Explore...Bath Christmas Market

Ello' Explorers...

Another December adventure took me to a place I had heard many delightful things about.

Bath is a place I have wanted to visit for a long time and what better time than at Christmas.

I am lucky enough to have family that live in Bristol, which is another place that I really love to visit and explore. Being a short and picturesque train journey to Bath made the travelling and parking easy and stress free.

The feeling of excitement to see somewhere new always makes feel like a child on Christmas day. That feeling even made me feel slightly better for the best part of the day, being blocked up with the flu, I wasn't in the best of shapes. 

As soon as you get off the train, the beautiful Bath architecture greets you along side a pristine tall tree covered in shiny baubles. 

Cornwall isn't a dirty place, but I couldn't help but notice how clean everything was, not just the floor but the buildings look fresh and clean, although they are really old having survived the war.

A short walk through the small boutique shopping centre lead us through the city centre and towards the Christmas Market, which is actually a couple of village squares packed with stalls and side streets boasting locals goods. 

The most impressive factor of this  market for me was the huge variety of produce and items on offer. 

Often, at events like this, it feels like you are featuring in a Scooby Doo movie. Seeing the same produce being repeated over and over. Mulled wine, knitted hats, crepes, mulled wine, knitted hats and cookies...You get the gist. 

Where as, in Bath, I'm sure I didn't see two of the same kind of stall. Offering all sorts from home ground spices and dips to sausages and fudge, then Christmas decorations and presents to food and drink from all around the world. There was always something different to see. 

Outside the shopping you could see the beautiful bath as it is the rest of the year. Featuring a canal and stunning Abbey.

As darkness fell the market took on a whole new feel and atmosphere. The bustling busy streets of people on a mission the get their shopping finished, turned in to a much slower paced, mellow one. Locals enjoying the warming drinks on offer and singing Christmas Carols, enjoying mingling with strangers brought a few smiles to my face.

The streets emptied and Merry Go Round, once packed with giggling children, started to slow and light up the street. It was the last night of the yearly event and time for me to say goodbye to Bath for now. 

I am already looking forward to returning again to experience this beautiful city without the decorations and festive feel.

Eat...Cooking with Sam

Cooking with Sam.

Last weekend I went to help one of my good friends prepare food for the week ahead.

She is a Fitness Instructor and teaches many classes a week. But has always ate whatever she wanted.

For the month of October, she decided to eat clean and see what happened.

Here's how our evening went:

APPLE SLICES:

Get some apples, carefully slices them finely. Then place on a lined baking tray. Place in the oven at around 150*C and turn after 20 minutes or until golden. Please keep checking they're not burning.

 Roasted Chick Peas: 
For the easy option use tins of chick peas The harder version would be to use dried and follow the instructions on the packet.
You will need:
-2 tins of chick peas.
-2 table spoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
-1/2 tsp of paprika
-1/2 tsp of cumin
-1/2 tsp of salt.

Method: Place all ingredients on to a baking tray and mix up. Put them in the over at 150*C for around 30 minutes, shaking regularly.

Seeded Nutty Flap Jacks:

We made this up on the night with the ingredients we had, but used:

-1 Banana

-1 pot of Honey

Nuts

Dried Fruit

Enough oat to make a flap jack consistency.

All the ingredients went in to a pot on the cooker to combine together. Then on to a lined baking tray and placed in the oven until golden brown,

Bean and Quinoa Burgers:

These are one of my favourites which I wrote about last week. Take a look HERE

Chocolate Muffins:

Ingredients:

-1 ¾ cup of Oats

-3 Egg whites
-3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
-1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
-1 tsp. Vanilla extract
-1/2 cup Plain Greek yogurt (or regular plain low fat yogurt)
-1/2 tsp. cream of tartar (or 2 tsp. vinegar)
-1 ½ tsp. Baking powder
-1 ½ tsp. Baking soda
-1/4 tsp. Salt
-1 cup Hot water
-1/2 cup Baking stevia OR 1 cup sweetener of choice that measures like sugar
-1/2 cup Semi-sweet chocolate chips

Method:

In a blender or food processor, mix all of the ingredients together, except for the chocolate chips. Blend until oats are ground and the mixture is smooth. Place mixture in a bowl and gently stir in ½ of the chocolate chips (set the rest aside). Scoop mixture into prepared and lined muffin tins. Place muffin tins in the oven for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, remove muffins from the oven (but don’t shut the oven off), and distribute the other half of the chocolate chips on top of each muffin. Place the muffins back into the oven for an additional 2-5 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. *Note: you could skip this step and put all the chocolate chips into the batter at once and bake the muffins for 12-15 minutes straight. Cool muffins before removing from pan.

Chocolate Quark:

Serves 1:

-1 tbs of Quark

-1/2 tbs of Cocoa Powder

-1/4 tbs of Honey

Method:

Put it all in a bowl and stir. Then eat!

She has found that the muffins and quark help to sort the sugar cravings and the snacks help her to staty away from the convenience foods. 

Why don't you give it a go too.

Enjoy...September

This should be a month of definite temperature drops, not in Cornwall, it's been lovely. Meaning for a lot of fun activities. I'll try and keep this as short as possible.

As well as a crazy, hectic time working I've managed to pay a visit to London...twice actually three times. Plus, visit some beautiful scenery in the homeland through walks and bike rides.

I kicked off the month with a brother, sister bonding weekend in the big smoke. We both love to visit new places so wanted to go where we hadn't been before and it had to include time to watch a family member perform in The Crucible, a west end show at The Old Vic.

Box Park is a truly awesome place within Shorditch. Downstairs homes unique pop up shops displaying everything cool, from clothing to cosmetics. Upstairs showcases such a wide variation on food it's hard to choose which part of the world is tickling your taste buds. We lunched at #Pieminister, which served pies and sides with even a lighter and healthier choice to choose from.

London Tube to Canary wharf. 

Canary Wharf

The M&M store, Leicester Square.

The Old Vic to see The Crucible.

These Tall Ships, we had seen leave Falmouth the weekend before and just arrived in London.

The Emirates Sky Line took us over a part of the city I had never seen before, The Docklands.

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The end of the month meant more family time, this time including the rents. We ventured back up north to Kent for a cousins wedding. (By the way, everything is 'up north' when in Cornwall) The warm weather meant summer clothes could still be worn and there was no need to faff around with tights, I hate those things. 

I rarely get to spend time with my whole family, so it was a nice change. and the lovely weather made it even more enjoyable.

A three course meal, cake, champagne, wine and buffet was provided through out the reception. After the long wait between breakfast and lunch, it definitely filled all the gaps and more.

I wore a Top Shop Petite dress, Florence and Fred Blazer and River Island Cork Heels.

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In between these dates I paid yet another flying visit 'up north' to just south west of London, to High Wycombe. This was to attend my boyfriends graduation. The sun was out, the smiles were on and it was a very proud moment for me He had worked so hard to achieve his degree. It was the first graduation I had ever been too and I don't think I have ever clapped so much, but it was a great day.

Here I am wearing a Lipsy Dress, Leather heals from New Look, Gold long heart chain from New Look and a short gold chain from a Roy Doble Jewelers.

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The following weekend I had a visitor come to stay with me in Cornwall. I love times like this because it is the perfect excuse to explore my own county. 

The Minack Theater, This place and the story behind it is just awesome. Musicals, theater groups, musicians, comedians all come here to perform and the set changes roughly every weekend. A lady named Rowena Cade built it mainly by herself, with the occasional help from family members for her theater group to provide entertainment to the community during the war. I wont tell you anymore and just urge you to go and see it!

Sennen, South Cornwall

Lands End, the very tip of Cornwall.

Portreath, my favorite place to watch the sun set!

I'm looking forward to more adventure in October already.

Make it a good one!