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.