Tuesday 17 August 2010

For Bristolites - Flinty Red review

My OH and I have been to Flinty Red, Bristol a few times and I thought I'd share our recent night out with you and hear from any of you that are local (or not!) and have been.

We have actually been 3 times since its opened and have enjoyed ourselves each time. The atmosphere is great, staff are friendly, knowledgable and helpful, the food is fab and the wine is available by the glass and bottle. They have a very large selection of wines both available by the glass or bottle. They have small and large plates for a lot of courses and the food is based on seasonality.

On Saturday, I chose the lemon and artichoke ravioli, the onglet (beef) and then we shared a desert of roast cherries, with chocolate fritters and cream. The pasta course was fantastically fresh and clean, the onglet was rare and had a great beef flavour (this was served with spinach and girolles - which I asked for instead of the courgettes it came with) and the roast cherries and fritters were also lovely!

When we came in we had a glass of reisling and a glass of gerwurtstraminer which were fabulous, the wines we chose for the main were good but not very memorable and then we had a desert wine which was great too!

If I had one complaint it would be that when its full, its difficult to hear what people are saying around you. I put this down to the acoustics (wooden floor, bare walls - no soft furnishings for damping of sound), therefore I probably wouldnt take my father in law as he has some hearing problems.

All in all, its a great restaurant, its got a relaxed, informal atmosphere and great food. Cant wait to go back!

jam and more jam

Well, as you know (briefly) we have an allotment. My OH and I have only managed a couple of days up there so far due to summer hols etc. Weve been digging for england, trying to weed and break up the soil and so far have only managed about and eighth!

The good news however, is that we have our first harvest of plums! The tree's been there a while and will need a good prune next year but in the meantime its produced about 5lbs of Jam! Im quite pleased with the colour but the consistency is a bit runny - however i'd rather have it like that than too sweet.

As the plums spurred me on, ive also now taken the blackcurrants (from our garden) out of the freezer and made blackcurrant jam (my favourite!) there was less of this and its only made about 3lbs of jam but still - other than the jam sugar and time, its free!

So, we are fruited right up and will not need to buy anything for quite a while (or until we are sick of our jam)! Friends and relatives - watch out for jam in your christmas stockings!

It's been a long time!

No excuse! Other than holiday, my sister lovely wedding, being in london, camping, oh and the building work!

Its now getting to the exciting point, decorating! I'm looking at colours and furniture and really looking forward to it.

The house is done in paint and paper library stone I, II and IV. I'm looking for colours that are deeper and more interesting and work with these colours (as thats the main hall colour and im not redecorating that!)

I am thinking of doing our bedroom in a lovely warm grey, the spare room in a dirty blue and then im going to think of the lounge. Did I also mention I have to paint the kitchen and bathroom?!! Lots to do in the next few months!

I also need some nice junk furniture that I can adapt, paint etc. Let me know if you see any!

Ill post some pics soon.