busy, busy, busy............

Today my body has felt 'busy'. Since the dramatic improvement in the UK weather we have been busy. Really busy. This is a good thing, l hear you say, but it seriously takes it out of you big time. It's a case of planing the week ahead carefully to ensure everything that has to be done is done, then you can work out when an afternoon can be squeezed in so that you can at least escape.

Certainly this week has been very much 'survival' mode. Customers begin coming in, sometimes before we are actually open, at 10. The visitor numbers gradually increase over the morning, peaking at around 1.30 when we are fully strectched in both the kitchen & ice cream sundae counter, as the orders pore in. If a 'Gordon Ramsey' is about to erupt, this is the time!

We only serve lunches until 2 pm, we can't physically manage any longer as the kitchen is somewhat small & when the dirty plates start arriving, we disappear under a sea of crockery & cutlery! From then on in, right until closing, it's a case of fixing a smile to your face, biting your lip & serving cones, coffees, making sundaes or clearing tables. This is the really tiring bit. Urgh.......

Fortunately for us, the ice cream parlour is split into 2 halves, the original bit & the new bit. The plan of action is that around 4ish we start to close down the seating area in the 'old' part, completely shutting this area down by 4.45, leaving only the new bit & the ebay scooping barrow serving customers with anything they like, so long as it is cones, until we all collapse on the floor in a heap or, when the last customer goes! This usually works pretty well, though you will occasionally get the odd plonker who will plant themselves in the completely wrong place or march across wet floors despite a plethora of WET FLOOR signs.

However, l do seem to have missed the point or been sidetracked into the daily grind, which is a bit, no, very much like 'Groundhog Day' the movie? What l had intended to blog about was my afternoon escape which took place yesterday. Much planning went into it l can asure you! Doing 'food' for a living, l am a bit of a food snob. I would rather not eat out then have to chomp my way through a Brakes Bros frozen specialty. So for me a real treat is some gastronomic outing. So, yesterday we headed up to The Star at Scamspton, which is run by Andrew Pern & his team from the Michelin starred eatery based at The Star at Harome. For non-foodies the walled garden is a mecca for keen horticulturists although l haven't actually been round the gardens. No time you see. Oh no, l seem to be allover the place with my thoughts. Well, getting to the point, finally, l had a lovely lunch of scallops in pea & mint butter served with slow roasted tomatoes.