Short Break in Talaton

Thursday 7th June 2012 

We set off from home on Thu 7th June at 11:00 am and headed south on the M5.  Our 75 mile journey to Talaton was to take one and a half hours, leaving the M5 at junction 28 with the final 10 miles being on narrow country lanes.

On the northbound M5, all 3 lanes were extremely busy and for many miles the traffic was stationary.  It seemed that, in view of the bad weather, people had decided to cut their holiday short and head for home early.  Fortunately, the southbound M5 was fairly clear and our progress was only impeded by the poor visibility caused by the driving rain storm.  All was going well until one of those large illuminated motorway road signs informed us that there had been an accident between junctions 26 and 27.  We left the motorway at junction 26 and proceeded slowly on the narrow Devon country lanes.  It was inconvenient but we passed through several beautiful Devon villages.  One that particularly caught our attention was Broadhembury .  All of the cottages that we saw had thatched roofs.  Kirsty Allsop has a home here.  Thanks to the Satnav we arrived at Talaton at around 1:00 pm,  after a two hour journey and found our way to Miller's Farm which was to be our home for the next three days.  We were greeted by Annette, who took us to the caravan and showed us round.

Annette told us that the nearby Talaton Inn served good food in the evenings and there was also the Five Bells at Clyst Hydon just three miles away.  She also mentioned that they had a lamb, nicknamed 'Houdini', who was always escaping from it's field and not to be surprised if it turned up by our caravan.  In fact, he did turn up every day.

Annette had thoughtfully provided some scones and tea. She left a note informing us that jam and clotted cream were in the fridge.  We unpacked and sat down to a lovely cream tea.  After tea, we set off for Tesco at Honiton, as we needed to buy some food for evening meals.  With the shopping done, we drove round Honiton to see what it was like and decided that it had no appeal for us.

In the evening we drove to Clyst Hydon and luckily spotted the small sign pointing the way to the Three Bells.  We parked in the car park and went in.

We went to the bar and ordered some drinks.  They sold draft San Miguel and Thatchers Gold, our usual drinks back home so we ordered these.  I didn't feel inspired to try the local brews, made by the Otter Brewery.  We were asked if we would be eating and confirmed that we would like to, so the bar man offered to open a tab for us.  They are very trusting here, as no swipe of a debit/credit card was required unlike back home in Bristol.  We browsed the menu, and the choice was easy for me, they did a steak, ale and mushroom pie.  Sue went for the fish pie.  There were three potato options, so I chose chips and the meals were accompanied with vegetables.

The steak pie was made in a pie dish with a thin shortcrust pastry topping, glazed, presumably, with beaten egg.  The sauce was thinner and less flavoursome than some I have had, but the beef was good quality and tender.  The chips were good, although nothing special, and the veg (broccoli, carrots and red cabbage) was nicely cooked.  Sue was very impressed with her fish pie.  It was made with cod, salmon, prawns, smoked fish and boiled egg in a sauce with a mashed potato and cheese topping.

Friday 8th June 2012 

We have spent many holidays at Ladram Bay, and it was only eleven miles from Talaton, albeit with much of the route being on narrow lanes with passing places, so after breakfast we drove there.  On arrival, we paid the very reasonable £2 parking fee and parked in the car park.  For just £2, you can park there all day, and have access to the beach, shop, cafe, takeaway, and the Three Rocks complex with restaurant, bars and evening entertainment.  We wandered round the extensive shop/gift shop which sells everything imagineable and then made our way to Pebbles restaurant where had a coffee while sitting looking out of the large windows onto the bay.

In the evening, we thought we would try the Talaton Inn.  We ordered two halves while deciding if we would like to eat there.

We decided to move on so we drove to the Thirsty Farmer pub at Whimple.  This appeared to be a modern pub and we were not keen on the atmosphere.

After our tour of the local pubs, we decided to to return to the Five Bells again this evening.   I enjoyed the steak pie so much last night, that I decided to have it again.  Sue chose the vegetable lasagne and on eating it commented that it seems impossible to get a bad meal here.  We gave dessert a miss tonight.  On visiting the toilet, instead of the customary hot air drier, or paper towels, there was a basket by the side of the wash basin containing several neatly folded small cotton hand towels, and nearby was another basket to deposit your towel after you had dried your hands.

Saturday 9th June 2012

In the afternoon, we drove the short distance to the Talaton Inn and parked in the pub car park and strolled round the village.

There was a wedding in the village church which was just ending and the guests were driving/walking the short distance to the village hall for the reception.

Afterwards we drove to Sidmouth, parked in the Russell Street Car Park and wandered round the shops.  For several years we used to have an Easter break at Ladram Bay and always visited Sidmouth and roamed round the shops, so we are well accustomed to the retail opportunities here.  There are several shops in Sidmouth, which are full of items, all of which are completely unessential to human existence, but to which all females seem drawn by some inexplicable magnetism.

We went for a coffee in Sue's Pantry. We went here several years ago when we spent the Easter break at Ladram Bay with Claire, Pete, Josh and Charlie.  Sue had a tea and I had a cappuccino.  I was asked if I wanted a medium or large cappuccino and the waitress gestured to the two sizes of cup.  Their 'large' cup was smaller than Costa's medium, so I opted for the large one at £2.50. Now, I do like my coffee, and even with my entry level equipment at home, using Sainsbury's TTD coffee beans, I can make a nicer tasting cup of coffee than Costa or Starbucks.  I am not over analytical in my assessment of coffee e.g. hints of blackcurrant and citrus notes etc., but I know if it has a smooth, pleasant taste.  Sue's Pantry coffee was not at all pleasant tasting, and the milk foam was not a fine foam, but had large loose bubbles. There seems to be a belief in some cafes that all they have to do is serve up a brown liquid with some frothy milk on the top and it's OK to charge £2.50 for it.  Very often you find the coffee is not worth the money.  If you are charging £2.50 for a coffee, then you should be able to use good quality coffee beans and train the staff in the correct use of the equipment. i.e. grinding the coffee beans to the correct particle size and packing the coffee basket properly to achieve the optimum 25 second extraction.  Incidentally, this criticism even applies to the UK's favourite retailer, John Lewis, where the aftermath of drinking one of the acrid brews in their cafe remains in your mouth for some hours afterwards.  OK, rant over.

In the evening, we went back to the Five Bells yet again.  For the third time, I had the steak, ale and mushroom pie, and Sue had the cod and chips.  For dessert Sue chose the Chockabocka Glory and I just had two scoops of their excellent ice cream, chocolate and vanilla flavours.  Before the meals arrived, I had ordered more drinks and now, after eating, I sat there wondering how on earth I could manage to drink another pint of San Miguel.  

When we went to bed, the wedding evening party was in full swing in the nearby village hall and we could hear the music in our caravan.  I lay in bed awake, and from somewhere I came up with the idea of doing a day trip to Majorca to see a friend, Andres, who we have not seen for about 15 years.  His brother has a bar in Arenal just a few miles from Palma airport.  I researched the trip using the 3G internet on my Samsung phone.  There is a 6:00 am Easyjet flight from Bristol to Palma and a return flight at around 23:00, so it should be possible to do the return trip in a day.  Arenal is less than 5 miles from Palma airport and is reachable by bus.  Using Google Maps Street View I can even see the bar where I believe Andres is working.  I could also go back to visit the Orleans Garden Hotel in Can Pastilla where we spent a good holiday in the late 1990s.  One small aggravation is that one day's parking at Bristol Airport seems to cost £23.  They are having a laugh.  I woke the next morning still full of enthusiasm for the trip, possibly the wildest thing I will have done in my dull life.  We will see. 

Sunday 10th June 2012

Annette had told us that there was no one coming into the caravan after us, so there was no pressure to be out by 10:00 am. We could stay on and leave at our leisure, so we spent a relaxed day in the caravan.

We popped out for a short while just before midday to have a look round the village shop. Sue had a chat to the lady working in the shop, who told her that it is a Community Shop. They had some nice looking pies in the refrigerator. One was interestingly called Sheep Pie, containing a mixture of mutton and lamb. With my ever increasing weight, I resisted temptation.

 

We returned to the caravan and and relaxed for a while, watching the geese and sheep grazing outside.

Having discovered the excellent meals at the Five Bells, the food we had bought in Tesco remained in the fridge and freezer and we packed it up to take home.

At 6:00 pm, we left the caravan, said our goodbyes to Annette and took a steady drive home.  It rained continuously all the way.  On arriving home, we unloaded the car and went to the Baileys Court Inn for supper.

Holidays 2012

This morning, I paid the full amount for our next holiday at Burnham on Sea in July. 

Having spent a hectic past few days visiting Dave and Jan in Wedmore and staying overnight at the Swan Inn and visiting the Wells Swans, visiting Suzanne and Howard for an evening with drinks and snacks, visiting Amelia for a meal, having Suzanne and Howard and Judith and Andrew round for a buffet and drinks while watching the Jubilee Concert, going to the Three Brooks for a meal and spending any remaining free time watching the Jubilee Celebrations, Sue felt in need of a quiet break.  As it's the school half term holidays and Jubilee Bank Holiday, there is very little accommodation available this week, but Sue managed to find a caravan free at Talaton (where?).  It is a fairly new caravan (2010) and is situated on a farm, in a field, on its own.  It is reasonably priced and so we have booked it for Thu, Fri and Sat nights, which means we will be coming back on Sunday, hopefully missing all the returning holiday traffic.  Just after the lady caravan owner put down the phone following Sue's enquiry she received another phone call querying availability, so we only just got it.  Talaton holiday Blog to follow soon.

The response on this Toshiba netbook on which I write this blog has been getting increasingly, annoyingly slower.  I have virus checked it with BitDefender, Malwarebytes, SUPERAntiSpyware and Microsoft Security Essentials and it's OK.  It must be down to the increasing amounts of software I have loaded.  All my data is backed up on my 25GB Skydrive, so I just need to back up my pictures to Skydrive as well.  Then all that remains to be done is to clear the Toshiba down and reload Windows 7, reload 2 years Windows 7 updates, Internet Explorer, Windows Live Mail, Microsoft Security Essentials, Open Office, etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., I may well lose the will to live.      

Wedmore, Wells and Burnham

Sue's holiday from work started at midday Thursday.  On the evening, we are off to Wedmore to see Dave and Jan and to have a meal with them at the New Inn.  On Wednesday, Sue booked a night's B&B at the Swan Inn, so we won't have to drive home afterwards.  We set off for Wedmore at 3:00 pm and arrived at the Swan Inn 45 minutes later.

Swan Inn, Wedmore

The pub has recently been renovated to a very high spec and the restaurant has been awarded the Good Food Guide Readers' Restaurant of the Year, South West regional winner.

New Inn Restaurant

There was ample parking available in the car park, so we parked and were shown to our room, Room 1, where we unpacked and settled in.  The most unusual feature of the spacious bedroom was a large bath postioned right in front of the window, overlooking  the high street.  Thankfully, there were venetian style shutters at the window.  There was also the en suite room with a shower cubicle and power shower.  The bed was enormous, 6ft x 6ft 6 inches. There was tea and coffee making facilities with fresh ground coffee and two cafetierres.  There was also a jar of boiled sweets, but it would have been nice to have had some biscuits.  Free wifi was provided in the rooms.

Dave and Jan walked down to the Swan Inn to meet us. They arrived at 5:00 pm and showed us round the Wedmore shopping area, but we couldn't go into any shops as Wedmore closes down at 5:00pm.  We decided to return in the morning after breakfast.  During our walk, we found one of the Wells' Swans at the Borough Mall shopping precinct.

Apparently, there are 60 swans dotted around Wells, to commemorate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. Sue is very interested in visiting Wells to photograph the Wells' Swans.  Last year we spent a lot of time going round photographing all 60 of the Gorillas in Bristol and surrounding area.

We made our way back to Dave and Jan's house for tea and biscuits before going out to the New Inn (no web site) for dinner. 

New Inn, Wedmore

The table was booked for 7:30 pm.  We had a couple of pints of the local Thatcher's Gold cider and we all opted for the excellent fish and chips, with the fish having arrived fresh from the south coast that day.  The batter was light and crispy and the chips, soft with a beautiful golden crispy outside.  The fish and chips was accompanied by your choice of garden peas or mushy peas.  I went for the mushy peas, purely from an ease of handling point of view.  It was a fun evening and we left and headed back to the Swan Inn at 10:30.

We had a good night's sleep in the comfortable bed at the Swan Inn.  We had thought that we may have been bothered by traffic noise, as we were on a busy road junction but it was fine.

Breakfast was served between 7:30 and 11:30. This is quite an exceptional time span for a B&B to serve breakfast, but it is served in the pub bar, which is also open to non residents for breakfast, so that would explain it.  All breakfast items ranging from museli to a Swan Full English breakfast are listed on the menu.  Normally in B&Bs, there is a buffet table with fruit, cereals, and fruit juice etc. to help yourself before you have the main cooked breakfast.  There is no indication as to what you are allowed to have, but I had read a Tripadvisor review where the reviewer had requested more than one item from the list, so I ordered fruit, yogurt with granola and scambled eggs and tomatoes on toast for Sue and muesli and a full Swan English for me.  We were given orange juice with ice cubes without being given the option of ice or no ice.  I would have preferred no ice.  My full English consisted of two grilled tomato halves, two rashers of streaky bacon with rind still attached, one small sausage, some black pudding and scrambled egg on one slice of toast.  The tomato was a lovely sweet one, perfectly cooked, and the scrambled egg was as it should be.  I would have preferred back bacon, but  anyway, I carried on and removed the rind from the streaky bacon which was very dry, hard and unpleasant.  I imagine it had been cooked much earlier and kept hot.  The sausage was very small and I suspect, sourced from a local butcher, but it was not to my taste.  I had read on the  Tripadvisor review that scrambled egg was the default, which I decided to go with, but normally, if given the choice, which I wasn't, I would opt for poached.  The toast which the scrambled egg was sat upon had a crust so hard a hammer and chisel would have been more suited than a knife and fork.  I left the black pudding untouched.  I would not rush back here for breakfast.  Compared to the magnificent feast at the Three Brooks pub in Bradley Stoke, this was very poor and cost double the price.

After breakfast we checked out and headed for the shops which included a number of designer clothes shops, some quaint gift shops and an antique shop.  I found a beautiful food/general store called the Paper Shop in Church Street, which made such a welcome, refreshing change having grown accustomed to the dreadful Tesco Express stores which have sprung up everywhere around us back at home in Bristol. 

Later on, we drove to Wells, parked the car and paid and displayed for 2 hours.  We wandered around enjoying the sights.  Wells is a very beautiful city.  During our tour, we photographed many of the Swans.  The Swans have been sponsored by businesses, individuals and organisations and decorated by a team of talented artists and craftspeople, who have transformed them into beautiful works of contemporary art.  Here is a small sample.

We left Wells and headed back along the B3139 towards Burnham on Sea.  We have recently booked another week's holiday at the Burnham on Sea Holiday Village in July, so we thought we would pop in and look around again.  We walked around the fishing lakes, had a look at the caravan and went into the Mash and Barrel for a cream tea.

Sam was at home alone, so we drove back and the three of us went out to the Baileys for something to eat.

Olympic Torch

The Olympic Torch was coming near to us this morning and it's going to be a beautiful warm sunny day.  It began its journey on College Green at around 6:00 am, travelling via Nailsea, Backwell and Flax Bourton, arriving at the Suspension Bridge around 8:00 am.  Sue had left for work early this morning and was planning to watch the torch convoy at the the bridge with some work colleagues.  From there it was to travel across Durdham Downs, into Henleaze, Southmead and ending up in Southmead Road, Filton at 8:50 am.  From there the flame was to be carried by vehicle to the next destination, Chippenham.

I decided to head for Southmead Road, Filton and I set off at 7:30 am.  I parked in Charborough Road and walked down to Southmead Road where people were already starting to congregate.  Houses had been trimmed up with bunting and barriers had been erected at the pavement edge annotated with the names of various schools.  One enterprising household had set up a stall on their front lawn and was selling coffees for 50p.  The torch wasn't due for at least an hour, so I decided to walk back along the route and take in the atmosphere.  I took many photographs en-route.

There was a very good atmosphere, young children cheered and waved their union jacks at passing cyclists on their way to work.  Even Elvis and a Superhero had turned out to see the torch.

I had a phone call from Sue who had seen the torch at the Suspension Bridge.  It was running 20 minutes late, due to having taken a wrong turning.

Sam had arrived, parked and walked down to Southmead Road.  We met up and found a gap in the crowd on the edge of the pavement with a clear view of the road.  After a few minutes a police motor cycle came up the road and stopped the traffic.  Unfortunately,  a big bus stopped in front of us and could go nowhere.  We and the other people affected by the bus's arrival stood there for a minute and then moved out into the middle of the road, where we would have an even better view.  No one told us to move so we stayed there.  We had a first class view. Unfortunately, when the torch bearer arrived, someone moved their head in front of the cameraI just as I took the photo.  By the time the camera had saved the picture and was ready for the next photo,  she had gone past.  I took a rear view shot and then set off up the road chasing the torch to try again.  Luckily, I did manage to get some decent  shots and with a bit of cropping here and there afterwards, here are the results:   

       

When the torch arrived at Charborough Road they took three or four lights from the flame to light the lamps for the onward journey to Chippenham by vehicle.  Then, with the flame extinguished, people were holding and touching the torch.  So I got to touch one of the Olympic torches.  

I walked back to Sam's car with him.  He had parked in a side road just off of Braemar Avenue.  We noticed that Braemar Avenue was very busy with traffic.  I left Sam who was carrying on to college.  I walked down Braemar to Southmead Road and saw that the police were diverting all traffic up Braemar Ave.  They said there was a gas leak further along Southmead Road.  I had in fact noticed a strong smell of gas when I walked along there earlier on.  I imagined the news headlines, 'Olympic Torch causes massive gas explosion in Bristol'.

Sue's Birthday

Today is Sue's Birthday.  Unfortunately, John had booked a week's holiday and so she was unable to have the day off from work.  After Sue left for work, I decided to go out for another run.  I thought I would increase the distance to 4 miles this time.  In the recent runs, I have not been troubled with heel pain during the run, but on returning home,  the pain has returned.  The discomfort lasts for a day or so, but I have then been able to run again.  I am determined not to give in to it.  Taking 2 Ibuprofen 3 times a day has not helped.  I completed the 4 miles and showered and set off to Cribbs Causeway to do some shopping.  I am limping.  I returned home much later, unloaded the car, wrapped up Sue's presents and awaited her arrival. 

Sue phoned Suzanne and Howard and invited them to the Taj Brasserie with us for a birthday curry.  Sue and I went to the Baileys Court Inn for pre-curry drinks and Sam and Christopher joined us.  We left the pub and arrived at the Taj Brasserie just as Suzanne and Howard were arriving.   The car park was unusually empty as was the restaurant, in fact we have not seen it this quiet.  We were seated at a table for 7 and waited for Emma, Christopher's girlfriend to arrive.  Christopher had given her directions which were less than adequate, so there were a few phone calls before she eventually found it.  The meal was excellent as usual.  Unknown to the rest of us, Sam and Christopher had given the waiters a tray of cup cakes with candles and the waiters all arrived at our table with them and sang Happy Birthday to Sue.

Mezze at the Green Dragon, Downend

Since last Tuesday's 3 mile run, I have had a niggling pain from my left heel.  Clearly, my ailment has not completely cleared up, but has improved to a level whereby I can complete a short run without having undue discomfort.  I thought it was about time for another run.  This morning, I ran 2 miles at a very steady pace.  Again, I completed the run successfully, free from heel pain,  but later on it still let me know all was not as it should be.  I decided to try taking 2 Ibuprofen 3 times a day for a week to see if that would help.


In the evening, Sue suggested going out to the Mezze at the Green Dragon, Downend. 

We went early, at about 6:30 pm. We sat at a table in the restaurant rather than the bar.  It is an attractive room, much nicer than the restaurant in the Thornbury Mezze.  We always sit in the bar area at Thornbury which is the better of the two eating areas.  

We ordered some drinks, Thatchers Gold for Sue and Leffe Blonde for me.  For the food we chose three mezze dishes, Blue Shark Souvlaki for Sue, Beef Stifado for me and a Greek Salad to share.  We ordered a side dish of Hand Cut Chips to share and there was the complimentary bowl of bread.  I would say the food here is at least as good as Thornbury if not slightly better, although Sue said she would not have the Blue Shark Souvlaki again.  The Wikipedia entry for Blue Shark says 'The flesh is edible, but not widely sought after'.  It was a little strange and presented on a stick, like a fish lollipop.  We decided to have desserts, Mezze Mess for Sue and ice cream for me.  I think we need to have another visit here.  The Downend Mezze is closer to home than the Thornbury one.

In the room where we were seated, there was one other table in use by a family with a young child called Zackary. I know his name because I must have heard it a thousand times that evening.   He was at that age where his doting parents had to spend every moment  attending to keeping him amused, happy and hopefully quiet.  He cried and screamed with a piercing shriek when things were not going his way.  When they finished their main course, I just prayed they would not have a dessert and just go and leave us in peace. But my hopes were dashed by the words, 'how many scoops of ice cream do you want Zachary, one, two or three?'  I don't know if they were trying to impress anyone in earshot that their infant could count. Zachary didn't reply, the concept of numbers being beyond his comprehension.  When they eventually packed up to leave, Sue pointed out to them that they had dropped a baby's bib on the floor and the mother thankfully retrieved it.  I observed that it would come in useful for stuffing in Zachary's mouth.  In the past, I have been accused of being a grumpy old man.  I can't understand why.

Chilli Oil

On Saturday afternoon, I decided to make some pizza dough.  I made four dough balls and put them in the refrigerator for use during the next week.

For some time now, I have been getting low on my homemade  chilli oil which I add to a cooked pizza, to 'spice it up' a bit.  It's about time I made some more, as I do enjoy it.  Making the pizza oil is very simple.  I cut open a number of hot dried chillies, to allow the oil easy access to the chilli interior.  The seeds are removed and discarded and the chillies are placed in a glass container and topped up with extra virgin olive oil (Felippo Berio).  I lost count of the number of chillies I used, but estimate it to be about 50.  It should be left for at least a week for the chilli heat to infuse into the oil.  The resulting chilli oil is incendiary hot and should be used sparingly.  Or maybe not.

The glass container is made from Spanish recycled glass, manufactured by La Mediterranea, and is known as 17009, ALCUZA PEQUEÑA.  It is available in 3 sizes and this is the medium size.  I first saw these for sale in a supermarket in San Jose, Ibiza and didn't buy one and regretted it afterwards.  Not long after, I saw them again for sale at, of all places, one of the stalls at the Bristol Harbour Festival.  This time I bought four, two medium and two small.   They are perfect for oil and balsamic vinegar.   

Change of Energy Supplier

Today it's raining yet again, so there's not a lot I can do outside. My cheap Gas and Electricity Energy deal came to an end at the end of March and I have been put back onto their standard tarrif, so I have been intending comparing the market to find the cheapest deal.  I use MoneySupermarket.com as they have sent me £30 in the past when changing suppliers using their web site.  It's a very simple process to fill out the online forms, you just need to know how much you are paying each month/year in terms of kWh or money.  Seconds later it displays a list of the deals ranked in order of annual savings.  I decided to go for the greatest saving of just over £200.  This also came with a price freeze until June 2013.  I filled out the forms, including bank details for the direct debit, selecting the debit date, clicked on 'Confirm and Send' and it was done.  I received a confirming email.  Seemples.     

First run for 5 months

This morning the sun was shining, an ideal opportunity to go for a run.  This will be my first proper run for 5 months, since getting plantar fasciitis.  I weighed myself before setting off.  My weight has risen to 11st 10lb, almost a stone and a half heavier than this time last year. I put on the running gear, heart rate monitor strap and Garmin Forerunner 310XT and the new Brooks Adrenaline GT12s.  I set off intending to do just 2 miles at a very relaxed pace.  After half a mile and feeling a lot better than anticipated, I changed that to 3 miles.  Around the 2 mile mark, there was some mild knee pain, but I was now a long way from home and kept going.  The pain didn't appear to get any worse and I completed the 3 miles in 32:38, an average pace of 10:53 at an average heart rate of 162 bpm with a  2 minute recovery heart rate was 35 bpm.  This time last year, I ran a 4 mile training run in the same time as todays 3 miles at the same average heart rate, with a 2 minute recovery heart rate of 46. I feel so unfit.

The 2 minute recovery heart rate is the statistic that interests me as its a good indicator of the overall state of the cardio vascular system.  There a scientific paper titled 'Importance of the First Two Minutes of Heart Rate Recovery after Exercise Treadmill Testing in Predicting Mortality and the Presence of Coronary Artery Disease in Men', by Michael J. Lipinski, BS, George W. Vectrovec, MD, and Victor F. Froelicher, MD.

http://www.cardiology.org/recentpapers/AJCHRR.pdf 

The article is heavy reading, but in a nutshell it says that a 2 minute recovery heart rate of less than 25 is an indicator that you have not long left in this world.

I put the Ant Stick into the netbook and the data transfered from the Garmin 310XT to the computer and uploaded to Garmin Connect to view the route taken and analyse the data.  It says I burned 414 calories.  A small contribution towards the 21 lbs that I want to lose.  The Bristol Half Marathon is in 4 months time.

In the afternoon, I received a very nice reply from Lupa Foods in response to my query about the La Carmela San Marzano tomatoes.  Their customer service is good.

San Marzano Delivery

This morning, there was a knock on the door.  It was a delivery man with a box containing my 12 cans of San Marzano tomatoes.  I unpacked them and found that, instead of the Annalisa brand as shown on the Lupa Foods website, they had sent me 12 cans of La Carmela brand.

I checked the label on the cans and found they were canned in the D'Acunzi factory in the appropriate region of Italy, not far in fact from the Annalisa factory.  Also, they were canned in San Marzano tomato juice and not cooked puree made from any old tomatoes.  So, they seem OK, but just not exactly what I was expecting.  I noticed that on the side of each can, hand written in red marker pen was the words 'campione omaggio'.  This translates as 'free sample'.  Very odd!!

Early in the afternoon, I received an email from Lupa Foods (Donatantonio Ltd) :

Thank you for your order no: 120501-101946-9238 placed on May 01 2012, 10:19 AM

The transaction was successful and we will ship your goods within the next 5 days.

Strange considering I received the order this morning.  I will reply to this email.

Breakfast, San Marzanos ordered, White Hart

This morning I gave Sam a lift to Christopher's house where he had left his car last night before going out for a few drinks. 

On returning home, having been very pleased with last night's pizza topped with tomato sauce made from San Marzano tomatoes, I decided to try again to track down a UK supplier.  I was successful with the Google search for 'san marzano tomatoes uk'.  Amongst the search results which included recipes, instructions for growing from seed, articles on the excellence of San Marzanos were 4 UK suppliers.  There are probably more which I will search out when I have time.  The suppliers can be found by clicking on the 'PIzza' tab.  I ordered a dozen cans of the Annallisa brand from Lupa Foods.

At 11:00 I headed off for the Three Brooks with my Toshiba netbook, mobile phone etc. for breakfast and to write up this blog. The Three Brooks provide free wi-fi.  I ordered a 'Big Breakfast' and a coffee. It seems they include  a standard filter coffee with milk in the price of the breakfast, so I paid a very reasonable £5.60 for all of this.

It was warm in the pub (I sat by a radiator which was pumping out the heat) and there was some pleasant background music.  The landlord came and lit the log fire near where I was sitting, which was nice.  There were just a handful of people in the bar.  One man commented to me that he thought I wasn't going to be able to finish the breakfast.  I only just managed it.  At 12:00 the bar started to fill up with people on their work lunchbreak.  I ordered a half pint of Peroni and continued blogging until 1:30 when I packed up and left for home.  A very enjoyable time.  I must do it again very soon.

In the evening we went to the White Hart at Iron Acton with Suzanne and Howard.

At the moment the pub has a 2 for £20 offer of a free bottle of house wine when you order any two meals from their special menu.  The offer is valid on Monday to Wednesday evenings 6 - 9 pm.  Sue and Suzanne chose red snapper, with rice, mange tout and a chilli sauce. Howard and I both chose Thai green chicken curry and rice.  I was expecting to receive small meals, but this was not the case.  There was so much chicken in the curry and it was a nice bottle of red wine.

Arosa Sale, Indian Meal Deals and San Marzano tomatoes

This evening Sam sold his Seat Arosa.  He had advertised it yesterday and had received an email requesting a viewing.  The man arrived and drove the car and must have liked it and they agreed a price, which was just £30 less than Sam paid for it almost a year ago.  He returned shortly afterwards with his wife and they took the car away. 

I bought two Indian Meal Deals.

1. Dealcloud - Rupsha in Clifton, £16.40 for two courses of Indian cuisine for two with rice (value £32.80) expiry 02/08/2012.

2. kgbdeals - Mehak in Keynsham, £17 for a two course Indian meal for two, worth up to £46.30 at Mehak – save up to 63% expiry  7th August 2012


I made four pizza dough balls this evening, one for tonight and the remaining three went into the refrigerator.  I decided, now that the pizza oven was fixed and with a new bag of Caputo flour, that I would use one of my three remaining cans of San Marzano tomatoes.  One was the Annalisa brand which I had bought in the Standa supermarket in Alghero, Sardinia when on holiday there a few years ago.  

The remaining two cans are Sainsburys Taste the Difference San Marzano Tomatoes.  These disappered from Sainsburys shelves early in 2011.  I emailed Sainsburys' customer services  in June last year enquiring what was happening  about them and received a reply saying that they were on hold and hadn't been discontinued.  Almost a year later they are still 'on hold'.

San Marzano tomatoes are grown in the volcanic soil of the Sarnese Nocerino area between Naples and Salerno in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius.  The San Marzano tomato is now protected by tight rules, like many wines, cheeses and even Pizza Napoletana, obtaining the DOP (Denominazione d' Origine Protetta) label in 1996 from the European Union for the processed product. The flesh is much thicker than other plum tomatoes, with fewer seeds, and the taste is much stronger, more sweet and less acidic.  San Marzano tomatoes have been designated as the only tomatoes that can be used for Vera Pizza Napoletana (True Neapolitan Pizza).

The pizza tasted amazingly better with the San Marzanos.  I really must track down new supplies.