Skaus

Went to Skaus on Allerton Road with Kelly for lunch today. Kelly's been a few times so had to give it a try to see if it's as good as she makes out. It was busy when we got there at around 12:30pm. Someone had just finished so we got their table. It was a lot smaller than I thought it was.

Kelly got a Dirty Chai Latte and I got a Matcha Latte - £3.60 each

We're both not a fan of these cups with no handles. Not practical when you have a really hot drink!

As always I did already have a look at the menu before going and still couldn't decide when I got there what to get but eventually settled on 

Two poached eggs on grilled soda bread added hot smoked salmon - £8 + £2.95

It looked crap and it wasn't anything special. I prefer just having smoked salmon rather than an actual piece of salmon. This is something I'd eat with rice for dinner not what I'd put with toast.

Kelly got

Omelette roast breakfast radish, goats cheese, wild garlic pesto & seeds - £11.95

This looked nice and wished I went for it! 

The menu is pricey as your usual avocado and toast is £13.50. Probably wouldn't go back again as the menu isn't for me and pricey for what it is. The thing I should have tried was their Scouse hence the name of the place. This is what they originally started out as - making scouse and have now branched out to have a bigger menu. Funny enough I've lived in Liverpool all my life but never actually had a proper bowl of Scouse - it's basically a beef stew. Not something I'd go for but would have been good for today as the weather was grim when we were out. It was like winter, cold, rain and just miserable when it was actually hot and sunny yesterday!

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Ninja Warrior

 

Went to Ninja Warrior UK in Speke today with Jo as her birthday activity. She turned 40 last week but was at the lakes so only just got to see her today. We booked a 2 hour session which was a bad idea. An hour would have been well enough! We'd been to the gym this morning - I did yoga and Jo trained chest then we were meant to do a workout together but my body currently hates me - I have a bad knee which isn't the knee that I injured during lockdown but the other knee. Jo said her knee hurts as well from all the walking at the lakes and she twisted her wrist the other week which hasn't recovered so we didn't want to do anything too hard to save ourselves for this but ended up doing nothing for 30 minutes then did 10 minutes of abs. We both went home, had something to eat then went for 1:30pm.

We did Total Ninja in 2018 with Sarah when she got it for my birthday and this wasn't as good as that. It's smaller but has a big inflatable bit that is aimed at kids. This felt smaller but don't think it was, think just because it has different obstacles but did find the ones at Total Ninja were better. We could have went on the inflatable bit but you had to buy the socks to go on it. It was really busy and full of kids. But we did book during peak hours which also cost an extra £2.

Most of it was really hard which we couldn't do never mind most kids. Most of it is based off the TV show and one of the staff was actually on the UK TV show and represented his own country think he said Germany. He showed us a video of him doing the whole course in 55 seconds! But he was like Tarzan and could leap from one end to the other. He didn't touch every piece and mainly just leaped from one end to the end but good going wouldn't even be able to do that in double the time.

I did manage to beat the wall this time even though I could barely run up. Struggled more on the small kid's wall.

One thing I could actually do was the monkey bars and the swinging monkey bars! You can watch the full video of me doing the monkey bars on my Instagram. Unfortunately Jo didn't get a video of me on the swinging monkey bars.

I also managed to do half of this. Couldn't get the swing to get onto the second set.

I struggled on this and couldn't complete it because I have blisters on my hands - got a blood blister that actually burst so that was killing. I got gloves from last time but forget to bring them. Probably would have been able to do more if I brought them as my hands wouldn't have been as sore.

We definitely should have only booked an hour, that would have been enough. We spent more time not doing anything than doing stuff. It was really hard and there was just kids all over the place. It wasn't too bad for the first 30 minutes then a giant party turned up. We were definitely the oldest people there minus the odd parents with kids then this couple who were mid 20s turned up towards the end of our session. My upper body is aching now and it is a good workout but I think it's definitely more aimed at kids. An hour is well enough and best booking in the off peak time when there's not kids getting in your way.

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Hardware

 

Went for lunch today with Holly to Hardware on Renshaw Street which was the former Rapid Hardware shop. It's been open since the start of December and we've been wanting to try it as it looks good on Instagram.

I really like the interior, it's modern, clean and spacious. Bigger than I thought it would be as it has an upstairs. They don't do bookings walk ins only and luckily we didn't have to wait and got a table when we got there. It was busy and pretty full.

You have to go up to order at the counter.

Holly's Soy Cappuccino

Apprentices - Yoghurt Bowl, fruit, crunchola sprinkles - £2.50

Apprentices - Soufflé Pancake Stack - Mini Biscoff spread, Biscoff biscuits, cheesecake mouse, vanilla bean, strawberries - £4

I couldn't decide if I wanted the crunchola or the pancakes so decided to get both off the kids menu. The food took ages to come - took over 30 minutes for the tiny crunchola which we were so surprised at small it was when it came and didn't know what the pancakes were going to be like and that I probably should have ordered the full size pancakes and the mini crunchola. My pancakes turned up 5 minutes later and was not expecting it to look like that at all. The normal sized ones you get 3 soufflé pancakes stacked up. But mine just looked like it was trying to be a soufflé pancake/crepe. I started eating it and it was that burnt that it tasted bitter and horrible so I had to send it back and get a fresh one made. 

The second one looked a lot better and did look more like a soufflé pancake and had just come off the pan as it was still hot where as the previous one wasn't. It also came a lot quicker than the first one. It was like they just used whatever left over batter they had and just threw that in the pan and hoped for the best where as the second they used a fresh batch of batter. It did look quite burnt/caramelised at the top but it wasn't bitter and was fine.

Holly's Baked Eggs - Baked eggs and roasted vegetables in a spiced tomato sauce, feta. Served with toasted Plattsville sourdough and added chorizo - £8.50 + £2

This took ages to come, I get it gets baked but it took nearly 40 minutes... The yolk in the fried eggs were properly well done and not runny. But Holly ate it and didn't send it back - I would have because I don't like well done yolks.

It's nice in there but the food service was just rubbish and really slow which was disappointing as it took over 30 minutes for the food to arrive. I get the pancakes would take a bit of time to cook but not 35 minutes and then the tiniest little granola pot 30 minutes?? Don't think you can justify that.

A couple ended up sitting at the end of our table as they do big tables split into 2 groups - they ordered scrambled eggs on toast and fried egg on toast with sausages and that arrived pretty quick. They either need more staff in the kitchen or they need better chefs and could do with adding matcha lattes!

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