Elton John comes to Harrogate

 There was great excitment in the Ryder household this week, well from one member anyway, as we had tickets to go and see Elton John. He was playing at the Great yorkshire showground, the first event of its kind to be held there.
On Monday night he was on TV at the Jubilee concert at Buckingham Palace and to be honest, well he sounded dreadful!.
So despite excitement at going to the concert there was some apprehension as to how he would be.
However when he came on he was absolutely brilliant and played continually for 2 and a half hours, all his big hits and just a couple Ive not heard before, and judging by the amount of people that used that time to dash off to the loo, not many others had heard them either!!!
All in all a great night out and even though it started to rain about 30 mins from the end it didnt dampen anyones enthusiasm. Id go and listen to it all again tomorrow !

Deliciously Yorkshire Awards

On the 14th November Chris and I, with our friends Richard and Denise, went along to Rudding Park Hotel to the Deliciously Yorkshire Awards.
DY are the regional food group responsible for promoting Yorkshire Food.
The dinner was a feast of delights all sourced from the shortlisted finalists. We started with Champagne and canapes of Moss Valley smoked pork, Ramans Kitchen beetroot relish on Shepherds Purse Cheese, Yorkshire Crisps and Blacker Hall Pork Fettle and Basil Sausages. Yum!
We sat down to a dinner of 'Whitby Seafish' smoked salmon served with 'WS Bentleys' Micro salad and 'Yorskhire Organic Millers' spelt bread.
The main course was Roast 'Swillinton Organic' Chicken with 'Monks Folly' Potatoes and 'Parkers Veg' root vegetables.
The trio of desserts were 'Birchfield Dairies' Rice Pudding with Mercers Strawberry Conserve, Yorvale Lemon Meringue Icecream and 'Burtree Puddings' Golden Syrup Pudding.
Those who had any room left then enjoyed a trio of Shepherds Purse Cheeses. I had to pass at this stage as I had seen on the menu the coffee still to come with 'Sciolti' Chocolates and 'Miniature Bakers' wonderful Chocolate crisps and Snaps.
After the dinner Nigel Barden of Radio 2 and Nick Stafford of Hambleton Ales began the presentation of the awards.
Chris and I were shortlisted in the category 'Best Yorkshire Breakfast' and were absolutely chuffed to be announced as the winners!!! We had to go up on to the stage for the award and all I could think was' please dont trip, please dont trip!!' We were presented with our award by Nigel Pulling, Chief Executive of Yorkshire Agricultural Society who were the sponsors of our category.
So now we have a lovely plaque to put on display and great memories of an amazing evening!
(and in case you are wondering I didnt trip!!!)