I've long been a fan of seafood but there still seems to be a lack of great places in the North East of England so when Colmans asked me to try out their new Seafood Temple based in South Shields, I jumped at the chance and Looby was first to declare an interest as my plus one because she's a huge fan of mussels.

Colmans have long been a staple in the fish and chip world but now they're turning their hand to finer dining with a custom built building shaped like a boat at one end and a temple at the other, sitting right on the seafront at South Shields.  It's a risky business when you are well known in one kind of market to venture into another but like Virgin, if you can succeed in other market's keeping all kinds of customers happy then you truly can have the world!

Looby and I went down for lunch last week and we were excited, Looby commented that if only we could bring Holly Bobbins with us then it would be perfect and so we were thrilled to note that downstairs is a takeaway but with seating and dogs are welcomed with open arms, whilst they don't offer the whole seafood menu we were informed that they do sometimes have a seafood specials on their downstairs menu as well as the famous Colmans fish and chips.

Back to the upstairs though and it's a spacious light and airy building with 360 degree views, not only that but the seating is placed spaciously on the floor, whilst they could have gotten more tables in they've chosen not to, a definite sign of quality over quantity and that's always a good thing.

The menu is tantalising, you can have everything from the staples like Cod, Haddock and Scampi right through to Scallops, Oysters, prawns and there's even a steak option which I chose as it was a featured special of surf and turf.  It actually might be the first time I've ever had surf and turf, I can't quite believe that!

I started with scallops though, scallops are notoriously hard to cook and get just right, cook them for even a second too long and they taste like rubber and so if I see them on the menu I have to try them as they're a great marker for just how good a restaurant is.

No worries with Colmans Seafood Temple though, you can get them in three's and fives and although I was tempted to get the five I wanted to leave room for mains and pudding.  The three were perfect, a great appetiser and for me, I could quite happily just order a plate full of scallops from there as they were so utterly tantalising to the tastebuds.  Looby meanwhile had ordered herself a half kilo of mussels and took no time to clear out the pot of the plumptious molluscs.

For mains Looby went for scampi, she always goes for scampi, it didn't disappoint though and when my perfectly cooked steak came out with 3 large prawns on top, I did a little silent squeal, steak is my favourite and so I eat it a lot and I can tell you the difference between a good steak and a great steak.  Let me tell you that this was a great steak and those prawns?  Delish, I could have eaten a plate of them on their own!

We were quite full by this point but Looby reminded me that we have an extra stomach that's just for pudding...(yes, yes, we do, honest) so we ordered some perfection in a bowl, that's hot cherries with ice-cream, hot cherries with ice-cream probably goes into the list of my favourite five puddings of all time, it's just the ultimate combination and really as close to perfection as you can get with desserts in my opinion, as ever the simple things are the best.

So, if I had paid for our meals it would have come to somewhere around £75ish which for 3 courses and drinks is a pretty good price and if it's a special occasion then it's a bargain.  Looby gave it 10/10 and really she's the best judge as she doesn't care who's paying for lunch, she just likes what she likes and nd she's also quite fussy and particular about the things she does like so it makes me happy to say that she would definitely go again but we're really not one for leaving Holly Bobbins on her own at home so next time we'll be trying the downstairs takeaway with our favourite four pawed friend.

Thank you to Colmans Seafood Temple for inviting us down for a complimentary meal in exchange for an honest review.

Dinner at Le Raaj, Chester-le-Street

I've had a long love of Indian food, the delicate flavours and creamy textures of my favourite meals always cheer up a long winters night, it really is the season for going to cosy restaurants and ordering filling sumptuous delights so when I received an invitation to come along and try out Le Raaj, an Indian restaurant in Chester-le-Street, I couldn't refuse and I took best friend and partner in crime Harriet along for a midweek treat.

Le Raaj is based at Chester Moor, in fact it's just next to Chester-Le-Streets home ground, a ground I've previously watched football at on cold Saturday afternoons, if only I'd known about Le Raaj then!

Le Raaj is a fairly large restaurant  but when you walk into it, it feels cosy and intimate, the perfect location for perhaps dinner with your best friends or maybe a midweek date with someone special where you can actually chat to each other.  Tranquil water bubbles make pretty colourful patterns in all of the surrounding interior windows, something I hadn't seen before but which definitely added to the ambience.

An extensive wine list offers flavours from around the world but as it was Tuesday we kept to a non alcoholic beverage.

As we munched on our pickles and pappadum I decided to start with my favourite, lamb tikka, I always know if it's a good restaurant by the standard of the lamb tikka, Harriet went with the Onion Baji on the recommendation of our friendly waiter who relaxed slightly when he found out I was only there to photograph the food and not him!!

The lamb tikka and onion baji did not disappoint, tender morsels cooked lovingly, lightly spiced and delicate flavours rather than an overpowering taste of charcoal as I've experienced elsewhere, both such simple dishes and yet tricky to get just right, Le Raaj excelled itself.

Our mains arrived seconds after our starters were finished and if I was to pick a tiny fault it would be that I found the service too quick, I like a small rest in between courses and sometimes when the service is too quick, you can feel a little rushed, like they don't want you to spend all night there.

For mains Harriet went with chicken Badami and I went with a duck dish, something I'd never tried before, Imlidor Misti Hansh, a dish containing sliced duck breast cooked with tamarind and honey in a cream based sauce.  I've never eaten duck at an Indian restaurant before and I have to say that it was cooked to perfection and definitely something we would try again.  Harriet commented that the peshwari naan that we'd ordered was the best she'd ever had and I would have to agree, everything at Le Raaj is cooked with such care and dedication you know you're eating at a restaurant which is at the very top of it's game.

We struggled to get through our  huge mains, rotund with starters and pickles and pappadum and we both agreed that there was no way we could have managed a pudding even if the menu did look a little fantastical.

Le Raaj also offers a £8.95 lunchtime special and I'd be a fool if I said I didn't want to try it although I'm not sure my tummy could cope with a whole indian meal at lunchtime, If we're ever over in Chester-le-Street or Durham again soon you can be sure my recommendation to whoever I'm with at the time will be to head straight there for some more amazing indian delights.

I want to say thank you to Le Raaj for the complimentary meals which we had in exchange for me writing this honest review.

The Curing House, Middlesbrough

If you don't already know by now, I love meat, I am an absolute carnivore and if I don't have meat based meals I eventually start craving it!  When Harriet and I were in Barcelona we even went to the Jamon Experience, if you're in Barcelona, do visit, we had a cheap ticket from the tourist bus and got admission plus 2 glasses of cava and a tasting of 6 different Jamon for 10 euros!!  Suffice to say I am now Jamon addicted and so when I received an invitation to an intimate blogger dinner at The Curing House, a charcuterie bar and restaurant in Middlesbrough I booked my train ticket before I could even mutter the words "I love meat".

The Curing House, based on Bedford Street in Middlesbrough is one of the only Charcuteries in the north east that I know of, it's definitely worth the hour and a half train journey it takes to get there, especially if you love meat although they do offer veggie options for the omnivores amongst us.

To me the Curing House is big enough to have an atmosphere but small enough for a perfect intimate date night, I went on a Tuesday night with 4 fellow bloggers and the restaurant was pretty much full, testament to the quality of food they're serving I'd suggest.

The menu's offer Charcuterie plates from Italy, Spain, France and Britain and for any fans of Iberico, yes there is an Iberico Bellota Dulce Chorizo which to be quite frank I was so excited about I may have got a touch giddy.

The restaurant actually opens at 9am for brunch and it doesn't close until 11pm at night, I could pretty much eat my way through the day in meat and cheese.

It's not just about the Charcuterie though, after eating through the most delicious tongue tingling rare roast beaf with horseradish intermediate it was on to the main event, all of the bloggers chose one of two meals, I went with the Roast Gressingham Duck Breast, Confit Duck Leg Boulangere and Spring Greens, House Bacon and Smoked Rhubarb - £16.50 (GF) the most delicious combination and something I'll be trying in my very own kitchen.  The duck is served pink just as it should be and is a generous portion big enough for even the heartiest of appetites.

A couple of the bloggers chose to go with a beef skirt dish which looked absolutely divine and we all munched our way through a shared bowl of beef dripping chips.  I couldn't fault The Curing House at all and the only thing I was sad about was that I had to jump straight back on the train and missed out on the delicious desserts and the cheese platter.  

Look, it's a bit of a drive or a trip on the train or bus if you live in Newcastle but good food is always worth travelling for, so the next time you want to have an intimate lunch with your girlfriends or the perfect date night to remember why not book a table (nice and early though if you are coming on the train from Newcastle) and sample the heavenly meat based delights of one of the North East's best restaurants.

I received a meal in exchange for my honest review, these are my words, my photos and yes, I'm definitely going back for more meaty based treats soon.

A Grand Day of Adventure at Walltown Country Park, Northumberland

Last week was National Park week all over the country and for us it was happening at the Walltown country park in Northumberland, I have to admit that until last week I'd never ever heard of Walltown but as you might guess it's right on the edge of part of Hadrian's Wall.

The girls and I were invited up to try out a range of activities arranged by various providers all celebrating just how amazing our national parks really are and Abigail and Looby being the sporty outdoorsy girls that they are, couldn't wait to try out some of the pursuits on offer.

Families from all over Northumberland seemed to be having a ball with everything from Pizza making to archery and story telling for the younger ones plus some genuinely fascinating displays like solar gazing, if I'm honest I didn't even know that was a thing but there was a definite geeky thrill in being able to look through a specially modified telescope at our nearest star, the sun, it's a jaw dropping moment when you see the surface of that bright orange orb which we don't see enough of in the UK, it's only when you observe such wonders that you become so completely aware of your own fragile mortality knowing you are merely a tiny being amidst an endless universe.

Looby and Abigail though were more about the physical pursuits of rock climbing, archery and zip wiring which was also available for adults but I'm way too much of a coward to try such things.

Even though there was a myriad of things to do we chose to walk into nearby Greenhead for lunch, vegetarian Abigail didn't much fancy her chances at the Northumbrian meats van, maybe something to consider if they plan to offer this special week of activities again next year.  We had a lovely walk though, all down hill on the way there, rather more a different matter on the way back!  We went to the local coffee house and greedily hogged their internet for a whole 5 minutes before they had to unplug it to plug the coffee machine back in (yes, really!).

Back at the country park and we managed to squeeze in another round of archery and meeting some birds of prey before grabbing a coffee and heading back to civilisation on the arranged transportation, we'd had a great day, a muddy day, a tiring day but we'd escaped our iDevices for just a wee while and we'd felt at one with nature and it may just be that we'd spent time just enjoying each others company in the most beautiful splendid countryside setting and as a family, that is never a bad thing.

We were invited guests of the Northumberland National Park and received vouchers to take part in the activities and a little towards the cost of lunch in return for a blog article, all thoughts, feelings, photographs and muddy shoes are that of my own!