Bogs away!

First up, here’s the chest of drawers in daylight.

Now we just have to decide what to put on the top for the decoupage. Last week we were thinking pictures of birds taken from the RSPB magazine but this week we’ve gone for pages from a favourite book.

In order to facilitate this, I went up to the Oxfam shop and bought two books – Sense and Sensibility and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I really wanted Pride and Prejudice but they didn’t have a copy. These are now waiting for Mirinda to choose before I start the decoupage process.

It was another lovely day, weather wise, and Mirinda and Bob took the poodles up to the bogs of Thursley Common. They thoroughly enjoyed the walk, especially Carmen who, for reasons known only to herself, decided to launch herself off the boardwalk and into the bog.

Carmen has form in this area. The first time we walked Thursley, she stepped off into bog oblivion only to be covered with the foulest gloop imaginable. She’s been good since that first time so our guard is down. I think she knows this.

Bob said one moment she was walking on the boards then, suddenly, she was trying to walk in the wet, slimy, sticky, bog. Day-z tried as well but, being so lithe and scared, she leaped clear of it before sinking too far. Carmen could not be described as even remotely lithe. She sunk.

There was some concern that poor Carmy would fail to surface as she paddled furiously, trying to find some sort of purchase. Her survival instinct, however, outweighs her broad beam and she managed to get herself out of the mire.

Of course, when they arrived home, I had to run them straight up to the bathroom for a thorough soaking. It took a lot of rinsing and shampooing before Carmen smelt even remotely acceptable. It was not pleasant.

For dinner, Bob wanted to treat us so Mirinda found us a new celebration restaurant. It’s in the middle of nowhere, atop a hill with a delightful view over Hampshire. It is also in the Four Seasons hotel.

The hotel took some finding but find it we eventually did. We then had to find the restaurant. A chap with a flat cap walked us a bit of the way and gave some pretty detailed instructions for the rest of the way. I assumed he had some sort of sensor strapped to his ankle which only allowed him to go so far.

We found the restaurant only to find there are two. When asked which one Mirinda had booked, she told them she had no idea. When she called to book, the person on the other end of the phone didn’t ask. Our arrival was the first we knew there were two of them.

Anyway, this proved only a minor blip and we were eventually shown into the Seasons Restaurant.

And, just like that, we have discovered a new celebration restaurant!

There’s a pianist who accompanies the food and course after course of deliciousness. They have two AA rosettes and easily deserve them. All three of us loved the food.

My entree – scallops and langoustines

I’m only going to mention one course and that’s the creme brulee which wasn’t. Bob asked me for my rating and I had to say, as a creme brulee, I could only give it 2/10. As a dessert, however, I thought it was pretty close to a perfect 10.

What the chef had done was completely deconstruct a traditional brulee and then put it back together again, sort of, upside down. The burnt sugar top was at the bottom of the bowl, a thin layer of custard rested on top of this and then lavender infused cream and various berries finished it off. It was delicious. But creme brulee? No.

Gaz and his brulee