OK, I’ll fess up right now – I managed to give Hawksey a tummy bug that I got 4 days before his birthday, the night before his birthday… eeeeek. So, some of the birthday bookings – such as the seafood dinner in Soho – were amended to a night at the Hand in Hand, and ultimately to a light M&S supper in front of the TV. Ah well – best laid plans and all that.
Luckily there were multiple mini events planned so most of those came to some sort of fruition. Alongside the acquisition of 36 Imodium equivalents from Amazon for just £2 more than a pack of 6 from Waitrose – def our best purchase this week… Booo…..
One early treat was a trip over to see the lovely Barnes boys, James & Dominic, for a slap up Sunday lunch with a difference. So good to spend several hours chewing the cud with these two gorgies. Here’s Jimbob modelling a fine starter plate of prawny spicy nachos…
We then kicked off birthday week with a trip to Chettinad Indian restaurant off Tottenham Court Road, as the one food critic who I follow rates their dosa savoury pancakes. And that is a Hawksey favourite since we went to Sri Lanka and Southern India quite a few years back now. I sadly had to sit opposite him with a trying-hard smile on my chops as I couldn’t eat more than a spoonful without risking a very dodgy trip home on the tube, given the state of my gurgling guts. H was still fine at this point so scoffed for the two of us.
Next came the actual day itself – a tad muted as per the above, so thank goodness we were then off to the cottage for the weekend. In itself a bit touch and go as he was still feeling grotty, but H rallied himself and we got down there and then were out that eve to the Black Horse in Amberley, which has just re-opened under the ownership of a London food group who have Rabbit, The Shed and the Black Lamb in Wimbers. Apart from it being a bit boiling in there – very busy as it was opening week – they knocked out some good scran and Ross was very keen on returning soon to try out their cooked brekkies.
We headed to the beach the next day to buy some oysters at Shoreham’s La Poissonerie, walk the dogs and blow the cobwebs away in the sea breeze. Great to see some sunshine although slightly sad when a 10 year old boy kicked his (clearly prized) football in the sea and learned the phrase ‘offshore wind’ the hard way. Bye bye ball-y… France ahoy.
Saturday afternoon was wine, all about the wine and more wine as J&R’s gift to H was a tasting at Wiston. I was dragged along as driver but I have to admit it was one of the better wine things that I’ve dutifully sat through as the woman taking us round was very good and the wines are fizzy – marginally better than regular ones for my weird palate. Several bottles were bought and he was a very happy boy as we headed home.
It was then a slightly later dinner than expected – but still v nice – as poor Ross had sweated all afternoon steaming a lovingly hand made steak & kidney pudding for H’s birthday dinner, one of his faves. It was rather stubborn about becoming fully cooked – unhelpfully still swimming in blood at 8pm – so we ate quite late and Ross had totally lost his appetite by that point, the poor bloke. A fine effort all round though – and a good job they’d had the oysters to start off with!
We returned home on Sun afternoon for the final whirl – popping next door for H’s birthday cake of choice – a carrot cake iced with cream cheese. Good to see all 4 Sadlers in residence – Rob, Char and I were on the opposite side so not pictured – and to have a nice cuppa and several slices of the crumbly stuff, before dragging ourselves and Mads back to No.22 for an end of birthday week night on the sofa. Phew! Job done for another year… x