Ebb and Flow

Hello everyone, 

On Saturday we were wandering around the shops in Southampton and realised, as you do halfway through a busy day, that we were ravenous! Neither of us particularly fancied anything major and we weren't in the mood for savoury food either. Tricky...then I remembered this fabulous little place called Ebb and Flow. 

It is tucked away at the top of the high street, but it always seems really busy. It is quite boutique with a very kitschy-hipster vibe to it. The furniture is very eclectic with lots of rough painted wood, floral patterns and pastel themes. Sounds perfect right? Here are some of the many photos I took, it was so tempting to just keep snapping away! 

 Gorgeous floral pattern! 

 This mirror was so trippy...

"What about the food?!" I hear you all shouting. I went for some thick, buttery, American style pancakes with liberal dollops of honey and juicy blueberries. Mr.Gingersnap went for pancakes too, but he had un-smoked, back bacon to go with his honey...sounds gross, but it's so yummy! The pancakes hit the spot perfectly and it was such a lovely atmosphere in there. To drink I had a delicious Sloe Lemonade Posh Pop from Breckland orchard and he had an extra creamy cappuccino. 

If you ever find yourself hungry and wanting to inject some style into your usual routine, check out Ebb and Flow here. I can't wait for my next excuse to go there and try more of their food, my bestie better watch out, she'll be being summoned for a girly day soon!

What is your favourite spot for pancakes? Let me know in the comments below :-) 

xoxo

Lazy Lounging

Hello everyone! 

Last weekend my parents came up to visit me on their way home from my cousin's wedding and, in the way all parents of uni students do, decided I needed feeding! On the Sunday morning we went out for a little drive and ended up in a nearby town called Heswall. Heswall has a number of lovely cafes and restaurants, but finding one open at 9 a.m on a Sunday and that takes dogs can be quite the challenge, but luckily for us we stumbled upon Otto's Lounge. 

Otto's Lounge is one of the Loungers chain, each one boasting a very retro and vintage ambiance. From the moment I walked in I fell in love with it and proceeded to whip out my camera and take pictures. The decor is kinda Eastern European shabby chic, with lots of mirrors and eclectic paintings. The light sconces were a work of art in their own right! The chairs and tables were beautifully mismatched and the whole place had a very casual, yet oh so cool vibe to it. Quite the hipster spot if I'm honest! I especially loved the book swap bookcase for people to exchange books, I may have to make use of this in the near future...

Now, being a vet student, places that are open to dogs always gain bonus points for me. The waitress was lovely and showed us to the dog friendly area and even brought my little dog her own water bowl and a couple of biscuits. Doggy heaven for her really, she did nothing by wag her tail the whole time! 

I can feel you all asking, but what was the food like?! It was AMAZING! I had thick american style pancakes with chopped strawberries and banana, peach cream and maple syrup, liberally sprinkled with icing sugar of course. Not only did it look delicious but it tasted it too, combined with the rich hot chocolate melting mini marshmallows it went down a treat. My mouth is watering at just the memory. 

I highly recommend that you all head over to the website and find your local loungers, to take a peek at my local one click here. 

Let me know in the comments below your favourite place for hot chocolate! :-) 

xoxo

Apple Flowers

Hello everyone! 

At this time of year I absolutely love to experiment with cooking and new recipes. A couple of months back the internet exploded with recipes for roses made out of apples. They look so beautiful that I decided to give them a go with my housemate! Read on for the recipe and to see how we did...

                                                       - 2 apples (preferably red ones)

                                                       - 1 sheet of puff pastry 

                                                       - cinnamon 

                                                       - apricot jam 

                                                       - 1/2 lemon 

                                                       - 1 tbsp flour 

First off, cut your apples in half, remove the core and cut them into very thin slices. They should look like small bridges at this point. 

Next, put all the apple bridges in a bowl full of cold water, squeeze in your 1/2 lemon and then microwave them for about 3 minutes. This should make them nice and malleable (a.k.a squishy, I just love the word malleable!). Once the water has been strained out, leave them to one side. 

Now for the jam! Put about 3 tbsp of apricot jam into a bowl and 2 tbsp of water and then microwave the lot for 1 minute. 

Put your pastry on the board after dusting on the flour and roll it out slightly so you can cut it into 6 even slices. This will let you make 6 apple roses, magical I know! Spoon jam along all the slices and place your apple bridges along the top of the pastry with the skin on the top side. 

Sprinkle them all with cinnamon, fold the bottom half of the pastry slice up and then roll. Speaking from experience, you need to roll them up really quickly or they will fall apart. As soon as they are rolled put them in a cupcake case or baking tray. I used the silicon type cases as they are more solid and will hold the rose shape better. 

Bake your roses in the oven for around 40-45 minutes at 190 degrees C/gas mark 5. Take them out of the oven, let them cool and enjoy their beauty/deliciousness. If you want you can dust the finished roses with icing sugar for some added pizazz! 

Have any of you guys made these? :-) 

xoxo