Crumbs to Crunch

What do you do when you're gasping for a cup of tea on a hot summer's day? - Grab an ice tea for a refreshing tea fix. I found myself in such a situation on a boiling day in London where I was lucky enough to sip from a cup of home made ice tea at Camellia's Tea House. This tea room is located just off Carnaby Street in Kingly Court which provides a perfect tea break during a day out shopping. I enjoyed my ice tea with a slice of apple tart - a delightfully fruity combination.  The menu at Camellia's Tea House has pages and pages dedicated to tea so I will be sure to return on a cold winter's day to discover the perfect cuppa to warm me up! http://www.camelliasteahouse.com/

Sometimes, you visit a town with so many good cafés that you just can't choose which one to visit. I found myself in this quandary when I visited Toulouse.  The beautiful Ville Rose  is full of classy cafés. Here are some that managed to visit in 24 hours: Breakfast: Le Temps des Tartines I started the day at Les Temps des Tartines with a French take on a Full English. The best addition was the toast- you can't beat french bread and french jam! The raspberry jam was especially good. Also, you're not going to starve with the generous portion size! The highlight for me was the accompanying cinnamon hot chocolate- so delicious. https://fr-fr.facebook.com/pages/Le-Temps-des-Tartines/258250317541844 Morning Coffee: Le Moderni'thé This café wins points for its great modern style. The stylish interior is decorated with pop art that contrasts nicely with the stark white walls and bare bricks. The modern atmosphere was reflected nicely in the cake. We had a frai...

We'll be the first to admit that we're not the most active of people. In fact, we need a little incentive to even attempt some kind of cardiovascular. So when we went on holiday to the alps, our Dad knew the only way he could coax us up a mountain would be if there were a little sweet treat at the end of the trail... This is where refuges come in. These little mountain huts were invented for the hardy hikers to break up their expeditions and refuel. Thankfully, they also come in handy to lazy folks like us, who walk for 2 hours and declare themselves utterly exhausted and in great need of sustenance. This is exactly what happened on our recent trip to the Refuge des Bans in the Parc des Ecrins . Parc des Ecrins is a stunning national park in the French Alps, 2083m above sea level. Refuge des Bans is nestled in the mountains and the scenic walk up to it is not too demanding. You pass waterfalls, frog ponds and beautiful mountain flowers.   As if the wa...

I'm crazy about blackberries at the moment. As they are so abundant I made an  Upside-down blackberry cake  in my previous post. I have developed my blackberry obsession to smoothies and ice lollies now. They are both so refreshing in the hot weather and are so easy to make. To make the smoothie and ice lollies you will need: 1 banana 2 cups of blackberries 400 ml orange juice Put all of the ingredients in a blender and pour into a glass if you want a smoothie. If you fancy some ice lollies, pour the smoothis into an ice lolly mold and freeze over night for some fun purple ice lollies.

Tis blackberry season so nature has provided me with a scrumptious ingredient for some sweet treats. Our garden is brimming with these lovely berries and the best thing about them is that they are absolutely free! Even if you don't have any in your garden, you can pick buckets full of blackberries at your local park. I have used these beauties to bake a gorgeous Upside-down blackberry cake.  Ingredients: 300g Blackberries 125g Self raising flour 125g Caster sugar 2 tbsp Sugar for the berries 125g Butter 2 Eggs Method: 1. Cream the butter and sugar together. 2. Add the eggs and the flour into the mixture. 3. Grease a loaf tin and cover the bottom with the blackberries. Toss the blackberries in 2 tbsp of sugar. 4. Pour the cake mixture on top of the blackberries. Make sure that the berries are completely covered. 5. Bake at 180C for 45 minutes. The cake should be golden and if you insert a skewer it should come out clean. 6. Leave the ca...