Sushi. Love it, hate it, or too scared to try it – it certainly divides opinion! I don’t remember the first time I had sushi. I do know that I love it, it’s healthy, and on Day 31 of #100DaysNoTV Rob and I had a go at making it.
Quick ‘hello’ to Marian Keyes fans who may have stumbled here by accident. Sorry, this has literally nothing to do with her bestseller of the same name!
For a festive hit in mid-November, there are few places better than Ely Cathedral. Their annual two-day Christmas Gift & Food Fair is an event attended by people from all around the country. In contrast, the #ElyChristmasCracker was all about local people.
Since the Cambridge blogger community – CambMeetUp – began in March 2015, there have been a number of local meetups around Cambridgeshire, and when Lauren decided it was time that Ely held one, I was more than happy to help organise. On Day 29 of #100DaysNoTV I co-hosted a blogger event for the first time!
The last couple of months have been all about spinning plates – this post has been sitting on my To Do pile since September…my bad. I’ve been looking forward to writing it, because it’s about two important things in life: cake 😉 and charity. On Day 28 of #100DaysNoTV I hosted a Macmillan Coffee Morning at my place.
Macmillan Cancer Support held their first ever Coffee Morning way back in 1990 and since then they’ve raised a whopping £138 million. Little wonder it’s known as the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning! If you’ve never been to one, look out for one local to you next September; it’s easy to search using your postcode on their website. There are bound to be a few near you run by local groups, or you could host one yourself!
I’ve been a member of the Clandestine Cake Club for a couple of years, but I’ve never been brave enough to go along to a meet. My image was of a group of super-talented bakers who would snort with laughter at my super-amateur attempt. But when I heard that Lauren – who I’d met at The High Tea Club – was running the Ely group, I decided to be brave. On Day 14 of #100DaysNoTV, I (nervously) took a cake that I had baked to share with others.
The brainchild of Lynn Hill, the Clandestine Cake Club (CCC) began in Leeds in December 2010 with its purpose to have a place for cake lovers to meet and chat over tea and cake. “Bake, Eat and Talk about Cake” is their mission statement. What’s not to like?
Are they the same, similar or different?
Well, nearly two hundred years ago Afternoon Tea became fashionable with the upper classes who would eat around 4 o’clock to stop the tummy rumbles between lunch and dinner; they’d nibble on dainty sandwiches and cakes with an abundance of tea. It would be a relaxed affair in the drawing room on comfy chairs.
The working classes had their Tea after a hard day’s work and so it was a more substantial family meal, and would normally include hot food and meat; basically it was their main meal of the day. It seems this became known as High Tea as it was eaten up at a table, literally sitting high, with Afternoon Tea taken at a low table.
It’s not easy to find original gifts, so I was over the moon to discover The Spicery when looking for something special for Rob. Their spicebox subscription is absolutely perfect: it plays to his love of trying new cuisines and his ever-growing passion for cooking. It also gave us the perfect excuse to spend a few hours cooking together in the kitchen; this is something we love to do, but often need a reason to find the time! On Day 13 of #100DaysNoTV we had a ‘Date Night in Bali’.
If you were asked to name a luxury chocolate brand, chances are – if you live in the UK – your first answer would be Hotel Chocolat. Since the first shop opened in 2004 the brand has expanded and evolved over the last ten years and there are now over 80 stores worldwide.
With the manufacturing facility in Cambridgeshire the business has strong links with the Cambridge area. The founders had a dream of opening a new type of cafe in Cambridge city centre – in their words, “our first ever ‘refuel station’ where the cocoa and coffee love match is united at last”.
Chocolate has always been one of my favourite indulgences. My ‘go to’ comfort food. So, when Luxx PR contacted me with an invitation to take part in the Godiva Chocolate Challenge, I wasn’t going to turn it down. On Day 12 of #100DaysNoTV I spent an evening in the kitchen with Rob creating our chocolatey competition entry.
I decided a while ago that so much blood, sweat and tears goes into writing my blog, it really deserves better images; the iPhone takes amazing photos, but it was time to invest in something a bit more professional. After lots of research (thanks, Rob!) and camera holding, we bought my shiny new Nikon D5500. I just had to figure out how to use it! Luckily, help was at hand.
On Day 10 of #100DaysNoTV I pottered down to Jesus Green in Cambridge for a Blogtography Workshop with Karen Harvey of I Don’t Like Peas.
For a major fan of sushi (that’s me!) an invite to a tasting event at the brand new Wasabi in Cambridge was always going to be met with a resounding and immediate “Yes!”. Even better, there was a plus one option so I was able to take my lovely hubby. And so, on 17th June, Rob and I went to the #WasabiCambridge pre-launch evening.
There were a few concerns raised on social media ahead of the event about the venue’s readiness: a few hours before there was clearly still quite a bit to be done for the official opening the next day.
#100DaysNoTV 