Merry Christmas to you!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas! Here some Instagram photos of my last few days! I'm celebrating the holidays with my family in The Netherlands but we also made a quick overnight trip across the border to Germany to browse around the Christmas markets in Münster.

Enjoying the Weinachtsmarkt in Germany. Lights everywhere, glühwein, lebkuchen and bratwurst!

I baked a traditional Dutch Christmas bundt cake! Christmas tree bauble, feeling festive in my reindeer socks and Christmas crackers for the table decorations.

Preparing Christmas dinner; we have some vegetarians in my family so this year it's Jamie Olivers cranberry & pistachio nut roast as one of the many courses for our Christmas day feast. Last night we went to the Christmas midnight mass and today I did even more baking; the most delicious gooey chocolate crinkle salted caramel cookies ever... (recipe to follow!)

A quick run at the beach earlier today and now I am relaxing, eating and drinking with family...

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas with family and loved ones! Xoxo

 

Chocolate Fruit Bark - Christmas Foodie Gift!

For Christmas I always love showing off what a domestic goddess I am spoiling my loved ones with some homemade baking ;) Over the years I have treated my family and friends to Christmas Rocky Road (link), Biscotti (link) and the most amazing festive chocolate crinkle cookies (link). I think foodie treats make for wonderful festive gifts. This year I found all my recipes on Pinterest and when I spotted this Chocolate Fruit Bark recipe, I knew it was something that I had to make. Easy as 1-2-3 and delicious...PERFECT!

 

Doesn't this look scrumptious? This chocolate bark recipe uses dark chocolate with 51 percent cocoa and adds some dazzle to it with dried apricots and figs, raisins, and cashews. The addition of the dried fruit and nuts spreads out the chocolate’s intensity, and adds in a healthy dose of antioxidants and finer; so need to feel too guilty when enjoying it!

What You’ll Need:

• 1-2 bars of good quality cooking chocolate
• 1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped
• 1/2 cup dried figs, chopped
• 1 cup mix of raisins, cranberries and mixed nuts

Tools:

• 1 large baking sheet
• Parchment paper

What to Do:

• Melt chocolate over a double boiler or in your microwave until its smooth.
• Pour chocolate over parchment paper-lined baking sheet, spreading so it so that it is about 1/2 cm thick.
• Evenly sprinkle dried fruit and cashews over the chocolate.
• Place the bark into the refrigerator for about 20 minutes, or until the chocolate harden.

I went for the super easy microwave option. I found this great Lindt cooking chocolate at my supermarket. I just broke the bars (I used two to make a good quantity) into pieces, placed that into a bowl and microwaved in short intervals of 20-30 seconds on medium-high power and stirred after each interval until the chocolate was melted.

About halfway ready....gooey runny chocolate, omg!

Perfect, all melted and only took about 2-3 minutes!

 

Now onto the toppings! For my slightly Christmasy chocolate bark I chopped up some dried apricots, dried figs and used an already mixed bag of raisins, cranberries, pecans and cashew nuts. However you can really let your imagination run wild and use any topping you fancy. Some other ideas could be adding; candied orange peel, cherries, hazelnuts, almonds and pistachios. Even more contemporary toppings are: cocoa nibs, toffee pieces, candied ginger, crushed peppermint candy and other dried fruits such as pineapple, blueberries, strawberries plus even toasted pumpkin seeds, cereal and pime nuts. Anything is possible!

Now once your chocolate is melted, just pour it onto a baking sheet which is on a tray of some sort and smooth it out, I just used the back of a spoon to do this.

Sprinkle your toppings onto the chocolate and you're basically done already! Now all that's left to do is just place the tray with your chocolate creation into the fridge to cool and lick that chocolate bowl clean ;)

When the chocolate bark has cooled and hardened, just snap into pieces and enjoy! Yummy....

I wrapped mine into little cellophane bags, added a cute Christmas tag and TADA a lovely and delicious Christmas present!

Will you be making any foodie gifts this Christmas?

 

Weekend Brunches: Lantana Cafe

Happy Sunday everyone! It's a stunning winters day out there in London today, very cold but the sun in shining and the roofs are white from the overnight frost (no snow yet this winter..) and with this sun streaming into my cosy bedroom while I'm enjoying breakfast in bed I have to say it's a pretty lovely start to my day!

Yesterday I ended up checking out a cafe in London that had been on my brunch-places-to-visit list for a while now. So I rugged up in my leather jacket and a warm tartan poncho/scarf and hopped onto my bike to meet my friend in Fitzrovia for one of my favourite weekend past times; BRUNCH :)

Lantana is a bustling little café tucked down a laneway off Goodge Street in central London. This Aussie-run place proves once again that when it comes to brunch the Antipodean's do it best. The downside to it being such a popular brunch spot is that you are going to have to be patient to get a table. Note to self get there early or be content to wait. My friend actually arrived around 11am and annoyingly was told she could not get a table until I had arrived and was asked to wait outside (in -1 temperatures I might add) until I got there to be seated. Not such a brilliant start to the day for her.... 

She in the end managed to convince the staff to give her a table and ordered herself a coffee and banana bread until I had made my way over through London traffic. 

The menu at Lantana changes regularly but staples include sweetcorn fritters, poached eggs and Cinnamon french toast. Everything on the menu looked rather tasty but I went for my usual poached eggs on grain toast with smashed avocado and smoked salmon. 

The eggs were poached perfection and I always love myself some avo + smoked salmon but only thing that bugged me about this dish was that the bread wasn't really toasted and I have to say I prefer my bread nice and crunchy!

My friend had the corn fritters stacked w streaky bacon, fresh spinach and slow roast tomatoes served w an avocado chilli lime salsa and crème fraiche.

Wearing my new 'NOIR embellished' T-shirt from ZARA (link)

Even though I really didn't need it, I couldn't resist ordering the toasted banana bread with spiced mascarpone and fresh passion fruit as my brunch 'dessert'!

I loved the cinnamon spiced mascarpone and the passionfruit tangy twist with the sweet banana bread. And yes I finished all of this.......

Overall I'd say Lantana is a great brunch spot in central London; delicious food, good coffee and a buzzing laid-back Aussie vibe. Oh and if you are in a hurry, or can't be bothered waiting in line for a table there’s a takeaway counter next door selling tarts, salads, sandwiches and oh-so-delicious-cakes....

 Crack cake anyone? Haha ;)

Lantana is open 7 days a week, serving breakfast and lunch Monday to Friday and all day (9am-5pm) brunch on the weekend. 

Lantana Cafe, 13 Charlotte Place, Fitzrovia, London W1T 1SN 

www.lantanacafe.co.uk

The perfect autumn Sunday...

Last weekend I was away with a girlfriend for some R&R in the countryside; you can read my first post about this here (link). So now onto Day 2 :) After having such a fab day full of fresh air, exercise, relaxing treatments and delicious food it's fair to say we slept like babies in our lovely room at The Olde Bell. We woke up about 9.30am, which is pretty rare for me to sleep in that late on a weekend (unless I have had quite a boozy night before that is..) so we just threw on some clothes to ensure we didn't miss the hotel breakfast buffet. And trust me, this is not one you'd want to miss. The breakfast display was rather impressive....

I had a ginormous bowl of natural yoghurt with their crunchy homemade granola topped with figs, stewed plums and a swirl of honey. I then also couldn't resist helping myself to some of the pastries and maybe even a toasted crumpet with peanut butter, yummmm!

After a our very fulfilling breakfast it was time to put on the wellies again (which were by now nicely covered in mud from the previous day's adventures) and head out into the fresh autumn weather!

Me outside our countryside retreat in the wee village of Hurley along the Thames. We walked along the Thames towpath and had fun playing around in the beautiful autumn leaves!

Jeans by Abercrombie & Fitch

Regent Savoy Wellington Boots by Hunter

White singlet & striped Blythe sweater by Abercrombie & Fitch (as seen here)

Navy waxed hooded jacket by Dorothy Perkins (as seen here)

We also made some new friends along the way....Haha approach with caution though ;)

A perfect countryside Sunday afternoon is not complete without a Sunday roast so I'd done a bit of research earlier in the week and had found that there was a fantastic gastro pub in the area. The Hinds Head in Bray is located in a cosy listed 15th-century building and is owned by UK Michelin chef Heston Blumenthal. The Hinds Head offer outstanding traditional seasonal cuisine and historic British dishes. Over the years it has received many awards for its food; in 2011 it was even named the Michelin Pub Guide’s “Pub of the Year”. So where better to go for our Sunday roast right?

The service was smooth and friendly and everything on the menu looked pretty mouth-watering but I knew pretty instantly that the pork roast had my name written all over it....

I love my Yorkshire puddings so I always order one on the side because traditionally they only come standard when you order the roast beef. But for me a Sunday roast has to include a yorkshire pudding which I then drown in lots of gravy! The roast also came with a lovely side of panfried beans and parsnip. C'mon how good does this look?

The pork was beautifully cooked and the roast potatoes were some of the best I've ever tasted. They were perfectly crispy on the outside and soft in the middle! And the best part?

The crackling!! Yummmmmmmmmm such a naughty treat but oh so tasty.

When our bellies were well and truly full after our delish lunch it unfortunately was time to head back to the city but we both felt super duper relaxed, refreshed and told ourselves; we should do this more often because this was really the perfect autumn Sunday!

A girly weekend of R&R at The Olde Bell

Occasionally we all need to escape the busy city life and spoil ourselves to bit of R&R in the country side. Fresh air, walks, massages, fireplaces in country pubs and delicious food are all good for the soul, so me and a girlfriend decided to go on a wee road trip out of London and book ourselves a room at the gorgeous The Olde Bell in Hurley. The Inn is only a 45min drive from the city; located in a wee village along the Thames and is very close to famous English countryside towns Henley on Thames, Maidenhead and Marlow.

The Olde Bell is not a hotel where the rooms dominate, but where the common spaces are the heartbeat of the place. It has a lovely pub area where you can sit down for a casual lunch or enjoy tea and cakes or a glass of wine by the fireplace.

After arriving at the hotel we checked into our room, dived onto the bed and did a big 'whoooopie we're here!' and then headed downstairs to enjoy a delicious parsnip soup with freshly baked breads in the pub.

The Modern Coaching Inns rooms are designed by the celebrated designer Ilse Crawford (portfolio includes Soho House New York, Grand Hotel Stockholm, Cecconis and more). I loved the design and style of the hotel; a perfect mix of old and new. Old beams, wooden floors, wool and fluffy blankets and modern furniture. The bathroom featured an amazing claw foot bath and lots of Aesop goodies!

After our heart-warming lunch we decided to go for a walk in the cold countryside. We had a mix of four seasons during our two and a half hour walk; sunshine, wind and rain! But I loved being in the fresh air, getting some exercise, catching up with my friend and exploring in the woods.

I think autumn is one of my favourite seasons!

See I am no princess! I don't mind getting a little muddy and luckily I had my trusted Hunter wellies!

Perfectly timed after we got back from the walk (a little windswept and wet from the rain) our room got magically transformed into a private beauty spa because through the hotel we'd booked for a mobile treatment by Flutterby. I got a full body massage and my friend a facial. After this we felt super relaxed and could have almost hopped into bed right then and there but we managed to pep ourselves up for dinner in the main restaurant of the hotel. This was my casual outfit of the night...

Jeans by Abercromby & Fitch (link)

Leopard print shoes by ALDO (link)

Green off the shoulder top (purchased in small boutique shop in Barcelona)

Black wool cardigan by Country Road

Double layer navy/beige leopard printed scarf by ZARA (recent purchase)

The main restaurant serves simple, rustic and great quality food so we decided to order from their three course menu at £29.50 per person. We both had the goats cheese and baked beets as a starter and I had the braised lamb shoulder with pearl barley and red cabbage and Katharina indulged in the sirloin steak with triple cooked chips and bone marrow gravy. It was a lovely evening; enjoying delicious food, a glass of red and wonderful company! But best part had to be...

....DESSERT!! ;) I had the Rhubarb and Apple Crumble and Katharina the Sticky Toffee Pudding ♥

After dinner we retreated to our room for some reading and a great nights sleep! To be continued.... x

London places I Love: Burger & Lobster

Burger and Lobster is a restaurant that proves that you don't need a fancy or extensive menu to become one of London most popular places! Since opening in Mayfair in December 2011, Burger & Lobster has been a massive success. 

Their formula is simple; no menus, no starters and limited desserts. The main event is....you guessed it; burger or lobster. Actually the official choice is burger, lobster or the lobster roll. Whatever you order comes with a good serving of delicious salty fries plus a small side salad and the best part.....each option is priced at only £20 each. 

The interior in Mayfair is dark, cosy and laid back, offering booths, crowded tables and bar stools giving it a funky, modern pub/chalet/diner feel. Because they only have three items on offer there is no food menu but they do have an extensive wine, beer and cocktail menu! And did I mention that when you order the lobster you get a bib? Yes a bib = LOVE!

Proudly showing off our Burger & Lobster bibs!

Don't get me wrong, I love a good burger but at £20 for a whole lobster...this is not a hard decision! 

The lobster comes steamed or grilled (both delicious) served with a rather indulgent garlic butter sauce.

There has been plenty of debate over why anyone would pay £20 for a burger when a whole lobster in on offer at the same price but apparently the ratio of orders at lunchtime is currently about 50/50, although the lobster seems to win out in the evenings. But I have to admit that their american-style burgers are pretty damn good!

Burger & Lobster is owned by the Goodman chain so this means the burger is made from high-end meat and it can be served with cheese and bacon at no extra cost.

To finish off the meal they have two desserts options, which I think change occasionally, and we got both options to share; vanilla cheesecake and a baileys mousse with salted caramel which were equally scrumptious!

So...delicious food, great drinks, fun atmosphere and all for an affordable price; what more can you ask for? Well the only downside is their no-reservations policy; two-hour+ waits for tables is not uncommon! But I am happy to announce that, due to the success of their Mayfair restaurant, this summer they opened up another branch in Soho plus a third location is due to open up in Farringdon later this month that both DO take bookings - HOORAY!!

If you are looking a fun night out with good, affordable food I think you can't go past Burger & Lobster! It's definitely a winner in my books. What would you order; Burger or Lobster? 

Burger and Lobster

SOHO - 36 Dean Street,W1D 4PS, London

MAYFAIR - 29 Clarges Street, W1J 7EF, London

http://burgerandlobster.com 

Twitter: @Londonlobster

Lunch at Clementine's in LA

As a bit of self-proclaimed foodie, before going on holiday, I made sure I did my research to find some great 'go-to' places for meals. On one of my favourite blogs, Cupcakes and Casmere, Emily recommends the cafe Clementine as a fab place to grab lunch or to "meet a friend". So when we randomly drove past Clementine's one afternoon in LA we felt this would be the perfect spot to stop for a bite to eat!

Check out the massive Rolls Royce that pulled up outside whilst we were there! The place however isn't posh or exclusive. It has a lovely relaxed cafe feel that serves a variety of organic and freshly baked or prepared food.

Inside the cafe they have an widespread selection of fresh food to order from the counter or a menu with even more options. All their muffins and sweets looked amazing and I was very tempted to grab one of their granola-to-go boxes...just because ;)

In the end I decided on a mixed salad plate which meant I could choose three salads from the deli counter..now the only problem was which mouthwatering salad to pick! To drink I got their tropical iced tea which was very refreshing!

My scrumptious mix was the summer chicken salad, the grilled squash medley and the beetroot lentil salad with goats cheese. Nom nom...

Sitting outside on the terrace enjoying our lunch!

 

This was probably one of my favourite cafes in LA so I would definitely recommend it if you are ever in the area :) You can read Emily's other great recommendations in her 'Guide to LA' here. From her list I also went to Urth Caffe, Toast Bakery and Sur restaurant. Have you ever been to LA; if so what's your favourite cafe there? Xoxo