Finally got round to eating... Chocolate!?

So I'm someone who loves chocolate. Don't we all?! But for some reason, it can sit in my cupboard for ages without me eating it. I get lots of easter eggs, but they sit in my cupboard until around summer, I have even found some at Christmas before! So I must firstly apologise to Choc O' Clock for taking so long to eat and review their delicious treat. They are the first people to have sent me something to review, and I was like a kid at Christmas when it arrived. 

I'm not somebody who is great at trying new things, in fact I would go as far to say that a few years ago I had a bit of a food phobia. So I feel like this blog is helping me get over those fears slowly. I hadn't tried an ice cream chocolate until today, and I was pleasantly surprised. 

A friend of mine had tried one over the summer, and told me that they were a bit weird, and just tasted like ice cream that was unfrozen. So I was apprehensive. 

Boy was she wrong. I loved it. Part of the fun of a cornetto is ripping off the wrapper, which I still got to do with this one. I love the fact that on the packaging it says 'no ice cream included', a clever advertising idea. 

The mini cone looked just like a cornetto from the outside, but with a thick layer of chocolate on top. Cornetto cones are better than any other cone, and this felt exactly the same. 

When I bit into the chocolate, it was not what I expected. The centre was made of a thick chocolate mousse. All of the textures together went beautifully. There was an initial bite of chocolate, which tasted just like the chocolate through a cone of an ice cream, then a smooth, rich chocolate mousse filling, followed by the perfect crunch of the cone. 

Chocolate was throughout the centre of the cone, and at the bottom, you got the best part. The thick dark chocolate which is exactly the same as the end of a cornetto, the pinpoint of the cone filled  with solid chocolate. 

So basically, the ice cream chocolate is up there with some of my favorites, when you want something a little bit fancy to brighten your day, it comes highly recommended.

And the best part? Choc O'Clock sent me 2, so having told you all how yummy the first one is, I can devour the 2nd! 

10/10

Paigey x

A celebratory dinner

On Saturday (yes, if you hadn't already worked out it was anther weekend of dinners out!) we helped D's brother and his girlfriend move into a new flat. It was a fun day, I helped unpack the kitchen mainly, which is my favorite room in the house, I love shopping for kitchenware! 

As a thank you, they took us, and D's dad out for dinner, to Café Rouge in Reigate. We had a great evening, the company was perfect and the service was impeccable. We had a small amount of tesco vouchers to use - and I must admit this is my favorite thing, every time D and I get our vouchers through the post we order Café Rouge vouchers for a little treat - they're worth 4 times your voucher value! 

I was in a bit of a tetchy mood if I'm honest, I wanted the food to be perfect... And sadly it didn't live up to expectations. 

To start, I had chorizo. I expected it to come like it would in a tapas bar - cooked and ready to eat. Instead, it was cold, fresh out the fridge. I still enjoyed it, but was slightly disappointed and it's not a course I would choose again visiting that restaurant. 

Steak, as you will know if you have read my profile, is one of my favorite things. Café Rouge is one of those places where I thoroughly enjoy steak, and therefore tend to float towards it as my dish of choice, and this occasion was no different. I went for a sirloin, with peppercorn sauce, and chips, cooked medium rare. The thing that frustrates me the most, is that restaurants never seem to be able to cook steak to the right level, so I always go for medium rare as inevitably it will be overcooked. I was not surprised, the dish was nice but overcooked, it was more medium-well than rare, and I was very glad I didn't go for medium (which is actually how I like it!) The peppercorn sauce was perfect, not too spicy, and nice and thick, and it tasted amazing covered over the chips. 

We, once again decided to go for a dessert. I really fancied the chocolate pancakes, which came with banana... I love fresh bananas, but am not really a fan of them in puddings. So just to confuse things, I asked for the pudding, without the banana, and with salted caramel ice cream instead of vanilla. It was the perfect pudding, a great combination of hot and cold, salty and smooth, rich and sweet, it was melt in your mouth heaven. And I wasn't the only one who ordered exactly that dish! (The thing on top is crumbled white chocolate - not cheese!) 

I must mention, once again, the incredible service received by the staff. I was being a bit picky, and fussy (which I always have been with food), and he pandered to our every need. If I was being a difficult food critic on purpose, he would have scored 10/10, so for that I thank you. Your staff are excellent.

7/10

Time for bed.

SD 

Paigey x

A beautiful location

I love Cheltenham, this is a known fact among my friends. Particularly those who I grew up with in Surrey, who are always asking me when I'm moving home (never). And places like Zizzi in Cheltenham are one of the many reasons I love it here. The buildings are just beautiful (not to mention it was voted #1 place to bring up a family recently). Now I know I'm extremely fortunate to have found myself a job in the film industry outside of London, but I am so very glad that I get to stay in such a beautiful town.

Zizzi is one of a few restaurants set in an old church, but they have done it the most justice I have seen. They have kept most of the original features, and the kitchen is where the altar would have been - up high so everyone in the restaurant can see it. 

They have an upstairs which overlooks the 'church, which has a piano, and on this occasion there was someone up there playing.

As it is a church, it is very large and open, but luckily it was busy that evening creating a perfect Friday night atmosphere. The only qualm I would have is that there are a lot of tables, much like in any restaurant, so people are quite packed in. 

D and I went for dinner with another couple, big easy and B. Big easy rocked up a little late, having been looking after clients at the literature festival, so had been drinking throughout the afternoon. This made for an entertaining evening. 

We decided to be greedy, and go for three courses! I started off with Risotto balls, which I have had in a different Zizzi before, and it was my first experience of enjoying rice (although a tad different to generic rice). The ones on this occasion were good, but a little bland and dry? Not as tasteful as I remember. I enjoyed the crisp crunch on the outside, and there was plenty of filling, it just could have done with a little more seasoning. My favorite part was the tomato dip that came alongside it, it was fresh and zingy, although it came in a little plastic pot which looked like a takeaway sauce! 

For main course, D and I ummed and ahhed because deep down we both wanted the same thing, and thought we should try something different, but we both ended up going for the same, which was the right choice! We went for a Pizza Piccante, which is basically all the meats and a little spice, along with some extra cheese. The base was perfectly crunchy round the outside and soft in the middle and the toppings were a plenty. Parts of the crust were a little too thick, but other than that it was scrumptious. It did look rather funny at the end when we both had a pile of jalapeño peppers on our plates, as neither of us deal with spice well! 

As it was treat night, it was time for a dessert. D and I shared a melt in the middle pudding with pistachio ice cream (which I requested instead of vanilla). He told me he didn't want it because it tasted like almonds, but he was thinking of amaretto I think. It was great, I'm a firm believer that chocolate puddings should be hot, and this delivered exactly what I wanted. The best thing about a pudding like this is its size, after a big meal I just want a taste of something sweet to finish it off, nothing too big, this was just right. Spongy, moist pudding with a delectable middle which oozed out as soon as the spoon went in. 

All in all a fantastic evening, which ended in good old 'retreat' for some after dinner drinks.

7/10.

Have a great day,

Paigey x

Last but not least

So I've decided I'm going to change the way I blog (I'm new to this so trial and error is key). I'm going to start blogging about places individually, so this will be my last full weeks post with a variety of adventures. I hope this will make it easier for you lovely readers to see where is good to eat and stay! 

So.. I have some treats in store for you today - a bit of everything, from hotels to home baking... And while we're on the subject I was incredibly disappointed with the result of bake-off - I backed Richard all the way! 

Last week I stayed in the Village Urban Resort in Elstree, it was fantastic. I loved the way they had everything in one place, gym (the biggest I've ever seen), two restaurants and a hotel. The staff were lovely, and remembered me from the night before at breakfast. My only problem was the lighting in the bedrooms, I can't stand it when hotels use mood lighting as you can't do your make-up easily, and the rooms here were particularly dark. I imagine in the summer with the big glass windows it would be perfect, but any other time of year, aka now, it just doesn't work. 

I checked into the hotel quite late on Tuesday, and decided to eat there. I looked at the menus, and decided to go for an Italian (it was that or pub food). Perfect choice, I sat down with a book and a glass of wine and relaxed. I had a chicken Milanese (breaded chicken with a tomato sauce, pesto, pancetta and mozarella.) It was lovely and light, and I had it with a side of potatos, which were perfectly crispy. The atmosphere was perfect for me, quiet and chilled with not too many people about.

In the morning I went down for breakfast, and decided to fill up on cooked breakfast. The sausages were cheap, but the hash browns were cooked to perfection, and it kick started the day nicely. 

That evening I went to meet a friend for dinner in Smiths in Bourne, Linconshire. It was incredibly busy, clearly a popular spot for the locals. There was a lovely little bar as you walked in, followed by a variety of quirky little rooms. We sat in the front, at a booth, and both ended up eating the same meal! It was quite noisy, popular with beer drinkers, and I'm not sure I'd revisit but the food was good. There were a few flys about which concerned me, but I think that's because we were sat by the door. I had an open chicken ciabatta with chips and onion rings. The chips weren't what I'd like to see in a pub-type restaurant, they were skinny like McDonalds (I like a good thick potato in the pub) and the onion rings were pretty greasy, but the chicken ciabatta was delicious. 

One thing I always wonder in restaurants - why are they so apprehensive to give you mayonnaise?! They automatically put all other sauces out, but you have to ask for Mayo and they give you the smallest pot in the world! 

I have had a bit of a week of baking this week. We've been watching Jamie's comfort food, and I decided to attempt his shepherds pie (except mine was cottage as I used beef). D told me we are never to use mince again because it was amazing (we used chunks of beef), and the crispy potato base that Jamie Oliver suggested, by lining the oven dish with potato as well as putting it on top, was potentially one of my favorite ideas ever. 

Lemon drizzle cake is my absolute favorite, so this week I decided to attempt it for the first time. I went and bought a huge cake tin, so we could share it about, and collected some fresh eggs from the farm. I used the bbc good food recipe - simple yet effective. It was easy to make and turned out well, I was pretty proud. It was a bit dense in the middle, so in hindsight next time I would probably use a smaller tin, but the outside was moist and light. I'm rather glad there was a lot to eat! 

I was ever so excited yesterday when I got my first ever request on Twitter - from Choc O'Clock - for them to send me some chocolate to sample and blog about. This is possibly one of the most exciting things that's ever happened! So I will try them and that will be the first of my one-product only blogs.

Look forward to sharing it with you.

Paigey x

A little less travelling

I had a lovely week last week - I've been at home visiting my local cinemas! Which means not as many dinners and no hotels... However I've had a busy weekend. And of course when I say not as many, there are still SOME food visits. 

I visited the Picture House in Cambridge for the first time recently, and I must say what a quaint little cafe/bar they have. It's got great character, I had a hot chocolate (which seems to be one of my specialties) which was perfectly sweet, and very visually appealing. 

The weekend started off well... And continue throughout! On Friday, we went out for dinner as a friend of ours is moving to Dubai (jealous... Me?!). We went to the Farmer's boy near Gloucester, known for its pies. Whilst I have been there before and had a delicious burger, this time I decided to go with tradition and have a steak and ale pie, with chips and peas. It was great, you get a lot of choice in there of different pies and pastries all cooked to order. The only complaint I would have is that there genuinely is too much choice - 3 menus, a pie menu, a mains menu and a specials menu, they could do with getting rid of the specials menu. We had a card for our friend, which needed signing whilst we were there, so we sent him off for a walk and he didn't come back for ages - we had to go looking for him! I didn't have a starter, they were all a bit too fussy for me (and I think your learning, I'm a bit of a fusspot), but desert was a couldn't be missed occasion. D and I shared a chocolate fudge cake with cream, and for someone who didn't want any pudding he did a good job of sharing it with me. It was scrumptious, but as I will always say fudge cake should be warm, and it wasn't!! Staff were extremely friendly and attentive, and they have a great app for your phone which gets you discounts. 

I had a bit of a day of baking at the weekend, as we had a lot of fresh eggs to use up. I'm a big fan of Pinterest, so decided to try their Oreo cookie mini cheesecakes, which went down a treat. Add to that some chocolate butterfly cakes, and brownies and you've got a party. 

Saturday saw us heading back to Surrey as a friend of mine was having a leaving do - she's going travelling all over the place (once again, jealous, me?). We met mum for lunch in Strada in Cobham, and as per usual was disappointed with the service - strada always seem to get this wrong. We seated ourselves, had to ask for the menu, and to get drinks, and they forgot a few things. There was a family on the table next to us who seemed to get both waiters attending to them, and we had neither. Nevertheless, the food was good (pepporoni and chicken pizza) and the company was great, although they didn't have any carbonara on the menu which is always a disappointment.  D and I took great pleasure in 'playing a game of tinder' on my mums phone, which is one of my favorite hobbies on other people's phones! 

That evening I headed to L's house for her leaving do, which was great fun. My baked goods went down excellently, we had some scrumptious home-made fajitas and played a rather competitive game of articulate (to which I must add... My team won!). The plates that she had bought were adorable, perfect for the nature of the party, and we all brought wine from around the world, to add to the delicious slushy cocktails. 

I am now away for the week, and stayed in the Hilton metropole Birmingham airport on Monday. I will most certainly say I will not be returning, purely due to the outrageous prices of everything you have to add on (wifi, parking, and the tray service charge for room service was £5!). I am always happy to pay for a tray service, but I felt that was extortionate. Had a pretty big dinner as it had been a long day, and I feel that hotel food is always average. Bruschetta to start, cheese and bacon burger for main with a side of garlic bread, and a chocolate honeycomb pudding with fruit. It was all okay, fair for a hotel meal but ridiculously expensive. And when it came to the pudding, went to eat it and realised they'd left the plastic mould on - great! Had an early start in the morning so went to make a coffee, to my dismay they had forgotten to set out the milk, so at 5am I was phoning reception to get them to bring me some milk. I know mistakes are sometimes made, but that's a bit of a silly one. Also I stayed there to be out of birmingham for the traffic - what a bad idea, the design of their car park is awful and I spent ages queueing to get anywhere near the exit! 

(It looked lovely when it was fully ready!)

Signing off, will have lots to talk about in the next post.

Paigey x

Feeling sorry for myself

So today I am full of cold. And feeling very sorry for myself. I even told my boyfriend this morning that I think I have man flu - purely because I am planning to moan and milk it as much as possible! And there is nothing worse than feeling crappy and spending hours driving in your car all day. So apologies for the grump! 

Last week I stayed in the Hotel Indigo in Liverpool, which, despite my reservations (it's not the hilton) I thoroughly enjoyed. The room was big, modern, light and airy, and the breakfast was lush, and they had takeaway cups so I could take my hot chocolate with me (I was naughty and had a cooked breakfast!). The hotel has a Marco Pierre white restaurant attached so you would expect it to be good. It had a bustling environment, even when I arrived back late at night (around 12am) there were still plenty of people drinking in the bar by the reception, which was a stylish little area. 

I had been up to London for meetings for the day, where we had hired a room at The Ape and Bird in Soho. Work were holding a quiz night, and I was gutted to have to leave early to get my train back up north! We were doing pretty well in the quiz, and the main meals hadn't made it out yet (queue a stop-off at burger long at the train station - oops!) so I was starving. All I can say about the hors d'ouvres that we had was that it was all a bit too fussy for my liking - I would have been happy with typical pub grub in a London pub. The pub itself had lots of little nooks and crannys, it was miles down to the toilet and each room had it's own different atmosphere, it was pretty cool! 

Whilst in liverpool, I had the pleasure of a business meeting in Hotel Chocolat. I didn't realise they had cafe's - as there aren't any in our area, but it was incredible. I had a salted

Caramel hot chocolate, which was possibly the best thing I have ever eaten, along with a slice of my favorite lemon drizzle cake, which was perfectly moist. 

When I got back, over the weekend we had a busy time. Friday was a friends leaving do, so naturally we headed out for some drinks, starting off in The Beehive and unfortunately, once again ending up in moo moos and home via Charlie's fish and chip shop... It was lots of fun but I most certainly regretted the sausage in the morning! 

Saturday I went on a treasure hunt with the girls - Beard's jewellers had hidden 10 diamonds around cheltenham. It was a lot of fun, but sadly we didn't find any diamonds (although came pretty close!). Shattered after a late night and a lot of walking around town, we headed to get some lunch, everywhere was rammed! We ended up in ask, one of my favorites, and it was warm enough to sit outside! I got extremely excited about the glasses they were serving our drinks in, which I found out you can buy in the shop, and had one of the best pizzas I've ever eaten. It was pepporoni with added chicken, scrummy! To top it all off the service was impeccable, the waitress serving us was lovely and the only problem was that we had to move inside because of the stupid wasps! 

On Sunday we went to a christening, where D became a godfather. It was a lovely day, all very exciting and I managed to (somehow) get the role of official photographer on the day. I am most certainly a novice, although I own a lovely camera I don't really know what to do with it, so this has prompted me to book onto a course in a few weeks. I really enjoyed doing it, felt quite a lot of pressure but got some lovely photos, and would really like to know how to do it properly. We had roast dinner after the service at Rodway Hill Golf Club in Highnam. Now I always love a roast dinner, and it was pretty good considering they were catering for over 60 people at once, but the beef was quite overdone and therefore a bit dry. But the rest of the food was great, we had a fair sized portion, and a great selection of pud's, I got a giant piece of chocolate fudge cake. D was a little disappointed it was pouring cream and not clotted - he's been spoilt! 

Early this week I stayed away, just for the night in Luton and managed to catch up with a friend from uni. We met halfway, in watford, where neither of us had a clue what restaurants were about. Luckily we found a street which included all of the standards that you would expect, and ended up in Chimichanga. I love Mexican, so was very happy about that! The place looked pretty new, lovely decor and the staff were friendly. I did have to ask a couple of times for my drink, but other than that the food was pretty good (I feel like in a chain you only ever get pretty good). I had some potato skins to start with cheese and bacon, of the 3 of them 2 were cooked through and nice and crispy, 1 was a little hard. Then for main i had sliders with sweet potato fries. The sliders were great, but a little too big. The buns were a lot bigger than the burgers, so it would have been better if they were smaller then I wouldn't have left so much bread. And of course - sweet potato fries - my fave, were lovely. A had swapped her rice for sweet potato fries - and their interesting take on this was to put the fries under her enchiladas - as you would rice! 

That evening I headed back to my hotel - the holiday inn luton, which was as you'd expect from a holiday inn. It's not luxury like some of the hotels I stay in, but you always know what your getting and it's to a high standard. Room was a little smaller than I usually get, but for one night it was exactly as I needed. And always a good night sleep - their beds are pretty comfy! 

Lots more to catch up on on the next post :) 

Paigey x

Celeb spotting

I've decided that I happen to be one of those lucky (or unlucky) people that tends to bump into celebrities. I know, I know, I work in film, but surprisingly I haven't met a huge amount of people since I started this particular role (other than my exciting encounter with Barrack Obama last week of course!). So I was wandering around Liverpool One yesterday, waiting to head into a meeting, and Claire Sweeney walks past! Anyone under the age of 25 (my age) will probably be thinking who on earth is that, but the rest of you are with me. How exciting (note.. Tone of sarcasm). 

On Monday one of my meetings was cancelled, so before heading back to the hotel I popped into a cinema to catch a film of ours that I hadn't got round to seeing -if I stay. Chloe Grace Moretz was fantastic as usual, and I really enjoyed it! I felt a little bit of a loser, considering I was the only person in the cinema and was sat there with a few tears in my eyes, and made sure my make up looked normal for when I walked past the staff on my way out! 

So it's a week of hotels (I'm up north - so needed to book a few nights away). As mentioned in my previous post, I stayed in Chester this week - due to a recommendation for a restaurant. Headed off to Hickory's Smokehouse in Chester, and I was blown away. The atmosphere was awesome, considering it was a Monday night it was rammed (1 hour wait for a table), but luckily you didn't have to wait for a table! They had a little bar type area which allowed people alone or in small groups to sit and eat around the area which they are preparing food. This is something I love as it shows complete confidence in what they are serving. On the bar, they had all of the sauces that you might need, along with kitchen rolls and wipes, which meant that when you needed anything you didn't have to bother the waiter - which meant much quicker service! The menu was extensive, and I struggled deciding what to have, and had convinced myself to just have a main until the waiter suggested a starter. So back to the beginning, you sit down and are presented with a (rather large) bag of popcorn, along with a bottle of water. It always makes me happy when I don't have to ask for tap water. I ordered nachos with pulled pork to start, and I must admit it was possibly the best pulled pork I've had in a restaurant - cooked perfectly with just the right amount of sauce. The only thing I would suggest is that there was slightly too much cheese, and if you are headed here with people you could most certainly share the nachos as a starter (I only ate about half). For main course I went for chicken fajitas. One thing I always find with fajitas is that they never give you enough wraps - but on this occasion it was the perfect amount. It came with the perfect sides (cheese, guacamole, salsa and sour cream, along with some lettuce) and the chicken was cooked to perfection. Quite spicy - I needed extra sour cream compared to the rest, but it was scrummy. I'm very glad I listened to the recommendation, and I must admit it was the first time I've felt 100% comfortable being alone in a restaurant, there was nobody looking at me and feeling sorry for me being on my own! 

That evening, I stayed in the Abode hotel in Chester. The car park confused me, as the entrance was shut so I had to drive in the exit (and the lady driving out was getting quite cross with me driving the wrong way, despite the fact that the signs said so). I got into the hotel quite late, so was eager to get into bed. It was extremely comfortable, the lady on reception was very friendly and answered all of my questions. The hotel room was huge - it was like an apartment, with a lovely selection of snacks from the 'mini bar', bright and modern room with a clean and new looking bathroom. Overall I was impressed and would happily go back there.  

I didn't have breakfast in the hotel, I stopped off at a pret on the way in Cheshire Oaks (and naughtily bought myself a new dress from the Coast outlet for a Christening I'm going to on Sunday). You can't go wrong with a pret (they do the best hot chocolate of any of the chain coffee shops, no fuss, and the chocolate croissants are lush!) 

Tuesday evening was the night I've been looking forward to - headed out for dinner and a cinema trip with my ex-colleague who is expecting in a few months. As recommended by a friend of hers, we headed to Orthello's in Blackpool, a little Greek restaurant that looks like it is family run. We arrived there 10 minutes before they were due to open, but the manager came to the door and let us in anyhow. For a starter we ordered some pitta bread with olives, feta and a little side salad - the feta was just what I was after. We both had 2 diet cokes, I went for a steak au poivre whilst she had a seafood platter. Considering how much food that is - the bill only came to £40! Bargain! My steak was cooked beautifully - medium - although I must admit there was a little too much (very peppery) peppercorn sauce (and those of you that know me well know how much I love my peppercorn sauce). It came with a side of either chips or rice - I went for chips - and they were just the way I like them, well cooked and extremely thick cut. The staff were very attentive, and friendly, and they did everything to ensure we had a lovely meal. 

We headed to the cinema to see Sex Tape, and both agreed not to get our hopes up as it looked so great from the trailers. Well for once - the trailers did not lie! Before going into the cinema we both got some ice cream. I was terribly excited because my local cinema has got rid of Ben and Jerry's - but they had it here. I had smore's which is my favourite, the caramel cuts through the chocolate in such a great way, along with phish food (my old faithful), some chocolate sauce and hazelnuts (very indulgent, and it was so worth it). Although I must admit the lady overfilled it hugely and I would much preferred less ice cream so I didn't make so much of a mess! Sex tape was one of the funniest films I have seen in a long time, I spent most of the film laughing out loud and that is not something I do often. Cameron Diaz is beautiful as always - she looks incredible I hope I look that way at her age... And Jason Segal whilst being one of my favorite actors anyway, has lost so much weight for this film he has become quite a catch. (Although if I was going to spend that much time naked with Cameron Diaz I would also make sure my body is in tip top shape. I only say this when I really mean it but I can't wait for it to come out on DVD! 

I'm currently sat on a train to London for meetings today, having stayed at the Hotel Indigo in Liverpool (gutted - the hilton was fully booked). They have a lot to prove as I always stay in the Hilton, so I will be reviewing it after I have completed my stay. 

Have a good day, 

Paigey x