product review: fruitbroo.

fruitbroo: insanely tasty hot drinks. when beky from bristol based drinks company fruitboo got in touch i was instantly intrigued. i'm a bit of a creature of habit when it comes to drinks. i'll pretty much have a bottle of water in my hand 24/7, have a coffee at 9am and 2pm, only ever drink a can of coke with fish and chips, have a soft spot for cider and now and then can be found sipping on a peppermint tea with one sugar. 

i like the idea of fruit tea but am always disappointed when strawberry tea doesn't taste like a mouth full of strawberries. and the idea of hot ribena or juice really doesn't appeal. when these little treats arrived i was instantly keen to wittle down my favourite and see if it would be something that would ever come into my beverage routine. fruitbroo is a sort of hot drink cordial made from all natural fruit and spices. to make, you simply stir a teaspoon or two of the syrup into a cup of boiling water and voila!

have you picked a favourite already? 

chocolate bakewell tart.

one of my favourite desserts with a twist; a chocolate bakewell using nutella spread! since bakewell is mostly almonds and i love nutty flavours i started thinking how this could work. i imagined once the jam was out of the recipe how this would turn into a nutty frangipane tart with some of my fave flavours :) tempted? here's how i made it...

matar paneer curry.

having really enjoyed matar paneer in a few indian vegetarian restaurants - including bobby's and shivali in leicester - i was keen to have a go myself. this fairly mild north indian dish is made up of matar or mattar (peas) and paneer (indian cheese) in a lightly spiced tomato based sauce. i'm starting to build up a little spice collection lately and this recipe over at padhu's kitchen looked like the perfect place to start...

cafe bruxelles, leicester.

cafe bruxelles as a lovely bar in leicester which serves speciality european beers, complex cocktails and, i've recently come to realise, an appetising menu too. not to mention, a beautiful ceiling hey? i remember first going there with my dad near on ten years ago and always recall him ordering a leffe blond. so, having recently got into trying out a few groupon deals, when i saw cafe bruxelles on the leicester offers i snapped it up straight away. a three course meal and bottle of wine for £24 - you can't go wrong really!