Coastal road trip with my dad!

My dad has been visiting for the last couple of weeks and this past weekend we embarked on a loooong drive from Edinburgh to the North Norfolk coast.  

Upon our arrival at the border the weather turned foggy and rainy and miserable...but the sun came out by the time we reached North Norfolk. We ate really well...fish pie, pork belly, roast chicken, cooked breakfasts and enjoyed many a take away coffee (my dad totally spoils me).  But I think my most favourite meal was the lunch we prepared the afternoon before I came back up to Edinburgh. 

On Sunday afternoon we ate at a really nice country pub in Stiffkey, Norfolk called The Red Lion.  They serve local mussels when in season (they weren't), which I've had before...and this time...I was torn...half and lobster or fish pie? hmmmmmmmm...believe it or not....I opted for the fish pie...I wasn't sure about the lobster...well it appeared the almost every other diner was having the lobster! I felt like I had missed out, but then my dad said to me..."If lobsters are in season we can see if the crab guy around the corner has any tomorrow morning after our walk..." 

Well...there was! The fishermen had caught 3 lobsters that morning with their crab haul.  Now...Rick Stein says, in his English Seafood Cookery, that you should never buy pre-cooked lobster...he says you don't know how long they have been sitting on the counter and you don't know how long they have been cooked for.  Well...considering there is a gigantic picture of Rick Stein with the owners of the crab shack hanging on the wall of the shop...we weren't too concerned.  

Coupled with half a dressed Cromer Crab and some salad we gobbled that (lady) lobster right up...in the sun on the back patio! What a fantastic end to a lovely September weekend.