Aylesbury, England

[glatt]

Looks yummy!

[Sundae]

Mum seemed to have relaxed completely.
She went into Browns in Cardiff for afternoon tea, so I don't think she felt snubbed at all. It's not all that. She was probably just a trifle irritated and got over it. So I did too.

We chose three items from the bar snacks menu (like tapas, but available in multiples of 3). Smoked salmon blinis, salt & pepper squid and honey & mustard chicken.

It arrived within 10 minutes, but our server advised us that the prosciutto, chorizo and pepper flatbread would be a little longer. We weren't fussed - we had enough to be getting on with!

Wow! It came on a hot tray, perfect for dipping into with fingers. The chicken was SO moist. And not like cheap chicken which has been pumped full of water. Just a taste explosion, quite extraordinary. The blinis were topped with such succulent salmon. Soft and velvety. The squid was good and not rubbery, well seasoned but it simply stood no chance of praise against the other two. Not a crumb left of course.

[Sundae]

The flatbread.
Ten minutes after our bar snacks had arrived.
We had finished them.
Now the order it was served in was not an issue. But it should have all arrived together, so it was them taking their eye off the ball. Naughty.

Anyway, it was good. So good that even though I thought I was full by that point I managed some more food. So good that I have bought the ingredients to make one for Mum and I tomorrow night. I'll report back.

Apols from the server, took another cocktail order from us.
Me with my Havana Breeze.

[Sundae]

A Havana Breeze is Havana 3yr Rum blended with St Germain Elderflower liqueur, melon, sugar & lime. Served with lots and lots of ice. And I kept trying to drink it too quickly and kept getting stabbing ice-cream headaches. This I do not blame on anyone but myself!

Sticking with champagne, Mum had a Browns Champagne Cocktail
Our twist on the classic with Grand Marnier and an Angostura infused sugar cube

Now, final gripe. When the bill was presented it turns out that any coctails ordered from the Browns Signature Cocktail Range were £4.50. All the signage suggested this was a deal only available before 16.00 Sunday-Thursday (we went on Friday). Now both of my cocktails, by coincidence were from that menu. But Mum's weren't. Although she wanted a treat, I think had she realised she could save nearly £4 per drink she might just have changed her mind about champagne.

I didn't express ANY of these gripes to Mum.
I wanted her to have a good time - specially as she was paying! - so I am venting here a little bit.
I just feel sad when the details are neglected and you still get a £42 bill (service not included) at the end of it.

[Sundae]

We then wandered around the streets and the covered market.
One mildly amusing thing was that I saw a shop with lots of little trinkets and sparkly things and dived in. Mum stayed at the window.
I saw some rings that I thought she would might like, and as I'd been struggling to find her a birthday present I had a eureka moment and beckoned her in.

Just passing was a tall bearded chap in a red jumper.
When Mum came in the shop I was cracking up because he'd seen the movement and looked in.
I'd like to tell you he had a complete sit-com "who, me?" moment, but he didn't. Just looked puzzled and carried on walking.
It still tickled my funny bone though.
And yes, Mum loved the rings and I bought her one. Not her usual style, but we were there at the counter and she would have said if she didn't like.

About half an hour later I'd steered us into Paperchase (lovely card shop chain that I miss from Leicester and London).
I queue up to pay and who is the person at the till in front of me?
Tall bearded chap in a red jumper.

Thank goodness he wasn't also getting the Oxford to Aylesbury bus.
I might have had the police waiting for me at the bus station.

[limey]

It looks like you had a lovely time, though, gripes'n'all!

[Trilby]

"I was not a butterfly, I was an aphid,"

Stuff like that goes down in my notebook (never fear, I credit the person who wrote/said it) but you are wonderful my dear, and if you are an aphid, I am glad because I am an aphid, too.

[Sundae]

Originally Posted by DanaC

Yeah, duck eggs are a bit too eggy for my taste too.

Back to school and walking past a farmhouse that sells free range duck eggs. Honesty system (and cheaper than Waitrose)
Oddly, your complaint against them makes me curious enough to think about buying half a dozen. I used to buy them from Leicester market because they were sold individually and I could never get through 6 eggs before they went off. I honestly don't have a fixed memory of their taste. I want some more egginess in my life.

Originally Posted by Brianna

if you are an aphid, I am glad because I am an aphid, too.

Happiness.

[Sundae]

Friars Square, Aylesbury circa 1986.
I may be off on the date there, but it's how I remember it from that period in my life.

The sunken area is the market. Underneath that and completely covered is the underground market. Not as exciting as it sounds, but it always felt a little risky to me as a child.

When Nanny and Grandad came down from London we would sometimes eat in the Wimpy. It was so exciting. Instead of taking the escalator down to the underground market as we did every other time, we opened the Wimpy branded door and were hit by a heady wave of burger smell, climbed up the stairs and emerged into the bright world of plastic chairs and fake tomatoes. All the staff were Asian, with varying degrees of English. I honestly assumed that Wimpy, although faux-American, was some sort of Indian business. I mean the only curry I'd seen in those days came from a box by Vesta. By the time I was old enough to go to a Wimpy elsewhere I understood the concept of minimum wage and had had real Indian take-away.

But back then, Coke Floats, Brown Derbys and Beefburgers (served on china plates with knives and forks) were foreign in many ways, and an outstanding treat however you looked at it.

Oh, if I haven't already mentioned it (surely I have?) a few external scenes in A Clockwork Orange were filmed in the concrete modernity of Friars Square. And yes, when I picture it, it always looks like this - wet and grey with the buildings and sky in shades of clotted porridge.

[xoxoxoBruce]

clotted porridge

That conjures up images that would keep small children up at night.

[Lamplighter]

Ummm... clotted blood candy ... maybe kids would love it.

[Sundae]

I'm not sure clotted has exactly the same resonance here.
It's not always about blood. Cream teas come with clotted cream after all. Yummy.

But I do love the idea that my words have enough power to keep small children up at night.

[DanaC]

Yeah, clotted is a little different here :p

Clotted cream has been described as having a "nutty, cooked milk" flavour,[3] and a "rich sweet flavour" with a texture that is grainy, sometimes with oily globules on the crusted surface.[4][5] It is a thick cream, with a very high fat content (a minimum of 55%, but an average of 64%); in the United States it would be classified as butter.[6] Despite its popularity, virtually none is exported due to it having a very short shelf life.[6]


-snip-

Clotted cream is an essential part of a cream tea, a favourite with tourists in Cornwall and Devon. It is served on scones—or the more traditional 'splits' in Cornwall[35]—with strawberry or raspberry jam, along with a pot of tea. Traditionally, there are differences in the way it is eaten in each county: in Devon, the cream is traditionally spread first on the scone, with the jam dolloped on top; in Cornwall the jam is spread first with a dollop of cream.[36] Cream teas spread to southern Australia as early immigrants from Cornwall and Devon took their traditional recipes with them.[37] In 2010, Langage Farm in Devon started a campaign for "Devon cream tea" to have protected designation of origin similar to "Cornish clotted cream".[38][39] One variation on a cream tea is called "Thunder and Lightning" which consists of a round of bread, topped with clotted cream and golden syrup, honey or treacle.[40]

-snip-

It can be used as an accompaniment to hot or cold desserts. Clotted cream, especially clotted cream from Devon, where it is less yellow due to lower carotene levels in the grass, is regularly used in baking. It is used throughout the south-west of England in the production of ice cream,[41] and fudge.[42

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clotted_cream

[limey]

Now I wants me some clotted cream.

[DanaC]

I know. Between this and the giant spliff I jst smoked, I arnt half got the raging munchies.