Lunch in 10

I thought I'd share a quick easy lunch recipie with you all. It's a favourite of mine for its simplicity yet host of delicious flavours. Nothing is lost despite it being a speedy creation!! And even better the ingredients are mostly store cupboard babies making it cheap and convenient too!

Pasta with pan fried mushrooms, spring onions, sundried tomatoes and thyme:

Ingredients (serves 2)-

12 mushrooms roughly chopped

3 thinly sliced spring onions

A handful of sundried tomatoes roughly chopped

A large pinch of dried thyme

3 tablespoons of natural yoghurt

Salt, pepper and olive oil to serve 

Begin by popping a pan of water on to boil and add two cups of pasta of your choice, I tend to go for fusilli.

Chop the veggies while you heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan. Once the oil is hot add the mushrooms and spring onions and cook on a high heat, stirring occasionally. Add a knob of butter for perfectly crispy mushrooms and a clove of chopped garlic for flavour is also an option. Once cooked, turn off the heat, add in the chopped sundried tomatoes and season well. Add the thyme to the mix. The residue heat in the pan will be enough to draw out the flavour of these ingredients without over cooking.

Test the pasta, drain and mix with the sauce- I tend to do this is the frying pan to soak up the flavoured oil.

Finally, add the yogurt for a delicious creamy, almost pesto like sauce, taste and season if necessary. Serve, devour and enjoy! The perfect quick and easy lunchtime dish. 

Excuse me while I kiss the sky

Finally I'm home but the last week was a busy one! I've been busy at uni working with Brighton Fashion week - check it out here - putting together content for their newspaper that will be given out at all of the shows and in the lead-up to the event. Exciting but time consuming!

On Friday evening I decided at the last minute that I should pop to London to see my sister and niece. I'm so glad it did! A big fire as it started to gently snow, pumpkin gnocchi with pesto, toasted seeds and spinach, an ice cold beer and some big baby cuddles!

I woke up early on Saturday morning and popped to Oxford Street to meet some friends. Cami is moving to Paris for third year and somehow had never been to Liberty so we decided she simply couldn't leave without visiting! I stopped off in Topshop on my way to meet them and was pleasantly surprised by the SS13 collection. I'm not the biggest Topshop fan - expensive for what it is and not that original - but there were some really cute pieces that might be on my list of considerations for my summer wardrobe now the student loan is in! This dress... very simple and classic but really nice fabric.

And I think this shirt would be so lovely with high waisted denim shorts...

This dress is from one of the basement designers, I can imagine it looking stunning when tanned at a summery garden party, glass of pimms in hand... ahhh I wish...

And while I would never spend £25 on a 'vintage' scarf when I can get them for £1 at Portabello I was more than a little bit taken with this pheasant number...

A fab addition to the flagship store is the photo booth on the ground floor, cheesy but fun with a group of friends!

And Lola's cupcakes never fail to impress. This was breakfast!

I met the girls and as we wandered across to Liberty I came across & Other Stories. I'd heard so much about the shop but completely forgot where it was located and was SO glad I got the chance to pop in! Founded by the H&M brand, & Other Stories is for the more sophisticated customer, with spaced out rails, incredible fabrics and gorgeous pieces, all at reasonable prices. I didn't get the chance to try anything on but will definitely be heading back next time I'm in London as there was lots that caught my eye.

These shoes...

...and gorgeous tea dress especially!

After Liberty we headed straight to one of my favorite Islington hangouts for a girly lunch. Ottolenghi serves the best salads and cake and is located on Upper Street, in between Highbury & Islington and Angel tubes. The food is fab, service is always impeccable and everything tastes incredible. If you haven't been, go. Simple as that!

Lunch was the amazing salad plates, we didn't even go for mains and cake and fabulous company made the lunch fairly perfect! Now I'm looking forward to the trips to visit Cami next semester!

Fig & Olive

I've spent the best part of the last week in London, catching up with friends, going to events, hanging out with my sisters and working at a festival - blog post to come!

On Friday, I went for lunch with a girlfriend from Uni to Fig and Olive on Upper Street in Islington. Conveniently located in the heart of Islington, the restaurant is a light and airy space, decorated in a beautifully modern style. A choice of armchairs and tables and a choice of breakfast, lunch or supper, the restaurant is definitely worth a try for locals and visitors alike. Our route to the restaurant wasn't a direct one. Helen has been looking for a headboard for her bed in the new Uni house for a while now and we saw one outside a gorgeous town house by Highbury Fields so we took a detour via her house with the wrought iron headboad that for some reason was no wanted by its owners. One man's gold is another's rubbish as they say!! We earnt our lunch at least!

Fig & Olive pride themselves on fresh ingredients and I chose an Asparagus and Spinach Risotto which was delicious. Helen went for a Mezze platter which included pitta bread, humous, halloumi and ratatouille. Dishes that were light enough for lunch but filled a hole.

                                                

What's really enticing about the restaurant though is the display on cakes and salads in the window, visible from the street to draw in customers! Chocolate tortes, cakes and gateaux of all shapes and sizes; cheesecake; tarts; pastries adorn the display space and its incredibly hard to choose between them! We shared a chocolate and cream cake which was yummy and didn't last long enough to take a photo of!!

It was lovely to catch up with Helen and great to try somewhere new in London, especially in Islington where I spend most of my time when I'm visiting my sister who's based there.

Visit Fig & Olive's website for more details and to look at sample menus:

http://figolive.co.uk/

West Mersea Oyster Bar

Yesterday, I had the most perfect Sunday.

One of my best friends from school has been living in Sweden for a year and I hadn't seen him for 6 months. I got a lovely surprise when I found out that he was back in Suffolk on Saturday and spent the day pottering with him.

A long walk long walk across the fields in Dedham followed by olives and Aspall cider at my favourite country side pub, The Sun Inn and we ended up spontaneously heading to the West Mersea Oyster Bar for an early supper. 

West Mersea Oyster Bar started in 2006 with Michael Dawson as an expansion to his oyster business. It soon became huge success. On April 1st 2010, Chris Avila & Sel Yuzen took over with an improved menu & much more. Located on the sea front on West Mersea Island, the Oyster Bar serves only fish, as the name suggests but it is the freshest most delicious fish and it is always such a treat to go there!

The venue is literally a shed, with strip lights and wooden tables and benches. The chefs cook in the same room as the customers eat in, standing behind a wooden bar and the best wine is the House, very cheap and very drinkable.

Despite it being a very muddy day, I had been prepared and worn wellies for the walk (at which point it was still gorgeously sunny!) so we started off sitting outside. This is the view...

I wore a silk and lace shirt, leggings, vintage scarf, my favourite cashmere socks that I miss wearing when its actual summer and wellies - country casual!

We have mirrors in the garden so thought I may as well utilise them - the plants aren't going to after all!!

The 'shed'... built on the site of original oyster purification tanks and very much in keeping with the natural landscape.

The interior after a recent re-vamp...

Whenever we visit the restaurant we always order the same: Oysters followed by Lobster. Overt luxury and totally delicious.

Taken from http://westmerseaoysterbar.co.uk/didyouknow.html and totally fascinating:

A rock oyster produces about 100 million babies a year and native about 1 million

An oyster is bisexual - female one year, male the next

Oysters have been around for 200 million years, unchanged

Oysters have two beating hearts

Native oysters can live up to 30 years

Oysters have been cultivated in the creeks of Mersea since Roman times

The mains... Lobster in garlic butter with fat chips and dressed salad - I wish I'd order a whole Lobster rather than a half!

If you're ever in Essex The West Mersea Oyster Bar is so worth a visit. You can get take out in summer and sit on the beach, or at the tables overlooking the water and mud flats outside the restaurant. Or you can take in the very local atmosphere of this increasingly popular secret by booking a table inside.

Contact the restaurant for menus, bookings and more information:

   01206 381600

   West Mersea Oyster Bar
Coast Road
West Mersea
Colchester
Essex
CO5 8LT