Breakfast Tea and Sultana Scone

Location: Crabtree & Evelyn Café, Stratford-upon-Avon
Date: 6 May 2009
Description: English Breakfast tea and a sultana scone with butter and cherry jam.

Notes: A decent cup of of tea which would have been improved if served with skimmed milk (semi tastes too strong for my liking). The scone was very good though - it came heated without me having to ask and didn't crumble too much. The cherry jam was nice but possibly blackcurrant not cherry. Unless cherries have become tiny and purple.

Please note the attention to detail displayed in this photograph - every avenue of twee-ness is covered in this cafe: Wedgewood-style C&E branded crockery, imitation dog-rose, even a floral paper napkin. Disappointingly, the jam container was polystyrene - it should be glass at the very least, which would be more appealing on the table and also cut down on the café's waste.

Michelle and I were at least three decades younger than the rest of clientele in this traditional Stratford café but don't let that put you off. It's also a great hiding place if you don't want to get spotted by colleagues. So I'm told.

Cappuccino and Sticky Ginger Cake

Location: Crabtree & Evelyn Cafe, Stratford-upon-Avon

Date: 6 May 2009

Description: Milky cappuccino with a big cube of ginger cake.

Notes: This cafe is 'award-winning' so Michelle was a little disappointed with her cappuccino and not-very-sticky Sticky Ginger Cake. As a twee 'olde worlde tea shoppe' C&E is probably not used to serving coffee though. Especially since it's so close to Costa and Starbucks.

The ginger cake tasted a bit like Jamaica Ginger Cake but without the heft, the clag and the suspiciously dark colour. Since it was little dry, it could have been spruced up with a drizzle - perhaps some syrup from a stem ginger jar. Or perhaps been served with a dollop of ginger ice-cream.

Still, it came served on a doily. A doily!

Fish and chips at the seaside!

Disclaimer: This entry shouldn't be in a blog about cuppas and cakes but it was such an outstanding meal, it deserves coverage on the WWW.

Location: The Pearson's Arms, Whitstable, Kent
Date: 12 April 2009
Details: Battered pollock with double-fried chips, mushy peas and salad.

Notes: It's true, fish and chips tastes better at the seaside.

Duska and I decided to take the bus from Canterbury to Whitstable. Felipe and Guiliano fancied a spontaneous roadtrip so they accompanied us. We did attempt a walk along the beach but the prospect of fish and chips was too alluring. We had just missed the end of lunch service at this pub and the evening menu did not include fish and chips. What?? Duska explained our disappointment to the waitress who pleaded our case to the chef... and in the end, all four of us had fish and chips, hooray!

The fish was pollock instead of the traditional cod - isn't cod a protected species now? Whatever it was, it was fried in a thick fluffy batter. The chips were twice-fried - once in a medium-temp oil to cook them through, and then again in very hot oil to crisp up the outsides. We tucked into our eco-friendly white-fish + chips with gusto. The photo makes it look quite small but I had to donate one chunk of my fish to Felipe and half the chips to a salivating chap on the next table. And we couldn't even contemplate a pudding (which might have justified the entry on this blog). It was all washed down with Guiliano's excellent choice of white wine.

Whitstable is famous for oysters but try the traditional fish and chips instead - much more delicious!

Polumesec and Red Wine

Location: Duska's apartment, Canterbury

Date: 11 April 2009

Description: 'Polumesec' with red wine

Notes:

Duska decided to make some little cakes which her family make in Serbia. The name 'polumesec' means 'half-moon' which refers to the shape when cut out with a glass - see image below.
They're made with lots of ground nuts and sugar, and turn out more like sweets or a sort of biscuit than a cake. They firmed up overnight in the fridge but we still scoffed plenty on Saturday evening with a bottle of red wine.

Cutting out the half-moon shape:

Sharing the polumesec cakes:

Toffee Cupcakes and Ginger Hot Chocolate

Location: McKechnie's Cafe, Stratford-upon-Avon

Date: Monday 9 March 2009

Details: Hot Milk and Hot Chocolate, both with Gingerbread Syrup, and Toffee Cupcakes

Notes:

Celebratory hot drinks and cupcakes for Kiz's birthday. These cupcakes look incredibly professional - and that's because they are. Kiz bought them at a bakery in Tewkesbury to share with her students and the staff at Foxford School where she is directing a musical. (Not McKechnie's produce I'm afraid. Naughty.)

As one of Kiz's 30-Things-To-Do-For-Her-Thirtieth, she's listed "Have Ginger Hot Chocolate with Sooze at McKechnie's" so here we are ticking it off the list.

Lovely hot milk for me with the same 'Gingerbread' syrup, and the cupcakes were perfect - sickly sweet fat layer of icing and a fluffy toffee-flavoured cake.

Brownies and Ice-Cream with a Pot of Tea

Location: Häagen-Daaz Cafe, Leicester Square, London
www.haagen-dazs.co.uk/cafes/menu.htm
Date: Tuesday 3 March 2009
Details: Chocolate Macadamia Brownie with scoops of Dulce de Leche and Vanilla Caramel Brownie ice-creams with a pot of English Breakfast tea

Notes: My brother and I had such a disappointing Indian meal at 'Masala Zone' (opposite the Royal Opera House) that we had to erase it by having an outrageously sugary dessert somewhere else. After a foray into a ChinaTown 'Hello Kitty' emporium (where John bought two strange-but-cute plush dogs), we ended up in Leicester Square at this cafe which was buzzing and full of tourists.

We both ordered tea. John had a 'Cookie Crunch' - a tall sundae glass which was crammed with Cookies&Cream ice-cream, cookie pieces, hot fudge sauce and chocolate sprinkles. J plunged his spoon in and it oozed obscenely over the side. Yum. I had a Brownie Extreme - two (!) chocolate and macadamia nut brownies with 2 scoops of ice-cream - I swapped the set options to my favourites: Vanilla Caramel Brownie and Dulce de Leche.

I couldn't manage two brownies - good job too, because the plate was probably my entire calorie allowance for one day, a total sugar overload and entirely nutrition-free. Wahey! And tastes even better on someone else's expenses!

Chocolate Cylinder with Apple Pie Ice Cream

Location: Fat Cat Bistro, Solihull

Date: 21 February 2009

Details: Chocolate Cylinder dessert with Apple Pie Ice-cream, with a cup of hot water

Notes:

Amanda and I splashed out on lunch at this posh Solihull bistro. I'd just closed a dormant account at NatWest bank so we used the closing balance of £22.40 towards our lunch. Not that it went very far towards it... The lunch deal was rather confusing because it offered a cheap price for two courses from a handful of things on their regular menu. Various lumps of meat were included but not a salad, which is surely cheaper to produce... Weird.

The cylinder thing was very odd - very heavy, like a hefty dark chocolate mouse. There were two circles of gritty solid chocolate at each end. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do with it. Probably the best thing would be to chop it into thin rounds and share it around.

The ice-cream was delicious - and tasted like apple pie. Very clever. I only managed to eat half of the chocolate log-thing but the ice-cream was hoovered up quickly, despite the weird slate plate which was scratchy under-spoon. Not good.