Same old story, same old song and dance

A proper post will follow shortly but here is the highlight of the weekend...
The weather was bad, I had my wellies on but it didn't stop me dancing & singing for an hour and a half...

"Its the same old story
Same old song and dance, my friend
Its the same old story
Same old song and dance, my friend"

The Wirrals answer to Shirley Heights

Last night we went to see The Bees perform at an evening called Nautical at Fort Perch Rock in New Brighton. Its a brilliant venue and is, as the name would suggest, an old fort.
Going back to our honeymoon in Antigua earlier this year we went to Shirley Heights which happens every Sunday evening - its held at an old fort & is the best place to watch the sun set with steel drum bands, BBQ and a bar. It's the only way to spend a Sunday evening in Antigua.

Now back to New Brighton, I have never actually been inside the Fort Perch Rock before and much confusion we couldn't decided if the gig was an indoor or outside event. The answer is very much outside (& I am so glad it didn't rain!). The walls of the Fort contain an outside area which isn't the largest but quite a nice size really. The stage was set up at one end and there was a pub/bar located inside one of the walls.

The Bees came on & performed at about 10pm for just over an hour and I have to say it was one of the best gigs I have ever been too. The Bees are now on their third album and I am seriously surprised that they haven't hit the BIG, big time yet.

There was one bizarre and unexpected twist to the evening when David Gest turned up!?!?! I am still unsure as to why he was there but he did introduce The Bees onto the stage, said Hello to Liverpool (& got boo'ed until somebody corrected him he was on the Wirral!) & then proceeded to say The Bees are his favourite band. I am still very ?????????

Anyway, here are some pics for you (darn camera decided the battery needed recharging so we didn't get too many)

Tuna salad with tomato and onion salsa

Whilst this was tasty I got round to thinking that tuna could possibly replace the salmon in the salmon burgers I made last week. Hmmm...

Another Place

Today we decided to go out somewhere. Hubby suggested Crosby to see the Anthony Gormley statues so off we went - this is the second time we have been so I took my wellies as last time my trainers sank into the sand!

Anyway, the tide was pretty much in, so we took some pictures of the statues (well, what we could see of them) and had an ice cream (Hubby has an obsession with Mr Whippy) & then we headed North to Southport where we bought a saute pan which I can use for my mexican eggs & lentil bake as it has a lid!

Warm summer evening

Well, it was quite warm here yesterday & we fancied something fresh & clean tasting for dinner, so that called for Nigella's Chicken with spring onion, chilli and greek yoghurt.

The recipe can be found in the Fast Food section of 'How To Eat' as it can be made quite quickly, though yesterday I marinated the chicken whilst we went out. I say marinade, it literally is the juice of a lemon & a tablespoon of olive oil!

The refreshing part of the dish is the yoghurt - take 1/2 bunch spring onion & 1/2 a green chilli finely chop. Take 1/2 cucumber & dice it up quite small. Then take a small handful of coriander & mint (courtesy of the tub on the balcony) and a clove of garlic. Use mezzaluna to chop these very finely. Mix all ingredients into 200g greek yoghurt.

When ready to eat, heat a table spoon of oil in the frying pan & add the chicken - cook for at least 5 minutes each side until cooked through. Just before serving throw over the left over marinade to make it shiny & a bit sticky.

Serve with a simple salad - or just a nice tomato salad, crusty bread & very cold white wine. Mmmm.

Roasted Vegetable Pizza

So our dinner last night was a roasted vegetable pizza. The veg had been the last batch in the freezer & I was intending to do a pasta sauce but we decided a pizza would be more of a Friday night in type dinner.

Pizza is normally something I'd make at the weekend because it does take a while even though its not labour intensive. Mid-week it is a bit of a push but on a Friday night it works very well. For example, last night we got home about 6.45 so I got in & immediately popped the kettle on for a few seconds to take the chill off the water & then got it into the airing cupboard with some yeast & sugar for 15mins. In the time it took the yeast to react I weighed out my flour & a pinch of salt and got everything ready to go.

At 7pm the yeast went into the flour and after a bit of mixing and kneading the dough was back in the airing cupboard for an hour. In that hour I threw some onion, garlic and chopped tomatoes into a pan with a pinch of oregano and 2 small bay leaves and left it simmering down into a tasty thick sauce.

At 8pm I took the dough out, knocked it back, split into two and left it under the bowl for 20 mins. In that 20 mins I put the oven on to heat up to 200°c and prepared all the ingredients - drained the juice from the defrosted roasted vegetables, chopped up the mozzarella and got the olives to the ready!

8.20pm and the doughs are flattened and stretch into the bases and the ingredients piled on top.

Thrown in the oven for 16 minutes and hey presto dinner is served at 8.45pm. And I really dont want to buy a pre-made pizza ever again.