Brighton, a Choc-oma & a Sausage dog

That is the name of my new book. I joke. Here's what I've been up to recently. Grab a cuppa because there are quite a lot of pictures.

I went to Brighton! Which I have never been to, I know controversial. There was shopping, eating, drinking, sightseeing and we even squeezed in a trip to see Interstellar.

Amazing breakfast from Cafe Coho, which I can't recommend enough. I would also hugely recommend Curry Leaf Cafe which was hard to get a table at (be warned), but incredible Indian street food, unique beers and ales and the best staff.

I might have treated myself....

I also took a break from London for some real air up in the Forest of Dean to see some friends. One of which has a little puppy sausage dog called Lola. If you haven't been to the forest, you must. Stunning.

She's so tiny, it was genuinely hard to get her in a picture where she's visible!

And then because I clearly don't treat myself enough (cough, cough), here are some notable indulgences you should try if in London. The first? An overpriced, yet glorious doughnut. It was £2.40, but injected with 7 (approx, might be more) lots of real Belgian chocolate. Say what. You can find these bad boys (loads of flavours) in Piccadilly Circus tube station. Avert your eyes if on a diet.

7 injections of Belgian chocolate are enough right? No, way. I've also been to Said Chocolate which is a chocolate shop/maker and cafe. I had a large milk hot chocolate with cinnamon and whipped cream. Tips? You don't need a large. Choc-oma will proceed, so write off your afternoon.

This time of year just gets so crazy and all I keep saying is 'How is it almost Christmas?' What have you all been up to?

"I'm not afraid of death I'm afraid of time." Interstellar

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New York

I recently came back from what can only be described as one of the best holidays of my life to date. My family and I went to America for a trip to Newwwww Yoooorrrkkk (obvs, Alicia Keys reference) and Montana, with a few places in between. If you are thinking 'What the firetruck do you do in Montana' let me paint the scene, think horses, gorgeous mountains, bears, cowboys (real ones), minimal people and taverns, not pubs people. 

We saved all our pennies for this trip, which we've been planning for some time and I thought I'd start with sharing the NYC section first...

I ate a lot of food, pizza, burgers and more. So much meat in fact, I am currently an honorary vegetarian because a bacon detox minimum was required post-holiday. The sandwiches were from Katz's Deli, which has featured on Man vs Food (need I say more?) and was a truly New York experience.

New York is also famous for brunch and breakfast is kinda a big deal. The french toast was from a really cute and un-assuming breakfast spot in Greenwich Village, Cafe Condesa. Big points if you can comment which film Pershing Square is featured in, another incredible breakfast spot.

We did the usual sightseeing, Empire state, Wall St, 9/11 memorial, Central Park, Macy's etc. Before we arrived we actually booked a private tour with Real New York Tours and did The Half Apple Downtown Tour which I couldn't recommend more. If you are going to NYC, you will not be disappointed by this company. Our tour guide was a charming New Yorker called David, who knew everything and was a lot of fun to hang out with.

Evening-wise, one of the best nights we had was at the Stand Up NY Comedy Club. Ok, not kidding, full on tears-rolling hilarious-ness. We got tickets cheaper from one of the ticket sellers in Times Square and it was brilliant. It's quite intimate, so they really use the audience and we're aged 20-mid 40's (can't remember how old my rents are...) and all 5 of us were in hysterics. 

Foam finger, an essential. This is me at the Yankees match, which was so much fun and another experience I would totally recommend. You actually do order hawt dawgs and beers from a guy who passes them down the stand. Amazing. 

We also did some shopping, duhhh. Here's proof of my damage done in Sephora and the pouty pic is a Mac Cremestick liner I bought in Beurre so I can pretend to be Kylie Jenner.

All the excitement meant many tea breaks were needed, especially if alcohol wasn't on hand. How cute is this tea in the cafe attached to Urban Outfitters? Hope you liked my travels, if you have travel posts, please link as I am already dreaming of another escape!

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Life Lately...

Liberty - Brunch at Balthazar - Lunch at Bob Bob Ricard

Quote along Clueless at Prince Charles Cinema - London Marathon - Cocktails at Wahaca - Shopping in topshop (wearing Zara)

Since moving to London, I've been trying to make the most of all the cool places available on my doorstep and so far I have been having a wonderful time falling in love with this city. Some highlights you ask? 

• Liberty. I love this store. I walk past it every day and it's just as beautiful outside as it is in.
• Definitely treat yourself to brunch at Balthazar, it is expensive but so worth it. 
• The food at Bob Bob Ricard wasn't that amazing and v.expensive, but it's a good experience and I loved the champagne button.
• I went to see Clueless (As if!) at the Prince Charles Cinema. Hold up! A quote along screening people. It was brilliant. They also have a sing along screening of the Spice Girls movie coming up that has my name all over it. When two become one....
• The London Marathon was so inspiring and also so emotional. I saw a very old man running it (amazing) who had suffered from a stroke in the past and was raising money for stroke victims (even more amazing) and I just wanted to be his best friend. Everyone who ran - bravo. 
• Cocktails with my mum and dad and lots of Mexican food. It was my birthday last week, so some of this was bday related including a mid week visit to Wahaca courtesy of my rents. 
• Shopping! Enough said. 
• Finally, I went to see Jersey Boys at the Piccadilly theatre and it was so amazing. By far the best musical I have seen and I just wanted to stay and watch it over and over again. A real must see. 

Hope you are all having good weeks, any plans for Easter?

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Pesto, Pea & Mint Soup

I'm trying to be healthy after putting on the pounds after Christmas and thinking of lunch ideas is the worst one for me. I love breakfast and dinner, but lunch at work makes me feel a bit meh. It's so easy to stick to the sandwiches or a thrown together salad, but both are pretty boring and don't stop me reaching for the office stash of biscuits. I need something tasty, quick and easy to throw together. Hello, Pesto, Pea & Mint Soup!

I followed this YouTube video by OnePotChefShow with a few added little ingredients! Here's what you need:

3 Cups (750ml) of Water
1 Teaspoon of Salt
2 Cups (350g) of Frozen Peas
2 Spring Onions / Shallots (trimmed and chopped roughly)
2 Tablespoons of Lemon Juice
3-4 Tablespoons of Basil Pesto Sauce

Additional: 1 x vegetable stock cube, sprinkle of pepper & a small handful of fresh mint leaves (follow the video, just add the stock cube and pepper to your boiling water and the mint when you blend).

Preparation Time: About 5 minutes 
Cooking Time: About 5 minutes

It took no time at all to make and tasted delicious. I didn't sieve any of the little bits out, so it has a lovely rustic texture. Obviously, if you like it smooth, you can just sieve it all out! I doubled the recipe so I could pop some in the fridge for work this week and already lunchtime is looking more promising.

Do you have any healthy lunch recipes that I should be trying? I need all the inspo I can get! 

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VIVO Bakery

This weekend, I made my way to London to meet my uni friends Jess, Fran and Ali.

After a marathon catch up that was accompanied by prosecco, Asian food, cutting shapes on the dance floor and an early morning chocolate raid (thanks to Fran's mums well equip cupboards). We were well in need of a lye in and some killer food come Sunday. After chatting some more (and some more) we finally left the house and went to VIVO bakery in Islington, where we indulged until we had to depart each others company for the dreaded train journeys home. But what did we indulge in? Oh take a look...

We started our session with some pizza and pasta where I plumped for a vegetarian slice with huge aubergines and an incredible mozzarella and pesto pasta. The pesto pasta was packed with chunks of mozzarella and sun dried tomatoes and made me reconsider all my future lunches. We accompanied our rather filling lunch with coffees (a hot chocolate for me!) and some beautiful pastries. Can pudding be beautiful? Yes.

After the Italian feast was complete, we wandered into the cold (hat and gloves weather now!) and onto the tubes. 

Til next time London. 

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Viva Espana

This year I've been lucky enough to get out to Berlin, Croatia, LA and Spain and as I've shared some pictures from all of my trips so far, here's a few from Spain...

1. My grandparents live in a small rural Spanish town called Calasparra

2. The figs are fresh from their neighbor who speaks zero English and told me off because I still haven't learnt any (I will I swear!)

3. My Grandma makes a mean paella

4. The little puppy was one that had been abandoned, unfortunately they don't have the same animal rights as we do, so sadly this is quite common. Don't worry though, this little guy was saved!

5. It's really unfair that we don't have siestas - a nap in the middle of the day is brilliant

I wonder where next year will take me!

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All pictures are my own apart from the very first and last, which are from weheartit

Remember me?

I have been a terrible blogger recently! I've had loads of new changes where I work, so I have been super busy on trips to London, new projects and a bigger workload. On top of that it has been everyone's birthdays and my family have been arriving left, right and centre to hang out! So much so, it's already June!! (time flies etc etc). Have no fear though, I am back and I'm back with some new blog post ideas - boo yeah. 

To tide you lovely followers (if you are still with me) here's some snaps and general things I have been up to in my brief absence:

Last year my Nan booked a holiday, but then had a stroke on the day we we're going (she's completely fine, she said she just got too excited and then spent the time in hospital moaning about why we hadn't just carried on with the plan!), so now she has recovered pretty much fully she was keen to get us all booked in somewhere else. Over the bank holiday weekend, me and 15 members of my family headed down/up and across to Sidmouth, Devon. It was glorious weather and we all had so much fun.

 Hope of a beach body went right out the window this weekend!

 

We all ate a lot, drank a lot and chatted a lot, only pausing to breath in the sea air. 

Beauty and such related I have been raiding boots in my normal fashion (I'm sure I must be some kind of shareholder now with the amount I spend) and trying to get some holiday stuff together wherever possible for my trip to Croatia in 2ish weeks! I'm still writing for London Beauty Hub too, so if you haven't been over to check the site out you can see my latest post on festival beauty favs here.

Also, whilst running around H&M in the week I noticed they are doing a scheme where you can take a carrier bag of clothes (worn, with holes, bits of rags, re-usable etc) and get a £5 voucher off your next £30 spend. I always worry that my clothes don't get recycled properly (huge fashion industry problem!) so this is perfect because you can recycle and buy, whilst doing your little bit! (more details here).

That's it from me, leave your links for me below so I can check out your blogs and stay tuned for some regular posts - promise ;)

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