Picking berries

The other day I went fruit picking (again) with Scott. Scott's Nana Hazel, was kind enough to let us raid her supply of gooseberries and red currents from her garden. It feels so good being able to pick your own fruit, there is definitely something very caveman like about searching for your own food and then eating it!

We used the gooseberries to make a yummy crumble! And the red-currents we ate straight up, and I used the leftovers to make some other desserts look pretty by laying them over the top!

This is Ollie, Hazel's lovely doggy. He was 'helping' us pick the fruits, and actually had a nibble on a few of the red-currents!

The colour of the gooseberries was so rich compared to the pale green variety you get in the supermarket. They were already nice and sweet so didn't need as much sugar adding to them as the store bought kind do.

I made a gooseberry crumble, and then a few days later used the left over gooseberries with some frozen berries from Lidl and made another one! Crumble is definitely a food obsession at the moment, I just cant get enough of it!

Afternoon treats

I've been loving all the delicious British strawberries we've been getting this summer since Wimbledon!   Their in perfect season and really make it feel like summer. Scott and I have been eating lots, covered with clotted cream and sugar, and here is a little snap of our afternoon treat we had whilst watching a film in bed! The perfect afternoon :)

Abersoch

We love Abersoch.

It's just such a great pace to get away from it all and have some proper holiday time! We stay in Scotts' families caravan, near a little beach called Porth Ceiriad which has a lovely sandy beach thats quieter than the Abersoch beach!

They have these wonderfully coloured beach houses and sheds.

Scotts had to wear his glasses a lot recently as his eyes have been so sore from all the pollen, he gets bad hey fever and it irritates his eyes. 

 I am a terrible hoarder and like to keep and collect EVERYTHING. I found this little fishing weight and fish shaped fishing bait thing (not too sure what they're called?!) on the beach and so now that too has come home with us, much to Scott dismay :)

 The ice tea from Lidl is really good, especially with a few slices of lime.

I love the colour of this little boat on the harbour. And the bright orange painting on the railings in Pwllheli (below).

We had a little go at the self-timer... The lighting was terrible as it was about to rain so it didn't work like i'd hoped, but we'll give it another go soon!

 I love my vintage satchel form Leicesters vintage market!! It has gone everywhere with me recently.

 I like Coffee shops. The problem is, I don't like coffee. Starbucks is by far superior in the drinks department, though costa in my opinion wins based on cakes. Starbucks cakes are horrifically artificial and dry, yet Costa have an interesting selection of giant teacakes, tiffin, linzer biscuits and giant bourbon biscuits. The drinks I find are really sickly and synthetic though, I recently had the strawberry lemonade which was way too sweet, and for me to say that it must be bad! We tried a raspberry and orange ice drink which was better than the lemonade, but still a little too sweet! Starbucks cool lime refresher, frappacinos etc are really tasty and can generally be tailored to your tastes which I like. I do find myself walking into Costa to get a cake, and then back to Starbucks for my drink and to sit down (and awkwardly try to eat my costa cake).

 My favourite cake in Costa is the tiffin! It's a yummy mixture of crushed biscuits, melted milk chocolate and raisins.

 Scott really likes the jammy linzer biscuits! I love how the jam oozes from the biscuits. These are my second favourite ;) so we shared a little of both :)

A week in Cyprus

Scott and I were lucky enough to book a last minute holiday to Cyprus in early July. We booked it a week before for a really low price! So it was a lovely unexpected time that we had together after i'd finished my first year in University.

We spent most of our time eating, and traveling round the neighbouring towns on our hired quad bike and enjoying some much needed quality time together. We stayed in Agia Nappa (pause for reaction) which was actually a lot better than we had first anticipated. The weather was scorching, and once you stray from the touristy club side of the town, it is a really lovely place to go. I must say Malia, crete is a lot more picturesque, and also easier to find the old style town, but Agia Nappa did have a lot to offer too.

Of course we ate humous.... But have you ever tried humous and honey? We hadn't, but on our last night we found ourselves picking from the leftovers in the fridge one night (as we stayed self catering) and found that the two work together a treat! 

We found a beautiful area on the quad bike with the most inviting coloured waters, so inviting that Scott and I jumped into them from a rocky cliffside... after carefully observing the local cypriots doing so of course. 

We visited the Water world Theme Park which is the largest themed water world park in Europe. It was a little expensive (€35 each) but well worth going for the day! We took a disposable waterproof camera with us to take snaps like these.

We had a lovely homemade waffle dessert with Nutella and white chocolate praline topped with vanilla ice cream. I find in a lot of European countries they tend to not be so great with dessert, much to my dismay yet they do offer waffles and pancakes in a lot of the restaurants which in this case tempted us, though we were good and shared! This was more because we had eaten possibly the largest Greek Salad ever and were pretty full up! 

In Cyprus they tend to call a Greek Salad a Village Salad so if your ever in Cyprus don't be confused because they are essentially the same thing! Both consisting of chunks of feta, juicy tomatoes, black olives, cucumber, chopped onions and green peppers. Then drizzled with olive oil, salt and dried herbs, this is actually one of my favourite meals (usually accompanied with chips) and we both tend to have it a lot when we are on holiday.

We found a hermit crab in the harbour. Do you know how awkward it is to take a picture of a living hermit crab? Very. It kept crawling in and out unexpectedly every time I got the camera out but I eventually snapped a picture of the little guy before we plopped him back into the sea.

This was our bike. I have to say it has really made the difference to both our holidays as it just gives you that extra freedom to explore and get away from the crowds. The fuel is really cheap which is great, though it isn't as cheap for the actuall hire, but like I said before, it's very worth the money!

We had carbonara for tea one night which was very rich and delicious. The only problem was that we couldn't find any decent fresh cream in the supermarket! They only had cooking cream (whatever that is meant to be) so we used that and it seemed to do the trick! I know it sound lame, but supermarket shopping, especially abroad really excites me. I love choosing the food i'm going to cook with for the week and seeing all the weird and wonderful products they have to offer!

Some of our meals from our apartment! Lots more Greek Salad....

Our wonderfully stylish footwear... maybe not... but we do need something waterproof for paddling in the sea so these are very practical. Did you know I was a footwear design student? Thats why I also like to take pictures of the shoes I and other people wear!  However when Scott and I like to get our matching crocs on I tend to leave that  little fact out ;).

The most delicious ice lolly ever! Nestea peach ice tea lolly. So sweet and refreshing in the heat. I don't think they sell them here in the UK but i'm hoping to find them soon!

lots of gorgeous green Greek olive oil to drizzle over all the Greek Salads!

The view from our apartment, I just love the pink flowers that grow all over Cyprus and Greece! 

We had beetroot salad in one of the tavernas and I have to say it was brilliant. Beetroot mixed with Greek yoghurt, honey and balsamic vinegar. Really worth trying if you get the chance, or even want to make yourself!

And lastly a little snap of one of my favourite foods, which feels somehow less guilty to eat when your abroad? Nutella on everything please :)