Frills 'n' Spills

I was recently offered a copy of Eric Lanlard's Afternoon Tea to review and I jumped at the chance. I own a lot of recipe books but very few that are baking focused. This one is beautiful and full of delicious recipes. It's not necessarily a book for complete beginners (I wouldn't know where to start with making tuna and pumpernickel mille feuille for instance!) but there are some interesting twists on classic recipes- I can't wait to try the savoury macarons! I did find it difficult to choose which recipe to try first but I decided to be nice and bake something for Mark for a change! I'm not normally a fan of banana in bakes but these cookies were absolutely divine. I ate 2 when they were fresh out of the oven and spent the next few days working my way through the rest. 

There are certain recipes that you know will never let you down and this Victoria sponge recipe from Marguerite Patten is my go-to for delicious light and fluffy cake. I have been trying to use up things from the freezer recently and had the bright idea of using the batch of frozen mango that I had in a cake. I really love coconut and mango together but was trying to work out how to incorporate the flavours into a cake without it going too soggy. The house smelt amazing as this was cooking and I was so impatient to try it that I burnt my mouth in the process, haha! Overall I was pretty pleased with how this turned out but would probably use less mango next time as the mixture was quite wet. It could have probably had another sachet of creamed coconut too, I was erring on the side of caution as Mark's not really a fan but actually even he said it could take a little more of it. It wasn't bad for an experiment though, and I think with a bit of tweaking, this could make its way into my favourites...

I have just spent the last week staying with friends at a darling little cottage in St Ives; beach walks, board games and plenty of food and drink with great company was the best way to finish 2015 and start 2016. The photos speak for themselves about how beautiful a place Cornwall is and I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone looking for a beachy escape in the UK. It really is great, even in the rain!

Although I wish I had had a longer break (doesn't everyone?!) I am excited to see what 2016 brings as I have lots of fun things planned!

What are your plans for 2016?

We thought it looked like the Tellytubby house, what do you think?

I have to say, this was the most tranquil service station I have ever been to, it looked like even the car park was designed to be as stress-free as possible!

We didn't actually buy any of the food in the Kitchen but it looked and smelt amazing and there were plenty of people enjoying it when we visited. All of the food sold and prepared here is supplied locally and it was brilliant to see how many local businesses had benefited from the services opening, rather than being pushed out by big chains. 

My favourite part though was this beautiful lake out the back of the restaurant. Even though the motorway was only a few hundred metres away, it was really peaceful and you got the added benefit of gorgeous views out across the Gloucestershire countryside.

I seriously had to restrain myself in the farmshop as there was amazing food wherever you turned....

This patisserie counter was particularly tempting!

You could get amazing chorizo and dried meats which smelt divine, I will definitely be coming back for these!

There is also a full-sized butcher's counter and fishmonger which I think is pretty amazing, definitely a good place to pop into if you are planning a dinner party!

...delicious pies from Legges of Bromyard

...award-winning veggie food from The Parsnipship. Don't get me wrong, I love goat's cheese as much as the next gal but it was nice to see veggie food that wasn't your traditional 'one dish on a menu' fare.

My family has been a massive fan of Contemporary Cakes ever since my Grandma discovered them at the farmer's market and they make the most amazing cakes. (Just look at how delicious my uncle's birthday cake or my grandparents 50th anniversary cake look!) They are so lovely and even raved about how lovely my grandma was which really made me smile as she is the best! :D

The Patisserie Box is the wing of their business that sells these delicious desserts. Those Christmas pudding chocolate-y cakes were divine and I may be a blogger cliché but I do love macarons!

Just some of the amazing gifts available in the gift shop...

I also got the chance to meet the lovely head baker at the services (unfortunately I have a brain like a sieve and have forgotten her name!) about testing recipes and taking them from an idea to the delicious treats you can see here which was very interesting. You never realise just how much effort goes into making all of this! 

These stollen and mince pies were lovely, you can't beat some German treats at Christmas!

Mark was very taken by these chocolate brownies and apparently they tasted as good as they looked!

I was also really intrigued by the Natural Spa Factory products, I love me some luxury bath products and the scrubs were amazing. I am hoping Mark gets me the Mulled Wine scrub as it just smells so Christmassy!

I was originally going to wear this with some nude tights but I forgot just how short the skirt was so switched to opaques instead. I love a tulip skirt shape, it is super flattering and a great way to show off your legs without being too bodycon.

The menu at Mal Brasserie is more limited than many places but I actually prefer that, there is such a thing as too much choice, especially when you are as indecisive as me! I went for the steak frites, the world's biggest crème brûlée (so good but absolutely humongous!) along with a mojito. We got a cocktail each as part of our room price (along with the best eggs Benedict) and it was the perfect way to round off the evening. 

What is the best dress in your wardrobe? 

Toad-in-the-hole is one of my favourite meals and it is guaranteed to make you feel instantly comforted. You are in for a special treat today though as although this recipe is super simple, Mark is the expert at making this in our house, so this post comes from him rather than me! As you may have seen on Twitter, I have had to switch to a low carb diet (no more than 30g of carbs per meal, the equivalent of a large banana or 2 slices of bread!) so I have to restrict this meal to special occasions, sob! If you do have any low carb meal ideas, please do send them my way, I need exciting new ways to eat chicken! ;)

You all know how much I love Leon, their recipes are brilliant and ever since I got their Fast Vegetarian cookbook Mark and I have been cooking up a storm in the kitchen.  I was a little dubious about these pea and cheese fritters before I cooked them but I needn't have worried, these were delicious. We have incorporated these into our weekly eats as they are so quick and easy to do and I cannot be faffed with fussy or long-winded meals in the week! The recipe said it should make about 6 fritters but we had about 20 in the end and I could only manage 3 before I was full so we will be halving or quartering the quantities next time we make them...

It's been a shamefully long time since Mark and I last visited Manchester but we headed up at the weekend to catch up with Mark's brother and pay a flying visit to one of  our favourite cities. You can see just how excited we were by these photos, we both really love Manchester and could happily live there, we did see some lovely flats too, I just need to find a job up there! 

Wearing my Seasalt coat (necessary for the rain!), H&M striped top and Mac Impassioned lipstick. 

Manchester Central Library is awesome and I could have spent all day in there, how beautiful are those windows?!

We also made a brief stop in Chinatown to try and find some Chinese figs but to no avail :( I love this archway though, the colours are gorgeous!

Takk Manchester is a super cool Icelandic inspired coffee bar/restaurant in the Northern Quarter where I felt very uncool, this was hipster inspired dining at its best! ;)

This amazing mural was by Nicholas Chaffe (@nickchaffe) and I absolutely love it. There are so many little details in it and I keep noticing new things every time I look at it. Now I just want one of my own! 

OK, so the food and drink at Takk was amazing! I had the avocado, bacon and tomato sandwich on sourdough bread with a flat white (check out the genuine graffiti-covered school desks! ) which was absolutely delicious. Mark had roast potatoes, shallots and pan-fried chorizo with scrambled eggs and sourdough which I was super jealous of! 

This was the first time I had visited the Northern Quarter and I loved it- the rickety fire escapes and quirky shops felt very Brooklyn to me, I may have to pay another visit to keep my New York cravings at bay!

The exhibits on Manchester's textile industry were so interesting, just look how complex this machines look!

I mean wowee! 

This thistledown coat was super cool- a must have for every fashion blogger I think ;)

They also had an exhibition on 3D printing which was brilliant, I loved how brightly coloured these all were!

These are 3D-printed frames of an animation of a bear climbing some stairs, they don't look like much here but quite something 'in action'. 

My little brother was always a fan of Bob the Builder when he was little and these were the original models they used in the show (before they remade it!)

A very cool cine camera, I love the Italian stickers on the case!

The forst all-metal printing press was invented by the Earl of Stanhope, this one was made sometime between 1810 and 1830...

More cool murals...

I love the contrast of the old buildings and the uber modern Beetham Tower, that is one shiny building!

This is an awful picture but it was an amazing pie! We went to Pi in Chorlton for dinner after a long day walking around town and it was the perfect finish. I am now a fully fledged Pieminster pie fan (this was the Shamrock) I just need to get my hands on some more to try...

We went to the North Star deli in Chorlton for brunch before heading back on Sunday morning, the perfect finish to a wonderful weekend! 

Where should I try next in Manchester?