Day Trip to Colchester Zoo

Me and my little sister, she 16 so not that little, found some vouchers on groupon to go to Colchester zoo, for £18.95?each with late night opening as well. We took the train up to Colchester, we booked a off peak day return ticket so that we had more freedom with our time. Getting into Colchester at 11.30ish meant that we had time to look around and get some lunch before heading to the zoo.

We decide that yates looked nice and not to expensive to try. Although the meals weren't badly priced the drinks brought the price up and we ended up spring around £18/19 here. £5.50 each for the fish and chips and £2.75 each for pint of coke and then a portion of onions rings. We had the fish and chips, there portions were very good as had 2 pieces of fish and a big portion of chips there were both very hot where as the peas were minimal and a little cold. My fish was alright but one of my sisters pieces tasted funny so we left that but as there was enough to fill us both up we didn't complain (maybe we should have..). The staff were friendly enough but wouldn't recommend going here, if we ever go to Colchester again we'll find somewhere that looks nicer.

Pesto Noodle

I love making myself lunch for work but sometimes it is just finding the time to do so. Quick and simple meals are something that I absolutely love as then I know what I'm eating and what's gone into it.

Serves 1 

Ingredients 

5 mushrooms, sliced 

1 Spring onion

1/4 courgette, thinly sliced 

1/4 jar of sundried pesto 

1/2 chicken breast (cooked and diced up)

5 stalks of long stem broccoli 

50-75g fresh noodles (or dried noodles cooked by the packs instructions) 

1tbsp soya sauce 

1tbsp Worcestershire sauce 

Method 

1. Cook the broccoli in a pan of boiling water or in a microwaveable bowl with water and cover with cling film for about 4-5 minutes, till tender, chop up to bitesize pieces 

2. Put oil in a frying pan and add the courgette for a minute before adding the mushrooms. Cook for a further 3 minutes till lightly coloured. Add the chicken.

3. Add the sundried tomato pesto, soya sauce and Worcestershire sauce and mix so the sauces combine . Add the noodle and broccoli and stir for 3-4 minutes and serve. 

Keep Loving Food

Karen

Café Nero, Tea and pain au raisin

I am a great lover of a good pot of tea and my usual haunt for a pot is cafe Nero as I know that they can make a hot pot of tea. I treated myself to a pain au raisin which was just how I like it flaky on the outside and soft and moist inside ,bordering on under baked. I usually go to the cafe Nero on gentleman's walk (near the markets for those know Norwich but don't know street names, like me) but today I tried the one inside house of Fraser in Chapelfields. The staff were friendly and polite but feel that they could of had an extra pair of hands as tables needed cleaning but only two staff were visible and they were dealing with the queue, doing a good job at keeping the queue flowing though. They had a 4 different muffins, 2 type of cake slices, and a few other sweet patisseries available but not the range that the other one has.  Over all I prefer the cafe Nero on gentleman's walk but this one is a nice hidden cafe in Chapelfields.

Keep Loving Food

Karen

Hartlands Fish Shop

I do love a good sausage and chips, however on a Sunday many chippy ain't open! But this one is, till 9pm (if memory serves me right). I can't say it's the best chippy as I prefer the chips at the frying machine down the road but for a ability they are great, plus it's on my route home so don't have to go out of my way. Their sausages are on par with most chippys, though grosvenors is still my favourite. I had a regular chips and a regular sausage and that was to much for my sister though just right for me, but maybe a little small for those with a big appetite so recommend getting a large if your really hungry. The staff were ever so friendly having a chat as my fries were cooking, apologising for the wait and really nice. I shall eat here again if I fancy chips after work as they are a good place, especially on a Sunday.

Keep loving food 

Karen

Cheese straws

My dad was complaining about all the sweet things I've been baking lately and why I haven't made cheese scones or straws. I decide that cheese straws sounded nice so found a recipe in Simply Baking by Sybil Kapoor. The recipe was simple enough but not cheesy enough for my dad so I would recommend adding extra cheese if you like cheesy cheese straws.

Rooibos Tea Cakes

I do love a good cup of tea and trying many types of tea but on of my favourites is Rooibos tea, or red tea as some people call it. So after finding a recipe for early grey tea cakes in The Hummingbird Bakery - Cake Days cookbook I thought that it would be good to try a rooibos tea adaption, as there were variations for peppermint or fruit tea in the book. I had some tea laying around I gave them ago and was very pleased with the outcome.

I always half the icing quantity that that cookbooks say as I find that they make far to much and can always make more if I don't have enough. My recipe below uses half of the cookbooks ingredients for the icing and yet still covered all 24 cakes.

7 Heaven Burger & Waffle

I saw this place advertised on groupon so decided that me and my other half would try it for half price burgers. Now what I didn't realise was that it was just for the burger, chips and other add ons are extra. Whist this is good if you just fancy a burger I'd rather just have a meal.

The restaurant is in the centre of the city giving it a prime location for customers. If you know Norwich it is near the market and Jarolds. It is a small establishment with around 6/7 tables but the decor is nice and inviting and a little rustic.

Bitesized Rose Scones

Scones have not been a strong point for me, however with a little practice I'm sure that I will get the hang of them one day. I used a recipe from National Trust Simply Baking by Sybil Kapoor, which had a plain scones recipe as a base and then some adaptations underneath. The adaption I tried was for Rose Scones. This was as simple as adding 1/2tsp of rose water/ flavour to the milk before mixing it into the flour. However, you really have to be careful using rose water/ flavour as can be extremely strong and overpower the bake. No more than 1/2 tsp (maybe a little less) is advised.

Although I have made about 24 bite-size scones, 8 larger ones can be made from the same quantity of dough. 

Recipe Below

Pact Coffee

I'm not a huge coffee drinker but my other half is, so we like to have coffee in the house.Whilst I have been told that I can't make a good cup of instant coffee to save my life, I can make a good cup of freshly ground coffee. I found an offer to try pact coffee and have been sharing and inviting friends ever since, it's a bonus that I get my next bag for £1 instead of £6.95 for doing so. Although this isn't instant coffee I was lucky enough to  borrow a small cafetiere from my parents in which I could brew this coffee. I don't have a coffee grinder but you can order coffee beans whole or have it ground for you. Now with this coffee my boyfriend can wake up with a good cup each time.

The coffee is a little expensive but it tastes really nice and even I will have a mug or two occasionally. Each 250g bag is £6.95 with the exception of their Limited Edition, which is £8.95. The website says that each bag will make approximately 15 cups of coffee but in my experience they make more so not bad value for money really, just depends how much you like nice coffee.

Healthy Start to the Day

I used to be a serial breakfast skipper but one looking into weight loss and healthy eating a couple of years ago, I realised that it was a key part of my diet and a really good started my day. It really helps me keep full till lunch. Since then I have always had breakfast (unless I have a long lay in till 11-12ish then I have lunch straight away). 

Since I started having breakfast I used to loved sugar coated cereals but after finding and experimenting with granola/muesli and fruits I started having a healthier option. Calories wise my healthy breakfast always adds up more that a normal bowl of cereal, but tastes so much nicer and I get in a good portion on fruit to boot.

Fresh Doughnuts

                                                   

My boyfriend told me that I couldn't make doughnuts as of the dirty oil but armed with fresh oil for the deep fryer I ready to attempt them! For a first go I think it went rather well. I found a doughnut recipe in John Whaite bakes book and the Great British Bake Off (which one) book they were both the same recipe except the method was written slightly differently as well as the type of filling they used. So I used John Whaite bakes.

                                       

Crispy Chicken, Onion rings and homemade Chips

This is a rather unhealthy meal, but being unhealthy in moderation is a nice treat now and then. Just going to try and be good the rest of the week.  

My Boyfriend decided that he needed to change the oil for the deep fat fryer so thought it would be an awesome opportunity to make deep fried chicken, and to go along side this homemade onion rings and chips. I found a recipe to follow in Gordon Ramsey's Ultimate Home Cooking recipe book for Buttermilk Chicken and Homemade Chips. 

I made the chicken in batches and I changed my cooking method for the second batch. For one, the deep fryers temperature was too high the first time and made the coating very dark and chicken only just cooked (I don't want to give anyone food poising). Therefore I put the chicken in the oven after the coating tuned a nice golden colour to cook the chicken thoroughly. The onion rings and chips worked well first time though. 

Recipes for Crispy Chicken, Onion Rings and Chips Below

Sausage Roll and Mash With Onion and Mushroom Gravy

Haven't had a good sausage roll in ages so decided to make one! Found a recipe in The Constance Spry Cookery Book that I bought over the weekend, it recommend using flaky pastry so that's why I did. But I didn't just want a sausage roll so I served it with mash and a lovely reduced gravy. This made a good size lunch and I absolutely love how the gravy absorbs the onion/garlic and mushroom flavor as it reduces down.









Recipes Below 

Sausage and Chips - Grosvenor Fish Bar

There are two fish and chip shops with an eat in restaurants within Norwich city centre... That I know of and three fish and chip stalls on the market (2 long standing ones and 1 newish one).

Now the market stalls are the cheapest options and there are 2 really good, long standing ones. One is Ron's and the other is Lucy's, personally I always go to Ron's as they do battered sausages and Lucy's has an un-battered one, but whenever I go to the market there is usually a queue for both. The other one is Chip and Dip and is relatively new and not as popular. 

The two
restaurant style shops in the city centre are Orford Plaice and Grosvenor Fish Bar! Now I have tried both and I have to say Grosvenor's chips are much nicer and the atmosphere is better... however Orfords Plaice is more central being next to Debenhams while Grosvenor's is down the lanes which is a little further out. I haven't had a chance to compared their fish yet but their sausages are around the same quality but Grosvenor's has three sizes. These two establishments are pricier than the market stalls but still really good value.

Grosvenors Menu has items that you'll find in most chippys but they also have specials giving them a good range to go along side their chips including squid, tuna, mackerel and Shark nuggets! I really need to try more of these but I always end up fancying a sausage.