Trinity cafe

I hope you're all having a wonderful weekend! Yesterday I decided to try this little cafe situated in the Trinity Church on Boar Lane whilst attempting to start on the Christmas shopping. I have always walked past it but never been in until yesterday. Apparently the Trinity cafe is part of Create, a social enterprise that helps people get into employment which is similar to Jamie Oliver's Fifteen. When I entered the cafe, it was lovely, bright and cosy inside much than what I expected as outside the church as there a massive building site where the new Trinity shopping centre is being built. I decided to order a brew and the homemade mushroom soup with a bread roll. My partner asked for a tuna and cheese toastie and a coffee. I have to say the food tasted great, service was good and I can't really complain about the the price. It is alot cheaper than the chain cafes such as your Starbucks and Pret a Mangers. I think this place is going to turn into regular drop in for me when I am in town with all the mad Christmas shoppers around me and I am in dire need for a brew and decent  grub over the next month or so......I noticed that Create have recently opened a new restaurant in the city centre which I can't wait to try out so hopefully I will post a review soon!

In the mood for meat and two veg......

I was in Leeds at the weekend having a lovely browse around all the usual shoe shops for a new pair of winter boots that I worked up an appetite and I was in need of real sustenance. I thought to myself, what do I fancy eating right now? A nice roast dinner with all the trimmings but somewhere a little more upmarket than the usual pubs I go to! My friends had recommended me to try a place called Sams Chophouse which I have walked past many times but never actually eaten there.  On weekends they have an offer where 2 courses at £13.99 so I thought why not. When I arrived at the restaurant with my partner, it took quite a while for someone to seat us, not sure why, as it was quiet and then we had wait at the bar while our table was being cleaned. I decided to order the white bait and chips for starters as I love eating fish and when it arrived I was so disappointed as the portion size was absolutely tiny. I couldn't wait to tuck into my pork roast dinner but I had a long long wait of 45 minutes before it arrived on my table and I was staring longingly at the other customers plates filled with nice smelling food at the other tables. When the pork dinner arrived I was well annoyed as no-one gave us an apology or explanation  why it had taken so long to serve the mains, the restaurant was not busy at all. I was hoping the pork dinner was going to make up for this poor service and delay but sadly not, the pork was bland and dry, and I had totally lost my appetite by then. When we had to pay for the bill, it was hard parting with my hard earned cash for the poor service and bland tasting meal as I felt I was being totally ripped off. I was still hungry so when I got home so I cooked up my favourite nissan noodles and felt so much better afterwards! Don't you just hate it when you visit a place which you have been looking forward to and you end being so disappointed that it puts you in a bad mood for the rest of the evening?? Even though this restaurant seems to have a reputation for fine food, I will probably not be eating at this place again as the food was nothing special and the service was dreadful......I think I will stick to going to the Reliance instead for good quality delicious food and service.

Anyway hope everyone had a fab Bonfire night party! I love watching the fireworks every year. Totally impressed with Henry as he wasn't a scaredy cat, usually he hides when there is a lot of noise about but he kept jumping onto the window sill to check out the bright bursts of colour in the sky. After a while, he was exhausted and ended up sleeping again (!)

Kimono jackets

I love this time of the year as the high street is full of summer sale bargains right now......noticed that stores are already bringing their autumn/winter collections, hate it when they do that as I am not quite ready for freezing temps and the long dark nights....

The warm weather has been making me yearn for light, floaty kimono jackets and I have been inspired by how Nicole Richie wears them. She has that great boho hippy style and always looks so effortlessly chic but casual at the same time.

I would love to own a silk one from her Winter Kate collection but I just don't have that kind of money in the bank and so I managed to hunt down a few pretty ones online that are on sale at River island and Zara which are much more affordable on my budget.

River Island £25

River Island £25

Zara £19.99

Zara £19.99

I will leave you all with a cute picture of Henry trying to rub his big chubby cheeks on my old rocket dogs, think he has a thing for smelly shoes......

New Kitchen Gadget!

Hi, hope you all are all having a fabulous weekend! I am absolutely loving the warm sunny weather here, it's about time we had some sun here in the UK. It feels great not having to wear my winter woolies for once......
I decided to go to York to spend some of my Lakeland vouchers that my friends gave me for my birthday and bought this really cute mini Kenwood mini blender. Had a quick trial with it over the weekend which I followed a Madhur Jaffrey's Mussaman curry paste recipe.

I chopped up red chillies, shallots, garlic and galangal (use ginger if you don't have any)

Blend the shallots until they are finely minced

Grind up coriander seeds and pepper in a mortar and pestle

Add a tablespoon of shrimp paste and all the other ingredients and blend away again!

Once I blended into a smooth paste, I used half of it straightaway in a mussaman curry that I made for tea and then stored the rest in the freezer by putting it into an ice cube tray.

I have to say using this mini blender is so quick and easy to use, I'm all about minimising the time it takes to chop up foods. I could see myself using it for a lotta different things - humous, guacumole, pesto, chopping up ginger, garlic, chilli.......The only downsize with it is that its small in capacity so you have to be careful not to over fill the plastic bowl otherwise there's no room for things to move around when you turn the blender on.

Got to finish off with a pic of Henry looking gorgeous as usual.....He is looking quite satisfied himself as he had just eaten some tender juicy pieces of chicken......

Choc chip cookies anyone?

Hi, welcome to my new blog! I am totally new to the world of blogging and I love all things to do with food, fashion, decor and cats!

Today I was in the mood for making some chocolate chip cookies. I am always buying chocolate chip cookies whenever I am out and I thought why not make a batch of  freshly baked ones......The recipe I used is by Nigella and it is actually really easy to follow. I tend have alot of diasters when it comes to baking so I like easy peasy simple recipes! The cookies turned out great where it was soft and chewy but was light and crunchy in texture - just how I like 'em. Sorry didn't take any photos, I forgot to charge up my camera, oops newbie blogger mistake! So instead here is my picture of my lazy cat Henry