The Cookhouse

It seems that a lot of people around me have birthdays in April, on the last day of term I posted about celebrations for M's, A's and L's birthday, but it actually worked out that L's birthday was the today, the first day back, and so naturally, the celebrations continued in the classroom with the usual cheese pies and chocolate chew balls.

L had found out about her mum's well kept surprise lunch with our form but that didn't mean we couldn't go all out on the tasteful decorations which were not only hung up around the classroom, but also where we were having lunch, The Suffolk Food Hall's Cook House.

The Cook House has amazing views onto the Orwell River, and the Food Hall itself is a working farm, hence the cows in the foreground, or should I say middle ground, seeing as poor B unwittingly jumped in the photo!

H, L's mum had had some Buck's Fizz jazzed up for the ultimate embarrassment/hilarity factor.

Then, the food started arriving,

G, and the majority of the girls, had plumped for the chargrilled rump of beef with onion chutney
and dressed leaves on granary bread.

Another popular dish was B's, the Ploughman’s Platter consisting of honey roast ham, scotch egg, Suffolk Gold, brie, pickles, rocket and a cottage roll.

I had soup of the day, which I didn't get a photo of, but it came with an enormous basket of freshly baked bread which I rapidly devoured.

Next came pudding, only a couple of girls wanted pudding and all but me opted for a chocolate tart topped with caramel ice cream and chocolate sauce,

 but I chose rhubarb parfait accompanied by roasted rhubarb and tuille wafers.

And finally, a surprise for us all, the cake, or cakes, arrived.

My favourite bit are the envious couple in the corner, or maybe the couple who's meal we disturbed by being so excitable.

The most beautifully decorated cupcakes that H had ordered, with the softest and lightest sponge cake and lashings of flavoured buttercream, lemon, mint or strawberry were the ones we came up with.

H insisted that we all take one with our initial on, this proved difficult as there are two Ms, three As and two Ls. So we had to be creative, the birthday girl had the L and I turned my number 1 upside down, who could tell?!

 We all went back to school worn out from laughing and I for one know that I was wishing that I hadn't worn jeans because I ate far too much!
The food hall is absolutely brilliant and I can recommend The Cookhouse for their delicious food and their relaxed atmosphere with beautiful views of the river, not to mention the reasonable prices!

Rabbit Food

This time last year I was eating pretty badly, I was eating unhealthy food and in large quantities of, for example, Exhibit A.



The Baconcake.
I work minimum 6 hour shifts with no time to eat, and I find it hard to find something that will fill me up for that length of time, and unfortunatley for my waistline, baconcakes seemed to be the answer, until I had the common sense to take a pancake recipe and adapt it, making it marginally healthier, and make my conscience feel a whole lot better on a Saturday morning.

To make one hungry ganet portion:

135g flour
2tbsp honey
125ml milk (I use soya light or coconut milk)
1 beaten egg
1 tbsp melted butter
A pinch of salt
1/4 tsp baking powder

This is just a picture of the cake I made for my boyfriend J's 18th with M&Ms and Skittles on top. But I've swapped eating this for this (below).

I had to put these in because they are probably one of the best healthy snacks I have found, sweetened pineapple.
The fact that they're chewy and really sweet satisfies most sugar cravings but much healthier than tucking into that family bag of Skittles or Malteasers...

Albeit a weird one to have with soup, I really enjoy it instead of bread (my weakness), as I have not been known to demolish a baguette in less than 1 hour. I do actually prefer the corn cake versions of these, they taste a bit like popcorn, but Tescos didn't have them so I'll made do.

Nearly everyday in my packed lunch I take a carton of soup with me, that big appetite has to be filled with 2 portions of soup, but seeing as the ones that I devour are quite healthy there are no qualms.

My absolute favourite is by the New Covent Garden Soup Co. who do the most delicious soups, most I would be happy to swim in, but this is the best, it's a thick chicken soup with mustard, apple sauce and mushrooms... Mmm... (Lentil and smoked bacon is a close 2nd!)

I try to eat healthily, and by the rule 80/20, 80% of what I eat is nice and healthy and the other 20% is made up of baconcakes, chocolate fudge cake and chocolate chew balls....