Owlcrate October 2017

I'v e been tweeting recently about how my love for books hasn't really made it onto the blog before so I've been making a conscious effort to share it and also get myself back into reading more regularly.

I signed up for Owlcrate in September and wrote about the September box here so I thought I'd share my thoughts on the October box too.

Afternoon Tea at The Cavendish, London

Hello!

A few weeks ago we went to London for the weekend, we managed to pack in quite a few activities in the 2 days we were there for and one of them was afternoon tea. Obviously!

Life Update

Hi all!

The first 2 months of the year have flown by, I've been trying to save some money so have been keeping things fairly low key. I've been out for lots of tea and cake, made a few things for my house and have been trying to up my photography game!

T2 Tea - T2 Choc

Morning all!

As with most British people, we are also tea addicts. We love a normal Tetley brew but also love trying out herbal and loose leaf teas. My brother knows this and he bought me the T2 Choc loose leaf tea selection box when he went to Bath.

It was a lovely surprise and I've been really enjoying trying out the flavours, but first up, look at the funky packaging!

How funky is it?! I love the contrasting colours and the writing, I wonder what it actually says!

The T2 Choc contains 10 loose leaf tea sachets of varying flavours, I'd say each sachet would make a small pot of tea or two cups. This is extremely useful as sometimes I've botched the first cup by making it too strong or adding milk when I shouldn't!

Each sachet does have it's own instructions, including the temperature of the water, the brewing time and what you need to enjoy it with.

This was a god send as at the time I was still a novice with loose leaf tea!





The first flavour I tried was Choc Chip Chai, and it didn't disappoint. However it did have a lot of cloves, and I missed the part when it said to add milk and honey....

My second cup of it was beautiful though, so I was glad that I did it in two sittings. I took out a few cloves and added the milk and honey and it was awesome. I was eagerly awaiting my next cup to try a different flavour.

Also in the box was White White Cocoa, Terrific Toffee, Red Choc Mint, Cocoa Loco, Caramel Brownie, Chocolate, Jade Mountain, Lamington and Creme Brulee.

I've tried most of the dessert sounding flavours - Terrific Toffee, Caramel Brownie and Creme Brulee all smell and taste really good, although I think the smells are particularly inviting!

I've still got a few to try out but I've been really impressed with this box and the selection it has to offer so far.
I'm a bit disappointed that I can't find it on their website, it's quite hard to navigate through and I couldn't find it. Maybe it's a store exclusive or something but I would have liked to know if I could buy it again and see how much it is.


Are you a tea fan? Do you like trying out loose leaf teas like this?

L xxx

English Tea Shop: Detox Me

Happy Sunday morning!

I don't know about you but we love tea, all types and flavours and we love trying new ones even more.

I've always been a big fan of TK Maxx and Home Sense but recently I've found myself going there more often and particularly to the food and book section. You can never go wrong with buying books and tea right? It's like they are made for each other!

I've seen the English Tea Shop brand quite a lot and so decided to give some of their blended teas a try. Today's post is about their Organic Detox Me tea, but rest assured I also have 2 other flavours to tell you all about - I just can't help myself and keep going back!

The Detox Me tea contains Peppermint, Spearmint, Elderflowers, Fenugreek and Rosemary, and the box contains 16 pyramid style tea bags.

I've been loving trying loose leaf teas recently but sometimes it's great to be able to ust grab the tea bag and let it infuse without messing around with measuring it out.

This tea you simply need to add to boiling water water and infuse for 2/3 minutes, and then maybe add some sugar if you think it is necessary. I didn't need to add any sugar at all and I really liked the refreshing taste.



Sometimes the detox type teas can smell and taste a bit vile, or contain a large amount of licorice and green tea, or even give you some undignified side effects (we've all tried those teas by now I'm sure!).

I didn't find I had any of those with this tea and found it quite refreshing due to the mint. You can see the colour of the tea in the image below, served in one of my favourite Alice in Wonderland mugs from Whittards. I have the full set of these mugs thanks to some lush relatives, definitely have the tea pot on my list for Christmas though as it is also gorgeous (it's not too early for the C word right?!)

I have quite a few teas in my collection now as you can see by my shrine in the image above- maybe you think I'm obsessive but I just love trying out different types!

This particular tea cost me around £2.50 from Home Sense, but is available from Amazon for £5.82 at the time of posting. They aren't cheap but really worth it for the quality of the taste and the blends. They have quite a few I would love to try and the Peppermint Loose Leaf tea is a firm favourite of mine anyway - it lives on my wishlist for future repurchasing!

Have you tried anything from the English Tea Shop? Do you have any flavour recommendations?

Are you a loose leaf or a bag fan?? I think each have their time and place!

L xxx

Birthday Time!

Hi all!

It was my birthday last weekend so posts the last week have been a little thin on the ground...it was lovely to have a long weekend for it and I had something planned every day which was really nice.

It was overall quite a quiet weekend but to be honest I'm getting to the age where using a long weekend to see friends and catch up on sleep and good food is the best kind of weekend!

First me and M had an afternoon tea session at Celtic Manor which was amazing as you would expect. It was the Chocolate Afternoon Tea which is available until the 19th of June - we will definitely be writing a full post on this as it is beautiful! Here's a few snaps to show you how amazing:

After that we just about made it through the front door, and had a girly evening in with face masks, tan and some prosecco to celebrate! It was a lovely evening, and M even made some Captain America cookies for me, how cute and clever are these??

After this we had a very civilised night out with yummy cocktails and a cheeky McDonalds which was really nice as we haven't been out for a while.

I also had a lovely meal with my family at Wahaca, me and my dad shared the Wahaca Selection which was lush to try so many different things and I washed it down with a Mexican hot chocolate which is dairy free. It was an interesting taste and I'd order it again but it's quite bitter so hard to finish the whole thing.

I had some amazing gifts from friends and family. My brother bought me a sushi making kit which I can't wait to try out and also a selection box from T2 tea who have some crazy loose leaf tea flavours such as Caramel Brownie and Choc Chip Chai.

M got me a lush Origins set with my favourite products in and a pre order of the Harry Potter and the Cursed child - who isn't excited for that!!
I also had another Barnes and Noble classic book to add to my book shelf. I'm getting quite a collection together now and can't wait to get as many as I can!

I also had some vouchers so I went shopping on the weekend and bought the Naked 2 palette which I have wanted for ages and also some stuff from Lush too!

It was a really nice weekend and it was a shock to go back to work last week!

I've been struggling ever since and now I'm away with work so am feeling all over the place, looking forward to getting back to normality and joining my new gym permanently when I get back.

What have you been up to lately? I have so many posts to catch up on and so much to share with you!

L xxx

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

Snacking Organic

Hey All

We were recently sent some snacks to try as part of a Organic September. Both L and I try to eat healthy as much as possible and organic is something my other half and I have been recently trying to buy. We recently made the decision to start up Riverford veg boxes which is a company that delivers in season organic fruit and veg! We are loving these so far and it definitely seems to taste better.  We also had a lot of hello fresh boxes which some of the products were organic (I'm not sure if it all was or not, you can read about those here).

Organic snacking isn't something I've really thought to look into, especially not teas. I love teapigs and some of them are organic but not all. 

As soon as the parcel arrived I couldn't wait to taste everything. I'm a fan of different teas and rooibos is a favourite. I've had the oatcakes a lot before as my mum was wheatfree for a while.

Kromland Farm Organic Rooibos Caramel Tea* retails for £2.49 for 40. For herbal teas I think it's a pretty standard price and not much more than normal herbal teas. For me I will definitely be repurchasing this. For a while I've been trying to reduce my caffeine intake. I have one of the giant sports direct mugs (tacky I know but as a tea lover the bigger the better, size matters!!) in work and I was drinking about 5 mugs of tea , green tea or coffee and more at home. Rooibos is naturally caffeine free and the natural caramel flavours adds a touch of sweetness to a rich tea. I like to drink this without milk. I've been swapping out about 3 of my massive mugs of tea for this instead so hopefully I'll be weaned off caffeine again soon except for my morning cuppa! I'm pretty evil without that! 

Next up is the Ombar Buttons Coco Mylk * which retail for £1.49. I was really dubious about these. I instantly assumed dairy free would then be some sort of fake chocolate and just not taste good or it would taste overly sweet. I was so pleasantly surprised by them. They get there flavour from Raw Cacao and coconut palm sugar. These are so good, they have a great natural chocolate flavour which is still creamy and not excessively sweet and a perfect taste of coconut that isn't overly fake. I also love that the ingredient list is pretty small, when I know most of the ingredients on something it does make me more intrigued to eat it. As well as being dairy free they are suitable for vegans!

Not the healthiest of snacks but both L and I would rather get out sweet treats in this way then a normal bar of chocolate.

Clearspring Snack Organic Tamari Roasted Sicilian Almonds* retail for £1.49. These were the clear winner in the snack we got to try. L is much better at snacking on nuts than I am. I don't tend to buy them much and I really should as they are a great source of fat and protein. To me unless I fancy it nuts seems a bit boring but these have got a great taste to them. It's hard to explain, slightly sweet, sour and just good really! (there is a reason I'll never be a food blogger I struggle beyond it tastes good, it tastes bad!!). I loved these so much I've already ordered more. They are great to keep at my desk for when I want a savoury snack.

Nairns Organic Oatcakes* retail for £1.09. I've had these a lot before as I mentioned above my mum used to follow a wheatfree diet so got these instead of bread. I'll start with what annoys me with them. I wish they came in 6 packs of 4 oatcakes rather than 4 pack of 6. When there is 6 in a pack I eat them all but would have been satisfied at 4. I really like these and always have. I find them pretty tasty and snack on them dry as they are most of the time. Or if I'm having them for lunch will have something like tuna or avocado and salmon. They do seem to go with everything and are a great way to start to introduce organic foods into your diet. I would have normally picked up non organic without thinking but would always grab the organic ones instead now.

Do you purchase any organic food? Would you now consider it?

Love M

xxx

The Angel Hotel Abergavenny

Hi all!

One of my Christmas presents was a voucher to go to the High Tea in the Angel Hotel in Abergavenny. I've heard a lot about this place a lot from when I used to work near there and lots from other friends and bloggers who have been.

I was really looking forward to it and I can tell you it didn't disappoint!

We were taken to a dining room where the china was so beautiful! It was all matching and perfectly placed, totally ideal for afternoon tea.

I wore my new black Ralph Lauren dress as its really smart but still chic - I love the leather edging to the V on the neck and the pockets, and it's also got plenty of room for cake!

And considering this amazing stand of food wasn't even all of the food included in the High Tea it was a good idea!

Just look at all of the beautiful pastries, delicate cakes and really cute sandwiches - I couldn't stop staring at all of the food but also couldn't wait to tuck in either.

Let's start with the pastries - coronation chicken, prawns, salmon, beef and stilton as well as cheese scones and quiche. I was totally loving this part as savoury food is my fave.

This was all absolutely divine, I managed to restrain myself from shoving them in one after another but as our time slot was 3pm I was so hungry it was difficult! Some of these also came out warm, it would have been rude to eat them cold right?



Next up we went through the sandwiches - egg mayo, ham and mustard, salmon, and cheese and onion. They were all really nice and the crusts were removed meaning the fillings were right up to the edges, something I personally think is vital in a sandwich!

The last tier was the cakes themselves. For every other level on the stand we had one of each of the pastries or sandwiches, for the middle level of cakes they were all to share or split between us which was fun!

There was tiramasu cake, custard slice, raspberry ripple sponge, lemon roulade, chocolate brownie, profiterole and biscuits. I can't begin to tell you how gorgeous these were, and although they were sweet they weren't overpowering and the lemon and raspberry were so real tasting.
We didn't manage to finish these because there were so many to eat but they do allow you to take home a box of everything that you can't manage!

Apart from the stand there was also a mini trifle each (I can't cope with jelly so I just ate the cream off the top..!) shown below:

There was also a warm scone with jam and cream brought out to you when you were ready for them. I am slightly ashamed to admit that I didn't manage to eat these at the hotel so we brought both of these back home with us and ate them later on. For the record, they may be the best scones I've ever eaten (not including my mums - eating them straight out of the oven is different!) but they really were GOOD.

Aside from the food there was also the tea menu, it's fabulous and super extensive. It is also seemingly unlimited for the duration of the 2 hour slot and I started with a lovely black tea (needed the caffeine for my 3pm slump) and then followed it with a Moroccan mint tea.

They were also really good and I would love to go back and find some more, if I wasn't so thirsty I would have been more adventurous with my tea choices.

I would 100% recommend the High Tea at the Angel Hotel in Abergavenny, it has a wonderful selection of cakes and pastries for everyone and the tea range is outstanding.

The menu for the Angel Hotel can be found here, and the prices for the Afternoon Tea is £21.80 and the High Tea is £26.80. It would be a great mother/daughter day, catch up with friends and family, and I did also see a sophisticated hen party there too!

It gets a full recommendation from me, have you been to afternoon tea at the Angel Hotel? Have you been to any others in South Wales that you would recommend?

L xxx