Sunday 25 July 2010

Today, 27 Years Ago

27 years ago today, something awesome happened!

This man appeared in the world for the first time...


(these photos were found on my camera as I uploaded snaps from the weekend)

This was reason enough to spend the whole weekend celebrating, which we did!

During our Saturday morning porridge we poured over a map of Yorkshire, planning a pleasant country cycle to a CAMRA-praised pub in East Yorkshire. The combination of cycling and real ale provided an appropriate way to celebrate Daniel's birthday! We packed up a picnic and hit the roads, escaping the heaving bustle of the final race weekend in York.

We fell in love with every village we passed, and stopped in a particularly lovely one to enjoy our lunch - marmite and crisp sandwiches, and heavenly chocolate chip cookies, devoured in a pretty churchyard under the afternoon sun.



A few more miles down the road, we found the pub we'd been waiting for! If the ale was as tasty as the pub was pretty, Daniel would have had the perfect birthday beer. However, we continue our wait to find out, as we arrived just as the pub was closing after lunch - perfect timing! We will return!


Not to be deterred, we decided to turn our planned pub session into a cycling afternoon, and consulted the map to alter our route from beer-head friendly to a rather more challenging distance. I was loving the cycling; the sense of freedom was immense, the weather was perfect, and the views and scenic villages were a wonderful accompaniment to these; and so I was more than happy to spend the rest of the day in a persistent fight with my bike (my Dad made it for me when my old one was caputt - it is salvaged from various bike parts and a frame found in a local dump) - burning thighs are all part of the fun ;-)

We passed through Stamford Bridge and located the famous battleground; now a haven for cultivation, it was not hard to imagine the scenes that took place 950 years ago - quite a surreal and abstracted experience. Then we hit an old railway line, which paved a pleasant (if bumpy!) route through fields and woodland back towards York.

Thighs burning, and covered in zillions of cornflies, attached to my skin with a stale suncream glue, we arrived home. We spent the evening feasting, of course! Mounds of pasta and homemade garlic bread (a really good job that no one else was in! 5 cloves of garlic is a lot for two people), followed by cake and cider while crashed on the couch. Heaven.

Recipe found here. I used sultanas and pumpkin seeds instead of walnuts.
Honestly the tastiest cake I've ever made.
We ate 2 portions each, and agreed that we could eat more...!

And today we went to see Toy Story 3, finally! And it was so worth the wait! It was my first 3D film and I was sceptical, but as Daniel looked super-cute in the glasses, I didn't mind so much after all. The film was, of course, excellent; we laughed for the majority of the two hours, and I cried a little, too. Highly recommended! And the glasses are awesome and I might wear them all the time!



I absolutely love birthdays!

5 comments:

  1. SOOOOO glad you had the chance to see toy story 3!!! :D i hate to admit it, but i BAWLED at the end. i was surrounded by little kids (literally, besides my left hand side where my sis and her bf sat) who couldn't really understand what was happening, so they just stared quietly at the screen as i fought to keep in the tears. but i failed! i head a lady sniffle and WOOSH! waterfalls!!!

    ps, a happy bday to him!
    pps, that picture of you is THE cutest! it makes me so happy!

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  2. Himself was 29 last Friday and we've been celebrating all weekend also :)

    I cannot watch 3D movies. They make me carsick. It's horrible. So I have to wait for them to come out on DVD :(

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  3. Belen - it's funny, I thought there would be mostly kids in the cinema but actually it was mainly adults (and the place was full!)! Towards the end there was some loud wailing/laughing going on from a group of women - looks like it wasn't just us ;-)

    And Rachel - it's been a real weekend for birthdays! Hope you had a lovely time! As for feeling carsick - I was *sure* it was going to make me feel queasy, and every half hour or so during the film I questioned whether I could make it all the way through or not...wierd! However, I'm sure TS3 on DVD is worth the wait - not to be missed if you liked the first 2!!

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  4. Wow that cake look amazing!
    Glad you both had a great time, though shame about the pub.
    Lisa x

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  5. i love birthdays too, especially when it's your sweetheart's! what a PERFECT little celebration!!! (even with the mishap of pub closing for lunch)

    i love the photos the birthday boy took :)

    and i just LOVE your hair.

    Can you believe i haven't seen Toy Story 3 yet? i took my 6 year old niece to see the new Shrek in 3D and i cried! lol

    xoxo

    THANK YOU for playing along in my coffee date ;) i just posted le blog! you are tooo cute

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