Christchurch Food Festival 2017

So last Sunday we went on a family outing to Christchurch in Dorset on the south coast of the uk to a Food festival.

Now we were expecting a tiny little festival with about 10 stalls. In contrast to these not so great expectations, we’ve been out for over 3 hours (I thought I’d get started while Dan was changing Lily’s nappy!) and we’ve still not found all the stalls yet!

It took until 5pm to finish getting around all the stalls. We are now significantly poorer. But came back with some fantastic vinegar’s, liqueurs, cheeses, coffee and cakes – as well as eating some amazing seafood!

First stop was a very yummy and healthy breakfast at James and White bar and Kitchen in Christchurch highstreet. Salmon, egg and watercress.

Vinegars

So these lime and chilly vinegar and blackberry and basil vinegar have apparently been featured on the BBC by James Martin. Now the lady on the stand told me that in London it is a ‘thing’ to drink these mixed with sparkling water. I’m not a fan of sparkling water – so no thanks.

We also brought some absolutely yummy gainers from Gillys – Apple,  Blonde and Rose. I mixed the Rose with Lime and chilly with a salad during the week for lunch. So yummy!!!
Cheeses

Omg these cheeses were beautiful. We got one of each cheese and I’ve had the honey one in sandwiches and salads this week.  Seriously in love.

We also came home with a beautiful selection of cheddar! The Jalapeno one has been used in burritos and tacos this week. An amazing addition.

Cakes

Now I didn’t buy any of these. But they look stunning.

I am obsessed with the Apprentice and spotted last year’s winner Alana Spencer selling some of her cakes. After managing to blurt out a rather star struck ‘Congratulations’ I came home with a salty caramel slice and some rocky road (officially my new favourite cake).

Meats

So we did come home with some sausages from the Giggly Pig. Dan choose these ones.

The Italian ones (flavoured with Oregano) were eaten with mash and tasted amazing.

The Bacon flavoured ones (yes you did read that currently) were finished off in Breakfast burritos this morning.

The Hop flavoured ones have gone in the freezer for another day. But they’re flavoured with the same stuff that you make beer from. So that should be exciting.

Snacks

Some chilly stuffed olives, feta, garlic cloves and sundried tomatoes came home and got mixed in salads for a couple of days. Actual heaven.

Fudge: Chocolate orange and a bar of Baileys.

Bread

Sundried tomato and basil bread. Dan missed out on this as I ate it up for dinner at work.

Drinks

We tried some very yummy spiced Mohitos – essentially a normal mohito with some ginger ale.

We also come back with – Apple Liquor (made in a local Orchard – Liberty fields), Gooseberry Gin (Kent – Nip from the Hip), Wild strawberry Liquor (the Wiltshire Liquer company), Blood Orange Liquor (the Wiltshire Liquer company)a bottle of Honey Blonde Beer (Downton Brewery) . Yummy! Very much looking forward to making our way through these over the coming months.

I also came back with 250g of coffee from the Dorset Coffee company. French Vanilla – OMG it is so good!!

Apologies if I have forgotten anything. But it was a very long day and we did buy rather a lot – but at least I won’t need to do much food shopping for a few weeks!

Love to you all and Happy knitting!

MrsKirstyHoll

x

Some Amazing Pieces of Coffee Art

I am a complete lover of coffee. It's such a beautiful drink. Part of my ability to gain a first in my degree was definitely partially down to the excellent coffee in many of the university cafes. 

For all the expensive coffee places - Starbucks and Costa, both of which provided many excellent memories - some of the best coffee was from a £1 machine in the 24 hour suite. I was regularly in uni from about 7:30 in the morning - my husband dropped me there before heading over to work. The only place I could get a cup of coffee that early in the morning was the little £1 machine. Even though the coffee was very cheap, the mocha hid the taste of cheap coffee. That early in the morning coffee tastes fantastic whatever the quality of the beans. 

Even though I that coffee was beautiful, what was missing the experienced coffee barristers. They are usually super friendly and a friendly face in the morning can work wonders on your outlook for the day. Some barristers are also skilled artists. Some of their work remarkable and keep being shared on my Pinterest feed. 

The images always make me smile, so I thought I'd share a few of my favourites with you.  

This one of the Eiffel Tower is really beautiful. Paris is somewhere I would love to visit. It's supposedly one of the most romantic cities in the world, so a long weekend with my Husband there sounds like heaven. 

The Eiffel Tower: Discovered by:  http://birds-and-baking.tumblr.com/

Photographer = Unknown

This next one is also stunning in its simplicity. The blossoms are so simple by it just looks amazing. I think the coffee would taste nicer just because it's there. 

Blossom tree coffee art
Pinned from ClipZine
http://www.clipzine.me/u/clip/1291173713328951041

I personally can't believe it's already been 2 months since Christmas! The last couple of months have flown by ridiculously fast. This year though is looking really optimistic. I'm really enjoying my work, my relationship with my husband is probably the best it's ever been and I am feeling really productive. Also found out this week that I passed my Professional Certificate in Social Media :) So that also made me feel more confident about the choices I've made since graduation. 

Hopefully by next Christmas I will have some coffee art skills. I would love to add this onto some Christmas Mocha's when we have some friends over for a party!

Christmas Tree
Pinned from Stellar Sky
http://stellaresque42.tumblr.com/post/68842186098

I love animals. When I was in my teens my aim was actually to be a vet. Although plans change, I still love animals. When my husband and I get our own place the plan is to get a couple of small dogs. Personally, I would love a Scotty Dog or a Border Terrier. My parents have a cat and a Border Terrier that are best friends. It is so adorable - the dog worships the ground the cat walks on. Currently my husband and I have an adorable pair of female gerbils. 

Based on my love of animals, I couldn't help but find this cat adorable. Can someone please teach me how to make this? It is seriously the cutest thing I've seen today. 

Pinned from imgur.com
http://imgur.com/gallery/VQEsGHz

Coffee art is something I personally find amazing. 

Hope it has also brightened up your day!

Pinned from eecards
http://www.someecards.com/usercards/unsubmitted/MjAxMy0zOTRiYjJjOTJkNzRjODU2

How to get inspired for 2015

As many of you may be aware I am a social media marketer by trade. I find Pinterest a great way of bookmarking all of my social media related pins.






If you're interested check out the entire board here:

Follow Kirsty's board Social Media on Pinterest

For the last few weeks this pin with has been repinned about 5 times a day. It's one of my most popular pins on the board. With this is mind, I thought I would put together some of the best advice I've found from around the internet for staying inspired!

For starters you need to start spending some time each day to stop and reflect and what you want to achieve. When you get up in the morning spend 20 minutes doing some exercise (5,7) with all your social media turned off (6). This will get the blood flowing in your brain and your heart pumping.

This doesn't have to involve leaving the warmth of your house if it's cold and wet outside. I have a number of dance games on my Xbox/Kinect in my living room which I'm going to start using. Doing this inside your house means you can also combine it with your morning beverage of choice (6). Caffeine can be a great source of inspiration.

Coffee is a drink of the Gods
http://justincasedeck.com/

While you're relaxing post exercise use this time to start working out and planning your long term goals (2). What do you actually want to succeed in? You are way more likely to succeed if you feel strongly excited or happy about it (2). This will help you draw motivational energy that will keep you focused and on track. Do not pick more than 1 or 2 main goals as this will stretch you to thinly (3).

Now you know where you want to be, you have to work out how you're going to get there. What things (think small steps) do you need to succeed in to get to where you need to be (9)? Planning a journey with goals will allow you to feel more confident that you are making progress. 

Once you've decided on your goals you need to find ways of keeping yourself motivated. Getting additional input from other sources can help re-boost your inspirational reserves. Try reading some new authors, try out some new music and read blogs about your goals (2, 3). It's also worth spending some time trying to find speakers online that inspire you (4,5). This can be a really good way of putting yourself back on track if you're wavering. 

I'm not claiming that doing any of this will make your life easier. However, I hope that by finding your goal and setting yourself on the path will make you life more enriched.

Did this help? It would be great to here your goals below!

Do you have any tips to feeling inspired? Post below!





REFERENCES
1)https://twitter.com/CompellingCVs/status/476719932382912512/photo/1
2)http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Inspired
4) http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/communication-success/201402/how-unleash-your-creativity-and-find-inspiration-today
5)http://www.robinsharma.com/blog/04/49-ways-to-get-inspired/
6) http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/230064
7)http://lifehacker.com/the-science-of-inspiration-and-how-to-make-it-work-for-1467413542
8) http://fizzle.co/sparkline/motivation
9) http://www.inc.com/laura-garnett/how-to-get-and-stay-inspired.html

London Coffee Shop Musings (and why they should have a plug socket)

I'm writing this from London. The capital gives the common cafe lover more choices then they could shake a reasonably sized stick at. My hope was that I would be able to stumble across a number of cute independent cafe's that would allow me to get some writing done.

Instead, I lost a good few hours in the British National gallery and became an new fan girl of the great painter Raphael. It's also current worth making a trip as they have Van Gough's Sunflowers images (both versions). They do not let you take photos, so I of course brought the £1.99 postcard from the vendor outside the room. Daylight robbery. In Edinburgh's gallery you are allowed to take photos (with the flash off). So I'm inclined to say London is being a bit tight.

Back to the original point. Cafe's. The first cafe I stumbled upon was called 'Nightingale' and was just opposite the bus stops near Victoria Underground. It was not until I had sat down that I truly realised what I had stumbled across. The unit looks like a converted pharmacist from back in the day (I can claim no expertise in the history of pharmacies). But it looks beautiful and had a lovely crystal chandelier above the sitting customers. The food and coffee was also really good - the first time in ages I've had some decent sour bread. It was a small and rather intimate cafe. A great spot to meet a friend for a coffee. They could be completely forgiven for not having plug sockets, for example, as the tables were being filled quickly. Surprisingly, they did have free Wifi. So useful if you wanted to check bus or train times on your phone.

Nightingale Cafe, London

I quickly headed from this cafe to Trafalgar square. Even when I looked around after the National Gallery, I could still not pinpoint any other independent cafes - they all seemed to be chain or franchised brands. Disappointed, I wondered past 10 Downing Street and found my way to an underground station.

Now feeling pretty hungry, I got off at King's Cross and gave up at the first Starbucks I came across. This place was a very standard Starbucks (except for the leaking sink in the toilet).  It was also full of people using laptops, sketching and a couple of kids in the corner singing along to a Youtube Video. There was also free wifi on the premises. So it gave me the chance to work out where the hostel was I had booked for the night. There were a few scattered plug sockets, but I don't understand why they didn't have more. 

When I was studying, I found a cafe in my local Tescos which had one plug socket next to a particular table. This was the one I usually took. I'd sometimes be there most of the day and spend a fortune on coffees and food throughout. There was always something about working in the shifting environment that sparked my brain down new trails of thought.  I think many cafe's are missing out on potential revenue by not supplying more plug sockets. Especially because people so regularly need to charge up smart phones and tablets. This is something I believe is particularly important for small cafes or ones that a slightly off the beaten track. 

I'm currently sat in a Pret a Manger on Kings Road in London. It is dead apart from me and another guy (also using a laptop) - plus some dude who just wondered in.... I'm sat at a table on in the far corner of the room and the nearest plug socket is about 5 metres from me. Not very practical.

Books have been written in cafes, but we have stopped writing on Napkins and notebooks. In this new and modern place we inhabit we need to provide the tools for our creative minds to enrich us. Granted, there are some smaller venues were the ambiance would be ruined, but the larger chains of coffee shops have no excuse.