Carving Up Some Fun

We have our business traditions here in the US; casual Fridays, Chinese on Thursdays, Mahar’s on Saturday afternoon, etc. At RR, its pick the pub for lunch on Fridays. This week was one of Leon’s favorites, the Smithfield Inn (http://www.thesmithfield.co.uk/), described as a “spit and sawdust” pub by some others in the office. It recently won the local pub of the year by CAMRA, and offered a fine roast beef sandwich (basic, easy, filling and tasty pub food). Leon bought a round of beer, and I had an Oakham Bishop’s Farewell while Len tried the White Dwarf, a refreshing wheat beer. Both beers were perfect for lunch, lower in alcohol than normal bitters and very thirst quenching. I think I like this English tradition.

For dinner, Len suggested that we do something easy since we were heading to London early the next day. We went down to Weston on Trent to find a pub named Coopers Arms (http://www.thecoopers-arms.co.uk/), and English carvery that had a good reputation. A carvery lets you pick a mix of fresh carved meats and then provides some appropriate side dishes to make a full meal. Coopers Arms was next to a stocked trout lake, and the setting and the weather for relaxing at the end of the week. We got there a little early (food wasn’t served until 7PM), so we went over to the bar area to try a Derby brewing Coopers Ale and a Coopers Pale Ale on cask. Both were excellent.

I got the roast beef and Len got the pork. We tried the mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables as sides, and had some Guinness on draft that I’ve never had before. The first was a Guinness Red, a stout whose malt wasn’t roasted as much as the normal Guinness so it actually looks like a red ale. It was excellent. The next was a Guinness Extra Cold, which was a novelty for some beers here in England but tasted no different than Guinness back here in the states. The local US office manager showed up with some friends (we must have picked a good place) and was impressed that we were willing to explore the area.

We had a nice evening, and got some rest for what we knew was going to be long day of adventure. - 5086

"Whoever serves beer or wine watered down, he himself deserves in them to drown." – Medieval English saying