I had the privilege of being treated to lunch at Harvey Nichols today by a beloved friend.

Like myself, Eve is a pastor’s wife and has spent many years homeschooling. In the community she is known as a gifted veteran homeschooler because she & her husband homeschooled successfully for more than twenty years, and their teenage and grown up children are thriving individuals. She has been a steady and excellent support regarding the often unseen strains and pressures of being both a pastor’s wife and a fellow homeschooler (in the past we homeschooled/flexi-schooled for more than ten years ourselves).

Add to that, that she is a little wild & somewhat free-spirited (!!), spends many hours in the kitchen concocting delicious and nourishing delights for her above-averagely-large-family as well as many announced and unannounced guests &… similar to me, significantly breaks the mould of what is considered to be the cliche of a pastor’s wife. You can see why we get on.

I do feel however, it is important to say here, that actually there is no mould in reality and most of the pastor’s wives I know are vibrant, accomplished women, albeit often worn out with sacrifice and commitment to their husband’s calling.

But even so either way, me and Eve are seriously squishing that cliche!

#PartnersInClicheBreakingCrime

So, it was really lovely to meet in a relaxed but classy non-church context and share some truly scrumptious food and therapeutic chatter.

 

Harvey Nichols Manchester

Manchester’s branch of Harvey Nichols has its Bar and Brasserie situated on the top floor, with huge glass windows giving you a great view of the streets and shops below, including Shambles Square with its pretty oldie worldy charm.

We were seated by the one of the windows and I wanted to give you an idea of what it was like, which is why my feature image is of our dessert in front of a huge window. We were full after our main courses, so we decided to share a lovely Chocolate Orange Delice with Mascarpone Cream.

The other pictures show, starting from the left and working our way to the right, what else we ate – Cod with Bonito yoghurt, butternut squash, fennel, green chillies & lime dressing (Eve’s main course); Parmesan and Truffle Oil Chips (we shared); Sea Bass with Salsa verde & pal choi (my main course). We drank Harvey Nichols’s own sparkling mineral water, because we are both felt sufficiently indulged not to need wine; today anyway and an abstaining that lasted as long as it took for the dessert menu to arrive.

It all looked and tasted beautiful, really satisfying. Eve had eaten at Harvey Nicks before, so she knew how good the food was, but it was a first for me and I will definitely be going back. The staff were superb too – so friendly and respectfully  helpful.  Thank you so much Harvey Nichols & most especially Eve!

 

After lunch, we fancied a little mosey around the Harvey Nichols food hall. I spotted this box of Moroccan Mint tea by the Brew Tea Company (sounds so Northern doesn’t it!? Do you fancy a brew!?!! – please check the footnote!). Mint tea I really love and the box was such a pleasing shade of turquoise, my favourite colour, I just had to have it.

Brew Tea Comapny Moroccan Mint Teabags

 

I like to replace refined carbohydrates with wholegrains and 100% wholewheat products where possible, so I picked up these Organic Fair-trade Brown Rice Soba noodles to try.

 

 

 

King Soba Organic Pad Thai Soba Noodles

 

 

I’m running low on Paprika (I use it a lot) & like the La Chinata brand, so bought some of this too.

 

 

La Chinata Paprika

After Eve had gone home I nipped into Marks and Spencers to buy some more groceries and I spotted some incredible looking chocolate items. They are pictured above and were life size chocolate heels (I reckon a size 3/4- European size 36/37) made out of Dominican Republic single origin chocolate and burnished with an edible gold substance. They had chocolate clutch handbags too (again  life size) which looked very believable. I didn’t buy any, but at £40.00 each for a shoe or a handbag, they would make a great novel present for a chocolate lady friend or colleague.

*In the North of England, we use the word ‘brew’ to mean a cup of tea, so locals will say to you “Do you fancy a brew?” by which they mean “Would you like a cup of tea?!”