Exotic blooms

I can't cook much in my kitchen at the moment, what with the boxes and all.  It's not as broken as Antonia's kitchen, but it's pretty much hors de combat.

Possibly to help me make up for that, I am finding myself looking at pictures of complicated food, sadly and longingly.  And hey, how lucky, last week we went out for a meal in Bradford on Avon, and it was so nice that I took photos.

Mmmmmm.  Food porn.

I really liked the teapots and cups.  Excellent view of Mr WithaY's shark-gnawed finger there too.

My starter - tempura prawns and onion rings, a chicken teriaki skewer and some sort-of-sushi roll with crab and seaweed.  And yes, I did share it.

Mr WithaY's starter was just the teriaki chicken.  Luckily for him, he is married to a woman with a heart of gold and a dislike of onions.

My main course was duck in tamarind sauce - a very big piece of duck, I have to say - with coconut rice and Japanese vegetables.  See the rice served up in the coconut shell there? How pretty. 

Mr WithaY's main course was a steak in some sort of savoury teriaki-ish marinade, which he had with plain noodles.  And it was marvellous.   Cooked to perfection, and tender.  Mmmmmm. 

I asked the lady who brought the bill where they got the carved flowers from.  "All hand made in the kitchen," she said, miming someone doing something impossibly intricate with a potato knife.

We'll be going back, probably on a semi-regular basis, as Father in law WithaY has decided to move to a different nursing home which is much further away from us (I don't think that was the reason for him deciding to move) and this restaurant is on the way back home.  Clouds, silver linings, all that stuff.

Other news:  We've had the hole in the roof fixed.  I was sat in my study the other day and noticed an unsightly discoloured patch on the ceiling, below the corner of the house where we know there was a hole in the soffit board thingy under the guttering.  Plus there have been birds nesting up there somewhere all Spring, so, yeah, probably not great for the water-tightness of the roof.

The builder came and had a look, scratched his head a bit, and then agreed to get it fixed for us as soon as possible.   The next day, he sent his young team of minions over to sort it all out.  They did a great job, whacking up a scaffolding tower and discovering the source of the problem in no time. 

Bastard birds had made a HUGE nest in there and pushed one of the roof tiles up so much that the rain was getting in, and they'd also scuffed up the roofing felt so that there was hardly any weather protection there at all.  The birds have long gone, so the nest was removed and all the broken bits were fixed.  Scaffolding is down and the whole thing looks far tidier.

Good job too, with the horrible seemingly endless rain we've had all weekend.  Ugh.

Bad news is that I will have to get the ceiling in here re-painted at some point, but it can wait. 

The dispersal of the many bookcases continues.  I have one in my study now, loaded with all manner of things, very few books, mostly boxes of sewing bits and guitar accoutrements.  I need to find a new spot for my huge noticeboard I made, though, as it won't fit where it was any more.  I daresay I will find somewhere suitable. 

So, that's my life up to date.  How's things with you?