A Family Lunch at Ego Mediterranean Restaurant

Last weekend we were invited to Ego in West Bridgford, a new mediterranean restaurant offering great food in a light and airy environment, but most excitingly on a Sunday they offer children's entertainment, to make dining with your little ones that little bit easier.

Both of my children are pretty good when we are dining out, I take books or felt tips to keep them occupied and they usually sit still. However, like most children they do get a bit bored after a while and this is where in addition to a colouring pack on arrival, the children's entertainment comes into its own.

With colouring in, balloon animals and some fabulous scratch art bookmarks the team from Party Crew keep the children entertained whilst you get some time to yourself, whether for a chat or to mull over the menu in peace. It is a great idea and one that I think makes the dining experience for everyone that little bit more relaxed.

On to the food itself, we ordered the Greek Meze to start, a mixture of hummus, chicken, stuffed vine leaves, pittas, cous cous and halloumi. A tasty starter with something on it that both the adults and children could enjoy.

Being a Sunday it meant that they had a Sunday roast on offer, or you could choose from the A La Carte menu, I love a roast but equally the food on the menu really caught my eye. I chose the Andalucian Pork Fillet, tender pork wrapped in prosciutto, pan roasted & served with apricot & sherry cream sauce served with dauphinoise potatoes, it was really tasty and the portion size was generous.

My partner chose Lemon Chicken Milanese, flattened breaded lemon chicken, rocket, sun blush tomato & Grana Padano with lemon caper dressing & skin-on fries, I am told this was rather delicious and the plate was empty so I am guessing so.

For the children they have the standard range of children's option, chicken goujons, pizza, pasta, roast chicken, however since a smaller roast was on offer the children chose to have this instead. And I am glad they did, as what came out was amazing and I was kind of jealous.

The Elfe potatoes, giant Yorkshire pudding and beautifully tender vegetables made for a fabulous Sunday lunch and I think i'll chose this next time we go, because there will be a next time.

Puddings were equally as tasty, with a large range of sweet treats we were spoilt for choice, I chose my one of my all time favourites, Tiramisu, the children both had brownie and my partner had Sicilian Lemon Tart, all very tasty and all eaten rather quickly.

Just outside of Nottingham it is easy to get to and for us is on the way back from Rushcliffe Country Park, one of our favourite places to go for a walk. I think it is safe to say this is one place I will find myself visiting regularly for a Sunday lunch, I have already recommended it to many people.

The staff were all super friendly and attentive, the service was quick and we felt un-rushed, it was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon following a walk.

With the giant roast dinner costing just £10.95 I think this is a great option to get out of doing the dishes on a Sunday. The mains are a little more expensive but the portion sizes are plentiful and the food really tasty as well as being something a bit different. The children's menu is very reasonable costing just £4.95 for two courses.

We all left full and very happy after a wonderful few hours at Ego, the children had a wonderful time and for me if all four of us are happy then that is always a bonus.

We were invited to try lunch for free, however all words, opinions and pictures are my own.

Our Snow Fun Day

A few weeks back, we were lucky to have some snow.It was a lovely sunny day, so we headed to a favourite spot of our,s Rufford Abbey. We had lots of fun running about in the snow and trying not to fall over!

The lake was frozen over and the trees looked stunning with their vibrant colours against the blue sky and white snow, icicles hung from the benches, sparkling in the low sun.

We stopped for hot chocolate and the children loved being in the sledge being pulled along by daddy, sliding down the embankments.

We had lots of fun on our snow day, here is a video we made as part of entry for the Argyll Holidays Active Family, we are in the final six of this competition and are super excited that everyone loved our fun snow adventure.

Linking up to country Kids on Coombe Mill.

Easy to Decorate Gingerbread House

I recently saw this gingerbread house kit in the Aldi catalogue and after a nightmare trying to glue the pieces together on a kit we bought last year from Ikea, I decided to give this a try.

The kit comes with everything you need to decorate the house and as it is pre built, so if you are short on time you can get straight on to it.

Once you have squished the icing together for a few minutes it becomes soft enough to start icing the house, I did the icing and I let the kids decorate with the sweets. The box has a great detailed picture of what you can do with the included ingredients.

Although the bag of icing split whilst I was using it it tastes nice and was easy enough to ice the house with.

The house is already stuck to the board so you don't have to worry about it sliding off and even though we tipped it sidewards several times it stayed glued to the base.

Although not perfect the kids loved the sweets and covering the house in them and it looks pretty cute with some miniature presents and tree.

This set is the perfect way to get some yummy gingerbread goodness in to your home this Christmas without too much fuss, the kit costs £4.99.

Strawberry Picking Fun

I have been wanting to go strawberry picking with the children for a few years now and the weather has been nice we decided to go and get some as a treat for my birthday.

The kids loved looking for the biggest juiciest strawberries...

Daddy helping them look...

Lots of strawberries picked, we also picked some rhubarb on the way back to the car...

We had lots of fun picking strawberries, i've got a couple of recipes planned to use up any we don't manage to eat. But it was lots of fun and I can highly recommend stopping buy your local pick you own farm if you have one.

If you are local to Nottingham we visited Hills pick your own in Kirklington.

Linking up to Magic Moments on The Olivers Madhouse blog.

Winter Walks and Scooter Rides

This weekend was lovely, bright blue skies and lots to do at the moment. Saturday saw me take my son to the Lakeside to see A Christmas Carol so I wanted to make sure we took them out for some fresh air on the Sunday.

As it was my dad's birthday we went to Wollaton Hall and Park as they had a Christmas Fair on, the Hall is always a treat for the kids to walk around and see the stuffed animals and the park is always lovely too.

Beautiful wreaths around the entrance to the courtyard

Inside the Hall, loved the feel of it all Christmassy

Looking at the Albatross, they are huge!!!

Dental check for the Hippo

Daddy pointing out the different skulls.

Looking at the snake skeleton

Dino fossils.

George, the well known Gorilla. Scary, but everyone remembers him.

Time for a scoot...

Poor tree blown down in the wind. 

Looking out over the lovely lake

Wollaton Hall is a fantastic place, full of history and is a place for the children to see animals up close, it is also Batman's House so that makes it super special ;)

This week we are linking up to Country Kids over at Coombe Mill.

Fleet Street Kitchen Review

A couple of weeks ago my family and I were invited to a preview lunch at a gorgeous new restaurant and bar in Birmingham.

The Fleet Street Kitchen is one of the most unusual restaurants I have been too in a while, with the Barbacoa grill being the main focal point of the room.

In a relaxed environment you can enjoy fabulous fresh food cooked to your liking, as neither of us were drinking we had virgin Mojitos.

As we went on a Sunday I opted for the Sunday lunch, the meat was cooked perfectly and the vegetables were divine covered in the all important gravy which tasted great.

My husband chose a 35 day dry aged Dexter beef rib eye with coffee chipotle BBQ sauce, the sauce was tasty and had a really lovely spicy tang to it.

Although they don't have a specific children's menu you can have any of the mains half portion and half price so we chose the chicken and chips for my son and daughter.

Starters were all great sizes too so you could just have a couple of those for the kids, we chose the baby back ribs and potted duck which were both fabulous.

High chairs were available and at no point were we made to feel uneasy about children wanting to go and look at the kitchen and a general walk around.

The whole atmosphere was wonderful and it felt like a kitchen come dining room with a modern twist.

Finally pudding, personally I would go for a pudding over the starter but since we were there to try everything, I went for the whole 3 courses. I decided to have the Eton Mess, my husband had the chocolate pot and my son went for ice cream. The manager sent over some melted chocolate and raspberries for the children which was a lovely touch.

And finally the downstairs, although it wasn't in full use yet the vibe we got from it was elegant with an edgy feel from the spray paintings on the wall.

The booths were great and the range of spirits suited mine and my husbands unusual and sometimes expensive tastes.

You can't tell from the picture but this door is huge!

Spray painted ladies on the walls.

Gorgeous chandeliers offered a luxurious feel

I really loved the kitchen feel and it's the great setting place for a lunch with friends or a post work meal and drink.

The staff were friendly and helpful and overall we had a great meal.

NB. The meal was given to us free of charge in return for our thoughts on the restaurant, all words and images are my own.