Kate, Author at Katie Charlotte Blogs

The Vine, Thai Food in Cheltenham

Last week one of my girlfriends suggested going to The Vine for dinner, somewhere I had never been before in Cheltenham but had heard plenty of great reviews about.

The restaurant has a pub vibe which gives it a very laid back and relaxed environment. It was around 6.30pm and it was already starting to get busy so I would definitely advise booking a table in advance. We happened to grab a table on a whim towards the back of the room so it was slightly quieter. We sat down and perused the menu, Sidonie had been before so I asked her to recommend dishes (she knows I’m a wimp when it comes to heat and spice). There was a 2 courses for £7.50 special offer so we decided on doing that and ordered a couple of extra starters to share too. You have to make your order at the bar so if you prefer table service, this probably isn’t the restaurant for you.

Wine and spicy prawn crackers set the evening off to a good start.

We had a giggle and a gossip whilst we waited on our starters, but we didn’t have to wait long which I was impressed with. We had ordered the vegetable spring rolls and prawn toast as part of the specials deal, as well as the Thai pork dumplings. Served with a small salad, each dish was delicious and the flavours tasted ‘authentic’ – something that is promised in the menu. The dim sum were my particular favourite, but I have my eye on trying the Thai fishcakes next time!

Onto the next course!

The menu boasts a huge variety of dishes to choose from so it took some time trying to decide. I have wanted to try the Pad Thai with chicken for a long time and I’m always tempted by it when I see it on the menus in other restaurants. Sid chose the Thai green curry, which she requested to be ‘mild’ as opposed to hot that it was labelled as. Unfortunately the chef didn’t get the memo and it came out packed with a lot of heat! Luckily the portions are large and I shared some of my meal with Sid – one of the perks of ordering food you both enjoy.

We both have a sweet tooth so had to order a pudding each, naughty but nice! I chose the chocolate fudge cake and Sidonie chose Glouy tod, Banana fritters in coconut and sesame seed batter, drizzled with honey served with vanilla ice cream – yum!

Here are Sid’s thoughts on The Vine...

I always enjoy going to The Vine – I like the atmosphere, music, candles etc. It’s good for meals with the boyfriend or an evening with friends. I usually get the Thai fish cakes because they are light and delicious, but the Dim Sum was lovely! They could hold on the red chilli in the Thai green curry but apart from that it’s an affordable restaurant for everyone.

As it’s Valentine’s Day coming up, I would recommend it for a first date as it’s not too formal and the lighting, service and music is perfect!

The whole experience overall was good, and I would highly recommend it to others. I’m looking forward to visiting again soon to taste more of the menu, there is something for everyone! You can check out The Vine’s restaurant and menu here – let me know if you take a visit!

A Blogger’s Guide to Blogging

Tomorrow is Katie Charlotte Blogs’ second birthday. It feels like I’ve had this little online sanctuary for so much longer, whilst at the same time these two years have gone by in a flash.

I’ve encouraged a few of my friends to start their own since I got the blogging bug in 2013 (although it dates back further to 2011 where I started Girl About Town, how so much has changed!), so as the anniversary is approaching I thought I would write up my own experiences and pass on some advice to those who want to start blogging or have just dipped their toes in the water and need a few tips.

Why you should start a blog…

For me it has always been somewhere I can be creative and combine my love for writing and photography. Whether you want your blog to be an online diary of your travels, a place to share your recipes or perhaps you have a passion for fashion and beauty – blogging is a fun hobby that can turn into a full-time business if you pursue with it hard enough.

I used to struggle with finding a hobby that I loved. Whilst many of my friends were out playing different sports, I lacked enthusiasm to do the same so I began reading beauty and fashion blogs in my spare time instead. It wasn’t long before I decided to start my own blog, writing about things I was passionate about – beauty, fashion, food, travel and the media! Four years later I’m still blogging and enjoying it more than ever.

Everyone has something unique to say. You never know who you might be inspiring and what you write could make a difference to a stranger’s life – helping others in one way or another is one of the greatest aspects about blogging.

Finding your passion…

Do your friends admire how you dress and do your makeup? Perhaps you like to experiment with cooking and are always being asked for that tasty recipe you made for friends? When you begin to think about what you enjoy and what you are told you are good at it becomes much easier to pin point what you could write about. It’s important to lead with your strengths – so you’re not the best writer but you have a good eye when it comes to taking photos? Ask a friend or family member to check you blog text and make your photography the main focus. Depending on what you are writing about, good quality imagery can prove more prominent.

It’s easy to compare what you are doing with what other bloggers are creating so keep reminding yourself of the reason why you wanted to start blogging – it’s important to be unique in the content you create whilst keeping the quality strong. Readers can usually tell if you are doing it for pleasure or for payment, and passion is the biggest pay off in the end.

Blog hosting sites to use…

Most bloggers use Blogger or WordPress, and after using both I decided to opt for the latter. It’s personal preference so each person’s experience will be different, but I felt WordPress gave me more creative independence. There is a variety of free themes to choose from alongside premium layouts that require payment, so there is something to float everyone’s boat. With scheduling posts made easy and a mobile app that is great for blogging on the go, there aren’t too many problem areas I can bore you with.

You can choose to keep your free ‘wordpress.com/.org’ address if you wish, or you can opt to pay for a domain name instead. For the initial few months I kept it and then once my followers grew I chose to go with GoDaddy around November 2013. I pay around £3 per year for my domain name (katiecharlotteblogs.co.uk) and $13 per year to WordPress to use it which suits me well at the moment.

For tech-savvy bloggers and those who aren’t quite down with HTML (like myself), WordPress is a great place to start your blog.

Social Media…

Starting your own online sanctuary, as I like to call it, can be the start of a new world of socialising. It’s important to network and get to know other bloggers so it’s vital that you have a Twitter account in particular to speak to like-minded individuals and brands. Other social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook also hold importance, as this is where you can share photos from your blog posts and promote your content. Retweeting and favouriting tweets are a great way to engage in conversation, as well as using popular hashtags.

The blogging community is amazing and some of the most supportive people you are likely to meet, so it’s important that you make an effort in keeping those relationships alive. Be present online and you’ll be amazed with the results.

Content and scheduling…

To ensure blog growth it’s important to keep your content consistent, most readers like routine. Schedule your posts to what times suits you but also think about your readers – weekday evenings between 5 and 10pm are a good time to post as this is when most people are likely to be online (after work/school).

I post different content on different days and will usually schedule up to 6 posts per week. I’m not always consistent with this and that’s okay – remember to give yourself a break from time to time to gather your ideas and inspiration. There is nothing worse than lacking motivation and feeling uninspired, so take a step back and brainstorm new ideas.

My experience so far…

I’ll keep this part short and sweet and promise to try and not get too soppy. Starting this blog has been one of the best things I’ve ever done. At a time where my confidence was low and felt lost in what I wanted to do post-University, this little blog kind of saved me. I say kind of – of course I made a conscious effort myself to go out and do more, but with a happy focus on my blog my confidence grew and after a few months so did my readers. I had found something I felt strongly passionate about and it seemed that a few people liked what I had to say.

What’s next…

Who knows! And that is the best part of it all, opportunities arise when you least expect it and right now I’ve got a few exciting things lined up for the blog. I’ve already been invited to NYFW which I’m looking forward to in September (after not being able to attend next week!), and have a bloggers event later this month in London (#BloggersLoveLFW).

I went along to my first blogger event #TheBloggersMarket last weekend in Camden which was set up by inspiring bloggers Olivia, Carrie, Dunya, Lucy and Kristabel. Bloggers united to shop for bargains, eat cake and chat in a cool London location, I dragged my bestie along to enjoy the treats and also bumped into the gorgeous Kayleigh from Very Berry Cosmo! I’ve been chatting to her on Twitter for what feels like forever so it was so lovely to finally meet her – we bonded over overpacked bags and MAC lipstick, gotta love a girl after your own heart! (Also a shout out to the lovely Soph who I got to meet too, hopefully see you very soon!)

I suppose my hopes for the blog this year is to grow even further, meet more bloggers, work with brands I admire and most importantly, continue writing content that others enjoy reading.

If you have any questions or want to share your advice, leave them down below in the comments 🙂

Bioré Pore Strips

I’ve been meaning to do a review on these for a while now, so when I reached for the box of pore strips this morning and found only one left I thought now would be a good time to type up my thoughts.

There’s something strangely satisfying about removing all the built-up dirt (which can lead to blackheads), and nose strips like these ones by Bioré are an effective way of cleaning your pores. Using them on a regular basis may also visibly reduce the appearance of your pores, so they recommend you do this once every three days. At £7.99 per pack of 6 I tend to only use one per fortnight (when I remember), trusting that my daily makeup remover routine is doing its job well enough without any more assistance.

I’ve tried out an almost identical product from Marks and Spencer and found them to be slightly better than the Bioré Deep Cleansing Pore Strips, but unfortunately they seem to be discontinued in most M&S stores.

If you’re not too familiar with the process, here are the steps:

First, remove the nose strip from the packaging.

After washing your face, wet a cotton pad under the tap and gently wipe around the nose area (the strip won’t stick to a dry nose).

Take the smooth and stickier side and apply it on the nose – like I have in the photo below – press down to ensure the whole strip has contact with the skin.

Set the timer for 10-15 minutes, make yourself a drink and sit down and enjoy the latest YouTube upload in your feed whilst you wait. You can generally guess when the strip is ready to remove as it will feel rigid and firm – similar to how papier-mâché dries. Slowly (and carefully) start peeling back the strip from the edges until you get to the centre.

If you have any pain removing the strip, use your wet cotton pad and dab over the area of the nose where you are finding most difficulty. This should ease it gently and peeling it back will feel easier and pain-free.

And there you have it, my pores. Bared to the world wide web. No shame, just a feeling of satisfaction of knowing my skin is clean. To be honest you probably can’t see much on there (thank goodness), the pore strip didn’t reveal too much so I’m hoping that this means my skin was pretty clean already…

Have you tried these pore strips before? Leave me a comment and let me know your opinions and recommendations 🙂

The Lost & Found, Birmingham

Last weekend during my stay in Birmingham with friends, we were taken to our friend Alyson’s favourite pub in the city centre. The Lost & Found is a classic British restaurant that is situated in a large Victorian building featuring quirky rooms within. The interior is incredible, boasting a ‘library’ and a ‘conservatory’ – an Instagrammer’s dream! (Not to mention extremely Pinterest-worthy).

You will need to book a table in advance as it gets super busy, especially during the festive period. We were greeted by a friendly waitress who escorted us to our table in the ‘dining room’, where we found this cute Alice in Wonderland style bottle with our reservation tagged on.

As I sipped on my Champagne cocktail, we devoured a board of delicious Polenta chips and marinated stuffed olives.

In all of the excitement of gossip and giggles with the girls, I totally forgot to take a snap of my main meal. I ordered the Ultimate Fish Finger Sandwich, You will just have to take my word for it when I say that it really was the ultimate sandwich!

For dessert I opted for the Cappuccino Crème Brulée, two loves of mine combined. I dipped the hazelnut biscotti into the coffee froth, before reaching the crunchy caramelised topping that was hiding beneath the surface. Yum!

Despite the service being a little slow (it was a busy Saturday lunch time), I really enjoyed the overall experience. If you happen to be visiting the city, I would highly recommend stopping by here. Good friends and a cocktail required.

Liz Earle Hot Cloth Cleanser

You have probably read several posts on this miracle skincare product before. This is nothing new, but oh boy does it deserve the praise. I have suffered from bad skin since a teen and have stuck to the same skincare products in fear others will break me out.

Enter, Liz Earle’s Hot Cloth Cleanser.

There are two phases to this routine. Phase one is applying a pea sized amount of cleanser onto your finger tips and massage it all over your face – that’s right, it even removes the most stubborn mascara! Phase two is to use the soaked muslin cloth (use warm to hot water) to gently polish and clean the makeup off your face, leaving your skin feeling soft and radiant. The eucalyptus and cocoa butter ingredients cause a soothing and relaxing scent that enhances the skincare routine.

I have repurchased this kit a handful of times since trying it last year for the first time, so you can imagine the joy I felt when a friend of mine gave me this travel sized Christmas edition set a few weeks ago!

The full size kit which comes with two muslin cloths and a full size bottle of the cleanser retails at £14.99 in Boots.

What are your thoughts on this holy grail product?

Lemon Drizzle Loaf Recipe

Spontaneous baking is my favourite. The kind where you search through your kitchen cupboards and grab the necessities for most cake bakes – flour, sugar, eggs…

After a quick Google, I came across Good Food’s ‘lemon drizzle cake’ – a recipe by Tana Ramsay that I have tried before and is super simple to follow. Please click here for the method.

What you need:

225g unsalted butter, softened

225g caster sugar

4 eggs

Finely grated zest 1 lemon

225g self-raising flour

For the drizzle topping:

Juice of 1½ lemons

85g caster sugar

It will take around 15 minutes to prepare the mixture and you will need to bake or 45-50 minutes – 180C/fan 160C/gas 4.

While you wait for the cake to bake make yourself a cup of tea, sit down and enjoy an episode of your favourite TV series (I’m currently obsessed with Suits!)

Ta-da! Leave it to cool before drizzling the lemon icing on top and serve once the icing has set.

Let me know if you try this recipe and how it turns out – Happy Baking!

Bill’s restaurant, Cheltenham

Bill’s has opened in Cheltenham, finally.

I’ve been a massive fan of the UK chain ever since sampling their delicious fish finger sandwich last year in the Bristol branch, so you can probably understand why I got excited when I heard through the grapevine that they were opening one in my home town!

Myself and Sid donned the latest accessory (a Bill’s freebie before entering the restaurant) before heading in to taste the food delights.

We had booked a table as it was still the first week of opening, and within seconds of walking in we were taken to our seats.

Whilst we were awaiting our food and drinks we noticed there was a real buzz and energy in the room, and the interior is particularly Pinterest worthy . The décor of the restaurant is rustic with a shabby chic style, yet still very modern. I love the large lamp shades and the wine storage cupboard especially.

Our drinks soon arrived – we both sipped on my favourite Amaretto Sours to start the evening off.

Then our food arrived!

We shared two starters – a plate of crispy lemon squid, with a gorgeous garlic and lemon mayo sauce to dip, and grilled halloumi and cous cous salad. I wasn’t sure I would enjoy the latter at first, but the flavours of the cheese with lemon, pomegranate, mint and parsley together worked really well.

As it had been an unhealthy day of eating I chose the avocado, bacon and spinach salad which was delicious! I have recently been enjoying swapping lettuce with spinach as a healthier alternative, dare I say that I prefer the swap? The presentation of the dish was also impressive, making a salad look instantly more interesting.

Sid chose the grilled sea bream which looked amazing, and from a cheeky forkful, also tasted pretty good.

We ended the evening with cappuccinos instead of pudding, despite the desserts sounding too good to pass up.

The menu is full of variety and I plan on trying everything at some point – especially as I’ve heard that they are most famous for their breakfast/brunch menu…

If you haven’t been to Bill’s yet, what are you waiting for? Click here to head to the website and find your nearest restaurant.

P.s. I have since discovered that the pink shower cap is actually designed for bicycle seats, oops!

Milk and White Chocolate Cookies Recipe

Wednesday’s are all about the Great British Bake Off in my house, and no doubt most homes around Britain too.

I grew up helping my mum bake cakes, so I tend to gravitate towards the classic recipes that the likes of Mary Berry probably made up all those years ago! I find baking a really therapeutic and relaxing hobby, and after a long day at work it’s fun to be a little bit creative in the kitchen (blasting out some of your favourite tunes – Destiny’s Child is my baking soundtrack at the moment).

I have to give beauty blogger and YouTube sensation Tanya Burr full credit for this recipe, and if you would like to try this recipe go and check out her video here. In previous experience, I have found cookies to be a difficult bake to make – but this one is super easy, even for those who can’t cook/won’t cook.

1. Mix 300g of caster sugar with 200g of butter

2. Add 1 egg, and mix

3. Add 325g of self raising flour and sift in stages, mixing inbetween

4. Add the 200g of milk chocolate (I used Cadbury’s Giant Chocolate Buttons) and 200g of white chocolate (I used Milky Bar Giant Buttons) – I like to do a ‘taste test’ whilst adding these in, it’s important to make sure the chocolate tastes good 😉

5. Using your hands (if you don’t mind getting messy) or two spoons, separate the mixture into blobs. I found this recipe made enough for 12 cookies.

6. And now you wait…

…Until the 10-12 minutes is up.

I left the first batch in a few minutes longer than I should have, and found that they weren’t gooey enough in the middle. The second batch I took out and left to cool for 20 minutes, and they were delicious!

They are the perfect, indulgent treat – best served with a cup of tea.

Have you tried Tanya’s recipe?

Eylure Brow Palette

Brow power in a palette.

You may remember a few months ago I posted a review on Seventeen’s brow kit, it’s a good’un and has been used pretty much every day since that post last November. When something’s good, why try something new? The grass isn’t always greener, but I am on good authority to tell you that there is a new brow kit in town.

One Night in Luxury at The Petersham Hotel

Last Friday night I was lucky to stay in this beautiful hotel in Richmond, perhaps one of the grandest places I have had the pleasure of staying in.

From its impressive exterior to the magnificent interior, The Petersham is without question the perfect escape. Situated less than 10 miles from central London, its beautiful landscape views of the River Thames and surrounding greenery make you feel like you’re in the heart of the English countryside – far, far away from the hustle and bustle of city life. There is something regal about the place, easy to imagine what it would have been like to live in during the mid 1800’s, when the hotel was born. With it’s high ceilings, grand staircase and historic art gracing the walls – honey, I was no longer in Kansas.

Arriving at past midnight, I dragged my dancing feet off to bed, not without admiring the art and impressive décor en route.

Before I could whip off my clothes and jump into my PJ’s, Nia had already put the TV on and we proceeded to drink tea and share plenty of giggles watching Smack the Pony. Then I fell asleep.

No bed will ever compare to the one at home, but I have to give this one at The Petersham a respectable 7 out of 10. Not the comfiest but by no means the worst that I’ve slept on, I was fast asleep seconds after hitting the pillow. Once we had managed to roll out of bed and change out of our finest jim-jams, it was time to head downstairs for breakfast (not down the fire escape, may I add).

The views from the dining room were stunning.

Each of us had a delicious Full English, which cost £14 per head, but with scenic views, lavish surroundings and impeccable service (oh and free pastries, may I add) – it was worth every penny. When in Rome….

Before we knew it, it was time to leave.

Whether you are planning a weekend away with a loved one, a girls weekend away or just a fancy schmancy stopover en route into the centre of London, I would highly recommend a stay at The Petersham hotel in Richmond.

And if these photos don’t do it for you, I can reveal you even get some cheeky biscuits in your room…

*I have to say a big thank you to Nia, Sue and Paul for inviting me along – I had a fab time!