5/11 Claire - Remember, remember 5th of November…

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Originally uploaded by blenkers

It’s Ian’s birthday! After a leisurely day off work, while the birthday boy worked at the kitchen table, we head off at 3pm to a secret location that he knows nothing about. Well I say that he knows nothing about it but he knows we are going away and that swanky food will be available as this is the theme of all of our birthday surprises.

We are starting to run out of michelin starred restaurants in the North East that we haven’t visited but there are a couple and the Box Tree in Ilkley is one of them. It’s not a hotel, just a restaurant, so I’ve booked us a small B&B a couple of mins walk away for convenience.

Fancy frock and tarts trotters on we wander down at 8pm for slap up meal. Now, I say wander like we sauntered, elegantly across the road toward our destination however this is not the case. You may recall my lack of heel wearing over recent months. Well, heels and tights is a double hazzard. Feet slipping out of my trotters due to a lack of friction grip whilst still being a little unsteady in a four inch spike must have been a sight to behold. Fortunately the rest of the evening was seated so I didn’t embarrass myself by looking drunk before the evening started.

I digress. The Box Tree is a really lovely place, the lounge is beautifully decorated, although the dining room a little plain, but the food was excellent.

We started with an amuse bouche of celeriac and whilte truffle soup, Ian then had scallops and I had a fois gras and ham hock terrine as our starters, we both has venison as a main and a cheese board instead of a dessert. Pretty much each course except the cheese had a layer of truffle or truffle oil which I do like. I was offered a very sweet wine (like a dessert wine) to go with the terrine starter. The venison was cooked, for fear of sounding like I am on Master Chef, to perfection. Then the waiter brought out a large tray of different cheeses that we could try any of.

Two strange things from the evening.

Ian not having a dessert!
Cheese without port!

I can’t explain Ian’s lack of dessert and this is possibly the first time in his life he’s not eaten something sweet after a meal.

As we’d both had a different (white/sweet) glass of wine with our starters we had loads of Malbec left when cheese arrived and if we had tried to just neck it in order to fit in port we’d have been even more wellied than we were already. And to be fair, I woke up at 2am in bed still in my clothes and still holding my belly so perhaps that was a good call :o)