ON THE WAGON

August 2023. Kelham Island, Sheffield.

I rather overdid it that Friday.

“I can tell you’re pissed, you sneak a Chinese takeaway upstairs and then fall asleep” said Mrs RM the next morning.

But she still wanted to go out that Sunday, and have lunch at the Fat Cat.

I never wanted to see another alcoholic drink again in my life,

so I had a Bitburger 0,0 while Mrs RM gloated over her Pale Rider.

The Sunday lunch isn’t quite as great as the pie and chips, but it’s heavy on veg and I needed veg.

Back home, after an hour buying shoes at Meadowhall, Mrs RM started her probably award winning tasting of non-alcoholic beers from the Berlin Calling offie in Crookes.

If we’re honest, and we always are, the Big Drop and No Worries alcohol free beers weren’t bad at all.

But what’s the point of “not bad at all” ?

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Published by retiredmartin

Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.

14 thoughts on “ON THE WAGON”

  1. What is it with eat-out Sunday lunches and veg?

    Our last one had garden peas, mange tout, green beans, red cabbage, carrot, and parsnip.

    The lot could have been replaced by no more than – properly cooked – broccoli.

    It did only have roast potatoes rather than an assortment though.

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  2. Etu,
    Five days ago I had a Sunday lunch with my brother, wife and daughter at a pub that then needed bookings and it was disappointing, especially the soggy Yorkshire pudding.
    At the same pub a few weeks ago though a “roast of the day” on a quiet weekday lunchtime was marvellous, more of it and everything well cooked.
    I think the lesson is to avoid busy pubs.
    The Thwaites Original was drinking well both times though.

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    2. Pauline, how can a plate properly full of roast meat, Yorkshire pud and roast potatoes have room for all that?

      If it were properly served, that is, with the veg in serving dishes for diners to serve themselves, then that’s a different matter entirely. At most pubs though, you get Your Dinner On A Plate, and that’s great for what it usually is at the price.

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      1. Roasting a joint shouldn’t be too difficult so it’s the vegetables that I judge a Sunday lunch by.
        Neither a deep fat frier nor a microwave being suitable for carrots and cauliflower is why Tim rightly gave up on Sunday lunches in early 2016, not that breakfast and chips has really been a suitable alternative since then.
        All too many otherwise good Sunday lunches are spoilt by the overboiled vegetables I remember in school dinners.

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      2. I’m not too sure, Paul.

        I had a delicious meal at the Saracen’s Head, Symmond’s Yat. It was slow-roasted beef, meticulously temperature-controlled by the painstaking chef so that it was pink, moist, tender and delicious. I think that they mentioned 58 Celcius.

        You can’t please everyone though, and a Yorkshireman sent his back in disgust that it was still “raw” as he put it, and that “slow-roasted” apparently meant that it should resemble the remains of Joan Of Arc…

        Etu

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      3. Etu,
        Yes, you’re right. The best carvery meat I’ve had is in Stafford’s Bird in Hand, only done on a Sunday, where licensee Terry gets up very early in the morning to start cooking it, resulting in it being very tender, tasty and not at all raw.
        The best vegetables I’ve known were the roasted ones in the Swan at Whiston quite a few years ago now.

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    1. Congratulations, Bill. Welcome to the world of part time. I’ve been enjoying every minute of it these past two years, and with just three days at work and four days of leisure, it’s the perfect work-life balance!

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      1. I’ve gone four days on, Fridays off. They didn’t want to give me Fridays until I went nuclear and threatened to put my papers in completely. Funny how they suddenly became more co-operative. The plan is to give this a year or so then go three days a week, before jacking it in completely.

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      3. RM, I have a silly little job with the DWP where I ring people up and ask them nosey questions. I used to be an Inspector of Taxes, which was a Proper Job.

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