How to Spend a Day in Victoria, London

There's a whole heap of guides out there on the hidden gems of London, and I love to explore my city to find the weird and wonderful. Recently though, rather than one shop or cafe that I happened to stumble upon, I found the quirky charms of an entire area and one which I've visited numerous times in the years I've lived here.

Cake and Hot Chocolate at Cafe Einstein, Berlin

Winter is magical in Europe. I mean, it's cold, but it's pretty. On my trip to Berlin I was hell bent on finding hot chocolate, mulled wine and anything else that would keep me toasty warm from the inside. After landing mid-afternoon, we set out for a snack and as luck would have it, we were staying a stone's throw from Cafe Einstein.

Baking With Kenwood and Debenhams

So obviously I write this blog, but I've actually worked with bloggers for years. I've scared the crap out of them at the London Dungeons and danced like a loon with them at Bestival, because planning events for bloggers is always so much fun. When my own team were planning a night of baking with homeware designer Ashley Thomas I made the decision to not only help set up the event, but also to don an apron and get my hands dirty (after washing them first, of course!).

Degustabox: August

I love getting my monthly Degustabox*. It’s such a little treat to get post and not know what’s inside, as opposed to the unpleasant surprises bills can bring or another coupon for a dodgy local pizza place. August’s theme was ‘back to school’, with the box being full of products you can prep or pack for your lunch box. I try and take breakfast and lunch to work with me as many days as possible, so these were some great additions that I hadn’t previously thought of.

What I Ate in Prague

If you're looking for a culinary taste bud explosion, then Prague maybe isn't the place to go. We certainly didn't eat badly on our trip, but the local cuisines are pretty limited in their offering, consisting predominantly of cuts of pork, sauerkraut and potatoes. We mainly stuck to traditional Czech food where we could and tried most of the expected dishes.

What I Ate in Paris

Food is such an integral part of any trip I make; I often plan where I'm going to eat before I decide what tourist attractions I'll take in. Of course, I've heard much about the food in France, but as cheese, chocolate and red wine are all readily available in England, I never really thought much of it. But the stereotypes are there for a reason and I embraced them on my trip to Paris before Christmas. 

[Lifestyle] BBC Good Food Show 2014

The BBC Good Food Show is a foodie's dream. Floor to ceiling, wall to wall, the place is stuffed with stalls selling and sampling the widest variety of delicious things. I didn't go along with the intention of buying anything, but it's amazing what a breakfast of cheese and gin samples can do to a girl's willpower.

And oh my there was a lot of cheese. A couple of my favourites were the Snowdonia Cheese Company's Amber Mist, a mature cheddar made with whisky, and the Them Krystal six month mature from Danish company Jutland Highland Cheese. Just as I did at Wapping Market, I was pulled into the stand selling a range of obscure herbs and spices. The habanero chillies I bought there have gone down very well in my flat, so this time around I bought Naga Ghost Chillies. Dizzy on the excitement I stupidly tried one tiny spot of Juju sauce from Mushemi Fire. Good God. It is a heat that builds until my nose ran, my eyes were watering and I was unwittingly producing an abnormal amount of saliva. And I can't emphasise this enough, it was literally ONE tiny drop on a strip of flour tortilla. Thankfully there was a delicious apple juice sample next door to help me recover a bit quicker!

Speaking of drinks, there were some cracking choices to be had. I've seen Belvoir cordials before, but the apple, plum and cinnamon variety was served up with hot water instead and was amazing. I snapped up a bottle all ready for cold Winter evenings when I don't want all the sugar in a hot chocolate or the caffeine in a cup of tea. I also tried Rebel Kitchen's dairy free chocolate milks, which I've actually had before. Made with coconut milk and flavoured with cocoa, matcha green tea or chai, they are a great adult lunch box alternative, but they're not quite a tasty as a regular milkshake; my friends loved them though - I think it's because I don't like coconut.

On the upper floor of Olympia centre there were a lot of booze brands, including London's first winery, London Cru and some gorgeous packaging on numerous bottles. It was also packed with sweets and chocolates and cakes, but the stall that excited me the most was Spice Drops. This company creates concentrated extracts of spices from the real product, taking actual flavour not just creating an essence. I was intrigued and tried a few, sniffed many, and bought two: saffron and nutmeg. I'll report back here when I've used them.

The pièce de résistance though was a live cooking demonstration with the Great British Bake Off legends Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood. When there was an opportunity to get up on stage with them I practically pimped out my friend to get a chance, but to no avail. It was really exciting to see them in person though, and their chemistry together on stage was great. Lots of taking the mick out of each other and lots of great tips on how to get a great bake. Paul Hollywood even went into detail about why they picked Nancy as this year's winner as he's clearly been on the negative end of the whole 'Richard should have won' camp.

All filled up on samples, star struck by my favourite TV chefs and lugging bags full of my own lack of willpower, I left the Show a very happy foodie indeed!

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[Food] What I've Been Cooking #2

This round of What I've Been Cooking includes a few new recipes, plus some experimental and safe baking. You'll see from this that my savoury cooking generally tries to go down a much more healthy route, unlike the sweet stuff! I live with two 27 year old men, and their idea of a hearty meal generally means meat and carbs, so I treat myself to better-for-me meals when they're not around and try to make the meals we do share as full of veggies as possible! I've recently given up a lot of carbs (which I'll be writing about soon) and I'm on a bit of a health kick so I'll be updating you all on that soon. Until then, let's have a little looksy at some proper food!

Strawberry and Mascarpone Swiss Roll

I've never made a swiss roll before as it's a pretty daunting task. I assumed it would basically just fall apart on my first go because that's what happens to amateurs who get ideas above their station. BUT somehow, miraculously, it stayed together! The sponge was probably a bit too spongy as it tore a little as it came off the baking paper, and I definitely played it too safe with the filling (a Swiss Roll demands the filling to spill over, really). Ultimately though, it held together, there's a decent roll within it and it tasted good, so all is well!!

I followed Lorraine Pascale's Strawberry and Mascarpone Swiss Roll recipe here.

Banoffee Pie

When I lived with AJ this was a staple favourite of ours, but I have to admit that she was always the one that made it and I just happily stuffed my face. It really is the simplest of desserts so if you're planning a dinner party and you want something quick and easy to whip up for afters, this can't fail. You can of course go the long way around and make the caramel, but I just buy the Carnation tinned variety which in my opinion tastes just as good as takes a tiny portion of the time to prepare. 

I followed the Quick Banoffee Pie recipe on the side of the Carnation Caramel tin here.

Shakshouka

Shakshouka is a Turkish dish made up of a thick tomato sauce and topped with eggs. I had it for breakfast at a little cafe in Hackney a few months ago and have been searching for a good recipe for it every since (not knowing the correct name for it made this a bit of a challenge!). The recipe I found said to poach the eggs within the sauce, but I didn't pay attention and started cooking it in a saucepan instead of a frying pan, meaning I didn't have the surface area for this. Instead I poached my egg separately, plonked it on the top and ate it with some toasted carrot and coriander bread from Cranks. A perfect brunch recipe!

I followed this Shakshouka recipe from the blog White On Rice Couple.

Moroccan Meatball Tagine

This was a bloody good find. Tucked within a little recipe book I have called 100 Healthy Meals, it was super simple to make and really delicious. There was a nice mix of veggies in there including courgettes and peas, plus meatballs made by own fair hands - basically it's shop bought mince mixed with onions, garlic and a little flour, then fried off and added to the tagine. Once the lid was on the dish it bubbled away nicely for a while and I then served it up on a some cous cous I'd made with vegetable stock and a shaking of turmeric and cumin to flavour it up a bit. This is fast becoming a flat favourite.

A similar recipe for Moroccan Meatball Tagine can be found here, and the book I used can be bought here.

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[Food] Trade, Commercial Street

I once had an argument with a friend about what time counts as brunch. On a weekend I could eat breakfast at 1pm if I'm feeling particularly lazy and can't quite bring myself to go to the shop and buy something. Similarly, I can demolish lunch by 12pm if I'm having a sugar crash at work. I don't think brunch is defined by time, rather it is decided by what you have to eat. Essentially, if you're having a kind of breakfast food around lunchtime and you're in a social setting, you've got yourself a bonafide brunch. It's also a word now synonymous with being pissed by midday, but a trip to Trade was more suited to a pot of tea.

I've walked past Trade a few times and have stopped in to grab a bacon roll after going to the gym (I'm of the 'I did exercise so I can eat this cake' school of thought'). Peeking beyond the till area, I could see the secret garden advertised on the board outside, and was genuinely excited about an outdoor space away from the main road, set in such a busy part of east London.

A few weeks later, I suggested it as a place to meet a friend late one Saturday morning, and by 11.30am, the place was already packed. Long benches and wooden tables are taken up with your standard Shoreditch types, but delighted tourists and young families too. The place isn't big and maybe sits around 40 people at a push, so you may have to perch on the end of an already-taken table, but the buzz and atmosphere means you're neighbours won't be listening to every word you say.

I had poached eggs, pancetta and asparagus on sourdough toast, with the obligatory pot of tea. The toast was crisp, the eggs were runny - it's a simple dish, but it was so nice to have something offered up with eggs other than avocado (which I hate, to the horror of quite a vast majority of people). This isn't a place to come for a greasy fry-up, we're not looking at mounds of baked beans and a fried egg cooked in the same pan as the bacon. It's a lighter, yet not necessarily healthier, choice.

Speaking of not being healthy, I couldn't resist ordering the last bread-and-butter-pudding-croissant. As an amateur baker and professional cake eater, I was fascinated as to what this would be like. Slicing into it, you could see the flaky layers of a croissant, but when tasting it it was much more like a bread and butter pudding - surprisingly thick and really delicious. Luckily for me, there weren't any raisins as you would find in the traditional dish, but there were a couple of berries on the top to make me feel slightly less guilty.

Only a stones throw from Spitalfields Market and Brick Lane, Trade on Commercial Street is a secret well worth sharing. Escape the crowds and disappointing sandwiches and head down to see what new cake hybrids they have in store!

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BB Bakery Afternoon Tea Tour Bus

I'm wearing:
Gold skirt - vintage
Leather jacket - Zara
Cami top - Primark
Scarf - H&M

Afternoon tea has become a bit of a cliche. How I feel about them is exactly the same as my previous mumblings on roast dinners: everyone thinks they can do one, and charge a fortune for it too. I'm a fiend for a scone and clotted cream; if I hit Cornwall in the Summer, Rodda's basically have to put on an emergency alert. I love the classics, but I do appreciate a twist on the norm (my favourite so far being the Marmite afternoon tea I went to in 2012), so when a wonderful friend of mine invited me to go on the BB Bakery Afternoon Tea Tour Bus with her, I practically leapt down the phone and hugged to within an inch of her life.

The bus picked us up in front of the London Eye and we took our place in the best seat in the house: at the front, at the top. There was a huge variety of the people on board including guys, families and a massive hen do, but everyone was in great spirits and the conductor did his best to get us all excited.

On each table is a map of where the bus would be taking us, but no voiceover to tell us information as we drove past as you would get on a regular bus tour. It was a bit of a shame, especially as our route was diverted due to a sporting event. Instead of just driving us down random streets it would have been nice to have had somebody tell us a bit of history or some fun facts to get us peeking out of the windows a bit more. We could have been on any old Routemaster through London in that respect.

However, the food was the obvious stand-out point. The logistics of serving food and hot drinks on a bus are plenty, and we were very amused by our tiered plates being nailed to table, and our drinks sitting in little cubby holes. Tea was presented in a thermos so it wouldn't splash everywhere, but that didn't make it any less difficult to drink it without burning the roof of your mouth when the bus suddenly stops!

The selection of cakes and sandwiches were cute and varied, if a little on the small side. Afternoon teas are known for indulgence, but as we were on a time limit with the bus tour we had to make sure we polished off what we could and there weren't any top-ups. I loved the smoked salmon blini and the chocolate macaron - both a good indicator of why you might want to pay a visit to BB Bakery in its static shop in Covent Garden.

The concept of a travelling afternoon tea tour bus is, frankly, genius. I have no doubt that it will continue to be very successful, if purely down to people like me who love a bit of a gimmick. It was a friendly, fun and delicious way to spend a couple of hours, and I do love to play tourist in my own home town.

You can book a slot on the BB Bakery bus here, and tickets cost £45

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The Cake and Bake Show

I'm wearing:
Leather jacket - Zara
T-shirt - T by Alexander Wang (on sale in the Coggles Outlet here)
Jeans - J Brand (amazing bargain in TK Maxx)
Plimsolls - Office

Like most of the country, I've been gripped by Bake Off fever. Every year it rolls around and every year I watch avidly, take notes, and update Pinterest boards. I love to bake and have tried to expand my repetoire from the standard Viccy Sponge for a while now, often imposing my experiments on my willing colleagues. I need to improve on pastry, and I've never given bread a go, but I'm damn keen and will keep practicing.

The Cake and Bake Show at Earl's Court is a baker's dream. Full of food stalls, free samples and demonstration kitchens, it's ideal for amateur and professional bakers alike to wander around and get inspired.

There were, of course, examples of truly mind-blowing edible works of art. Cakes to make your jaw drop from the intricacies and accurate creations made from flour and sugar, including a terrifying portrayal of Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood. My favourite was the Lego cake - something I'd love to have a go at in the future, although I imagine it takes a lot more patience then I'd ever have. Decorating a cake is always the biggest challenge for me as I am not artistic at all. I can bake something that tastes good, but it might not look appealing on the plate!

As we walked around the stalls it was extremely hard not to buy everything I found. Do I really need something that makes my icing look like fine lace? Is it essential that I buy those Christmas cupcake cases? Luckily, good sense prevailed, but I did still get some great bargains including Blackforest flavoured icing sugar from Sugar and Crumbs (and I'll be buying some of their Salted Caramel flavour online too), a selection of natural flavourings from Neilsen-Massey, and two incredible knives. I know the latter sounds thoroughly boring, but I tried the Magic Knife out at their stand and was so impressed that I snapped up their two-for-£30 deal. I'm gradually replacing my kitchenware with higher quality products (next on my list: saucepans!), so this was the first step, and my boyfriend has been singing their praises every mealtime since. 

The most exciting part of the day though was spotting contestants from this series of The Great British Bake Off. I literally yelped and ran when I saw Iain and Richard; my two favourites. They were bombarded with fans so I didn't get to have a photo with them, but it was really fun just to see them. 

I'm normally skeptical of these types of events as I worried that it would be too much of a trade show for professional bakers. But this was much more fun and laid back, even though it was extremely busy. For a wannabe Lorraine Pascale like me, it was a lot of fun. We got our tickets from Wowcher for only £7 each, so it goes to show that searching around for a bargain is totally worth the effort!