3 Instagram Food Heroes #2

It's that time again to shine the spotlight on three food-based Instagram accounts I've been drooling over recently. Check them out and see more of this deliciousness in all its glory.

Top With Cinnamon

Izy Hossack's beautifully curated feed features (amongst others) more oat-based goodies than you can shake a stick at and me-oh-my, I want to at all of it. Now. Warming baked oatmeals, granola bars and tasty cake, this is a place for proper, considered food with a clean slant, from a food science and nutrition perspective. Check out Izy's equally beautiful website for a shed loads of recipes - her Flourless Browned Butter Brownies are top of my to make list at the moment. Yum. (Also need that avo t-shirt immediately #avo4lyf)

Local Milk

This is well photographed food porn at its finest. Stylist and photographer Beth Kirby's feed is damn good-looking. You won't just find well shot and filtered photos here, you'll find a whole host of lifestyle stuff that is a visual treat. She makes the simplest of foods look exciting and I guarantee you'll get lost in the beauty of images (I definitely lost a good couple of hours trawling through her images the first time round). Enjoy.


Medicinal Kitchen

Where to start with my love for this feed. It started with stumbling across Emma's Genetic Supplements based recipes, as I'm a huge fan of the brand. I delved a bit deeper and found Emma's story, and what a story it is. Coming from a background of ill health, Emma has become a specialist in nutrition and health, and all of her recipes are all multi-allergy friendly (from an allergy kid POV, this is frickin' awesome). She's also recently overcome breast cancer too and is championing being body positive post-op (those fitness competition shots though - I can't helped but feel overwhelmed with admiration and respect). Seriously, go and check out her feed (and her site) - you'll not only feel truly inspired by her journey but come away with a bank of recipes to improve your health to boot.

Who have you been loving on Instagram recently? Who should I be checking out? 

Riley's Fish Shack

This post is overdue. Like about 3 years overdue. So, when Travelodge* got in touch to set me the challenge of writing about what I think are the best kept secrets in and around, Newcastle, I knew this was the time to write about one of my favourite food haunts (especially now that it's had some major developments), that you all need to get yourselves down to and discover.

New In Food: Newcastle Special

This week has been all about food and new foodie places to try around Newcastle. There are some fantastic new restaurants, cafes, healthy food places popping up in and around town, so here's the lowdown on three new haunts on my food radar.

Trial Shift at Cookhouse

On Saturday night, we headed into Ouseburn for a pop-up dining experience by the guys from Trial Shift. Ever since I first saw tickets go on sale, I knew the evening would be something rather special.

The duo behind TS, Tom Anglesea and Shaun Hurrell, have recently started putting on pop-up food events around the North East, and this weekend, took over The Grazer's Cookhouse venue for a veg feast, starring produce grown in the North East by king of the veg, Ken Holland. Now, I love a good old supperclub, and having been the several of Anna's own events at Cookhouse before, it was great to be back in familiar surroundings sampling something a bit different.

Clean Salted Caramel Smoothie

My friend Kate told me about a smoothie recipe she'd concocted ages ago, and as soon as she said the words 'salted caramel', I was obviously sold. Now, this isn't an exact recipe as such, as her creation was a bit of an experiment, but sometimes the best things come out of whacking anything together in the blender. This is totally different to any other smoothies I usually make (no greens here) but I know it's going to be a firm favourite from now on.

The key ingredient to the butterscotchy taste is lucuma powder, which is anti-inflammatory, packed with iron, and contains boat loads of carotene - essential for healthy eyes and supple skin.

I've tried to recreate the milkshake-like drink here and have added a couple of other bits and bobs in to put my stamp on it. My word, it's like a creamy, silky, salted caramel pudding. *wolf whistle*

It does require a tiny bit of prep in terms of the roasted butternut squash, but seriously, it's all the better for it.

Super Clean Brownies

So it's time for another Weekend Edition, and this weekend, I've mostly been getting my bake on.

Something I've wanted to try and make 'clean' without compromising on taste and chocolately satisfaction has been the king of the traybakes; the Chocolate Brownie. Rich and oh-so indulgent, how can you not love the sweet and moorish goodness of this treat. This version is low sugar, grain free and filled with vitamin E supremos, almonds.

Resolute and Resolve

It's that time of year when we all make New Year's Resolutions...and then instantly seem to break them. This year I'm not so much as making resolutions, but more like having goals and ambitions for the year ahead. So here are a few of my plans for this year...

1. Complete the Great North Run - have always wanted to run this, for Help for Heroes or Asthma UK, and the run goes past the end of my road in South Shields, so I'm going to start training very shortly, which be be a killer but all worth it in the end.

2. Be fit, happy and healthy.

3. Push on with my blog - I've gained a fair few followers over the past couple of months and really want to start a regular document of what I'm up to.

4. Redesign my website and portfolio - these need SERIOUS attention, as haven't really touched them since I finished uni.

Sorry this is a bit of a boring post, but I need these ambitions cemented so I actually achieve them!

2011 Celebrations: Cafe 21 and Hotel Du Vin

Happy New Year all!

For the end of 2010, and start of 2011, me and the boy booked a posh night out in Newcastle: dinner at Cafe 21, followed by MANY drinks and a stay at the absolutely fabulous, Hotel Du Vin on Newcastle's Quayside.

Neither of us had stayed in Hotel Du Vin before, and as it is a bit further up the Quayside than most people usually venture, we weren't sure how busy it would be. 

The hotel itself is set in the industrial bit of the Quayside; I absolutely loved the setting! It has views over an old ship building yard and some of Newcastle's architectural gems can be seen from this end of the Quayside - beautiful Victorian buildings which aren't often seen!

After our meal, we ventured back to the hotel bar for a couple of drinks and it was VERY busy - alot of people were waiting to go into the bistro for their New Year's Eve meal. The menu looked lovely but as we booked quite late, the restaurant was fully booked.

Here are some photos I took of our room, the grounds and surroundings of Hotel Du Vin, Newcastle.

How did everybody else celebrate New Year?

Instagram

Literally quite obsessed with my new iPhone 4 and downloaded the Instagram app today. I want to find more amazing photographic apps - loving Instagram and especially Hipstamatic.

Some things from today:

All time favourite Starbucks snowflake mug with Cranberry and Pomegranate tea.

J letter from RE

Stack of magazines I'm currently working through!

University of Oxford mug and my new tea obsession.

Dublin

Me and Joe went to Dublin for a few days this week. Couldn't take my SLR due to Ryanair's ridiculous baggage policy, so we just took Joe's compact camera nd iPhones to photograph the sights. Here are some from my iPhone and photos from Joe's camera to follow!

Obviously you can't go to Dublin without having a few drinks.....we ended up having alot. There are some fantastic Irish pubs and bars in Dublin - we especially loved Cafe en Seine, which is like an old French-style cafe bar, with amazing high ceilings and beautiful cocktails and cakes.

We went to the Guinness Storehouse (along with every other tourist in Dublin, but it really is a must!) and drank our amazing free pints of Guinness, along with making alot of Guinness purchases in the gift store - an amazing Guinness Christmas decoration, Guinness fudge and keyrings.

Thanks to Gisele Scanlon of The Goddess Guide who recommended Rustic Stone for a meal - an amazing Dylan McGrath restaurant with a clever concept - if you order a meal 'On The Stone' they bring a stone heated to 300C for you to cook your own meat, meaning service is quicker and the meat is exacting to your specification. LOVED it, and will definitely be going again....but next time we'll make the trip at a weekend, to take advantage of the food markets.