asleep and the fire went out. So he took some branches from a tree and relighted the fire. The bell (see above photo) is thought to have been brought from Rome by Saint Mungo. It was said to have been used in services and to mourn the deceased.

And finally the fish refers to the story about a Queen who was suspected of infidelity by her husband. The King demanded to see her ring, which she had given to her lover and the King had subsequently thrown into the River Clyde. Faced with execution she appealed for help to Saint Mungo, who ordered a messenger to catch a fish in the river. On cutting open the fish, the ring was miraculously found inside, which allowed to Queen to clear her name. Source. You will see these symbols all over Glasgow city. Glasgow's motto Let Glasgow flourish is also inspired from St Mungo's original sermon.

Graceful Birds of Paradise. I've only ever seen them growing once in my life when I visited the state of California and many of the gardens in the affluent areas had them growing in their front yard. A truly beautiful sight.

After a gentle wander through the gardens and being hit now and again by water leeks from above, we stopped at the cafe for a coffee and a slice of apple pie which was served cold and extremely disappointing.

Then upward and onward.

From the green lush of the gardens into the dark days of history.

A painting depicting 'the steamie' and hard working washer women. I am so grateful for the washing machine. The term 'steamie' is still used by a lot of Glaswegians, these days though it means 'gossip room', well that's what I've been told.

MMMMmmmm.....Not exactly roses are red...

The bevvy a UK slang for beverage and in this context the demon drink.

Charity starts at home.

Iron and steel.

The reigns of industry. But before we got to explore this, we were entranced by a series of paintings on the ceilings dome of the museum. The eight panels mark the 200th anniversary of the Calton weavers Massacre of 1787 and depict the history of Glasgow's workers from that day to the present. Unfortunately it was very difficult to capture these powerful and vivid paintings which were created by artist Ken Currie, so that is something for you to check out in person should you ever visit the Museum.

Womens Suffrage

Votes for Women

This hanging below depicts the International Brigades fighting in the Spanish Civil War.

From the serious to the light-hearted.

One of Scotlands well known and much loved comedians Billy Connolly, his guitar made from a wooden whiskey box and those famous Big Banana Boots. After our tour of the Museum and the gardens, we strolled over to the Barra Market.

The Barras is a major street and indoor weekend market in the East End. The term barra is Glaswegian dialect for 'barrow', relating to the market's early years, where traders sold their wares from handcarts. This specific painting at the museum is a pretty good depiction of the hustle and bustle of the market, full of character and 'characters', but its not a place you want to go snappy with the camera. Just take my word for it.

This photo was also taken at the museum and not the original, distinctive animated neon sign found on the front of the Barrowland building. The Barrowlands originally known as The Barrowland Ballroom was a major dance hall, nowadays thought it is used primarily as a concert venue. I've seen a handful of bands there. If your an Amy Macdonald fan like me, on her album This is the life has a song where she mentions the Barrowlands. Heres a link to the song if you'd not heard it.

Okay all this walking had got to me and my little feet wanted a rest, plus my belly was rumbling too. So we stopped at The 13th Note, perhaps my favourite vegetarian and vegan eatery in Glasgow. D had the veggie burger with spiced potato chips. I had something far more experimental. Thai green curry with risotto balls served with a tortilla flatbread. It was a good portion, though the combo and clash of the flavours was interesting.

After being fed and watered, we had one more place to visit. Its Fairtrade fortnight and the Royal Concert Hall was hosting The Fair Trade Experience. I went last year and picked up a few bits and pieces, but not so much this time.

Finally on our way out, D an admirer of the works of Peter Howson's snapped this picture of a boxer in the hallway of the building. Look at the muscles on that man. I wonder if he can carry me home?!

My first Veg Box

Some of you may remember that last weekend we signed up to a vegetable box scheme at the farmers market. Well we received our first vegetable box this week. I thought the veg box would literally come in a 'box'. Well it was actually in a net sack. Maybe if we weren't home to receive the sack, the driver/delivery person would have left it in a box. Who knows, perhaps I'll find out at the next delivery.

Anyway, the veg box size we have signed up for is Medium which is designed for 3 - 4 people and costs £14.00. According to the Nursery Box scheme the medium box will contain approximately 7/8lb potatoes, 2lb carrot, 1lb onion and a variety of seasonal vegetables. We are going to see how this vegetable box works out for us, as we will be receiving it every two weeks. It will be also be interesting to see, how much we will have to supplement this veg box with other seasonal vegetables.

Anyway, the sack contained:

2 leeks

3 onions

Lots of potatoes

4 beetroots

7 long carrots

1 cabbage
2 heads of broccoli
Jerusalem artichokes (which I specifically requested on this occasion)

I am looking forward to cooking with all these vegetables, however I was a little disappointed, not with the contents, but the lack of information about the vegetables. As a vegetable grower I would liked to have known what variety these vegetables were. For example what are these magnificent long carrots called and what variety are these beetroot. I am guessing the potatoes are Orla, but I don't know for certain. So I'll be writing to them to request if in future they can provide this information. I think it is a reasonable request. It shouldn't be that difficult for them either, after all in the sack was included a newsletter with a recipe suggestion, so it should be relatively easy to supply this information.

For those of you who already sign up to a veg box scheme, especially in the U.K can you please give me some insight into what to expect. I am a little reserved in my reactions towards the vegetable box and think this is because I was able to grow some of these vegetables myself, so think as a new recipient of a vegetable box I may be holding some high expectations of what should come in the vegetable box. So any information would be most appreciated, as I really want to be fair. Mostly I want to enjoy my vegetable box.

Mushroom Ragout with sun-dried tomato polenta

May I present to you a plate of Mushroom Ragout with polenta.
The polenta is studded with sun dried tomato, shallots and garlic appealing immediately to the eye. The mushroom ragout sauce looks a bit thin in the photo but it was quite a deep and flavourful sauce to be mopped up by the polenta pieces that were soft on the outside and slightly crisp on the outside. My only qualm, in place of the chestnuts and Scottish button mushrooms, the ragout should have been made with fresh wild woodland mushrooms. It would have brought the dish up that one notch. Still it was delicious and filled the belly of two hungry souls, plus we have enough left over for another meal. Yay, no cooking tomorrow!
Mushroom Ragout with sun-dried tomato polentaServes 4
For the Sun dried tomato polentaIngredients
2 shallots, peeled and finely sliced
1 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tablespoon olive oil, plus extra for oiling the tin is not non-stick
2 litres of water
2 tablespoons minced sun dried tomatoes
500g quick cook polentaMethod
Gently cook the shallots, garlic and rosemary in the oil until soft. Add the stock and sun dried tomatoes and bring to the boil. Slowly in a continuous stream, pour in the polenta, stirring continuously. Cook gently for1 minutes, then pour into a non-stick pan and allow to cool. When ready to serve, turn out the polenta and cut into required shapes: triangles, rounds of fat chips style. Place the polenta on a lightly oiled baking sheet and roast in the hot oven for about 10 minutes.

For the Mushroom RagoutIngredients

2 tablespoon olive oil
500g mixed wild mushrooms or chestnut mushrooms
50g dried shiitake, porcini and chanterelle mushrooms, soaked in hot water for 30 minutes
1 large onion, peeled and sliced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 sprig of rosemary
100ml red wine
2 tablespoons tomato puree
Salt and pepper to taste
Flat leaf parsley to garnish
Method
Wipe the mushrooms of any soil and if they are large cut them in half. Drain the shiitake mushrooms and save the soaking water, except for the grit at the bottom. Slice the shiitake mushrooms finely. Heat the oil in a fairly wide pan, add the onions and all of the mushrooms and stir well. Lower the heat and gently stir until the mushrooms begin to give up their juices then add the garlic and herbs. Stir in the wine, reserved soaking liquid and tomato puree and cook gently for about 10 minutes. Raise the heat and reduce the liquid until it is thick. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Divide the mixture between 4 plates. Top polenta triangles with a scattering of flat leaf parsley and serve. Adapted from Daphne Lambert Little Red Gooseberries

'Golden Apple' Squash Crème Caramels

I am rather pleased with myself, having made my first crème caramel of sorts at the weekend.
This recipe makes one 4 pint dish, but as I am not expecting any guests, I decided to make 8 individual (different shaped) ramekins that could be eaten during the course of the week. Hopefully, we’ll have some friends over and help us eat some of these, as they are rather luscious and rich for just 2 people, so any unexpected guests are most welcome.

But these crème caramels were far from perfect. I have to admit, I over caramelised the caramel by a couple of minutes, you could just about taste it being a bit scorched. Also as I had roasted and pureed the squashes from scratch for this recipe, I noted that I had not pureed it enough as there was still some strands that made the dish a little grainy, but we didn’t mind that texture. It reminded us that these were our home grown 'golden apples' squashes.
Also, as we were impatient, we didn’t chill the first couple we tasted, so as you can see the caramel has spread all over the place.

It also tasted a bit like semolina, but on being chilled overnight. It was completely different, much better as the caramel had set, albeit a little too much. The only grumble I got from D is the washing of the ramekins. Some of the caramel stuck to the surface and will need a bit of pounding with the back of a spoon to come off.

'Golden Apple' Squash Crème Caramels
Makes 8 – 10 ramekins or 1 x 4 pint dish.
Ingredients
400g sugar
300ml whole milk
300ml evaporated milk
5 medium eggs
¼ teaspoon salt
350 – 400ml pureed squash or pumpkin

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground allspice
Method
Preheat oven to Gas mark 4 (see sidebar for conversions). Melt 225g of the sugar in a heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat. When the sugar has melted and a rich golden caramel colour, pour the caramel into the bowl or each of the ramekin dishes and immediately begin tilting the dishes around so that the caramel coats both the bottom and the sides. Set the prepared bowl or ramekin dishes aside.
Scald the milk, stop short of boiling. In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs with the remaining sugar until they are smooth and getting thick. Add the salt, the pureed squash or pumpkin, and the spices and beat again. Gently pour in the milk through a strainer and add it to the mixture, still beating.
Pour the mixture into the prepared dish or ramekins and place it on a large baking tray that has at least 1 inch of water in it. Put the tray carefully into the oven, and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour. The cream should be golden brown on top, it should tremble only a little when shaken and a thin knife insert in the centre should come out clean.
Set the dish or ramekins on a rack and allow to cool at room temperature, then cover tightly and chill in the fridge. To unmould, loosen the sides by slipping a sharp knife around the edges, when the cream moves freely in its dish, turn onto plate(s). The cream will drop out, and the gleaming caramel should pour around it. If you’ve made a larger one, cut into wedges and serve. Recipe adapted From Anna’s Kitchen.

An ordinary vegetarian pasta recipe

I’ve seen numerous pasta dishes made with lentils, but I don’t ever recall eating one myself. So this evening for ease and simplicity, I decided to cook a recipe in one of my cookbooks that I've had bookmarked for a long while.

The other reason I decided on making this recipe was its use of fresh ginger. Today D is feeling a little under the weather and my throat is also a little croaky, so the idea of fresh ginger sounded both medicinal and comforting. One other thing, the original recipe is made with butter, but because I didn’t want to aggravate my sore throat further, I made this with olive oil. The final dish doesn't look that interesting, but you know what they say 'looks can be deceptive'. The lentil sauce was tasty and I really liked the fresh bite of the ginger. It may be an ordinary pasta dish, but it’s a good recipe to keep in mind when your low on fresh produce or want to make something quick with store cupboard ingredients. It sure does fill you up and I feel much better having eaten it.
Pasta with Brown lentils and ginger
Serves 2 – 3
Ingredients
Enough pasta for 2 - 3 people such as fusilli or penne
4 tablespoons olive oil
2- 4 cloves of garlic, sliced
1 2 inch piece of ginger, sliced into thin strips
½ teaspoon crumbled dried sage
165g or ¾ cup brown lentils, washed and rinsed
400ml or 2 cups water or vegetable stock
100g or 2 cups of fresh spinach
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
Cook pasta according to instructions, drain and set aside.
In a large pan , heat oil over medium heat, add garlic and ginger and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring constantly. Then add the sage, the lentils and all of the water. Bring to a boil, cover the pan and reduce heat to low. Let the lentils simmer for 10-15 minutes or until they are tender, but still a little chewy. Stir in the spinach and salt and turn the heat up. Stir often until the spinach wilts, about a minute or so. Then add the cooked pasta and season to taste, and heat the mixture through. Serve immediately. Adapted from the Vegetarian Planet.

Winter Vegetable Stew with Parsley dumplings

I made my stew yesterday in my Le Creuset Casserole which D got me six years ago from Jenners, a famous department store in Edinburgh. I remembered him carrying the heavy bake ware on the train. Ah that’s love.

D really enjoyed this stew especially the gravy. He said his parents who enjoy their meat with two veg would like it too. For me, it was okay, the flavour of cider in cooking is still new to me. I liked the dumplings though, soft herby scones that melt in your mouth. We have enough left over for another meal. So later in the week we’ll be having it again, but it will be with garlic mash, as this is what Rachel Demuth suggests in her book. I’ll let D make the mash though, he puts a lot more love into mashing the potatoes than me. The reason for this is, he loves his mash more than I do.

If you do decide to make this stew, ensure that you chop the vegetables in the appropriate size as you want them to cook evenly in the casserole dish. Its not particularly nice, chomping on an undercooked potato, a carrot you can get away with, but not a potato.

Winter Root Vegetable Stew with Parsley dumplings
Serves 4
For the StewIngredients
8 shallots, peeled and quartered
4 tablespoon olive oil
2 – 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 leek, sliced
4 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
1 parsnip, peeled and chopped
½ swede, peeled and chopped
2 potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
400 - 440ml organic cider
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon of dried sage
500ml boiling water
1 tablespoon of Tamari or soy sauce
1 teaspoon Marmite
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
In a large casserole dish fry the shallots in the olive oil until they are golden. Add the garlic and the leeks and fry for a couple of minutes. Then add the carrots, parsnip, swede and potatoes and cook until the vegetables are beginning to look translucent around the edges. Add the cider and bring to the boil. Mix in the Tamari and Marmite into the boiling water and add this to the stew, along with the bay and sage leaves. Season to taste and simmer gently for 35 – 45 minutes or until the vegetables are nearly cooked.
For the parsley dumplingsIngredients
110g self-raising flour
50g vegetable suet
1 tablespoon of minced fresh parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
Cold water to combine
Method
The dumplings need to be added 15 minutes before the stew is ready.
In a bowl add flour, vegetables suet, parsley and seasoning to taste. Add enough water to combine and make a firm, not sticky dough. Then with floured hands, break the dough into 8 – 12 pieces and roll them into rough round dumplings. Add them gently to the stew, pushing them down into the liquid. Simmer gently for 15 minutes or until the dumplings have doubled in size. Adapted from Rachel Demuths The Green World Cookbook.

Closure

Many of you will know that about a month ago our allotment plot was destroyed. We had not been the first to have had our plot torched. About seven years ago a handful of plots on the site had been torched. Early this year two other plot holders lost theirs, and I also learned from reading a local newspaper that two other plot holders have just had their set alight too. Unfortunately one of committees spokesman eluded that the fires were caused due to poor fencing implying that it was external arsonists at work, which I think is not so. As a matter of interest, not one of these plots torched belonged to committee members, their family or friends. Take my plot, snug between the Treasurers and the Presidents plot and neither of theirs had been scorched by the roaring flames. Would you not agree that this is interesting?! All I can say ‘hand on heart’ is that we have been open, honest and kind to people at the allotment site, where we have seen misdemeanours we would say so, where we may have noted unreasonable behaviour we would say, so much so that other people who did not have the confidence or courage of their convictions would come to us for support, D had even joined the committee in October. I think us standing up and doing the right thing has cost us our plot. There is so much wrong with this private allotment site, but one of the major issues are some of the committee and long term residents think they are sitting on a site worth millions and are just biding their time for when property developers make an offer. Hence don’t really care about what is going on the site.

I know D is still very upset about losing the plot, but I can only speak for myself. I am still really hurting, for the loss of the plot, the hut, the tool shed and the plants too. Those that did not survive such as my beautiful lemon verbena that was in the greenhouse. The loss of the growing plants too, that I cannot bring myself to go there and harvest such as: leeks, Jerusalem artichokes, parsnips, beetroot and my first lot of nine star perennial (white) broccoli. The daffodil shoots will probably be out too. We had accumulated so much gardening stuff. In the huts, spades, tools, the hoses, various sized seed pots, recycled materials, rolls of netting to keep the pigeons away, issues of Grow Your Own and Kitchen Gardening magazines and various other bits that amount to hundred of pounds. Of course I know all of these things are replaceable, but it’s the small garden related things that my nephews gave me, some handmade, that hurts me the most, they are not replaceable.
I know some of my fellow blog readers mention karma, and my mother often mentions something similar too, but a number of life experiences have made me unsure about such things for a while, and this experience has reinforced that even more. I am trying not to be negative but to keep a positive outlook, but it really is not that easy as small incidental things provoke me to close tears. For example, take this lunch time I walked over to the local supermarket and was reminded that Jerusalem artichokes were in season. In this supermarket they were costing £1.50 for 3 that is ridiculously expensive. This angered and frustrated me inside. If I had the will, I could go over to the allotment this evening and dig up a bucketful from my plot, but the truth is I don’t have the heart to go there. I have no love for the place or the people there now.

I was advised by fellow blogger to get in touch with the local council and explain the situation and maybe they would look at my case sympathetically. I did and the Allotment Officer advised as there are long waiting lists, I should basically stick to where I am as it is better than having no plot at all. I completely disagree. There was no understanding at all. So I am hesitant in registering at an alternative site right now, especially in this area. I may change my mind in the future, but right now I am just don’t have the motivation. Instead when good weather dictates, I will put that energy of growing into my tiny garden plot and pots. However, this does not mean I won’t refer to times at the allotment plot, the vegetables and fruit I grew there. We both have fond memories of our time at plot 11 and 45 and will remember them, but now to have some sort of closure on this matter, I share with you a film I made of the plot this time last year. Just follow this link.

A small portion of Beetroot risotto

The first time I first saw beetroot risotto was in Nadine Abensurs Cranks Bible. Since then, I have seen many beetroot risotto variations. Those topped with various cheeses including dolcelatte, feta, halloumi, blue cheese, even creamed horseradish. Some made with alcohol such as sherry or vodka. There are numerous vegan versions made with tofu and walnuts. If you were willing to think a little more out of the box and be adventurous, there’s even a beetroot, ginger and chocolate risotto. Not for me, I wanted something much simpler.

Then I remembered seeing a pretty plate of baked beetroot risotto on Nics blog. Not all beetroot risotto dishes look this appealing, some just make you want to ‘gag’, and as this was going to be my first time with beetroot risotto, I really wanted it to look good to both the eye and the tongue. I opted for something simpler and decided to make a small portion, just in case it didn’t go down well.

I was pleasantly surprised. The beetroot risotto was both sweet and earthy. D enjoyed his plate of beetroot risotto with the goats cheese. He said I was a little generous with the salad leaves. I think he’s right looking at this picture, but I do think the plate needed it otherwise the beetroot risotto on its own may have looked too ghastly.

Beetroot risotto

Serves 2
Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 shallots, peeled and finely chopped
100g Risotto Rice
100 – 150g Beetroot, cooked, peeled and grated
500ml vegetable stock
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional: Some beetroot leaves, rocket, watercress or baby spinach
Optional: 60g goats cheese, sliced
Method
Heat oil, add the shallots until soft and translucent. Add the rice and cook, stirring for a couple of minutes. Add a ladleful of the stock to the rice and stir until almost fully absorbed. Continue adding the stock, a ladleful at a time, until the rice becomes tender, then add half of the grated beetroot and continue as before ladling stock until the rice becomes creamy. You may not need all of the stock. Add seasoning to taste. When nearly ready, add the rest of the grated beetroot and stir through. Remove from the heat and serve with some winter salad and optional slice of goats cheese.

Paper Boats and the Pakistani Café

Even though the weather was icy cold, this morning we decided to venture to a part of Glasgow that we are not that familiar with. The South side, a change from the West End. So glad we did it was a refreshing change.
We got to Queens Park around 10am, there weren't that many people there. Some joggers and dog walkers. We casually walked though the park, stopping at the what is known as the Boat pond. As you can see the water has a layer of ice, and if you take a closer look, you'll see a paper boat. It made me smile. Unfortunately it wasn't going anywhere this time of day.

We walked to the other side of the pond, where the water had melted a little and the swans were feeding on something below the surface. Swans are so elegant.

We weren't in a rush to do anything, just decided to get out of the flat and get some fresh air in our lungs. So walking slowly and exploring the park and its various paths was fine. We checked out the park map and noted that there were some allotments in the middle of the park, plus a Glasshouse Garden. So we decided to head that way. We couldn't see much of the allotment plots as it was surrounded rightly so with fencing, but we said to ourselves what a beautiful location in the middle of a park.

We stopped at the Glasshouse. In the glasshouse were housed some beasties and reptiles: rattlesnakes, terrapins, lizards, spiders and canary birds. For the space they had, this place was very impressive.

We stopped at the top of the park which was now gettin busier and took this picture. It is a view of Glasgow from the Southside. You can just about see the University from here, just. Honest.

It was nice to see a little colour. You wouldn't think so, but it is definitely spring. As we walked down from the hilly part of the Park we became aware that on the other end, a Farmers Market was being held. Well I had to head that way. The usual stalls were there, a lot of meat and fish stalls. Only two vegetable stalls, which filled me with disappointment.

D asked me did we want any veg. I said 'yes, Jerusalem artichokes'. So we went over this stall to get some and guess what, they were all sold out. I grumbled to myself. However, what we did come away doing is signing up for a fortnightly vegetable box, I'll write more about that later in the week. After the farmers market we walked along the road and came across a Café called The Pakistani Café. I've read quite a number of positive and some alarming reviews about this place, so was eager to check it out for myself.

We were the first customers to be welcomed by the Proprietor Jimshaed, taking advantage of the situation we politely asked if we could take some pictures for my blog and he kindly obliged saying oh please, just go ahead. The decor is certainly different: colourful bunting hanging from the ceiling, some of furniture it handcrafted such as the wooden cut map of Pakistan on the door and the hand painted, yet uncompleted Arabic alphabet and numbers on the walls. There were a number of beautiful framed images imported from the Indian sub-continent, whereas others such as the famous artists artwork postcard could have come from an students art book, like the CDs glued to the walls and there was even some cute toy 'Indian-style' rickshaws dotted around the place. I really liked the place for its quirkiness. We weren't overly hungry so shared a plate of mixed pakoras. Let me tell you the spicy pakora batter was really light and delicious, D and me especially loved the red pepper pakoras.

It wasn't long before the little place filled up. The atmosphere is welcoming, warming and enjoyable, but it is unusual. For a Leftist-Liberal place calling itself the Pakistani Café in an area that is predominantly Muslim, certainly causes issues for both the owner and those who live in the locality. But I liked it, I would go there again and I would recommend it to others, the little I had to eat was really tasty and great value for money. I think the chef in the kitchen is woman, I caught a peek of her, but didn't get a chance to ask Jimshaed to confirm if she was the cook.

The café had a number of poems, some that dealt with the empowerment, the world we live in, and others simply reminded you of human nature. We will definitely be returning.

D liked this image for some reason. Don't ask me why. Sometimes, I don't share his sense of humour.