I found and I love...

There's a bit of a theme developing here, but it's a flavour I just can't get enough of!!  I found this bakewell tart limited edition milk chocolate in Thorntons yesterday, and it is AMAZING.

Pub desserts

Pub grub is ace, but pub desserts are the best...check out these delights! Baked Alaska, chocolate and raspberry pot and chocolate bombe with sherbet and cherry sobet.

cocktails of choice...

A definite favourite flavour of mine is Amaretto and mixed with cherry liquor, vodka and cranberry it tastes just like cherry bakewell! I found this cocktail at the Bickley in Kent.

You can't beat a Mojito and at The Blues Kitchen in Camden they serve them in these super cute jam jars...such a good cheap idea to take home for a party!

Breakfast in the City

My sister Chloe walks from Shoreditch to Soho everyday and when there's a little spare time in the morning will stop and try the cafes en route.  She sent me these pics from St. Ali in Farringdon.  Super healthy Granola, passion fruit, mango, pineapple, watermelon and minted yoghurt...she said it was amazing! I'm definitely going to head there soon!

I found and I love...

I saw this rum when I was over in the states but wouldn't have been able to drink the whole bottle so never got to actually try it.  I share an office with Blue Tomato magazine and when they got sent a bottle of Kraken I was so pumped to try it! Mixed with Ginger beer and lime it is a really tasty alternative to my usual Sailor Jerry lemonade....if you see it in a bar I highly recommend it! So far I've only seen it in one bar in London - the secret bar under the Breakfast club restaurant in Shoreditch....that place is also well worth a visit (if you know the password!).

Cocktail Cupcakes

The second in a series of cocktail cupcakes. Southern Comfort and Amaretto are my two favourite drinks.  I usually have them with lemonade but a nice cocktail alternative is to mix it with sweet and sour mix to make an Amaretto Sour.  I used the same basic cake mix as my original Mojito cupcake and then improvised with the lemen juice and lime juice.  Next time I'd maybe use lemon flavouring rather than juice, or maybe rind to give it more of a lemony flavour.  I also added sliced almonds to the cake mix.

I found and I love...

I don't do fish sushi (tried, will continue trying but so far not for me) I really like the idea of the little bites so I was so happy to see this in M&S!  Great for a light lunch a mid morning snack in my case, this new veggie sushi style wrap pack tastes really fresh with some of the wraps themselves made of courgette it's a super healthy delight!  

I found and I love...

After the amazing Saves The Day show last week at the Electric Ballroom in Camden, I needed a little post show snack and stumbled upon these in a shop near the station.  The perfect sized hit of Bueno and great to share these little eggs of joy better not only be out of Easter!

Top of the popcorns

Always my go to snack, and although I've always loved microwave popcorn, you couldn't beat cinema popcorn....'til now. When I'm asked that all in important question 'sweet or salted?' I always dreaded the servers face when I say 'can I have mixed? and in alternate layers if possible?'.  I know I'm being awkward but the combination of a sweet and a salty bit of popcorn at the same time is the ultimate flavour!! So, I was very excited to try Metcalfe's Skinny Sweet 'n Salt popcorn in Pret last year! It is exactly what I'd been waiting for and it's way less calories than a bag of crisps. Poifect.  

Another great sweet and salty mix is from Ike and Sam.  I first tried it at the Taste of Christmas fair last year and have since bought it from whole food's store. It's quite pricey but the big bag lasts for ages.

At 'The Red Shoes' Secret Cinema recently, the amazing smell of popcorn was wafting around the giant old factory building, there were a couple of stalls by a UK company called Love Da Pop. Making the freshest popcorn possible, I had the caramel flavour, mmmm mmmm!

1 Metcalfe's Sweet 'n Salt Topcorn  2 Popcorn Bunnies print by ArgyleWhale  3 Ike and Sam's Sweet & Salty popcorn  4 Love Da Pop flavoured popcorn

A visit to Florida

In Naples, West Coast Florida I indulged in iced mochas, frozen custard, margaritas and tons of things that will rot my teeth.  On fifth Avenue (around 5th/10th) there is a Kilwins and the smell of them making chocolate and fudge on a huge table right by the open window is insanely good. I brought back some peanut butter fudge from here and it is amazing, I wish I'd brought back more!  

The idea that these caramel apples were in the departure terminal of Miami airport is a bit scary, I couldn't eat one of these on a normal day let alone about to board a plane for 9 hours....ergh, still, they look pretty!

A visit to Atlanta

I went to Atlanta recently, it's a really cool city once you find the good spots! We started out staying in Buckhead which is quite a residential area in North Atlanta.  The complimentary limo at the Wingate by Wyndham made getting around nice and easy though! I scouted out the closest Whole Foods and stocked up on random snacks and treats on the first day! The cupcake display was pretty dreamy!

When we moved to down town Atlanta we visited Underground Atlanta.  A cool underground parade of shops, restaurants and bars.  My favourite store was the Southern Candy Company, stocking loads of treats, fudge and chocolate covered everything!

If there's one thing I wish I could have brought back to the UK from Atlanta it would have been Cheese Cake Factory.  I know it's not exclusive to Atlanta, and if you go to the states make sure you visit one.  The array of cheese cakes is insane and I managed to squeeze in three trips on my two week holiday!  Our first experience was at a mall in Dunwoody near North Springs in North Atlanta - we picked up a slice of the 'seasonal' Reeces Peanut Butter cheese cake to SHARE.  We were both completely and utterly defeated after this....

One place I highly recommend visiting in Atlanta is the Park Tavern in Piedmont Park.  An amazing, huge park which after hiring bikes to ride around, visiting the lake and watching the dogs in the gigantic dog park we headed here for lunch. I had a lovely fresh lemon cocktail and the biggest onion rings I've ever seen. So good.

Other areas in Atlanta worth visiting are Virginia Highland, Poncey Highland and Little Five Points.  Both have some lovely little restaurants, pubs, bars and really cute shops.  Young Blood is a brilliant boutique come gallery which I could and did spend hours in and Atlanta Cupcake Factory do a winner dreamsicle flavoured cupcake.

Cinnamon and Apple cupcakes

I've had a stunning Easter weekend, the sun has been shining since Friday morning, I've done lots of relaxing and also a bit of baking....yesterday I made these Cinnamon and Apple cupcakes.  They are so tasty, I just added some cinnamon powder and apple purée to the usual cake mix, then added some apple juice and apple purée to the icing mix.  Just one problem I had - the apple wasn't puréed quite as much as it could have been and so the few lumps of apple left in the icing clogged up the icing pipe, I had to sieve it all to get rid of the lumps...slightly annoying!

A sunny March day in London

I spent yesterday in London with my mum and my sister, we started in Shoreditch and had a lovely walk in the sun along the river and to Somerset House for an art fair.  On the stroll back East we stumbled on the cutest sweet shop, Hope and Greenwood in Covent Garden.  It is a traditional sweet shop and was packed with special Easter chocolate and sweets at the moments there were rabbit gifts galore!  I thought the little egg boxes with chocolate eggs in side were particularly cute!

We then took a trip back East to visit the Hoxton Sreet Monster Supplies store.  An amazing little front shop disguising a creative writing workshop for kids, it sells really nicely packaged fears in jars which contain custom written stories by writers including Nick Hornby.  I bought the Zombie fresh mints, a jar of thickest human snot and some guts and garlic chutney!  Such a cool idea and they have really pulled it off, the money from the items gets put back into funding the writing project.  It's run by the Ministry of Stories.

Last but definitely not least we dropped in at The Albion bakery for some tea and fruit cake.  A known Shoreditch hotspot for brunch they sell a super good flapjack and these yummy giant jammy dodgers and giant cookies.

As the group of skaters shouted as they jumped out of Blackfriars tube and careered into the road on their boards - Best day ever!!

A good egg

All of my favourite breakfasts include egg. A nice dippy boiled egg, scrambled eggs with beans on toast, or a cheeky Sunday fry up with fried eggs...these are some cute eggy things I found on-line and loved.

1 Egg Buckets  2 Chick and Bunny Egg Cosys by Catherine Tough  3 Heart Shaped Frying Pan  4 Palette Egg Caddy

Wedding Feature

One of my best friends Rose likes things to be perfect and her wedding was just that! Soon to be featured in Brides Magazine May / June 2011 issue, the theme was black and white.  A classic look with a gorgeous table of treats for guests including vanilla cupcakes, pots of honey, meringues and heart shaped biscuits - all home made.

Themed Cupcakes

A good friend from my school days is getting married in Las Vegas this month, so her hen do had a Vegas theme.  I was very excited to see these Vegas Helen's Hen night decorated cupcakes!  They are from a cupcake shop in Rayleigh, Essex called Love Cupcake...they were sooooo good and the perfect start to a super fun night!

Lemon and Blueberry Victoria Sponge

Whilst waiting for her second baby to come, Sarah spent an afternoon baking and this is the result! A yummy zesty lemon and blueberry victoria sponge.   With a classic victoria sponge recipe and a bit of filling improv I'm most annoyed she's on maternity otherwise I might get to try some!


Ingredients:

-- 175g unsalted butter, at room temperature
-- 175g golden caster sugar
-- 175g self-raising flour, sifted
-- 1 tsp baking powder
-- 1 tsp vanilla extract
-- 3 eggs
-- 1-2 tbsp milk (optional)

Filling:

-- 4 tbsp Lemon Curd
-- 142ml double cream, whipped
-- Blueberries for decoration

Wedding Feature

We absolutely love Cheese and so wanted an unconventional but yummy cheese 'cake' at our wedding recently.  Created by The Fine Cheese Company in Bath, Somerset, Barney helped us choose our cake by selecting our favourite cheeses and decorations, and they made it look stunning on the day!



The catering was provided by William's Kitchen, part of Calcot Manor in Tetbury, Gloucestershire. This was rolled porcetta stuffed with sun dried tomatoes, Italian herbs and ricotta. Served with wine roasted tomatoes, buttered jersey royals and rocket salad.  Delicious, thanks Kat!

Glitter Doughnuts

A yummy and unexpectedly pretty treat from my boss this morning - these glittery lip gloss inspired Glamour Magazine Krispy Kreme Doughnuts! 

Apparently only available in the UK, I took my first bite for breakfast this morning!

Cocktail Cupcakes

The first in a series of cocktail cupcakes. Mojito cupcakes taste so good and healthy thanks to the lime and mint.

Don't go overboard on the rum in the cakemix, if you want them more alocholic add more to the syrup or inside the cakes.