The Boiler Shop Steamer - Newcastle

Hidden in an enormous warehouse behind the train station in Newcastle is an amazing feast for the senses, called The Boilershop Steamer. It pops up the first weekend of every month and is filled with bands, bars and, most importantly, food!

It's free entry before 6pm on a Saturday, otherwise there's a small entry fee, I think £4 or £5, I can't remember. You then buy tokens, one token is £2, and this is how you pay for your food. Dishes range from 1 to 3 tokens, and overall I found it really excellent value for money.

After doing a quick loop to check out the options, we first visited Cellini's, a stall from the popular Newcastle Italian. It was a difficult choice, but we went for the Deep Fried Shin Beef Calzone, and my god it was amazing. It looked innocent enough from the outside, like a little deep fried samosa, but when it was opened up it was stuffed full of flavourful, melt in the mouth tomatoey beef.

We followed it with a spicy chicken wrap from a Lebanese stall, and I feel terrible because I can't remember the name of the stall! It was really delicious though, and it was much easier to eat than the first because it was wrapped in a paper plate as well as foil (note how I don't have it all down me in the photo below. If only you could have seen me trying to eat the calzone...). Also, top points for you being able to choose how spicy you want your wrap - the meat was set with a medium to low spice, and then you could pick your toppings and sauce. 

I think really we should have stopped there, but could I resist raclette (potatoes smothered in melted cheese)? No, I could not. They had a whole half a cheese that they were melting layer by layer and then pouring over the potatoes. I loved it - Ben thought it was dull. 

We finished up with crepes, which were absolutely delicious, but pretty standard. Churros were the other sweet option, and although all good, I felt like the whole thing could bonus from more sweet options. I have a sweet tooth though, so I'm biased, and the stalls that are there switch up every month, so I'd be curious to go back and see what's there other weeks.

I'll definitely be going back another week - something I didn't try this time was the gin bar because I had an early morning the next day, and gin plus an early morning are not friends!

There's some more information about The Boiler Shop Steamer on their website, right here.

Fishy Business

I'd like to introduce you to the residents of Tynemouth Blue Reef Aquarium. We start with fairly standard aquarium stock. Piranhas. Fairly innocent looking fish that have a voracious appetite for meat. Starfish, with cute little tube feet that they use to source food, by smelling it!

  

Flounder, which look a little different from the familiar Disney fish, but put on a good show for us against the side of the glass, and beautiful candy floss pink anemones that will give you a nasty sting as soon as you touch them - so remember, anemones are enemies. Can you say that three times quickly? Anemones are enemies, anemones are enemies, anemones are enemies...

Check out that pout!

We found nemo!

 
Anemones may be enemies, but Ben made a friend in this pufferfish, who had such a lovely little face, as did the ray, and the axolotl. I've always wanted an axolotl as a pet, they're adorable, low maintenance and forever young! However, I'm trying to wait until I have a more permanent home before I make a commitment with any kind of pet. Other than goldfish. I can commit to goldfish.

With the terrapins, seals, sealions and otters the aquarium is branching out a bit, but they are water based. 

The same cannot be said for degus, monkeys and chickens! There wasn't any sort of explanation on display, but my old flatmate used to work here, and she said they quite often found animals just abandoned outside the aquarium, and the aquarium just does the best it can to look after them. This made me feel quite warm towards the aquarium, they clearly care about their animals and do the very best for them. I was also really impressed with the information available, it was a high standard (as a zoologist I found it interesting) but completely accessible for children and adults alike. Full marks, Tynemouth Blue Reef Aquarium, and thank you for a lovely day!

Travelling in Tynemouth

It's been pretty busy for travel recently, even if the travel has been limited to the UK. The start of the month was Derbyshire, last week London and this week Newcastle, Liverpool then back to base on Sunday. Busy busy busy, but enjoyable. On a free day in Newcastle we took a trip to Tynemouth to see the sea, which was pretty angry with the world, lots of tall foaming waves crashing into the beach. After nearly freezing to death in the sea winds to take some photos, we took shelter in a fish and chip shop to re-fuel. The shop was "proper old school", to quote a friend, but don't shops like that always produce the best food?

After devouring the most delicious fish and chips I've had in a long time, we wandered just around the corner to a café that couldn't have been more different from the fish and chip shop if it had tried. Brand new with a super cute interior, it looked like it had just fallen off a pinterest board. But one can't quibble when the cake is as good as the stuff they were serving.

 

Ben went for the "supreme chocolate cake" which was a dense sponge with layers of chocolate buttercream and white chocolate icing in the middle, decorated with sweets and glitter. His words - "delicious, rich and the perfect size". Recently we were at another café where the portions were overwhelming, but this place had it spot on. I was super indulgent and went for a hot chocolate and a chunk of rocky road, stuffed with marshmallows, biscuits and cherries. 

The rocky road was fantastic, one of the best I've had. It wasn't, however, something that could be eaten elegantly. I ended up with chocolate all over me!

 

I really loved this café, it was a change from places I frequent at home, but I think my figure and bank balance are pleased I won't be able to pay it regular visits! The little hearts on top of Ben's cake got me thinking about Valentines day, so look forward to some baking inspiration posts and a recipe or two. But before that, we've got more Newcastle adventures, Liverpool adventures and birthday fun! Being busy is good for blogging. What's been keeping you busy recently?