Wednesday 4 April 2012

WIAW - Lunch In The Sun

Morning! Happy What I Ate Wednesday! I have another busy day planned today, but am feeling unusually full of energy this morning so decided to write this post before my friends come round at 10.30 - I'll no doubt be too tired again later! Anyway, this is WIAW so no more rambling...let's focus on the food! :)


I love the design for this month's WIAW - Jenn does such a great job! I didn't squeeze as many veggies in as I'd have liked this week, but I will definitely try to improve over the rest of the month!

This week's WIAW is based on Sunday. My friend, Sarah, was arriving at lunchtime so the morning was spent doing lots of housework! I can't actually remember what I had for breakfast, and can't find any photos of it, oops, so let's skip straight to lunch!

When Sarah arrived we decided to head straight out to make the most of the sunshine. We went to a local pub that has an outside seating area, and all had "pink" drinks! Pink milkshakes for the children...


...and pink ciders for us...


Strawberry and Lime cider - love this glass!!

As well as being my friend, Sarah is also Izzy's Godmother, so Izzy of course insisted on spending the whole time attached to her side. Haha, cute??!!


There weren't many vegetarian options on the menu (they'd even got rid of the brie and caramelised onion chutney sandwich that Liam and I both used to love) so I had a super cheesy goats cheese and red onion pizza...


This was ok, but a bit too weighed down with cheese. Not exactly the summery lunch I was after!!

After lunch we went for a walk along the seafront...


Well, a dance in Izzy and Sarah's case!


It was such a lovely day on Sunday - such a shame that the weather has changed for the school holidays, but at least we got to enjoy it while it was here!


We were planning to go to the park on the way home but it was sooo busy that we saved that (and ice cream!) for Monday. Instead we went home and relaxed for a bit, and then had dinner.

Butternut squash and goats cheese risotto...


Waitrose didn't have any butternut squash this time, so I used coquina squash instead. It was a much brighter orange colour, but it was also much sweeter than butternut. A bit too sweet really, but luckily the goats cheese provided a bit of sharpness to balance it out.

Sarah and I (once I'd checked that she wanted to keep the chai syrup as her birthday present) decided to try out the raspberry iced tea syrup alongside our dinner...


Another pink drink! This was lovely, and so simple to make - just ice + syrup + water. Makes me wonder why I pay so much for it in Costa - I'll definitely be glad to make this at home over the summer! :)

Once the children had gone to bed, Liam, Sarah & I opened the ice cream! I'd bought one tub of Ben & Jerry's raspberry white choc, and one cookie dough. Sarah chose to share "Liam's" cookie dough one, which meant that I ate the raspberry one myself over the course of Sunday eve and Monday, whoops! This was what was left after Sunday's eating anyway!!


Not a great photo, but delicious ice cream. The chocolate fudge core in the middle is really dark and bitter, then sweet vanilla ice cream with white chocolate chunks, and slightly sharp raspberry ice cream...perfect! :)

Do you eat differently depending on the Season? What foods do you like in Spring/Summer? Heavy cheesy pizza is definitely not spring like to me! Nor is risotto really but that is quite a "safe" option to give to meat-eating guests. Raspberry ice tea and fruity ciders in the sunshine however are perfect! After quite a high calorie weekend, I've been trying to eat a little lighter the last couple of days. Lots of yoghurt messes, wraps, salads, stir fries etc - more the type of food I like to eat when the weather is warm anyway. However, today the weather has turned cold again (luckily, as our fridge is broken, so all our dairy products are currently being stored in a cool box outside the back door!!) so I think I'm going to go make myself a bowl of porridge now, yum! Have a great Wednesday everyone!

11 comments:

  1. I definitely prefer warmer food in the winter, I can't stand eating warm food if its boiling hot outside, so I like to eat lots of salads and smoothies in spring/summer.

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    1. Mmm, yes, I love salads and smoothies too :) Know what you mean about not eating warm food when it's so hot out. I think I also tend to get dehydrated when it's warm weather so then fancy things like smoothies etc even more.

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  2. The pink drinks look delicious. I think we do tend to eat differently depending on the season. More baked items and root veggies in winter. Once it gets super hot and uncomfortable, we will go for paninis and salads.

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    1. Thanks! :) People always think I'm weird when I order "pink milkshake" instead of strawberry, but I'm so used to Izzy calling it pink milk because that is what Lola (from TV - Charlie & Lola) drinks!!

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  3. Love the look of the pink drinks! I started having iced tea last summer, and I made some today. I even bought some lemons to slice up (although I also might make lemon and poppyseed muffins/ cakes/ something like that). I much prefer colder things and salads when it is warm- even frozen yoghurt etc I would only have when it has been a warm day.
    That ice cream looks amazing too :)
    And you had such perfect weather to walk by the seaside.

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    1. Oooh, I love lemon poppyseed muffins! I was just looking back at last year's Easter posts and I made some lemon poppyseed muffins with a lemon glaze, yum!

      Yes, I was very glad the weather was so nice over the weekend, just wish it would cheer up again now for Liam's week off!

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  4. love the pink drinks! in the summer and spring time, i totally crave lots of veggies. and then in the winter and colder months all i want is carbs! haha

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  5. I definitely change my foods with the seasons. In the Winter I crave warm soups, stews and heavy food but in the summer it's all about salads and smoothies.

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