Harpers Fish and Chips

I have been to Harpers' once went I was riding with Bikesafe Yorkshire.  I remember the fishcake was nice, but I never remember where I was.  When we stopped at Wetwang (I kid you not), I recalled the location, and I opted for the homemade fishcakes again.  The fishcake is as nice as I remember it.  A great chippy, I will keep it in mind and possible visit other locations too.

First Ride of the Season

Obviously I have been riding, I met up with the guys last ride, but I opted to do shopping in Leeds instead, due to high wind.

The weather held up, and we rode to Stamford Bridge, Malton, Fimber, Wetwang (a real town name!), Beverley, and back to Squires.  The guys are all very progressive, but I am very much a leisure rider.  I could keep up the pace if I incline to, but it is rather tiring.

A lot of bikes are out.  Then I saw some idiots.  Is that always the case at the beginning of the season, and the natural selection will weed some of them out over the coming months?

Leeds Traffic Gridlock

The closure of the Market carpark is proving to be a nightmare.  There are very limited spaces near the market, and everyone does their shopping on the Saturday.

Why do we need any other mall anyway!

Weekend Nap

It is nice to have a weekend mid-morning nap.  I was napping with the blinds up.  I felt the warmth through blanket, "oh, nice warmth from the Sun coming through" I thought.  Then as I got up, the radiator was hot, it must have been the radiator.

TGI Friday

I have not felt like this for a while.  TGI Friday!

Old Fashion Office Works

Without electricity, I could only do filing and contacting using telephone.  It is lovely to have the silence from the computer fans and buzz from the lights.

Jodie got Hitched

Congratulation to Jodie Foster!

Southland

Southland is one of the few cops show I watch.  I was sad to learn that was the end of Southland.

Unexpected Food Porn

In one of the latest episode of Dispatches, The Truth about Low Fat Food, they investigated how the food labelling can be very misleading and products can test up to 30% over the listed value on the label, and it is still considered acceptable variation.

Then unexpectedly, the show finished off with some food porn, the naughty type of food porn.

Internet Withdrawal

Every long holiday, especially when I am travelling, I often have limited access to internet.  Who needs internet when you can lounge and sleep all day long.

Abseiling

I have been meaning to try out abseiling, but I never had a chance.  We could potentially abseil with the milan kit at work, besides it maybe seen as misuse of equipment.

While we were in Edale, they offered abseiling as an activity, I convinced Sarah to join together.

It was fun.

Quinoa

Sarah acquired some quinoa from Zoe's cupboard clear out.  Sarah was going to give it away, but I was quite interested in trying.  We ended up having some with our chickpea stew.

It does not particularly taste pleasant, but everything gets covered up by the strong chick pea stew.  As far as I am concerned, it is no different from other carbs, so I probably won't pay >£2 a packet for them.  Meanwhile we will keep this pack and have them with stews.

Scandinavia and the World

I remember seeing Scandinavia and the World for the first time at Verity's, then Kish mentioned about it, so I read up on it.  It is very funny, although long text made my tired.  So within 1 week, I caught up with all the comic.

http://satwcomic.com/everything-is-fine

Wood Ear

Sarah came back with a bag of wood ear (mushroom), then I realise cloud ear is very similar to wood ear.  And I showed Sarah of snow ear, aka silver ear.  They do need some strong seasoning.

Dvergr

I dreamt of Eris and Dvergr came.  Why can't I shrug off these disturbing creatures.

Transferrable Feelings

The brain does funny things to your dreams.  In my dreams, I got characters who gave me mixed emotions and anxiety, I dreamt of Eris, which is similar to my current situation.

MICHEL CLUIZEL Los Ancones organic 67%

The first two Michel Cluizel had been disappointing.  When I saw this bar, it said "Bio Organic", I had not had high expectation.  I had bad experience with organic bars...  And it turned out to be okay.  The bar is smooth with a nice aroma and a nutty finish.

Roast and Conch II

The first time I went to Roast and Conch, I was very impressed.  We went to Roast and Conch the second time yesterday, I was less impressed.  The chocolate is nice, but there is a smaller selection and the price went up.  The brownie was nice though.

Top 10 Chinese Teas

Sarah came back with some very nice tea, besides noone around here appreciates them.  Iron Budda and Spring Snail are good tea, supposedly top 10.  And obviously Puer the commoner's tea does not make the top 10.

I am still working through my green tea Jody gave me 3 years ago.

Spring Came Early

Spring came, and I am poking my eyes out.  I have 5 weeks of antihistamine, hope it is enough to do the trick.

Sugar Dependent

I don't usually have a sweet tooth, but the supermarket has put some of my favourite sweets on offer, I was tempted.  Obviously I cannot help but dig in, the next thing I know the sweets are gone.  It might have messed up my metabolism a bit.  I really need to watch my sugar intake.

Forgetful over Food

Two days in a row, I prepared my dinner and left it at home.  I am getting so forgetful that I forgot about my food!

Orange is the new Black

Orange is the new Black reminds me of Bad Girls, besides, obviously, American production is usually filled with prettier actresses.

Then, rom com is really not suitable for people in relationship, and these days, I understand the point better and better.  The fantasy-land is a bad place for someone who has a real relationship to work on.  So I must refrain from watching rom com to minimal.

Mushroom and Potato Soup

I was going to make Verity some mushroom soup, but there was no flour, so I had to think of an alternative soup.  Then I thought mushroom and potato soup might just do.

The soup was very earthy with potato, and it was definitely mushroomy. 

I have suggested Verity to eat the leftover with some crispy bacon pancetta bits.

Mushroom as a Staple

I went to the market for the staple, potato and onion.  I also picked up some oranges.  The mushroom was good, but I did not pick up any, as I had not got any bacon.

Then Verity said she wanted to avoid upsetting her stomach, so I thought she would like some mushroom soup as comfort food.  So I ended up picking up some mushrooms from the supermarket. 

Perhaps I should consider mushroom as one of my staple food, and even if I had not got the bacon, it would only take a couple mushroom soups to finish them off.

Michel Cluizel Mangaro 65%

A second disappointment from Michel Cluizel.  The Mangaro Madagascar bar is nutty and tastes how Madagascan chocolate should taste like, but I like my dark chocolate dark.  This 65% bar simply has not got the punch.  Maybe I should stay with the 85% blended bars, and stay away from the single estates bars.

Near Miss in Horrible Harrogate

I had my fair share of road experiences, accidents and near miss.  This one is one of the scariest.

There was a long queue into Harrogate, so a car decided to overtake the queue approaching the round about and possible turning right.  As it was single lane traffic up to the round about, the car decided to overtake the long queue over 20 cars on the opposing traffic lane, my lane.

As soon as I went past the round about and started accelerating, I saw the car on my lane.  I had to break very hard to swerve out of his way.  It was a misty day, I could have skidded.  And thanks to my new brake pads, I was in good control of my bike. 

The car behind me had to do the same for this idiot.

Horrible Harrogate Drivers

I thought York drivers were bad, Harrogate drivers are worst.

Most cities have their own driving problems, York local drivers are impatient with tourists, Bradford is famous for uninsured drivers, etc.  Harrogate drivers have various driving attitude problems.

I have seen 2 different incidents when drivers were taunting other drivers with their metal boxes, deliberately.  And in traffic jams, drivers are also doing illegal and dangerous overtaking.

I cannot wait to move away from this town.  Meanwhile I need to be careful of those reckless metal boxes.

Carte D'Or is Stepping Up

Carte D'Or is producing posher and posher ice-cream.  They do look very nice.  Amongst the new flavours, I liked their Latte Macchiato, and now I want to try Gelateria Caffe Latte.  I just wonder, at which point, they join those traditionally posh brands on the upper shelves.

April's Fool

I have not seen April's Fool's done for a while.  This April's Fool, Emma actually did something rather funny.  Emma sent a message out on a pager, "Put the Kettle On."  When the pager was meant for emergency use only.  And allegedly, there was a rude message by someone else too.  It was quite funny, and this time of the year, they were spared from trouble.