Tea On The Green: Doorstop sandwiches and mega cakes

Sometimes a light bite and copious amounts of tea are just what the doctor ordered. Recently I have been battling a nasty chest infection, I am on antibiotics and am slowly starting to feel better. 

On Sunday I went out for a quick brunch with my husband. We went to Tea On The Green in Westward Ho! North Devon.

First of all, can we just take a moment to appreciate these beautiful cakes.

Each weekend the family-run cafe posts its weekend cake reveal which is a taster of what to expect for the coming week.

See that white, milk and dark chocolate sponge on the bottom right of the picture? That was their New Year cake. I bought a slice to take home, my husband went for a Banoffi Pie.

I had a prawn doorstop sandwich while hubby went for a two-slice cheese melt. Bliss. We also had a pot of tea for two. 

Where are your fav places to go for a quick bite?

Tea on The Green - Triple chocolate caramel cake

I am yet to meet someone who doesn't like tea and cake. Or, cake and coffee, or cake and cake. There is the most gorgeous place in Westward Ho! North Devon called Tea on The Green.

Warm and butter jacket potatoes, doorstop sandwiches, cheesy crumpet medley and the much anticipated weekend cake reveal.

As well as the usual cakes the family-run business whips up weekly "special cakes".

From triple layer chocolate caramel cakes and Oreo cheesecake to cookie dough shortbread and key lime pie. There is something for everyone.

I went there with my husband recently and we had enough food to last us all week. Infact, I was so full, I couldn't finish all my cake, but look at it, the slice was huge! I got them to wrap it up to take home with me. 

I had a prawn sandwich, doorstop style and my husband had a two piece grilled cheese melt with Devonshire gammon.

The interior of Tea on The Green is amazing and unique, I haven't seen anything like it before. There are teapots hanging from the ceiling and an assortment of vintage clocks and black and white pictures.

Every time I go to Tea on The Green it is always full, the place is tiny and people will often wait for hours to get a table. I believe they used to do a winter pudding club in the evening which I would love to sign up for if they reintroduce it this winter.

Where is your fav place for tea and cake?

Cat Cupcakes

This is just going to be a quick post to show some cat cupcakes.

The M and L are for Moses and Leo my two grey and white kittens.

The lady who made these are a friend of my mum, she made these for my birthday, the detail is just fantastic. She is making the cupcakes for my wedding next year. Jackie is so talented and as I have mentioned before she is not a professional.

Prezzo in North Devon

It has been a while since I wrote about a supper date! I went to the local Prezzo with one of my oldest friends recently. Prezzo is an Italian restaurant, basically pasta, pizza and they have some amazing chicken dishes too. I never pay full price when I eat at Prezzo, there are so many vouchers floating around for buy one get one free main meals or two main meals for £12 etc.

Here is what we ate:

Deep fried mozzarella and tomato relish (we both had this starter) my friend had the pizza and side salad, I had pasta carbonara. For pudding she had the cheesecake and I had the chocolate fudge cake.

I can't remember exactly the full price of our meal, but we ended up splitting it in half, so it wasn't too expensive. When it comes to eating at chains I am a bit boring and eat pretty much the same food every time I go.

Longleat Centre Parcs and a hen do

A few weekends ago I went to a Centre Parcs (Longleat) for my sister in law to be hen do. I had never been to a Centre Parcs before but it was good fun. Our cabin was lovely, the forest itself was stunning and it felt great walking around. Luckily it didn't rain!

Here a few pics of the weekend:

We mostly drank, ate and relaxed! On the Saturday we went to the spa which was lovely, each steam room was different and cleared my nose! The water beds were wonderful, I could have just fallen asleep on them.

We also went to the water park which was a laugh, the water rapids were great (although my knees were quite bruised by the end of the weekend!) even though the water park was outside the water itself was warm so we didn't freeze.

UK followers have you ever been to a Centre Parcs? If so what did you think?

Baked & Delicious - Spring Special

Some of you may remember when I bought the first copy of baking magazing Baked & Delicious last year. I did a post about the magazing and the silicone bakeware which came with the first issue.

I was contacted my the team at Baked & Delicious asking if I would like to review their Spring special magazine. This is what it looks like:

With the spring special you get two silicone moulds full of Easter eggs, bunnies and chicks, I can't wait to try making some chocolate with these.

The recipes in this magazine look amazing, here is a taster of what to expect:

Don't these recipes look good?

Something which I have always loved about this magazine is that they do step by step pictures of the baking process, it makes life easier when trying to make something.

The decorations on this cake are used making the silicone bakeware which comes with the magazine.

To make this Easter/spring special magazine better there is also a competition where the prize is a professional cupcake decorating  and chocolate martini class in London. Here is the link for the comp with the details, Baked & Delicious competition.

Here is the facebook page for the comp.

I am going to write another post shortly testing out and revewing these silicone moulds. What do you think of this issue? I am thinking about making a batch of white, dark and milk chocolate eggs with the moulds and wrapping them in an organza bag for a little Easter gift for my friends.

Mid week roast with chocolate fudge cake

I went home for a bit of mum's cooking, this time we had a roast chicken dinner with all the trimmings. One of my fav meals of all time.

I love bread sauce with roast chicken, yum, such a comforting food. To follow we had chocolate fudge cake with double cream.

Chocolate cake is my absolute fav type of cake, I much prefer my cake cold, I don't really enjoy cake as much when the frosting in the middle has melted.

Coffee, cake and a bit of shopping

Mum and I took a trip down to Exeter recently. The reason for our trip to start with was to go to the Apple store because my laptop has died. To cut a long story short, they basically said the laptop is too old to bother fixing (est around £300, the laptop is 4 years old) and that I may as well sell it on ebay for parts. On that note, I have decided to buy a new laptop (not another Mac, quite simply, I can't afford it)

At the moment I am using my other half's laptop and I can't figure out how to crop photos! there is a crop icon but it won't let me select it.

Feeling a bit upset about my laptop, mum and I decided to have a Costa coffee and cake and carry on shopping. This is what I picked up.

Mask of Magnaminty from Lush (just under £5 for the small tube, even though this is the small size it is bigger than the usual fresh face masks) I am slowly making my way through trying all their face masks out, the lady said I didn't need to keep this one in the fridge.

Melting marshmallow moment bath melt

I had a latte and a lemon and poppy seed muffin

A few other goodies

Estee Lauder Perfectly Clean foaming cleanser (Boots £20)

Collection 2000 Glam Crystals in Hustle (Boots, £2.99) Maybelline Falsies mascara (again, from Boots but mum bought me this so I'm not sure how much it cost)

 Love all that glittery goodness!

Love The Pub Grub

I love going out to eat and living in North Devon there are loads of wonderful country pubs, this time my friend Emma and I chose a pub called Thatch in village called Croyde - a gorgeous costal village. We went all had and had starter, mains and puddings! 

Here is what we had:

Deep fried brie with a salsa dip and creamy garlic mushrooms with bread and butter.

For mains beef lasagna and pheasant pie

Such generous portion sizes! After having a bit of a rest and digesting the first two courses, we somehow found room for pudding! Chocolate fudge brownie and baked cheesecake. Both with Devonshire clotted cream.

This whole meal came to £30.59 for both of us! Seriously good value! The main meals with 2 for £12 and the puddings were 2 for £6 which helped the budget. The atmosphere in the pub is amazing, such a chilled, relaxed vibe. Lots of surfers pop by for a swift pint. I love the thatched roof and county style decor with wooded beams on the ceiling.

What are your fav places to eat near you? I love chains such as Prezzo and Pizza Express, Ask and so on but most of all I love the local, independent pubs and cafes, they all have their own style and quirkiness.