Sheaf Street Cafeteria

I have been meaning to go to Sheaf Street Cafeteria.  Unbeknownst to me, it is no longer run by Laynes Espresso, it is now Grub and Grog.  Sarah and I am both quite happy with the experience.  The bacon sandwich has a sauce, which was quite strong, making the bacon sandwich insufficiently piggy.  The vegetable stew was good, so was the cappuccino.  We also spotted free parking directly across from the Tetley!  Another parking choice!

Newcastle Life Animal Inside Out

Sarah and I went to the Life in Newcastle to see Animal Inside Out.

I could have taken more picture.

Now spot your tripe!

Victoria Gate

Victoria Gate is finally opened!  I had a quick walk around.  It was busy as expected.  It has a lot of London-centric shops, it almost feels like I was in London.  I wonder if it will quiet down.

Double Vision - Little Rome

I finished my shopping and went back to Little Rome and saw this!

Almond Flour Brownies

I was trying to use up the bag of ground almond, so I googled for recipes.  This King Arthur recipe is meant for almond flour, perhaps my ground almond is slightly coarser.

The brownie turned out very well, very moist.  It is not as rich as my recipe with real chocolate, but this uses mostly store cupboard ingredients, I could not ask for more.

This is gluten free, but definitely contain a lot of nuts, so not suitable for everyone.

Haribo Factory Shop

I drove the Haribo factory shop at Pontefract.  They opened extra on Saturdays before Halloween.

After I started driving, I realise I need to buy bulk to make the trip worthwhile.  I bought a good amount for family, then when I was unlocking the bike, I stopped and popped back in to buy more for myself.  Then when I went back to the bike and thought, I needed to pop back in to buy more for other friends.  I hope I have bought enough!

Polish Supermarket Karpaty

Karpaty on York Road opened a while ago, and I finally found an opportunity to call in.  We thought it was just an international supermarket, but in fact, it is only a Polish supermarket.

As soon as I walked in, I felt like I was in Europe.  The smell of bread hit me.  Then the signs were all in Polish, and the price is written in the European way.  There were a large deli section, again everything was written in Polish.

Certain things are quite cheap.  I also spotted a large selection of wafer and jaffa cake.  Are they now the Polish favourites?

The Sun Inn Sunday Roast

We stopped at The Sun Inn for Sunday Lunch.  I was debating between giant Yorkshire or Sunday Roast.  I looked at the carvery, it looked nice, so opted for the Sunday Roast.

The potatoes were pale, but turned out crisper than I expected.  I think they used the wrong type of potato, it was not very fluffy inside.  The meat were all a little overdone, a little dry.  The Yorkshire pudding was crispy, and the vegetable was nice.


The scenery is faultless though!

Four Coffee Ride Out

The last ride of the season with Yorkshire GBMCC.  I ended up drinking 4 coffees.  Very unhealthy!

Toasted Linseed

We were at Yours, and saw linseeds.  I didn't know why they will need linseed for cooking.  Then when I was cooking bulgur wheat, I threw in some linseeds, and they started popping.  Then I tried again.  Toasting linseed is like popping corns, they jump and become crunchy and aromatic.  I will be toasting most of my linseed from now on!

Useless Extractor Fan

Why do British use useless extractor fans?  Those 4' fans are absolutely useless!  If a room is 3m x 3m x 3m, and the "standard fan" is 80 cubic meter/hour, it will take 20 minutes to have 1 air exchange.  What a waste of space!

Good Sportmanship

As I get older, I understand not everyone we encounter in life has a similar level of skills, knowledge or wisdom in the different areas.  It is already nicer to spar, discuss, debate something with someone who is of similar level of competence, but it is not always ideal.  It can be frustrating, but this is why sportsmanship is still one of the great virtue.

Slow Post

Snail mail is not so slow when you are not expecting it.  I am expecting some important post, and provided they said it went out 1st class, 10 days is really unacceptable.  Are they changing the routes?

Expensive Mistake: Misfueling

With a lapse of concentration, I put petrol into Kendrew.  I only topped it up because I was near a cheap fuel station.


Everything was running fine until 30 miles later, Kendrew stalled and refused to restart.  I called AA, then remember I probably misfueled.  I put my hazard lights on and put out the hazard triangle, the first time out of its packet.


The AA responder turned up relatively quickly and he managed to restarted Kendrew, and we move onto somewhere away from busy traffic.  I told him about the misfueling, but at first he was not convinced, he sniffed and looked.  He contacted the misfueling team and I was told it will cost upwards of £200.


The recover truck pick us and Kendrew up, dropped us off at a service station and took Kendrew to the garage for the process.  I have signed so many disclaimers!  We spent 2 hours in the service station, had a Little Chef dinner and read all the tourist pamphlets. 


Finally Kendrew was brought back to us.  It was a long day.  I am going to stick some reminders on the car.

Self-Service Badminton Courts

If I pay for a badminton court, I expected it to setup and ready for the period I booked.  Why bother paying the court if it was a self-service badminton court?

Motorcycle 'Gang'

There were a lot of noisy motorcycles out in Leicester, terrorising the motorists inside the city.  I don't regularly see bikers behaving badly, in additional to the noise, ie unnecessary revving, they were doing wheelies, speeding, doing unnecessary filtering.

I can understand why some people hate bikers and equate bikers to these idiots.

Half Day for Chores

I have been trying to arrange for this free boiler service for the last few months.  I finally got a date and I made sure I was at home for him.  I took half day off and waited for the boiler guy.  I mowed the lawn, did laundry and a few other chores.  He turned up early half of the afternoon which enabled me to start traveling to Sarah earlier.  The traffic was only slightly better, but it is always nice to get to Sarah earlier than late in the evening.  I don't really have holiday left now, lets just home I don't have any more chores requiring me being at home.

Heck Sausages

I have been having different sausages, and I defrosted some Heck for one evening.  Heck is so much better!

Post-Brexit Inflation Wave

The first waves are just hitting the shores now.  I am glad I have stocked up.  Many people's delusion about this better future has not worn off, unbelieveable.

Maintenance Heartache

Basic maintenance is therapeutic,in depth maintenance is heartache.  That's why I just send the bike away.  I am simply not interested in struggles.  Safe to say, I am not taking the intermediate class.

Cold Limbs

It is getting cold and I still haven't put the heating on.  Sunlight usually warms the house, but it is also deminishing.  My limbs are getting cold, it won't be long when I have to put the heating on!

Accomplishing Weekend

Light Night, MOT, badminton, carwash, efficient shopping, batch cooking, cookies baking, sunflowers processing, PAYF Bistro, another efficient shopping, house cleaning, trip packing, trip extra booking, gym, in additional to the usual Catan playing, blogging, TV and radio.

Light Night 2016

I missed the bus into town, so I drove.  The town was already busy and I cannot believe I had to park at Level 8 at the Trinity!

I met up with Barry at the train station and head into Light Night.  I first saw the projector hut near the City Square and joked it was a traffic hut.  We walked to Civil Hall and found the big show was not on till 7:30pm, so we wandered into Town Hall, saw a few other installation and performance before going back for the show at Civil Hall.  When we were circling the Town Hall and the Civil Hall, I realised the Light Night is totally a plot to mobilise the citizen to hit the 10000 step goal!

Even the Leeds Cathedral opened their doors with loads of candles.  I suppose 'the light' is on brand with Christianity.

The show at the Civil Hall drew a big crowd, and it was a bit exhausting getting out!  We chopped out the 'Arena Area'.  We saw another installation at the City Museum before having a break at The Arch Cafe.  The Arch Cafe opened late for this event.  We sat down and I read the programme to learn the sad news that Lantern Parade was on Thursday only!

Sarah caught up with us at the Arch Cafe, then we proceeded to see the installation in and around St John The Evangelist.

We walked down Briggate to see the Arts and Crafts Market and the ice sculpture installation before going into Kirkgate Market for Leeds College of Music's gig.

I was not keen to see the installation at the Leeds Docks, but it was on of the bigger installation, we went.

We stopped at the Tetley as the final stop of our tour.  We sat down to watch a video about a flaming Rube Goldberg machine, and other exhibition before heading towards town.  I suggested to walk back to City Square and watch the projection show at the Queen's but it was vetoed.  We walked back to Trinity and pick up the car.



Supposedly, we only walked 3 miles overground.  But with the detour, the circling around the areas, up and down the town hall and museums and trip to and from the car park, I think we did close to 5 miles!  I must remember to wear better walking shoes next year!

Tyre Instruction

Kendrew has some new tyres.  The tyre man said 30psi, even the car manufacturer indicates 42psi.  I asked the car-aware engineers, they said believe the tyre man.  I really prefer to believe manufacturer instruction.  Why is car instructions so confusing!

GBP FX volatility

Foreign Exchange usually doesn't have a high volatility.  But in the face of big events, it does.  It doesn't help with fat fingers.


The GBP x USD saw 1.19.  How do I hedge my bets?

Disappointment with Guardian

Usually Guardian is our newspaper of choice.  But I am increasingly disappointed with them.  I was reading the Sports section, and no a single word about any female sports.  And recent articles about lifestyles were also disagreeable.  Very disappointing!

Beverley Food Festival

As part of our East Yorkshire tour, we stopped at Beverley.  It is a historic market town resembles York, eg massive market square, minster and churches.  It is a posh town, resembles Harrogate and Northallerton, eg high end stores, independent stores and cafes.  But unlike York or Harrogate, Beverley offers free parking on Sundays!

Coincidentally Beverley Food Festival was on, it was massive food market, various entertainment and it was free!  The quality of exhibitors were good.  We sat in the tent, watched cooking demonstration and drank coffee from a flask, we blended in well!  We didn't buy anything from the food festival, I didn't go for any pies or sausage rolls for lunch.  Sarah got a soup from a nearby greengrocer, which came with a white rose as a free gift!  I went to Harper's for a fish cake, but they did not have any, I was very disappointed.  I should have gone for their fish platter!

Beverley turned out to be a very good addition to our East Yorkshire tour.

Hull

I have never been to Hull before, and we took the opportunity to visited it as part of our long weekend.

It is a small city, fairly easy to get around.  It is fairly quiet, and not much is on, much like Leicester.  The marina was nice.  The museums were fairly good.

Maybe it can be marketed as gateway to East Yorkshire.

Badminton on Grass

Sarah and I played some badminton in the park when the wind was calm.  Playing on grass is really dangerous, now I understand why the tennis player hates it!  It is so hard to move around effectively.  And without being at the correct position, it is easy to exacerbate the old injuries.

Spurn

I took Sarah to Spurn.  It was a long slow drive!

We didn't quite get to Spurn point.  I was expecting a lot of migratory bird, but there weren't too many.  Trekking on sand was neither easy nor fun, I had to empty the shoes of sand a few times!  It was sunny and windy, and I ended up dehydrated!  I wish there is an easier way to get to Spurn Point.

Willies chocolate - Madagascan 71 Sambirano Superior chocolate bar

I saved it to the last, but it was nothing more than ordinary.