Pettigrew Tea Rooms - Festive Afternoon Tea

Morning everyone!

I'm sure by now everyone knows that afternoon tea is just one of those wonderful occasions - copious amounts of tea, tiny sandwiches and a seriously calorific load of cake.

It's a typically British thing and I like to indulge in it as often as possible. Festive versions are a particular favourite as I also love christmas, combining the two is the best thing I've ever heard of so without further ado, let's tuck in to the menu from Pettigrew this year!

Me and my mum decided to have a Christmas shopping day in Cardiff this year, with only the Christmas markets and the labyrinth of arcades to wander around. It's always one of my favourite days of the year and having not yet visited Pettigrew Tea Rooms myself it was the perfect excuse.

Their Christmas High Tea cost £16.50 and included a mince pie and mulled wine, festive filled sandwiches, Christmas scones and also a slice of homemade cakes - I was drooling just thinking about it!



On arrival we were shown to our table in the corner and our mulled wine and mince pie delivered. I have to say that the mince pie was one of the nicest I have had. It was quite hot so I had to wait a little while for it to cool down but as someone who isn't too big a fan of mince pies I enjoyed it.

The mulled wine was also delicious, but sadly I felt like this was a token gesture as this was essentially the size of a shot glass. It tasted wonderful and the slice of orange was a great addition but I was really disappointed this wasn't a normal size glass, it's not what you expect.
(it also wasn't that hot but it was the size that was more disappointing!)

Moving on, we then chose 2 fillings each for the sandwiches which were freshly made to order.



I chose the cheese and chutney, and the salmon and cream cheese. I LOVE salmon and it's a staple in an afternoon tea, it was wonderful as expected and the bread was super tasty.

The cheese and chutney sandwiches were also lovely, I'm intolerant of dairy and bread so generally I avoid it in my day to day life and then on the odd occasion I can treat myself without getting ill. I honestly save myself up for days like this and these sandwiches were worth the wait - I'm craving my usual Boxing Day cheese feast ever since all because of these sandwiches!



After this we had the scones, which were on the very top of the stand. These weren't normal scones however, these were Cranberry and Brandy scones - absolutely delicious!!!!

These were the best part of the entire afternoon for me and with the jam and cream too were outstanding. Even my mum, who enjoys homemade cake but doesn't really eat that much of it, ate her so fast I wondered where it was gone! That really was testament to how lovely they were, and I'd go back for one of these alone.

Yes I do put jam on first before the cream, how on earth else are you supposed to do it....?!

After this we were extremely full, and still had a cake to go! We had the opportunity to go and choose a cake from the counter and the choice was another factor that was outstanding. The variety was amazing from your classic Victoria sponge to Chocolate and Beetroot, Clementine and Polenta,


We chose to come home with a slice of Chocolate and Beetroot, and a Date, Fig and Salted Caramel to share for our tea. It was around 8pm before I tucked into my halves of them and they were so gorgeous, the chocolate cake was really moist courtesy of the beetroot but still tasted so luxurious. The date, fig and salted caramel was a great surprise, I'm not a date or fig fan but this cake was so lovely and I'd order it again. It wasn't overwhelmed by the salted caramel either so it was well balanced.

Overall I enjoyed my first experience of the afternoon tea at Pettigrew Tea Rooms. It was a lovely quaint venue and the scones and sandwiches were very tasty. 

I was disappointed with the tepid mulled wine and also that only one pot of tea was included, in most places the tea is unlimited. It's a fairly cheap addition to the meal and we only asked for one more between us, so it felt like a bit of a con to have to pay for more.

My favourite part was the scones and the homemade cake, I'd happily return in future for either of these and I loved the chance to try out some different types of cake to your average!

What do you think of Pettigrew Tea Rooms? Have you tried their afternoon teas?
Do you rate festive versions?

The Christmas High Tea at Pettigrew's costs £16.50 per person and is available until the 10th of January, so get in quick!

L xxx

Celtic Manor Festive Afternoon Tea

Hey all!

Today's post is from a wonderful event that we were lucky enough to attend last weekend. Unfortunately M was still in the process of moving so she couldn't attend but I couldn't turn the opportunity down - afternoon tea with a festive twist at the fabulous Celtic Manor.

So now you know the order of the event, how does the menu size up to the occasion?

Check out the multiple courses below - so droolworthy!



Wooaaaah there, I certainly needed to do a fair few laps around the block to work off these treats!

Don't feel too overwhelmed though, I'll take you through each course and it will feel just like you were there with me. First of all, take a look at this table decoration, so classic and beautiful. The flowers are so perfect:







The first part of the event was a talk through how Celtic Manor make their mulled wine. They normally use a red wine such as Claret and Port and then warm through the wine with some orange and cloves, and spice the wine with cinnamon. We had a demonstration of this and were allowed to taste the first batch for this year.

So for someone who normally doesn't drink wine I tend to not have any issues with mulled wine (for some reason after 1 glass I get quite ill for a few days - and no this isn't because I'm instantly drunk and hungover!). Maybe it's the heating but it doesn't seem to affect me so I gladly tried some of this.

Not only was it lovely and warm, it was like Christmas in a cup! Soothing and spiced to perfection I would highly recommend this if you are going to Celtic Manor for absolutely anything over the festive period.

Before long Carl the Head Pastry chef arrived to tell us all about the treats on the menu.

Above shows the first basket of the day - the savoury treats. The crayfish, mango and chilli blini is probably my favourite of the four, with the Welsh rarebit with Y-Fenni cheese and tomato chutney coming in a close second. The other two were also great but my love of cheese and crayfish wins out this time!

Just as a refresher, here's the full menu. so far we have have the mulled wine and the Festive Savoury Treats. Next arrived the 'Tower of Wonder' as I will now affectionately be calling it. Take a look



So many beautiful treats!!! Where on earth do you start?!





I'm pretty set on my routine, I have to eat the sandwiches first and then proceed to the sweet things. It's just ingrained in me that sweet follows savoury, but I'm getting more open to mixing things up for multiple courses next time as there were so many sweet treats to choose from!

I'd say that the smoked salmon and lemon mayonnaise were my favourite, but the surprise favourite was the egg mayo with shallots and chives - surprisingly good and I'd take a whole plate of them next time.

After I'd polished those off it was time to start on the Hand Made Cakes and Pastries.



They are quite honestly afternoon tea perfection - small and perfectly formed but each one packing a punch. These were hands down the most exciting part of the meal and so I'll briefly talk through each one in a clockwise direction.

The mince pie has a little twist with a shortbread top and dustings of sugar, I've not eaten mince pies for a few years after overdosing on them in 2012. This was a gorgeous start to my plate and has put mince pies back onto my menu - although I'm not sure they will measure up to this one again.

Next is the Florentine slice which has a thick cake base instead of a biscuit. I really liked this as I'm a fan of almonds and the cake base was a lovely twist.

The Carrot Cake cupcake had an apricot jam centre and a huge dollop of cinnamon buttercream. This was very yummy and might have been my favourite of the cakes and pastries. Carrot cake is my favourite type of cake and in cupcake form like this it's almost possible to put it in your mouth in one bite - it's gorgeous!



So from left to right:

The waffle cone with pistachio and marzipan cream was super sweet, this was again gorgeous but for someone who doesn't eat much cream nowadays this was a little too sweet for me personally.

The Christmas pudding is actually a truffle. They make over 3500 Christmas puddings at Celtic Manor each year, containing 56L of Guinness and unknown amounts of rum. They decided this year to create a little more and add it to a white chocolate ganache and then roll it in chocolate to create the exterior seen above. I have to say this was a surprising addition to the afternoon tea, no one really expects a truffle as part of their afternoon tea do they?!
It was hard to break through the chocolate as I didn't want to ruin it but the truffle inside was really nice and tasted sweet but not overly so and tasted just like Christmas pudding. Definitely worth a try.

Last but not least was the Bara Brith with Penderyn Whiskey and marmalade, topped with marzipan and icing and a lovely Christmas tree. I could taste the whiskey and marmalade as soon as I put it into my mouth and I thought it was really good.

Super full? I was totally overwhelmed with goodies by this point - and then the scones arrived!

A basket was delivered with a Cranberry and mixed spice scone and a Vanilla and Chestnut scone, both warm with pots of jam and cream for you to help yourself.

The Vanilla and Chestnut scone was a lovely change and the chestnut was a great festive addition. However the Cranberry and spice scone was by far my favourite and tasted of Christmas as soon as I could get near it! It was so fruity and smelt so amazing.

All of this was also supplied with a wealth of freshly brewed tea, 6 varieties were available including English Breakfast tea and Peppermint which is what I ordered. I think I had 7 cups in total as it was all so refreshing.

The afternoon was absolutely amazing and it was such a privilege to be invited, here we were altogether for a group photo. It was great to meet some bloggers I have met before and heard of from twitter, and also some new faces.





So what do you think of the utterly fabulous Festive Afternoon tea???

How much do you want to tuck into it and try all of the treats?

You can book yourself in for this Festive Afternoon tea from the 1st of December until mid January, midweek will cost you £26, and Saturday and Sunday will cost £36.

L xxx

Festive Make Up Ideas

Hello there!

I'm sure we are all feeling very full and probably a little ashamed of our eating habits yesterday. As usual I ended up eating a massive Christmas dinner with cheesecake to finish and then following it up with a second round later on in the evening along with chocolates and nibbles....the guilt is unreal.

The last thing that is on my mind right now is getting ready for my next night out, particularly New Year's Eve as it seems so far away and another eating/drinking session seems a bit vile. However the planning necessary for the hair and make up element of the night seems a nice and easy task right now.

I've been looking up some inspiration and instead of trying to create my own to show you I thought I'd leave it to the more capable hands of Pinterest. All of these images have come from my account if you'd like to view them (username is 'thecsigirls' you can find it by clicking in the toolbar to the right)

So yes, to double clarify, none of these are my own just purely some inspiration for some simple and some more extravagant beauty ideas for the end of year party.

London at Christmas: Part 2

This is my second post of my trip to London, if you missed the first you can read it here. It's all about the shop window displays at Liberty and Selfridges.

This post continues on from there when we went to Harrods and Covent Garden.

Harrods is the next store that really needs no introduction. The sign is another that is iconic enough!

Harrods store looks absolutely stunning lit up, we were lucky enough to get there just as it was starting to get dark at 4ish and it looks so pretty.
The windows and doors were framed with hedges that were filled with fairy lights. It was so simple but effective.

As for the actual window displays the theme was based on the Orient Express and each window was a different carriage:

Each window was dressed so beautifully and extravagantly I felt like I'd gone back in time. Not only were the models dressed fabulously the scenes were exquisite and the attention to detail was out of this world.

This one was my favourite, mainly because of the unbelievable dress and stunning Louboutins

Another of my favourite things was every carriage had a 'window' which was a tv screen with a rolling view of snowy landscapes and even some famous landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower which i managed to snap quickly!

The windows were amazing and obviously getting inside the store was even better. I didn't enjoy wandering around Harrods as much because I had a lot of shopping by this point and there were so many other people around.
The food section was unlike anything I've ever seen before and I would absolutely die to go there and sample some of the freshly made food as it was stunning and smelt like I was abroad depending on which stand I was near.

Wandering around London was great in itself and each street was lined with rows and rows of Christmas lights and baubles:

The above photo is one of my favourites as the snowflakes are beautiful!

Our last stop was Covent Garden which wasn't planned but as we had a bit of spare time we couldn't resist a wander around here too.

The massive baubles and disco balls were so beautiful and made the whole place light up!

Outside near the Royal Opera house was a massive hedge reindeer covered in lights and even had a red nose; touches like this are so special and make the whole Christmas experience that much better.





This tree was the opposite side to the reindeer and was absolutely huge!

London was so much fun to walk around and the Christmas decorations in streets, windows and stores were absolutely gorgeous!

Have you or will you be making a trip into London to the shops?

I think it will have to become a tradition for me and my mum!

L xxx

Christmas Party Outfit Wishlist

I spent last night browsing some of my favourite online stores for something new to wear on Saturday. This year me and the ladies I work with are all going out for lunch and cocktails. I wasn't going to buy anything new but I've found myself staring into my wardrobe wanting new. I thought I'd share with you some of my favourite picks for the festive season.

Matalan

I definitely have a love hate relationship with Matalan, I either want to buy the whole store or can't find anything. At the moment I'm loving it all, simple classics, cosy jumpers, gorgeous shoes and accessories.

First is the Abbey Clancy Mess Insert Maxi Dress. This comes in at a bargain £20. I love the simplicity of this dress and think with some big chunky bangles it would be perfect for a night out. The Textured Jersey Dress is another bargain at only £18. I do love how reasonable pricing is. I love the black panels to help slim down and give a more hour glass shape and think it's a classy dress for going out with work colleagues. Sky scraper heels and a statement necklace would finish this off. The Cotton Spandex Skort I really want to find a nice skort. I have big hips so struggle to find one that sits right on me. I think this would be great to dress up of down and is in the sale for £10. Lastly is the Ponte Skort, this is another £10 bargain. The blue colour is amazing and is a great alternative to all the blacks around at the moment.

George at Asda

I mainly shop it Asda as it's a two minute walk from my flat and can never resist a cheeky browse of the clothing. I love all the midi dresses and big jumpers currently in store as well as their amazing selection of festive dresses.

Firstly is the Moda Embellished Jacquard Dress. I love the Jacquard print for winter and think the blue tone is a nice alternative to black. Finished off perfectly with a bit of sparkle. I find skater cut dress some of the most flattering on me. This retails for £25. The Embellished Neck Dress retails for a purse friendly £18. I love that the neck detail can be removed so after the Christmas season you have a great plain LBD. I think both these skirts would be great with a chiffon black vest top and statement jewellery to add some sparkle. I love simple pieces that can be dressed up so I can get lots of wear out of them. The Check Kilt retails for £14 and the Jacquard Spot Midi skirt for just £12.

New Look

New look is my fail safe usually for an emergency outfit. I can usually find something I like and it's reasonably priced.

The Kelly Brook Black Embellished Shoulder Long Sleeved Midi Dress immediately caught my eye. I love shoulder detail on dresses. It's just enough sparkle without being over the top and I've lately found myself very drawn to midi dresses. It is a little more pricey though at £39.99. The Navy Structured Mesh Panel Midi Dress retails for a more purse friendly £22.99. I love the panel detail to help emphasise the waist and I'm more of a fan of navy compared to black. Lastly is three tops. I find smart tops are what I'm lacking most of in my wardrobe. I love the simplicity of the Burgundy Chiffon Cami and think it would be great with the black skort. Chiffon vest tops are something I really need and these are only £9.99. With Christmas coming I'm definitely being drawn to sparkle. The Black Embellished Neck Shell Top  is £19.99 and will be perfect for dressing up skirts, jeans or shorts easily. Last but not least is this absolutely gorgeous Embellished Sheer Scallop Hem Top. I think this could be my favourite of all. I love the 20s feel of it and can imagine pairing it with a bright red lip and black liner. I definitely feel like my wardrobe needs this!!

Are you off to any Christmas Parties? What's on your wishlist for the festive season?

Love M

xxx