Blogmas Archives - Katie Charlotte Blogs

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!