Bury St. Edmunds

Hello Everyone & Happy Christmas Week! 

It's a gorgeous sunny day here in the UK! I honestly can't remember the last clear blue skies day we have had here, so waking up to a gorgeous (but chilly) day was a nice surprise!

A few months ago we adventured out to Bury St. Edmunds for the first time, and it is such a wonderful city! Here is what we did on our day out, enjoy! 

We started off our day at the Abbey Ruins & Gardens. 

The ruins were built around the year 1200. 

St. Edmundsbury Cathedral. Built early 1900's and the Abbey Gardens. 

St. Mary's Church, next door to the Cathedral. 

Mary Tudor Queen of France is buried here. 

Walking back towards the town center, The Angel Hotel. I love the vines and flowers that grow on the facade of the building. So pretty!

You walk through this gate from the town center to get to the ruins and gardens. 

This guy makes some very cool sculptures out of sand! I've seen him a few times making different things each time I've been back.

Walking alongside the Abbey Garden walls, so pretty!

I hope you enjoyed going along on our adventure with us. Have a very Merry Christmas!

-A

Chocolate Lava Cakes

Hello! I cannot believe how fast the month of November has flown by! Seems like October took SO long to get over with, and now were almost to Thanksgiving tomorrow!! I have already done all of my grocery shopping early, and cannot wait for a turkey dinner at home with just my husband and I. My mouth is watering just thinking about it! 

The other day I was watching YouTube cooking videos, and came across this recipe for Chocolate Lava Cakes on one of my favorite cooking channels, Byron Talbott. As soon as I finished watching the video I went straight to my kitchen and started making them and they turned out very nice! Not as "lava like" in the middle as I would have liked them to be, but they were still oh so delicious. So delicious, I just had to share the recipe with you!

Here's what you'll need: 

4  ramekins

1/3 cup granulated sugar, or caster sugar for those of you in the UK.

1/3 cup all purpose flour

4 oz room temperature butter

8 oz melted chocolate

3 eggs

Splash of vanilla extract (optional)

Start by buttering and flouring your ramekins. In the video he sugars his ramekins, but you can do whichever you prefer! I also accidentally melted the butter instead of using room temperature butter. This resulted in a slight bit longer for cooking time, but they still turned out delicious. At this step you also want to melt the chocolate over a double boiler, or in the microwave stirring every 30 seconds until melted making sure to not burn your chocolate. I used dark Belgian chocolate, but you can use white or milk chocolate if you'd like!

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Add your butter and sugar into the bowl and mix until thoroughly combined and the mixture starts to pale. I used powdered sugar instead of granulated or caster sugar. He has a delicious video for nutella lava cakes where I got the idea to use powdered sugar from.

Next, add your eggs one at a time, and mix completely together between each one.

Add your flour and mix until combined. You can also throw in a splash of vanilla extract. He did not add this in his video, but I love vanilla and love it added into anything chocolate!

Add in the melted chocolate and combine.

Here is where I messed up and added too much to one ramekin, and ended up with only three lava cakes. This recipe will make four, so be sure to evenly distribute the mix between the ramekins. Place your ramekins on a pan that can go into the oven, and bake for around 13-15 minutes.

Here is how mine turned out. I checked them at 15 minutes and they did not have a crust on top yet, so I baked them for a few extra minutes. They weren't as "lava like" as I would have hoped baking them the few extra minutes, but they were still gooey in the center so that's what counts!

Let the cakes set for a few minutes before running a knife along the sides so they don't fall apart on the way out.

Dust with powdered sugar, and serve.

These were so delicious and this will definitely be a recipe I write down to keep forever in my recipe book. I hope you all try them! Comment below your results! 

Have a very happy Thanksgiving!

-A

Holiday Haul

Hello Everybody! Brrrrrr, it is freezing outside here in the UK, and winter is here to stay! It's such an odd feeling for the holidays to seem like they are finally here, because the last four years we have lived in a hot climate where Thanksgiving day was usually in the 70's and sunny. Christmas day was usually in the 50-60 degree range as well, and there was never any snow. I must admit it is nice being in a "normal" climate that actually has seasons, and the thought that we might have the chance to have a semi "white Christmas" is totally exciting for us!

I am slowly getting into the Christmas spirit as Thanksgiving approaches next week, and today I thought I would share with you some of the goodies I have bought over the past month! If you haven't gotten in the mood for Christmas time yet, hopefully this post will help you feel a little more festive!

Every year I always pick up a new pair of Christmas pajamas, and this year these are the ones I chose! I found them at my local Tesco. I especially love the pants, they are fleece and oh so cozy!

 

Anyone who has known me within the last year and a half or so, knows I have a rather new obsession with the Lush Cosmetics store. The bath ballistics and bubble bars are my absolute favorite things for a nice pamper evening and they always leave my skin smelling and feeling amazing after I have a good soak!

Dashing Santa bath ballistic

Twilight bath ballistic. This one is not Christmas, or seasonal, but it is my absolute favorite and I can't forget about it anytime I go in there!

Peeping Santa bubble bar.

Lord of Misrule bath ballistic. This is also one of my must haves during the holiday season. It is similar in scent to the Twilight bath ballistic.

Milky bubble bar. I love this bubble bar because you can get usually around 4 baths out of it, depending on how many bubbles you like.

The last goodies I picked up for Christmas were these chocolate advent calendars. I remember seeing these during my childhood, and I thought I would buy a few for fun and to send to family to enjoy. I picked these ones up at my local Sainsbury's. 

What are some things your buying for the holidays for yourself and others? Leave a comment below. Have a very happy Thanksgiving week! 

-A

Cambridge Day Trip

Greetings Everyone!

Today I am taking you on another adventure we have recently been on here in the UK, Cambridge! Whenever you think of England, of course you immediately think of London. But! Cambridge is another amazing city that is a definite must see whenever you are passing through. Here's what we did on our day trip!

Travel tip #1: Park in the Grand Arcade parking lot. It is very easy to access all of the touristy points throughout the city, and is centrally located. Yes, there can be delays getting into the parking garage at certain times of day, but make sure you plan accordingly for traffic times. 

Travel tip #2: Visit this post from Buzzfeed for amazing places to eat in Cambridge. Most of them are near everything I've mentioned here. We visited four of the places on the list, and they all were very delicious!

Travel tip #3: Get a city map and be prepared to walk! I believe we walked about 6.5 miles throughout the entire day we were there.

The first place we stopped to eat was at Nando's. Little did we realize at the time it was a chain restaurant throughout the UK, but we thought it was delicious! Get the quinoa salad, you won't regret it!

After lunch, we walked through the greens of Cambridge: Christ's Pieces, Butt Green, (why on earth it is named this, I have no clue!) Midsummer Common, and Jesus Green. While we were walking, we came across a bridge and the view was very pretty!

The river Cam has a series of locks for boats to pass through.

Cambridge is famous for punting! Similar to riding in a gondola, less fancy, no wine and no man in a striped shirt singing to you whilst enjoying the view.

The round church, also known as The Church of The Holy Sepulchre. There are only a few of these churches across the globe!

King's College Chapel, St. John's College. This campus is an absolute MUST SEE in Cambridge. The famous "Bridge of Sighs" is located here. You can walk through the campus for £7.50.

 

St. John's College Campus.

The famous "Bridge of Sighs" and the punters on the river Cam. Makes a lovely picture, doesn't it? Imagine getting to go to school here everyday, and getting to see these views. I'd be in heaven!!

After the campus tour, we walked to Benet's Ice Cream for a refreshing treat since it was very warm outside. Then we proceeded to walk by the other large college campuses which are all very near to one another.

Walking along Trinity College. We did not go inside to tour this campus, although I'm now wishing we would have! The exterior buildings that line the street are gorgeous.

 

The last few things we did on our day trip included stopping at The Anchor for a relaxing drink along the water, and we also stopped at Chocolat Chocolat for a few sweet treats to enjoy on the drive home. It was such a lovely day trip. If you are in the area I highly recommend a day trip.

Hope you enjoyed our adventure, more travel posts to come soon! 

-A