Off we go!! Girls’ holiday to the Lake District…. with a stop off at the OK Diner!

OK…. don’t judge…. we’re on holiday! Abbie and I left yesterday morning for the Lake District, with a visit to Auntie Kath, Uncle Matt and Libby on the way, in Manchester. Jon and I had been wanting to try the OK Diner ever since we passed it on a previous trip, so I thought this would be the perfect oportunity for a lunch stop on our journey.

The OK Diner models itself on a 50’s American Diner and serves standard diner fare of big breakfasts, burgers and grills. The adult menu is really varied and I greatly enjoyed my grilled chicken dish. The children’s menu has lots of options, although the healthy choices will probably not be chosen as they are not exciting enough to compete with the salt/fat laden dishes on offer. Abbie went for hot dog and chips option and added loads of tomato ketchup as you can see……

Lunch is served!

Then for the dessert choices -ice cream cone, a banana or pancakes and syrup. Much to my horror, Abbie went for the carb laden latter option! And I contemplated spending 3 more hours in a car with a sugar-filled child… which went rapidly down-hill when we had to find a replacement charger for my phone on the M62! Although the food at OK diner was incredibly ‘child-friendly’, it wasn’t particularly friendly to your child – maybe some vegetables could be given…….

This was the start of the syrup addition - I had to remove it from her in the end!

Oh well….. a lovely stay with our friends in Manchester! Keswick tomorrow – which I’m reliably informed is ‘foodie heaven’. JOY!

A truly wild time at BeWILDerwood!! Lunch at the Munch Bar!

We have had one of the best days ever…. I have been waiting to go to Bewilderwood since before Abbie was born and we have held off until this year (which I am glad about as I now think Abbie is the perfect age) but today…. WE WENT! I don’t know who was more excited!! In case you are unaware of this place….

Anyway, the focus of my post is about our lunch, but I have to also mention some of the awesome things we have done today…. more of this later! We decided that as we would be clambering up ladders, across scramble nets and hurtling down slides, that we wouldn’t take a picnic to this particular adventure park until we had more experience…. and I am always curious about food at theme parks; remembering the 6 euro disgusting pannini at Disneyland and crazy queues that we had to endure to get anything! Most attractions around here sell primarily fast food at rip-off prices and so it was with some trepidation that we made this choice today.

However I was very pleasantly surprised; decent food, some organic! and at reasonable prices. I meant to take a picture of the menu, but forgot due to hunger! So I will recount the options and hope I don’t miss anything vital – Jon and I both went for the jacket potato option – 3.25 with a choice of 1 pound toppings like cheese, coleslaw, beans or the more expensive chilli/veg chilli (2.50) – portions were very generous; I didn’t finish. We also had really nice drinks; Jon an organic coca cola and me an Elderflower drink. Abbie chose a Swampy lunchbox; cheese sandwich (could have had ham), oj or apple juice, organic yoghurt tube, apple, colouring page and pencils – all this for 3.25. Abbie was totally happy with her choice. Also available were jumbo sausage in a roll (next time!), various sandwiches, savoury pastries, muffins, cakes and fruit. Drink selection was varied and we also sampled some of their ice creams later (raspberry ripple, honeycomb and toffe fudge) all which got two thumbs up!!

A quick apple break between climbing, swinging and sliding

There were 2 other food places… the Snack Shack and the Cosy Cabin which served only the cold options, but all eateries were spaced well around the park.

We had the most incredible day at this park, it is so brilliant not to queue for more than 5 minutes for anything (on a hot half-term day!) and all the time you are queuing, you are moving along walkways or up staircases so there is always something to see. I have put a sample of the best bits in these thumbnails!

The wobbly wires

Swinging...

Digging...

Balancing...

Decorating a boot for the Thorneyclod

.... and hanging it in his Far tree!

Starring as 'Leaflette' in the interactive storytelling... she did really well!

About to do a climb in a tight squeeze at the Tricky tunnels!

walking through the treetops

Catching the boat back... through the swamp

An absolutely exhausted Abbie (she fell asleep on the 15min journey home!)

A day in Norwich…. culinary delights optional!

We had an enforced stay in Norwich today.. my car had to be serviced.. so we all walked in and whiled the beautiful day away in a number of shops, cafes and one of our fave restaurants; Shiki. Abbie had not eaten Japanese food outside of our home, but her love of fish, edamame and homemade sushi made it a no-brainer for lunch.

So…. famished, we took a look at the menu.  Jon and I opted for a mixture of sushi (spicy tuna roll, california roll, ebi-ten prawn roll, salmon tempura hand-roll) and sashimi. We ordered Abbie a lunchtime bento box and managed to swap the accompanying miso soup (not one of Abbie’s favourites) with edamame, which she adores.  The sashimi plate of salmon, the most amazing tuna, octopus and yellowtail arrived first and to our surprise, Abbie dived straight in, also trying out her chopsticks.  Salmon was given the thumbs-up, tuna was ‘alright’ and everything else rejected; I was stunned as I thought she would refuse the lot!

Salmon sashimi

Edamame..

Bento box; salmon teriyaki, sushi rice, salad with a sesame dressing and chips with wasabi mayo

Two thumbs up.. you can see how much is left!

 

The bento box was excellent and the fun presentation of her meal definitely encouraged Abbie to try everything. Shiki is a fantastic restaurant; Jon and I have always enjoyed eating there… we’re thrilled that it is now a great family option as well.

 We rescused our car, Minty, from the ‘car doctors’ and went back home where we went out for a bike ride only to find an ice-cream man on the door step when we arrived back!  As Abbie had eaten so well throughout the day, she had a treat and I decided to not worry too much about what she had for supper…. in the end cheese, crackers, apple and other accompaniments did her fine and she went to bed a very happy and full little girl!

Chillin with an ice cream

A quick, bitty supper - cheese has already been eaten!

Tapas….. Barcelona here we come??

As you can see we took our very over-tired daughter for a meal out on Sunday…… 

We were attending a cathedral service in the afternoon and needed a quick bite beforehand – Jon suggested ‘La Tasca’ along the lines of ‘They’ve got olives and bread, perfect!’. Abbie has always loved olives (as do many of her friends) since we attended the ‘Italian’ market in Norwich – she aged 2 – where she was made a huge fuss of by some rather dishy Greek men. They were delighted to see a young child eat an olive and so Abs was given stuffed, garlic, spicy… in fact every type of olive on offer! As the cuteness of my daughter meant that we were given a free tub of these delights for later, who was I to complain that she then wouldn’t eat her lunch!

An olive a day....

 La Tasca was, remarkably, really child-friendly; even if, as we did, you did not order from the children’s menu.  Abbie was given crayons and an activity book on arrival. They do a 5 dishes for 12 pounds deal for lunch which was great for us and we ordered extra bread and olives.  Abbie is really into dipping bread into balsamic vinegar and oil at the moment – if you haven’t tried it with your children – do it! She loves the drippyness of it and how you have to get through the oil to the vinegar. 

We ordered calamari – yummy for us (refused by Abs), fried white fish (enjoyed), patatas bravas (really enjoyed), tortilla (refused and I don’t blame her – not the best!) and a really yummy aubergine dish which I think she would have been happier about if she weren’t so tired!  We were encouraging her to eat it, as all parents do – imagine the scene ‘Just try it…. come on Abbie’ – ‘No!’ – ‘Come on darling, you’ll like it’ – ‘No!’… just as the waitress approaches to perform the predictable ‘Is everything alright??’ – if ever there was bad timing that was it!

What is fabulous about La Tasca? Pudding!!  They do a great 3 mini dessert tray (lemon tart, choc brownie and Sangria Mess) all with an espresso – we are returning just for that.  Jon has decided we are going to Barcelona in October half-term….. at least they have olives and bread there!