I went to Poole and Bournemouth this weekend to visit the in laws so I didn't have time to bake anything so I found a few fun things while I was down there to write about instead.
It was a beautiful weekend. I guess it's also this strange weather that's keeping the volcano ash cloud over Europe. As usual when we got there we took a walk to Poole Quay (the second largest natural harbour in the world after Sydney) and on the way is the Dolphin Mall. The mall itself is not exciting at all. It's an ugly 1970's block of concrete.
Inside this time there was a new kiosk. It was simply named Gourmet Chocolate. It was full of chocolate covered apples. marshmallows, rice krispie treats, peanuts and nougat.
Everything was very bright and colorful and £2.
I haven't run across too many places like this in England before so I asked the owner but he didn't speak much English but he nodded his head. It was operated by a Korean couple. There was also some Korean Hello Kitty sweets on the other side.
These are Chocolate Trees
I chose a rice krispie treat covered with marshmallows and chocolate. I managed to save it for the train journey back home.
Behind the Dolphin Mall is Poole High Street and an image of what Poole looked like before it was bombed in the war. Imagine small lanes and streets like they have in Brighton.
This next thing I had can be found anywhere there is a Caffe Nero. They had some outside seating so we sat there and caught some sun in the morning before coming back to London. Caffe Nero has many different flavors of syrups and everytime I ask to try one (no matter what location) the server makes a face and asks are you sure? I don't understand why they have them then. They had banana syrup so I asked to have it in my latte. I really enjoyed it. I think it would taste better in a hot chocolate. The raspberry is also excellent in a latte.
I also sampeled one of their Banoffee Cupcakes
It was what I would expect for a baked good from a chain caffe. It went down well with the latte and the topping was more cream like and there was a nice layer of carmel underneath.
The cake had an interesting consistency but when eaten with the topping it was nice
This last item is miscellaeous. I happened to see it while in Sainsbury's
In my opinion Sainsbury's have the best baking range of all the supermarkets
I hope to have tme to make a pie this week and I'm also making something special for the London Marathon on Sunday!
