My gorgeous man, Alfred

Just a little update of how Alfie, Alfred,Alfredo, Alfie Moon, Moon man (I like naming my animals with nicknames) is getting on :) 

He's just over 5 months and really settled into the family. I't embarrassing to admit, but I actually miss him when I go out for the day?! How sad is that!!! I just love cuddling him a 

and that awesome smell kittens and puppies have. 

The dogs are still not big fans, but he has been edging closer and closer to them, so it is only a matter of time before they make friends...

He loves drinking out of the fish take worryingly, and squeels every time he needs to go to the toilet which is very weird to witness...

 

 This was Alfie chewing and playing with the ball of wool I was using to knit something for my college work, I was half quite irritated and half in awe at how cute he was, so I let him pull and tug while I knitted a womb (long story).

 This picture really tickles me, it sums up hispersonality, Alfred the ninja cat. 

And lastly this cutie of a pic, my dad and Alfie having a snooze before we went out for a meal. 

Jazz up lunchtimes!

I love Hummus. I particuarly like Tesco's caramalised onion hummus, and went through a phase in Sixth form of eating a pot everyday with some cucumber and a stick of bread. Now I have it a lot less frequently as back in the day, but I have no started to try and make my own as a bit of an experimet. I waswatching river Cottage the other night and theres was an old version where Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall was talking about how we should try to experiment more with our lunches instead of opting for the standard sandwhich! I totally agree with this and have always enjoyed a selction of odd and deliciosu good opposed to a sanwhich (Not that I don;t like sandwchiches, I do, they can just sometimes be a bit monotanous) .

Making your own hummus is dead easy and you can jazz it up by adding caramlised onions, roasted peppers, lemon, chives, you name it!

Recipe from River Cottage

 Ingredient's :  

1 400g tin chickpeas

2 1/2 tbsp lemon juice

1 clove garlic

1 tbsp tahini (i get mine form Morrisons)

70ml extra virgin olive oil

1tsp ceyene pepper

salt & pepper

In a bowl mix all the ingredients together except the seasoning then blitz to a puree in a food processor. Tip back into the mixing bowl, stir well and season. Spoon into a suitable hummus receptacle and serve with a good shot of extra virgin and an extra sprinkling of cayenne pepper.

Hummus can also be frozen so if you make too much you can always save it for another day :)

Caprese Salad

I've always been a lover of Italian food, and there's nothing that sums it up for me more than tomato, mozzarella and basil. This dish is THE simplest thing to make, but it's so delicious. Scott and I have been having it a lot recently ( a new food obsession) for dinner and as a starter for our main meals. 

 Ingredients;

1 Ball of buffalo Mozzarella

3-4 ripe room temperature tomato's

1 handful basil leaves

Extra virgin olive oil

salt & pepper

Cut your tomato's and mozzarella into thin slices, and lay them across a serving plate. Tear off some basil leaves and scatter over the top of the plate. Drizzle the salad with some good quality extra virgin olive oil, and a sprinkling of salt and pepper, an that is it! No fuss, but delicious and quick to make.

Enjoy :)

A weekend in Abersoch

 Scott and I recently went to Abersoch and I haven't had chance 9with the tearoom and finishing college) to post the pictures! We had an awesome time as usual, and here are a few pics to summarise what we got up to in those few but precious days :) 

We both have matching crocs (not deliberately), though the size difference is considerable! 

 There are some cute beach houses down one strip of the beach, they're not as quirky as the others i've photographed before, but there's something pretty about the repetition of colour that these have !

 I'm not sure why I'm so ginger here... I don't think my hair usually looks like this?!

 It's nice to be able to paint my nails every once in a while, as I usually take it off for work (hygiene reasons) so if a have a few days off in a row I love to paint them again :)

 We had THE BEST TIME CRABBING. I love crabbing, fishing etc, and Abersoch has the perfect little harbour for catching crabs on a line. I caught about 7 while we were there, and also an eel surprisingly! Scott on the other hand (with his fishing line and sparkly fish things) didn't manage to catch anything ;)

  This was the little eel. I kept him in Scott's toolbox to photograph him as the crabs in the bucket kept trying to pinch him :(

 These are the beautiful crabs we caught. I uses pork sausage, and a net with a line to catch them. It's something i've always enjoyed doing, as my mum and I would go crabbing with nets  when I was younger and lift up rocks etc trying to find them.

Here are a few instagram pics of the holidays and mainly what we ate (as usual)

 My beautiful camera, and the pork sausages we used to catch the crabs ;)

 Costa have brought out a yummy new drink - Strawberry Lemonade which is similar to a drink they had in america when I went a few years ago. It is a bit sickly and synthetic, but nether the less very tasty!

 This is one of my favourite pictures of Scott! I managed to sneak it quickly why he was sorting the line out, and it really just summarises him 9the fishing, old man behaviour, Abersoch etc)

 I still maintain that I will one day own one of these....

 We had american style pancakes with strawberries for breakfast, which was delicious.

 On the way to Abersoch we stopped at Pen-Y-Bryn in Colwyn Bay for a bite to eat. We had the platter which was lovely, alongside a portion of schips and a steak salad. Very highly recommended!

And finally on our last night we had a tomato, mozzarella and basil salad (which has become a new food obsession for us both recently) alongside a chunk of tiger bread and some pastrami, once again we ate like kings :) 

Eton mess in a teacup

Another quicky of a recipe - As you can see even when I have no time I still like to eat nice things :) I made my own meringue as an experiment for the tearoom, and had a lot left over so I decided to make a quick Eton mess style dessert for my dad and I.

I love summer puddings, and nothing says summer to me like Eton mess - Strawberries, meringue and cream  YUM.I used this recipe for the meringue in case you were wondering -  Pavlova good food

Ingredients:

Meringue

A punnet of strawberries

Double Cream

Icing Sugar

A mint sprig

Crumble your meringue into your dish/teacup/plate. I like to make individual puddings but you can make a larger one by following the same steps but just changing the quantities.

Whip your double cream and add a tablespoon (or two...) of icing sugar to sweeten the cream. Try not to over whip your cream - it' not so nice when its too thick, ideally it should be soft and light still. Add a dollop to your meringue, there is no real measurements here just add more or less depending on your own particular tastes.

Chop your strawberries and sprinkle them on top of the cream. I like to add a mint sprig because I'm going to a bit of a food obsession with mint at the moment but that is again optional! And that is all..... Enjoy your summery dessert , we certainly did :)

Tadpoles to frogs

I'm proud to show off my beautiful little forggies!! They've finally grown legs, arms and look like miniature frogs now :) Their tails are still little stubs, and they have a lot of growing to do - but they no longer look like tadpoles!

I have released all of the grown froggies into the pond now, so they have more room and can live naturally in the wild again. It's half very exciting but also quite sad as i no longer get to see them every morning ... But hopefully they will grow quickly outside and I will see them hopping around outside in no time!

 

You can see here from the scale of my hand how small they are still - But look fully formed and completely like normal frogs. 

Quick and easy Raspberry tarts

I have been so busy with college work and the tearoom recently that Ive had to come up with a few quick recipes for meals and desserts that I could whip up quickly and that didn't involve too much time. This little tart is perfect and takes no time at all!

Ingredients:

All butter pastry cases (you could make them yourself, but for a quick dessert these are really good)

clotted cream or creme patisserie

a punnet of raspberries (or a fruit of your choice)

150g milk or white chocolate

1 tablespoon jam

1 dessert spoon of sugar

Melt your chocolate over a pan of hot water or in the microwave. I used milk chocolate because that's what we had in, but white chocolate usually goes with these types of tarts (but it's totally up to you which you pick). Spoon roughly 1-3 teaspoons of chocolate into each tart case.

For the creme -  I used clotted cream as Scott hates custard style fillings, but both work well. I loosened my cream with a little milk, and added a dessert spoon full of sugar to sweeten it a little. Spoon it over the tart until it's almost full.

Now add your fruit! I like raspberries best as they are my favourite fruit and they look quite symmetrical which looks good really. You could try strawberries, mixed fruits, or whatever you liked (that's the fun part).

This part is optional, but it adds a little shine to the tarts - Melt the jam with a tablespoon of water until melted. Gently spoon over the fruit to create a sort of glaze for your tart.

And that is all! They look like a lot of time and effort but really they're dead simple as you can see.I hope you enjoy :)