My week started with a hot chocolate at one of my favourite coffee shops in Exeter. Devon coffee is right in the heart of the city on Queen Street and run and owned by two of the nicest people, Steve and Kim. I try and stop by as often as I can for their wonderful home roasted coffee as well as a hot chocolate now and then as a treat.

From my hot chocolate at Devon Coffee I headed down the hill to St David’s train station for a little day trip with Steve. Our destination was Dawlish so we could take in some sea air and take the short walk to the Forest Fungi Farm Shop. Recommended by Ollie of Exploding Bakery fame we were excited to try out the mushroomy delights on offer in the cafe. All of the mushrooms used are grown on the premises in a room with a carefully controlled atmosphere. That’s zero food miles which is AMAZING!

I had the special of the day which was a rather scrummy mushroom soup with a hint of tarragon. Steve had the full English breakfast. He rated it up there with one of the best he had ever had. High praise indeed!

On Thursday I had the day off so decided on a little baking before I set off to Sidmouth to have dinner with my friends Rebecca, Cat and Rachael. I had watched the brand new cookery show by Hemsley and Hemsley on Monday evening and felt inspired. They had made a rather wonderful looking banana and cinnamon loaf which I wanted to recreate. A gluten and refined sugar free cake that looked simple to make. It really was a case of putting all the ingredients in the food processor and whizzing it all up. Once the ingredients were combined it was time to transfer them into a lined loaf tin and then into the oven. Fifty minutes later I had a wonderful banana loaf that was delicious served with peanut butter and honey.

After my baking I walked up to the local bus station to catch the next bus available to Sidmouth. I had early dinner plans with some old friends. I arrived at about 4.30pm and found the girls in the sunny garden eating a cream tea! How wonderful.. They really know me too well! Cream teas are one of my absolute favourite treats. I helped myself to a scone and sat in the sunshine and caught up on all the news.

For dinner we had monkfish kebabs with rice and salad followed by more treats in the form of coconut cake and Australian crunch. Australian crunch is a throwback from our time at school where it was served at lunchtime. A concoction of coconut and chocolate and set in the fridge. A delicious sweet treat that I hadn’t sampled for years. 

Walking home from Zumba dance exercise class in the week I had to stop and take this picture. It was such a clear and sunny evening and it really lifted my mood.

As you can see it’s been a busy week and I have lots more coming up next week for you to read about. I am writing a blogpost on my night out at the Bedboat Magazine launch which will be out in the next few days. It was such a fun night catching up with Hazel and Roberta from the magazine, Willow Hilson from Willow Hilson Vintage Boutique, Lorna from Lorna Ruby and Will and Caroline from Littles Coffee.

I am off to Cornwall for a few days too and very much look forward to writing about my little trip. I wonder what foodie goodies I will find?

Have a great week everybody. Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat for all my latest musings.