An English Garden Afternoon Tea at the Conrad London St James

You may remember a couple of months ago I had the pleasure of popping along to the Conrad London St James hotel to sample two of their soon-to-launch afternoon teas. And if you do, you may also recall that I loved it. All of it.

So when my dear mother announced she was coming to visit me in London one fine Saturday, we decided an elegant afternoon tea would provide the perfect setting for a mother-daughter catch-up, and I decided to take her to the Conrad LSJ (let's be real, that name is too long to type out every time.)

We met up in the lobby of the hotel and were shown to a pretty table for two in the elegant Emmeline's Lounge - the stylish décor and harpist playing make for the perfect afternoon tea setting and ambiance in my opinion. However, if you can, I'd ask for a table at the lighter end of the room under the huge skylight, as it's pretty dark at the other end.

And we'd barely sat down before our flutes were fizzing with the finest champagne. 

 Mumm with Mum. I did chuckle to myself at that.

We chose our teas from the extensive menu - darjeeling 2nd flush for Mama, whole rosebud for me - and had a peruse of the treats coming our way:

It was a nice touch to have the menu actually as I do find, even though you're always told, it's sometimes hard to remember what you're actually eating.

I loved all the crockery and chinaware too - it was stylish and elegant in keeping with the feel of the room and the tea itself.

The English Garden theme manifested itself in clever twists on traditional classics. Have a look...

I liked that the sandwiches and savouries were just as special as the patisserie at Conrad LSJ - they definitely didn't play second fiddle.

We had chicken and basil tart (in the style of a flower box), pea panna cotta with whipped feta and mint and pea shoots, and smoked salmon open sandwiches...

...as well as egg and chive rolls and a selection of finger sandwiches: roast beef and English mustard, cucumber and cream cheese, and chicken and avocado. 

What a spread, right!?

I loved the pea panna cotta as it was so different, and the chicken tart too. I'm also a big fan of chicken and avocado so that was a lovely not-so-traditional addition to the finger sandwich line-up. The breads were all different, which I liked, although the end ones were a smidgen dry.

And as we nibbled, our champagne flutes were never more than half full before they were topped up again. And that's something I could get used to.

On to the scones!

And again, these weren't your standard ones.

Two scones were lemon thyme and the other two were candied black olive. Intriguing, right!? I wasn't sure what to expect. I mean, olive!? Would they be savoury?

They weren't.

They were delicious.

Neither of the scones was super strongly-flavoured, but their twists made them just that little bit more interesting than usual. I find often with themed afternoon teas, the theme doesn't quite get to the scones. Not here, mes amis. 

To be fair the reason I didn't think the scones were super-flavoursome could have been because I smothered them in all this goodness:

Your classic clotted cream and strawberry jam, for sure, but then also raspberry and rose curd to add a little more excitement to the proceedings. It was gooooood!

Oh, I do love a scone.

But I also love a cake. (Have I ever mentioned that?)

HELLO!

You're looking at apple and elderflower rose tarts (so pretty!), chocolate window boxes with edible flowers and the teensiest macarons ever, bourbon butterfly biscuits with pistachio fillings (the butterflies were white chocolate mmmm), and olive oil cakes with bay leaf creme and blood orange.

AND, even the "soil" coming out of the little plant pot on the side was edible chocolatey stuff.

It all looked incredible and tasted fab. I liked that it was really varied too. The olive oil cakes, for example, weren't that sweet, whereas the chocolate window boxes were v rich. The apple tarts were nice, light and fruity, and the chocolate-pistachio bourbons were an exciting twist on a classic.

But really, it's the presentation that makes it all. It was just all so intricate, detailed and perfect!

Anyone can make a cake or a tart. But not everyone can make cakes or tarts that look like that.

We were so full but Mum was absolutely sold on the afternoon tea at Conrad LSJ - she's already hoping to go back! The hotel may not have the reputation of the likes of Claridges and the Ritz, but I think it's absolutely on that level.

The staff and service were faultless and it had been a glorious, delicious and wonderful few hours that I felt privileged to be able to enjoy with my Mama.

We walked off our feast with a spot of shopping round Sloane Square - naturally, we made a beeline (appropriate choice of language given their latest collection) for Kate Spade where we were immediately offered glasses of prosecco. And who can say no to free prosecco!?

I tell you what though, tipsy shopping is a bit dangerous. And fun. DO IT!* What a great day.

Mum and I were guests at the Conrad London St James but I wouldn't have written about it if I didn't totally love it. 

What do you most like the look of?

*Please drink responsibly. Like I always do. Ahem.

My healthy breakfast storecupboard essentials

It is no secret that I live for breakfast. In fact, in a recent job application I was asked what gets me out of bed in the morning and gave them an honest answer - breakfast. (I did then provide a more serious answer but didn't get the job, can't think why...)

It's my fave meal of the day which anyone who follows me on Instagram will know given my almost daily snaps of how I'm breaking the fast. Here are a few recent examples:







And that's just the past week or so!

My fave things to have are porridge, overnight oats, chia pudding, smoothies, acai bowls, pancakes and sometimes just yogurt and fruit with granola or muesli.

And although I know I should probably be eating spinach omelettes and the like, I always have a sweet rather than savoury breakfast. I find that eating a healthy breakfast sets me up for the day and I love playing around with the presentation and making it look pretty too. After all, we eat with our eyes first, amiright?

My brother recently said to me, "Rach, I've never known anyone treat their breakfast quite so much like a work of art." All I could think was, well, he obviously doesn't follow the same people as me on Instagram then!

At the end of last year I did that #2015bestnine thing to find my most-liked Instagram snaps of 2015 and as you can see, they were predominantly breakfasts:


And one of my followers, Emily, recently asked if I'd do a blog post on my healthy breakfast storecupboard essentials, so Emily, this one's for you.



Oats

I have oats in some guise most mornings, whether that's porridge, overnight oats, pancakes or muffins.


Granola

I try and have my own sugar-free granola full of nuts and goodness to hand, but when I haven't had time to replenish my supplies, I like Rude Health's.


Flaxmeal

Flaxmeal is just ground-up flax seeds (which are the same as linseeds) and I add it to smoothies, porridge and overnight oats. It's a great thickener, fab for your digestion and can also be used to make flax eggs if you want to make vegan pancakes or muffins.


Chia Seeds

These nutritional little powerhouses have been touted as one of the superfoods of the last year or so. They swell to nine times their size when soaked and I use mine to make chia pudding - some people simply sprinkle them on top of other things without soaking but I personally think that's a waste of their magical expanding power.


Hemp Seeds

Also full of goodness, I like adding these to smoothies as they have a slightly creamy flavour and texture.


Raw Cacao Powder

Whenever I want to make something chocolatey (eg. blended chocolate chia pudding or a chocolate-banana smoothie), I use raw cacao powder. My current packet was found in an independent food store in Bristol but it's becoming more and more mainstream (Lucy Bee, for example, has just brought out her own range.) On its own it's really bitter and a bit ming, but if you combine it with some sort of sweetener it's fab for creating a rich chocolate flavour and is super good for you. Speaking of sweetener...


Agave Nectar, Maple Syrup, Date Nectar and Honey

The above four are my sweeteners of choice. As they all have slightly different textures and flavours I use them for different things but they're all totally natural which I love.


Almond Milk

I've been trying to keep my dairy levels to a minimum for the past year largely for the sake of my skin and almond milk is my milk of choice for most things. It's fab in porridge and smoothies!


Soya Yogurt

Sticking to the dairy-free vibe, I actually prefer soya yogurt to coconut yogurt in most cases. Although I know it's not all-natural, Alpro is the brand I go for and I use it just like you would normal yogurt.



Nut Butters

AKA my boyfriends. Oh, how I love nut butters. My latest obsession is Pip & Nut's coconut almond butter which I cannot recommend enough, however as you can see I'm also a Meridian fan. Peanut and almond butter are my staples, but I also love cashew and hazelnut butters. The wave of exciting all-natural nut butters coming out by new brands at the moment is most exciting to me. Whether drizzled over chia pudding, mixed into pancake batter or blended into a smoothie, I eat nut butter most mornings. Make sure you get all-natural stuff with no nasty additives!


Nuts

Although my nut butter love knows no bounds, I do also sometimes find myself wanting a bit of crunch which is where whole nuts come in. Usually almonds.


Buckwheat Flour

Naturally gluten-free (but check the packaging actually as some do contain traces), buckwheat flour is my flour of choice for pancake-making. It's nutty and delish.


Fruit

I nearly always have banana in my breakfast somehow, and often berries of some sort too. Particularly if I'm chez mes parents (ta, mum). Frozen over-ripe bananas are wonderful for making luscious, thick smoothies and grated apple in a porridge bake or to make bircher muesli is also pretty dreamy.


Dried Fruits

I add raisins and sultanas to porridge and overnight oats (I prefer them when they've plumped up you see) but you really can't beat medjool dates for awesomeness - they're squidgy, fudgy and a great way to sweeten smoothies and the like. Not the cheapest of dried fruits but totally worth it in my humble opinion.




Cinnamon

My spice of choice. I add it to everything. Mostly. Goes down a treat with almond butter, peanut butter, apple and medjool dates. Also apparently speeds up your metabolism which is never a bad thing eh?


Cacao Nibs

Great for sprinkling onto porridge or smoothies when you want some crunch and a little chocolate flavour. They're not sweet but they're v good for you. I use these ones from BodyMe.


Acai Berry Powder

Another supposed superfood for ya here, chums! This powder made from Brazilian berries has an almost perfumed flavour and isn't for everyone, but I love it. I went on about my love for acai bowls here and here so won't harp on now. Again, I use BodyMe.


Desiccated Coconut

Mix into your oats, sprinkle on top of a smoothie bowl, add to pancake batter... I love coconut and it's a great nutritional boost. Goes beautifully with Pip & Nut's coconut almond butter too.



So there you have it, folks! My breakfast essentials. OK, so maybe they're not all essential, but I hope it may give you some ideas or inspiration, or at least help you to know what I'm on about in my Instagram posts!

The other day this happened...

Mum: "What ARE you putting in the blender, Rachel?!"

Me: "Raw cacao powder, flaxmeal, acai berry powder..."

Mum: "I have no idea what any of those things are let alone that we had them in the house!"

So Mum, I hope this enlightens you too. Lol jk, mum never reads my blog. *cries into banana-peanut butter muffin*

What are YOUR breakfast essentials?

Class of 2015: Graduating from the University of Bristol

I'm not going to sugar-coat it. Graduation was pretty much the best day ever.

Sure, it was two months ago now, but I've been waiting on the professional pictures which I now have, hoorah!

I remember back in October of Final Year how much I was looking forward to graduation. And then crying internally because I had practically the whole final year of my degree and a hell of a lot of work to get through first.

But we did it! After months of waiting to use the graduation cap emoji and writing "congradulations" everywhere (punny, no?) the day finally came.

I hope those of you who perhaps don't live in the UK or are merely intrigued as to what a British university graduation is like may enjoy this little insight to the day...

Modern Languages were given the very last ceremony after a week of graduations at the University of Bristol. And, after a week of sunshine, it decided to absolutely CHUCK it down all. damn. day.

For days I simply refused to believe anyone who told me it was forecast to be horrendous weather. I had my dress, shoes, bag, extremely detailed itinerary for the day (obvs), and nothing was going to rain on my and my friends' parades.

Shout-out to my dad for being awesome and chauffeuring the Hosie gals around all day thus saving us attempting to walk to far in our heels through the torrential rain!

Horrendous weather aside, I was so excited to be going back to Bristol for one last day and to see all my friends again.

To the annoyance of, well, ALL students, it's tradition at The University of Bristol NOT to wear mortar boards. I know! Bit rubbish.

Buuut we still got gowns, HOORAH! They're fun to wear, if slightly more awkward than I'd been expecting - mine kept falling off my shoulders and going wonky but I werked it. (Not a typo. I'm trying to be cool.)

After picking up my gown I dragged the fam (minus the absent brother, who had a prior commitment in Spain, whatevs) along for some professional photos with the very talented Jamie Corbin. So that was fun. He even let us pretend we had mortar boards, yay!

I am the dancing girl emoji, also known as José. (-> Hosé -> Hosie.)

Next up, we moved on to a lovely reception put on by the Modern Languages department.

There was Prosecco, tea, coffee, strawberries and cream and caaaaaake! So yes, it was pretty ideal.

I also really enjoyed seeing some of my teachers again. Quote the Shrimp: "Why are you, like, friends with your teachers?" What can I say? I'm that kinda kid.

It was also amusing to discover some of my teachers had seen Holly and thought "why isn't Rachel wearing her robe?" Apparently the Shrimp and I look kinda similar... What do you think? (In case you hadn't guessed, she's the one in the green dress.)

But mainly I was just so excited to see my friends again! I'd spent the morning bumping into people here and there which is exactly how I'd spent the past four years of my degree. I love it.

Also fun: seeing people with their parents, don'tcha think? It's funny because I'm super close to my friends but had barely met any of their parents, and vice versa, so it was super nice to meet people's families.

Awards were handed out (sadly there wasn't one for "sparkliest lecture attendee") and before we knew it, it was time to make our way down to the amazing Wills Memorial Building for our ceremony! With the prospect of walking up and down stairs in super high heels with hundreds of people watching still looming, I'd been conscious of not drinking too much Prosecco.

The graduands all took our places in our assigned seats in the Great Hall and were given a briefing on how errythang was going to go down.

It was only halfway through said briefing that I realised I had stupidly not been paying attention (I was too busy reading the snazzy programme and checking out who'd got Firsts.) Thank GOD my friends around me had been listening.

As well as the programmes we were given teeeeny UoB pencils and a tote bag. Don't ever say you don't get your money's worth from a degree.

As family and friends streamed in, the hall filled up, cameras snapped, the atmosphere of excitement grew and then it was time to start.

As the organ played, the important people in all their splendour processed up to the front and took their seats. It was Vice-Chancellor Professor Sir Eric Thomas' final graduation ceremony EVER, so he was pretty emosh.

And then graduation happened. One by one we smiling graduands picked up our certificates and became graduates. It was all impeccably organised too. Equally impressive was that neither of us ladies in our silly high heels fell over on the stairs which is quite an achievement if you ask me.

We all cheered and whooped for our friends and it was so lovely because - as I've said before - we linguists are a sociable bunch, and so most of us knew the majority of the cohort.

The national anthem was sung, speeches were made and then it was procession time again. Our ceremony had all the pomp one would expect from a thoroughly British occasion, and I loved it.

The new graduates and our families mingled outside in the most celebratory of atmospheres before splitting off into groups for special dinners - we went to Aquila.

It's the most wonderful Italian restaurant: great food and friendly service whilst also being a bit more special and snazzy than the likes of Pizza Express. They also gave us free Prosecco so yay to that.

Apols the pics aren't better - I only had my phone, which is an iPhone 4 (feel my pain) - but please take my word for it when I say everything was fabulous.

After a wonderful dinner, my parents and sister headed back home and I rejoined my friends to party the night away and enjoy Bristol's fine nightlife with all my uni chums for one last time.

What a day. It was the PERFECT way to end four wonderful years at Bristol. I'm so sad university is over but I have the fondest of memories and Bristol will always hold a special place in my heart.