Scribblings from the Mitchy Side

In honour of the England v. Wales Six Nations game today, I am sampling the first of the four ciders I brought back from The Essex Cider Shop.

Cornish Orchards Blush Cider
Cider with raspberries.

OH YUM!

Crisp, not too sweet, got a bit of a kick *checks* only 4.5% alcohol by volume though so could be worse. Yes, I like this. This would be a great summertime drink and would go well with a ploughman's lunch :)

(Rugby Report - too close to call :P)

(Why do I not have a "OH TACKLE HIM YOU EFFING PRAWNS!!" icon? :P)

Waaay back last August, cookwitch posted a link on Facebook to a new cider store, The Essex Cider Shop, located in Chelmsford. It's not far away from where cookwitch lives and we tried to plan a joint raid on the place but were thwarted by our respective calendars.

Today, Operation:Cider was accomplished! :D It only took us six months :P Better late then never!

I picked cookwitch up from her house at 10, pausing to coo over her cat, Tia, a new addition to the household. We didn't have a map (I don't have a printer and cookwitch's printer had had a tantrum and refused to work) but I'd looked over where the place was on Google maps before leaving home and cookwitch had written instructions on her phone. So we scampered off to Chelmsford.

I think both of us were surprised how quick the journey was, as it looked much further away on Google! But within 25 minutes, we were in Chelmsford. It was at this point that the phone with the instructions on decided to emulate the printer and have a temper tantrum, so we ended up winging it a bit but we got there! And I only had to turn round twice :D

The Essex Cider Shop is small but perfectly formed. There's only 2 bookcase style shelves of cider but a very wide variety is represented. They also have casks there so if you wanted to, you could buy cider on tap. I resisted the urge to buy one of everything - tempting though it was - and selected 4 ciders in the end, plus one tiny bottle of cider brandy to try :D



Full reports of each cider will be made!

Much to our surprise, we were in and out of the shop in about 20 minutes and it was only 11am! So we went over to a Tesco's we'd spotted on the way in and indulged in a cooked breakfast. Now, I've had some great breakfasts in Tesco's cafes - the one in Hatfield is pretty good - but I have to report that the breakfasts in Tesco's Chelmsford are a bit pants. The sausages were clearly the cheapest they could find and tasted like it and cookwitch's pancake breakfast involved pancakes that were just a step shy of scones for texture and sweetness. Most odd. However, the food was hot and filling and I had no problem scoffing my mega breakfast and finishing off the last sausage from cookwitch's plate :D

We then waddled back to cookwitch's house, where I was fed tea and snickerdoodles and where Tia decided my lap looked comfy and curled up on it, while she received the fuss and attention due to one of her status :D She's a Maine Coon and she is GORGEOUS - and I forgot my camera, dammit. Although I have to say, photos don't do justice to either her size (she could eat Rob T Furball for breakfast :P) and her gorgeous markings and sweet temperament.

After slurping tea, I headed back home, dropping cookwitch off at the shops on my way back. Where she was supposed to remember to buy electricity cards and NOT all the turkish bread in the bakers. We'll see how that turned out :D

All in all a very successful day!

I have a week off. I have Things Planned, fun things. I know, in the very near future, I'm going to be on a firmer financial footing. I can feel the relief building the closer the reality gets. I have cider and I'm getting mildly drunk and I can feel the knots unwinding with every minute.

Man, I needed this week off.