Tag: Bath

A Snowy Day in Bath & Raw Chocolate Making

Published on by Sharon10 Comments

Hi everyone! I hope you had a great weekend!

Lil’ L was very excited when it started to snow on Saturday !  It came down thick and fast for a few hours, and we had a beautiful walk with friends along the Kennet and Avon Canal into Bath.

The snow arrived Saturday pm and the canal was completely frozen. 24 hours later, the snow had disappeared and the canal had thawed! Talk about rapid transformation!

From the canal, we cut through Sidney Gardens and stopped in the Holburne Museum’s Cafe to warm up with coffees and hot chocolates, along with brownies, millionaire shortbread, apricot & orange cake, apple and walnut cake and rocky road!  It was all super delicious and I’d love to have a try at making healthy, dairy-free versions of those treats.  Does such a thing as healthy rocky road exist?  I need to find out!

Today, I’ve been making heart chocolates for my sister’s birthday and for a certain person’s valentines gift ;).  As you probably know by now, I’m a huge fan of raw chocolate.  Not only does it taste incredible (if you’re into dark chocolate), but it’s also super good for you!  What a bonus!

People have been asking me how I make my home-made raw chocolates, so I thought that I’d post some step-by-step instructions.

As far as I can tell, there are no hard and fast rules on ingredients and quantities, but here’s what I use:

– 65g / 2 1/3 oz / 1/2 cup cacao butter, very finely chopped
– 50g / 1¾ oz / 1/2 cup & 1 TBSP cacao powder
– 2 1/2 – 3 tbsp Sweet Freedom natural sweetener (this is low GI and suitable for diabetics.  Agave syrup can be used as an alternative)

You can then add natural extracts, nuts and dried fruits, as you so wish.

In my heart chocolates, I add a mix of finely chopped almonds and dried goji berries.

Here are the steps I take…

1. First, finely chop the nuts and goji berries (I use my Kenwood mini chopper for this job).

2. If, like me, you don’t have a ‘double boiler’, simply add a small amount of water to a saucepan and place a heat-proof bowl on top.

It is really important to make sure that no water gets into the bowl and that all the utensils and moulds are completely dry, as water and chocolate don’t mix!

3. Gently heat the water. Throughout the chocolate making process, make sure that the water stays on a very low heat. This is really important! If you have a gas hob, once the water is boiling turn off the heat and just give it a quick blast every so often if necessary.

4. Measure out the raw cacao butter.  Finely chop or grate it, and place it in the heat-proof bowl.

5. Once the cacao butter has melted, whisk in the raw cacao powder.  Add the liquid sweetener, to taste (I tend to use 2½T of Sweet Freedom fruit sweetener or syrup.  Agave syrup is sweeter, so 2T should be enough).

6. I now mix the goji berries and nuts into one half of the melted chocolate.

Once mixed together, it looks like this:

7. The chocolate then gets poured into the mould.  I use 2 teaspoons so that I can direct the liquid chocolate more accurately and avoid too much spillage.  I begin by pouring a little of the plain chocolate into the mould so that the chocolates have a smooth top, then back-fill with some of the chocolatey nut & fruit mixture.

8. I allow the chocolates to cool before placing them in the fridge. (I find this helps to prevent condensation forming on the chocolates).

9. When they’re set, pop the chocolates out of the mould and enjoy!

Chocolate Goji Almond Hearts 3 - 500

 

Home-made chocs make a great Valentine’s, Birthday, Christmas or ‘Thank You’ gift for loved ones.   I also love sharing them over coffee with friends and family, or as an after-dinner treat. 🙂

Where to buy raw chocolate ingredients
Finally, another question I’m often asked is where to buy raw chocolate ingredients.  If you live in or near Bath, the ingredients can be bought at the Harvest Health Food Shop on Walcot Street.  Otherwise, they can be bought online.  Elements for Life not only sell the individual ingredients, but they also have these fantastic raw chocolate making starter kits.

Goji berries and Sweet Freedom are also available in major supermarkets and health food stores.

Making home-made chocolates is so simple, and I find it to be a really relaxing, therapeutic experience.   If you haven’t done so already, you must give it a try!

Next week, I’ll give instructions on how to make my chocolate coconut cups.  Another super simple, but truly scrumptious recipe 🙂

Have you tried making your own chocolates?  If so, I’d love to hear what your favourite home-made chocs are (and please send links to recipes!)

Have a wonderful week everybody! xx

 

Illuminate Bath, Coffee & Cake at the Holburne & Chinese New Year!

Published on by Sharon6 Comments

Hi everyone! I hope you had a wonderful weekend 🙂

Bath was buzzing with activity this weekend and we had a great time hanging out in our home city.  Here are a few of our weekend highlights…

On Friday we went to the Illuminate Bath festival… We enjoyed it so much, that we decided to go again on Saturday evening 🙂

This telephone box had a big clockwork key in its side which triggered lights and sound when turned.  The kids loved it 🙂

Another piece that captivated the children was an animation called ‘Heads, Bodies, Legs’ which was created in collaboration with pupils from a local junior school.  Here’s a clip that Lil’ L took on his camera:

 

One of my favourite pieces of artwork entitled ‘Attracted to Light’ projected silhouette images and fluttering moths onto a building front.  I found it totally captivating. 

Even though the moths were simple projections onto the wall, they looked 3D. It was very clever!

On Friday night, the public were given free access to enter the Roman Baths to experience the light and sound installation called ‘Frequency’.  Lights were projected onto the spa water, where they danced and pulsed in time to the music. 

The lights were moving in the steam from the spa, making it look like the water was rippling.  I found it totally and utterly captivating.  I’m so glad that I got to see it 🙂

Here’s a short clip that Lil’ L took of the Frequency exhibit. It’s not great quality but it gives a flavour of what it was all about.

 

On Sunday afternoon, we went to the Garden Cafe at the Holburne Museum for coffee and cake 🙂

To reach the museum, we walked along a stretch of the Kennet & Avon Canal that I haven’t walked before.  I thought it was really beautiful.

I love the way that the residents have designed their back gardens.  They’re really interesting and individual.

The Holburne Museum’s Garden Cafe is situated in the modern extension at the back of the building.  It has a very cool, stylish interior and a large outdoor terrace that will be a perfect spot for afternoon tea when the weather warms up.  

As soon as I entered the cafe, I was immediately drawn to their gorgeous display of baked goodies.  I even spotted a jar of delicous-looking granola, so I might have to pop back for breakfast one day 😉

Whenever we go to cafes, I rarely get to eat any of the baked goodies as they tend to be made with dairy.  So, you can imagine my delight when I discovered that the cafe at the Holburne Museum sells a dairy and gluten-free orange and almond cake!  They even had soya milk, so I could have a soy cappuccino along with my piece of cake.  I was one happy girl 🙂

Thanks so much guys for considering those with allergies, and catering for us.  We really appreciate it! 🙂  Thanks also to the staff for making us feel so welcome.  It was great to meet the cafe manager Aurelie and the guys!

I’ll be back to visit the Holburne Museum again soon.  There are so many great events coming up.  One that caught my eye was ‘The Art of Shoes: Manolo Blahnik in conversation with Iain Web’ on 29 March 2012.  The event’s described as “a rare opportunity to hear Manolo Blahnik’s story and views on life, shoes and Bath, the city he calls home”.  He’ll also be signing books before and after the event, in the Garden Cafe.  What a cool night out for the girls 😉

Sunday afternoon was rounded off with a visit to the Assembly Rooms to celebrate the Chinese New Year.  When we arrived, the Ball Room was alreadycrowded with people watching the dance recitals, acrobatics and kung fu displays.  The event’s finale involved the dancing lion making its way to the Museum of East Asian Art to the sound of clashing cymbals and firecrackers. 

Look, it stopped to pose for a picture for us!

 

Another great weekend in Bath!  So much fun!  These free events really bring people together in Bath.  Let’s hope we get some more soon!  

Have a great week everyone xx

 

Let There Be Light!

Published on by Sharon10 Comments

Hello everyone! I hope you had a great weekend! 🙂

As some of you are already aware, I’ve been justifying this year’s sabbatical with the excuse that I’m writing a recipe book.  Last year, a number of friends asked whether I could give them some of my family-friendly veggie recipes.  Since my recipes tend to be written on scraps of paper, scattered around the kitchen and my office, I thought it would be a great opportunity to collate our favourite recipes and get them bound in book format. I also wanted to collate the recipes for M so that he’ll be able to carry on making his and Lil’ L’s favourite meals should anything happen to me. This is important stuff don’t you know! 😉

Anyway, I originally said that the book would be ready by the summer… then I said late September… then I said, DEFINITELY by Christmas.  For someone that used to be a project manager, I’ve proven that I’m pretty poor at project managing myself 🙁

Last week, my mum, M and a couple of friends all had words with me, asking me where the book was, and hinting that maybe I’m spending a bit too much time in blogging world and not enough time on the book.  Hmmm, they may have a point :/  On Friday, I made a list of all the photos I’ve still got to take and the total was 30.  I’ve got 2 weeks until Lil’ L breaks up from school, so that means I’ve got to cook/bake/photograph 3 meals per day for 10 days. Is it doable? I’ll say yes, but I really have got get my skates on!

On Saturday, I managed to take a photograph of our family’s favourite tomato and lentil soup. M and Lil’ L had nearly passed out with hunger by the time they got round to eating it! It was worth the wait though, as the soup was delicious!  I’ve posted the recipe here.

 

After planning my workload for the next two weeks, I was looking forward to taking a break and popping into Bath for a coffee. 

Bath is looking so beautiful with all its twinkly Christmas lights 🙂

Lil’ L tried to take a close-up of a Christmas light and it came out all swirly. I think it looks pretty cool.

Whilst wandering about Bath, we even managed to buy a couple of Christmas presents.  I also discovered this photo on the camera: 

Not sure whether it’s Lil’ L or M hinting that they’d like this for Christmas. 😉

While we were in Bath, we went to the Holburne Museum to check out Bruce Munro’s ‘Field of Light’ installation. I was totally mesmerized by it!

My first two photos came out all blurry, but I love the effect!

 

I then propped the camera on a fence post and got a couple of shots that are slightly more in focus.  Check out how the lights change colour…

First pink…

then yellow…

now green 🙂

Cool eh?  The installation is running until Jan 12, from 4-7pm daily. And it’s FREE! If you’re in Bath in December/January, you must go and see it!

 Before I go, I just want to mention an unusual thing that happened to me last week.  I’d recently left a comment on a friend’s blog, telling her that I’d never won anything in my life… not even a raffle prize.  Lo and behold, what happens the following week… I go and win not one, but two prizes!! You can’t imagine how excited I was! 🙂

The first prize was a meal for two at Demuths Vegetarian Restaurant in Bath. Back in October, I joined the world of Twitter. The first Tweet I attempted to send was an entry into VisitBath‘s ‘Freebie Friday’ competition. Last week I was fiddling around with Twitter (trying to work out how to use it) when I came across a message dated 25 October saying that I’d WON that week’s Freebie Friday. (It only took me a MONTH to find this message durgh!)

The message said “DM us your email address”. Eh? I then have to google ‘what does DM mean in Twitter’? (I’m so rubbish lol!) 

M and I went to Demuth’s last Wednesday and we had such a great night out!

The food was so different to anything that we’ve experienced before. 

For starters we had:

Me: Eade’s Winter Beets: winter beetroot, herbs and crushed coriander with horseradish granita & sour dough croutons (vg)

M: Kohlrabi glazed with orange & ginger, served with tamari reduction, spring onion and crispy cabbage (vg/gf)

Followed by the mains:

Me: Miso Roast Aubergine with a sesame rice fritter, tofu, carrot & star anise purée, tamari mushrooms, spring onion oil & pickled radish (vg/gf)

M: Nut Roast: special hazelnut roast with local squash, roasted field mushrooms, pickled onions, thyme pesto and cider gravy  (vg/n)

Dessert:

Me & M: Rich Chocolate Mousse on a chocolate sponge with chestnut and orange puree and a fennel seed tuille (vg)

This dessert was divine! With a dairy allergy/intolerance, I don’t normally get to eat desserts at restaurants but, tonight, I was in dessert heaven! 🙂

Thank you Demuths and VisitBath for giving us such a wonderful night out. And a huge ‘thank you’ to our wonderful friend Joni for offering to look after Lil’ L 🙂

To finish off my ‘lucky’ week, on Friday I discovered that I’d won Rachel’s giveaway. To celebrate her 100th post on her blog ‘My Naturally Frugal Family’, Rachel was giving away a copy of Sarah Matheny’s (aka Mama Pea) ‘Peas and Thank You: Simple Meatless Meals the Whole Family Will Love’). This book was on my Christmas list, so you can imagine my delight when I found out that I was the winner. Thank you so much Rachel!

What was the highlight of your weekend? For me, it was our evening stroll round the sparkly city, finishing up at the Field of Light.  Beautiful!

Weekend Photo Journal – Christmas has arrived in Bath!

Published on by Sharon8 Comments

We had another amazing fun-packed weekend!  Here are the highlights:

On Friday evening, we went to Devizes in Wiltshire to watch the Festival of Light parade.  There was such a great turnout!  And so much effort had been put into making the lanterns.  Check out the life size horse, with moving head and legs!

 

  

When the parade had finished, we went to an Indian restaurant with friends for a superb feast.  We ordered so many dishes that the waiter had to check that we seriously wanted that amount of food.  Yep, we did… and I’m proud to say that not a scrap was left 🙂  All of the food was scrumptious, especially the dhal, bindi bhajee, mushroom bhajee, pakora, onion bhajee, byriani…  As you can tell, I LOVE Indian food!

Saturday, we had to pop to Trowbridge to the opticians.  To make it more fun, we stopped for lunch at a little Italian cafe. I had the rosemary focaccia with roasted veg.  It was okay … but no way near as nice as my home made version 😉  We also spotted reindeer in the town centre.  I’m not sure what they were doing there, but they didn’t look too impressed.  They were way smaller than I imagined reindeers would be! 

On Sunday, Lil’ L and I needed to pop to the library and, as it was such a beautiful day, we decided to cycle in along the canal towpath.

I love the beautiful red berries that we see this time of year.

It took us less than 15 minutes to cycle into the city centre.  We locked up our bikes at Laura Place, at the end of Great Pulteney Street.  This is one of my favourite streets in Bath.  I just love the architecture! 

 

After the library, we popped along to the Bath Christmas Market, which is now in full swing.  Bath Abbey makes such a beautiful backdrop for the market.

 

 

I even spotted some Buddhas at the market!  They appear everywhere! 😉

Check out that beautiful blue sky. It’s incredible to see such a sky this time of year!

I love these old-fashioned carousels.  It was spinning round surprisingly fast… so fast in fact that Lil’ L didn’t fancy a go!

Kuyichi is one of my all-time favourite clothing brands and recently I saw a gorgeous long-sleeved Kuyichi top in an online store.  Unfortunately, it was way out of my price range.  So, you can imagine my delight when I passed the Ethical People store in Bath and spotted the same top on sale!  I tried it on and, yep, it fitted perfectly. Happy days 🙂

The Ethical People store is only going to be in Bath until the end of December, so I must check it out again and see if I can grab some more bargains!

After the hustle and bustle of the city centre, it was lovely to return to the canal for our ride home.  I’ll never get tired of the views from this canal!

Rather than finish our journey on the main road, we decided to walk our bikes along the river path and nip through the ‘orchard’.  We stopped a couple of times to take in the beautiful views.  We especially loved watching the reflection of the trees in the water.  It was incredibly peaceful down by the river.

 

 

I had all good intentions of baking the Christmas Cake this weekend (yep, I know I’m already a week late but that’s no surprise 😉 ).  I even soaked the dried fruit in the brandy overnight…

and M carefully double lined the tin in baking paper on Saturday night.  However, on Sunday I was having way too much fun cycling, wandering around Bath, drinking coffee with a friend and looking at her beautiful photos of Delhi, followed by a delicious meal at The George with M and Lil’ L that erm.. I sort of forgot about the cake!  No big deal, I’ll do it tomorrow (the famous last words 😉 )

I hope you all had a fantastic weekend!  What was the highlight for you?