Cau Cambridge

For Lee's 26th Birthday despite him being a vegetarian, I took him to Cau in Cambridge. I have been wanting to go there for quite a while to have a steak as the menu and word of mouth had gotten me excited. And I thought why not try somewhere new for a birthday as a bit of a treat.

When you walk into the restaurant it is slightly surreal with the ceiling painted with grass, mirrors all around, white plastic benches against the wall and skies on the walls. Despite this unexpected interior which is quite eccentric, it has a relaxed atmosphere making it a lovely venue for special occasion which is still at lunch time.

Lee had tuna and I went for the cheese and bacon burger (a classic burger combo). We both ordered chips with me choosing thin chips and Lee choosing the triple cooked chips. Then as a treat on the side we shared the truffle mac and cheese. The burger was good with proper bacon which wasn't streaky and didn't have loads of fat on. The burger was cooked medium rare and was lovely and moist. It didn't come with loads of extra fillings like relish or a gherkin but with the sides was more than filling. I think the best bit of the main for me was the mac and cheese (a timeless childhood classic). It was so moorish and filling that the small pot we had did us well.

For dessert we shared the chocolate brownie which came with melted marshmallows on the top, vanilla ice cream, crumbled biscuit and dried raspberry crumbs on the side. This was definitely a dessert for sharing. Whilst the brownie was soft on the inside and had a crisp top and bottom, it was very sweet. The melted marshmallow, I hadn't had this before on a brownie but it was delicious. So googey and sweet.  The presentation of the dessert also made the meal that bit more out of the ordinary.

The meal came to around £60 for two mains, two chips, mac & cheese, brownie, and two smoothies. Not the amount I would spend on a normal lunch out but for a birthday meal which felt more than usual, it was a reasonable price to pay.

It was such a lovely lunch although the burst tyre on the way home was definitely not ideal considering that I had desserts to make for my parents' Christmas party the following day. Along with cleaning as we were having a party that night for Lee's birthday. Thank goodness our stomachs were full of delicious food to get us through.

King Cross Real Food Festival

I spend five days a week commuting to and from London and the commute is not exactly the most fun experience. Especially during the winter when I rarely see daylight during the week and it is usually wet and windy on my walks to and from the station. So sometimes it is nice to have a little pick me up.

That pick me up has come from the food festival which is running at Kings Cross several times a month called the Real Food Market with coffee stalls to cake stalls to savoury stalls. So whilst I am usually in a rush to make a train, it is nice when I do have an extra 10 minutes to have a potter round.

The other day I did just this. On Thursday 4th December when I had a long weekend, I made a pit stop before catching the train to the Outsider Tart stall to get a few cakes. I made the wise choose of the cheesecake brownie.

This brownie was a real over indulgence with the cheesecake top which had swirls of chocolate running through it. It was moist and didn't try out your mouth. Then the base of the cakes was a cross of a brownie and biscuit base. It cost about £2.50 for each brownie and for the size of it (you could definitely cut it into two and save one for another day), I definitely wasn't complaining. It isn't something you would buy everyday as it is quite heavy but it was a great treat which was incredibly moreish and not too sickly sweet. 

Ptown brownie

As part of our three week trip to America, the middle section was in Cape Cod in Provincetown. Until the point when we started planning this trip, I had never really thought about going there so I had no real expectations of what it would be like. It was amazing! Provincetown reminds me of a mixture of Brighton and San Francisco.

It is so relaxed with the seaside vibe and weather board painted house making it incredibly picturesque with Commercial Street the main street in the town running parallel to the sea for over a mile. There are little art galleries, jewellery shops and cafes with delicious cakes, making it a wonderful day of popping in and out of the shops. The second selling point was the love of dogs. I have never been anywhere before where dogs are so celebrated, to the point that there is a special water fountain at dog level. The third selling point was the fish, so fresh and delicious and so much choice. The Lobster Pot lives up to its reputation of being great. From the outside it doesn't look particularly special but when you go upstairs you are sat looking out over the sea and then the tuna dish I had was unbelievable. It came with mashed potato and a mango sauce.

Now I ate a lot of fish in Provincetown but I also had a lot of sweets while I was there from Salt Water taffy to brownies. The brownie I had whilst I was there was a coconut brownie. I love coconut and I love brownies so it sounded like a perfect combination. It was good don't get me wrong but the you want a small piece because it can become too sickly. Also if there isn't enough condensed milk or liquid mixed with the brownie then it can be quite drying in the mouth. Potentially have a liner layer of coconut with more liquid would make this brownie an excellent combination.

Still I enjoy an interesting combination and this is a recipe I am going to try out to see if I can work out the perfect combination of the two parts. I would rate this brownie as a 6/10.

Amazing trip to Ptown!!! I want to go back x