A bit of a celebration

Wednesday saw my birthday. I am now officially an old woman as I’ve now reached the advanced age of 65, though I won’t be entitled to my old age pension until November.

Normally we go out somewhere special, or at least different, to celebrate.  This year, after my adventures last week at the hospital, we decided just to do normal, routine, anything to regain the feeling of which day of the week we’re on. So we went to do the food shop.

Afterwards, however, we did go out for a meal. We once more went along to Aspects, the restaurant of one of the hotels on the promenade. It’s the first time we’ve been when it’s been so light. Usually we’ve gone in winter when it’s dark or all but dark. This week the longer daylight hours meant it was light. As we ate we enjoyed the view across the Bay. Being on the first floor meant you had a grand view across the road to the Bay & beyond. The sense of recession of the Lakeland fells was fabulous with varying shades of bluey greys. To the left, the more westerly direction, we watched the changing colours of the sun as it set, all golds & reds – fab!

The food was pretty good too. I started with a ham hock & chicken terrine with an apple chutney, while the Fox enjoyed his gin cured sea trout. We both had the duo of pork – confit belly of pork, a piece of tenderloin, a slice of black pudding served with tenderstem broccoli & anna potatoes. There was a cider cream sauce. We washed it all down with a full flavoured viognier. Delicious.

After the meal we had a bit of a stroll along the prom to catch the last colours of the setting sun before returning to the car & home. All in all a memorable meal for all the right reasons.

Now life is getting back to normal, more prosaic. I’ve still got a few chocs, a gift from the Fox, remaining, a reminder of the day.