Somerset Days Out

I'm winding down with work at the moment and so been given a few random days of. Last week, I jumped in the car, picked up a friend and headed up the M5 to the North Devon Coast.  Isn't this drive incredible?

We'd been driving for ages trying to get to Croyde Bay, and eventually saw signs for Beach car parking. In a split second, I'd turned the car, parked up and was walking onto warm sand. It turned out that we hadn't found Croyde Bay at all, but instead had gotten to Saunton Sands. Just as pretty, it's a less touristy than the others, frequented mainly by surfers and families. We found a pretty spot, laid out in the sun, chatted and read magazines for a while.

I tried to go for a dip, but the water was freezing so I hurried back and got an icecream instead, one cold treat for another! Kelly's butterscotch and chocolate for me, and honeycomb and chocolate for my friend. It was huge and I couldn't eat it fast enough! It was melting so quickly that I'm sure more was on my hands than in my mouth. 

After a long long stint of sunbathing, we went for a walk and started clambering up the sand dunes in flip flops (it's really hard and really quite funny) 

Check out those beach huts! I love the colours

Wandering of the sand dunes and into a much more secluded part of the beach, theres a beautiful little private bay, albeit slightly rocky.

Followed by a pool of algae:

The day was finished with fresh fish and chips and I drove back home, feeling happy and refreshed. I highly recommend North Devon if you ever need a break from a busy schedule. It's the perfect place to get away, and easily one of the most beautiful parts of England that I have ever seen. One last picture to show you just how beautiful it really is.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

I love a good carrot cake so I’ve tried a few and while I don’t really want to oversell this, I think I’ve found the best recipe of the batch. A deliciously moist sponge with the perfect amount of spice interspersed with chunks of walnuts and pecans to add some depth to the texture.  I based my recipe on the one from the hummingbird bakery, but adjusted it slightly to make them spicier. Pecans and walnuts for extra flavor, and cupcakes because what could be better than your own mini cake. 

Just look at that perfect dome! 

To make your own you do need a whole host of ingredients; 300ml of vegetable oil, 3 eggs, 300grams of brown sugar, 300grams self raising flour, 1/2tsp of salt, 1tsp cinnamon, 1tsp of ginger, 1tsp of nutmeg, 1/2tsp of ground cloves, 1tsp vanilla essence. 300grams grated carrots, 75gr chopped pecans, 75 grams of chopped walnuts.  I managed to get 20 cupcakes out of this recipe.

Once you’ve gotten all of that together, you want to whisk together the eggs, sugar and oil until you have something that looks like this:

Make sure you’ve got plenty of air mixed in; it helps with the fluffiness of the cupcakes later on. Add all your dry ingredients to this, gently folding them into the mix. The batter will start to thicken up and be much nicer on the eyes. Finally, add your vanilla essence and you’re done.

Pour your mix into muffin trays filling them 2/3 of the way.  These rise beautifully so don’t over do it, bake for exactly 22 minutes at 170 degrees and finally you’ll be left with these. PS. Ignore the ones in the middle on the far right and left they were misbehaving.

Personally I think these are best straight from the oven, with a cup of tea. If you manage to have any left over by the time they’re cooled, cream cheese icing on top is pretty much the perfect pairing.

Check out these beauties : ) I took them to work the next day and they were demolished by 11am.

Tom's Deli

Brunch is possibly my favourite meal of the day. It's the epitome of a lazy day for me; a nice lie in, and then hop over to somewhere delicious to have someone else make me food. 

A little while ago, the other half and I decided to go to Tom's Deli in Notting Hill. To me this place is like an alice in wonderland grotto for food. Sweets, coffee, salad bar, you name it; plus it has stars hanging from the ceiling so it gets a thumbs up from me.  It's always full, so we got there early and managed to find a seat in a dark back corner. By the time we left the queue was halfway down the street. 

I got avocado, poached eggs and salsa on toast, and  he got the veggie breakfast. Both cooked to perfection, and utterly divine.  I scoffed down all of mine and probably half of his. 

lollipops the size of my head!
If you'd like to visit you can find Tom's at: 
Tom's Deli
226 Westbourne Grove
London
W11 2RH
020 7221 8818