Ribena's Doodle Your World Competition*

30 July, 2017

The weather has been a little dreary in London the past month and you really would not have believed it was supposedly the middle of the summer. I've been feeling a little fed up with the grey skies, drizzly rain and quite frankly, annoying winds. It can be a little disheartening taking an umbrella out with you everyday 'just in case' the heavens decide to open, even though it's now nearing the end of July and we should be basking in the sunshine!

I've been playing around with Ribena's 'Doodle Your World' app, in order to make life through a phone lens just that little more colourful! It's essentially an augmented reality app that allows you to take photos and videos with cute and colourful characters & doodles. It's perfect for brightening up your Instagram Stories or Instagram feed when the weather isn't on its best behaviour. You can have a look at my little Insta-video that was taken in the pouring rain on the left!

I've also teamed up with Ribena to host a competition where you have the chance to win your own goody bag of Ribena treats! Simply download the 'Doodle Your World' app and create your own Doodle, then upload it to Instagram with the #Ribenary hashtag, and tag both @leightravers and @ribenauk to enter.

You can find the full terms and conditions for the competition here.



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Disclaimer: This post was created in collaboration with Ribena, but all words & content are my own.
14

Tasting the Summer Menu at Côte Brasserie, Muswell Hill

22 July, 2017


Côte restaurants are inspired by the brasseries of Paris, and boast a casual yet authentic day-to-night dining experience. We were invited along to our local restaurant at Muswell Hill to taste the new 2017 summer vegetarian menu and share our thoughts on it. Having never eaten at a Côte restaurant before, I was looking forward to seeing what French inspired dishes, meat-free they had in store for us to try!

The Muswell Hill restaurant is surprisingly bigger than it appears from the outside and opens up as soon as you step inside. It oozes a chic décor with gorgeous, patterned flooring, marble tables and plush, leather seating.  We were offered some olives and bread, which of course we graciously accepted (give me all of the olives!) before looking over the separate vegetarian menu. It was so nice to be given a menu that had not only all of the vegetarian food options listed, but also the wine menu. Although it shouldn't be, there's nothing more awkward than asking whether a glass of wine from the menu is vegetarian or not. The separate vegetarian drinks menu really does make the whole dining experience a lot easier.



To start, I ordered the Tomates Breton, which arrived to our table looking incredibly colourful as the plate was filled with a selection of chunky, rainbow tomatoes topped with a rich and creamy goats cheese. The soft dollop of cheese broke up the acidity of the tomatoes, which the sharp taste of the tomatoes helped ease the richness of the cheese in turn. It was topped with black olives, shallots and capers and tucked beneath the generous portion was a slice of grilled sourdough bread. James opted for the Eggs Florentine with spinach on a toasted muffin with hollandaise sauce. Unfortunately I can't comment on this personally as I no longer eat eggs, but he assures me it was delicious!

Tomates Breton


Baked Camembert
Vegetarian Sausages with Salardaise Potatoes
When it came to choosing my main course, it didn't take me long to decide upon the Baked Camembert with garlic, rosemary and honey alongside baguette toasts (by this point I was on my third dish that contained some sort of bread) and green salad. If there's any opportunity to hog a baked camembert all to myself then I will seize that opportunity with both hands. However, James ordered the Vegetarian Sausages with Salardaise Potatoes, which was also a fantastic choice. The sausages are listed as 'grilled spinach and cheddar' sausages, but they tasted like neither of these ingredients and were unbelievably 'meaty' in texture.


Despite being absolutely stuffed to the brim, we couldn't pass on sampling the dessert menu. I mean, I always have room for chocolate, so the warm Chocolate Fondant with vanilla ice cream was just what I fancied to end our evening. It was deliciously rich and indulgent, and pretty much everything you would want from a chocolate-centric dessert. James' choice was the tempting Praline Crêpe with caramelised bananas and crème Chantilly. In all honesty, I think I preferred his dessert choice, but it was sickeningly sweet so was a bit of a struggle to finish! If you do have a notoriously sweet tooth though, make it your mission to taste praline crêpe when you can.

Praline Crêpe 
Find Côte Brasserie, Muswell Hill

Address: 311-323 Muswell Hill Broadway, Muswell Hill, London N10 1BY
Nearest tube station: East Finchley or Highgate, followed by a short bus journey

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Disclaimer: We were offered a complimentary meal for two in exchange for an honest review.
16

An Evening of Making Music With Cucumbers & Hendrick's Gin

19 July, 2017
Gin in teacups.

A few weeks ago the most bizarre yet intriguing invite from Hendrick's Gin landed in my inbox inviting me to Hendrick's Perilous Laboratory for the Absorbment of Natural Teaching (or P.L.A.N.T. for short) and promised me an evening that was to be focused around making harminous music with cucumbers (and no, it wasn't an innuendo) at the RHS Garden Show. It was quite possibly the most peculiar invitation I've ever received in my six years of running this blog, so of course my curiosity got the better of me and I rather enthusiastically accepted the invite not really knowing what to expect. Also, it's worth noting that I almost never turn down anything that involves the promise of gin, especially if it's Hendrick's!

Upon entering the blooming and beautiful RHS Garden Show, we were invited over to the Hendrick's pop-up laboratory, decorated in the most eclectic and bizarre fashion with plants and vintage oddities dotted around in vintage style cabinets. The extremely charismatic Hendrick's Laboratorians gathered a mass of people over to their work space to begin their musical experiment.

Quite literally making music with cucumbers!

Each person takes a seat next to a contraption where a set of cucumbers are rigged up to a piece of software that when triggered created sound. Each set of cucumbers is designed to play a different style of sound meaning when the cucumbers are 'played' simultaneously, you begin to create a harmony with the other cucumber instrumentalists taking part in the experiment! I'm not going to lie, it's hard to explain the experience of making music by stroking a cucumber but it was tremendously fun (for proof, please see the last photo that Kaye shot of me having an absolute ball!)

Tikka Tofu from Rupert's Street
After curating the perfect musical piece with your fellow cucumber connoisseurs, you are aptly rewarded with a Hendrick's gin & tonic, which is certainly a touch! After all of the merry musical excitement, we chowed down on some delicious vegan delights from Rupert's Street. They're a travelling food truck that specialises in sustainable and healthy food for events and I just could not resist the sound of their tofu tikka, which didn't disappoint!



We spent the rest of our time coo-ing over the luscious, green house plants that adorned the RHS Garden Show with our Hendrick's concoctions in hand. I was in my absolute element that evening as I was treated to a few of my favourite things in life: gin, plants and some banging vegan food!

The Perilous Laboratory for the Absorbment of Natural Teaching will be going on tour across the festival circuit this summer. You can catch them at Lost Village, Edinburgh Festival and Standon Calling, where you'll be able to experience the magic of making music with cucumbers yourself! You can find more information regarding the P.L.A.N.T. tour here.

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10

A Night at citizenM Tower of London Hotel

16 July, 2017
citizenM Tower of London Review
citizenM Tower of London Review
Have you ever stayed in a hotel in your home city? Well, that's exactly what I did just last weekend.

I consider myself as a Londoner having grown up on the very outskirts of the city and know the capital like the back of my hand (well, almost...), but I'd never really chosen to stay in a hotel in London because I've never felt like there's been any need when everything's pretty much on my doorstep anyway. However, when citizenM offered me a night's stay in their Tower of London hotel, I was actually quite excited getting out of my flat for the evening, even if it was only a few miles along the river.

Check-in for the hotel is from 2pm, so after a lazy Saturday morning we packed a bag and headed towards Tower Hill station. The hotel is conveniently located right beside the tube station, and you really cannot miss the sleek hotel sign that sits right in front of you as you leave the tube station. Upon walking into the huge lounge that boasted a contemporary decor with eclectic artefacts dotted around, we were surprised and a little excited to see that the check-in set up was completely different compared to a standard hotel. citizenM are clearly a forward-thinking hotel that thrives on the ease of using technology, meaning their check-in system is completely electronic!

Although there are staff on hand to help with any check-in queries, you simply walk up to one of the many computer screens situated in the lobby, fill in your details in order to check-in and set up your own room key. It was also a nice touch when we were offered a list of different types of rooms we may prefer based on whether we'd like a higher room and which view we'd prefer. Unfortunately we weren't offered the view over the Tower of London, so we opted for our room to look over the luscious, green Trinity Square Gardens instead. It took us no more than a few minutes before we had checked in and had our room key in hand ready to check out our room for the evening.

citizenM Tower of London Review
citizenM Tower of London Review

We were allocated a room on the 4th floor, which is about half way up the building and still offers pretty impressive views of the surrounding area. The room itself was small, but everything was planned to utilise the space well, and the bed... well, the bed, which is situated right beside and level with the window, is absolutely enormous and actually took up most of the floor space in the room - not that I'm complaining! The bed was ridiculously comfortable and after the honorary dive onto the bed straight after checking in, I almost didn't want to get back out despite it being just after 2pm.

The rooms are fully functional and suited to your every need, and although it may seem like a bit of a novelty, we had fun playing with the iPad controls, which let you customise the colour of the lighting, opening the blinds and controlling the smart TV, which sits at the end of the enormous bed. You can adjust the lighting of your room from the colour wheel on the iPad or opt for one of the presets that includes 'business' and 'romance'. Not gonna lie, I was hoping the 'romance' setting would blast out some Barry White from the speakers and a bottle of champagne would just appear from a secret compartment under the bed, but no... we were treated to some dim mood lighting in a lovely shade of red. So, citizenM, if you happen to be reading this, please note my Barry White + champagne request. Ta!

Another highlight of the room was the fact there was a mini fridge situated just beneath the wash basin and mirror, which was perfect for storing any snacks and Saturday afternoon beers before we headed off to 'Pride in London'. The shower was surprisingly spacious and offered two different shower heads, including an overhead rain shower which is always appreciated at any hotel.

citizenM Tower of London Review
citizenM Tower of London Review

Our stay also included a complimentary breakfast, which offered a decent amount of vegetarian options including some delicious veggie sausages and bubble 'n' squeak, which was the perfect Sunday morning remedy after a night out in the city. Unlike a lot of hotel breakfasts I've experienced in the past where you make your own coffee from a machine (that never offers dairy alternative options), your morning coffee is made fresh by a barista behind the bar so you can have that perfect morning latte to accompany your breakfast.

The lounge is absolutely huge with different set ups of seating dotted around all over the place. As well as being a lounge for the guests to enjoy, it's also the perfect place to grab a coffee, set up your laptop and get some work done. If you're a freelancer, it's definitely worth considering the citizenM hotel for your next freelancer date outside of your usual office space.

citizenM hotels are dotted across Europe, including Amsterdam and Paris, but they've also got one-off hotels in New York and Taipei too. Even though we had a very brief stay with citizenM, I would definitely stay in one of their hotels again in the future, because as well as being one of the most homely and inviting hotels I've stayed with, I also really, really miss the absolutely enormous bed!

citizenM Tower of London Review
citizenM Tower of London Review



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8

A Weekend In Newquay with Travelodge

06 July, 2017


A few weekends back James and myself hopped on an overnight Megabus from London to Cornwall after being invited by Travelodge to swap the city for the sea for a couple of nights. As much as I do adore London, it can also be a little overwhelming and I really do appreciate getting away from the city from time to time, so Travelodge's offer was much welcomed. The last time I visited Newquay before this trip was nine years previous when a bunch of my school pals went on a camping/clubbing holiday (lol), so I was looking forward to experiencing it in a completely new light.

The bus is easily one of the cheapest options for travelling down to Cornwall, but it is a long-winded journey taking just over seven hours or so. We arrived bright and early into Newquay town centre at 7am on a Friday morning after a broken and unsatisfying sleep on the bus, so we ditched our suitcases at the hotel (check-in wasn't until 3pm) and then headed straight into town to get a well-needed coffee!

A vegan fry-up at The Beached Lamb Cafe

After wasting away a couple of hours in the coffee shop and nursing our drinks for as long as possible whilst stretched out on the sofa, our stomaches began to rumble and led us on the search for breakfast, specifically a vegan fry up. After seeking out TripAdvisor's #1 option, Cafe Cloud, and being thoroughly disappointed with their menu outside the shop, we continued to drag our tired selves up the hill to discover a big shining beacon of a sign pointing us in the direction of The Beached Lamb with vegan options.

The cafe is a quaint, vintage-inspired little joint filled with an eclectic collection of cute trinkets and tidbits. It does serve meat too, but the it does have a pretty good selection of vegan and gluten free options in comparison to most eateries which was great for us!  Our fry-up which consisted of a vegan sausage, mushrooms, hash browns (what did we do in life to deserve hash browns?!), tomato, toast, baked beans, houmous (questionable with a fry-up, but it worked!) and some dairy free 'butter' set us back £7.50 each but the portions were pretty substantial!


Our few hours left before check-in gave us enough time to explore the local area area around our seafront hotel and get our bearings. I'd browsed through Travelodge's tips for things to do in Cornwall beforehand, which gave me a rough idea of what I wanted to do over the course of the weekend. It also gave us a decent amount of time to get to know our local Wetherspoons, which was conveniently located about a 10 second walk from our Travelodge and served pints of pale ale for just TWO POUNDS FORTY FIVE. Even in a London 'spoons, you're looking at double that price!

Checking into the Travelodge Newquay Seafront Hotel
Our first night was pretty uneventful as our lack of sleep from our bus journey the night before finally grabbed defeated us, so we grabbed some chips from Harbour Chippy (they cook in vegetable oil - yay!), scoffed them on the beach and headed back to the hotel room to watch TV and fall asleep. The hotel itself is located directly opposite the train station (and around an minute walk from the bus station) right along the beautiful coastline. The hotel itself is exactly what you'd expect from a Travelodge - nothing grand nor outstanding, but simple, clean and everything you may need catered to. Our only issue was that the room was incredibly warm, but the staff at reception supplied us with a fan as soon as we mentioned this which made our second night a lot more comfortable!


Saturday was our main day to make the most of exploring Newquay, but only after grabbing our second fry-up of the weekend from the Travelodge buffet - yep, they offer Linda McCartney veggie sausages too! After two helpings at the breakfast buffet, we headed out towards Fistral Beach, which is one of the world's top surfing destinations and is host to big name competitions such as Boardmasters & many more.

The sandy beach is overlooked by the Headland hotel, which was built in 1900 and is actually the setting for Roald Dahl's novel,  'The Witches'. Although I was ultra keen to try out my surf skills with a lesson (even though I know I'd be shockingly bad), unfortunately our trip came only a few days before payday meaning we were on a super strict budget so I couldn't afford a lesson. That Saturday morning, we sat with a couple of homemade cocktails in hand, nestled in the sandy banks watching others try their luck with the waves instead.

The Headland Hotel overlooking Fistral Beach
Getting to grips with mini golf at Gilmore's Newquay

After our trip to Fistral Beach, we began the 15 minute walk back to the town centre but we were distracted by the colourful sign of Gilmore's Newquay, a Mexican restaurant, bar and home to a mini golf course! Entry to the mini gold course cost us just £2.50 each and it was honestly my unexpected highlight of the entire weekend! In our four years together, James and I had never played any form of mini golf together and it just so turns out that after a couple of drinks, I'm pretty swell at this golf malarkey! Maybe it was the liquid courage, but I somehow managed to wrangle two holes-in-one, in where they bounced off of the course before bouncing back in straight into the hole. My excitement may have got the better of me as I screamed and danced around the course when it happened, because I'm definitely not a humble winner!


As I mentioned before, we were on a pretty strict budget so we didn't get to explore as much of the local cuisine as we would have liked. However, when in Cornwall it seemed only fitting that we should try some of the Cornish Pasties from one of the multiple shops dotted across the town. I was actually pleasantly surprised to see the amount of vegetarian and vegan options that extended beyond just the predictable cheese & onion! Over the course of the weekend, we were pretty much fuelled by pasties and tasted the following veggie-friendly pastry treats: 'Vegan Green Thai', 'Spiced Chickpeas & Spinach' and a 'Feta & Sweet Potato'. They cost around £3 - 3.50 each, but we did find that around 4pm in The Cornish Bakery they mark all of their pasties at 2 for 1 - bargain!


As the evening approached we decided to head back to the hotel to ditch our beach gear from the daytime, get changed, grab a bottle of Prosecco from Aldi (conveniently located right next door to the Travelodge as it happens) and head to Towan Beach to catch the sunset. The iPhone weather app had predicted rain all weekend, but we had seen nothing more than a little cloud coverage all day but the clouds parted ways to display the most spectacular sunset for us. Granted the view would have been better from Fistral beach, but unfortunately we didn't have the time nor energy to make it that far from the hotel. It was the most idyllic ending to a day of relaxing in the beautiful coastal town.

Check out on the Sunday was at 12pm, but we were still awake at 8am eager for our third and final veggie fry-up of the weekend from the breakfast buffet. As our train back to London was at 5pm that day, we decided to stay close to the town centre and not stray too far. We pretty much covered everything we had seen in the previous two days, and spent most of the lazing around on the beach whilst we could.

If there's one thing I really appreciated that weekend, it was the sand beneath my feet and the sea air in my lungs. I'm not someone who often 'stops' and I tend to panic the moment I begin to relax; I often find myself painfully bored whenever I start to 'relax', especially when I'm on holiday. I often plan to use every single moment away in order to see as much as I possibly can in the time restricted I have.  However, there was something about visiting Cornwall where I actually found the ability to relax and doze on the beach soothed by the sound of the waves.


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Disclaimer: Accommodation & transport was kindly provided by Travelodge for the purpose of this blog post, but all words and opinions are my own.
11

A Few Deliciously Sweet Alpro Dairy Free Recipes

03 July, 2017

It really is a great time to be alive for those with a dairy-free diet as the dairy alternative sections of most supermarkets are growing month-on-month, and there's an overwhelming selection of plant-based milks. It can be a little but of a challenge working out which one is best suited to your taste, but I've found my personal favourite to work with is definitely coconut milk.

As well as being a delicious addition to your morning latte, coconut milk can also be used within a number of vegan friendly recipes. I've whipped up a few recipe ideas to hopefully inspire you to use coconut milk within a few new (seriously easy) recipes rather than dairy.

Fruit & Coconut Milk Ice Lollies


What you will need:

  • 400ml Alpro Coconut Milk
  • 2 tbsp icing sugar
  • 4 strawberries (sliced)
  • 1 kiwi (sliced)
  • 1 handful of blueberries
  • 1 apricot (sliced)
  • 1 handful of mixed herbs (mint & basil)
  • A set of 6 popsicle moulds
1.)  Divide the sliced fruit and chopped herbs amongst the moulds evenly.
2.) Blend the coconut milk and icing sugar in a blender and pour over the fruit inside the moulds.
3.) Leave overnight (or 6 - 8 hours) in the freezer to set. Easy peasey!


Overnight Oats with Coconut Milk & Mixed Fruit

What you will need:

  • 1 cup of rolled oats
  • 200g of Alpro coconut yoghurt alternative
  • 200ml of Alpro coconut milk
  • Handful of pumpkin seeds
  • Pinch of coconut flakes
  • A handful of chopped berries (Strawberries & blueberries)
1.) Mix the oats, yoghurt alternative, coconut milk, and berries into a jar or tuppleware and leave overnight to soak.
2.) Empty into a bowl in the morning and sprinkle with the pumpkin seeds and coconut flakes.


When I said they were seriously easy recipes, I really meant they are seriously easy. If neither of these sweet treats appeal to you, why not check out Alpro's dairy free ice cream range? They currently have three flavours available, including coconut, chocolate & hazelnut and vanilla, each made from different dairy alternatives. They make the perfect guilt-free, animal friendly option for devouring whilst binge watching a new TV series on Netflix. Sounds perfect, right? 


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Disclaimer: I was sent a selection of Alpro's new coconut and ice cream range, but all opinions are my own.
4
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