Monday 15 April 2013

Date Day

One of my challenges this year is to have a date night with Mick each month. For April, we decided that instead of going out on an evening, we would spend Saturday together.


The day started at Poppleton Garden Centre in York where we enjoyed breakfast. Our house is a hive of activity on a morning, even on a weekend, we never get a leisurely breakfast as someone is always rushing around getting ready to go somewhere. It was nice to be able to actually talk to each other over breakfast for once. We were very naughty and had a full English, it was very tasty.

We had a mooch around the garden centre and made a few purchases before heading off to the car boot sale which is held each Saturday morning at York Racecourse. It's a huge car boot fair, but I find that the prices are quite high, and we didn't buy anything. It was good for a look round though.


The second Saturday of each month sees Malton's Food Lovers Market taking place, so after we'd had a walk around the car boot sale, we decided to head that way.


Each market has a seasonal theme and Saturday's was Yorkshire Rhubarb. There's both an indoor and outdoor market, and there's lots of produce to taste before you buy.


We came home with some Epicure's Larder Wold White cheese, an absolutely delicious soft cheese produced from rare breeds on the Yorkshire Wolds. It's made in a variety of flavours, I thought the garlic was very tasty but Mick preferred the plain flavour, so that's what we bought.


We also bought some duck eggs, just because I've never eaten duck eggs before and I wanted to try them. I had one poached for my breakfast yesterday, but I didn't notice any real difference other than it being slightly bigger than usual.


After visiting the Food Lovers Market, we had a little wander around Malton. I loved this display on the side of a cycle shop, it looks as though a bike is smashing through the wall.


It was really unusual having the day to ourselves, it made a lovely change. It was nice doing something different too for our date rather than just going out for a meal on an evening, I'm sure we'll do something similar again.

40 comments:

  1. I love having a mooch around places too :0)
    Jill x

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    1. I love little market towns. They tend to have independent shops which are far more interesting than chain stores.

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  2. I love the sound of a date day, and yours sounds like a lot of fun. Full english breakfast, garden centre, car boot sale, markets...all very nice things! x

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    1. It was nice to do a few different things rather than spend the day in one place. It's so different now we don't have young children.

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  3. Always fun to spend the day with someone we love.

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    1. It's funny having time to ourselves again after spending the last eighteen years with at least one child in tow. I think it will take some getting used to again.

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  4. That sounds like a very fun day! I love having time alone with my husband and I think it is great that you make the time to do that for yourself. :)

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    1. I think we get so absorbed in family life that we forget to take time out for ourselves as a couple. I'm definitely enjoying our dates.

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  5. Sounds like you had a lovely date day, Jo. And I don't blame you for having a "Full English". If we go out for breakfast - which doesn't happen too often, sadly - I always go for a "Full Scottish" because, apart from enjoying it, I don't have to clean up all the mess! :o)

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    1. It was certainly different than just going for a meal. I do love a good fry up, but my waistline doesn't. Back to the diet now.

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  6. Hello :)

    What a nice way to spend a Saturday! We used to have a really good carboot near us, but sadly we moved and haven't found one quite like it since. When you find a good one, it's a joy!

    Regarding duck eggs, they share a lot in common with other types of fowl eggs and slightly less with hen's eggs. Duck eggs make very nice sponge cakes, which tend to be more springy. Goose eggs are best of all for cakes as their inherent extra protein supports the structure of the cake better. They often taste slightly different depending on where they have come from and what kind of food they are fed. Ducks tend to eat grain, whilst geese cannot live without fresh grass - moreso than hens - and their eggs are usually richer and have a preferable flavour. Having said that, a really good organic chicken's egg can be just as tasty as a duck egg!

    The cheese you bought looks delicious, too! It mentions being a fresh lactic cheese - does it have a texture similar to a slightly grainier ricotta? I have made 'fresh' cheese before, but instead of setting it with lactic acid (usually from yogurt or a setting culture), I used some lemon juice and ended up with paneer, which was delicious and only took ten minutes to make (and was very nice in a curry).

    Anyway, enough food talk :) Just thought that I'd pop along to say 'hi'!

    Tash from vintagepretty.org (the link to my ancient Blogger blog won't work but you can copy and paste the address!)

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    1. Thank you for visiting and for your lovely comment. What a shame you had to leave a good car boot fair behind, I hope you find another good one soon. Thank you for the information on the eggs, I've never tried any eggs other than hen's eggs before. I should really try baking with them but I'm trying to shed a few pounds so I'm trying not to put temptation in my way. I think I shall buy some more when I'm allowed a treat and give it a go then. The cheese really is delicious. I wouldn't say it's grainy, it has an extremely smooth texture, a kind of melt in your mouth feel. I can highly recommend it.

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  7. It sounds, and looks, like you had a most enjoyable day. Flighty xx

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    1. It was very enjoyable. We wouldn't normally head off to a market on a Saturday, so it was something a bit different.

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  8. It's turning out to be a really good challenge.
    Love from MUm
    xx

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    1. It's a great challenge for me, I get taken out for meals once a month, something we don't usually do so often. I'm enjoying this challenge very much.

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  9. It is one of the good things about the kids growing up, you start to get a bit of time for yourselves.

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    1. I've never been one to leave them with babysitters so our nights or days out alone have been scarce over the years. It's nice to have a little bit of time for ourselves again now.

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  10. What a lot you packed into to your day together.
    I love it all, breakfast out and then a mooch around the car boot and a market, a really way to spend the day.
    I've never tried duck eggs and wondered what hey would taste like, now I know!
    Lisa x

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    1. It was nice to do so many different things, a total change from an evening meal out. One thing about the duck eggs which I didn't mention, the yolk seemed to be a lot more yellow, but don't know if this is just down to that particular egg or if they're all like that.

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  11. that sounds after a nice day!!!!
    regina

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    1. It was a lovely day, and the weather cooperated which was good. I'll have to have a think about what we can do next month now.

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  12. Sounds like a lovely day out. Tony sometimes has to work on either saturdays or sundays (in a hospital laboratory) and is on call too so we value our days out together. We love York and I love to go to York car boot but like you we think it is expensive.There seem to be a lot of dealers about.You can get the odd bargain though!

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    1. I can sympathise with you losing time together at the weekend. I worked every Sunday for fourteen years from the time that Daniel was eight months old, so I know how precious weekends are when you don't get time together during the week. There are a lot of dealers at the car boot sale, their prices are way over the top.

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  13. What a lovely day. I think it's important to have a 'car boot eye' and be able to see the potential in things. It's a skill I haven't got! Jx

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    1. I haven't got that skill either, perhaps that's why I rarely buy anything from a car boot sale. I do enjoy a good look round though.

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  14. A good way to start the weekend with a full English breakfast and so much better when it's cooked for you. I've never been to a car boot sale!
    June

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    1. You must look out for a car boot sale, I'm sure you'd love looking round one, so many interesting things. I hate cooking a full English breakfast so it was lovely eating out.

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  15. Oh, this is so sweet Jo! And I love the fact that you bought that cheese!

    Sft x

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    1. The cheese is delicious, though I'd have bought the garlic flavour if it was down to me.

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  16. Seems like you had a lovely day out. The cheese sounds interesting, as I adore Wensleydale, but it doesn't seem quite right over here. Have a nice week.

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    1. I love Wensleydale, it's my favourite cheese, but this one is different to that. Wensleydale is crumbly whereas this one is more of a soft cheese. Both delicious though.

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  17. Date nights and days are such a luxury and so good to have! I'm glad you had fun on yours..... But one question: Our sign of a childfree experience is the second cup of coffee/tea. Did you get yours?

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    1. It's funny you should mention tea/coffee. I don't usually drink hot drinks, never coffee and rarely tea, but I did have a pot of tea on Saturday and yes, I had a second cup. I'm loving these date nights and days and I'm already thinking where we can go next month.

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  18. What a lovely thing to do, glad you both enjoyed your day :}

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    1. It was a lovely day, something a bit out of the ordinary to what we usually do on a Saturday. I'm looking forward tot he rest of my date days and nights.

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  19. Hi Jo, we used to live in Malton,so the view of the market is a familiar one! In Otley there is monthly farmers market, on the last sunday of the month. I use to go now and again. Will have to have a look around here to see if there are any. Sounds like you had a nice day!

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    1. I was impressed with the market, some lovely produce on offer. I enjoy looking round markets, there's always usually something which takes my fancy.

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  20. Sounds like such a lovely time, I love a mooch round a garden centre and car boot. I've never tried a duck's egg, I thought they might be stronger than chicken's eggs. Our girls' eggs are much stronger than shop ones :) xx

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    1. I asked if there were any difference in taste before I bought the eggs and the lady selling them said that duck eggs are a little stronger in taste, but I certainly didn't find that to be the case. I enjoyed the day, I too enjoy looking round garden centres and car boot sales.

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