Days 11-12

Friday was a very productive and enjoyable day.

I got the bus to Woolton, which is probably my favourite area in Liverpool. It does feel like a village, it seem like you're still within city limits at all. Woolton High Street and Allerton Road meet in a T and have most of the shops in the village. Here are a few pictures.






I had lunch at BreakBread, which used to have another branch near us on Smithdown Road. It was great for picking up delicious food after work, often healthier than the usual takeaway options, and for about the same price. However, it appeared to shut sometime last year, and I don't get over to Woolton that often. The friendly woman behind the counter told me that they are planning to re-open it later this year with some changes, but the date hadn't been set. I look forward to it, I miss their Pieminister pies!

I got some tiger bread (it's a white loaf brushed with sesame oil before baking which gives it sort of a dark crackled appearance on top of the crust, very tasty) at Waterfields bakery, which had been recommended by a friend. They are a chain from Lancashire, it turns out, so I guess I've broken the rules. However, they seem to be a good one, family run and have won some awards recently. So I don't feel too bad about that purchase.

Next was


where I got some Cumberland-style sausages for husband and stilton and guinness pate for myself (which I might share if I'm feeling generous). Then finally off to the


which is possibly my favourite shop in Liverpool. I could spend hours and quite a bit of money there, as almost every type of cheese they sell sounds tempting in some way. I ended up with small pieces of a Northumberland cheese washed in locally made Baltic Fleet Brewery ale, a Portuguese sheep's milk cheese, and some Danish cheese called Esrom. And 500g worth of local butter, which comes from the same dairy and is a byproduct of Lancashire cheeses that they stock. I was very excited about this. It's all well and good to get organic butter elsewhere, but the main brand I've seen seems to come from the Netherlands. I'd prefer local to organic in most cases.

I stopped at the greengrocer's on Allerton Road on the way home and now have quite a bit of fruit and veg. My last visit was to the Windmill Co-op which has a lot of useful every day items, including organic milk from a co-operative dairy in West Yorkshire. Score. The helpful guy working there told me they're open till 7.30 on Thursday so people can come in after work to get things that have been delivered earlier that day.

I got some wholemeal flour and attempted to make sandwich rolls later, but they didn't turn out as well as I would have liked. Edible, but chewy. I think I'll have to find another recipe.

And here are some photos of the day's haul:


all in recycled/reused/fairtrade bags



That's a butternut squash on the far right; the dirty carrots came from the black-and-white building in Woolton that's a sort of holistic beauty/health place