The Botanist Manchester

 The Botanist in Manchester is part of the New World Trading Company and I must say who ever masterminds the designs for them is just a pure genius. 

Saturday was my first visit to the botanist and it will not be my last. From the outside it is appealing in an odd sort of Green house way, but as you go through the door you enter into a retro garden wonderland. It is quite odd, yet quirky and inspiring.

Tesco's Farm To Food Trail

Last week Joe and I attended a farm to fork talk in Padiham at Tesco's Lancashire. It is an initiative that is open to Schools in the area, we were lucky enough to be able to go along during half term and see what it was all about.

The event was run by the fabulous Sabrina who first told the children how to act safely in store, gave them all clipboards and handouts, she then showed us to the fruit and Veg aisle. Here Sabrina told us all about the fruit and veg and discussed how to identify where food comes from. 

Nino's Italian, Cliviger

After this weeks visit to Nino's I am actually kicking myself that we haves dined here before, we visited once last year, but that was for a christening which was lovely, the buffet and service was great. But it was a busy function and we didn't get the real feel for the restaurant. 

What I love about Nino's is the style, it very extremely contemporary giving it a bit of a cool but comfy feeling.  As soon as you walk in the atmosphere grabs you. Even the current Halloween styling is very tastefully done to add to the atmosphere.

                               

So here are my thought's on Nino's and  our experience. 

We were initially seated in the bar area for drinks, a tastefully decorated area with comfy sofas and cool artwork, to be honest this is sort of place I could bob in for a drink as it is such a chilled environment. 

Once seated at our table we were offered more drink's, which came promptly and shown the menu. 

The staff were fantastic with Jack and spent time with him explaining portion sizes so he could do his injection. For me this is so important in a restaurant as he has to get his insulin right. They told him how many scoops of ice cream, size of pizza and never once made him feel uncomfortable.

The Christie's Angel Delight Memories

If you had have asked me 1 year ago what Angel Delight meant to me? Instantly I would have said my childhood, and the seventies. I have fond memories of my Mum whipping up Angel Delight for a quick after dinner pudding, my Brothers and I loved it.

 Angel Delight always felt like a real treat at a time when it wasn’t normal to have ready made chocolate mouse in the fridge. Yet these magical packets turned into the most delicious mousse as if by magic, we loved it.

I found the video below on youtube, It brings back such lovely childhood memories. Its weird how certain things take you back to certain moments in time is it? Angel delight is one of those triggers for me, its weird, I can see my old lounge, even the detail of the brown velvet flock wallpaper when I watch this video, it is so reminiscent of my childhood.

To be honest Angel Delight then slipped out of my radar for many years and became a pleasant childhood memory, just like Mr. Frosty and Twister. 

Then a year ago the Boys Grandma bought them some chocolate Angel Delight and made chocolate milk shakes with them, they loved it. I must say I giggled to myself when they came home and excitedly told Chris and I about this great new invention; Angel Delight, that made the best ever American style milk shakes.

Adults Only Shepherds Pie

I just has to share my recipe for my adults only shepherds’ pie cooked with red wine. I tried this recipe a few years ago and have never looked back. It takes the good old shepherds pie into a new league. 

I have always loved Shepherds Pie, for me, it's a real autumn, winter comfort dish. Please forgive me as I have learnt that my potato photography skills are not great. So if there is such a course, as a potato photography course, I will track it down and get myself booked on.

Tea Time Routine with the After School Chefs Challenge

When I got the opportunity to write about my tea time routines with Brit Mums and Birds Eye #afterschoolchefs @http://bit.ly/afterschoolchefs I decided to take the challenge, mainly as I was struggling getting back into a routine after a wonderful long summer.

                                                

I am so lucky to have a job where I am off with the Boys during holiday time. I watch my friends trying to organise childcare and holidays around their families, and thank my lucky stars I do not have to worry about childcare throughout the summer.

However long summer days completely ruin our routine, we are naturally a family that eats later, we like to sit together and chat about our day.  The other issue I have is the boys are quite fussy, and both have completely different tastes in food. So yes I am one of those Mums that cooks different meals for us all. The boys don't like many dishes with sauce on, they like plain food. When Jack was younger we used to insist he ate what we put in front of him, every mealtime was like a war zone. It became so stressful that I used to dread mealtimes.

Les Quinze Nits Restaurant Barcelona

If you visit Barcelona you really must visit this lovely little restaurant.  It is nestled in Placa Reial, the most beautiful square, which is surrounded with bars and restaurants, situated just off las Ramblas. We stumbles across Placa Reial by accident, we had spent the day enjoying walking the streets of Barcelona, seeing the sights, shopping, stopping every now again for a glass of wine. 

Las Ramblas was busy and buzzing on a beautiful hot August day, we decided to get off the main strip and explore the real Barcelona rather that endless gift shops that the bottom end of las Ramblas has to offer. And there it was Placa Reial. 

It was stunning surrounded by beautiful historic buildings. Cafe bars and restaurants were situated all around the square. There was a flea market in the center that was packed with locals. We looked around the square for somewhere we would like to eat and decided on Les Quinze Nits. It was so pretty with an arched verandah, pretty floral chairs and flowers on the tables and looked so inviting.

The Lazy Cow Stratford-Upon-Avon

Whilst we were visiting Stratford-Upon-Avon we visited the Lazy Cow steak restaurant, we wanted to visit last year but could not fit it in as we had planned so much. So this year I was determined to eat here. It is such a cool, trendy atmosphere and reminds me very much of my favourite bar in Manchester the  Oast House.

Photo taken by Jack

Photo taken by Jack

It is set in a stunning location, right on the Bank of the River Avon, overlooking a conservation area. Perfect for dinner and drinks on a summers evening. We were greeted and offered a choice of sitting inside or outside, and then shown to our seat and greeted by Beki our waitress for the evening. Beki took our drinks order, which arrived very quickly, and took the time to tell us about certain dishes on the menu and then left us to choose our meals.

Photo taken by Jack

PizzaExpress Stratford Upon Avon

Last week we decided to go to PizzaExpress for dinner, it's an easy choice, as the Boys love it. We had been to this one before and had enjoyed a great experience. As it was a hot day we requested to sit in the outside courtyard. It is so pretty with a canopy of leaves over your head. The staff were very obliging and found us seats immediately.

We were offered drinks, which came quickly. The staff were very helpful and pleasant. We ordered the Anti-pasta for starters and the boys had dough balls.  

Coconut Rum Lollies Mmmm

After my success with my lovely refreshing Pimms Lollies, I decided to try Coconut rum Lollies. I love Malibu and Bounty Bars so thought I would try to make something of a combination. 

You will need 

• One small glass of coconut Rum
• 50g of desiccated coconut
• 500g of fat-free greek yoghurt with a touch of honey.

Method

These were so easy to make, 

• Mix the honey and coconut together until all combined
• Then add they rum
• Mix together and fill the lolly moulds
• Put in the freezer

Verdict;
They taste great, just the texture I wanted to achieve. They are more of an  ice cream consistency than a lolly, so were quite filling. The Pimms Lolly is much more refreshing, where the coconut lolly felt more indulgent.

Sweet Treats, My Sunday Photo

This is the sweet table from a Wonderful  Wedding I recently attended. The Bride and Grooms attention to detail was phenomenal. It was such a beautiful wedding. 

Pimm's Ice Lollies

Making lollies for the center parcs lolly challenge last week really got me thinking. How about some lollies for us grown ups. So decided to try some Pimm's lollies.

These were dead simple to make and so tasty. Fill the lolly mould up 1/4 with Pimms. (I used the special edition blackberry and elderflower it is delicious) I then put 3 raspberries into the mould, and topped it up with lemonade. Then put in the freezer to set. 

Healthy, Low Fat, Chicken Curry

I thought I would share the recipe for a quick and easy Healthy Chicken Curry we made this week. I have really missed chicken curry whilst being on my calf diet. Then I came across these Knorr Curry Flavour pots. They are great and come in little 8g pots that only have 0.8 grams of fat. Perfect for making healthy curries. Chris made this last week, and I recreated it this week, to check the great taste was not a fluke. It really is delicious.

You will need;

2 Chicken Breasts

Chopped Onion

Garlic

75g Natural Fat Free Yoghurt

Half tsp tandoori Powder

Half  tsp ground cumin

Half tsp ground coriander

1.5 tsp tomatoes purée 

Salt

Pepper

Knorr curry flavour pot
Boiled rice

Center Parcs, Ice Lolly Challenge

When Tots 100 and Center Parks announced the July bloggers challenge was an Ice-lolly challenge, I knew I had to get involved. The boys love ice-lollies, as a result I buy copious amounts every week. I try to stick to juice lollies that are lower in sugar so Jack can eat them as snacks, without them affecting his blood sugar levels.

The idea of finding healthy recipes, that also integrated their 5 a day was great. I started by reading Deb Roberson’s, the Center Parks ice lolly enthusiasts’ top tips on successful lolly making and decided to make a Greek yogurt based lolly.  I found some recipes on the Internet and adapted them to integrate low carbs for Jack, and low fat for me. This is what I came up with.

You will need;

• 150g strawberries
• 50g sweetener (By using sweetener instead of sugar, they become sin free, just don't dip in chocolate.)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 500g tub of fat free Greek natural yogurt
• 100g melted white/milk chocolate
• Hundreds and thousands

Put strawberries, sweetener and  vanilla extract in a bowl. Crush fruit until broken up and the sugar has dissolved.  Mix in low-fat natural yogurt. Pour into ice-lolly moulds and freeze. 

Once frozen, take them out of the moulds and dip  the lollies in melted  chocolate. Be careful not to over melt your chocolate, I did this half way through, so had to quickly melt some more chocolate. Once dipped in the chocolate, roll the lollies in the hundreds and thousands. 

Once I had done this I stood the lollies upside down on the lolly mould in the fridge to allow the chocolate to set. Then wrapped them in foil to store in the freezer. 

Wow they tasted delicious.  This has started somewhat of a lolly frenzy in the Christie household. The boys have busily been experimenting with different flavour combinations. I am thinking I may try a cocktail lolly for us adults so watch this space.

‘This is my entry to the Center Parcs and Tots100 July challenge. If I’m chosen, I would like to visit Whinfell Forest’.

Piccolino, Heddon Street, London

Last Saturday my good friend Lisa and I ate at Piccolino on Heddon Street in London's trendy Mayfair. I don't know if you have ever been to Heddon Street, it is the loveliest courtyard full of wine bars, restaurants and even an ice bar, set just off Regent Street. I have eaten here before, and had drinks at a few of the bars. As Lisa had not seen much of London I decided to take her here, as it feels really chic and continental. 

We were so lucky it was a hot day, so London was living outside. With tables outside the front of all the bars and restaurants filled. It was such a lovely summers atmosphere. 

100 Happy Days Day 96, Practicing Taking Photos

One of the things that really stood out at Brit mums was the inspiring photography demonstration. Since then I have been looking at ways to photograph more creatively. 

So when Jack got these Oreo's tonight I took them off him and started taking photos, at first he looked at me like I was mad. Then he realised what I was doing and offered me advice. This is what we came up with. Thanks jack we make a great team. And lucky you got to eat the subject. Mmmmm.