Dreams, Countrysides and Badgers
Foodcapades | Stoke-on-Trent with Friends
Day nine: Out of the city and into the countryside🥰. Still feeling under the weather, it felt great to sloooooow down and get some good ole English hospitality. My friend and her parents went above and beyond to make us feel at home and keep our plates and cups FULL. Starting with the most important meal of the day, breakfast! Served in courses. First yogurt, granola, and fresh pears from the garden. Satisfying and a meal on its own. Every meal we had felt like an event, using the nice china with a water glass and a juice glass, and a charger below each plate. Each charger had a different animal on it, so every meal time I would switch my place so I could have a different animal. (Cursing myself, I didn’t get a photo. Anytime I have a regret on a trip, it's animal-related.) I also opted for an oat milk latte instead of my normal black. Who is she in the English countryside?!
The second course was an oatcake with melted cheese. An oatcake is like a dense, savory crepe made from…You guessed it, oats! A very clever way to eat ooey-gooey cheese first thing in the morning. A breakfast after my own heart. The oatcakes are incredibly versatile; fill them with sweet or savory ingredients, as a full meal or as a light snack. If you ever run across them, make sure to snag one!
Life in the countryside goes something like this: Eat. Ramble. Eat. Ramble. Eat. Sleep. All whilst having a piping hot cup of tea at all times. The English are hydrated, yet there is rarely a bathroom. What am I missing here?
After our hard-earned ramble around the Roaches, we stopped at the cutest tea shop, perched on the ‘mountainside’. The weather was threatening rain, but it never delivered enough to scare us inside. We were ready for tea and cake! And let’s not forget the coveted scone with jam and clotted cream😍. Ya’ll, we are missing out on the availability of clotted cream here in the States! We also snagged a flapjack this time, drizzled with dark chocolate, and a couple of cakes that, for the life of me, I can’t recall what they were, other than absolutely delicious. (Just seducing you with my tea😏.)
A ramble and eating really worked up our appetite…Are you ready for dinner?!
My friend is the most amazing cook I know; in fact, I would call her a Chef, although she would never accept such a title. Her speciality is taking a fridge full of seemingly nothing and turning it into something incredibly special and thoughtful, and delicious.
A pesto pasta with sautéed mushrooms, courgette, and onions, topped with feta, pepitas, and a palmful of arugula. Simple. Yet when were are all looking around the table while eating marveling at how incredible it was. Thanks, Rach❤️. Good food doesn’t have to be complicated.
For dessert.
A crumble, with pears and blackberries from the garden, topped with fresh cream. Listen. As full as we ALL were. Not a drop of berry juice was left in our bowls. You can’t beat fresh fruit, especially when it is grown just steps from your kitchen door. Pouring cream directly on a dessert feels like a luxury. I would take that over ice cream any day. Pour that cream over me, those should be the lyrics.
Crumble pro-tip: Make your fruit mixture when the fruit is in peak season, THEN freeze it. Make your crumble topping and THEN freeze it in a separate bag. THEN, when you have a houseful of travelers and you can throw together a dessert of dreams for your guests and have them completely puzzled at how you had time to whip up a crumble with all the eating and rambling we had been doing together. Best dessert hack on the planet, I would say.
Day ten: Rinse and repeat, ladies and gentlemen. Coursed granola breakfast, which I intended to have, but was the first served avocado toast with poached eggs, so I just didn’t manage to get any on my plate. I had a couple scoops of fresh fruit and was ready for the day of rambling among the cows and along the canals. After 5 solid miles of tromping through the woods, we were ready for a cuppa and, of course, a nap. The plan for dinner was a night out at one of their favorite pubs in the area. I made sure to rest up extra hard so I was ready for dinner!
To say that the English have meat pies on lock is the understatement of the century! I have never had a better pie, AND I work for a pie shop, you almost can’t compare them. Something about who I am as a human is that I'm always going to get the biggest, meatiest meal. And this meal was no different. I ordered the steak and ale pie. The sides were cheesy cauliflower, boiled carrots, sautéed snap peas, cooked cabbage and kale slaw, and enough gravy to flood the bank of the Thames River, OH, and of course chips.
I wish these photos gave a better perspective of this crust. It was THICCCC. So thick in fact that I could not finish it, and I am a finisher. Glad I stayed in my elastic waistband pants, cause y’all this was the meal of all meals. Wonder what would happen if I had access to this regularly.
The steak was melt-in-your-mouth tender, the crust was flaky and substantial, the gravy was what heaven must taste like, the veggies were good and helped balance out the saltiness and heaviness of the pie and gravy, and you definitely need the vegetables. But my memory is stuck in that pie🤩. If you ever need a gift idea, it’s pie; everyone loves pie.
I almost forgot about dessert! You can imagine how full we were buuuuuut a sneaky little sticky toffee pudding never hurt anyone. We ordered one for the table and each took a couple of spoonfuls, and that was that. Sticky toffee pudding is a tender cake made with dates and cloaked in a warm toffee sauce and a side of ice cream. It’s the dessert version of a 20-second hug from a dear friend, cradles you in tenderness, with warming spices that soothe your soul, and overall, the perfect amount of sweetness.
Day eleven: It was an early rise this morning to catch our train to Scotland! We packed sandwiches for the train, and I tried really hard to sip my scalding hot coffee before we drove to the station. No luck, I would have to get my coffee fix on the train.
No transfers or fuss for this train journey. Thank god, I had had enough of that for one trip. Train snacks included a black coffee and a slice of a Kit Kat bar. The chocolate is different in England. More milky and luscious, less fake-tasting.
I ate my sandwich like a starving gremlin whilst watching the countryside go by. It was bliss.
WE MADE IT EDINBURGH🏴 And it was time to EAT! But first a wee dram.
A wee dram of Glenmorangie for me, a spot of brandy for me mum, and a Speyside for Rachel. A wee snack because finding dinner can sometimes turn into the Hunger Games, and it’s better to give yourself some fuel just in case. Smoked salmon and smoked mackerel with three dots of beet sauce and toast. It was indeed a snack for three. The Scottish smoked salmon melts in your mouth, and I continued to order it throughout our stay because it was SO good.
We made it to dinner! By the skin of our teeth and a very decent walk, touring where the ‘real’ people live. It was burgers, fried chicken, beers, chips, and halloumi fries tonight. In a trendy, moody bar in Leith with a sign that said Don’t be a dick. Worth trekking to.
Did we have dessert, you ask? Just a snickle. What is a snickle, you ask? Just a wee bit. Back in our hotel room with a cuppa tea.
MORE SCOTLAND FOODCAPADES coming at you next week! So many things to eat and so little time, wouldn’t ya say? We are also going to explore another element of our Sunday Roast-themed Thanksgiving!
Cheers,
Nicole | Butter Cult
