Seeds covered in chocolate

I know sounds a little strange but I can tell you now they are yummy! I also know that if your anything like me you'll be thinking, 'of course they taste lovely they are covered in chocolate'. And I would say yes your right. But its the way they have done it that makes them work. They havent just grabed a load of seeds and covered them they have chosen seeds that work the best together and also thrown some fruit in o the mix too. Also its not just any old chocolate its luxury Belgian milk and dark chocolate. 

They are a great snake at work and yes granted they are a little naughty but they are also filled with good stuff too. Well its better than a whole bar of solid chocolate sat on your desk?

Choccy Seeds are available in 50g snack bags (rrp £1.50) or boxes of 12 or 200g tubs online at www.munchyseeds.co.uk.  Large 500g tubs are available in Lakeland stores nationwide.

Free from Gluten, Cholestrol and artificial colours and flavourings.  Suitable for Vegetarians and Coeliacs. 

I've listed some of the mixes below...

Omega Mix – Savoury roasted 7 seed blend (pumpkin, sunflower, sesame, linseed, flax, hulled hemp and rape seeds)

Pumpkin Mix – Savoury roasted 3 seed blend (pumpkin, sunflower and sesame seeds)

Chilli Mix – Hot savoury roasted 3 seed blend (Apricot kernels, Pumpkin and sunflower seeds)

Vanilla – Sweet roasted pumpkin seeds dusted in vanilla icing sugar

Munchy Granola –Roasted oats, seeds, sultanas and orange zest drizzled with honey and maple syrup

Original – savoury roasted 2 seed blend (sunflower and sesame seeds)

Available in 200g tubs, 500g tubs or 30g snack pack size sachets.  Ideal for snacking, cooking and baking.

Stockists of these Munchy Seeds include Tesco Extra stores, Booths, Waitrose and Lakeland stores nationwide, plus  are available to buy directly via www.munchyseeds.co.uk or by calling 01728 833004.

New new new

If your looking for a little touch of lux then look no further...Ruinart Interpretation Giftbox: an innovative and interactive way to taste and discover Ruinart’s cuvée, Blanc de Blancs.  

The Ruinart Interpretation Giftbox explores the aromatic bouquet of Ruinart Blanc de Blancs, revealing the eight contributing aromas of the signature cuvée to offer a unique tasting experience. This beautifully crafted set brings to life an initiative that was designed to reveal the secrets of Ruinart Blanc de Blancs and to present a sociable format to discover the cuvee wine.

The Ruinart Interpretation Giftbox contains a bottle of Ruinart Blanc de Blancs and eight vials; each containing one of the principal aromas that make up its bouquet (jasmine, lemon, citron, pineapple, peach, pink peppercorn, ginger and cardamom). Thin strips of unscented paper are neatly stored in a small drawer used to help participants play the Interpretation game, guess the beautiful smells found in the individual vials.

The ninth and final vial in the giftbox is the masterpiece collaboration between Frédéric Panäiotis, Cellar Master for Ruinart and Anne Flipo, the ‘nose’ from the IFF (International Flavours and Fragrances). The vial contains their aromatic interpretation of Ruinart Blanc de Blancs.

The Ruinart Interpretation will be sold at Harrods and Selfridges and will be available at £85

Villandry review

Lovely meal at the Villandry tonight. Last minute decision but we ended up at the Villandry on great Portland Street central London. We arrived and it was quite busy, took a while to get our drinks but not the end of the world. 

The menu was very competent indeed, not over fussed, I think there were only about 8 dishes in total, which for some reason is always a good sign to me. So I went for the steak my friend the Italian meat platter. 

My steak was cooked to perfection, a little chewy but very good, the chips were yummy and the bearnaise sauce on the side was nice. 

We then couldn't help ourselves but to try the puds they looked great and if the table next to us hadn't ordered theirs I'm not sure we would have as we wouldn't have seen how yummy the were. I went with the banana tarte tatin, and the girls went for apple crumble and a salt chocolate thing. I was torn between the cheese board and the tart but went for the sweet option. Well it/ they were delicious! And very very naughty. 

Very nice all in all, the only down side was the slow service and to be fair I think they must have been down on staff as couldn't see many and every table was taken. And also might be a small thing to many but a terrible no no for me... A massive flat screen tv with the news on. Not good. 

Apart from that the food was good the environment was lovely and, oh nearly forgot they have a lovely outside space/terrace small but lovely.

Traditional Sunday Roast

Roast at the nags 

Sunday just gone we took our new Texan friend for a traditional country pub roast beef lunch. We went along to The Nags Head in Moreton. Recently been taken over so we thought we would give it a go. We sat outside in the sunshine in their large bead garden then went through to the restaurant. I was very pleasantly surprised by their wine list and went with a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc  called Torrent Bay, very nice.

Any way we advised our friend from across the pond that in our opinion beef was the best but asked for a side of stuffing too. They has sold out of cauliflower cheese much to my boyfriends disappointment, we have made a roast complete with coli cheese for the past 3 Sundays. And when the food arrived,the first thing to take my notice was the gravy, sadly it was a runny gravy, tasty but runny. Apart from that it was a good pub roast. 

Best Indian in Essex

Vojans in Ongar

The best Indian ever in my humble opinion. I love it and used to go a lot, we went almost once a month on and off for 10 years but moved away and haven't been till Saturday in 2 years! 

Well something just don't change, service atmosphere, flavors everything just brilliant! I love it and would urge anyone in the Ongar area to go and check it out. 5 stars all the way! 

Salad in the westend

Salad on The Strand at Bedford and Strand 


Chicken and bacon salad with dressing on the side. Very very good indeed a whole breast of chicken and 2 pieces of bacon. It was so good I barely touched the dressing. I've been here few times now and the food never let's me down. The service was better than normal too. 

cheap eats in Soho

Soho Italian  

Lovely meal tonight at 40 Dean Street in London's busy vibrant Soho. It was 2 courses for 12.50 - yes you read right thats £12.50!  2 options for starter and 3 for main. I went for the stuffed mushroom to start followed by salmon wrapped in pancetta with beetroot salad and tarragon sauce - lots of flavours but very tasty and the salmon was massive. 

When we arrive we were welcomed in by a man we thought must have been the owner. It was rammed with a birthday party to which we (the entire restaurant) sang happy birthday to. It was at this point we felt we were the only people in the place that didn't know the birthday girl/boy.

It was nice buzzy and welcoming. I really enjoyed it. 

dinner at Rosas

Last night we went for a quick bite to eat at Rosas in Soho. It was very nice, good service good portions and great food. I went for pad thai, I know, I know how predictable and boring but if I am entirely honest it was on of the very few dishes that didnt have have a number of chillies next to it. And you know me a chillies - never a good thing to say the least. I was also a little let down by the dessert menu but thats not always abad thing is it?

All in all it was lovely perfect for grabbing some good food with friends.

Lunch on Jermyn Street London

Lunch this afternoon was lovely. We walked in to a very busy Getti on Jermyn Street. We were sat up stairs where it was a little quieter. I decided to go for the sword fish as I am trying to eat more fish - as my dad always says 'there no fat on that'. So I had the fish with steamed veg and roast potatoes and my friend went for the antipasti dish. We also decided to try the facacha bread with rosemary and sea salt. It was all lovely! 

The fish was very very good indeed! It was almost like carpachio of sword fish, 4 slim slices of beautiful cook fish off the bone covered in premium olive oil and scattered with capers, delicious! The service was very good too, very authentic, (not sure how pc that is but its so nice to be in an Italian and be served by an Italian)

I could resist pudding so went for the obvious i'm afraid- the chocolate cake. It was yummy - so yummy in fact I eat the lot and I only got it to have a taste. 

I would recommend Getti to all, be it the Marylebone site or the Jermyn Street one they are both very very good!

egg white omelette at dean street townhouse

This week I tried and tested my first ever egg white omelette! Now I have been told that this has nearly no calories and is 'very nice'. Well, I felt like a right idiot ordering it and it was made even more difficult by that fact that the breakfast menu at The Dean Street Townhouse is very very good, they even had black pudding!

So I thought if I am going to try this I need to make it as tasty as possible, I added mushrooms and ham my friend added spinach and tomatoes. It came out looking awful very disappointing, but never the less I gave it a go, and in all honestly it wasn't too bad, the ham helped a lot! Check out the full menu here.

I did take a picture but it looked so bad I thought there was no point in posting it.

However the venue! Now that was lovely, the service was very good too. It felt very relaxing and inviting. The decor was very nice very old English with wood cladding ect. We were sat at a low round table with wingback velvet chairs. I would go back for sure in fact I am, i'll be there again on Tuesday. Fully recommend it for breakfast in Soho.

The Forge Covent Garden

Dinner last night was a work\friend affair. We went to The Forge, I've walked past a few times and thought it looked good and noticed they do 2 courses for 15 pounds. Well once seated I asked to see the set menu and was advised that it finished at 7pm, rather annoying but not the end of the world as mains varied between 16 odd to 40 odd. We ordered just mains we both had the baked cod with sanfire and brown shrimp. I asked for a side of mixed green and my friend had some mash. It came out looking very nice, and I am glad to say tasted just as nice. It was very good. Total bill for two mains two sides and a bottle of wine was  67.50 including 12.5% tip. It was very nice, good service good food and nice surroundings however I think if I go again I will get there before 7pm for the set 2 courses for 15 pounds. 

that silly time of day

Well ok maybe thats just in the country but I met my dad on sunday for lunch which actually didnt happen till 4pm. Surprise surprise no where was serving so we ended up in some horrible chain pub which turned out to be a harvester!! I nearly didnt deem it worth posting about but a promise to my self to write up every time I eat out is a promise no matter how rubbish the place, after all I did a post on pizza hut... need I say more. 

Due to hunger and total lack of options we ended up at the Talbort in north weld essex/london/M11. We turned up and were seated - kids playing/ crying and some somewhat unloved decor and seating awaited us - at this point we double checked our selves but decided to stay as we were about to eat our own arms and thought 'hey how bad can it be?'

We ordered - me, the rack of ribs and dad the steak - fairly safe options I thought and to be fair they came out not too bad. We both agreed it wasnt amazing food but it filled a hole. 

Then we decided we would try a dessert - I have the chocolate fudge thing ( I have developed a real sweet tooth since this diet) it was very nice - very rich but very nice. I also had a pot of tea too - which came out in a little pot and a mug which dad and I found odd (maybe thats just us?)

All I all safe to say I will never venture back but it did do its job and that it really .

Profile again

So we popped in again as our last lunch wasnt too bad and it is two for a tena... well is it is it really? no is the answer in short- once you add a drink each and service change £10 soon turns in to £20. but never the less it was ok. I dont think we will go again though

Airport food

So on the way home in the airport I opted for the cheap wetherspoons rather than the very nice looking seafood bar. I did this because I was on my own and felt the seafood bar was rather showing for little me on my tod. So I found a suitably hidden table for two and ordered.... Haggis of course. I love Haggis as I mention on my Burns night post. The menu said it was 'award winning' but lets not forget I was still in a weatherspoons, It came out looked good, tasted good, a little heavily spiced but good. My only problem was that the tatties looked like an after thought, but thats not a bad thing as i think i have had more than enough crabs for one day. 

Lunch in Edinburgh

This afternoon i was in Edinburgh for work and had a lovely spot of lunch in a small French restaurant called Petit Paris. We arrived and were greeted with a water glass of sweet rose wine? not i must at this stage point out that the guy i was with seemed to know everyone rather well so i cant say i am able to give a true review on this place but i can tell you i had a lovely experience. 

I was taking my jacket off and getting settled when a older gentleman on the table next to us put out his hand to shake mine??? he was charming we chatted and i asked what he recommends i ordered. He suggested the steak (do i have i love meat particularly red meat written on my head?) I ordered as recommended partly because it was and partly because i felt i should after asking. 

So I went for the French onion soup followed by the ribeye steak with peppercorn sauce. 

The soup was lovely although i would have preferred my cheese to have been melted and also more of it. I once had French onion soup which had almost a centimetre for melted cheese on top, it was delicious bu that that it a very personal taste. 

The steak came and i must say i had a touch of food envy - my lunch partner had ordered the chicken and it came in this amazing bass dish a kind of one pot dish complete with veg and potatoes. My steak was good cooked as i ordered and not too rare - i tend to worry with French restaurnat bout how rare they cook their steaks. I ordered English Medium rare- pink with a little blood. I know it was a Ribeye but it was very fatty and even with a steak knife fairly hard to cut. 

Then we had dessert too. I think its safe to say the diet has been on the back burner of late. I went for the chocolate torte with creme anglias - it was lovely very very rich, the owner informed me that it had been made with 12, yes thats 12 eggs, and that is what makes it so rich and tasty. 

All in all a lovely lunch made even better by the company and people i met. It was relaxed good food and very welcoming. 

Yotam Ottolenghi new concept restaurant Soho

Last night I went the soft launch of nopi the new offering from Yotam Ottolenghi. One word...AMAZING!!! I just loved it - the decor the service the food the wine, it was just AMAZING. I joked with my friend that i would simply post the word AMAZING as if we said it once we must have said it a million times everything was just brilliant. I have added a couple of pics for you to check out - they arent very good but i hope they give you a feel.

The idea is you choose 3 dishes each and share. The menu isnt that big but it is very good, its spilt in to fish, meat and veg. We had to ask for some assistance as we barely knew what any of the ingredients were, but they were very helpful and we ordered with easy.

 The food ...

bread with homemade humus 

Rose veal carpaccio, beetroot, kashk

Seared scallops, pickled daikon, green apple

Twice-cooked baby chicken, lemon myrtle salt, red pepper sauce

Ossobuco, sage and parmesan polenta

Baked blu di pecora cheesecake, wild mushrooms 

Seared prawns, fennel, white oregano, feta .

The decor...

this is the ladies - i had to add images as they are just...AMAZING!

We also had a little trouble with the wine list - we didnt recognise any of them, we were offered some advise form the somalia who suggested a lovely tipple so much so that i asked her to write it down for me. 

All in all it was a lovely meal due to the soft launch it was 50% off so we paid £46 for 6 dishes and 2 glasses of wine. 

When:	lunch: 12 - 3pm and dinner: 5.30 - 10pm
Where:	21-22 Warwick Street, W1B 5NE
Price:	Main dishes from £6 - £12 each
Tel:	020 7494 9584
Website:	Nopi

breakfast at Soho Hotel

Another day another breakfast. I have found it increasingly hard to find somewhere in Soho good for breakfast. We popped our heads in to Pauls on Old Compton Street and then promptly back out again - it was scussy.

We ended up at an old fav instead - refule at Soho Hotel. Much nicer. We both went for the fruit plate to which we were directed to the help your self arrangement of fruit. I had a small helping as wasnt too impressed but the more i eat the more i like so ended up going back for seconds. I especially liked the dried figs! yummy, its been a while since i have had them.

Lovely breakfast good service and all round a lovely place for a spot of breakie - £22 something for two a tad expensive but not really well worth it if you ask me.

and again ...

ok ok so you may have guessed already that I have a Carlucios at the end of my road. I went this morning for breakfast for a meeting with my assistant, I had my usual eggs bacon grilled tomato and mushrooms. l'm back on the diet- as I fear I may have gained the entire stone I lost over the weekend. Good food good service the usually really.  

lovely bit of pub grub in the dales

Last Friday I popped up to North Yorkshire, Brompton on Swale. Wow what an amazing place even in 70mph winds (no no jokes it really was that windy). We dropped by to a real lovely village pub that was owned by the entire village but unfortunately due to the wind the whole village had lost electric. So we went on to the next village, where we stopped at The Bridge Inn. No one in the place but us and a couple of old locals holding the bar up. We ordered from the very predictable pub menu. I went for the steak and Ale pie with veg and chips - it was lovely - dont know why i took the picture or why i am putting it up but thought i should put something up.

If your ever up there check it out, it was very welcoming and they had a lovely fire on too.

Grannies old fashioned Lemonade

Gran Stead's Traditional Still Lemonade - Very good indeed - however I only got a little bit as my boyfriends family had nearly polished it off by the time I had a chance to have some! Thumbs up all round (clearly). Really fresh, crisp and tasty too. Again another perfect choice for a fabulous British summer afternoon in the garden with friend and family. 


Award winning, dont you know - it was awarded one gold star 2009 at the great taste awards. And its plain to see or should I say taste why!  
Not only does this taste good but its made here in the UK with home grown produce, which of course makes it the best! 



You can get them online at www.gransteadsginger.co.uk or from one of my favourite places Fortnum and Mason. 

Chocolate tea!!

I've just been introduced to NUMI Tea. Not normally my thing but after my 26 days off the booze it came in quite handy. I drank a lot of tea in January, herbal, detoxing and this.

I had the Chocolate Pueth velvety & vanilla - its a black organic tea blend. A blend of Cocoa powder, Vanilla Beans, Orange Peel, Nutmeg and Cinnamon and you can actually taste every single ingredient - subtle, smooth and natural, even a hit with my boyfriend. 

Its got bundles of good stuff too like, eco friendly packaging: 85% post-consumer waste printed with soy based inks and biodegradable tea bags. 1% of net profits benefits social, environmental and sustainable causes. They also plant a tree and offset their carbon - thats a hell of a lot to do when you dont have to do it! Good on them I think I like the tea even more now I know all that. 

You can pick it up at Ocado and in Whole Foods and independent retailers around the country. Perfect for a slightly sweeter alternative to your afternoon brew! 

www.numitea.com