Ham and Friends and other delicacies

You’ve heard of the land of milk and honey but let me tell you about  the delicious new foodie find right in the heart of Leeds. Ham and Friends is the third addition to the Friends of Ham empire and brings a fantastic selection of charcuterie, wines, beers and cheese to its food hall and kitchen. 

Ham and friends is also home to the Yorkshire Wine School, where as well taking part in wine tasting events you can also gain qualifications.  

George and Joseph, the first cheesemongers to Leeds City centre were most certainly worth waiting for! The cheese room offers a delectable selection of hard and soft cheeses made from cows, goats and sheep’s milk. Keep an eye out for my cheese tasting blog to follow!

The team from Ham and Friends and Friends of Ham host a selection of workshops and events including “Meet The Maker’ evenings where you can meet the suppliers and really sink your teeth into knowing where their food comes from. As part of the Leeds Independent Food festival Ham and Friends hosted a food photography course with photographer and stylist Victoria Harley (channel 4) 

A clear favourite of the morning that I spent at Ham and Friends was the coffee. The Darkwood coffee is roasted in the West Yorkshire Pennines and was ground for us on site for a beautifully fresh cup. 

The restaurant at Ham and Friends is to open at the end of May/ beginning of June and will incorporate seasonal produce from top quality suppliers who are specially chosen by owner Claire. 

From cured Italian meats to Spanish Chorizo Claire knows all of her suppliers personally and this translates in the way that Ham and Friends is not just about the delicious food but it is about the people too.  

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How to make a Homemade Coffee Scrub

I was watching Dragon's Den on the BBC this week and one product in particular caught my fernet (and therefore it must be true) eye...any ideas to what it could be? clearly there are no clues in the title.

Yes I am indeed talking about Grounded's coffee scrub. These caffeine rich scrubs are, according to the internet and therefore it must be true,  fast becoming the latest beauty trend and I have therefore decided to try my hand at making one of these scrubs.

As my various forays at making beauty products have shown (Don't believe me just read   or there's this one too  ) you can find a great many beauty products all around your kitchen. For example honey is a fantastic antiseptic and used to be used on wounds, bananas are rich in potassium which hydrates and moisturises the skin as well as being a very good source of vitamins A, B and E and even coffee is a super, smashing, great exfoliator which stimulates blood flow and is used for diminishing cellulite - so if you want to make this scrub and slap it on all over then be my guest. I shall however be using it as a face scrub.


For the super easy to make scrub you will need

1 scoop of ground coffee

1 tbsp coconut oil

1tsp honey

If, like mine, your coconut oil is very hard you may have to warm it slightly before adding the rest of the ingredients and mixing thoroughly making sure that each component is equally dispersed. My scrub smells deliciously like liquorice all sorts and even though all the ingredients used are edible; this is for your skin, not your tummy.

The scrub should be very thick in texture yet you may want to add a few drops of water if it is too thick that it is too difficult to apply.

Using a sponge or just your hands apply the scrub and with circular motions massage your face for about two minutes.  Wash off the scrub using a warm flannel. Follow up with your usual cleanse, tone and moisturise routine and your skin will be left feeling super soft, smooth and as you would expect from a coffee product; rejuvenated and awakened.

The new Nespresso machine

I got a Nespresso for Christmas and it's quite honestly one of my favourite things. From flat white, cappuccino, latte macchiato to straight up black coffee it's like I became a barista overnight...well not really I can't do any of the fancy stuff. 

One of the great things about my Nespresso U Magimix machine is how easy it is to use. I mean even I could figure it out! Just pop your pod in, pull the lever down and press the small coffee cup button if you want an espresso and the big coffee cup button for a lungo! Press the button again to stop it if it's giving you too much coffee. 

(When switching it on you should press the button once first to activate it and the buttons will glow green to show that it ready and waiting.) 

In fact the most difficult part is remembering to put the water in the holder bit at the back....and keeping it topped up if you are making lots of coffees. 

Another really great feature of Nespresso is that the machine comes with a 16 pod starter set allowing you to taste the coffees before offering more. I definitely would have ordered the wrong type without this so I'm loving my trial pods. 

I also wrote myself out an inventory of coffees and tick them off as they get drunk but that might just be me being really organised....or borderline OCD. 

As well as the U Magimix machine I also received in my Nespresso bundle the Aeroccino and oh my god this is genius. I've had the little hand held frother things before in the vain hope of creating a latte similar to the ones you get when you go out for coffee but they pale in comparison. 

The Aeroccino does two things by spinning the milk around with the frother whisk thingy attached it not only heats the milk up but also gives you a gloriously thick, frothy finish. When you press the button to start the machine it will run for 90 seconds but as with the Nespresso you can press the button again at anytime to stop it. If you want cold frothy milk give it will take about 30 seconds . 

I regularly get migraine headaches and caffeine is a one the worst offenders in contributing to these so I'm super happy that Nespresso do decaf versions of their Lungo range. Indeed as all of the coffees on the Nespresso menu list the intensity I can tailor which ones I drink and when. For example when other headache triggers are spiked I can have a weaker coffee whilst when levels of stress etc are quite low/manageable I can have a stronger coffee type.