A couple of weeks ago on a rather sunny Friday evening, the family & I made our way up to London for a big meal together. It's rare we're all in the same place at the same time (unless there's a big occasion) so my Dad jumped at the chance to get all four siblings and all other halves together for a catch up!
We had a table booked for eight at the fish restaurant, Applebee's in Borough Market. We were taken to our table straight away by the lovely staff and they even took my brothers art folder & gazeebo (yep, don't even ask...!) into the back for safe keeping!
After a good half an hour of menu browsing we'd finally picked our starters and mains. I snapped a photo of ::
Salt & Pepper Squid with rocket and a balsamic reduction
Prawns sautéed with garlic & chilli
Smoked Mackerel Mousse with pickled cucumber ribbons and toast
Deep-fried White Bait with tartare sauce
Sam & I shared the Squid and Whitebait, both of which were absolutely delicious. Not a lot of talking went down at this point, so I'm pretty sure the others were throughly enjoying their starters too! 
Whilst we waited for our mains conversations flowed (as did the wine!) and we all caught up on what we had all been up too.
Our mains arrived swiftly, but with just enough time for my little brother to get the chance to go and watch them cooking, as part of the kitchen is in the restaurant.
Crab Linguine with white wine, garlic and chilli.
Whole Dover Sole cooked simple with butter and lemon.
Monkfish & Chorizo Kebab.
Grilled Jon Dory Fillet served with fennel gratin, asparagus and mussels and prosecco sauce.
all with sides of Cajun Sweet Potato Wedges and Hand Cut Chips.
Then there was my meal... I figured as the option was there, I'd try Lobster for the first time! 
It turns out I love Lobster! You don't get a lot and you have to crack your way through to get to the best hidden bits, but it's absolutely delicious. It's slightly sweeter than prawns, but not quite as sweet as crab meat. It's pricey, so by no means will become a regular treat, but I'll definitely be ordering Lobster again someday.
Feeling completely content with our incredible food, with clean plates and full bellies all round, we finished our meal with coffees and peppermint teas before all making our way home. It was such a wonderful evening spent with some of the most important people in my life, over some truly delicious food. I would definitely recommend Applebee's in Borough Market if you're heading into London for dinner anytime soon!
You can see their menu here - just so it doesn't take you as long to decided on what to have!
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One of my favourite festive past-times is baking mince pies. I really enjoy making the pastry from scratch and sharing them out to all my friends and family. I love taking a little box of them whenever I visit someone! The recipe is below...
You Will Need ::
8oz Self Raising Flour
6oz Butter (cut into cubes)
1 tbsp. Caster Sugar
1 egg (separated)
Zest & Juice of half an orange
2 (or 1 large) jar of Mincemeat
Caster Sugar & Orange peel strips (optional) to decorate.
Preheat oven to 200 degrees C.
Sift the flour into the bowl, rub in soft butter until it resembles breadcrumbs.
Dissolve caster sugar in egg yolk and add 2 teaspoons of orange juice.
Add this to the flour mixture, along with the orange rind and mix together to form a firm dough.
Roll dough on a floured surface until a quarter of an inch thick. The dough is quite sticky, so make sure you move it in between rolling! Try to handle it as little as possible, the more contact the tougher it will get.
Use a big circle cutter for the base and whatever shape you’d like for the top! I love using stars or snowflakes, as shown. If you want a complete 'lid' on your mince pies and don’t want any mincemeat showing, make sure you poke a hole in the top on the mince pie to let air out whilst cooking.
8oz Self Raising Flour
6oz Butter (cut into cubes)
1 tbsp. Caster Sugar
1 egg (separated)
Zest & Juice of half an orange
2 (or 1 large) jar of Mincemeat
Caster Sugar & Orange peel strips (optional) to decorate.
Preheat oven to 200 degrees C.
Sift the flour into the bowl, rub in soft butter until it resembles breadcrumbs.
Dissolve caster sugar in egg yolk and add 2 teaspoons of orange juice.
Add this to the flour mixture, along with the orange rind and mix together to form a firm dough.
Roll dough on a floured surface until a quarter of an inch thick. The dough is quite sticky, so make sure you move it in between rolling! Try to handle it as little as possible, the more contact the tougher it will get.
Use a big circle cutter for the base and whatever shape you’d like for the top! I love using stars or snowflakes, as shown. If you want a complete 'lid' on your mince pies and don’t want any mincemeat showing, make sure you poke a hole in the top on the mince pie to let air out whilst cooking.
Then, place these in the oven for 15 minutes, until golden brown!
Take out and immediately sprinkle caster sugar on top. The pastry is suuuper short so they can be tricky to get out of the tray, maybe let the cool and harden a little first (I had a few crumble on me this time round!)
Make yourself a cup of tea, pop on a christmas film and enjoy!
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