10 July - scrambled eggs for breakfast

The trip to Birmingham was for an athletics meeting - the Diamond League meeting at the Alexander Stadium - in the afternoon/evening, so we knew we wouldn't really get a proper evening meal. As we were staying in a hotel (Malmaison), this made the perfect excuse for a big hotel breakfast to start the day. As someone who needs a decent cup of tea before I can think straight in the morning, I often find hotel breakfasts rather frustrating. Today though a pot of tea arrived reasonably promptly, so I was ready for a nice big plate of scrambled eggs and smoked salmon. We also turned out to be sitting almost next to Steve Cram, and Tris spent most of breakfast watching various BBC sport folks to-ing and fro-ing, getting ready for the day over their toast and coffee!

Lunch was at Cafe Rouge - not for the food, which was just about passable, but just because it was a nice spot to sit outside in the on-off sunshine and watch the world go by before we headed off for a great evening of athletics.

9 July - Opus in Birmingham

We were in Birmingham for the weekend, so a very quick bit of online searching threw up a restaurant called Opus. From the website and online menu, it looked good and it didn't disappoint. Nice place, nice atmosphere, professional but friendly staff. I had asparagus with poached egg and hollandaise to start; a bit boring I know, but I'd ordered venison for my main so wanted something light. The venison when it arrived was a tad peppery again, but really nice and pink. It was served with what was described as a "spring bean cassoulet". Now to me a cassoulet is a slow-cooked, stewy affair with pulses - what arrived was a mix of fairly crunchy spring veg! The whole thing was very nice, but just not the rich stewy sort of dish I'd expected. Any slight sense of disappointment though was completely forgotten with the pudding - possibly the best I've ever had!! I haven't got much of a sweet tooth, so I was in heaven with what I can only describe as a distinctly savoury dessert ... goats curd mousse scattered with a sprinkling of something like granola (think plain cheesecake with a hint of goats cheese in the background) with gooseberries (wonderfully tart!) and elegant little cubes of elderflower jelly (melt-in-the-mouth!) ... just perfect! I'm already contemplating trying to make a goats cheese and gooseberry cheesecake.