Our final sea day on board the Britannia

When I first found out that our cruise was going to coincide with the Royal Wedding I was admittedly gutted, there was no way that I could miss it. 

Yet this actually worked out to be a much better than I thought as the wedding was broadcast around the ship with a huge sense of patriotism on deck. 

Believe it or not, the fairytale wedding was not even the highlight of my day as we put on our glad rage and went up to the Epicurean restaurant for Eric Lanlard’s afternoon tea. 

The classic menu with a modern twist including a smoked salmon and cream cheese open sandwich on spinach bread - nom.

Dark chocolate macaroon with smoked salmon and cucumber - double nom and a lemon meringue trifle with blackcurrant coulis.

On our final sea day we were sure to do many of the classic cruise activities including dance classes ( as long as they fitted around the royal wedding) , playing bingo and even a spot of disco dancing. 

Vegan Afternoon Chai at We Are Wellness

I like afternoon tea as much as the next person (ok maybe more and when I saw that We Are Wellness were hosting a Vegan Afternoon Chai as part of the Leeds Indie Food festival I jumped at the chance of trying this unique take on afternoon tea.

We Are Wellness, housed in the stunning Clifton Manor in Headingley, is a yoga and beauty therapy space which was the perfect setting for our relaxing afternoon.

Upon arrival at the manor we were led into the dining room where we could help ourselves to a minty fruit infusion, water, the most delicious vegan chai tea and spiced crunchy dhal.

The first course included a variety of savoury morsels with  an Indian inspired theme.

These included:

Aubergine chapati wraps with a pomegranate salad - whilst the flavours of the wrap went well together the wraps were a bit too spicy for my taste.

Crispy baked samosas with a potato and pea or tofu and cashew filling. 

Baked beetroot hajis with a most delicious apple and mint chutney 

And finally, open cucumber on rye sandwiches, served with cucumber raita; because no afternoon tea is complete without cucumber sandwiches!

After topping up our cups with more chai the sweet course and my taste buds were in for a treat! 

From mango lassi cheesecake to chili chocolate brownies and the very scrumptious banana and chai spiced cupcakes (or rather just cake)

Readers of this blog will know (or maybe they don't, who knows?) that I rather rather enjoy experimenting with various ingredients and substitutes in a bid to cater for pop;e with dietary requirements and so I was eager to hear how the sweet treats of our tea were made.

The brownies use hydrated chia seeds instead of eggs. For my recipes using chia seeds you could click here and....oh wait I forgot to post the other recipes.

The banana and chai caramel cake which was beautifully light untextured was made using soaked cashew nuts, which were then ground into a paste, in place of butter.

Finally, it was time for the petit fours, although what do you call petit fours when there's no fours (oven) involved? 

The selection included a coconut and cardamon ladoo as the totally diving Indian cashew fudge bites.

Thanks to We Are Wellness for the gloriously guilt-free afternoon tea which was low on sugar yet super high on tickling those taste buds!

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The Spiced Pear and Tim Bilton

From 2004- 2006 you would find me in the kitchens of Thomas Danby College (now part of the Leeds’ City College) every Saturday as part of the Junior Chef’s Academy. I worked my way through stages 1,2,3 and eventually achieved my NVQ Level 1 Food Preparation and Cooking ; all thanks to the guiding hand of Tim Bilton a.k.a Chef. 

After my time at the college I heard in passing that Tim had left to pursue his career and opened The Butchers’ Arms in Hepworth as well as appearing on The Great British Menu much to my excitement and tumultuous screaming of “OMG I know that guy!”

As part of my ’21 Things To Do Before I’m 21’ blog I was lucky enough to visit The Butcher’s Arms where I was fortunate enough to see Tim (or should I say Chef) again. You can read that blog here if you wanted to.

I heard through the grapevine the Tim had moved on and was now working at  the vintage tea rooms and bar; The Spiced Pear also in Hepworth. You can imagine therefore that it has always been a wish of mine to go there but until recently this wish was more like a dream your heart makes.

Yesterday, my birthday, I woke to bunny snuggles, presents and the news that I was going for a surprise afternoon tea. All I was told was that I should put on my vintage dress. Suitably intrigued I put on my glad-rags (The dress is from Lindy Bop in case you were wondering and set off on a magical mystery ride….

My sense of direction and all geographical knowledge is so appalling that even after looking at road signs I still had absolutely no idea where I was. After many winding roads we finally pulled up to the drive and the sign looked just a bit familiar. I had finally made it to The Spiced Pear! 

I may have shed a tear at this point.

With a warm and friendly welcome, glass of champagne and wishes of Happy Birthday my mother and I were led though to the vintage tea room complete with tea cup lights, magazine trimmings on the walls, retro style decor and oodles and oodles of gorgeous chins tea sets.

The ‘invention’ of Afternoon Tea can be credited to the Duchess of Bedford in the 19th century. After complaining of ‘a sinking feeling’ during the afternoon the Duchess was brought a selection of sandwiches and cakes for her to enjoy privately in her boudoir. Soon the Duchess of Bedford was inviting some of her closest friends for tea and this tradition escalated. 

For this reason I believe that Afternoon Tea has remained a largely female pastime and I often notice that tea rooms are often mostly filled with women whenever I go for Afternoon Tea. With this in mind I was delighted to see that The Spiced Pear offered a ‘Gentlemen’s Afternoon Tea’ which besides being ‘very Yorkshire’ offered a variety of savoury items which could be considered ‘more substantial’ than the traditional finger sandwiches and I was particularly taken with the Yorkshire Pudding with Butter Roast Turkey, Pork Pie with Balsamic Onion and Homemade Scotch Egg.

As well as ordering a Gentlemen’s Afternoon Tea we also went for the Festive Afternoon Tea which included the delightful Christmas Scone with a delicious hint of cardamon, mini since pies with melt-in-the-mouth pastry and a sumptuous collection of mini cakes including carrot, chocolate and fruit cake. 

We washed all of this down with Earl Grey tea and experienced a truly wonderful afternoon. I was particularly taken with the fact that we were given Pear Drops with our bill……because its The Spiced Pear.

Whilst sipping on our tea and discussing whether it was better to hold your tea cup with 2, 3 or four fingers or thoughts turned to Tim. ‘I wonder if he’s in today?’ I thought. 

Upon googling him to see whether or Tim was still working there our if he had moved on I was shocked to read this article from The Huddersfield Examiner. After an ongoing battle with cancer Tim has lost his taste buds and has been forced to resign as a chef. 

This truly heart breaking story was later clarified by the staff who told us that Tim is spending time at home with his family whilst continuing on with his battle.  

The Cancer Unit at Weston Park Hospital in Sheffield have been invaluable in their care for Tim and his family throughout his battle and Tim and Adele hope to offer their gratitude by raising money for the unit. A charity ball was held at Rudding Park in September and you can donate to their Just Giving page here , II know that I will. 

Festive Afternoon Tea at the Principal Hotel York

 Happy early Birthday to me! Today my sister and I took a trip to York to sample the new Festive Afternoon Tea at the recently renovated Principal hotel and it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. 

The Garden Room where we were seated is a beautifully decorated drawing room with sweeping views of the Minster. I loved the festive decorations including the elaborately decorated mantelpieces, the ginger bread house spread accompanied by a train set and lots of Christmas trees. 

We toasted our champagne flutes and settled down to a tantalising trip for the taste buds. 

To start we dined on Jerusalem Artichoke veloute with white truffle oil, beetroot cured blini with Hendricks’ gin infused cucumber and the very delicious apricot, sage and bacon sausage roll. 

After a photographic interlude it was time the main event including a sumptuous array of sandwiches, scones and festive cakes!

Other highlights of the Principal festive afternoon tea included the apple chutney  in the Wensleydale cheese and chutney sandwiches as well as the cranberry and orange scones with clementine marmalade and clotted cream