Post Pandemic Treats

[Pepper Pig Profile]

Is there a food, a meal, a restaurant that you are looking forward to if we ever get back to something like normal? Or! Is there somewhere you’ve never been that lockdown has resolved you to try?

I would love a plate of the biggest, most succulent oysters anywhere, and I’d adore another lunch with my best friend, my mum and sister at Le Manoir. Especially if Raymond Blanc was at the next table as he was 5 years ago when we last did it. My! What a charmer.

[Seatallan Profile]

I think most of all, I'm looking forward to returning to our two local pubs. I want to sit outside with a proper pint and a bag of cheese & onion crisps.

[Kacey Profile]

I agree Sea, I have no hankering after anything fancy, just proper beer with a cheese & onion cob, in real pubs and with friends!!!

And I so want to see/hear live music, I don't care what it is., I'm not going to be so fussy in the future, I'm going to be open to everything the Derby music scene has to offer.

In fact we were having a conversation a few nights ago and we're definitely going to go out more.

[scullion Profile]

i'm looking forward to seeing the upcountry young and having a meal with them, round their big table,
the same with my brother and his partner, further upcountry,
and having a coffee with friends, i haven't seen for a year, in the next village.
my idea of what a treat is has been altered in the last year!

[liketocook Profile]

A big extended family gathering, complete with pooches, stupid games, a squillion conversations going on at once, a laden table and bucket load of decent red is my hankering. We usually manage one four or five times a year and I'm really missing them.

[WolfGirl Profile]

I think the big family gathering will be on most people’s list. I plan to do a full Christmas dinner with all the trimmings to replace the one that got cancelled.

Is our 45th wedding anniversary in April and we have a night booked at
Le Manoir so we have that to look forward to, but we’re not getting too excited yet just in case.

[Busybee Profile]

A curry with my friend, I don’t care where.

BB

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Just want to start going to my local all of 120 metres away

And meeting my friend for lunch in the local Thai & Vietnamese restaurants

I want to go to Lahpet, the Burmese restaurant in Shoreditch

And I hope cookbook club will restart

But up for a Zedel or Chinatown meet!

[Pepper Pig Profile]

Oh yes!

[herbidacious Profile]

ha! A big family gathering is certainly not on my list! (Not that I have a big family to gather... even less so now.) Obviously, I want to see my mother.... but that's not a thing of unmitigated joy, alas.

Foodwise/eating out, I am currently craving mezze and tapas to the extent that I am considering doing it myself, but it hardly seems worth it for two.

That and a really nice modern British type meal out.

Before Covid we had too many lunches out at the weekends in so-so pubs. I want to not recommence that pattern. Eating out at the weekend was good for us insofar that it meant we sat together and concentrated on conversation, but there are other ways to do this than earing overpriced mediocre food which you had to book well in advance for the privilege of eating.

Beyond food. Yes, a gig, the theatre, a bit of shopping even. And most of all, travel. But I think it's going to take a while before I am comfortable doing any of these things.

[dennispc Profile]

Mentally we've been OK with lockdown by not thinking of planning ahead.

But it'll be nice meeting BiL and his lovely wife, now with new hip, for just a coffee and chat.

Then travelling to meet up with all the family young, whenever we want.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

One advantage of being in London is good train links, a friend and I thought as travel gets going slowly, we might do some day trips, Leigh on Sea, Whitstable, Brighton, Oxford, Cambridge... rather than committing ourselves to slightly tentative holiday arrangements

[Pepper Pig Profile]

I’d love to do Whitstable,

My best friend was a geography teacher and since retiring has been all over world. She says she will never have the confidence to travel like she used to.

[scullion Profile]

i'm not surprised - the amount of people you hear of who might be run over by a bus is truly alarming!...

[Pepper Pig Profile]

You jest. She’s not afraid of death but she had a brother with multiple health problems whom she has to care for. He is a complete pain in the arse but she won’t be complicit in his demise.

But she also rejoices now in looking at all the photographs of her earlier travels.

[Busybee Profile]

I can understand reticence PP, I feel quite nervous about resuming our ‘ normal’ activities - especially travel.

When you mentioned up thread about going to Zedels my immediate thought was YES! But then I thought about the actual travel to get there, car to station, train to London, underground etc and it suddenly felt, probably irrationally, too scary. I really think it’s going to take time to build our confidence back up. I’m longing to go back to Australia, we have a family wedding and 70th this year, but 24 hours in flight/transit just feel (even if we were allowed) a big ask.

OH and I have pondered, are we the last generation who thinks nothings of jumping on a flight multiple times a year? I do hope not.

BB

[mistakened Profile]

I just want to sit outside a taverna by the sea or go out for coffee, nothing complicated

Moira

[Earthmaiden Profile]

I certainly hope that the time will come when I at least feel comfortable with the idea of travel, staying in hotels and eating out in the UK. The rest of the world is probably further away for the vaccinated casual traveller, without quarantine at least.

I look forward to relatively local or seaside quirky cafes for lunch, fish and chips at the coast, good pub meals with groups of friends and family, a trip to Zedel with fellow board members. I have only had two meals not cooked at home and have only been 20 miles from home since last March, so anything involving a longer journey with tasty food and company at the end would be very welcome.

[karadekoolaid Profile]

I´d love to get back to doing "events" - special dinners, public cooking shows, food courses, etc. Lunches for 6-10 are fun, but it´s not the same buzz!
The other thing I´d love to do is just sit at the bar in one of our Tascas, on a Friday afternoon. A few beers, a few bar snacks and the waiters bustling around a chock-full restaurant.-

[MagicMarmite Profile]

Lunch at The Kitchin for my friends 40th, which was last February!

Treating my daughter and her bf to a meal of their choice, I'd guess they'd choose Japanese.

Another meal somewhere to celebrate 20 years of friendship with my best friend.

Basically good food with the people who mean the most to me.