The Swan, Rowberrow | Doorstep Tours: Somerset

The sun has well and truly had his hat on of late and, as such, we've also found ourselves spending a lot more time outdoors. After hearing that Bee's Dad had taken the week off work, we decided to catch up with him and go for some yummy pub grub at one of our local pubs, The Swan. We've celebrated many an event as this pub and it's always one of the pubs we head to when the sun is shining and we want to get away from the seaside crowds. 

After much deliberation, Bee opted for one of the day's specials: Tuna steak, pineapple salsa and fries. Although, she's not actually able to eat fruit and veg at the moment so the salsa was swiftly transferred to her Dad's plate! Whilst she liked the dish, and demolished the fries, the steak was a little too rare for her liking. Not one for the faint hearted. She's definitely going to make a note of it for next time! 

Luke also went for one of the day's specials: Slow cooked pork belly with purple sprouting, mashed potato, sweet peppers and a honey & soy sauce. He got through it all with relative ease so that's always a good sign! 

Of course, no TFTC meal out is side-less. We decided to get the garlic focaccia because we are both garlic fiends. It was bloody delightful. We probably could have demolished a loaf's worth. Garlic is SO GOOD!

As you're in the middle of the countryside, it's never long before you hear the echo of hooves. This time we spotted four horses strolling along the lanes, looking rather content with life indeed. After polishing off the first course, Luke had his eye on the apple and cinnamon tart on the dessert board so he headed off to order it whilst Bee retrieved a cupcake from the boot of the car. We had been shopping earlier in the day...we don't just have an endless supply of cupcakes in the car. Totally wish we did, though! 

With full bellies, we headed to another little pub not too far away and had some more sophisticated conversation in the beer garden. Not before Dad discussed cider with the locals around the bar, of course. This little pub is pretty top secret, and it's only the locals that really venture to it, so we'll keep its whereabouts quiet for now. Here's a photograph of the outside though for all the sleuths out there ;) 

NOW THAT WE'VE SHARED a couple of our local haunts with you, tell us...

• What's your local haunt called and what's your favourite dish they serve? 

All in all, we had a pretty lovely day. Time to settle down with some more food and catch up with Game of Thrones, we think! We'll see you on Sunday. Have a good rest of the week!

with regards, THE FINER THINGS CLUB.

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The Finer Snacks Club: LIDL Edition

As you've gathered, we watch a lot of films and television shows and, for us, that goes hand in hand with grazing. We usually end up buying the same sort of snacks week after week, so we've decided to do something a little different this week and take you lot along for the ride. We put on our gladrags and headed to Lidl, a supermarket that we rarely frequent, to test out some snacks from across the pond. Here's our haul...

freeway orange (49p)   Also known as cheap Orangina (without the bits)! It definitely rivaled the big name brands, such as Tango and Fanta, and we'd definitely get it again. Although, we don't really get why they decided to name it Freeway...little bit of an awkward one to offer to your grandparents or in-laws!!
Mister choc milk chocolate bars (11 for 99p) These were so yummy! The packaging was also pretty great, and they were the perfect treat size for those that like to show some restraint (hint: we don't!). We think these would make really good additions to treat jars or party bags too. The only thing that annoys us about them is that they come in a pack of 11...why 11?! Round it up to 12, god damnit! However, we'd definitely go back for these little bars of chocolately goodness.  ritter sport white chocolate with cornflakes (£1.49) The posh chocolate! In our humble opinion, the combination of chocolate and cornflake is an inspired one. Creamy, yet crunchy, this bar was pretty irresistible. The packaging was really nice and simple and, as a result, we think it'd look really good in a hamper or alongside a bouquet of flowers for someone special. We'd definitely go back and try all of the other flavours.  fritt cherry flavoured chews (59p) We liked the packaging but that's about it. They smelled and tasted like scented nappy bags, not gunna lie. We didn't even know it was possible to capture that flavour in something, and then market it as edible. We wouldn't buy these again. Stick to MAOAM! 
paprika rusti chips (94p) Pringles cheaper, albeit a little dishier, brother. We preferred the texture of these compared to their crumbly counterpart, as we didn't find them as 'cardboardy' as Luke so beautifully put it. Compared to the price of Pringles these days, these are a really good option. We'd probably buy these again. 
sondey sandwich biscuits (99p) The packaging was pretty fun, with a princess on the outside and a castle imprinted on every biscuit inside. These weren't bad but they were very very dry. Don't attempt to eat them without dunking them in a cool glass of milk or a hefty mug of tea! The chocolate to biscuit ratio could have also been a bit better, but otherwise they weren't bad at all. You certainly don't need more than one or two at a time so they'll last you forever in a bit of tupperware. 
choco softies choc coated marshmallows (£1.49) These were like marshmallows on steroids. They were absolutely huge! Kids would probably kill for them. The chocolate was really thin and the marshmallow was nice and gooey, and those two factors admittedly did make them quite endearing. However, we would've preferred them if they were on a biscuit base, as opposed to a wafer base. Bee couldn't get through a whole one, and we both found them a bit too sickly for our tastes. However, if you're a big marshmallow fan, you should probably give them a go because of the novelty value.

if we could only re-buy one thing, it'd be:  The Mister Choc chocolate bars and the Freeway! Yes, we know that's two but it's our blog so nerr! 
Not content with just showing you our haul, we thought we'd share a few other things that didn't quite make the cut...
These drums of paprika flavoured crisps and tortillas.... These gorgeous looking 99p teas...
These heart shaped chicken nuggets...vom

THE OVERALL RATING: not bad!

NOW THAT YOU'VE SEEN OUR REVIEW, TELL US...

• What are your favourite things to snack on?  

•  Will you be on the look out for any of these in the future? 

LEAVE US YOUR ANSWERS IN THE COMMENTS BELOW or tweet us using @tftcblog. If you enjoyed this post, feel free to subscribe through Bloglovin and check us out on Twitter. We'll see you on Sunday.  

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*this post isn't in collaboration with anyone or anything, this is just genuinely how we spend our free time!

Baking Day: Creme Egg Brownies & White Chocolate Cookies | Food

We aren't seasoned bakers. In fact, we are far from it. However, faced with a stormy day and not a lot to do, we thought we'd pick up a few extra bits whilst doing the food shop and see what we were capable of baking. We probably won't be signing up for the next series of the Bake Off, but we did really enjoy ourselves and made some pretty glorious baked goods in the process. What do you think of our efforts?



CREME EGG BROWNIES

We've seen these creme egg brownies all over the internet. Yes, they're extremely rich. Yes, they are ridiculously unhealthy. However, we couldn't resist. We found this recipe on the Creme Egg facebook page, where it is credited to a Lizzie Batchelar. 



ingredients 
• 185g unsalted butter 
• 185g dark chocolate
• 85g plain flour

• 40g cocoa powder

• 3 large eggs

• 275g caster sugar

• 6 Cadbury's Creme eggs halved

Pre-heat the oven to 160c and grease a 20cm square baking tin.

Melt the unsalted butter and dark chocolate together. You can microwave it but we decided to bung them in a bowl over a pan of freshly boiled water. 

Break your eggs into a large bowl and add in the 275g of caster sugar. 

Whisk (or electrically mix if you're fancy!) your eggs and sugar until they look thick and creamy, and pretty much like milkshake.

Pour your bowl of cooled buttery chocolate over your bowl of eggy milkshake, and then gently fold them together. 

Get your cocoa powder and your flour, and sieve them over your eggy chocolate mixture. Make sure you cover the top evenly. Gently fold it in together.

Pour your mixture into your baking tin and cook for 15 minutes. When the time is up, take your brownies out of the oven and gently press your creme egg halves into the mix. Pop them in wherever you like. Put them back in the oven for another 5-10 minutes. 

Once you think they're done, get them out and pop the end of a spoon into the centre. If they're done, leave them to cool somewhere before removing them and cutting them into chunks. If you aren't sure, pop them back in until they're a little less gooey. We popped ours back in for an extra five minutes or so because the mixture was a little too gooey for our tastes. 

Grab a glass of milk, and enjoy. 

white chocolate cookies 

We always buy cookies, so we thought we'd try and make some ourselves to see if they were just as nice and if not better than the ones we have become accustomed to. We used Lorainne Pascale's cookie recipe, from her awesome book Home Cooking Made Easy. We slightly adapted it as we couldn't get our hands on the right sort of sugar but they still turned out pretty good.  



ingredients
• 125g butter, at room temp
• 225g soft light brown sugar  
• 1 egg 
• 150g plain flour (extra for dusting) 
• 50g strong white bread flour 
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder 
• Pinch of salt 
• 200g white chocolate, chopped into chunks

Pre-heat the oven to 180c (350f/GM4). Line a couple of baking trays with baking parchment or smother them in a greasy coating of butter. 



Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl until it's pale and smooth. Beat the egg in. Add the 2 types of flour, bicarb of soda, baking powder and salt to the bowl and gently stir together until smooth but slightly sticky. Mix in your white chocolate chunks. 



Divide the dough into 6 equal-sized pieces (or 12 if you want smaller cookies!) before rolling them each into a ball. Cover your hands in flour if your mixture is a little sticky. Flatten the balls in  your hands until they're about 1cm thick. We did ours quite large and ended up with massive cookies so make them a little bit smaller than ours!



Put 3 cookies on each baking tray (if you're making 6) and space them so that they have room to grow. Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes. Once they're looking quite golden (they will be soft to the touch), remove them  and leave them to cool on the tray for 5 minutes. Once they're cool, transfer them to a wire rack. 



Pour even more milk and devour the whole lot whilst they're still warm. 

NOW THAT YOU'VE HAD A PEEK AT our baked goods, TELL US...

• What do you think? 

• Have you got a favourite recipe? Link it below, if so!

LEAVE US YOUR ANSWERS IN THE COMMENTS BELOW or tweet us using @tftcblog. If you enjoyed this post, feel free to subscribe through Bloglovin and check us out on Twitter. We'll see you on Sunday.  

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER: @TFTCBLOG | FOLLOW US ON BLOGLOVIN

EMAIL US AT: THEFINERTHINGSCLUBBLOG@GMAIL.COM