Rob Ryan at the Somerset house "Pick Me Up" exhibition

Rob Ryan signed record cover and Ryantown postcard :)

A valentine's day card was the first time I came across Robert Ryan's delicate romantic work. I was hooked straight away and have been planning to visit Ryantown (opens at weekends only) for a while. So I was thrilled to learn that he'll be setting up his studio at the "Pick me up" exhibition at the Somerset house.

 

There he was signing the 200 record covers for sale at the exhibition and being interviewed. I haven't seen this print (below) before, its georgeous and so sweet. Well I love every single piece of his work, you just can't help but sigh a big "aww..." after reading the words. This one saiys "We don't fly north. We don't fly south. We stay put right here. Year in-year out! The season change faster and the months go by quicker. I'll keep watch over you and I know that you'll keep watch over me." Aww....

Best Sunday Roasts in Brighton

When I came to Brighton 5 years ago, I heard that there are 360+ pubs in the city. Being foodies, we started a regime of trying out Sunday roasts around town.
Our favourite was The Park View on Preston Drove, its a lovely building with board games and a stone throw away from Preston Park, perfect for a lazy Sunday afternoon. The food was superb, especially when Fruli beer was available on the tap (Belgian strawberry beer). 
Another favourite used to be Fiddlers Elbow on Boyce's Street (before they changed the chef). They used to serve all the trimmings and the exotic veggies (e.g. butternut squash, beetroot, fennel...etc) inside a super-size Yorkshire pudding. Even their Veggie roast was fantastically different, I had a lovely mushroom monster there once. We've never been back so maybe next time we should revisit this one.
The Eagle on Gloucester Road was another good pub, their gravy is gorgeous plus the Nemo and Dori in the fish tank are cute!
On Easter Sunday, we went to the revamped Hampton Arms on Upper North street. They've moved the main entrance to the side instead to keep out the chills which would be great when the "summer" is over (very soon). The food was still good quality but the beef was very under cooked on that day. While usually this is preferred, they gave us big generous slices of meat so it was a bit too pink and bloody. But at least the portion was good and the veggie roast was great. So we won't write it off just yet. 

This week, after reading some reviews we picked the Shakespeare's head on Chatham place. The beef was yummy pink and when it comes with creamy cauliflower, it really can't get any better! I spotted a sign behind the bar "Virgin Mary - the best in town?", later on saw two chaps holding theirs complete with a celery stick and lemon. A revisit for the best Virgin Mary is a must I think ;-)