Essbeevee | Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, St Albans, Tring food, lifestyle, & parenting blog

RESTAURANT REVIEW: Crockers, Tring

2022-03-26T08:30:00.013+00:00

One of my favourite local restaurants is Crockers, which opened in my hometown of Tring in 2018. Since then, they’ve expanded to a second location in Henley and grown their Tring restaurant, adding an informal dining room option and a downstairs bar. They even launched some dine at home options in lockdown – their bottled cocktails were next level, the 2020 Christmas specials were incredible.

It’s a real asset to the town. Tring is small, but has steadily grown more and more foodie since we’ve moved there. The high street is full of independent restaurants (I’ve reviewed a few of them before on here, including my faves The Akeman and Olive Limes), and it’s such a treat knowing there’s somewhere you can have a really special meal within walking distance of where you live.

I’ve been to Crockers a few times, because I’m a lucky little sausage. Matt and I went a few months after they opened, and then we tried the Dining Room downstairs for his birthday the following year when I was pregnant. And once we were able to start having the occasional meal out post lockdowns and post baby, we treated ourselves to lunch there for my birthday last year. The midweek lunch menu is really great value – more than half the cost of going in the evening, but you get most of the same food. £55 a head for tons of different Michelin standard courses is pretty amazing. They don’t have a star yet, but they are in the Michelin Guide and I’ve always assumed the star is on its way. It really is one of the best places I’ve ever been.

When we went for my birthday last year, my mum said she’d never had this kind of food before, and I resolved to take her along with me as soon as I could. In the end, I bought her a voucher for Christmas and we booked in a couple of weeks ago. I was really excited to treat her to the Crocker’s experience. They only have room for 12 diners upstairs for the Chef’s Table. We all sit in a horseshoe and the food is prepared in front of you, giving you a chance to chat with the chef (Scott Barnard, seen a little while back on Masterchef: The Professionals) and the incredibly friendly waiting staff. It was quite quiet when we went – just us and one other couple – but part of the beauty of the layout is that you’re encouraged to chat and socialise with other diners. And my mum and I LOVE to chat.

Although it’s a set menu, because it’s all served fresh they are pretty flexible – with a couple of weeks notice they’ll happily cater for special requests like yours truly who is a backwards pescatarian (I like meat but no fish please) and my mum who eats everything except rare beef. I had a few things swapped out for the veggie options, but that just means you get more pretty pictures. I always want to know if there is some kind of course you can go on to learn how to beautifully plate food, because some of these plates are really works of art. Almost a shame to eat them. Almost.

To start we had a Westcombe Cheddar cookie, made with IPB beer. This was the only dish that remained on the menu since my birthday last July, and I was very happy to see it again – it’s a light, crispy cookie with a gooey cheese centre, and it’s spectacular.

Next on the regular menu was a smoked haddock doughnut with dill – it looks amazing, and I’m assured it was delicious. I had the veggie option, which was a crispy cone filled with goat’s cheese curd and topped with a flutter of truffles. It was so good – I love goat’s cheese and the truffles went perfectly, just the right amount.

Next up was the bread course, which maybe doesn’t sound exciting, but has always been a highlight every time I've visited. We shared a small loaf of bread cooked with beer from the nearby Tring Brewery, served with cultured butter. I was a little sad to see the whipped marmite butter was off the menu now, but the cultured butter was AMAZING. It’s made with specially fermented cream, which gives it this incredibly intense buttery flavour and, honestly, I could happily eat that warm bread and butter for every meal for the rest of my life. YUM.

The next course – I think the starter, officially, but who’s counting – was steamed cod, with mussels, cauliflower and chicken butter sauce. It looks so beautiful, and mum loved it.

I have to admit that I wasn’t too excited by my next course – potato cooked in seaweed butter, vichyssoise and baby leeks. Was I proved wrong? Damn straight. It may have been my favourite course – it was such an incredible combination. The sauce was creamy and salty, the potatoes were fluffy and buttery and the crunchy baby leeks and crispy seaweed all just WORKED. We had a little bread left and you’d better believe I did some major mopping of that delicious sauce – it was so great.

The next course was Herdwick hogget, which I have to admit I had no idea what it was. Turns out it’s teenage lamb, served pink, with feta, broccoli, lemon and almond.

It was lovely – I adore rare meat, especially lamb, and although it’s not my mum’s favourite thing, she admitted it was cooked perfectly, pink but not bloody, and it went really well with the feta and lemon and some kind of delicious jus.

I’m still going – honestly, there are so many courses here, but that’s part of the fun! There’s an optional cheese course here which we all ended up skipping. We did have it on my birthday though, and it was amazing – we had melty Baron Bigod with a drizzle of maple syrup and the most incredible dessert wine (I highly recommend the wine pairing if you can – sadly mum and I both needed to drive later!).

Pudding was a light chocolate mousse with dabs of passion fruit puree and banana ice cream. I don’t love banana, but the taste was really delicate and it went beautifully with the chocolate. And then dessert just kept coming – next we had some sweets. The jellies looked like Turkish Delight but were lighter and without that perfumed taste I’m not fond of, and the other option was cherry chocolate fudge which was amazing. And then finally, we had what looks like a little scotch egg, but was actually filled with lemon meringue, topped with meringue sticks and lemony cream. The perfect way to end a special meal, in my opinion.

Crockers is one of those places I would recommend to anyone. I really enjoy the set menu – it’s fun to put yourself in someone else’s hands for a meal and see what delicious flavour combos they come up with, and it encourages you to try something new. It’s so important to protect your local independent restaurants, especially when they’re as great as this, and if it means that I have to keep coming back again and again, I’m down with it. And mum loved it too – she described the dishes as exquisite works of art, which they very much are.

Crockers Tring is at 74 High Street, Tring HP23 4AF. I was not compensated for this honest review.

RESTAURANT REVIEW: The Alford Arms, Frithsden nr. Berkhamsted

2022-03-19T08:30:00.021+00:00

I’ve not blogged for ages and ages, and I thought I should come back with a whole big explanation and stuff but honestly: life got busy, I realised I missed it, so I’m gonna dive back in with some local restaurant reviews. That okay with you? GREAT.

The husband and I had a rare joint Friday off recently and decided to try The Alford Arms, a lovely country pub in Frithsden, just outside Berkhamsted. It’s in the Michelin Guide so I had high hopes for a really good pub lunch, and said hopes were met. It was lovely.

Inside it was more traditional than I expected – dogs were heartily welcomed and I spotted several diners with pooches at their feet. There’s a nice outside area, but as the heavens opened just as we pulled in, we opted for a spot in the cosy dining room instead.

The menu was quite mixed. Not in a bad way – it felt as if half of it was catering to the traditional country pub vibes, with dishes like prawn cocktail, bangers and mash and tiramisu on offer, and the other half was the chef’s chance to push the boundaries a little more. One touch I really enjoyed was that on the back of the menu was a list of all the local suppliers they’d got their food from – I spied honey from Berkhamsted Bees, rapeseed oil from P.E.Mead farm shop in Tring and meat from Native Beef in Sarratt. Even their Christmas turkeys are sourced from Leighton Buzzard, less than 12 miles away. It really showed the commitment to buying local and also showed me a few new foodie places locally that I want to try!

To start, Matt went traditional with a prawn cocktail. Do you remember my old school reviews? I don’t eat fish – still! And he likes to order it when we go out just to spite me and so I can’t steal it. I assume. Or maybe he just likes it, I don’t know? Anyway, he enjoyed it. A classic done well, was his review.

I had the goats cheese mousse which was runnier than I expected – I thought it would be a bit more solid and, well, mousse like. But it was delicious, I love goats cheese and when I realised it was drizzled with honey and not oil like I initially thought, I was in heaven. It was lovely with the crunchy croutons although I wish I’d had a bit of bread to mop it up with.

For our mains we decided to order two things we were both considering and share, although we ended up just having bites of each other’s and not doing a full halfsies. I do enjoy doing halfsies, but sometimes you end up not wanting to give up your half, or getting a bit short changed. It just doesn’t work with all food, does it? Not everything is pizza, basically.

Matt got steak, which I was seriously considering – I bloody love a steak, and I figured that the Alford Arms guys would know how to cook one really well. And they did, it was perfectly pink inside as per Matt’s request and smothered with garlic butter, served with skinny fries. They didn’t offer a sauce on the side, but then they’re not a steak house and honestly, a dollop of peppercorn would have overpowered that lovely garlic butter.

I got the short ribs, which usually I’d expect to be served with a side of mash and some rich gravy, but instead they were served with a sticky Asian-inspired sauce and a rice noodle salad. I wasn’t quite sure about this combo and ordered chunky chips on the side because I wasn’t sure if it would be filling, but actually it really worked – the freshness of the salad went really well with the fatty ribs, and it was more filling than I expected. The chunky chips WERE good though, I bloody love a chunky chip with a pot of mayo to dip, and I am not ashamed.

You’d think we were far too full for pudding, and to be honest, we kind of were… AND YET. Matt got the tiramisu, a dish he finds hard to ignore if it’s in the dessert section. I thought I didn’t like tiramisu for years, but now I’ve come around to drinking coffee it’s opened up a whole world of coffee-based desserts. It was lovely and creamy and fluffy – not super strong on the coffee, but I enjoyed the shortbread base, and am now wondering if tiramisu cheesecake is a thing and if not why not?

I had the special, which was rhubarb and apple crumble with custard. It was such good crumble weather, wet and cold, and it went beautifully with the end of my glass of red wine that I’d been nursing throughout as I’d lost the designated driver debate with Matt. The custard was incredible, sweet and creamy, and I would have been happy with just a pint of that! But the crumble was great too, lovely and crunchy on top and tart and sweet on the bottom. I bloody love crumble and custard, and people who serve it with ice cream are wrong ‘uns. I will die on that hill.

We ‘shared’ a lovely bottle of Tuscan red called Brunito *side eye at Matt* and made it home with about half an hour to flop before we had to pick up the small person from nursery. It was such a lovely, filling lunch that neither of us wanted dinner, and I’m pretty sure we were both asleep by 9.30, because we are just that fun.

I felt like the Alford Arms does pub food really well. They balance the classics with some more experimental dishes, so there’s something for everyone, the portions are generous and the prices are pretty good – they are a little higher than your average pub meal but not ridiculous, and I felt that was reflected in the quality of the food.

The Alford Arms is at Frithsden, Hemel Hempstead HP1 3DD. I was not compensated for this honest review.

Why I didn't post about my pregnancy on the internet

2020-10-08T18:30:00.008+01:00

As this week is National Baby Loss Awareness Week, I felt it was time to share my story in full. Please note that the title of the post was written many months ago and is not meant to cast judgement on anyone who does share their pregnancy on the internet - it is an incredibly personal thing and everyone will feel differently about it.

I'm an oversharer. I'm fairly known for it. I will cheerfully tell a total stranger intimate details about my life, and the internet is not much different. So why didn't I say anything about being pregnant until I announced I'd had a baby in January?

Honestly, a year or two ago, it would have confused the life out of me. It did, to be honest. I had a handful of Facebook friends who suddenly seemed to have children appear with not a word said about the process. I didn't get it at all. I mean, it's exciting! Why wouldn't you share it?

Because pregnancy doesn't always end with a baby, that's why.

My first pregnancy didn't.

And while the second pregnancy was very different and had a beautiful ending, it definitely made me more cautious. We'd said the first time that we probably wouldn't say anything until I was pretty far along, but the second time we both agreed to keep it quiet online and only tell family and people we saw in person.

I never properly talked about my miscarriage on the internet. A few one-on-one chats, a tweet to a fellow sufferer that a few of my followers saw (ironically the day before I found out I was pregnant again), but it never felt like the right time. I had a blog post ready to go for months, but kept finding reasons not to share it. By the time I started to feel ready, those angry words didn't feel like me any more. And while we were trying to conceive again, I didn't want to bring that conversation to the forefront of our minds again.

Oddly in real life, I was much more relaxed. Last time, I'd found out about three days before Christmas and proceeded to lie (badly) to pretty much everyone I knew. Other than my husband and I, I think my sister was the only other person who knew for sure. My mum didn't even know. I'll never forget sitting in a hospital room, about to go under general anaesthetic for the first time in my life, frantically trying to call her to tell her that I was about to have emergency surgery. The second time around, most of my team at work knew within a week of me finding out, and half of them had already guessed. I still held out telling the parents for a little longer, but as my bump decided to make an appearance at six bloody weeks, I was quite chilled about people we knew guessing our news. After all, I knew the worst that could happen. And my support network was invaluable during that time.

I don't regret not talking about my pregnancy online. But I do regret not talking about my miscarriage more. Because when it happened to me, I found that knowing I wasn't alone helped me more than anything else. Every time I talked about it, I felt like a little of my grief chipped away. You can find kindness in so many unexpected areas. I'll never forget the GP at my local surgery who I saw a few weeks after, about something else. She moved me to tears by greeting me with "Well, you've had a rough time of it, haven't you?" and then told me that in 30 years, she'd only seen one other woman with what I had, who now had 2 healthy children. It was so kind. I wanted to be that support for other people, but I didn't get the chance. So I guess I'm trying to do it now.

Actually, sharing an abridged version of the story on Instagram was a step in that direction. I received some heartbreaking messages from people who were still in that pit - and it does feel like a pit - and I hope I helped a little. So many people have gone through this - 1 in 4 pregnancies! 1 in 4! - and it's still so rarely talked about. I think there's an element of shame attached, because for whatever reason, your body didn't manage to do this thing that so many other bodies have no trouble with. It's not your fault. I hope you know that. It's not.

Pregnancies one and two will always be linked in my mind. There were moments after my miscarriage that floored me by how horrible I still felt - the week I should have been 12 weeks, Mother's Day - and I breathed a sigh of relief when I realised that I'd be well into my second trimester by our original due date. It helped. And I couldn't help but compare how I felt with each pregnancy - very different, it turns out, which I felt could only be positive.

What I learned about miscarriages is that every one is different, and I found that most women I knew felt that they didn't have it as badly as other women, which I think is just a testament to our stiff upper lip attitude, really. Because they all suck. Whether it's really early or really late. Whether it's your first pregnancy or your fourth. Whether you had surgery, whether they took something out of you, whether you might not be able to try again. It's terrifying, and it's unfair, and it happens to a lot of us.

I had a cervical ectopic pregnancy. While ectopic pregnancies are fairly common, cervical ectopic pregnancies are very rare, and I think this detail added to my trauma. It wasn't until a few days afterwards that things started to come together and we realised that a lot of the medical professionals we'd seen didn't know what they were seeing. And once they worked it out, they were freaked out. After a day sitting in A&E, confused and scared after a private scan, I was called in for an NHS scan the next day. I went into surgery five hours later. Minutes before I was due to be taken away, our surgeon popped her head in to say she was just getting a second opinion. We were given a plan A, a plan B, a plan C and a plan D. They kept talking about blood transfusions and possible haemorrhage. And just before I went home, our doctor asked if they could publish my case in a medical paper, because they hadn't dealt with one at that hospital for over 5 years.

I was actually very fortunate - plan A worked, no transfusions, no haemorrhage. I kept my tubes and was assured by absolutely everyone that this wouldn't happen again. Just lucky, I guess! At the back of my mind, though, was that while another cervical ectopic pregnancy was pretty much impossible, there were a multitude of other things that could go wrong. I thank my lucky stars every day that they didn't.

The biggest thing I struggled with - and this is the part that always breaks me when I write or talk about it - is that there was a heartbeat. Right up until surgery, my baby was clinging onto life, even though there was no way it could survive where it was. And if it had stayed there, I couldn't survive either. There wasn't room for it to grow. But knowing that never seems to make it any easier. It wasn't already gone.

But when it came to the second time, I tried to use this devastating fact to assure myself that if our child could survive there, it could do it again. I was still absolutely hysterical when it came to that first early scan, and even after they told me it was fine, I couldn't stop crying. I don't really think those feelings ever truly go away. You think about them less over time, and they get less raw, but it doesn't take a lot to put you right back into that place.

My point is that it was shit. And if you're going through something similar, you know that. And it will be shit for a while. And you'll be sad, and you'll be angry - oh my gosh, you'll be SO angry. I still remember a guy having a go at me in the car park because I dared to sit in my car too long before driving away, and rolling down the window and screaming "I JUST HAD A FUCKING MISCARRIAGE!" at him felt bloody amazing.

But talking does help. I know not everyone gets the happy ending I did, and every time I complain about early mornings or sleepless nights or being covered in baby sick, I still feel lucky. I hope you find your happy ending, whatever that may be.

My labour story

2020-05-14T07:00:00.000+01:00

One of the best pieces of advice I got during pregnancy was from one of my friends who said ‘They’re going to tell you you’re a bit fat and a bit old, but don’t worry about it.’ Not in a mean way - they'd said it to her. And it’s true, they said it to me, too. I mean, they didn’t put it quite so bluntly, but instead showed me a tick list of risk factors and which ones I ticked. Over 35. A higher BMI than they’d like. And a first pregnancy that had gone very, very wrong.

Having a high risk pregnancy wasn’t actually a terrible thing, but that’s because the risks were concerns that didn’t seem to impact anything in the long run, thankfully. It meant extra scans - every 4 weeks towards the end - and a scheduled induction at 39 weeks.

There’s a lot of negativity out there about inductions, but I felt reassured by having a guaranteed date to work to and plan around. I had a week of annual leave and then about 1.5 weeks of maternity leave before the induction date, which meant plenty of time to sort things out before the baby got here.

At our NCT classes, we talked through different types of births and I started to feel a bit doubtful about inductions. I then watched the hypnobirthing videos from the Positive Birth Company, which didn’t help (positive about many things, but not inductions). But I kept my appointment in, even though I could have opted out if I’d wanted. Who knows, maybe the baby would come early.

So. I get to my 36 week scan on my last day at work, and all’s well. ‘The baby’s head is quite far down,’ they say, and I’m pleased that it’s in position. When I see my midwife 4 days later, I mention it as she examines me. ‘It’s actually REALLY far down,’ she tells me, suddenly serious. ‘Your hospital bag is all packed, right?’
‘Um... mostly?’

I text Matt and we have a little panic. We only ordered the car seat, cot and buggy that weekend and it hasn’t all arrived! Then I spend the rest of the week like a woman on a mission, watching hypnobirthing videos on my iPad or phone as I wash and sort the baby’s clothes and pack for the hospital and load the freezer with portions of bolognese and curry.

A few days pass and the weekend comes, I pass 37 weeks and I haven’t spontaneously given birth so we relax a little. We hit up Ikea and b&q on Saturday and Matt’s dad comes round on Sunday to help us put up shelves in the baby’s room and tick a few things off our DIY list. I’m starting to feel pretty sure that I’ll make it to 39 weeks, or at the very least, 38.

I feel a bit off on Sunday but I put it down to low blood sugar and tiredness. At this stage every organ inside me is squashed so it’s not that odd to feel a bit sick, and have to lie down immediately after eating lunch. Unusual - I haven’t been a massively sicky preggo - but not that odd.

On Monday I’m 37 weeks and 4 days pregnant, and for my first official day of maternity leave (I've had a week of annual leave already), I have some nice things planned. I’m getting my Christmas gel nails removed, a much needed hair cut and colour, and in between I’m going to have a lovely potter around overpriced baby shops in St Albans, get something tasty for lunch and maybe get my eyebrows done.

Nails and eyebrows done, posh bags from the White Company and JoJo Maman Bébé in hand, I head to a cafe for brunch before my hair appointment. But when I’m walking to the car after my sweetcorn fritters and bacon, I start to feel sick again. Really sick. Picture me now, waddling along in my dungarees, gagging violently as I walk past Topshop and River Island in the Maltings.

Anyway, after I puke into the base of a tree and again by the side of a bench I’m sitting on - and precisely no one asks the vomiting pregnant lady if she’s okay - I’m a little concerned so I text my husband and decide I just need to get home. Then I stand up, and to add insult to injury, I realise I’ve wet myself. Pregnancy is lots of things but it ain’t glamorous, and when there’s a head resting on your bladder 24/7, sometimes this happens. Except... not this much. And it keeps happening. Even after I go to the loo, I can feel it trickling out and it occurs to me that... this ain’t pee.

So despite the fact that I’m alone, 30 mins from home and 45 mins from the hospital and my waters have just broken, I feel strangely calm. Slightly regretful that I’m now wearing really quite damp denim - the worst of all the damp materials - but calm. Matt tells me to call the hospital - my first instinct was just to get home, change and call from there because I’m possibly in denial - and they tell me to come straight in, so I drive straight there while Matt heads home to get our hospital bag and we arrange to meet in triage.

At this point I’m expecting to be turn up at hospital and immediately get sent home. Every kick from my still very active baby has me wondering if it’s a contraction (it isn’t) and as I drive down the A41 in my new family-friendly car, I’m not actually sure if this counts as driving while in labour or not. It’s surreal. When the midwife calls me back, she suggests I might want to pull over and I’m like ‘I’m fine!’ (I then do concede that pulling over might not be a bad idea, and do so)

When I chat to the midwife in triage, I realise that their first assumption is that I have, in fact, just wet myself. Despite what TV leads us to believe, your waters breaking isn’t usually the first sign of labour. But when I explain that it’s still trickling out, she declares me ‘convincing’ and I’m given a bed so I can be checked over.

Matt arrives and we wait. A lot. They check baby’s heartbeat and various other things, and we eventually break out the iPad and put on the ultimate comforting film, Paddington 2. The hope is that my contractions will start and I’ll enter natural labour without any help. Time just kind of disappears, and eventually we’re told that we COULD go home but they’d rather we didn’t, and I agree to stay in overnight.

We’re moved to a bed in the ward upstairs, and at around 11pm I’m given the first stage of induction. I thought it was a pessary, Matt thought it was a gel - no one knows. Well, I assume the medical professionals do. I’m also given a drip to rehydrate me after throwing up my lunch, and told to rest.

At about 2am, I’m woken up by what feel like period pains and I realise that’s my contractions started. They get steadily more intense and painful as the night goes on, and I’m only able to grab a few minutes of sleep in between each contraction. I’m so tired, and it starts to worry me that I won’t have much energy stored up for labour.

The next few hours are a blur. I’m checked over in between contractions, and they talk to me about how dilated I am and what’s going to happen next. Basically, I’m not in active labour quite yet, and until I get to that point, I need to stay put, even though I’m super uncomfortable. I try different positions to ease the discomfort of the contractions and alternate between wanting to hold onto Matt and wanting him to get the hell away from me. Fun!

At around 10am I’m declared in active labour, so I start readying myself to go down to a delivery room. But before I can get anyone’s attention, I throw up all over the floor. Turns out puking is just how my body responds to having a baby!

Anyway, I clean myself up and am taken downstairs while Matt follows with the crazy amount of stuff we have. We meet our midwife, Stacey (although my sleep deprived brain thinks she’s called Carly for half the day) and shit gets real. A doctor comes in to check me over, has a feel of my stomach and - you guessed it - I throw up. Last time, I promise. They give me some anti sickness meds but aren’t keen on me eating anything so I’m pretty much running on empty now.

Turns out active labour is just a more intense version of what I’ve been doing already (ha - "just"), and we start talking pain relief because gas and air isn’t touching the sides. At NCT, we’d talked through the options and I’d decided the only one I wasn’t keen on was pethidine because it can make the baby drowsy and sluggish. However, our midwife explained that it was early enough that it shouldn’t affect her, and when she explained that it would possibly help me sleep a little and get my energy up, I was sold.

One of our jobs for week 38 was writing a birth plan, and we never got to it. In a way, I don’t think it was a bad thing. We were open to all options and I wasn’t fixated on things happening a certain way. The only thing I really wanted was for Matt to tell me the gender as we hadn't found out beforehand.

Anyway, turns out in the moment that I’m a big pethidine fan. It totally spaces me out and means I’m dozing in between contractions, which makes the rest of the day even more of a blur, but that’s ok. I remember the bits that count. And contractions hurt. They still hurt, even with pain relief. I really feel like I made the right choice.

Anyway, the contractions get more intense and frequent and painful and I start to feel unbearable pressure in my bum. You guys know that giving birth feels kinda like pooping, right? Well, I was convinced that all my pushing was just birthing an enormous poo - I even said that to one of the midwives who said ‘Or maybe a baby?’ And she was right. As far as I know, I didn’t poop. But also, every woman I know doesn’t think she pooped and apparently most women do, so... who knows.

Pushing wasn’t what I expected. TV leads you to believe that it's mostly pushing, but no. They only like you to push for an hour or so at the end, so most of labour is just managing contractions. I remember asking how on earth I was going to cope with things getting more painful, and the midwives explained that actually, pushing would feel more like a relief. It’s true. It hurt, but in a totally different way to the contractions. Plus, I knew the end - and my baby - was in sight. Literally, actually. I needed some coaxing to push past the pain, and ‘She’s got lots of hair!’ was definitely one of the tactics that worked.

I couldn’t tell you now exactly what contractions feel like, but I remember pushing vividly. We kept trying different positions - I had this bed with lots of moving parts that the midwives basically converted into a chair so I could hold onto the back at one point. I even ended up in stirrups, but I don’t think I was ever lying down.

Anyway. Pushing. Turns out they don’t actually recommend screaming your brains out like on TV - because it directs your energy up, instead of down. So mostly I was making ‘nnngh’ noises. And I found out there’s your limit, and then there’s the point a few miles past that limit, and that’s where you need to get to. In the moment, it felt impossible. I remember just wanting someone to burst in with forceps and finish the job for me. I definitely asked about an epidural at this point - far too late!

An hour had passed by this point and a new midwife had appeared, who told me the doctors wanted to intervene but she’d asked them to hold off. Then, as I got closer, she told me she’d sent them away, because I didn’t need them. In the moment, Matt and I were like ‘Okay okay!’ and then a few days after, couldn’t help but wonder if this was a persuasive tactic to get me to the finish line, and the doctors weren’t at the door at all. Entirely possible!

I push and push and now I can feel that this definitely isn’t just a poop. One big push and the head is almost out, and suddenly we hear a cry. All of us freeze for a second. That’s all the incentive I need to finish the job and a couple more big pushes finally give us the rest of the head and the body. I’m tensed, eyes closed, still in push mode when Stacey says ‘Open your eyes!’ and there, purple and bawling and covered in goo... is my baby.

‘It’s a girl!’ Matt says (and shared that with limbs flailing and the umbilical cord in the way, he had to double check that with Stacey because it was kind of hard to tell). And they give her to me and I hold her and I sob without any tears, just an outpouring of exhaustion and pride and love. All those months of wondering who this little person was and if they were a boy or a girl and here she is. Of course this is her. Who else could she be?

And a little later, the midwives ask us if we have a name yet.

“We think she’s a Briony,” I reply.

Motherhood.

2020-05-09T08:30:00.000+01:00

So, it's been a long old time since my last blog post. And there's a pretty good reason for that. A reason that you'll already know if you follow me on social media, which I'm assuming most of you do, but just in case you don't - surprise! I had a baby!

Briony Isla Vernon-Smith joined our family at 5.19pm on 28 January 2020 weighing in at 6lb 9oz, and we're completely obsessed with her. She's ace.

Throughout my pregnancy I wrote a fair bit about the experience with the intention of sharing it here, so now that naptime is a bit more consistent and, like the rest of you, I have absolutely nowhere else to go, over the coming weeks I'll be sharing them here.

I've been wanting to start blogging again for a while - I miss it a lot, and baby stuff is definitely going to be a theme of this blog going forward, but I promise I'll mix it up with some foodie stuff too because like the rest of the world, I'm spending a lot of time baking. Haven't tried sourdough yet, but I want to!

Anyway, for now, HI. Stay tuned, because later this week I'm going to share my labour story. Fun!

REVIEW: The Lazy Pig in the Pantry, Chesham

2019-04-28T21:57:00.002+01:00

Well, it has been a long old time since I've done a food review, but I felt like I would get back into the swing of things pretty easily. I even joked the day before we went to try out the Lazy Pig in Chesham that I hoped I remembered how to use my DSLR... and then when we sat down, realised I'd forgotten the battery. So that'll learn me not to tempt fate, won't it?

Luckily, the camera on my iPhone isn't toooo terrible and VSCO and Photoshop managed to take care of the rest. But my point is that these pictures aren't quite as good as I usually take, and that's annoying. And down entirely to my stupidity. Anyway! Let's talk about food!

The Lazy Pig in the Pantry is an excellently named new pub/restaurant combo that's recently opened in Chesham. There's steaks, pizzas, cocktails and an exciting array of other dishes on the slightly intimidatingly long menu. We went on a Friday night, and it was buzzing - considering it's only just opened, it was super busy.

Before I get to the food, let's just cover this: it is hashtag interior goals. Instagram fans, take note.

We settled down with a very nice red wine from San Marzano, which isn't far from where we stayed in Italy last year and is also where the tomatoes come from. Lately I'm trying to order wines that sound interesting rather than ones I know I'll like, which has had a 100% success rate so far! Also, it always ends in wine so a big old thumbs up there.

I was eyeing the three cheese arancini for starters, but it was sadly unavailable so instead I went for burrata seeing as it's always a pleasure. And it was! Charred sourdough topped with burrata, mixed tomatoes, prosciutto ham and a drizzle of olive oil. A liiittle bit more burrata wouldn't have gone amiss, but that's generally my philosophy when it comes to cheese.

Matt won when it came to ordering though - his starter was sooo good. He had the smoked pork belly with maple glaze, and maaaan. It came with a black pudding crumb and an apple puree, which gave it this amazing combination of smokiness, saltiness and sweetness and... yeah, I was jealous of it.

The worst thing is that when it came to mains, Matt won AGAIN (we're all in agreement that food ordering is a competition, right? Right.) He got the pan-fried duck breast with a honey and sesame glaze, in a red wine sauce. Nom. Again, it was delicious - I bloody love duck, and this was cooked really well. His only minor criticism is that it came with just one cheese croquette which meant it wasn't the most filing dish on the menu, and a side portion of fries wouldn't have gone amiss. But that meant that dessert was definitely on the cards, so THAT'S okay.

And I had a pretty hefty side portion of fries with mine, so it all worked out. I went for the smoky beef brisket burger because it just sounded so good, and it did not disappoint. Huge, fat and juicy - I was definitely into it, although I didn't mean that sentence to sound quite as filthy as it does. The brisket in particular was fantastic, and I would have been even happier if it was all brisket and no burger. Having the menu open as I write this up is reminding me of all the other exciting options on the menu, so I'm already plotting my next visit (I'm eyeing the sweet potato and white bean chilli with thyme polenta chips).

I'd totally already decided on my dessert and if you know me but at all, you could guess it easily. Basically, I have certain buzzwords when it comes to desserts. Basically if peanut butter or salted caramel are mentioned anywhere on there, I'm about to get involved. Unless someone ruins it with bananas. So when I spotted peanut butter and chocolate mille-feuille at the top of the dessert menu I... well, I totally ordered it. It was GREAT. Peanutty and chocolatey and somehow not ridiculously sickly. In. To. It.

Matt went for the chocolate brownie, which is always going to be a good choice, and this hazelnut and caramel version definitely was. Warm and gooey and everything you could want in a brownie.

Overall, we had a really nice meal. The restaurant is gorgeous - they have done an incredible job on the decor, and next time I 100% want to sit in the orangery at the front which is an Instagram dream. I'm really looking forward to going back again soon and working my way through the cocktail menu!

The Lazy Pig in the Pantry is at Chesham Rd, Chesham HP5 3PF. The restaurant kindly paid for our meal in exchange for this honest review.

How I became a Lipstick Person

2019-04-22T20:55:00.000+01:00

I'd always loved the idea of being a Lipstick Person. You know, the kind of person who wouldn't be seen dead without a splash of red lipstick. Who always looks put together and glamorous. It always seemed like people who wear lipstick every day had their life together.

As unlikely as that is to be true, I still aspired to it. But the problem was that lipstick just didn't seem to suit me. Every time I put on red lipstick, I felt like I was wearing fancy dress. I've even visited MAC and Sephora and asked them to help me find my perfect red. Whenever I had my makeup done professionally, they always gave me a strong lip - but I wasn't convinced. Every time I went out with red lips, I'd caught my reflection in the mirror and felt a little startled. I just didn't look like ME.

A little while ago, I made a concerted effort to fulfil this entirely manageable goal to be a Lipstick Person, and I actually cracked it. I've got to the point now where I feel bare without lipstick on. I mean, were my lips ALWAYS this pale? I even did a challenge on Instagram recently where I tried to wear a different lipstick every day for a month (which is what the photos above are from). Not only have I become a Lipstick Person, I've become the kind of Lipstick Person that has enough shades to wear a different one every day for 31 days.

Here's where I went wrong. I thought being a Lipstick Person was about finding my perfect red lipstick. But once I decided that red lipstick just didn't suit me and focused on all the other shades out there, it became a hell of a lot easier. I'm not convinced that the perfect red exists - at least, not in the sense that you'll put it on and just feel RIGHT. And if you feel the same, it's okay - there are hundreds of other shades out there. Might I suggest pink?

So here's how I did it. It didn't happen overnight - changing a major part of your face is something you have to get used to. But now lipstick isn't a special occasion thing for me any more. The thing is, anyone can suit lippy, you just have to believe it suits you. And if you believe it, then it will.

1. Find your gateway shade
For the longest time, I never felt like me in a bright red - it always seemed too much with my rather large mouth against my pale skin and red hair. But pink was a different story. I focused on finding a few shades slightly brighter than my natural colour, and got used to how I looked like that. Then gradually, they got brighter and brighter. And brighter.

2. Start with long lasting shades
One of the trickiest things about wearing lipstick regularly when you haven't before is that it can get bloody everywhere. On your glass, teeth, hands, food, husband... you've been there, right? I started with the kind that set and stain (I love Sephora's lip creams and Maybelline's Ink Matte range, and the Nars velvet lip pencils stay on surprisingly well), so they stay all day and I can forget I'm wearing them. Super low maintenance. Wearing the long lasting shades also means that you're committing to keeping them all on day, which is a good way of pushing you out of your no-lipstick comfort zone. I still prefer the long lasting ones as they're low effort.

3. Learn to match your shades
I've found that brighter lipsticks look best when they match something you're wearing - a coral shade with a coral dress, a hot pink to complement the watermelons on your new frock - and it's not crucial to match exactly, either. Making a small effort instantly completes an outfit. But I've found that the season and the weather affects the lippy shades that work, too. A darker, plummy shade sometimes looks a bit odd on a bright, sunny day and a hot pink sometimes looks too summery for a glum winter's afternoon. It gets easier the more you do it, and getting it wrong isn't a disaster. Just go with it.

4. Ease your way in
Start out wearing lipstick to every special occasion - that wedding or that party - then progress to that dinner out, that pub trip. From there, it'll feel more natural to wear it to lunch, or to an interview... and from there, it's a pretty easy step to wear it to work. I used starting a new role as an excuse to wear lipstick to work, and now it's just a thing that I do, the same as I wear dresses every day. Easy peasy.

5. Wearing a stronger face
It was only a few years ago that I started wearing blusher along with my usual makeup face. I NEVER used to wear blusher - I always felt it didn't work with my pale skin, but in truth it makes me look healthier and a bit more alive. And I also now always define my eyebrows with a pencil or powder - I never used to as I always figured red hair and dark brows looked weird, but it really doesn't. My eyebrows are dark naturally, but they need a little push to define them, or they look half invisible in photos. However, I think that having more defined brows and cheeks means that in comparison, my natural lips look washed out - and that pushed me towards lipstick.

Are you a Lipstick Person or is it a foreign, terrifying world as it was for me? Are you tempted to try again?

Hello again.

2019-03-24T20:47:00.000+00:00

I have spent a lot of time trying to decide if I've given up blogging or not. A seemingly simple question which was emphatically... not simple. I haven't blogged for nearly seven months, and I couldn't work out if I missed it.

There are some things I don't like about blogging. The politics. The hierarchy. The FOMO. The encouragement to place so much focus on numbers and views. I recently stopped using hashtags on Instagram because it suddenly stopped mattering to me if strangers or bots (mostly bots) liked my photos. I stopped trying to post every day, and just post when I want to. Sporadically. I unfollowed some of the most influencey influencers on my friends list, and focused on people who I found interesting, whose content I enjoyed. It's a nicer place to be.

But there's a lot I like about blogging. I love having an outlet for my thoughts. I love sharing my experience and knowledge, feeling like I've helped someone. I love finding new local places to eat, I love that those new places can find ME, and I love that I can then tell you guys all about them. And I bloody adore the community, that little gang of you who send me messages on Instagram and laugh at my stupid jokes. Because I haven't left social media, I never felt like I left you, which also made me kind of wonder how much I needed this space.

But I like knowing it's there. I like the fact that for the last ten years - TEN YEARS - I've been able to write about whatever I'm most into, without feeling pigeonholed or pressured into being something I'm not. I like knowing that I can always come back to it if I want to, and no one will judge me for taking a break, in the same way no one has hassled me for not posting. There's some joy to be found in not being the person with thousands of followers.

So... no. I haven't given it up. I think I'm back. And I don't know yet what 'back' will look like. I want to talk more about the things that are happening in my life. Some of them are scary, personal things. Some of them are slightly pathetic, I-guess-I'm-an-adult-now things (have I told you about my new washing machine yet? I'm very excited about it). And some of them will be the things you're used to, like restaurant reviews and travel tips and things I want to buy.

I'm just going to see how I go. And that might not mean posting every week. It certainly won't mean posting every other day like I somehow used to do on the regular. But anyway. I just wanted to say hi. And I've missed you guys.

REVIEW: Pho & Bun, London

2018-09-01T08:30:00.000+01:00

I don't feel like I go out in London all too much nowadays. Sure, I have a list of places I want to eat at or go back to (ticked one of each list off on my birthday at the end of last month, thank you very much) but now I'm living a little further out, it's less convenient to pop in on a whim. But every now and then the stars align and I'm in London town for work in the day, with a delicious restaurant to review lined up for the evening.

Usually, I combine this with the holy trinity of meeting a London-based pal, but this time people were busy and whatnot so I thought I'd treat the husband to this one. Yes, he DOES get a lot of free meals out of me, glad you noticed.

I wasn't really sure what to expect from Pho & Bun. It's on Shaftesbury Avenue, and peak tourist zone isn't always a mark of quality. But I stand entirely corrected on my doubts - this was a GREAT meal. And even better, it was excellent value. Always a rare pleasure to get that combo in central London, eh?

We enjoyed their set menu, which is £23.95 each and includes two starters, a main, a pudding and a drink. Two starters! And these were huge, too. We both got the summer rolls to start - mine with tofu and Matt's with prawns. They were fat and well stuffed, super light and fresh. Summer rolls generally don't have loads of flavour - they're more about fresh, crunchy vegetables in a light wrap - and these were as I expected, but they were served with a rich peanutty sauce, that was punchy and strong and gave the starter a much needed hit of flavour.

We also ordered the sticky honey chicken wings and the honey glazed spare ribs, which were perfect for sharing as you got two each. I did think there was more than two chicken wings in the bowl, but no - they were just huge! Guys, they were incredible. So crispy, super moist and with a great flavour - the honey really came through.

And to risk repeating myself - the ribs were huge, moist, full of flavour. Mmmm. Messy, but in a good way. The best ribs are always messy in a good way.

Our lovely waiter encouraged us to order the Pho, their signature dish, but it was 30+ degrees out there and we both felt like we were melting, so a hot bowl of soup wasn't top of our list. So instead, I went for the other part of the Bun in their name - a steamed Bao burger. I've always pronounced Bao to rhyme with 'Ow', but our waiter told me it actually rhymes with 'Oh'. The more you know.

Ohhhh this was good. It was closer to a burger than a traditional bun, fusing the pair perfectly. We're talking a huge steamed bun, stuffed to the brim with confit pork belly which had been cooked for 8 hours, topped with chilli mayo, secret soy sauce and pickled cucumber. It was fabulous, and I want it again.

I also went with the sweet potato fries with chilli mayo, which are an extra addition to the set menu, but entirely worth it. Sweet potato fries are always worth it.

Matt had the sticky rice with double cooked pork belly and deep fried quail eggs, which looks like quite a small bowl but was densely packed. It was full of flavour, but was particularly good with the siracha or hoi sin sauce that was on the table - particularly the rice, as there was quite a lot.

For pudding, I went for the Vietnamese caramel flan which was sweet and tasty, sitting in a pool of rich, caramelly sauce that tasted of deliciously burnt sugar. Almost coffee like.

And Matt had the coconut snow with Vietnamese ice coffee, which was the perfect choice for such a hot day - the snow was closer to a snow cone than ice cream, and made for a refreshing, un-sickly pud.

I was super impressed with our meal at Pho & Bun - it was delicious and plentiful, and I definitely plan to go again. Thanks for an excellent meal, guys!

Pho & Bun is at 76 Shaftesbury Ave, London W1D 6ND. The restaurant kindly paid for our meal in exchange for this honest review.

REVIEW: Brookmans Pub, Brookman's Park

2018-08-05T08:30:00.000+01:00

I had this discussion the other day about whether or not I'm a sweet or savoury person. I said I thought I was 50/50. Matt scoffed at this and said 'Oh, please. You're at least 90% sugar.' But I don't know. I mean, I do love me some sugar, but I could never give up my savoury faves. Chocolate forever, sure, but not without chips. And crisps. And cheese.

My love for cheese has become one of those defining traits that people associate with me, and I'm okay with that. Generally, being open about your love of cheese leads to more cheese, you see. And all of that cheese-related spiel doesn't have a whole lot to do with this blog post, only to lead into the fact that when there's a cheese souffle on a specials board, you'd better believe I'll order it.

So you can probably guess what happened when I popped along to review the new-look Brookmans Pub recently. There was a cheese souffle, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Apart from the part when my husband said 'Can I try some?' *death glare*

Brookmans Park is a little off the beaten track for us, but it was well worth the visit - as we were driving away, we were already plotting when next to return. We had a seriously excellent meal here, and I'm a little jealous of those who live closer to it, as I assume they're cheerfully working their way through the menu. It's a huge, light space with to-die-for decor. I loved the green palm print chairs. Everyone who works there seems really proud of it, and the service was amazing - for everyone, not just those doing reviews!

As is well documented by now, I started with one of the specials - the cheese souffle. NOM FREAKING NOM, YOU GUYS. It was so fluffy and light, and most importantly VERY cheesy. And it's an often overlooked thing, but I really enjoyed the accompaniments - the drizzle of balsamic cut through the creamy cheese to deliver the perfect contrast, the salad had a delicious dressing to it and the cherry tomatoes were served warm and incredibly sweet, packing a serious flavour punch.

Matt had the Severn & Wye smoked salmon (I KNOW. Which I don't eat. After I let him try my delicious souffle, too). He said it was great quality, but what elevated it was that the flavours served with it went perfectly - he loved the dill sauce in particular, but also the fennel, cucumber and capers salad was a great side. Light and tasty - just what you need on a warm Saturday. Sidenote: isn't it weird that ALL the Saturdays are warm these days?

I didn't want a hugely heavy main, because I had dinner plans so I went for one of my favourite healthy-but-sort-of-not options - salad with a side of chips! The Bang Bang chicken salad really appealed to me, and it didn't disappoint. I love Thai flavours and I love peanuts, and this combined both of those things in an excellent way. The chicken and cucumber salad was dressed in a nutty, sesame sauce with the perfect level of spice - a tiny kick to it, but never overwhelming. And it was super peanutty - there was almost more peanuts than chicken, which I wasn't mad about. For a salad without one of my go-to filling options like grains or rice, it was actually very filling. I almost forgot about my chips. Almost.

Matt went for another option off the Specials Board - the duck. As a rule, I usually try not to go nuts with the specials when I do a blog review, because I think it's kind of unfair on the restaurant to talk about something that won't be for sale when people come. But the specials at Brookmans were all sooo tempting that I had to break my one-per-review rule. The duck was served on top of creamy mash, with a rich sauce made of with sour cherries all on a base of pickled beetroot. LORD it was good. (I got to try this one) It was such a good flavour combination - the sweetness of the cherries and sourness of beetroot contrasted beautifully with the duck, which was perfectly cooked. The mash was smooth, buttery and rich. To sum it up, in my notes I put 'Basically amazing'. So there you go.

We were both pretty full, but couldn't resist the desserts menu. We ordered two to share, although both did a pretty terrible job of sharing. Matt hogged the Bakewell Tart, which was warm, fluffy and fresh and served with a blob of clotted cream. But I was pretty happy with the creme brulee, which was creamy and rich. It was served with lemon shortbread and my only tiny criticism is that I really couldn't taste the lemon, but that's a small price to pay for an otherwise pretty perfect meal.

I honestly couldn't rave about Brookmans enough. It was the kind of meal I'd be happy to travel a bit further for, and would be great for a special occasion. It's part of the Peach Pubs group, of which I've reviewed The White Horse in Harpenden before - I'll have to try out their Berkhamsted and Thame pubs next. Thank you for an entirely excellent meal, Brookmans!

Brookmans Pub is at Bradmore Green, Brookmans Park, Hertfordshire AL9 7QW. The restaurant kindly paid for our meal in exchange for this honest review.

TRAVEL: How to spend 24 hours in Rome, Italy

2018-08-01T07:30:00.000+01:00

Or, more to the point, how *I* spent 24 hours in Rome. Well, more like 36. After our wedding, we knew we wanted to get away as soon as possible, so we both booked the week after off and started looking for breaks from Monday to Sunday. We actually debated getting a relaxing all-inclusive break, and after precisely zero sleep on the night of the wedding, I definitely felt the urge to lie very still for a week, but that urge passed pretty fast. Because Italy is always a good idea.

Besides, we had Avios points to use up and not a lot of other opportunities to use them, which meant our flights cost next to nothing AND we got to fly business class. We had a few options of where to visit, but Italy wasn't a hard decision - we've both been before and both loved it. We decided to fly into Rome, spend a couple nights there then get the train to Naples for the rest of the week.

So... Rome. Rome is somewhere you could cheerfully spend a week - there's so much to see. Culture, history... oh, and amazing food, of course! We wanted to pack as much of that in as possible without feeling completely stressed and exhausted. And the best way to do that is to PLAN, kids.

Dress - ASOS | Bag - Urban Outfitters | Haivanas c/o Spartoo

Where we stayed
I discovered the Barberini Luxury Suites, and it was a great choice. Modern, spacious rooms, a great breakfast buffet and an amazing location. The Barberini Metro was 2 minutes walk away, and the Trevi fountain was about 15 minutes walk. We could get everywhere super fast, which meant we didn't exhaust ourselves by walking everywhere.

Where we ate
Hostaria Romana
On our first night, we got in about 6ish, headed to our hotel to change and drop our bags and then headed out to explore. We popped by the Trevi fountain, walked up the Spanish Steps and then went to Hostaria Romana for dinner, which we found in our guidebook. It was a good choice - casual but utterly delicious. We shared the Roman lamb and the suckling pig along with an excellent bottle of red wine, then headed back to spy the fountain in darkness before grabbing a gelato on the way home.

Divin Ostilia
We make carbonara a lot for dinner, and it's always something I consider a bit simple and never order when I go out for dinner, but I really wanted to try how the Italians did it. Turns out, not too dissimilar to us, although with a lot more cheese! The internet recommended Divin Ostilia and it was a great choice. A little pricey for what it was, but delicious - I loved the tomato and mozzarella salad, even though it was 9 euros!

Ad Hoc
Heck, it was our minimooon - I wanted to book at least one fancy dinner. So I hopped onto TripAdvisor and found Ad Hoc, one of the top rated fine dining restaurants in Rome which appealed to me because of its different tasting menus. I love the idea of a tasting menu, but as I don't eat fish I'm often not able to go for them (so many restaurants won't let you switch the courses!). But Ad Hoc had a land menu, a sea menu, a mixed menu and even a truffle menu (which sounded so rich that just reading it gave me a stomach ache). It was amazing - we went for the matching wines too, and had a relaxed, luxurious experience that made us feel super spoiled. And at £70 a head including drinks, it was a bargain in comparison to what a meal like that would cost in the UK.

Er Buchetto
Just before we hopped on the train to Naples (seriously you guys, the train network in Italy is so good) we grabbed porchetta sandwiches at Er Buchetto. I don't know how simple rolls of plain meat can be so good, but they really were. It's a tiny place that only sells these rolls for 3 euros apiece. We had two each, and the bread was fresh and crunchy, the meat tender and full of flavour, and... mmmm, basically.

What we did
There's absolutely tons that you can do in Rome, but with only a day and a half there's not a lot you can fit in. As I mentioned, we squeezed in the Trevi fountain and the Spanish Steps on our first night, and the other attractions high on our list were the Vatican and the Colosseum. So, before we went to bed on the first night, we hopped online to pre-book some tours.

At the big tourist attractions, queues can be up to three hours long, and as we had so little time it was worth it to spend a bit more money and pre-book. For a combined skip-the-line tour of the Vatican and the Colosseum, GetYourGuide was cheapest (a lot of tours were around £100, this was £75 - still not cheap, but worth it), and had a really useful app where you could pick tours and experiences and turn up with a mobile ticket. So handy for booking on the fly. It was a long day, but we got a lot out of it. And as it started at 8.30, we finished about 4.30 so had time for a little nap before dinner.

And that's pretty much it! Obviously there's lots more I could say about our trip - we spent the rest of the week in Naples, which I LOVED, but I'll write a separate post about that. It was such an amazing week away though, and I'm just desperate to go back to Italy again. It's my favourite.

REVIEW: Santi Pizzeria, Watford

2018-07-28T08:30:00.000+01:00

I haven't talked much yet about our minimoon in Italy, but guys - it was so perfect. An incredible, epic week. We ate fantastic food, we saw absolutely tons and we somehow managed to find the time to relax, too. It was fabulous. We started off with a couple of nights in Rome, then spent the rest of the week in Naples. I have so much to say about it, and I will. But for now, let's talk about the pizza.

Proper Italian pizza is something special. The ingredients used are so fresh, so high-quality that even a simple margherita will blow your mind. And while no pizza I've had in the UK has quite compared to the pizzas I've had in Italy - I blame those epic tomatoes - a few have come close. Because lots of places are springing up to emulate proper, Neopolitan pizzas. Most of the ones I know of are in London, so I was pleasantly surprised to find one round the corner from work, in Watford.

Santi Pizzeria has two restaurants - one in Stratford and one in Watford. The Watford branch has only been open a few months, but is already super popular - the TripAdvisor reviews are absolutely glowing. And good news for locals - they deliver, too!

I met Matt after work and we headed along to stuff our faces with pizza. We started with predictable starters - I got bruschetta, because I cannot resist tomatoes and garlic EVER. It was good, although a bit heavy on the oregano and a bit light on the garlic for my taste, and I thought the tomatoes were a little underripe.

And Matt got - have you guessed yet - calamari. That boy cannot resist calamari on a menu. It wasn't your standard calamari though - amongst the usual squid rings was a whole baby octopus, which he was very pleased with. He said it was well cooked and crispy, although said it was unusual to service it with tartar sauce, as usually it's aioli. The tartar slightly overpowered the calamari flavour, but it was still tasty.

If the starters didn't excite us, the main courses did. Both the pizzas we ordered were exceptional, and I'm going to have to go back soon and work my way through the rest of the menu.

Every time I order a really good pizza, I think I should just order a margherita because when it's done well, it's done REALLY well. And every time I can't resist other exciting ingredients, and this time was no different. I tried to keep it simple though - the Santi pizza had porcini mushrooms, truffle oil and mozzarella with rocket, and those are all things that I like. But what I got was definitely a surprise (in a good way):

That is a giant ball of mozzarella, nestling on a bed of cheesy dough. I hadn't actually realised it was a white pizza until it came. The mushrooms were slightly pickled I think, so the flavour really came through, and the truffle oil gave it a fantastic depth of flavour without being too strong. It was so good. I loved the rocket, which gave it a pleasant freshness, and that mozzarella - daaamn. So creamy and smooth, and so MUCH. My favourite kind of cheese is lots.

Matt got the calzone, which was a fine looking pizza. It's unusual to see a calzone with a pizza top, but it really worked. It was super cheesy, super flavoursome and super delicious. Definitely rich - he struggled to get through it - but very enjoyable.

For dessert, Matt got tiramisu and I got panna cotta. The tiramisu was solid, with good layers, and not overly creamy. I don't like coffee, so I wouldn't know, but Matt said it's often overly creamy which drowns out the chocolate and coffee flavour - this had really good definition.

The panna cotta wasn't like any I've had before. It was chocolate orange flavour which I've never seen before, and topped with crunchy crumble. It was delicious (and HUGE) and an interesting variation on what's usually a fruity dessert.

We had a lovely meal at Santi Pizzeria, and I'd definitely head back there for a meal - I may suggest it to my work friends for our next work lunch, as the menu is extensive and really reasonable (the cheapest pizza is less than £7). I feel like Watford is a little short on really good independent restaurants, so it's great to find this gem. Any other recommendations, Watford pals?

Santi Pizzeria is at 63 The Parade, High Street, Watford WD17 1LJ. The restaurant kindly paid for our meal in exchange for this honest review.

INTERIORS: Living room update

2018-07-25T07:30:00.000+01:00

We've been in our house for over a year and a half now, and there's still so much that we haven't got round to doing. It's amazing how long you can live with things when you see them every day. The good news is that there's nothing major - a little bit of peeling paint after a leak that we haven't got round to sorting (we sorted the leaks, we're not animals), a few shelves we want to put up, painting and wallpapering and whatnot.

One of the rooms that we have pretty much finished is our living room, which we actually got to a good point quite quickly. When we first moved in, the whole house was painted yellow inside, so we covered that with white pretty sharpish and had a blank canvas to work with. Here's the before picture, just to remind you:

And the after:

We moved in this sofa suite from DFS - despite it being a small room, we could comfortably fit in a 4-seater sofa along with this oh-so-cosy cuddler seat. Then we started to decide what colours went with the teal, and despite being so desperate to get rid of it initially, yellow won out. It really pops, without looking too garish. Our yellow chevron curtains were an absolute bargain from Very, and the various cushions are from Dunelm, except for the blue ones which came with the sofa.

This is the most comfortable sofa EVER by the way. It's super deep and soft, and it gives great nap.

The photos above our sofa are all pictures I took in places we visited, and I printed them through Aldi photos (because they were cheap!) and got the frames from Amazon. They're A3 pictures, surprisingly - I always think they don't look that big! We looked at various prints and things for this space, before settling on the photo idea. Much more personal.

We put in fitted shelves on either side of the fireplace. You absolutely don't need a professional carpenter to do something like this (although we are lucky that Matt's Dad fits bedrooms and kitchens for a living) - we measured the space and headed to B&Q to get shelves cut to size. This was so easy - we picked out the wood and a guy in the store cut them for us. Then we fitted them onto copper brackets and the job was done! Matt thinks my rainbow-hued bookshelves are wanky, but I like them. And yes, I split up the Harry Potter books. Get over it, guys.

It was challenging to find a TV unit to fit into the alcoves, and this actually doesn't - there's a big gap behind it! But with our massive TV (Matt's doing) we didn't have much choice, and I think it works. The unit was from Tesco, and matches our nesting coffee tables. (RIP Tesco Direct) Because there isn't tons of space, we wanted coffee tables we could put away and these are perfect. We also have a tiny, skinny coffee table down one side of the sofa which is super handy for drinks - this was a budget TV stand from Ikea (I think it was £9!).

One of the last things we had to do was replace the light. We had this horrible metal and wood light that was there when we moved in, which didn't go with the room at all and really dominated it. First Choice Lighting got in touch and asked if I wanted to choose something, and I chose this simple set. Low Victorian ceilings meant that a big, statement light is out - so I wanted something classic that would sit close to the ceiling. I actually can't believe how well it goes with the room. No, it's not a statement, but that wasn't what I was after. It's functional and bright, and perfect.

The best part was that it was a set of two, so we installed the other set in our bedroom, replacing the questionable crystal beaded triple lightshade which always seemed like an odd choice for the middle-aged single guy we bought our house off, but each to their own.

And the SECOND best part was that we'd managed to function without a light in our living room for actual months while we attempted to get our shit together enough to get the new one installed. So now we get to actually see what we're doing of an evening now (usually eating dinner on the sofa like classy people). Like I said, it's amazing what you can live with.

The only other thing I'd like to do with this room is to paint the fireplace. I'm not a fan of the beige marble, so I'd like to paint it cream and then spray the gold grate black. Maybe swap the hideous fake coals for some chunky white candles. Ideally I'd like to rip this whole thing out and replace it with a beautiful iron fireplace, but it's not a priority right now. One of the things I've learned about buying a house is that you quickly make a mental list of things you NEED to do and things you WANT to do. And then another list of things you'd LIKE to do but probably won't spend the money on, unless you plan on staying there for a really long time. Like swapping the kitchen cabinets for prettier ones (I loved Gemma's budget makeover), or replacing the old but actually fine carpets.

I think the next room we'll tackle will be our bedroom. I want to find some cool wallpaper and replace the curtains, and give the all-white room a bit of an update. Oh - and we need to get some wedding photos up on the wall, of course!

REVIEW: Cinnabar, Hertford

2018-07-21T08:30:00.000+01:00

I'm pretty familiar with my part of Hertfordshire, and every now and then I realise that there's a whole chunk of my county that I haven't explored much. Which is something that blogging locally is great for, because sometimes I get invited to review somewhere a little further afield. So when the nice people at Cinnabar Hertford got in touch, asking if I wanted to sample their menu, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to explore Hertford.

Cinnabar is a restaurant and cocktail bar combo, that does great cocktails plus hearty food, including burgers, tapas, pizzas and brunch. We went for lunch, but I imagine it's heaving at night - with the plentiful drinks menu, it's a spot where I could see myself having an excellent night out. There are Cinnabars in Hertford and Old Stevenage - funnily enough, the Old Stevenage one is literally opposite where I stayed at the Cromwell Hotel.

Matt was very happy when we sat down, as they were showing the World Cup so I set about choosing our drinks and food while he stared at the screen. Ah, marriage. We both started with a G&T - they have over 25 gins on their menu, so I chose a strawberry gin with a bitter lemon tonic which was an amazing combo.

They have a huge menu, and being spoiled for choice, I went for the ultimate compromise food - tapas! It's a great way to try a little bit of everything, and there was sooo much on the tapas menu that I wanted to try.

First out came the four cheese fondue, which I was desperate to try and it didn't disappoint. Mozzarella, blue cheese, goat's cheese and mascarpone fondue with warm focaccia bread... I'm salivating. It was fabulous - creamy, rich and delicious. I must admit I went at it with a spoon when all the bread was gone. You know me and melted cheese.

We also got the patatas bravas, which was spicy and flavoursome - I even detected a little cinnamon - the chicken and peppers skewers (good, but a little bland), and sweet potato fries (always a pleasure).

The other great thing about tapas is if you have different tastes, you can mix and match accordingly. This meant me ordering a mushroom thing, and Matt ordering a fish thing. Everyone's happy. My mushroom thing was a halloumi stuffed field mushroom with roasted peppers, which was delicious - the mushrooms were so tender, and the halloumi was... well, halloumi. Nothing can go wrong when there's halloumi involved.

Aaand Matt got calamari, because if you haven't noticed by now, that boy loves him some calamari.

It was a good mix of dishes, and we were a nice level of full (hands up who's ever ordered so many small plates that the waiter has told you to stop...), and while I'm sure most Spanish people wouldn't call these tapas, I ain't mad - they were delicious, even if they weren't all super Spanish. And because we ordered a good amount, we had room for dessert. Hooray for dessert!

Matt got the dessert pizza, which sadly has just come off the menu. He really liked it - it was topped with chocolate and fruit (a little banana-heavy for my tastes, but then I don't like bananas). Sweet, filling and a little different... he was a fan.

I got Eton mess, which is quite often my go-to dessert as I like to pretend all that cream is light, ha. They'd done a cool twist on it, serving it as a sundae with a berry sorbet, mascarpone and little chunks of meringue. It was refreshing and cooling on a hot day, and huge too - I couldn't finish it.

I liked the vibe in Cinnabar a lot - casual and friendly, with great service. While we were there, I saw a real mix of people come in - a family with a little baby, a group of guys watching the football and some couples. I always think this is a good sign, don't you? It shows that it's welcoming to everyone.

We had a lovely Sunday afternoon in Hertford, which is a really pretty town. We chilled in the sun by the castle for a bit, then hopped in the car and headed home with full bellies. Thanks for the excellent feeding, Cinnabar!

Cinnabar is at 88-96 Fore Street, Hertford SG14 1AA. The restaurant kindly paid for our meal in exchange for this honest review.

WEDDING: Getting ready

2018-07-18T08:30:00.000+01:00

I woke up early. Not too early, thankfully – although I had woken up a few hours before at 3am and was terrified that I wouldn’t get back to sleep. I'd popped some earplugs in and counted sheep to clear my mind, and thankfully it worked. The next time I woke, I could hear the house beginning to stir, but I took my time getting up, enjoying being by myself for a few extra minutes. I cleaned my teeth, had a quick shower, popped on the comfortable, soft and silky satin bridal kimono the lovely folk at Hunkemoller had sent me to review especially for the day and wrote out some cards.

Then it began. We discovered that if you leave frozen pain au chocolat out overnight they swell and become impossible to do anything with. We couldn’t turn the radiators off so opened all the windows and doors to avoid melting. Everyone got lost finding the cute country cottage we were staying in. We made enormous portions of mashed avocado, halloumi and scrambled eggs. The morning was a blur of hair and makeup, prosecco, gifts and hugs, photos and words and a fair few moments of looking at the time and muttering ‘I’m a bit worried about the time...’

I felt like I spent hours floating around, my hair in curlers, actually with not too much to do until the last hour or so, so I busied myself with constantly reapplying my overpriced Jo Malone peony perfume - which I loved, but realised I'd been totally suckered in by the whole 'Have a special scent for your wedding day!' crowd. Oh, and I fretted about having enough time. (Spoiler: we had enough time) The bridesmaids ironed their dresses and took turns to get their hair and makeup done, and refused to let me do anything resembling a job.

People came and went. Our lovely hair and makeup people from Kitty Boo. Our amazing photographer Sassy. I went outside in my dressing gown to meet our best woman, who'd come to get her hair and makeup done. She had King George from Hamilton playing on her car stereo and armed with a present from Matt. I promptly forgot to give her my present to take back in return. I fielded messages from her and the groomsmen about the best way to lay out the flowers and where I wanted the cheese cake to go, and realised that I didn't really mind - maybe the whole relaxation thing had actually settled in.

The parents arrived. The Mums got their hair done while the Dads tried to stay out of the way. My Dad looked totally uncomfortable until I pointed out the bookcases in the house, and then he was fine. Definitely mine, that one. I had an emotional moment with my new mother-in law, while my Mum kept telling me to smile for photos until I explained what reportage photography was.

Matt's present involved brownies from the Pudding Stop, the site of our first date, which I'm still gutted that I didn't get round to eating. Plus a wine, cheese and love themed necklace that I didn't wear on the day, but have worn lots since. I got him a pocket watch along with a set of Royal Wedding mugs. We were sharing our wedding day with them, after all (we booked it first).

I sent my gift to Matt back with his Mum, and we shared one of many emotional moments. I managed to hold off full-on sobbing, but I was close to tears for pretty much the whole morning. And I gave my bridesmaids their gifts, which included an amazing-smelling rhubarb candle from M&S and some cute personalised horseshoe necklaces from Not On The Highstreet.

Time moves strangely on your wedding day though, and it wasn't long before I was having my makeup done and stepping into my dress. Oooh, now it felt real. I frantically threw things into my big Longchamp holdall, which barely contained them all. I'd bought the bag especially for the wedding day, because I was going to buy a little clutch bag and then realised it was totally impractical. Then I was going to buy a cute 'bride' tote and realised I'd never use it again. And that's how I justified buying myself a Longchamp bag instead (which, to be fair, I've used a whole lot since).

Oh, and I learned that putting on shoes is really difficult when your dress is as big as mine (navigating the skirts of my dress was definitely a theme of the day).

Kate, my hairstylist, finished brushing out my curls pretty much exactly sixty seconds before the taxis arrived, and we were ready to go. I bundled my big dress into a huge taxi with my parents, instantly regretting not grabbing a bottle of water as my mouth was so dry. I asked the taxi driver if I could have some of his chewing gum, then spent the rest of the drive hoping I'd have somewhere to get rid of it.

We sped down the country lanes as the sun streamed into the car and in no time were turning into the drive of the Tithe Barn. I scooped up my skirts and stepped out as my bridesmaids' taxi arrived behind us, and was instantly ushered through a door covered in wisteria to meet with the registrars. And then it was time to do this thing.

But that's another story for another time.

~+~

REVIEW: Rump and Wade and the Cromwell Hotel, Stevenage

2018-07-11T07:30:00.000+01:00

After taking so long off, I’ve actually been pretty excited to get back into the habit of blogging regularly again. I always feel like I have room in my life for one other thing aside from work, and for the last year or so, that other thing has been wedding planning. But the planning is completed, so back to blogging I go! I’ve missed it. Hi! How are you all?

I had a few emails about reviews and whatnot before the wedding, and asked very nicely if I could put them off until June. Organising a wedding is kind of crazy, you guys. I felt like it made ME kind of crazy. There’s so much pressure on that one day, and it’s really hard to find space in your brain for anything else. But booking fun stuff in for afterwards has definitely helped me feel more like me – because eating delicious food is a pretty crucial part of what makes me ME.

I was invited to try out the Cromwell Hotel along with its adjoining restaurant, Rump and Wade, and so I trotted off to Stevenage for a little staycation with the husband in tow. I used to work in Stevenage, many years ago, but I’d never actually ventured into the old town. Turns out it’s really nice! Lots of cool bars and shops, and very pretty. We got in a few hours before our dinner reservation, so had a little potter then went upstairs for a nap and a shower.

The Cromwell Hotel is LOVELY. It’s an amazing mix of old-fashioned and modern. The building is old – it used to be the farmhouse of John Thurloe, Oliver Cromwell’s secretary, and as Mr Thurloe died in 1668 that means it’s at least 350 years old. Thanks, Google! And also calculators! So inside is a cool mixture of wood panels and a period feel with funky décor, bright prints and a fair few chairs that I wanted to steal. Along with these lamps.

Our room was huge, beautifully decorated and super comfortable. I usually sleep really badly in hotels, but I couldn’t get enough of that massive bed! It was such a nice place to stay, and really quiet too. There was quite the warren of corridors to get to our room at the end of the night, but it was well signposted and a far quicker journey than if we’d gone out to dinner anywhere else. I would definitely stay there again for a treat, especially as it was so reasonable – you can book a double from just £69. Doesn’t the idea of popping out for a treaty dinner and then crawling upstairs to a fancy bed sound dreamy? I know I’m a fan.

We popped downstairs for a couple of gins in the sunshine before summer. There’s a huge selection, but I was instantly drawn to the Whitley raspberry gin with elderflower tonic. Fruity and delicious (with bonus rapsberries to munch). Matt asked the bartender for his advice though, and was directed to the nettle gin with Mediterranean tonic, which was surprisingly great. It’s taken a while for me to get into gin, but it’s happening. Probably because I’ve found alternatives for plain tonic, which I still can’t get behind.

For dinner, we were shown to a massive comfy booth in the corner which was fab, as I could snap away without worrying about annoying the other diners. I loved the decor of the restaurant - it's huge with lots of space. The booths are great for a cosy evening, but there are also big tables that work brilliantly for large groups. The service was great - if anything it was a bit TOO fast, it felt a little rushed. Not a huge problem for me, but sometimes leisurely is nice.

Anyway, onto the food. I couldn’t not order the baked feta – it’s a recipe I tried a few years ago on here, and it’s one of my faves. I loved their varation, which came with sundried tomatoes, chilli and lemon and a pile of toasted pittas. It was delicious, and the sharp tomato paired perfectly with the salty feta. It was also huge – I could have cheerfully shared this, and I do not say that lightly. I’m greedy.

Matt had the ham hock, chorizo and cheddar terrine for his starter, which came with piccalilli and onion bread. The terrine had a lovely, smoky flavour from the chorizo and it went beautifully with the piccalilli. The only small criticism is that it could have come with a bit more bread - he was digging into my pitta to finish it all.

For my main, I ordered the slow cooked shin of beef, which was incredible. It came in a rich chestnut mushroom and pancetta sauce with celeriac mash. Lord, this was so good. The beef was so tender, I only needed to poke it with my fork to break it apart and it went beautifully with the sauce and the mash. The worst thing about it was that it was so rich that I could only eat about half of it, which was pretty heartbreaking. You know when you're so full that you basically can't do anything except go to sleep immediately? That. But it was so worth the food coma - I live for this kind of food.

Matt got something very different, but equally great. The chargrilled lamb leg steak with spiced feta and courgette and mint cous cous, along with apricot salsa. It was an interesting combo, because separately the components were just okay, but together they came together to create a total taste sensation. The fruity salsa tied everything together perfectly.

Honestly, when dessert came around we were both kind of full and sleepy, but we shared some sorbets which were great - clearly made with real fruit, flavoursome and the perfect end to a rich, gorgeous meal. And the best part, we could just crawl upstairs and collapse into our massive bed afterwards - amazing! I am such a fan of these kinds of nights away.

The next morning, we headed back down to Rump and Wade for breakfast. There was a great selection - fresh pastries, cereals, jams, toast, plus trays of bacon, eggs, sausages, hash browns and beans, and the option to have eggs cooked to order. I had a bit of everything, of course!

We absolutely loved our stay in the Cromwell Hotel and our meals in Rump and Wade - I told my sister about it (who is mere days from giving birth) and she got really excited about the idea of a staycation there after the bay is born. It's so perfect for that - reasonable prices, good transport links and totally away from it all. I highly recommend it.

Rump and Wade and the Cromwell Hotel are at High Street, Stevenage, Herts SG1 3AZ. The hotel and restaurant kindly paid for our stay and our food in exchange for this honest review.

I got married!

2018-06-17T21:19:00.000+01:00

I got married! And somehow it was nearly a month ago and I haven't blogged about it yet. There's just so much I'd like to say about it that I didn't know where to start, so every time I sat down to write something I'd get overwhelmed and go on Spartoo to buy shoes instead. There's a sale on right now, did you know?

It was such an amazing day. The sun shone, the booze flowed and I felt loved and happy and wonderful all day. No, not everything went 100% to plan, but so much else completely surpassed our expectations. Our venue looked breathtaking. Our food was incredible. Our photographer was a bloody genius (you can see some more of our photos here). And nothing will top our epic last dance to Meatloaf.

There's so much more I could say, and I will. It was a huge thing to organise, and I learned a lot. It was so much fun though, and at some point I'll impart ALL MY KNOWLEDGE onto you.

But for now, I'll spam you with some pictures. Isn't my husband a dish?

REVIEW: Restaurant 23, Tring

2018-05-05T08:30:00.000+01:00

Going out for dinner feels like a rare treat these days. We've been saving so hard for so long - first for our house, then for the wedding - that going out to dinner 'just because' is something that doesn't happen much any more. And that's been especially hard to take since moving to Tring, because there are so many amazing restaurants here. So it's taking me a long time to make my way around them all - although being asked to do the occasional review is helping me tick them off.

Restaurant 23 was at the top of our list - it popped up last year in a beautiful building with a great-looking menu, and word of the street was that it was one of the best places to go for a really special meal. Which was totally right - this is fine dining nestled on our sleepy little high street.

The restaurant is set over several floors of a gorgeous old building, that used to be the medical hub of the Rothschild family's estate according to their website. Inside, it's all decorated in soft greys - totally my taste.

The starters are quite heavy on the fish, which Matt was v.happy with, so he went for the hot oak smoked Scottish horseradish and chive fishcake. He said it was really good with an excellent flavour, super filling and he loved the white sauce that came with it. Holds up - he demolished the lot.

I was tempted by the confit duck spring rolls or the mushroom and goats cheese with a pistachio crumb (YUM) but instead went for exactly what I fancied - the baked camembert. Nothing makes this girl happier than a slab of molten cheese, and this was infused with home smoked garlic and rosemary, served with ciabatta and red onion marmalade. The smokiness really came through, and the marmalade was pleasantly tart without being overly sweet. There was also the perfect amount of bread to demolish the whole thing. And the cheese - I mean, it's melted cheese. Nothing is bad in this scenario.

Matt went for the grilled cod with battered monkfish tails, which came with homemade tartar dressing and triple cooked goose fat chips. I'm salivating thinking about those chips. It was ostensibly posh fish and chips, but done really bloody well - and Matt declared it a huge portion, he could barely finish it. He also liked how the fish was cooked two different ways, and said it was light and crisp - not doughy. Simple but excellent.

I was so tempted by a steak as they sell a sirloin and a fillet on the menu and I haven't had one in ages, but it always feels like a bit of a cop out when doing a review as there isn't much you can say about a steak, y'know? So I usually try to get something that I couldn't get just anywhere (even though I have no doubt that their steaks are pretty special).

So the duo of pork won out, and I'm darn glad it did. Sous vide pork tenderloin and roasted pork belly with veal jus, parmientier potatoes and the fanciest crackling I've ever had. Look how bubbly it is! It was delicious - the meat had such a good flavour and I loved the dash of vanilla in with the apple puree.

Matt was pretty stuffed when it came to pudding time, so he went for a simple scoop of banana ice cream (he literally ordered a three course meal of foods I don't eat, FYI) but I couldn't resist the absolute chocolate ganache, which came with orange and campari sorbet, mint and dehydrated raspberries. It was unctuous, dark and rich and went so well with the orange sorbet which offste the richness beautifully. Such a good combo.

We had a fabulous meal at Restaurant 23 - the service was excellent, the setting is beautiful and the food was amazing. We're definitely planning to return next time we want a special meal, and I'm dying to try their Sunday roast (and work my way through their cocktail list).

Restaurant 23 is at 23 (of course) High Street, Tring, Herts HP23 5AH. The restaurant kindly paid for our food in exchange for this honest review.

FOOD: The Greggs Balanced Choice breakfast and lunch challenge

2018-04-18T22:12:00.004+01:00

So for the last year and a bit, I’ve been… er, healthy? As a lazy, junk-food loving girl it surprised me too when I stuck to it for so long, but it’s all about finding a routine that works for you. I still have junk-food, but a little less of it and a little more of the green stuff. And I actually exercise these days. Yeah, that part’s still weird.

Anyway, Greggs got in touch to ask if I’d like to take part in their Balanced Choice challenge to see how Greggs and their high street competitors fare when trying to eat healthily. Basically, they’ve partnered with Public Health England on their One You campaign, after studies revealed that on average people are eating an extra 200-300 calories a day. Things like that sugary soft drink, that large bag of crisps or that mayonnaise sandwich (or salad!) can all add up, and the new campaign is encouraging adults to follow a simple rule of thumb if they’d like to eat a bit healthily when on the go - 400 calories or under for breakfast, and 600 calories or under for lunch and 600 calories or under for dinner.

So! Armed with some giftcards and a rumbling tummy, I spent the last week eating breakfast and lunch at Caffe Nero, Costa, Pret A Manger, M&S and finally Greggs to see how they measured up. I'm including both calories and Weight Watchers Smart Points (SP) below. So let's see how everyone fared.

I started with Pret A Manger. I eat at Pret a lot - it's the closest eaterie to my office, and I know I can usually get something healthy and delicious. I do, however, regularly balk at the price. It's shockingly easy to spend close to a tenner in there on a salad and some fruit.

For breakfast, I started with their Bircher Muesli pot which was 308 cals and 13SP and my beloved mango and lime pot which was 91 cals (fruit is free on Weight Watchers). There were some lower options such as their beans and egg pots, but I was rushing to a meeting and didn't want anything hot that would either smell or go cold. The muesli was really good and surprisingly filling, but it was an expensive breakfast of around £5 (typically, I've lost the receipt).

For lunch, I went with another fave - the Greens and Grains bowl which is 343 cals and 8SP. I eat this quite a lot - it's a big salad with lots of chicken, couscous and veggies and a seriously delicious dressing. Again though, it was expensive - around the £5 mark.

Pret a Manger
1. Ease of finding nutritional information - 5
2. Freshness of product - 5
3. Taste - 5
4. Visual appeal - 5
5. Value for money - 2
= 22 / 25

Next up I went for M&S - again, somewhere I go to a lot. It's actually the most likely place on the list for me to grab breakfast too - I often nip into the one at Euston if I'm in London for a meeting.

For breakfast I went for a Bircher Muesli again, but this time was a cocoa one for 270 cals (9SP) and a fruit pot (67 cals). The muesli was a little weird - kind of like eating chocolate mousse for breakfast! Like with Pret, it wasn't challenging finding breakfast under 400 calories, but most of the options are very high in sugar and not WW-friendly. M&S wasn't the cheapest option, but better value than Pret.

For lunch I had the avocado and egg nourish bowl for 333 calories (8SP), which I've had before - it's super tasty and filling and I love the generous dollop of houmous. This was around £3, and much better value than the Pret lunch.

M&S
1. Ease of finding nutritional information - 5
2. Freshness of product - 5
3. Taste - 4
4. Visual appeal - 5
5. Value for money - 3
= 22 / 25

Day 3! And it's Caffe Nero a place I never go. I don't drink coffee, so I rarely eat in coffee shops - I don't have much reason to visit them apart from exciting seasonal specials! I went for a granola pot (211 cals / 9SP) which was nice, if tooth-achingly sweet, and a disappointing fruit salad full of pippy oranges, boo (79 cals). I wasn't impressed with this, it wasn't remotely filling and that fruit salad really was very disappointing.

For lunch, there were no healthy options at all - no salads, just toasties and paninis. I don't actually eat a lot of bread as I find it a bit heavy, especially for lunch, so I knew I'd be going for a higher-calorie option. That said, there wasn't a problem finding something under 600 or even 400 calories and I really enjoyed my choice - the mushroom and mascarpone melt, which was 395 cals (13SP). This was seriously delicious, and I didn't think the calories or points were too high considering how cheesy it was! And you know how much this girl loves cheese. It was pretty reasonably priced too - I always thought of Nero as a pricier option.

Caffe Nero
1. Ease of finding nutritional information - 4
2. Freshness of product - 4
3. Taste - 4
4. Visual appeal - 4
5. Value for money - 3
= 19 / 25

Now for another coffee shop - Costa, and I was not super impressed. Someone on Instagram assures me that they do granola and whatnot, but my local Costa only had toasties on offer for breakfast - not even a fruit pot! The ham and cheese toastie was a reasonable 307 calories (10SP) but it wasn't very nice. I carried it back to work and it was cold and tough by the time I got to it. Also, is it an old-lady thing to say that I expected it to be cut in half?

Lunch was a bit better - I had the chicken fajita wrap which was 428 cals (13SP). I thought it was really small for the calorie count and not all that filling - I was foraging around for snacks within an hour. It's not the cheapest to buy toasties for breakfast and lunch, but was on a similar level to Nero.

Costa Coffee
1. Ease of finding nutritional information - 3
2. Freshness of product - 3
3. Taste - 3
4. Visual appeal - 3
5. Value for money - 3
= 15 / 25

And finally I went to Greggs! What I actually realised was that much of Greggs' menu is lower in calories than I assumed. Even a sausage roll would be a viable breakfast option at 349 cals (although a wee bit high on fat). There were some hot options like porridge, but again I was rushing to a 9am meeting so I nabbed a granola pot for 214 cals (9SP) and a pineapple pot (69 cals). It was nice - it wasn't anywhere near as sweet as the Nero one, which was great. Usually these pots have a layer of fruit that's basically jam. And it was really good value.

For lunch, I was eyeing their new wraps and got the coconut, lime and chilli chicken wrap. I was expecting something creamy and Thai-style, which it wasn't, but it was still tasty and spicier than I thought it'd be. It was 340 cals or 11SP, and I got a fruit pot for 92 cals. It wasn't the prettiest lunch option in this challenge, but tasted good and there were lots of options. It's definitely made me realise I need to pop into Greggs more when I'm out and about as it makes it much easier to eat healthily. And it slayed all the competition on value for money - I spent about half the price in Greggs than in its competitors.

Greggs
1. Ease of finding nutritional information - 5
2. Freshness of product - 4
3. Taste - 4
4. Visual appeal - 4
5. Value for money - 5
= 22 / 25

And that was my week! So Greggs, Pret and M&S scored top which is impressive - while Greggs didn't score quite as high on taste, it beat everyone on value. It was especially interesting to see how everything added up on Weight Watchers points. Not so great, if I'm honest - most of the lunches were fine, but it's really difficult to get a low-point breakfast on the go. I usually eat less than 5 points for breakfast, and didn't find anything that was less than 10. It pushed me over my points allowance every day that I did this challenge. Also, eating breakfast on the go is actually the opposite of convenient for me - as I drive to work, I don't walk past any eateries so had to get in early to run up to the high street each day, and I ate a fair bit of cold food at my desk. I think I'll stick to yogurt and fruit at my desk.

For lunches though, I found lots of new options - I may be popping to Nero for the occasional treaty lunch in future and Greggs is definitely going to have a new regular. Their ham and potato salad is really low in points, as is their chicken oval bite - I really like the fact that I can have a proper sandwich there and stay on plan. Their Balanced Choice range is all clearly marked by green stickers, is all under 400 calories and meets green and amber on the traffic light system. There's also loads of info on their website (which is another black mark for Costa - why is your food not on your website, guys?). It was a fun week though and definitely pushed me out of my yogurt'n'soup comfort zone for a bit!

~+~ This post was written in collaboration with Greggs, but all opinions are of course my own.

REVIEW: Olive Limes, Tring

2018-04-14T07:30:00.000+01:00

A big reason why we loved Tring so much when we chose to buy a house here was because the little high street was packed with intriguing looking independent restaurants. We've managed to try several of them, but almost a year and a half on, there's still several we haven't made it to. One of them, until recently, was Olive Limes, an Indian restaurant on the very end of the high street, which is probably the closest restaurant in Tring to our house. Every time we've walked past, I've said to Matt, 'I want to go there!' but in between saving for a wedding and trying to lose weight, it just hasn't happened.

Luckily then, they took things into their own hands and invited us to an event there this weekend celebrating Bengali New Year. Sadly we couldn't make it as it clashed with my hen do, so instead they invited us in for a meal instead. And let me tell you, I'm now kicking myself for waiting this long. Best Indian meal ever? It's definitely up there.

As I was putting this post together, I was kicking myself because I somehow managed to delete all the photos I took with my DSLR. These were all taken with my iPhone X, and they look pretty good, but the DSLR ones were so much better. It also means there's no photos of our starters, so sorry about that. I'll have to go back soon and take some more!

When we got there, we had a chat with Ala, the owner who talked us through the history of the restaurant and showed us around. It's been there for over ten years and prides itself on not being like every other Indian restaurant in town - they don't saturate their food in oil, they value quality ingredients and flavour and make sure that, along with the classics, they offer a wide variety of dishes to suit everyone. They're a little more expensive than a run-of-the-mill Indian restaurant, but with good reason - they're offering more.

I bashfully admitted that my go-to Indian dish is a korma, and Ala told me not to be ashamed - it's actually regarded as the food you would cook for guests you hold in the highest esteem. For instance, if you had the Emperor coming round, you'd cook him a korma. So that made me feel better about my mild tastes, but I still vowed to push the boat out and order something I wouldn't normally (that said, I 100% want to try their korma, because I bet it's INCREDIBLE).

We started with poppadoms and sauces, which I promptly dropped down my top, and then moved on to starters. I feel like I never see duck in Indian restaurants, so got the Hush Ki Nazrana - marinated duck, cooked with cumin potatoes and wrapped in filo. It was delicious - sweet, tangy and spicy with beautifully crisp pastry outside of it. A far cry from my usual onion bhaji.

Matt chose King Prawn Suka, which was cooked with garlic and a sweet and sour sauce which he said were really good, with loads of flavours. They weren't your classic takeaway sweet and sour - the flavours were more subtle than that, and complemented the meat of the prawns perfectly.

For mains, we chose a couple and shared them, along with a peshwari naan, pilau rice and a dal. The Dal Bukhara was lentils mixed with red kidney beans, chickpeas and black eyed beans and was incredible although it definitely had a kick to it! It worked really well with the sweet peshwari naan.

The first main we had was the Simla Murg, which was chicken cooked with minced lamb, almonds and coriander. It was a delicious, rich sauce with lots going on, although I must confess it was a little overshadowed by our second main, which I am still thinking about. So I feel a little bad for it, as I know it was good, but when I think of our meal of Olive Limes, I just think of the Raja Lamb.

I quite often order a lamb curry - chunks of slightly overcooked lamb in a korma or tikka sauce, and usually find it a little disappointing. But the Raja Lamb was nothing like this. It was lamb shank, marinated for ages then slow cooked in the oven, served with chickpeas, potatoes and a thick, rich sauce. The meat was completely infused with the flavours of the curry and the lamb was ridiculously tender. Every bite was a total dream. I would 100% order this again, and I would 100% not share it next time.

I was intending to get pudding, but by this point was so full I could barely move. So we thanked our lovely waiter (the service was impeccable - and not just for us, I was watching) and staggered home to fall into happy food comas.

It was an amazing meal, and I can say with certainty that we'll be going back again and again. And I hope that if you stumble across this review, looking for somewhere to eat in Tring, Wendover, Buckinghamshire or the local area, you'll try out Olive Limes. Just remember to book first - this place is understandably pretty popular.

Olive Limes is at 60 High St, Tring HP23 5AG. The restaurant paid for our meal in exchange for this honest review.

EVENT: The Superfood Curry Company

2018-04-08T22:07:00.000+01:00

One of the things I love about blogging on a local level is finding out about businesses that I might not have known about otherwise. And Tring and the surrounding areas have such a sense of community that it really feels like everyone gets behind independent businesses and wants them to succeed, which is lovely.

A few weeks ago, I was invited to the launch of the Superfood Curry Company, a catering company set up by Meena and Kim who previously ran the award winning Cinnamon Cafe. They took a break from catering due to family and health issues, and as part of their illnesses realised they couldn't eat their own food any more. And they started to think about all the other people who have really specific dietary needs, and how difficult catering events is for them so started to talk about how they could support them - and the Superfood Curry Company was born.

Their aim was to continue to cook from a place of passion, creating everything from scratch (even down to grinding their own spices), recognising that people want to eat lovely food and not feel like they're missing out. So they specialise in catering for vegan, vegetarian, keto, paleo, gluten-free, sugar-free and more - and the launch showed off a sample of what they can do.

We had sugar free brownies, keto friendly butternut squash tarts and dairy free ginger cake plus much more. They even do their own high tea which is full of the delicious Caribbean and Indian food that they specialise in, but can be altered for any dietary requirements. And if full sugar, full fat is your thing, they can do that too. And they pride themselves on being able to cater for one person or 100 - they don't have limits.

They offer home delivery - at the moment their radius is Berkhamsted, Tring, Aylesbury, Chesham and the villages in between and they just require about a week's notice to get things ready as everything is prepared fresh. So for those with IBS, coeliacs, diabetes and allergies - they're an absolute godsend.

I loved hearing their stories and it was really inspiring hearing how they've turned their own problem into an amazing business. I have friends who really struggle with eating out because of allergies, including one friend who's allergic to garlic, so the idea of somewhere that's made just for them is amazing.

I was kindly invited to attend the Superfood Curry Company's launch event, but wasn't compensated for this honest post.

RECIPE: Feijaoda (super healthy and tasty Brazilian stew)

2018-03-31T09:00:00.000+01:00

Lately, I've been cooking lots more than usual. It's nice - I tend to get into the habit of cooking the same things over and over, and get really lazy about pushing my boundaries. I have stacks of cookbooks that I've never cooked anything from, and it does sadden me a little. I love to cook, and I love to cook new things - there's nothing like that feeling when you take the first taste and it's not like anything you've ever made before. So I'm pushing myself to do that a little more.

Actually, this isn't a bad time of year to do that. Firstly, it's cold (STILL) and cooking is hot work. Secondly, I'm not going out a whole lot right now, so instead I've been picking a nice meal every weekend to make. We've had beef stew and tikka masalas and oh-so-many curries. And one of my favourite recent recipes - that's actually gone into my cooking rotation already - is this Jamie Oliver version of Feijaoda, a Brazilian stew.

I do turn to Jamie's recipes more and more - they're always super easy to follow and he's pretty creative with flavours, and I like how he bounces around between different cuisines, because that's what I do too.

Also, if you're doing Weight Watchers like I am, this recipe is 0SP which is amazing (rice etc would obvs be extra). I've made a few tweaks to the original - I cut back on the oil a little and switched out the okra out for green beans (it's nice either way). Also, I like to pulse the finished stew with a hand blender to thicken it at the end - totally optional, but I think it's good. And if you're NOT doing Weight Watchers, like my fiance isn't, you'll still enjoy it lots. Promise.

Finally, it's worth the extra effort to make the salsa. I've had it with and without the salsa, and it's SO much better with. It takes no time at all to throw it together and it elevates this meal to something v.special.

Feijoada (recipe adapted from here)

One small butternut squash

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp smoked paprika

2 peppers

2 red onions

4 cloves of garlic

4 fresh bay leaves

2 x 400g tins of black beans

100g okra or green beans

2 fresh tomatoes

1/2 fresh red chilli (deseeded if you don't like it too spicy)

Small bunch of fresh coriander (about 15g)

1 lime

2 tsp vegetable or olive oil

Natural yoghurt, to serve

Serves 6-8

Zero (0) Weight Watchers Smart Points

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C / Gas mark 6
2. Deseed the squash (you don't need to peel it) then chop into chunks (about 3cm).
3. Add the squash to a large oven tray, and toss and massage with 1 tsp of oil, the ground coriander and a pinch of sea salt and black pepper.
4. Then deseed the peppers and cut into 3cm chunks, and in a separate tray toss and massage them with another teaspoon of oil and the smoked paprika. Place both trays in the oven for 35 minutes, or until softened.
5. If you're planning to serve this immediately, set aside 1/4 of one of the onions for the salsa. If not, chuck it all in with the rest which you need to roughly chop, and place in a large casserole pan or wok on a low heat. Use some oil here if you like, I just used a splash of water.
6. Crush in the garlic, add the bay leaves and a bit more water and cook for 20 minutes, or until soft, stirring regularly.
7. Tip in both tins of black beans, including the juice, then fill one of the tins with water and add that into the pan. Simmer for another 15 minutes or so, and once the squash and peppers are done too, add them into the pan.
8. If you're using it, trim and finely slice the okra (or green beans), and add to the pan, simmering for another 20 minutes or so until the feijaoda is thickened and delicious.
9. If you'd like to thicken it further, like I did, take a hand blender and blitz in bits until the sauce is thick and unctuous. Now there's a good word. Give it a taste to see if it needs any further seasoning like salt or pepper.
10. This freezes really well, so you can either serve immediately or package it up and pop in the freezer until you're ready.
11. When you're ready to serve, make a quick salsa - deseed the tomatoes, then finely chop with the chilli (deseeded if you don't want it super spicy), a quarter of a red onion (that one you set aside earlier, remember) and add to a bowl with the juice of a lime and a little salt.
12. Serve in big bowls with rice, a dollop of natural yogurt and a couple of spoonfuls of the salsa.

REVIEW: Bill's, St Albans

2018-03-25T08:30:00.000+01:00

Although I don't live in St Albans any more, I still find myself back there a lot. I was born and bred in that town, and it'll always have a place in my heart. It's so interesting how much it's changed over the years - it's gone from being a pretty-but-boring place that's a 20 minute train journey to London to a really great destination for a minibreak, and a big part of that is the foodie scene.

I am - as you've probably noticed - very into food, so this is a good thing. But it's definitely weird seeing so many of my teenage drinking haunts becoming restaurants. I think the Fighting Cocks and the Horn are the only ones left! But the place I spent most of my Friday nights in my late teens to my early twenties was the Cross Keys which was the Wetherspoons in town (followed later by Lloyds, which was never so much my scene - not least because I never forgave it for taking over Hot Coles, the best cocktail bar in the WORLD, and turning it into their kitchen). But the Cross Keys, man. It was a total dive, but was the setting of so many great nights. So many not-so-great hangovers.

When it closed, a couple of restaurants tried to take over and didn't do so well, which was a shame as it's a great building. So when Bill's moved in a few years ago, I was really excited because my London-based pals had been raving about it for a while. These days, Bill's is in most towns and it's always one of the first places I choose for a good dinner (I went last week with work). So I was very happy to be asked to review the St Albans one following their awesome renovation - I mean, obviously I was pretty familiar with the menu, so I knew I was in store for a great meal. And I was!

I had a little chat with the manager who explained that they're really popular as a breakfast and lunch destination, but people don't necessarily realise that it's a great spot for an evening meal, too. So the renovation is focusing on creating lots of cosy corners and booths, lots of low lighting and quirky decorations.

Matt had a beer and I started with a cocktail - an English Country Garden, which was elderflower, gin and apple and super refreshing. Then for starters, Matt had the cheese fondue dip which was great, as I wanted to try it desperately (sadly it doesn't seem to be on the menu any more) which came with toasty bread to dip, and it was pretty amazing.

I ordered the fried halloumi sticks as they're a long-time favourite of mine, but I was a bit disappointed with my plate which was pretty much just sliced halloumi. I didn't say anything because I thought they'd maybe changed them, but having been since, I think I was just given a substition so I'm a little disappointed that the otherwise-great server didn't point this out to me as I probably would have chosen something more exciting! I mean, it was still halloumi, so still good, obviously.

Then for mains, Matt went for the burger. Bill's do a great burger - fat, juicy and stuffed (yet not overly so) with filling. Also, it just looks INCREDIBLE. Right?

I was being very indecisive and kept leaning towards the pan-fried chicken (with truffle and wild mushrooms, YUM) but in the end decided to go for something fat and hearty so chose the steak and rarebit pie. It was a rich steak pie, covered with a cheesy rarebit sauce which was massive and impossible to finish, but completely hit the spot. I could have done with a wee bit more cheesy sauce, but to be honest I can always do with more cheese. It's just a rule for life. Shout out to the rosemary gravy, too, which was amaaaazing.

For pudding, I went for the sticky toffee pudding, which is a seriously extra dessert. The pudding itself is fluffy and rich, covered in a to-die-for caramel sauce that I could cheerfully drink from a pint glass, but then it also came with clotted cream ice cream, topped with toasted hazelnuts. This was served separately in a little pot so I felt like I had two desserts, and I was into it.

Matt's dessert, though, was something else. That boy can never resist a banoffee sundae, and the Bill's melting banoffee sundae comes with a melting chocolate cover that our waiter poured salted caramel sauce over to reveal the sundae underneath. He made some noises while eating it that he's not proud of.

We had a fab meal at Bill's, and it absolutely is somewhere I'd go for an evening meal - it's cosy, friendly and the food is always really reliably good. I like how the menu changes regularly but still keeps the favourite meals such as Mac'n'Cheese and a few really good burgers. And the restaurant looks great after its renovation (there's an amazing floral display outside that I didn't get a photo of as it was dark, but you can see it here in this fab photo from The Alban Way. Thanks for a fab meal, Bill's!

Bill's St Albans is at 2 Chequer St, St Albans AL1 3XZ. The restaurant kindly paid for our meal in exchange for this honest review.

WEDDING: Meet my new wedding shoes!

2018-03-21T07:30:00.000+00:00

So there's less than two months now until my wedding and the planning is amping up. The dress fittings have begun, the bridesmaids and ushers have their outfits and we're starting to nail down the final details. It's both exciting and scary. I'm excited for the day, and after the day (I am seriously impatient to call Matt my husband) but I'm nervous that I've dropped a ball somewhere or forgotten something, and that's the scary part. The anxiety dreams are pretty much nightly at this point (but I like to think of them as warnings not to forget things!).

One thing I chose fairly early on was my shoes. At 5'1, I knew I'd want to wear heels, and I'm usually more comfortable in those with a strap as I have wide feet so often end up in shoes a size too big, which means they sometimes slip off. It's a lot to consider. So I was after some cute Mary-Jane type shoes, when Matt pointed out that I should look for a wide heel, too. It's a good point, and the reason he makes it is because he's attended several weddings with me where I've clutched frantically at his arm as my stilettos have sunk into the lawn.

So those were my requirements. And after briefly being tempted by these hilariously insane Irregular Choice shoes from Spartoo and these sparkly but expensive Charlotte Mills shoes, I settled on the Marcia shoe from Rainbow Club. I actually did some blogging for Rainbow Club years ago - we went to a cool event and learnt to hand-dye shoes, so I knew they specialised in shoes for weddings and that they can dye shoes any colour you want - whether it's before or after the event. I felt pretty confident with them. But I held off on buying the shoes until after Christmas, hoping for a sale (when you're buying dinner for 100+ people, you're always hoping for a sale).

No sale came, but what did come along was the lovely people from Lace & Favour, who asked if I'd like to review something from their site. You can guess where this is heading, but let me tell you, their site is a godsend for brides-to-be. It's full of wedding accessories like jewellery, veils, shoes and hair pieces. You can even buy confetti and place settings there - it's a total one-stop-shop, and they sell lots of different brands, too.

Obviously I asked very nicely if I could review the Rainbow Club shoes of dreams, and they said yes. So these are my shoes! They're perfect. They are the practical choice, and so I wasn't expecting to fall madly in love with them, but for a chunky shoe they're still elegant - I love the art-deco design. They're super comfortable (you wouldn't believe how soft they are inside) and I'm 100% confident that I can last all day in them. I'm so happy with my choice, because it's so tempting to go for something teetering and impractical and beautiful, and I'd just spend the whole day resenting my feet. And no one wants that.

Thank you so much for my dream shoes, Lace & Favour! I promise I'll do you proud on the dancefloor.

~+~

REVIEW: The Akeman, Tring

2018-03-18T19:11:00.000+00:00

One of the things that appealed to us about Tring when we chose to move here was all the awesome independent shops and restaurants around. You can count the chain restaurants on one hand. One hand that's missing three fingers. And that's nice. I'm all for a chain every now and then, but it often means you miss out on discovering new things. And new things are good.

On one of those first visits to Tring, we walked to a few houses we'd seen for sale to see what the area was like, and finished up with a light lunch at The Akeman, which we chose because we were big fans of its sister restaurant, The Beech House, back in St Albans. And actually since we've moved, it's become one of our favourite places. It's a great combination of restaurant and bar - you can go for a great night out and drink all the gins, grab brunch or a quick pizza, or have a slap up three course meal. I was overjoyed a few months ago to be invited to their reopening night after they expanded into the building next door, and it looks great now - there's all these extra little cosy nooks that are just crying out for a date night and a couple of bottles of wine.

At the reopening night, I got the chance to chat to Eamonn Borg-Neal, the general manager of The Akeman. His family owns all the pubs in the Oakman Inns group (there are a few around, including The King's Arms in Berkhamsted which is another favourite of mine) and I discovered that it's a small, beloved family business with their HQ in Tring. And I think that's my point about chains - when I was chatting to Eamonn, it was clear how much he and his family cared about the restaurants and it comes across when you visit them. We even got talking about Eamonn's plans to run a half marathon this month, in aid of Epilepsy Action, which is close to his heart as he's lived with epilepsy for several years.

We popped back a few weeks later to have a proper meal and see how the restaurant had changed since the renovation. Grab a snack - this will make you hungry.

The Akeman - and in fact, Tring - are known for gin, so we had to start with that! Matt had a Hendricks and tonic while I went for one of their gin cocktails, the Rhubarb and Custard, which contained Whitley Neil Rhubarb gin and Absolut Vanilla, and was amazing! It honestly tasted exactly like rhubarb and custard sweeties. Big fan.

I chose the burrata salad for my starter, which was pretty mindblowing. I'm sure most of you have had burrata, but just in case you haven't, it's a big ball of mozzarella cheese stuffed with cream. Yeah. This came with prosciutto and tomatoes, roasted in garlic and basil and was rich and creamy and totally delicious.

Matt chose the special, which was BBQ chicken wings with chipotle mayo. These were sooo good. While the mayo was delicious, it was unnecessary - the wings were super moist and flavoursome, and stood on their own perfectly without needing any sauce.

I went for the Greek salad for dinner, which sounds a bit miserable and light for a Saturday night dinner but trust me - it's kind of an insult to call this a salad. Yes, there was the expected lettuce, tomatoes and feta combo, but the feta was marinated in spices and totally delicious, and the tomatoes were incredibly fresh and juicy. Oh - and the whole thing was topped with a perfectly pink leg of lamb. Daaamn.

Also, I had chips. Obvs.

I really loved the twist on a salad, because I still had a huge plate of food in front of me and didn't feel like I'd gone for the healthy option (which, to be honest, I hadn't deliberately, I just really fancied it). The lamb was beaaautifully cooked. So good.

Matt went for the lemon sole, which I think was one of the specials again - he said it was super buttery and perfectly cooked, and really enjoyed it (it's our usual issue of Matt ordering the fish option and me not eating fish, sorry).

We were pretty stuffed by this point but had to have something for pudding, right? Matt went for the banoffee sundae, which he LOVED. He said it was much better than any he'd had recently - huge, but not too sickly with a good mix of fillings including caramel and brownie. It would be enough for 2 to share. And I went for the white chocolate cheesecake, which was a wee bit sickly but still really good - I loved the honeycomb ice cream.

Often when I write a review, I'm experiencing a restaurant for the first time, but in this case I was already a big fan of the Akeman. I'd urge you to visit if you're in Tring, or near one of their sister restaurants (take a look here for the full list). Lovely food, great drinks, fab service and excellent ambience.

Oh, and Eamonn has raised over £1,200 for Epilepsy Action by running his half-marathon. If you'd like to contribute, his JustGiving page is here.

The Akeman is at 9 Akeman Street, Tring HP23 6AA. The restaurant kindly paid for our meal in exchange for this honest review.