He opened his presents from us (an assortment of coffee and chocolates!) and we went over to see Mum and Dad so they could celebrate a little bit with him. Mum opened a bottle of Prosecco and we had some little cupcakes. Mike was delighted with his money and a voucher and it was great to sit and chat for a while.
We then headed into town as we were going to a Vegan Food Fair at Abington Park Museum. All the surrounding roads were full of parked cars but we managed to find a space and walked across the park to the museum. It started to drizzle and we all got wet!
Predictably, the food fair was busy and veganism really seems to have taken off! We wandered about but there were crowds of people and it was difficult to get to the various stalls. Before we left we came across a stand with vegan chocolate and Nutella substitute so I bought some, along with a tub of nutritional yeast, something I'd never heard of before but is included in a recipe we're cooking on Monday!
We made our way back to the car in the drizzle and drove into town. Our plan was to park near Derngate, have a drink at a new bar we'd seen and then enjoy lunch at Akasaka. Parking was easy and we walked to the Maule Collective Bar opposite the Guildhall. They had lots of beers on offer, but cheap they weren't! We had two pints, two halves and the bill, initially, came to £21 but I queried it as that price was outrageous! It looked like the barman had added a glass of whisky onto our bill! Innocent mistake or were they trying it on? I'm just glad we queried it!
However, I did enjoy a Cranberry and Chocolate Stout (£3 for half a pint) but it's not somewhere we'll go frequently, at those prices!
Lunch was at Akasaka as Mike is a real fan (as are Sophie and I) and it was pleasantly busy. We had starters of Gyoza, fried squid, seaweed and I tried Tofu. We had a small bottle of Sake and for mains, three of us had the Chicken Katsu curry while Mike had his favourite, the Chicken Ramen soup.
The service was a little slow but our great waitress made up for it with her lovely demeanour. The food was delicious, as ever, and Keith and I were amazed by a very young Chinese couple on the next table who constantly played with their phones all through their meal, even when they were eating. They hardly spoke a word to each other!
After the meal we waddled back to the car and returned home. Mike changed and left to go to a friend's house while we relaxed on the sofa and I fell asleep! Mike went into town in the evening so we didn't expect him home and after enjoying cheese and biscuits, we watched a great film starring Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth called Before I Go To Sleep. I'd read the book and it was very enjoyable with lots of twists and turns!
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