Weird UK Laws

Well, we had the Horsham Challenger come through the letterbox today, and I was pleasantly surprised to find this useful list of strange but true, UK laws:

1. It is illegal for a cab in the City of London to carry rabid dogs or corpses.

2. It is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament.

3. It is an act of treason to place a postage stamp bearing the British monarch upside down.

4. Royal Navy ships that enter the Port of London must provide a barrel of rum to the Constable of the Tower of London.

5. Under the UK's Tax Avoidance Schemes Regulations 2006, it is illegal not to tell the taxman anything you don't want him to know, though you don't have to tell him anything you don't mind him knowing.

6. In the UK, a pregnant woman can legally relive herself anywhere she wants - even, if she so requests, in a policeman's helmet.

7. In Lancashire, no person is permitted, after being asked to stop by a constable on the seashore, to incite a dog to bark.

8. In London, Freemen are allowed to take a flock of sheep across London Bridge without being charged a toll; they are also allowed to drive geese down Cheapside.

9. In the UK, a man who feels compelled to urinate in public can do so only if he aims for his rear wheel and keeps his right hand on his vehicle.

10. In Chester, Welshmen are banned from entering the city before sunrise and from staying after sunset.

Happy Halloween!

Tulley's Farm Halloween Festival
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

We just got back from Lilly's first birthday party, and what a day to have as your birthday, brilliant! Birthday pumpkins, everyone dressed up as witches and spiders and skeletons, treasure hunt in the dark with torches, jelly with sweets in, fireworks and a bouncy castle, followed by trick or treating! I forgot how fun bouncy castles are!! I don't think I'm quite as fit as I used to be though!!

The pictures are from Tulley's Farm Halloween Festival, in Turners Hill. We saw signs for it on the way back from Wakehurst Place last Sunday, it was excellent! There's a really big farm shop there, a bit like Priory Farm in Nutfield, selling all kinds of local produce, lovely food, and beers from local breweries like the Hog's Back. We were thinking ahead and stocked up on Sussex honey to build up our hayfever immunity for the summer!

Anyway, outside they had loads going on for halloween, lots geared towards kids, like scary entertainers*, rides, spooky corn mazes, pumpkin firing guns, and all sorts, they also had loads of different catering trucks outside, doing hog roast and lots of other sorts of foods to warm you up! I think the entertainment went on into the evening too because they were selling tickets for the evening. We just walked in for free during the day though, result!

*when I say scary, I mean scary! There was one that made me lose a tenner I'd just got as cashback! I was holding it one second, then this guy started making some really freaky screaming noises and convulsing around which made me jump, and the next thing I knew I'd completely lost my money! I must have chucked it somewhere in surprise!

Tulley's Farm Halloween Festival
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

Tulley's Farm Halloween Festival
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

Tulley's Farm Halloween Festival
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

Tulley's Farm Halloween Festival
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

Tulley's Farm Halloween Festival
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

Pumpkin Pie!

Pumpkin Pie
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

Ooh, yummy smelling pumpkin pie! It's just come out of the oven, the smell is amazing, now the whole house smells of cinnamon.. mmm..

We're just waiting for it to cool down in the fridge before we try it!

Recipe courtesy of Antony Worrell Thompson:

Serves 8
Preparation time less than 30 mins
Cooking time 30 mins to 1 hour

Ingredients

For the pastry:
Sweet short crust pastry case
or a packet of ready made sweet short crust pastry with 40g/1½oz crushed pecans mixed in.
For the filling:
450 g/1lb prepared weight pumpkin flesh, cut into 1in/2.5 cm chunks
2 large eggs plus 1 yolk (use the white for another dish)
3 oz/75g soft dark brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ level teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
½ tsp ground allspice
½ tsp ground cloves
½ tsp ground ginger
10 fl oz/275 ml double cream

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
2. Use a shop bought sweet crust pastry case, about 9 inch/23 cm diameter and 1½ inches/4 cm deep.
3. To make the filling, steam the pumpkin then place in a coarse sieve and press lightly to extract any excess water.
4. Then lightly whisk the eggs and extra yolk together in a large bowl.
5. Place the sugar, spices and the cream in a pan, bring to simmering point, giving it a whisk to mix everything together. Then pour it over the eggs and whisk it again briefly.
6. Now add the pumpkin pureé, still whisking to combine everything thoroughly. 7. Then pour the filling into your pastry case and bake for 35-40 minutes, by which time it will puff up round the edges but still feel slightly wobbly in the centre.
8. Then remove it from the oven and place the tin on a wire cooling rack. Serve chilled (stored loosely covered in foil in the fridge) with some equally chilled créme fraïche, but warm or at room temperature would be fine.

Yarnbombing

Well I just don't know whether I'd be pleased or annoyed if someone did this to my bike! The concept is a bit like tagging/grafitti, but kinda cuter! Just love the pom-poms dangling from the handlebars! You can check out the blog of a yarnbomber here, it's worth a read..

Here are some of my favourites:

I Started early Took my Goat

I was looking through one of my old files today, and I found the most hilarious thing I'd forgotten about..

Back in 2002 when I was studying English Literature, for one of the exams we had to study and memorise a whole load of poems by the American poet Emily Dickinson - if you've never heard of her, she was an eccentric, death-obsessed, white-dress-wearing poet, with terrible grammar, born in 1830's Massachusetts, only appreciated (by some) after her death. No, I shouldn't be too mean, she did give me quite a lot of entertainment at the time!

Anyway, one day, when I was probably supposed to be writing an essay, I was browsing on poetry.com, and I saw an advert for the International Open Poetry Contest. Well, I don't like to turn down a challenge. If Emily could do it with her crazy non-sensical poetry, then so could I!

I decided to compile a new poem, inspired by lines from various Emily Dickinson poems, but slightly modified for my own entertainment. It also includes random capitalisation in true Dickinson style! Truly terrible, but it made me laugh. Anyway, I mailed it in, and was wondering how long it would be before I got a slapped wrist for plagiarising and piss-taking one of America's most famous poets. Being judged by poetry.com, an American site, I thought it wouldn't be too long! So a few weeks passed, and then what comes through the post? None other than this..

Poetry.com
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

"After carefully reading and discussing your poem, our selection committee has certified your poem as a semi-finalist in our International Open Poetry Contest."

They then went on to say that they wanted to publish my work in an anthology called "Letters from the Soul", and wanted to ask me to provide them with the story behind my poem, and my personal philosophical point of view to be included in the biographical section of the book! Furthermore, I was invited to the International Society of Poet's Fall Symposium in Hollywood. Oh no!! How embarrassing, it was meant to be a joke, and now it is going to appear in a book, so hundreds of Emily Dickinson fans could read it and be angry at me! Definitely couldn't go to the symposium, I'd be lynched, or at least sued by the Emily Dickinson society! Haha..

Anyway, here is the poem:

The fire drew Chill

by kipperfrog

I Started early - Took my Goat

We passed the Gazing Grain

And then I wanted to get out

Faith to regulate

The summer lapsed away

Or rather He passed us

Restraining rampant Squirrels

Sent us of the Air

Shadows held their breath

Extended Hempen Hands

Impatient of no child

I just love the things you find when you're routing through old files!

More pumpkin flowers!

Pumpkin flowers
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

Ooh, look at it this morning.. it's definitely trying its very best!

Pumpkin flowers

The pumpkin plant has flowers! =) Hooray!

Pumpkin flowers
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

Good grief..

Check out this video of a boy's reaction to having his World of Warcraft account cancelled by his Mum..

Custom Kidrobot DUNNYs

Custom Kidrobot DUNNYs
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

He's Bam Margera, he loves to skate, he also likes to shake things up a little..

I don't know why they call them DUNNYs, I'm guessing Kidrobot is not an Australian company.. It's a bit like Nintendo calling their console Wii.. nice! Anyway, this is my DUNNY.. I got it as a blank glow in the dark one a couple of years ago, when we were watching way too much Viva La Bam on MTV! Each one comes with some random extras - mine came with a skateboard and a giant crayon, so I thought it had to be turned into Bam really! James' one is the biker in the middle.. he's still waiting for his trousers! I think 2 years is a little harsh..

I think I'd like one this size for our house! =) Soo cool! Maybe it could go on the roof!

pintando en vivo 2
Originally uploaded by -FELIPE BEDOYA-

Woo.. check out the pumpkin plants..

We nearly have flowers, and after flowers come pumpkins! They've grown loads in the last 10 days, check out this photo for comparison.. now, 10 days left til Halloween.. go, pumpkins, go!!

James May's Toy Stories..

James May Lego House, Denbies
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

starts next Tuesday! 8pm, on BBC2.. I can't wait! What's the betting I'll miss it after writing this..

I've heard about the plasticine garden at the Chelsea Flower Show, seen the lego house in Denbies, and it looks like he's also completed a full scale Airfix Spitfire, the world's longest Scalextric track - at Brooklands, a lifesize bridge made out of Meccano in Liverpool, and attempted to create the world's longest model railway - from Banstaple to Bideford! I love it! It sounds like a brilliant series..

Gulab Jamun

At work I get to sample lots of interesting goodies from around the world, thanks to my colleagues! =) On Friday, in celebration of Diwali - the Indian festival of lights, I got to try Gulab Jamun for the first time! The ones I had were about the size of Maltesers.. they a like tiny little doughnuts, sitting in a lovely sweet syrup - absolutely delicious, I can see why these are a popular dessert in India! I found a recipe here, and check out the video below too (if only for the hilarious filming effort..)

Looks like a good book..

Looks like a good book..
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

I picked up a Metro on the way back from London on Thursday, and spotted an article about a very promising sounding book. This young Californian guy who was having trouble finding a job as a financial analyst -out of work for 3 years, decided to travel across America and try out a different job in each of the 50 states! I think it could make quite a good TV series actually.. someone should do it for the 86 counties of the UK! It wouldn't take that long..

Police cars of Britain..

So, the Met get Lamborghini Murciélagos..

and Kent police get..

a Smart car adventure!! What are they trying to catch?!

Eurotrip 2009: Day 1

Here are a few photos from the first day! We set off bright and early and headed for Dover..

..in time for our 6am sailing! We stopped off at Pease Pottage in the dark to stock up on millions of English snacks for the trip, and then headed off! The roads were nice and empty, so we got there pretty fast! I happened to spot this parked up next to us at Dover while we were waiting for the ferry.. Pampers and Relentless.. someone was in for a fun-packed holiday!

It was quite good timing actually because the sun was just coming up properly when we got on the ferry, so we got to see the sunrise over the channel! I don't remember too much after that.. I seem to have lost a couple of hours of my memory, but there are lots of photos of James laughing hysterically with tears streaming down his face, so I think we must have been a bit tired!!

The next thing I remember was waking up on the ferry, just as it was arriving in Dunkerque! Nice and fresh for a day in Bruges..

We climbed up the 366 steps of the Belfry before breakfast..

..and then went for a boat trip before our lunch! Frites and mayo in the square, it had to be done! I nearly took a photo but we were being plagued by wasps..

Next stop.. Luxembourg City.. a very promising bridge..

but not too much else! We did have some very interesting sandwiches though.. sugary bread?! It went OK with my salmon, but I'm not too sure about James' chicken! Anyway, we read in our guidebook about this amazing castle in Vianden, about 40 minutes away, it was a little out of our way, but we couldn't pass it up! I'm glad we didn't.. it's a lovely little village in the middle of loads of wooded hills, dominated by this amazing Dracula's castle type thing.. you'd never know it was there!

Well it was pretty much sunset when we left Vianden, and set off for Strasbourg.. for some reason we decided to tell our SatNav to avoid all toll roads and motorways.. great idea I must say! Haha.. 3 hours later we were running out of petrol, going down some neverending country lane in the middle of nowhere, with no street lights or cats eyes.. either in Luxembourg, Germany or France, we weren't quite sure! We eventually made it into a town, to our relief, only to be greeted by a row of cones with flashing lights on top, blocking the road ahead! Uh-oh.. we sat there for a while, but with no way of telling SatNav, we finally decided the best thing to do would be to play ignorant foreigners and drive around the road block and carry on down the road anyway! Don't you just love tight suspension and pot-holes.. what a combo.. we had about a mile of driving past diggers and hoping not to fall into any precipices, and then we finally made it out and into a service station, phew!! Petrol and sleep.. and to think that our original plan was to stay in Bruges on the first night?! We got a little ahead of schedule there!

Eurotrip 2009 aka Honeymoon!

Eurotrip 2009 aka Honeymoon!
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

Horsham to Italy and back again..

2,396 miles – 37 hours total driving time

OK, so it's about time I blogged this! Here's the map of the route we took across Europe on our honeymoon in the summer.. click on the picture to see it bigger..

Here's how it went:

Day 1:

Horsham -> Dover -> Dunkerque, France -> Bruges, Belgium -> Luxembourg City -> Vianden, Luxembourg -> Strasbourg, France

Day 2:

Strasbourg, France -> Stuttgart, Germany

Day 3:

Stuttgart, Germany -> Salzburg, Austria -> Garda, Italy

Day 4:

Garda, Italy -> Venice, Italy -> Garda, Italy

Day 5:

Garda, Italy -> Maranello, Italy -> Verona, Italy -> Garda, Italy

Day 6:

Garda, Italy -> Lucerne, Switzerland -> Dunkerque, France -> Dover -> Horsham

That last day was a little crazy! We were originally going to take two days getting back in a more leisurely fashion, but the weather was super duper bad in Switzerland so we thought we'd see how far we could get all in one day.. it seems the answer was.. all the way home! We didn't even get back that late, I think it was around midnight!

Look what the guitar did to my handspans!

Handspans
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

It's quite funny, they used to be the same, but now my left handspan is much bigger than my right! =S Who would have thought that you could increase it so much just by trying to reach notes on the fretboard.. I can only really play one song too! Goodness knows what would happen if I actually practiced, it would get even more freaky!

New Michael Jackson single - "This Is It"

Classic Michael Jackson style, I like it! Apparently it was actually written at least 19 years ago, which probably accounts for that. Although it was written by Michael Jackson and Paul Anka, it was originally recorded by Sa-Fire as a track called "I Never Heard" on her 1990 album "I Wasn't Born Yesterday".

This newly released version was created from a demo tape featuring just Jackson's vocals and a piano, and then more instrumentation and backing vocals by Jackson's brothers were added after his death. I think they've done a great job!

By the way, I've just booked us up some tickets to go and see "This Is It" in the cinema during the limited 2 week run at the end of October.. we were just going to show up on the day, but it seems that tickets are selling out fast for this too! Incredible..

Amazing cakes..

On the topic of amazing cakes, check Yochana's Cake Delight! out! I think I know what I'd like for my next birthday cake.. I wonder how much it costs to import from Singapore?! Hehe..

Here are some of my favourites:

Chrysanthemum layered agar agar

Swan agar agar

Stained glass cookies

Sarawak lapis

and some random ones I spotted:

Purple sweet potato cheesecake

Green tea yoghurt cake

Green tea red bean cheesecake

Goodies!

So, on Saturday we ventured up the Purley way.. very bravely.. Saturday in IKEA is never a good place to be! I think Tuesday at about 10pm is probably optimum - no crowds, no traffic.. amazing! But, no, we decided to go and choose our new wardrobe at about midday on the busiest, busiest, crazy driver-est time of the week! I think we must enjoy a challenge.. hehe.. James will tell you all about it..

Anyway, despite deciding not to opt for their recommended mish-mash wood colour combo wardrobe, appealing as it sounded, we did manage to pick up some lovely goodies!

I got a couple of these nice red lanterns..

IKEA lantern
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

..and while I was waiting for James to get back from the Customer Services desk, I couldn't help but look around the Christmas decorations section.. I think I was fairly restrained to stop at only getting these ones..

Swedish decorations!
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

they are very cool! I was so tempted by the giant reindeer too though!

After a quick detour to Croydon to look at more cowboy merchandise, erm I mean 'work shoes' for James, we eventually made it to Wing Yip, despite TomTom's best effort to send us to Beddington gun shop.. (hmm, James?!)..

We stocked up on all the essentials =)

Wing Yip goodies
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

and we couldn't resist getting one of these beautiful tiger rolls for Gemma, to go with her birthday pressie.. I think that has to be the most amazing type of swiss roll in the whole world! I don't know what it tastes like, but it looks beautiful!

Tiger roll
Originally uploaded by Grimmie

Next, to the crockery section.. James needed a new mug for school.. done! It's quite cool, not only does it have a lid to keep the heat in, it also has an internal filter, so you can put your loose tea in the bottom of the mug, and not have it escape!

Chinese mug
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

We also got some beautiful new chopsticks..

Chopsticks!
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

And for dinner.. well, they'd actually sold out of most stuff by the time we made it to the Tai Pan bakery, but we did manage to get these.. a lovely coconut paste moon cake, and a coconut and cream cake, yum! Hehe.. as you can see, James' one didn't last long!

Moon cake
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

RIP James Hill

RIP James Hill. Sending all our love to Anastasia at this awful time xx

Moo!

Moo!
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

I thought I'd share my moo card collage with you! A couple of years back I ordered 100 moo minicards from flickr - they were the best buy ever! =) I picked out 100 of my most favourite photos, and then cropped them to the long, thin moo card shape using their special software, ordered them, and a few days later they showed up through the post! They are amazing quality, with a beautiful matt finish.. I'd been keeping them safe in their little box since I got them, but a few months ago I had the idea of sticking them in a frame to display at our wedding reception! Well, I framed them up, but then totally forgot to put them out on the day! Haha.. well it's nice to have them in a frame now anyway, they have pride of place in our kitchen! I've tagged up the photo so you can see where all the pictures were taken, just click on the picture to see it big in flickr..

These cards are £11.99 for 100 by the way, really good price! I think I'll be ordering my next batch before long! =)

Christian the Lion

We just watched a documentary all about Christian, the lion who was bought from Harrods in 1969.. take a look at this video (you don't need to turn the sound on..) taken in Kenya of when the guys who raised him at home in London went to visit him in the wild years later (it's at 2:53), it's amazing! I can't believe he lived "in the country" on Leith Hill near Dorking before being introduced into the wild in Africa..

Moon Rabbit!

Full Moon
Originally uploaded by Opo Terser

Do you see where he is yet??

Well, I've heard of the man in the moon, but never the moon rabbit before! I don't know how I could have missed it, it's huge! According to ancient Chinese legend, there is a rabbit that lives on the moon, pounding herbs for the immortals..

Jade Rabbit as he is also known, appears in the story of the mid-autumn festival. There are a few different

versions of the legend of Houyi and Chang'e, but here's one that appears in a couple of Western Han dynasty (206 BCE-24 CE) collections:

Houyi was an immortal, while Chang'e was a beautiful young girl, working in the Jade Emperor's (Emperor of Heaven) (玉帝 pinyin:Yùdì) Palace as the attendant to the Queen Mother of the West (wife of the Jade Emperor), just before her marriage. One day, Houyi aroused the jealousy of the other immortals, who then slandered him before the Jade Emperor. Houyi and his wife, Chang'e, were subsequently banished from heaven, and forced to live by hunting on earth. He became a famous archer.
Now at this time, there were 10 suns, in the form of Three-legged birds, residing in a mulberry tree in the eastern sea; each day one of the sun birds would have to travel around the world on a carriage, driven by Xihe, the 'mother' of the suns. One day, all 10 of the suns circled

together, causing the earth to burn. Emperor Yao, the Emperor of China, commanded Houyi to shoot down all but one of the suns. Upon the completion of his task, the Emperor rewarded Houyi with a pill that granted eternal life, and advised him: "Make no haste to swallow this pill; first prepare yourself with prayer and fasting for a year". Houyi took the pill home and hid it under a rafter, while he began healing his spirit. While Houyi was healing his spirit, Houyi was summoned again by the emperor. Chang'e, noticing a white beam of light beckoning from the rafters, discovered the pill, which she swallowed. Immediately, she found that she could fly. At that moment, Houyi returned home, and, realizing what had happened, began to reprimand her. Chang'e flew out the window into the sky.

With a bow in hand, Houyi sped after her, and the pursuit continued halfway across the heavens. Finally, Houyi had to return to the Earth because of the force of the wind. Chang'e reached the moon, and breathless, she coughed. Part of the pill fell out from her mouth. Now, the hare was already on the moon, and Chang'e commanded the animal to make another pill from it, so that she could return to earth to her husband.
As of today, the hare is still pounding herbs, trying to make the pill. As for Houyi, he built

himself a palace in the sun as "Yang" (the male principle), with Chang'e as "Yin" (the female principle).

Once a year, on the 15th day of the full moon, Houyi visits his wife. That is why, that night, the moon is full and beautiful.

This year, the mid-autumn (moon) festival was on 3rd October.

Now, if you look carefully at the moon, you will be able to see the rabbit and its mortar.. some say that the Jade Rabbit is a shape assumed by Chang'e herself!

Finally, here's an excerpt from the Apollo 11 communications with Houston during their moon landing preparations:

095:17:28 Evans: Roger. Among the large headlines concerning Apollo this morning, is one asking that you watch for a lovely girl with a big rabbit. An ancient legend says a beautiful Chinese girl called Chang-O has been living there for 4,000 years. It seems she was banished to the Moon because she stole the pill of immortality from her husband. You might also look for her companion, a large Chinese rabbit, who is easy to spot since he is always standing on his hind feet in the shade of a cinnamon tree. The name of the rabbit is not reported.

095:18:15 Collins: Okay. We'll keep a close eye out for the bunny girl.

Moon Festival

So it's 2 years to the day since we saw all the khoom fay floating over Godstone Green, and now I am starting to think they may have had something to do with the Chinese Moon Festival (Mid-Autumn Festival). According to wikipedia, the Mid-Autumn Festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar, which is usually around late September or early October in the Gregorian calendar. It is a date that parallels the autumn and spring Equinoxes of the solar calendar, when the moon is supposedly at its fullest and roundest. The traditional food of this festival is the mooncake, of which there are many different varieties.".

Customs include:
- Eating mooncakes outside under the moon
- Putting pomelo rinds on one's head
- Carrying brightly lit lanterns, lighting lanterns on towers, floating sky lanterns
- Burning incense in reverence to deities including Chang'e
- Planting Mid-Autumn trees
- Collecting dandelion leaves and distributing them evenly among family members
- Fire Dragon Dances

Yesterday at work there were many mooncake culinary delights to sample, courtesy of my desk neighbours! On the left is the ice skin mooncake, and on the right is the double egg yolk traditional mooncake..

Jamie's Italian..

Jamie's Italian, Bath
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

Wow, it has obviously been too long since we have been to Brighton and Guildford, because I have just found out that Jamie Oliver has opened branches of Jamie's Italian in both towns, wohooo!! =) Surrounded! We actually went to the one in Bath on the second leg of our honeymoon, and it was fantastic, highly recommended! We were really lucky to get in actually, the owners of the farm/B&B we were staying at said that it was normally impossible to get a table, and it was only 2 years after it opened that they were able to get in there for a meal!

Here's some pictures of the inside..

This is the bar, right by the entrance, where you wait for your table - you can order olives and music bread to eat while you wait, but we were optimistic and just ordered a couple of cokes!:

Jamie's Italian, Bath
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

Jamie's Italian, Bath
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

I like these lanterns that were on the tables in the bar area..

Jamie's Italian, Bath
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

So after about 15 minutes we were seated at our table.. not bad!

Jamie's Italian, Bath
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

We admired the decor while we waited for our starters to show up.. these chandeliers reminded me of the ones we had in our hotel room in Venice!

Jamie's Italian, Bath
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

Interesting wallpaper.. hmm..

Jamie's Italian, Bath
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

Ooh! The starter arrived! After eyeing up the musical bread in the bar, we decided to order 'WORLD'S BEST OLIVES ON ICE: Large green olives with my special black olive tapenade and music bread'

and a 'SELECTION OF TOP ITALIAN BREADS: ocaccia, ciabatta, sourdough country bread, grissini sticks and 'snappy music bread' with lemon and rosemary gremolata served with single estate extra virgin olive oil and fine balsamic vinegar'

Yum! I went out and bought some of Jamie's balsamic for home after that..

Jamie's Italian, Bath
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

Next up, my main was 'RAVIOLI CARAMELLE: Sweetie shaped and stuffed with pumpkin and ricotta cheese with breadcrumbs, parmesan and beautiful rosemary sauce'.. very delicious!

Jamie's Italian, Bath
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog

and James had 'PRAWN LINGUINI: Pan fried garlicy prawns with tomatoes, chilli, rocket and fennel'.. also very tasty!

Jamie's Italian, Bath
Originally uploaded bykipperfrog

Well, we thought it would be an awful shame not to sample the puddings while we were there.. so out came the Tiramiso and Panacotta! Wow, amazing! It would be worth a trip just to try all the puddings really! =) It was a very filling and delicious dinner, it could be a real problem having two nearby now though!!

Jamie's Italian, Bath
Originally uploaded by kipperfrog