Kloé Frances

23 years old. Food fan & home baker

[kloefrances]

I've been feeling pretty rough this week and lunches/dinners have been my usual and nothing far out worth blogging about. Today though I've been in the kitchen with my trusty Hummingbird Bakery books and whipped up these Hazelnut Praline muffins. I made banoffee whoopie pies too which I'll post later once I've assembled them with there caramel marshmallow filling ☺️ I haven't baked just for 'me' in ages, it's always been for someone else, so I'm going to bloody enjoy these muffins! With their secret nutella middle!!!

[kloefrances]

A few weeks ago I complained to one of my favourite sweet shops. It was actually pretty upsetting complaining to such a lovely small business. As an apology, today I received this sweet (no pun intended) care package, with chocolates to enjoy along with my afternoon cup of tea 😊 Thanks!

[kloefrances]

Breakfast of hangover champions. Yesterday myself and my partner broke the system and made homemade sausage & egg muffins. He lives out in the countryside and their are no proper greasy spoon places when you're feeling delicate! We brought the ingredients in advance so that as soon as we woke up we would be ready to start! He was in charge of the sausage and egg part while I made teas and toasted the muffins. It was a great success and enjoyed while catching up on the latest episode of The Walking Dead!

[kloefrances]

#DinnerClub (yesterday) at The White Horse Inn in East Barsham. My boyfriend took me out for a lovely dinner to a place we've driven past a few times on our drives to the coast. We shared a camembert to start, neither of us had tried it before and me being not a big fan of cheese (unless it's plastic!) I found it difficult to eat, I really do not like 'cheesey' cheese! I will happily eat cheese melted but this stuff even tasted cheesey... Not for me! My main was delicious! I had pesto crumbed baked cod with sautéed potatoes and buttered vegetables. It was so tasty! And couldn't be faulted. It was superb! My boyfriend is a good egg, taking me to nice fancy pants places!

[kloefrances]

Earlier this week I had a pleasant surprise arrive at my door. The brand new The Hummingbird Bakery cookbook. I'm a huge fan of theirs and have all their books so when I found out they had a new book due out I preordered it straight away. I preordered it at the beginning of January and until it arrived I had completely forgotten about it! Well done past Kloé for surprising present Kloé! Having thumbed through the pages already, I've earmarked the red velvet brownies, peanut butter and jelly layer cake and black bottom pancakes. So excited to get in the kitchen to whip up a storm!

[kloefrances]

Friday #LunchClub! Me and Got pizza from one of my favourite local deli's Amaretto with some of our colleagues. The pizza at this place is freshly made in a proper wood fired oven. Amaretto specialises in home cooked foods and offers daily specials along with a collection of regulars such as sausage rolls and a small selection of ciabatta or focaccia sandwiches. They sell cakes too and they are lovely with a coffee! I cannot praise this deli enough, the staff are always lovely and welcoming and the choices of daily specials are what brings me back time after time. So today's pizzas were italian sausage and a classic margarita both made with fresh quality ingredients, on hand stretch dough. Superb! A whole pizza is £10 and we split two between a few of us and had 2 1/2 slices which was plenty for lunchtime! Hands down some of the best pizza you can buy in Norwich! ❤️

[kloefrances]

Yesterday a work colleague brought in Dunkin' Donuts which I've not had since I was a litte'un on holidays to Florida with my family. I went a got myself a coffee from my favourite deli (more to come about them!) and settled down at my desk to what I like to call a policeman lunch! I chose a cinnamon sugar donut and it was delightfully fluffy! I love the showmanship of a KrispyKreme donut, they always look immaculate and well presented compared to a Dunkin' Donut but the nostalgia of the DD couldn't of been topped today. Hands down my favourite donut is a KrispyKreme glazed raspberry, you just can't beat a classic. But at the same time it was a nice surprise to be presented with a box of DD's to take me back to the warm and humid summer evenings spend in Florida by the pool

[kloefrances]

#DinnerClub with my girlfriends tonight. Wagamamas was delightful as always, I even ventured out of my comfort zone and tried something new…

The mochi was awesome, I’d seen pictures before and was always tempted but being more of a savoury girl at heart I would always skip pudding in favour of a crispy squid starter. NOT TONIGHT!

It was light and super tasty and the perfect end to a chilli chicken ramen (my usual) I couldn’t decide which flavour to go for so thankfully they have the ‘mix it up option’ where you can try one of each. My favourite was the coconut which was a surprise and I’m not normally a coconutty person.

Good evening out with good food and great company. Just how #DinnerClub should be!

[kloefrances]

The whole reason I wanted to start this blog in the first place was to document the local deli's, coffee shops and cafés in my local area as tradition for me is to venture out of the office on Fridays to go to these places. I've tried and tested a few before starting this but I'm more than happy to revisit them for the purpose of the blog! Last Friday I went to Pandora's Kitchen in Norwich with my friend Jess, we both were greeted by the beautiful counter of cakes and homemade goodies. I chose to go for a 'squashage' roll which was lovely warmed up. I also treated myself to a blondie, which wasn't the best I've ever had. It was undercooked and raw in the middle. I'm all for gooey brownies/blondies but this one was not cooked in the middle at all! Overall it wasn't a bad trip but I honestly wouldn't rush back. Onwards to this Friday's #LunchClub

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Flashback to my brunch on Sunday, as my partner was away recording an EP with his band, he missed out on Pancake Day earlier on in the week so I decided to treat him to some healthy blueberry greek yogurt american style pancakes with tonnes of fresh fruit! We've made this recipe before and it was a success, I'm not a great pancake maker but I'm getting better. I sometimes burn them because I get distracted by something shiny! The recipe for this is super easy and I found it on lecremedelacrumb.com if your into home baking and food this site is worth a browse!

[kloefrances]

I made this Mocha bundt cake for a bake sale at work to raise money for Great Ormand Street hospital, it was a great bake sale and we managed to raise a good sum of money! Everyone in the office took part in some way, and all the bakes on offer were super dooper. We had a hazelnut crunch pavlova which was my personal favourite. I bake quite a lot at home in my spare time, even if they don't look great all the time without tooting my own horn I've been told they're always delicious!

[kloefrances]

I had a trip out to my local GBK and went for the Pesterella with grilled chicken and a grilled field mushroom with rosemary fries. I can never find fault with GBK and whenever I want a good quality burger at short notice this is my go too. The milkshakes are the bomb too! That burger... Right there is a thing of beauty! GBK have it on point!

[kloefrances]

While away on my trip to Brum, I treated my Valentine to breakfast at Ed's Diner. We've been to the branch in Norwich a couple of times and always walk away saying how the milkshakes are better than the actual food. On this trip we walked away saying just how good the breakfasts are! While my boyfriend went for a big american pancake fry up style affair, I kept it pretty standard with waffles, fresh fruit, bacon and maple syrup. Oh baby! It was tasty! I know a few independent cafes in Norwich who could make this same breakfast to probably a higher quality and at some point I'll make the visits there but for a chain this was pretty decent, and I could actually finish it I was so full!

[kloefrances]

I went on a shopping trip to Birmingham for my birthday over the Valentines weekend with my boyfriend. We've heard all about the Five Guys hype and wanted to try it out for ourselves. Having walked past the queues multiple times in London on our visits there we though they must be doing something right if people will wait out in the rain for a burger! And oh boy were they right! For this #LunchClub I went for a little cheeseburger with grilled onions and lettuce, it was hands down one of the best burgers I've ever had! It was juicy and squishy and just the best! It may not look the best, but the simplicity of it is what makes it.

[kloefrances]

My Mission

My quest this year is to try all the cheeseburgers! I have a regular #LunchClub with friends on Fridays where I visit local bakeries and coffee shops in a bid to find delicious Friday treats for reasonable prices. As well as #LunchClub there is also #DinnerClub where I venture out for my evening meal with friends and try more of the best local food in my area, though chain restaurants make the cut too on occasions. I'm just a simple food fan and take pleasure in going on adventures to new places to try new things and get inspiration for my own bakes.