Tue 14 - Balls To Valentines Day

I had a smoothie and cereal bar for breakfast.  Then, lunch at Balls Brothers, Bury Court.  I chose a cheeseburger at £9.70.  I wasn't asked how I wanted it cooked, but it came out just the right side of medium.  There was a generous layer of melted cheese, some gherkin, fresh tomato and crisp lettuce.  It was only let down by the focaccia bun, which was unnecessary.  Some things don't need to be messed with.  I'm not really keen on fat chips but these were a good attempt, with a crisp coating and light centre.  The service was excellent.  For me, this is the best Balls Brothers. 

Valentines Day must be the worst night of the year to go out on (that or NYE), for the overpriced set menus and the oddity of sitting in a restaurant entirely taken over by couples.  We stayed in then, and started our meal with the rest of the roast red peppers from Sunday, and some crab from Marks & Sparks.  The peppers tasted better for having stewed in their juices for a couple of days.  The crab wasn't great on it's own, but was transformed into a fine topping for some Torta once mixed with spring onion, lemon juice, seasoning and mayonnaise.  Torta(s?) is a kind of crispy Spanish flatbread, these ones a slight aniseed tint to them.

Our main was linguine vongole.  This was fantastic, sometimes the simple things are best . . . al dente linguine, loads of fresh clams, parsley, butter, chilli, garlic and olive oil.  A heavenly match.  I must confess that I had nothing to do with creation of this masterpiece!

We finished with a couple of pancakes.  Yep, I know it's Shrove Tuesday next week, but V's gonna be away and I've got tonnes of blood oranges to use up!  These worked out well, using a Delia recipe from the BBC website.  Why does the first pancake always go wrong???  And once again, no blood in my oranges!