September 22nd, 2011

This Summer (cream teas in IOW)

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This summer we went on holiday to the Isle of Wight for four days.

www.cocoandme.com - Coco&Me - Isle of Wight - Beautiful Shiny Sea -Tamami

(Sun kissed sea!! – We were lucky with the weather – And that’s a statement considering we are in UK! Lol.)
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I know I-know. It isn’t a fancy destination like, I dunno, somewhere like Majorca, but I reckoned that a plane journey with a rather tricky three-year-old in tow would be just too stressful. Whereas Isle of Wight can be reached by just two hours by car & then an hour on the ferry – so there we were. Also it was a place where I went to on a school trip aged 12, & I wanted to go there in that ‘a trip down memory lane’ kind of way…
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I really wanted to show the children the sea. It was our boy’s third time & our girl’s first time.
www.cocoandme.com - Coco&Me - Coco and Me - Isle of Wight - Beach throwing pebbles - Tamami
(Throwing pebbles in to the sea. Well, trying to… Mind your heads! ^^)
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While on the island, I, quite naturally, was on the look out for Cream Tea signs. My philosophy is that it’s like a ‘must-do’ on a holiday in the countryside in England. It’s also the only time that I eat clotted cream & I was not going to miss the opportunity to scoff ’til I groan…!
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www.cocoandme.com - Coco&Me - Coco and Me - Isle of Wight - Chessell pottery barns cream tea scones - Tamami
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At the Chessell Pottery Barns, we sat in the courtyard under the big willow tree. The sun’s rays were shining through the branches. Light was gently dancing on our table. We had a blissful time.
www.cocoandme.com - Coco&Me - Coco and Me - Isle of Wight - Chessell pottery barns cream tea scones - Tamami
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Mine was a summer berry scone. The tang of the berries with the scone sponge was an amazing combination. Together with a thick spread of creamy clotted cream & sweet strwaberry jam, gulps of strong tea to wash it down ready for the next bite… … – you momentarily think that nothing else matters in the world. - I had a hard time not to wolf it down too quickly to savour the bliss.
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www.cocoandme.com - Coco&Me - Coco and Me - Isle of Wight - Warren farm farmhouse cream tea scones - Tamami
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Very close to The Needle (the first two pictures were taken there), we dropped by Warren Farm for their farmhouse cream tea. There, ladies in pinnies served us from a small hatch window. The aga-baked scones were fresh & soft. I chose to eat it with their hedgerow jam.
www.cocoandme.com - Coco&Me - Coco and Me - Isle of Wight - Warren farm farmhouse cream tea scones - Tamami
(The tablecloth, the crockery, the doilie… – to me, it exactly exemplifies ‘countyside cream tea’. Perfect.)
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Another place that is definitely worthy of mention is the Bluebell Café near the Isle of Wight Steam Railway. It’s a part of Briddlesford Lodge Farm. We had lunch there & it was so delicious! We also tried a glass of unpasteurised gold-top milk (gold-top milk is 5% fat content, whereas whole standardised milk you find in supermarkets are 3.5%) from their Guernsey herd.
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We discovered this place just two hours before we had to leave the island. We regretted not finding it sooner because otherwise we could’ve eaten there more. Oh well.

September 12th, 2011

Twitter

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Hello~! Hello~! Hello~!

Yes, I’m blogging again!! – it’s been a while since the last post I know, I’m so sorry… I hope you haven’t forgotten? How have you all been? Did you all have a good summer?

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My summer holiday with the children was just so ”full-on’…

A 7 year old & a 3 year old, 24/7… As lovely as they are, & as much as I love them, by the end of everyday they’ve got me knackered.

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The last thing I wanted to do at the end of the day was to write here. I was feeling very un-creative. Every night I would just zonk out watching Japanese programmes on the internet (with a bag of dorito crisps! My fave flavour is cool original…), or fall asleep at the same time as the children.

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BUT! Finally, since last Tuesday my son is back at school, & my daughter is starting nursery from tomorrow! So hopefully I can come back to blogging like before again! And in fact, my daughter is going to nursery all day (9am to 3:25pm) everyday (Monday to Friday) from the third week! Which means… (!) I will have a good proportion of ‘me-time’ for the first time in the last 7½ years!!!!!!!!!! Oh-my-Gawd, how weird does this feel?! Pretty exciting I guess! Anyway, so infact, I should hopefully be able to blog more often than ever before! There’s so much to tell you, like about my BEST-EVER banana cake for example. And about the numerous cream-teas I had during the holiday… So watch this space!!

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One thing I was pondering on during summer:

I’m thinking of twittering. Whilst writing for this blog takes time, I should hope that a sentence or two for twitter would hopefully be more frequent?? I know I’m laughably totally late on the twitter bandwagon by a couple of years at least… But I guess it’s better late than never, & the thought of twittering from the market on Saturdays would be fun (such as “ggghh, it’s raining…!”), as well as cataloging odd bits of thought on baking might be useful…?

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So, if you like, please follow me at:

http://twitter.com/coco_and_me

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… & watch-out for my debut-twittering sometime during this week!

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See you there~!

Tamami xoxo