A Honeymoon in Florence

Hey there, stranger! I've been a little quiet on the blog front lately. Life became rather hectic a few months ago with a new job and the big party that was our wedding happening simultaneously. It’s been a fun summer, lets catch up.

Delicious Raw Cacao Balls

Do you regularly crave chocolate or a sugar fix? Me too! After every savoury meal. I also lack the willpower to suppress my inner sugar-addict for more than a couple of days. I often give into temptation and have just one chocolate cookie or just one row of galaxy which inevitably leads to another, and another etc etc. Yes, I’m that weak! Recently I’ve been researching healthy sweet treats that are low in sugar but still give my tastebuds a satisfying sweet kick.

Zucco For Me, Zucco For You

I’ve become a bit of a regular at this quaint Italian and have been meaning to share it with you for months. Zucco offer a winning concept of small Italian sharing plates, each freshly prepared to bring an authentic taste of Italy to North Leeds. It’s exactly my kind of dining experience, I'm always filled with food envy at dinner and will always take you up on that offer of a bite. This is tapas done the Italian way, think small-ish dinner plates bursting with big Mediterranean flavours. And not a tiny terracotta bowl in sight.

Beer and Veggie Bites at Bundobust

Trying to get a devoted carnivore, like Steve, to accompany me to a vegetarian restaurant can be a tricky task that needs much persuasion. However, with a creative Indian street food menu and a bar of eclectic craft beers, a visit to Bundobust proved instantly enticing. 

Nutty On-The-Run Breakfast Bars

Time in the morning seems to tick away too fast and I never have time for breakfast before I dash out of the door. Cereal has been off my breakfast menu for about six months as I've stopped drinking milk. Calves milk is difficult for humans to digest and can lead to outbreaks of red flaky skin on your face, trust me - not attractive! Since I’ve been making my own granola bars, breakfast has become  tastier and my skin is much smoother too.

Hello, Meat Liquor Leeds!

Let me introduce you to the newest arrival on the Leeds, steadily expanding, burger scene. Leeds, Meat Liquor. Meat Liquor, Leeds. I'm a big fan fan of this cult London born brand, much loved for its burgers and cocktails, and couldn't wait to check out their newest branch. We visited during their opening week on a Friday evening and expected to queue for a while. To our surprise there was no queue and no customers inside the clinical looking diner. Were we in the wrong place?

The Best Cheap Eats In London

Shockingly it's been almost a year since we moved out of our lovely garden flat in London’s Crouch End to embark on our round the world adventure. Even more surprising is that it took us almost three months, since returning to the UK, to visit our beloved capital. However, we recently enjoyed four fantastic days reacquainting ourselves with much missed friends and London’s best bits, without the stress of working there. As former adopted Londoners with seven years experience eating our way around the city we've compiled a list of our favourite cheap yet cool restaurants in London. 

Authentic Tom Yum Soup

You like spicy? Then you will love this hot and sour soup recipe that I learnt in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand! Tom Yum is a delicious broth that combines all of my favourite flavours from Thai cuisine: coriander, lemongrass, lime and chilli. It’s very spicy and comes pretty close to blowing your head off - consider yourself warned. Still reading? Great! Tom Yum is easy to make and cooks in under thirty minutes, plus its low fat as there is no coconut milk or oil in this recipe. It’s one of my favourite soups as it smells fantastic and is full of flavour.

Spicy Guacamole And Homemade Tortilla Chips

Last night I made tortilla chips for the first time and teamed them with a Mexican inspired bowl of spicy guacamole. Holy Mole - it was pretty delicious! The fresh, punchy flavours in the guacamole and crunch of the tortillas were so much better than the pre-made, fat-filled nachos and dips at the supermarket. I feel pretty confident  as I write this that once you try this recipe, you’ll never go back to the likes of Doritos for your nachos fix again. They're so easy to make, as in less than 15 minutes, and great as a starter or snacking in front of the TV!

Date Night At Tharavadu

Kerala was the first stop on our round the world adventure and we are extremely fond of this small state on India's south west coast. Every day we delighted in the fantastic spices, seafood and hospitality of this region. Kerala is famous for its beautiful backwaters, evergreen jungle and Arabian Sea coastline of golden beaches.

"Authentic Kerala fish curry (in Leeds!)" 

Skinny Spicy Cauliflower Soup

The latter half of our seven month trip was in South America and the effects of a high carb, meaty diet are really showing as I can no longer fit in to my favourite J Brands. Sob! So, for the past week since returning from our epic round the world adventure I’ve been trying to cram as many vegetables into my diet as possible. 

Cusco - The Centre of the Inca Empire

In total we spent just over two weeks in Bolivia and after a sunny couple of days on Lake Titicaca it was time to board a night bus bound for Cusco in Peru. Copacabana is less than 15 minutes drive from Bolivia’s border with Peru and for the first time in South America we had a supervised border crossing by the hostess on our bus, this meant we were herded like sheep from one immigration office to the next. The Peruvian immigration office looked in need of some renovation but we were very excited to be in Peru. So many travellers had raved to us about Peru and we couldn't wait to explore.

"Welcome to Peru!"

The Other Copacabana

Our final stop in Bolivia was Copacabana, where unlike it’s famous Brazilian namesake this Copacabana sits on the banks of Lake Titicaca, one of the world’s highest lakes at 3,812m ASL. This lakeside town is only a four hour drive north of La Paz and less than 30 minutes from the Bolivia and Peru border making it a popular traveller spot. Our bus ride to Copacabana started in the rather rough Cementario neighbourhood of La Paz with an unpleasant breakfast of bread filled with cheesy, lumpy milk. Note to Sticky: Just because the locals are eating it doesn’t mean you will like it too! 

Happily Stranded In Sucre

We spent just one night In Uyuni recovering from our Salt Flats tour before making the bus journey to Sucre via Potosi. There had been daily protests and road blockades over the past week so we were relieved that we could actually travel. First we took a bus for about four hours to the silver mining town of Potosi which is also the highest town in the world at 4,440m ASL. We would have loved to have stayed and visited the mines here which are notoriously dangerous places to work but as the miners were mid-strike we decided to pass straight through to Sucre in a shared taxi for just 40 BOB (£4) per person.

Horseriding With Gauchos In Salta

Our next destination after wonderful Cafayate was Salta which was a meagre four hour journey north by bus through the Quebrada De Las Conchas (aka. those rocks again). The main reason for heading to Salta was to go whitewater rafting on the Rio Juramento, we’d loved our rafting experience in Bali so much and were very keen to try it again. We even emailed the only agency in town to check it was available and of course they said "yes, no problem" but when we went to the office there was of course 'a problem’ and we couldn’t go.

Exploring Cafayate A Wine Lover’s Paradise

Cafayate is a tiny town famous for producing Torrentes wine and its quite tricky to reach when you’re heading north so not many travellers venture here which made it even more appealing to us. From Mendoza we took an overnight bus of 15 hours to Tucaman and this bus was by far the worst we’d travelled on so far, inside it was very dated and scruffy with no service but it did stop a lot so we were able to grab some food and use a cleaner bathroom along the way. 

Big Eats And Cultural Delights In Buenos Aires

Our journey to Buenos Aires involved our first overnight bus journey and although we’d heard that the buses in Argentina were great we were a still a little apprehensive. There was only one bus company for our route but we opted to travel Cama class which meant an almost flat bed and all meals included, we paid 800 ARS (£62)each. Bus travel in Argentina is expensive but to be fair though we were travelling 1,350 kilometres! Once onboard our minds were put at ease, we had huge comfortable seats and within ten minutes we were eating cake and dulce de leche toffees. They even had a couple of films to entertain us so it was just like being on a long haul flight, we slept well and awoke at the massive three storey bus station in Buenos Aires.

A Cambodian Countryside Tour By Tuk Tuk

Our next stop after Phnom Penh was about five hours minibus ride south to the small coastal town of Kampot, which is famous for producing Kampot pepper. If you've ever eaten dinner with Vicky you’ll know she puts puts black pepper on everything, so we were both intrigued and looking forward to a taste of the worlds best! Plus, just under 30km along the coast is the quaint seaside village of Kep, the fresh crab here is proclaimed locally as the best in Asia! As we love our food, we were easily sold on a one day tuk tuk tour around Kampot and Kep.

Cooking Thai In Chiang Mai

After two and a half months backpacking we finally managed to find a cooking school that fit in to our travelling movements. We had scheduled a visit to Chiang Mai, Thailand's second biggest city and also home to some top rated Thai cooking schools. It was the perfect opportunity to explore our love for Asian food, we often attempt curries such as Massamans at home and have missed cooking since being away.  

Chasing Street Art In Georgetown Penang

After a couple of weeks in chilly Nepal where the weather was getting colder each day we were very excited to arrive in sunny Malaysia on the charming island of Penang. The main attraction here is Georgetown an old British colonial town (now a UNESCO heritage area) bursting with character and colour.