My New Favourite Starbucks Drink…

…is Iced Vanilla Chai Latte…



excuse the poor picture quality – Liam had our camera at uni…my old camera is so slow! Anyway, this was amazing! I loved the spice in it. I’d had a gingerbread latte at Christmas time and been disappointed that it didn’t have much of a kick, whereas this was great!

We tagged along with Liam when he went into uni this morning, so I wandered around Taunton with the children for a few hours. The iced vanilla chai latte, alongside a pot of natural yoghurt and mango compote was breakfast…



The children had already had breakfast at home, so they had a chocolate cookie…each…I hadn’t realised quite how huge they were until I ordered!!



They enjoyed them though…



…and we had some leftovers to keep us going through the morning!

After a few hours of wandering around the shops, we met up with Liam for lunch. Same as last time we went to Taunton, we went to Pitcher and Piano for lunch. I’m pretty sure last time we went was actually the last time I ate meat (3.5 months ago!! Although I did eat fish a couple more times after that)…the barely cooked lamb salad put me off I think! I had a salad again today, but this time with halloumi on it…much nicer!



This was really good. As well as the halloumi, it had spinach, sweetcorn, beetroot, sun dried tomatoes and cherry tomatoes in it. Tasty, and I also had a side of herby crushed new potatoes to bulk it out a bit…



Baby was really grizzly when we ordered this food (he’d missed his morning nap…he’s such a happy baby so long as he gets his sleep!) but luckily fell asleep just before the food arrived so we had a peaceful meal, bliss!

Liam got busy with the camera after we’d all finished eating (or given up in daughter’s case…there was still too much cookie in her tummy!!)




and then it was time to hit the shops again. It was mostly window shopping, although I did buy a couple of t-shirts for myself, plus a few new plates, and a couple of dresses and headbands for daughter.

Before we headed home, we made a 2nd trip to Starbucks. Liam had missed the first one, and as we don’t have a Starbucks near us it’s a bit of a novelty! I stuck with my new favourite, but a larger size this time. No photos as I trusted Liam to take photos of me holding it, and didn’t check until after I’d drunk it all…fail. I did take photos of the cakes the others ate though…




Rocky Road for Liam, a pink sparkly cake pop for daughter, and a red velvet whoopie pie for baby/the others to share. I think both children had way too much sugar today…they were bouncing in Starbucks!!





Oh dear…! Luckily there were no other people sitting in the section of Starbucks we were in, but it was still time to go!!

While Liam & baby went to get the car, I revisited the fish spa. No photo from today, but this is from last time I went.



The fish had definitely gotten bigger in the last 3.5 months. Apparently they grow up to 6 centimetres. There were also now 6 fish tanks instead of 4, so seems like lots of people like to get fish pedicures!

As well as the shopping and the fish nibbling, Liam and I also ordered our wedding rings today!! Exciting! They'll be ready to pick up in a couple of weeks...nothing like leaving it slightly late - the wedding is a month today! I also sent my engagement ring and eternity ring off to be re-sized...my finger has shrunk 2.5 sizes since Liam bought them for me! Luckily they'll be ready to pick up in a week, my fingers feel so odd without them on. Because they were a bit big, I used to take them off everytime I showered, so now I keep catching sight of my empty hand and think I've left them lying around somewhere. Ah well, like one of my friends said, it wont be long until all 3 rings are on my finger!! :-D

We didn’t get home until dinnertime, and the only thing written on my meal plan was “use broccoli”. Well that didn’t happen. The children had pasta with cheese, Liam had cheese on toast and I had baked oats…

Cookie Dough Baked Oats
(inspired by Emma's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cashew Butter, and all my baked oats recipes are originally based on the measurements in Katie's Boatmeal)

• 40g oats
• 60g coconut cream (I love putting this in all my baked oats…extra luxurious!)
• 30ml milk
• 30g agave
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 50g cashew nuts, blitzed in food processor to powder (you could go all the way & make into nut butter, but I was hungry!)
• 20g dark chocolate, broken up (or chocolate chips, I was all out)

Mix it all together and bake in the oven at 190C for 20 minutes.

It should come out looking something like this…



I wasn’t sure it would turn out, but as I’d lightly oiled the dish I decided to give it a try. I’d call this a success!



and once dolloped drizzled with melted dark chocolate, it looked good enough to eat!



Messy, but worth it.



This was so filling that I actually left a few mouthfuls. Unheard of for me! It was probably an indulgence too far after the day out, but all I fancied was chocolate, so at least I can pretend it was kind of healthified(!!) Next time I would want to increase the cookie dough factor. Obviously taking the time to make Emma's Cookie Dough Butter for the topping would’ve improved things. But my food processor takes so long to make nut butters, and it was already 8.30pm by the time I started cooking, I couldn’t wait! Next time :)

Only one day left until the weekend! Have you got anything nice planned? I haven’t got any definite plans, but I hope we’ll make it down to the beach at some point if the weather stays nice. And hopefully going to a friend’s house while Liam's at work on Sunday, for daughter to play with her friend’s in their inflatable swimming pool. Fingers crossed for lots more sunshine then!