Personal blog of William Gardner
stuff i wrote | stuff i done | stuff i like
Blog
I’ve been to the Wild Garlic restaurant a total of 5-6 times now in the past two years and every time I’ve been the food has been amazing, and the staff wonderful.
Somehow Wild Garlic manage to make each meal feel very special and magical, half of this is down to the food itself, but the other half is how the staff treat you.
The restaurant manager has recently changed, and the new David is just as brilliant as the old David, if not even more slick on service. David and Matt (head chef) recently helped me plan a birthday meal at the restaurant, and could not have been more helpful and enthusiastic about making the meal very special.
I really love my food, and every time I eat at Wild Garlic I’m always impressed by the menu, and blown away by the taste and textures of the dishes. Standout dishes for me have been the pork belly main, and the liquorice crème brulee. The menu is always changing so it’s worth checking out all year round.
Price wise you get what you pay for – quality all round. I’m really glad they’ve started selling nice local bottled ales since the first time I visited they only sold bottled lager, and I usually like a beer as a welcoming drink.
Basically if you live within 50miles of this restaurant then make the effort to visit. If you live within 10 miles and like exquisite food, then you really should have been here already.
5/5
Just back from a fun weekend in Ludlow, having a beer in a pretty garden after a fairly long journey home.
Ludlow is a fantastic place if you’re into your food and drink, so many good local food suppliers and exquisite restaurants.
Also, this post has a purpose, I’m composing it via the WordPress app on my iPhone. The photo you can see was also taken in app, geotagged and everything (although since I have no mobile reception it’s not working right now).
More posts coming next week.
2307.10
A summers evening in Minchinhampton, here we see two calves following their mother around the streets. In ‘Minch’, the cows are free to go wherever they fancy with only cattle grids to stop them. This explains why there is a load of cow muck around my regular parking space.
If you’re geeky enough to appreciate this then enjoy. If not, please move along.
Those mentalists working for Burger King in Japan have unveiled the ‘3rd Anniversary Rodeo Whopper‘ burger, containing three beef patties, six onion rings, lettuce, tomato, onion, mayo, and American barbecue sauce.
Why can’t we have this in the UK?
In October 2009, chain off licence Threshers went into administration and closed all stores over the UK. Thankfully, a few months ago, new off licence business ‘Nailsworth Wines and Spirits‘ opened up to fill the gap, taking over the old Threshers premises on Market Street, Nailsworth.
Nailsworth Wines & Spirits has since seemed to do very well since opening, and rightly so since they stock a massive range of rare, local, and organic beers and ciders. They also stock a wines suiting every pocket, plus a good range of spirits. A favourite of the locals are the local ciders which are sold by the container straight out of the barrel, meaning you can roughly get about 10 pints of local quality cider for about 50p a pint!
Another thing, Nailsworth Wines & Spirits have kept on some of the original staff members from the old Threshers store, who are always friendly and up for a chuckle.
Just wanted to pass my best wishes on to the off licence, it’s good to see small retailers doing well around the local area. I was getting very tired of having to buy alcohol from the local supermarkets where it is usually the same old stuff, and sometimes quite expensive.
Nailsworth Wine & Spirits:
5-6, Old Market, Nailsworth, Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL6 0DU
Tel: 01453 834594
1907.10
Went for a seven mile walk in the Cotswolds the other day starting at Haresfield Beacon, passing through Randwick, following paths mapped out for the ‘Cotswold Way’.
Took a little panoramic video of the view from Haresfield Beacon and thought I should share it, but of course this video doesn’t even begin to do it justice, so if you haven’t seen it for yourself get your (walking) boots on!
1807.10
In the past year or so I’ve been pretty busy with a few things, mainly running my web design business Tangy Media with my business partner Laurence Morgan, as well as moving house, so have not really found the time to blog about anything worth reading. But after playing around with WordPress 3.0 (the web platform that powers this blog) for clients, I really want to take a look at it from my perspective and requirements, and I know that the best way to do this is to be blogging.
Another thing, I’ve never really got into ‘tweeting’, that said I do check twitter 2-3 times a week to see what’s going on with the people I follow, mainly musicians and liked celebrities, but I never have the urge to tweet myself. So in order to get more tweeting experience I’m going to set up some automated tweet process whenever I write a blog post, since I have a feeling that Twitter will need some attention for some client requirements in the future.
One last thing, I’ve always thought that personal blogging is a great way to save memories and thoughts. I can only imagine what fun I’ll have reading this blog back in 40 years time, grimacing and perhaps laughing at what I used to spend my precious time on.
So there it is, my disclaimer about why I’m bothering to blog, and why when you read some of the tripe that seeps out of my fingers, I can say it’s ‘for work purposes’ to save any self embarrassment.
Morgan’s Stockmans Draught is the kit I used for my first ever homebrew beer. I added 1kg of brewing sugar, and used the lager yeast supplied with the kit.
I left the beer to ferment for 14 days – this was not intentional, ideally I would have bottled it earlier. When being bottled into plastic 750ml bottles, I added brewing sugar to prime, and the fizz of the beer is just right.
I tried the beer 14 days after being bottled, and it tasted great. Slightly thin in body, refreshing and nutty in taste, Stockman’s Draught is much more of a flavoursome lager than than most commerical lagers, almost 30% ale and 70% lager tasting.
I am now leaving the bottles to mature, after which I will jot down my full tasting notes.
This morning I was feeling a little worse for wear after a heavy night on the booze. I went to the local shop to buy the Sunday papers, and saw some Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups which I just had to buy.
On returning home, a toast and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups marriage was made.
