International Rescue

On Tuesday evening, our boating friend/chef/neighbour, Rob Owen-Brown, took his boat round to the sanitary station to empty the loo etc. but didn’t come back. Not only had he run out of diesel (they’ve only been boaters for 6 weeks) but his wife Michelle had fallen in the canal, between the bank and the boat, and cracked a couple of ribs. She was lucky! Rob managed to get the boat over to the tow-path side of the canal and they stayed there till morning when we could go and rescue them.

Michelle calls Roger “International Rescue” as he’s helped them fix a few bits on their boat ready for the winter, so as we pulled up alongside we had the theme tune to Thunderbirds blaring from the stereo, much to Rob’s amusement.

Roger tied the two boats together and reversed us both back round the bend and into an empty mooring space. The bow thruster was only used once, but as usual when you manage a perfect manoeuvre there was no-one watching! Rob organised a small delivery of diesel and Roger bled the air from the engine and got the engine going again.

After lunch we took the tram to Bury. I just love Bury Market. It’s huge and a real foodie’s paradise. I had to be very restrained in the meat and fish halls as our freezer is full but the temptation of a big, meaty oxtail was too much and I got the butcher to vac-pac it for me so it’ll last for a couple of weeks in the fridge - if we can resist it that long that is. If you ever go to Bury Market you just have to buy black pudding. It’s famous and delicious too. Normally I get a hot one with mustard to eat while we’re walking round but I had to resist as we were going out for dinner.

Rob had invited us to the Gourmet dinner which is held at the Mark Addy on the last Wednesday of every month. This was the menu:

Game Broth Shooter (intensely gamey, perfect to get the juices flowing)

Line caught sea bass fillet with Menai Mussels (delicately flavoured with beautiful crisp skin & meltingly soft mussels)

Saddle of Hare with Quinn’s Quince (served very rare, quinces for the sauce provided by one of the regular’s called Quinn)

Pheasant Breast with Chestnuts (only one word - superb! )

Vanilla & Saffron Poached  Pear William (pear was still a bit hard for me but it was tasty)

Leagrams Ramshackle Sheep’s Curd (day-old curd made a zingy end to the meal)

Normally so many courses would have me flagging half way through the meal, but the portions were just right and the whole meal was a delight.  If you're ever fortunate enough to be in Manchester on the last Wednesday of the month I’d heartily recommend you pay a visit (and no, we didn’t get a free meal so this is my unbiased opinion).