A post of gastronomic proportion, in pictures.

Nandos baked cheesecake

Strawberry infused water (very refreshing and lovely) as inspired by Elsie and this post.

Nespresso Coffee

His 'n' Her's Costa Coffee

Wagamamas Stephen's Green

Caprese Salad

Death by Chocolate.

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March 9

Last week in Sutton I came across an Esquires Coffee House. I had never been or even seen one before, so I thought I'd try it, since the majority of the time I go to Starbucks and their coffee is awful. Not to say I won't visit them again, they're practically everywhere, but my order is always the same and always tastes different - either too sweet or too weak, I always ask for extra shots.

At Esquires I ordered a tall caramel macchiato, completely unaware of their sizing scheme (what's wrong with a simple small, medium or large?!) and the staff were chatty and friendly, offered me a loyalty card and charged me £3.00. So far, so good. Not to mention that their mascot is a penguin.

I wait for my order and the barista lady puts in three shots of espresso...also a plus. I ask for it to take away and I'm given a HUGE cup. The cup size was literally the size of a medium drink from McDonalds. Amazing for £3.00 and it tasted like proper coffee, none of this watered down brown water. She also went as far as putting a caramel swirl on top...this literally made my day (pathetic, I know!)

The swirl didn't last long however. Running for a bus with a cup this size and an ill-fitting lid resulted in more of a syrupy blob.

Went back on Friday for the same coffee but in a more manageable size and the staff remembered my order from Monday, which I found quite impressive (again, pathetic, but its the little things!) A regular cost £2.65 and was still quite large but really good value. I managed to get the right size lid this time and she drew a caramel web, which after a very bouncy bus journey was still very much intact.

I highly recommend trying Esquires if you're near one. There's one in Sutton, Harrow and Upper Thames Street. Aspire to Esquire! (sorry...)

http://www.esquirescoffee.co.uk/

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December 11

Yesterday was busy, I started InDesign for my article submission and afterward came home to write rough drafts for my Tabloid assignment.

It has to be done in the style of The Daily Mail, but I may have made it a little TOO dramatic and trashy, even for a Tabloid. I think it suits The Sun more...I'll tone it down after my tutorial.

When I came home after nearly three hours of trying to get the knack of InDesign with Faye, my flatmates surprised me with dinner, dessert and Christmas songs. It was very thoughtful and tasted good, so good that I forgot to take a picture of the dessert - pancakes with ice-cream and strawberries.

This morning I saw Helen, she came over to use my printer. She did a really interesting trend report on when a musicians popularity evolves, stylists are employed, in turn focusing more on promoting an image than the music itself. Loved it. She brought tasty gifts as a thank you....

I went to Media Analysis at 2-4, my last lecture for the semester. We went through anaylsing a magazine by report layout, including a flat plan from cover to cover. The report word count is 600 words, not an awful lot, I hate axeing relevant info. I was suprised when some people were complaining it was too much. I chose Vanidad, a Spanish publication similar to Nylon's collage-esque layout. I need to brush up on my Spanish before I start, everyone else chose one in English but I thought this would make it more interesting.

Tonight I'm going to see 'Where the Wild Things Are' with Helen and Louise. Hopefully the cinema isn't too packed, the release date was today...

Only a week and I'm home for Christmas. I can't wait. Until then I have another InDesign workshop on Monday, project submission on Tuesday and an hour Tabloid tutorial on Wednesday. My flatmates and me are going shopping in Kingston on Wednesday and plan on making Christmas dinner as we're all heading home soon after.

Thursday I plan on washing, cleaning the flat (my room needs hoovering, my cupboard is untidy and may be full of perishables) and packing, then its home to Dublin on Friday afternoon.

Our Christmas light couch...

FACT: Coffee tastes better in a cat mug.

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