It’s been a week full of friends and not just friends… friends and food! Up there with my all time favourite things is spending time with my friends over a good cup of tea, lunch or dinner. The time you spend together chatting and consuming lovely things is really heartwarming. Whether it’s new friends or old, there is something about spending time with like minded people that really uplifts me.

I met up with my first friend on a little impromptu day trip to the city of Bath. I had met Sus at a bloggers event last week at River Cottage. You can read all about that trip here and if you fancy checking out Sus’s blog look here. Our friendship is literally days old but already it felt like we had known each other for years. It was great having that instant connection with someone. We have many similarities, our blogs are similar ages and we seem to be striving for the same outcome.

I decided that morning that I fancied a day trip. I hadn’t any other plans and Bath is only an hour and a half away on the train. It’s such a beautiful city to explore so I knew that I could fill my day full of fun things. It was beginning to feel very Christmassy with few window displays displaying lots of glitz and glitter. Some Christmas lights were already up on Milsom Street. I was feeling very festive by the time I met up with Sus. She had suggested we met at a little cafe near her workplace as she only had an hour for lunch. The Kingsmead Kitchen was a busy little place with a varied menu. Breakfasts, mezze platters, salads, soups and hot and hearty meals galore. Such a great choice for our off the cuff lunch. It was a pleasure to see Sus again and we chatted non stop about our blogs and good places to eat and drink in Bath. I am visiting again next month. We caught up a little in each other’s lives and backgrounds too so I think a new friendship has been born. I look forward to catching up with Sus again.

Steve and I popped along to the Exploding Bakery on Tuesday morning. I had to have a fix of my favourite banana and chocolate loaf. Alongside the cake I managed to get some pretty great photos of the place for an upcoming piece for Visit Exeter.

Wednesday morning was a hot chocolate kind of morning and I had a date at Chococo with my friend Jemma. Jemma is on maternity leave at the moment so it’s great to get in extra dates. Chococo specialise in all things chocolatey and have a delicious menu of hot chocolates depending on your taste. You could have a sweet white chocolate or milk chocolate going all the way up to a very grown up flavour at 100% cocoa. Jemma and I settled on the house hot chocolate at 70%. A delicious, not too sweet hot chocolate that tastes divine. Jemma went all out on the chocolate front by having a slice of ginger crisp. A dark chocolate smothered ginger refrigerator cake. Deliciously decadent.

The Christmas lights were switched on in Exeter this week and I was really impressed. Many more than in previous years. I even had my photograph taken in a giant sparkly bauble! 

Next week I have two days of Royal Academy of Dance ballet exams at the dance school I teach for. About 100 students will take part and all my focus will be on them until the last ones come out on Thursday evening. Then I can relax  and have some fun. I have some plans fixed with friends and I am sure they will involve cake so watch this space. In the mean time keep up to date with my goings on on Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat. Have a great week everyone.