Sunday Best - The Ruperra Arms, Newport

Next up in the Sunday lunch series is The Ruperra Arms, situated in Bassaleg, Newport. I've been looking forward to trying lunch here for a long while, after many recommendations from friends and family alike. We saw on their twitter that they had a last minute table free for Sunday lunch, and at a loose end, we nabbed it.

The Ruperra is a seriously cute looking little pub, cwtchy corners and log fires for winter, and a twinkling fairy light garden for the summer. We grabbed our drinks (Tiny Rebel on tap = points on the board already) and settled in with the menu.

Sunday lunch is offered at £8.95, £12.95 and £15.95 for one, two and three courses, and in the interests of a good blog (how long can I use that excuse?) we went for all three.

First up was a smoked bacon Caesar salad for me, and a smoked salmon and crayfish parfait for Mr P.  There's not a lot you can say about salad, but it was a perfectly pleasant starter. Creamy cheddar cheese went well with the salty chunks of bacon, and the crunchy croutons pulled it all together.

The salmon parfait looked very pretty, and came with plenty of the bloody Mary sauce which pleased Mr P who's partial to the spicy cocktail.

I usually go for the chicken dinner, but the 7 hour roasted beef brisket sold me, and I'm so glad it did. I don't know what they did to that beef, but it was incredible. Thick slices were piled high on the plate, and were as soft as butter. Definitely worth every minute of slow roasting time, and clearly good quality beef as it wasn't sinewy in the slightest.

Mr P went for the chicken, and his reports from across the table were that it was a very good roasted breast of chicken, and most importantly for a roast chicken, still moist and juicy.

As you can see, the yorkies were huge and pillowy, and it came with both new and roast potatoes, and there's a stuffing ball hiding underneath there too. I'm not too keen on the bit of green strung across the top though, a little bit unnecessary?

Along came an extra jug of heavenly 'Nanna' gravy, thick and flavoursome and made with those glorious beef juices. It was lush, the entire jug disappeared between us both, and Mr P declared it "the best gravy I've ever had in my life" - that's a serious statement from a man who's seen a lot of roasts! There was a good selection of crunchy and vibrant veggies. I love a green bean so was happy to see those make an appearance.

My only disappointment was the roast potatoes, which looked perfect on the plate, but they just weren't crunchy at all on the outside. They were a good size and bronzed nicely, but just lacking the crunchy edges that I love so much.

I was completely stuffed by now, especially after mopping up all the rich gravy, but I was too intrigued by the dessert menu, or more specifically "Steve's OMG brownie"...

A chocolatey hunk of naughtiness with a scoop of creamy vanilla bean ice cream and the most picture perfect of strawberries. This was a real slab of thick, rich chocolate. Just the thing for chocolate lovers.

Mr P went for the lighter side of dessert, with a lemon posset and shortbread biscuits. I'm not one for those type of desserts, but he absolutely raved about this. Probably the better option to round off a filling lunch and cleanse your palette, but this girl needed the chocolate.

For £15.95, I honestly walked out of The Ruperra feeling like I'd robbed them. The standard of each course was outstanding, and just unbeatable for that price. I can't wait to go back and try out the normal menu, and I'd go back for Sunday lunch in a heartbeat.

Make sure you book up ahead (details here) as this place gets very busy and booked up quickly. There were some walk ins turned away while we were eating. Oh, and have the beef. Trust me.

Day 2: Exploring Bluestone

We woke the next morning with the sun rising over the lake and the sound of the ducks making their ungraceful crash landings. Taking our bleary eyes upstairs, we relaxed with a cup of tea before making a traditional big ol' holiday breakfast. His 'n' hers obviously, no surprises for guessing which is which!

A few more lazy cuppas ensued, watching the lake glisten as we read and doodled the morning away. Finally we decided to make the most of what was turning into a beautiful day, and pulled our wellies on for some exploring.

Stumbling upon some historical sites and then...

 Getting lost in them! You can spot a wild Sara if you look close enough.

Following the nature trail deeper down into the valley, we spotted the smoke rising in the distance. On closer inspection, it turned out to be what would quickly become our favourite spot at Bluestone.

Camp Smokey is an outdoor restaurant and bar, nestling in the woods. With a menu of smokey barbecued meats and an open air fire pit at the back for roasting marshmallows, it's an easy place to while away the time.

Although, while relaxing listening to the birds and the river, don't be too alarmed if you hear a few shrieks and screams. The zip wire flies right over your heads, and the sky trail climbs up in the air all around you. Makes for good entertainment, if you're not brave enough yourself!

However, it's all worth it to huddle around the fire with a marshmallow topped hot chocolate!

We headed back to the lodge for a little snooze before making our way over to the Well Spa for a bit of pampering. As a surprise for Mr P's birthday, I booked us in for an afternoon treat at the Spa, including treatments, nibbles and bubbles. Of all kinds!

We had such a fantastic afternoon! The staff treated us wonderfully and I had an amazing massage which completely popped all the knots in my hunched up tense shoulders! As well as the outdoor jacuzzi (worth doing the drop and run with the dressing gown for), there are numerous thermal rooms, including steam rooms, saunas and ice rooms!

The Well Spa is open for day visits too, so I'd thoroughly recommend this for a girly day out even if you're not staying on site.

All dazed, chilled and smelling lovely, we dressed up and headed over to the Knights Tafarn for dinner.

There's only one way this day could have possibly gotten any better. Enter my best friends: wine, cheese and carbs.

Mr P went for the curry special, lamb rogan josh complete with a poppadom on the side the size of my head.

Listening to the night's entertainment, we huddled up next to the log fire and toasted a perfect day in our Pembrokeshire paradise.

November Recap

It feels like just yesterday that I was taking down the Halloween decorations, and now the Christmas tree has just gone up!

Plenty of baking occurred in November in the form of birthday cupcakes for my brother-in-law's 30th birthday party. Ferrero Rocher cupcakes with a dark chocolate ganache, and Guinness gingerbread cupcakes with a Baileys mascarpone topping. Pretty grown up cupcakes for me, although I haven't retired the edible glitter just yet.

Lots of walks in the morning sunshine to burn off the calories were then obviously needed. I spent a lovely weekend with my mum and brother down the caravan in Fontygary. Unfortunately the clouds weren't playing ball with my camera, but the sea air was all that I needed anyway.

Cold nights and blustery days mean only one thing. Comfort food! The first thing I run to when the nights draw in is a good old carb-tastic cheese and potato pie.

Washed down with my new favourite find, Tesco's Finest Salted Caramel Irish liqueur!

Like any good Welsh girl, I also managed to make it to two of Wales's Autumn International rugby games! Very excited that I got to see Wales v New Zealand, and witness the Haka, even if the result didn't quite go our way. Lunch at the Jazz Club, Cardiff was fantastic beforehand too. Brilliant pre-match atmosphere and a good selection of beers on tap, what more do you need on a match day?

Poached egg starter, on a chunky slice of black pudding, tomato and a drizzle of hollandaise was beautiful. I could have eaten this forever, and in fact I was enjoying my food so much I completely forgot to take any more food photos. Bad blogger.

Mr P and I also got tickets to the final game of the series, South Africa. Which we won, 12-6! We had an awesome day full of beer, bratwursts and Boks! Especially South African Santa!

After all that excitement I'm looking forward to chilling out over the Christmas period. In between the shopping, wrapping, partying, decorating...