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As always, I couldn’t visit Brighton and not do some serious shopping! I like to try and save up some cash just so I can have a splurge while I’m there. As well as all the usual high street shops I love browsing the various independent shops in the Lanes and North Laines and of course I always make a visit to Infinity Foods and Taj as well as Wholefoods while I was in London. Here’s what I got!

Chocolate! Moo Free Caramelised Hazelnuts Milk Chocolate, Mr Popple’s 88% Strong Raw Dark Chocolate, The Raw Chocolate Company Dark Raw Chocolate with Mint, Montezuma’s dark chocolate turtles, 75% dark chocolate buttons and 54% dark chocolate buttons

The Raw Chocolate Company raw chocolate covered raisins, mulberries and goji berries, raw cacao powder and coconut palm sugar

Cashew butter, Raw Health Cacao Brazilnut Bliss, Carley’s raw almond butter and raw dark tahini

Spiru-tein protein powders in chocolate chip cookie dough and cookies and cream flavours, chocolate almond puddings

Raw Health crisp breads in Intensely Italian and Provençale varieties, Living Food Kitchen raw apple and cinnamon granola, InSpiral Loveberry raw granola

Taj spicy roast chickpeas, organic blue corn chips, green chia tea and sweet chilli tea

Goji berries, cacao nibs, dried mango and lemon salted almonds

Kabocha Squash!

I was chuffed that I found some kabocha squash in Taj to bring home with me, its been far too long! I actually got a few boxes of those teas as they were on offer and several bags of the cacao nibs as I’m snacking on them all the time at the moment. I’m very happy with the things I picked up, pretty much everything is something I’ve had before and know I’ll enjoy eating. The only experimental things I got was the coconut palm sugar which I’ve never tried before but have heard lots about, and the chocolate almond puddings which sounded nice!

Fashion wise I was looking forward to getting a few things in a bigger size (see this post as to why I’m trying to gain some weight) to reinvigorate my wardrobe. I also needed some make up as it is quite frankly embarrassing how long I’ve had some things in my make up bag!

Accessories – star bracelet: Silverado, heart pendant, statement collar necklace and pink jersey infinity scarf all Topshop

1940’s style floral vintage dress: Beyond Retro

Simple floral dress: H&M

Blue polka dot dress: H&M

Floral patterned blouse: Oasis

Slouchy pink jumper: Topshop (sale)

Purple slouchy vest top: Topshop

Black mid calf length boots: Oasis (sale), coral satchel: H&M, Bobble water bottle (on the recommendation of Tam): England at Home, Benetint cheek and lip stain, ‘they’re real’ mascara and brow powder and wax all Benefit, Tisserand deodorant roll on, Lush ‘angels on bare skin’ scrub

I also got some plain black slim leg pants from Zara and a sports bra and workout top from Sweaty Betty. I was so happy with the things I bought, that vintage dress is amazing! I usually never find anything vintage that suits me but the dress is perfect – the length is spot on and it has the best little lace up detail on each side of the waist which cinches it in to give a more hour glass figure. I was also chuffed to find that H&M had some knock off Cambridge style satchels – I had been eying up the genuine articles of these brightly coloured bags at a much higher price so to find one at £15 was great!

Suffice to say I will not be clothes or health foods shopping for a long time while my finances recover, but it was so worth it! Do you ever treat yourself to shopping sprees? What was the last treat you bought for yourself?

Hi everyone, hope your having a great weekend! We’ve had a fantastic time in Brighton this week. We had been planning on coming home yesterday but we decided to stay another day as we were having so much fun! I haven’t enjoyed the weather very much though, I don’t think I’ve ever been so cold as I have this week!

The Royal Pavilion

We travelled the 330 miles down to the south coast on Monday night so woke up Tuesday morning feeling refreshed and ready for our holiday!

Tuesday

Me and Tam and tasty food from Aloka

I met up with the gorgeous Tam who very kindly took me to my first ever Bikram Yoga class. I absolutely loved it! I’m so sad that no where in the North East does Bikram Yoga, I would definitely be a regular if I had the opportunity. After the class we went for lunch at the wonderful Aloka. I had a big plate full of the delicious dishes available, the red lentil, tempeh and cashew cheese lasagne was incredible! We couldn’t resist the raw desserts either, and I had a tasty raw cherry and pistachio macaroon. After that I met up with James again and we hit the shops – I made a beeline for Infinity Foods of course!

We finished Tuesday by going back into Brighton for a few drinks with some of James twitter pals which was a lot of fun!

Wednesday

Vegan scone and strawberry jam for breakfast, tasty treats from InSpiral cafe and Wholefoods

We decided to make the trip up to London on Wednesday so we got up early and I enjoyed a delicious vegan scone I’d bought from Infinity Foods the previous day, it tasted so good! We got the train to London and headed to Camden for a look around. It was so cold we didn’t do much looking around the market but thanks to a tweet from Emma I knew that InSpiral Cafe was close by. James warmed up with a latte but I couldn’t resist the opportunity to get a Green Goddess juice and a slice of the amazing chocolate peanut butter pie! I had a look at both the Camden and Soho Wholefoods as well as some of the shops on Oxford Street before came home. I got a totally lush salad bar box from Wholefoods to eat on the train which I also enjoyed with a huge vegan and gluten free peanut butter chocolate brownie that was to die for! Once we got back to Brighton we went to Fat Leos for an Italian meal and more red wine!

Thursday

Me looking half decent for once after getting my make up one at Benefit, Vanilla spice latte, chocolate chilli sorbet and a delicious Indian meal

On Wednesday we had a walk back into Brighton and had a big shopping day! I wanted to get some make up from Benefit and the staff wanted to show me some of the new products so I basically ended up having my whole face made up! We also stopped by Starbucks for about the 8th time that week to get a Vanilla Spice Soya Latte to warm up between shops. For lunch we stopped by Aloka again so I could get a take away box for lunch, but not before heading to Boho Gelato (thanks to Christina for the tip!) for a vegan sorbet. I got the Chocolate Chilli and my god that stuff had a kick, but it was very tasty! For our evening meal we came back into town and tried an Indian buffet restaurant. I had rice, tarka dahl, saag aloo, onion bhaji and naan bread, it was yummy! We also had more red wine:

We had found a bottle that we really liked in The Mesmerist so decided to go back and enjoy!

Friday

Tasty simple breakfast, Falafel sandwich from Infinity Foods Cafe, apple and maple cake and coffee from Iydea and an early valentines day gift from James

We had a nice lie in and I had a simple breakfast of banana, apple and peanut butter before we made our last trip to town. We got some gifts to bring home as well as stopping at Iydea for the most gorgeous apple and maple cake and a almond soy latte. The icing on that cake was incredible! I’d had a huge craving for falafel so we stopped by Infinity Foods Cafe and I got the Falafel sandwich with chilli hummus, tahini and red onion with salad which was lush. While looking in Montezuma’s chocolate shop James bought me an early valentines day gift of some dark chocolate hearts with cacao nibs and dates which were so delicious! Later in the day we had a walk around Hove and got some flowers for my Auntie before getting in an early night ready for our 5am alarm this morning so we could drive back and beat the traffic!

It’s lovely to be home but I am really going to miss Brighton! I feel like all I’ve done this week is drink coffee, eat vegan cake and guzzle red wine! Apart from the Bikram class I haven’t worked out at all, although we must have walked at least 4 miles a day just back and forth between Hove and Brighton! I did bring my running gear but it has been too cold to even attempt it. Overall I’ve really indulged myself this week, I’ve eaten delicious food with abandon, haven’t worried about exercise, and apart from a bit of twitter action I’ve been pretty unplugged from the internet too. I think its been just what I needed! Of course a lot of shopping has been done too, shopping haul post coming up soon! Now I’m just happy to start getting myself back into my routine again.

Hope you’ve all had a great week and are enjoying your weekend!

Hi Everyone, I thought I'd do a quickie post to tell you about my day. I'm having a great time in Brighton so far and have managed to get some web time on my Uncles laptop!

I was up at 4am this morning so that we could get an early start and miss the traffic. I made a gorgeous green monster (spinach, frozen banana, soy milk, maca powder) and topped it with some Dorsets Cereals Roasted and Toasted Muesli.


This set me up for my journey! We were travelling down with my parents so it made a nice change for me not having to drive. We had a couple of stops and I had a Skinny Cinnamon Latte, apple and coco orange nakd bar to keep me going.


I also snacked on an unpictured bag of nakd orange raisins and another apple. We made really good time and did the journey in 6 hours. We got changed and headed straight for the beach. The hubby really fancied some fish and chips so I thought I'd might as well treat myself too.


They were ok, but not great so I felt a bit disappointed that I'd 'wasted' those calories!

We had a good wonder around the shops while I scouted out some potential purchases. I got really excited when I found a place called Lick that serves frozen yoghurt and I had a big serving with dark chocolate chips, strawberries and raspberry sauce.


It was delicious and I will definitely be making a return visit there! I also had a beetroot, carrot and apple juice.


My Aunt made dinner tonight - ham, salad, coleslaw and the most delicious olive and tomato bread.


iPhone pics as I didn't want my camera flashing off every two minutes! I had another slice of bread when I'd finished this. Desert was two little bowls of this raspberry triffle -


Plus a small square of this home made carrot cake.


Yum! I've had an amazing day of eats! I've also picked up a few little purchases -


I'll give you more info on these in another post, believe you me there is going to be a whole post on my shopping by the time I've finished!

Hope you have all had a great weekend. I'm mega excited for tomorrow and I've also scoped out a couple of options for yummy food, I'm just spoilt for choice! Catch you all later! x

Hi everyone, hope your week has got off to a great start. I have to admit that the end of this week can’t come quick enough for me, I’m really looking forward to having next week off!

Monday started with an awesome workout. As part of refreshing my workout plan and with my races fast approaching, I decided to increase my usual Monday treadmill run. I went from my usual 20 minutes of 2.5 min intervals to a 3.1 mile / 5k run doing 2.5 mile intervals using the lap guide on the machine. It was really good fun! I started with a warm up then did my intervals covering 3.1 miles in 26.48. I then did some more cardio intervals on the cross trainer, bike and rowing machine for 30 minutes followed by my new abs and core plan – I managed to knock out an extra push up, up to a total of 5 now ;-)

Today I did the usual Yoga for Runners podcast this morning and Body Pump this evening after work. It was a bit frustrating as someone set up their step and weights so close to me I was worried I would hit them with my barbell!

I had an abundance of greens to use up from the weekend so made a big green smoothie for breakfast yesterday:

I went for my fave combo of strawberry and peanut butter, this included beet greens, spinach, frozen strawberries, home made almond milk, strawberry hemp protein powder, lots and lots of crunchy peanut butter, mesquite, maca, barley grass, ice and the usual gums to thicken. I topped with more pb, dried strawberries and freeze dried berries. I did go a little overboard with the pb, but this baby kept me full for hours! I was very impressed with the strawberry hemp protein powder too.

Today’s breakfast was just what I was craving – a giant cereal bowl with Dorset Cereals Low Fat Fruity Flakes, strawberries, almond milk and  Justin’s chocolate almond butter sauce:

Heaven in a bowl!

Other deliciousness these last couple of days include this simple but tasty Beetroot and Tahini dip / dressing:

 

I had it as a dip with veggies for a snack and slightly watered down as a dressing with a huge salad also containing chickpeas, romaine, red pepper, carrot, cucumber and radish. Its so simple I can barely call this a recipe!

Beetroot and Tahini Dip (makes approx 1.5 cups, vegan)

• 1 heaping cup of cooked beetroot
• 2 tbsp of tahini
• 1 tbsp of sweet white miso (could omit and add pinch of salt instead, but this does add creaminess)
• Juice from half a lemon (optional)

Add all ingredients to a food processor and blend until smooth. I added a small amount of water to get my desired consistency. This is really tasty, slightly sweet but with a savoury nuttiness from the tahini. It went especially well with the sweet red pepper for dipping!

I’ve also enjoyed this wonderful pasta dish:

Wholemeal spaghetti with spiralised courgette in a cheesy white bean and basil sauce (this recipe just with more water added) served with steamed broccoli and asparagus doused in shoyu.

I’ve been having the usual bowls of protein ice cream too:

This was 2 scoops of Smore’s spiru-tein protein powder with ice, water, xanthan and guar gums topped with a simple chocolate sauce made from cocoa powder and agave. I really never tire of these!

I also tried a new flavour Luna Bar from my NYC stash:

 

This was the Nutz Over Chocolate and it tasted really nice, check out the lovely chocolate layer! I haven’t decided if I prefer it over the Peppermint Stick yet though.

I really can’t wait for my time off next week and my trip to Brighton, fingers crossed I’ll get some nice weather while I’m down there! I’m staying with my Aunt and Uncle, Brighton’s really a second home to me as I’ve been visiting every year since I was little. Do you have any summer breaks or holiday’s planned? Is there a place that you would call your second home?

Don’t forget to enter my Giveaway for the chance to win a months supply of Total Greek Yoghurt!

Last week, during my stay in Brighton I visited the Aloka Quality of Life Centre’s Restaurant. I had walked past it earlier in the week and suggested to the lovely Cat that we have our blogger meet up there.

The Aloka Centre includes an evening restaurant, day time cafe, treatment rooms, a yoga studio and a crystal and cosmetics shop.

The restaurant serves exclusively seasonal vegan food with options for many raw dishes. On first impressions we were very impressed with the interior which was clean and chic:

After ordering our meals we were presented with a raw amuse bouche of seaweed topped with grated apple, diakon and gooseberry:

As you can see the presentation was beautiful! This was delicious, I’d never tried that kind of seaweed before it was lovely with a mild ‘sea’ flavour. Next up was our starter (we both ordered the same dish) of raw spicy carrot dip with raw crackers for dipping:

Again, this was absolutely wonderful, a good size portion too! I loved the raw crackers, as if I needed more convincing to purchase a dehydrator ;-)

For my main course I ordered the Zen Buddha Bowl which consisted of sticky brown rice topped with roast hokkadio squash, steamed nettle, marinaded seaweed, tender stem broccoli, diakon and beetroot pickle and roasted lotus root chips. It also came with a bowl of barley miso broth with ginger, spinach, black sesame seeds and silken tofu:

This was just out of this world delicious, the mix of unusual and exotic flavours was so good! Cat ordered the completely raw Botanical Living Special:

Just look at the beautiful presentation! Cat said she loved this dish too :-)

However nothing could have prepared us for the deliciousness that was dessert:

Raw vegan chocolate mint cheesecake! Oh my god there are simply no words good enough to describe this. It was simply sensational and may just be the most delicious thing I have ever eaten. It was perfect, from the balance of chocolate and mint flavours to its creaminess and texture and delicate crunch from the base, just heavenly. 

Me and the wonderful Cat getting ready to dig in!

The entire meal plus drinks and a tip came to just £30 each which considering the decent portion sizes, quality and presentation of the food is outstanding value in my opinion.

Both myself and Cat agreed that this was probably one of the best meals we had ever enjoyed. I think the fact that we had no idea what to expect and were so pleasantly surprised at what we got made it all the better.

The service we received was also outstanding, the waitress had a great knowledge of all the dishes and ingredients.

I loved the place so much I decided to return to the Cafe for lunch the next day and again, it didn’t disappoint!

I would whole heartedly recommend this restaurant to any lover of exotic or veggie and vegan food.

When was your last most memorable meal and why? The meal we enjoyed after our wedding in Italy was pretty outstanding but this was just amazing! 

Do you have a favourite restaurant? What makes it so special?