Jardim Botânico

Hello from South America!
I landed yesterday evening in what I thought was the middle of the night, it was in fact only 6pm but as we're close to the equator it gets dark early. With the help of my Brazilian bff, who I met on the plane, I hopped on a bus and headed to the pousada. I checked in and dumped my bags before skyping the world and its wife to say I'd arrived safely and much to my amusement discovered everyone staying in the pousada spoke fluent English; two groups of British boys and some American students. We stayed up sharing stories of our travels and tips on the best place to pick up a good caipirinha in town before crawling to bed and falling asleep with the sound of waves crashing beneath.

The next morning I was up bright and early, after attempting to lie in and enjoy the sound of the waves and the view of the sea from bed and failing miserably as I was itching for adventure. After realising my Portuguese is absolutely diabolical so bus catching was out of the window, we ordered a taxi to Jardim Botânico, a 142 hectare gardens in the South zone of Rio which has been open to the public since 1822. The gardens are only around 40% cultivated, the rest is rainforest which grows up Corcavado (aka Jesus' hill) and features over 6,500 species of plant, some endangered, and 140 species birds who seem completely unphased by the visitors and their cameras. 

The sun decided to hide behind clouds for most of the day, only sneaking out for a few quick moments throughout the day, but I was kind of grateful for this as my English rose skin would probably have peeled away if it had to deal with humidity and 32 degree heat within hours of arriving. It was the perfect chance to get to grips with my new camera and lens which Danny gave me as an early birthday present before I left, I feel I'm slowly getting my shooting style back..we'll see! 

xox

EAU de VIE, Westbourne

Eau de Vie in Westbourne is our favourite local restaurant by miles, in fact it's so good I've been debating if I should blog about them or not, but I'm being a good little blogger and spilling the gossip as really it's just too good to be kept a secret. Eau de Vie are self confessed foodies and liquor geeks and boy does it show, there's not a cosmo or sex on the beach or glitter bomb in sight. The produce is locally sourced and seasonal and you can tell that all the staff are passionate about where they work through their immaculate service. 

We debated what to have for ages and after some recommendation from our waiter I went for a Ruby punch; a beautiful cocktail made using ceylon arrack, loose leaf breakfast tea and ruby port. You must know how much I love my cocktails by now?Well this one is definitely going on my list of favourites. Dan went for a pint of Estrella, a gorgeously light, smooth beer which washed down his main with ease.

For dinner I went for roast parsnip and fig tart with new potatoes and leafy greens and Dan went for the 8oz Barrel steak with mushroom sauce and chunky chips. Everything was cooked to perfection, my vegetables were mouthwatering and the pastry was crisp and light. Dans steak however was out of this world, it takes a lot to get me to admire meat but it was cooked beautifully it was juicy and succulent, it melted and crumbled in the mouth and was accompanied with light, fluffy centred chunky chips. 

For pudding we shared strawberry cream profiteroles and a banoffee pie and I can't fault either. 

Honestly, it was the best meal we've had out in a long, long time- If only my writing could do them justice.

xo

Upton country park

We decided to make the most of the intermittent sunshine this week and took pup for a walk about Upton country park. When Danny and I first started dating we'd take her here all the time, we had our own little spot where we'd sit and put the world to rights or we'd stroll around the house and gardens dreaming of the day we own a house as nice as Upton house. The house is gorgeous but the woodland and shoreline walk surrounding the house are much nicer and full of other dog walkers, they've also just finished clearing the woodland and have made a play trail for little kids and big kids alike, my nephew's been begging to go since I told him about it! We headed out on a big loop of a walk and played in the mud, as always, chased each other around and played hide and seek.  Then we headed home for some major spring cleaning and a teeny tiny bit of revision. Lovely. Also did you notice my hair is all gone? It's so light and swishy- I wish I'd had the pennies for a colour too as my roots are showing big time! 

What've you been up to lately? Did you see any sunshine? 

xox 

Choccywoccydoodah

If you haven't heard of Choccywoccydoodah you've obviously been living on a desert island! Choccywoccydoodah create quite possibly the most awesome cakes in the history of the world, click here for proof that are also amazingly affordable too. Being the chocoholic that I am I headed straight for their Brighton Bar du Chocolat whilst I was in town, my friend Jen decided to tag along too because let's face it you'd be mad to say no to a trip here. We arrived and immediately dribbled over the vast array of cakes on the counter before admiring the amazing interiors and spending forever trying to decide what to order, the lovely waitress recommended a chocolate and strawberry shake and of course I nodded with a cheshire cat grin on my face. We also shared a milk chocolate dipping pot together complete with cakes, marshmallows, strawberries and sweeties. It was a total chocolate overdorse but my god it was heavenly, the milkshake was thick and creamy and the dipping pot was perfect for having a girly chat over, it was melted to perfection and we couldn't help but polish it off. 

 

 

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xox

an afternoon in lymington

Saturday afternoon we decided to head to Lymington for a spot of lunch and a wonder through the market. We stopped off at Sophie's for a quick lunch and a chai tea latte, we both had paninis and they were just super, comfort food on a dull day is just what the doctor ordered. We then strolled down the cobbles to the quay and listened to some boys busking with their guitars, they were singing Ed Sheeran and dare I say they sounded a darn sight better than he does. The smell of the harbour was just heavenly, I know it sounds funny but I've grown up by the sea the smell of boats and freshly caught fish and greasy chip shop chips is a homely, welcoming smell to me. Then we wondered back up the high street for a quick stop off in Lulu's  where I proceeded to empty the remainder of my bank account on lovely things- check out their beautiful shop window above! Then it was back to the car through the busy market and home to do boring day to day household things, yawn. 

What've you been up to lately?

xoxoxox