Spring Adventure with Chums at Matlock Bath.

Spring has thrown some tempting weekends our way of late, there is still a enough of a nip in the air to threaten winter hasn't quite passed though. My chums and I decided to take a trip out on a lovely sunny Sunday, to have a well overdue adventure, to Matlock Bath. 

The first time I went to Matlock Bath, I thought it was charming and eccentric. It is like being at the seaside, with loads of places to buy nic-nacs, fish and chip shops and arcades. The only difference is that you are inland, with a near-by river instead of the ocean. Matlock Bath also has a chocolate shop which sells possibly the most delicious chocolate I have ever eaten! It is so yummy that Ed will never share this chocolate with me so I always have to make sure that we both have a bag.  

Once we were all fed we decided to head up to the cable cars and take an airborne trip to the Heights of Abraham. On seeing that it was £14 each we decided we would find our own way up. As we all had no idea where we were going, we ended up taking a really long, windy path ascending up to the cable car station. It was a long climb, but totally worth it. The joke was on us when we asked for directions to get back down to the car parks and the decent took us all of 10 minutes!    

I had such a fun day, it was really nice to spend time with my friends whilst exploring the great outdoors in the Spring sunshine. I'm looking forward to the next adventure already.  

Hope you are making the most of the lovely weather <3
Much Love,
Kirst  

Lemon-balm-ade

As it has been such a lovely warm day again I couldn't resist to splash up some lemonade with a slight twist. This is a super easy recipe! To make around a pint all you need is 4 unwaxed lemons (if you use waxed you will get icky scum floating on the top), some sugar, around 1 pint of boiling water, some ice cubes and a little bunch of lemon balm.

I zested the four lemons, then chopped them in half and squeezed the bitter juice out of them (a handy tip is to roll the lemons or put them in hot water for a few minutes to get more juice out of them). 

Next I ripped up and added a small bunch of lemon balm. Then I spooned 3-4 tbs of sugar into the fragrant mix and poured over about 1 pint of boiling water. It is good to taste how sweet it is at this point (be careful not to burn your mouth though) if it is still a bit tart then add more sugar but I always think it is best to have it a bit sharper tasting because this tastes delicious when it is chilled. Then I left this in the fridge to cool. Once it is chilly I strained it through a sieve and chucked in a few handfuls of ice. 

I served this lovely-ade out of my little cottage teapot, in china tea cups with plenty of ice and some sprigs of lemon balm. I also made a little cocktail for Ed by putting a splash of gin into it which was rather yummy as well. 

Strawberry Shake.

So lately I have had a massive craving for milkshake. But I find the syrups you buy in the shops can be too sweet for me, so I decided to make my own. So here is how I made my strawberry milkshake, it is super quick and easy!

I took 400g of strawberries and blended them up with a stick blender and then added 2 tsps honey (you could use maple syrup or plain old sugar if you wanted). You can add more if you like depending on how sweet you like it, just taste as you go along. Then just add milk to taste. I divided my strawberry goop up into two because Ed had a soya version. Just add your milk then blend again, this makes the shake thick and bubbly. Then pour into the drinking vessel of your choice. I dressed the glasses with a strawberry each and added a mint sprig to the soya version and a sprig of lemon balm to dairy one. Smelling the mint with the strawberry made me think that next time I might make a mint syrup to swirl in the top, I think it would add a slight kick of yumminess.