A weekend in York

The main reason I started this blog was to have somewhere I could put my photos and look back on them. However because I've been rubbish at updating this I have a huge backlog of pictures just sitting on my computer. To rectify this I'm going to start adding pictures from months, or even years ago. Today I'm starting with some photos from a trip to York Stuart and I took for our one year wedding anniversary (September 2013).

We stayed in a little B&B just walking distance from the main city, and spent the weekend walking around, looking at ruins and of course we took the obligatory open top bus tour. 

Stuart and I are currently running a competition to see who can get the most grey hairs

I enjoyed York but have decided I really should do a bit of research prior to visiting a new city. York has so much to see, and so much history it deserves a little reading up on. You can learn a lot by just wandering around or visiting an information centre but a little research could really add to the experience and understanding of the city. I've recently been reading Philippa Gregory's Cousins War series and this has made me want to head back to York. If you do decide to visit I'd recommend the Jorik centre for a little slice of Viking history (get there early enough in the morning to try and miss the massive queues).  It's aimed more towards kids but fun all the same. Enjoy!

London Urban Food Festival 2014

Earlier this week I set Stuart the task of finding something for us to do on Saturday evening. A quick flick through Time Out and it was decided, we were going to the Urban Food Festival. Street food is everywhere in London, and you can't move for a new pop up shop or food truck. Just outside my office is Whitecross Street market so I like to think I've tried a good fair share of what's out there, however I'm not about to turn down more chances of good food. With empty bellies we headed to Shoreditch and past the dragons that guard the City of London. 

The festival is held in a small carpark on Shoreditch High Street, and was already really busy when we arrived around 6pm. The venue was a little smaller than I expected, but had a great range of food just waiting to be tucked into. Straight away I headed to Bunnychow. I had heard of this food truck from a colleague at work who raved about it so I wanted to see what the fuss was about. 

Bunnychow are these small hollowed out loaves, filled with all kinds of goodness. We went for the 'Monkey Gland Bunny' which was filled with meatballs in a beautiful sauce, topped with some greens. I loved this, the only problem was, because we had decided to share dishes (so we could try more things) it disappeared too fast. The bread at the end with all the sauce soaked in was delicious. These guys are based near Shoreditch High Street during the weekdays as well, so I'm definitely going to make the extra journey to have one of these all to myself one lunchtime.

Next with our stomachs begging for more it was time for pizza from Streetzza. Inside this little food truck is an actual wood burning stove and you can watch your pizza being topped and cooked. 

This was easily my favourite meal of the whole evening. We went for ham and peppers on our pizza. The peppers were the sweetest I have ever tried, and there was just the right amount of cheese as demonstrated by Stuart below.

As we were starting to feel a little full Stuart decided to go for a burger from Got Game. I only got to try a bite of this as Stuart was so in love I felt guilty trying to prise it from his hands. He went for a wild boar burger with bacon and apricot chutney in a brioche bun. A big five stars from Stuart.

Next I went for some gnocchi with hazelnut pesto from a pasta van. I'm afraid I didn't get the name of this van but to be honest I wasn't all that enamoured by this dish, the pesto was a little too bitter for me, so I wouldn't be in a rush to recommend it.

Finally we were feeling too full to carry on, so not wanting to miss dessert we picked up some brownies from the Brownie bar to take home.  The festival is running every Saturday evening until mid June so if you are in the area I definitely recommend stopping in. There were a couple of other vans we didn't get round to so I'd love to hear if there's something I should have tried!

 p.s, we had the brownies for breakfast this morning and they were beautiful, moist and rich with that crumbly texture as you bite into them. Perfection.

Happy Spring!

Wow, I do like to take long breaks from this blog, don't I? Well now Spring is here and the weather is looking slightly more pleasant I've decided to come out of hibernation and set myself a blogging challenge. One of my favourite ways to waste time is on the Buzzfeed website, and the other day I came across an article with a bucket list that Ask Jeeves had compiled from a survey of 1000 Brits. Who knew Ask Jeeves was still going?! Anyway I've decided to see how many of these I can complete in the next 12 months. This is to get me in the habit of blogging more often, and perhaps more importantly make me move away from my sofa from time to time! There are 50 tasks and I hope to get through at least half of them. Unfortunately I won't be able to complete them all in a year as I had originally hoped as some, like 'Go to Glastonbury Festival' and 'Visit Stonehenge on the longest day of the year' happen on the same day, but who knows I might enjoy this so much I keep going until I've done them all, time limit be damned!

So here are the rules;

1. If I complete one on the list I must blog about it.

2. If I have done it before today it doesn't matter, I need to do it again and blog about it.

3. Look for deals! I want to do this cheaply so I'll use deals and vouchers, where ever possible.

4. It doesn't matter if I'm not interested in it (I'm looking at you cricket test match), I need to try new things so if it's on the list I need to make an effort and do it!

5. I have 12 months to try and get through as many as possible!

And that's pretty much it.

So, fanfare please, here is the Top 50 to do list for Brits;

1. Eat fish and chips on a seaside pier
2. See whales off Wales
3. Go to a night at the Proms at the Albert Hall
4. Visit Giant’s Causeway
5. Have a picnic at an open air concert
6. Go up in the London Eye
7. Travel Scotland’s West Coast by rail
8. Watch a Shakespeare play in Stratford-upon-Avon
9. Dine in a Gordon Ramsay restaurant
10. Go to a British Grand Prix
11. See inside the Houses of Parliament
12. Get the Ffestiniog railway in Snowdonia
13. Go to Glastonbury festival
14. Hold the FA Cup in your hands
15. Take in the view from the top of the Shard
16. Be at Stonehenge on longest day of the year
17. See the Trooping the Colour
18. Go to a cricket test match
19. Visit ‘The Prisoner’ village in Portmeirion, Wales
20. Have tea at Betty’s tearooms, Harrogate
21. See a traditional Christmas pantomime
22. Watch a British player at Wimbledon
23. Do a ‘Wainwright’ walk in the Lake District
24. Drive round Brands Hatch motor racing circuit in Kent
25. Visit a whisky distillery
26. Go to a Six Nations rugby match
27. Go on a Jack the Ripper guided walk in London’s East End
28. Have a pint in the Rovers Return, the fictional pub in ITV’s Coronation Street
29. See Lake Windermere by boat
30. Go on a historic London pub tour
31. Experience the Notting Hill Carnival
32. Try a deep fried Mars Bar
33. See the fireball ceremony at Stonehaven, Scotland, on New Year’s Eve
34. Sail round the Isle of Wight
35. Attend the Grand National, Guineas and Gold Cup horse races
36. Go to a World Darts Final
37. Take a selfie at both John O’Groats and Land’s End
38. Take a ferry across the Mersey
39. Climb Ben Nevis
40. See Tower Bridge raised
41. Visit Borough food market, London
42. Eat Haggis on Burns Night, in Scotland
43. See Morris Dancers at a country pub
44. See the Christmas Lights on Oxford Street
45. Be at a recording of X-Factor or Britain’s Got Talent
46. See Blackpool Illuminations
47. Watch a boxset of Only Fools and Horses
48. Watch the Boat Race
49. Attend first day of Harrods sale
50. Watch the London Marathon live

You can find the original buzzfeed article here.

So wish me luck, and until I have completed one of these tasks and can blog about it, here is a picture of a lemur.