holland park & kyoto garden

After all that good food, we decided to go for walk and vaguely aim for Holland Park, a short walk away from Notting Hill station. I had never been but remembered that I had read it was a pretty park, so I thought it was worth a look.

What we actually found was way beyond our expectations - it's like an English garden (or gardens, as it was sectioned off into several different ones) straight out of a storybook. It's groomed but not too groomed, colourful but with plenty of green.

But in the middle of this English beauty, we found a little garden from my neck of the woods - the Kyoto Garden! A little Japanese-inspired gem with a pond full of fish, a mini waterfall, little wooden water pumps and smooth stepping stones.

And there was the most stunning peacock, just chilling out on the grass, posing for all of us taking photos. He is clearly used to being hounded by the paps.

We just had the nicest time walking through this park, and even though we were there on a sunny Sunday so there were lots of people around, it still felt strangely peaceful and gave me such a sense of contentment.

London is full of treasures.

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polpo

Polpo is one of those restaurants that I'd heard about and walked past numerous times, but never quite made it to. It was partly because it always looked packed (I'm talking about the one in Soho), and also because these kinds of Tapas-style places tend to end up being quite pricey if you're in hangry mode.

When I read on the grapevine that they were opening a branch in Notting Hill, and that their soft launch weekend meant 50% off food, I rang them up for a lunch reservation quicker than you can say meatballs.

When we arrived, we were taken to a table at the back, where it was cosy but quite dark. I mumbled something to E about it looking like nighttime, which he read (correctly) as "i can't take good foodie photos in this light!!", so he asked for us to sit by the window (it was also a very sunny day so I wanted to enjoy it) and they obliged very nicely. So, brownie point to them.

The place has a very relaxed, rustic feel, with the menu written on the paper place mats.

We went to town with the food - in order of appearance: crostini with salami butter & broad beans, Arancini (fried risotto balls), classic meatballs, fritto misto (fried mixed seafood), rocket and courgette parmesan salad, prawn & artichoke linguine, taleggio and speck pizzette.

Everything was fantastic. Not too fancy but not too basic, and the portions were surprisingly generous. There was a bit of a gap in the service, but obviously this is why they were discounting the bills for the opening weekend, while they iron out the glitches. We didn't mind as we chatted away - and we definitely didn't mind when we were given another one of those delicious pizzas free of charge (because a waiter made a mistake but wanted us to cover for him and pretend it was our first one! he was lovely)!

Even though we were both pretty full, we couldn't say no to their Nutella pizzette. I mean, we're not crazy.

It was as good as it looks.

We both agreed that we would definitely be happy to go back to Polpo, even without the 50% off. The bill came to 35 pounds including service and a 250ml carafe of wine, so normally it wouldn't be the most budget friendly place, but for a special occasion we would jump on it.

Now added on my to try ASAP list - Spuntino and Mishkin's, both by the team behind Polpo. Sometimes the hype is worth listening to!

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homemade peanut butter cups

I briefly mentioned in this post that I had discovered Ben & Jerry's Peanut Butter Cup ice cream and how it rocked my socks off. That stuff didn't last 3 days in our freezer.

I've tried the classic American Reese's peanut butter cups (and my favourite, Reese's pieces), and think they are annoyingly delicious, but they definitely contain some questionable ingredients and are generally not the healthiest choice. I am not at all against having such snacks now and then, but I was convinced that I could try and whip up something similar at home, with fewer (and pronounceable) ingredients.

So I experimented, and it actually worked!

I'm sure this isn't an original idea and no doubt you can find countless versions of this on Pinterest, but here's what I did (and it was so easy & quick!):

Ingredients:
100g dark chocolate (I used 70% cocoa Green & Blacks)
100g milk chocolate (Again, used Green & Blacks)
120g no sugar added smooth peanut butter 
10g agave nectar (or honey or maple syrup, can add more)

To make:
1) Prepare a mini muffin tin (or a regular one, or any moulds you like), line with mini muffin cases.
2) Heat half of each chocolate bar in the microwave until completely melted.
3) Fill each muffin case with 2 teaspoons of the melted chocolate, make sure it's levelled, place in fridge or freezer until hardened.
4) Stir the peanut butter with the agave nectar until mixed.
5) Once the chocolate is hardened, fill each muffin case with 2 teaspoons of the peanut butter mixture, level, place in freezer until hardened.
6) Repeat 2 & 3. Freeze until hardened, and then tuck in!

They can be stored in the freezer if you prefer them to be rock hard (E and I both preferred them frozen), but they can be stored in the fridge too - the peanut butter portion will just be a little softer. They are pretty virtuous as far as chocolatey treats go, and as with the B&J ice cream, these didn't last very long around here either.

And if you're thinking how cute those polka dot mini muffin cases are, me too.

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