Weekend at Peak Districk Part II

For Part I, please click here.

Sunday morning are always lazy and I think they should stay that way. However, when four other people are waiting for you, it might not be such a good idea. I was the last one to wake up, even though I got an extra hour of sleep with the clocks moving back. I had to pack so quickly because everyone else was ready. Awkward... I felt quite embarrassed.

Anyway, after I booted myself out of the door, we went to a little cafe for breakfast. Most of us had the very big breakfast plate. And oh my oh my was it big.

Weekend Away at Peak District Part I

I never got the obsession that some people have about autumn. For me, it is the start of term, the end of sunny days, end of floaty summer dresses, the start of the countdown to winter. The weather is changeable, sometimes it is freezing and sometimes it is too warm. So I was never that big of a fan of autumn. However, I think the Peak District may have changed my mind on this ambiguous season. The scenery was just amazingly beautiful. The red hues and the weaving mountains were just stunning.

We went to Ladybower dam and Derwent dam on the Saturday morning and then enjoyed the rest of the day at Chatsworth House. We drove past Ladybower dam and made a pit stop at the Ladybower lake. It seemed like there would usually be quite a lot of fisherman out there if the weather was better. There was a fishing supply shop just opposite the road.

Ladybower lake. The skies weren't looking too kind on us that morning...

The area around Derwent dam was just so pretty. It was just all trees and grass, so different from the dusty grey London. The dam was impressive but I think it would have been more spectacular if we were in the wet season. To be honest, it is difficult to think that North England has dry seasons, I swear it never stops raining. We even caught a little bit of rain in the morning, although it didn't stop us doing our planned activities.

Cup of tea, check, scarf check, massive coat, check. How to combat British weather. 

Weekends are for Pigging Out

FOOD. This pretty much sums up my weekend.

On Saturday, my boyfriend and I went round to one of my friend's house for his birthday party. It was such a good evening. The food was amazing, espresso martinis were made by the birthday boy's girlfriend. She is very talented in that area, amongst other things like knitting, baking, being super stylish (just check out her website)... Anyway, girl crush fawning over. So, food, I felt way too self conscious to take pictures, but here is a list: fried chicken, spiced rice, salad, coleslaw... Seriously, everything was delicious. And the desserts. There was a lemon tart and two loafs of lemon drizzle cake. The drizzle cake was melt-in-your-mouth deliciousness, super light. It was so good that I took a slice home. No shame whatsoever.

To add to the pigging out, before we went to the party, we had food out at Westfield Stratford. It is quite dangerous that a massive shopping centre is only 25 mins away on the overground train from my flat. The proximity is not healthy for my wallet, I am looking at you Victoria's Secret. We went to a Vietnamese restaurant and had some light but satisfying noodles and Pho (pronounced 'fuh'). Then proceeded to have poffertjes (mini Dutch pancakes) covered in milk chocolate AND an Oreo milkshake. Before you judge, we only got one of each and shared between us, that makes it less bad, right? The poffertjes were hot and freshly made, it was slightly salty, and having it dipped in milk chocolate was just heavenly. I think this might be my new favourite guilty-pleasure treat at Westfield. It used to be Mr Pretzel, but they increased their price by 49p, not a lot in absolute terms but that is a 14% increase!

God, just looking at this makes me want another one... (taken from thefoodconnoisseur, not my own picture)