Our New Allotment

After waiting for over 3 years, me (me, husband, daughter) now have a plot at our local allotments and we are very excited! As you can see from the picture below, it is in a pretty bad state, but we are looking forward to getting stuck in and making it our own. There is so much work to do so we don't expect to grow anything until Spring at the earliest, by the time we clear it our and prepare the ground.

I am slowly turning into a gardening geek and Monty Don is already a permanent feature in our house on Friday nights, so be prepared for nerdy blog posts about our progress! Wish us luck and if you have any tips or ideas, do share.

Yardbird

I was pleasantly surprised when it became apparent that the old 'Banksy' building, on the corner of Berry Street and Duke Street, was going to be a restaurant rather than yet another Costa Coffee, as rumours suggested.  That was over a year ago now, but I have only just got around to trying it out. Actually, it was about two weeks ago when I visited but my blood pressure has only just returned to normal after a MASSIVE salt intake! I know that I should expect fast food to be salty but, man, those salt and pepper chicken wings.

It took me so long to visit for a few reasons, one being that there are lots of new places to try in Liverpool lately, which is fantastic, and another is that having a 3 year old means that you don't get out as much as you used to. I think the main reason, though, is that I try onto rush to all of the hip new places that crop up, some have too much style over substance and others are crammed with people wanting to tell the whole of Liverpool how trendy they are with a load of bad Instagram pictures. I would rather focus on the food.

After leaving it too late to try another new restaurant on my list, we plumped for Yardbird as it was nearby and did not look too busy. There wasn't a table straight away, but they offered to call us when a table was free, which was very good of them. We headed over to Red Door, the old Metropolitan, for one and we were so glad it was one. I was expecting it to be a lot better as it is a good space for a pub, but the beer was awful and the place itself was all a bit meh. Anyway, back to the chicken.

The menu consist of various forms of chicken wings, chicken strips, chicken burgers, you get the picture. The signature dishes are southern fried chicken with gravy and biscuits and chicken with donuts and hot pepper, but I decided to go for the 'Dead Man's Swerve'; a crunchy chicken burger with hot buffalo sauce and pickles. There was only one lonely pickle on my burger, but it was a very good chicken burger and definitely worth the £6 price tag. All six of us ordered different dishes, but they kind of looked the same really. There were no real complaints other than the saltiness of the chicken wings and the chips, but there were no 'wows' either.  The highlight of the meal was the coconut curry sauce, that accompanied the chips, which was rich and creamy with just a little kick.

Yardbird is most definitely better than any of the fried chicken joints you will find in Liverpool and it is a cool little place to head to with friends, I just have a feeling that it can be so much better.


Image taken from Yardbird Facebook Page

It's been too long

It has been over three months since I last posted, and before that I have been rather sporadic in updating my blog. There are a number of reasons, ranging from poor health, lack of time, toddlers wanting to 'help' me every time I pick up the laptop, etc etc. I also struggled for a while after starting a dieting programme. I am totally not one for diets, but I recognised I needed a kick up the bum, in terms of my food choices and portion sizes. Time just flies by (can't believe we are nearly into April) and before you know it, you have eaten way too much cheese, drank too much wine and have realised that you really cannot eat as much as you did whilst you were breastfeeding. Anyhow, I gave it a good go and did really well but I am now giving it a go on my own, to see how things shape out, so to speak.

I have always loved cooking from scratch and eat lots of healthy stuff, I was just eating lots of the not so good stuff too often. So, here I am, heading into Spring, looking to continue being as healthy as possible but not getting too hung up when I fancy a burger or three glasses of wine too many. I want to get back into sharing recipes, and meals out, with you all, so fingers crossed that I get more time and stop saying "I'll just blog tomorrow"

Speak to you soon!

P&D Deli Liverpool

If you are a supporter of independent restaurants, cafes and bars, you are most likely to find yourself heading to the Bold Street end of town for lunch or tea (dinner for the posh people!), if you are in Liverpool. Whilst there are a few good independents dotted around other parts of town, there is a little bit in the middles, around Liverpool 1, where you struggle to avoid big name chains and bland coffee bars. Of course, all chains are not bad but I do like to put as much of my money as possible into local indie businesses. 

A saving grace around the Liverpool 1 and Whitechapel area in the form of the excellent P&D Deli on Tarelton Street, just off Williamson Square. The deli consists of a cafe area, with both indoor and outdoor seating, and a takeaway area selling traditional Italian sandwiches, pasta dishes, pizzas and salads. The highlight of the deli, though, is the wonderful counter filled with cakes, biscuits and the best gelato in the city. I have eaten A LOT of gelato in Italy and P&D's coconut gelato is amongst the best I have tasted, go and try some.

As with most Italian food, ingredients are simple and there is nothing fancy about the food on offer but it tastes very good. Classic flavours are put together simply to provide a great value for money lunch, that is so much better than a stodgy panini from a packet in a coffee shop chain. My usual order is the penne ariabiata, which is very reasonably priced and gives me my much needed chilli kicks. My daughter loves that freshly made pizzas on offer, which are not exactly to my taste as I prefer super thin crusts, but she loves them. Most importantly, the coffee at P&D's is very good and the service is excellent, they really are such a friendly bunch. I love the fact that the last time I was in, an older lady came in and asked for her usual, which was a cup of tea and a round of toast. I got the feeling that she used to visit when it was Sayers and just carried on going there every day and it's nice to think that she is still looked after the way she prefers. Tea and toast may not be on the menu or everyone but if you fancy a laid back lunch that is easy on the wallet, head to P&D's rather than a bland coffee shop next time you are stuck for somewhere to go for lunch.

Images taken from P&D