Glasshouse - 25 years

Last Monday we went our to celebrate twenty-five years of our relationship. We went to The Glasshouse which is close to Kew Gardens.

The menu went something like this:

Pre-starter: Sweetcorn soup.
This was excellent, a small cupful that really tasted of sweetcorn

Orkney scallops, coconut, lime and lemongrass with 2014 Riesling “Clos des Terres Brunes”, Jean
Siegler, Alsace, France
These were very good (Dom has eaten scallops more often than me and said they were the best he had tasted). The lime and lemongrass went extremely well. The wine was good too - a light white.

Red-legged partridge, delica pumpkin, pancetta, salt baked pear with 2015 Cantina Andrian “Floreado”, Sauvignon Blanc, Alto Adige, Italy
This was my favourite of the "starter" courses and I really loved the rather dry white wine. All the additions were quite mild and it was the partridge that was the best part.

Cornish cod, grilled octopus, coco beans, anchovy dressing with a white wine (not listed as it wasn't the red wine on the menu)
This was probably my least favourite course. The cod was fine, but rather dull. Whilst the white wine was good - I was slightly sorry it was a third white rather than the red on the menu. We were told that the red had been a mistake, but if so I wish they had swapped the cod and the partridge and had a red with that.

Cornbury estate fallow deer, Jerusalem artichoke, sloes with 2010 Rioja Reserva, Gavanza, Tempranillo/Granacha, Rioja, Spain
We both enjoyed this course immensely. Both deer and red wine were excellent.

We did not have a copy of the dessert menu, but I chose the only chocolate option (with a dessert wine) and Dom chose the option (which i think included passion fruit) which came with Tokaj.

I finished with coffee that came with truffles for both of us. The bill was around £260 (including the tasting menu with wines, mineral water, coffee and tip).

It was a very good meal and a very good evening. Also, not too far from home.

A Monster Calls and 100 Secrets

Friday night we sat down and watched A Monster Calls. Very good, well-acted and extremely sad. A story about a boy whose mother is suffering from cancer and how he relates to that and his problems with bullies at school. With the added dimension of a story monster which is the elm tree he can see from the house. Recommended if you have plenty of tissues.

Last weekend was the penultimate session of 100 Secrets. This was all about us descending the staircase to a place where we did not have our Secrets. We spent about half the session pottering around wondering what we should be doing, observing that this place seemed to be what had been above some generations ago. We then spotted the issue: the giant beetle of DOOM was actually awake and trying to destroy the temples through affecting the dreams of a key person known as the Maker. We spent the other half of the session frantically deciding what the solution should be. We discovered that the man known as the Maker seemed able to affect our world quite directly with moving people around (we think this seemed like a teleport on the surface) and changing the landscape into a desert. However, we have told him about the beetle now. Next week we hope to take the Maker up the staircase and finally mop up all our loose ends.