Herbie-licious!

My boyfriend and I recently found ourselves in Exeter for a post laser eye surgery check-up (I will write soon all about that experience!) and we thought we would take the opportunity to try out a vegan restaurant for lunch!

Where we live in North Devon there are not many options for eating out as a vegan. Usually just a couple of vegetarian items per menu that can sometimes be made vegan if you ask in advance but generally eating out and maintaining a strict vegan diet is quite tricky!

Therefore, it was amazing to sit down in Herbies restaurant and have so much to choose from :)

(You can view the menu here if you are interested to see the whole thing).

I chose the mushroom and butternut squash risotto with garlic bread on the side which was absolutely delicious. It exceeded my expectations and was full of flavour! It was quite a sizeable portion though and so I struggled a bit towards the end but that's always much better than being left unsatisfied!

Pete chose the spicy vegetable satay which was also very good and we shared some nachos, a salad and some potato wedges! Not greedy at all...

Overall we were really impressed and we can't wait to go back soon! 

There are also some other vegan places in Exeter we want to try and so hopefully I can post up some more reviews. I am particularly excited to try Hidden Treasures tearoom which apparently does a vegan cream tea complete with sandwiches, cake and scones, vegan cream and jam!!!!!

East to West

Last October, my boyfriend and I moved 200 miles across the country from the South East of England to the South West. 

This might not sound like a huge distance compared to those who have moved to a completely different country (or even between states in the U.S. as I know that can be thousands of miles!) but it is enough to require a lot of readjustment and settling in to a new way of life.

The decision to move to North Devon was based on a love of the ocean, surfing, beachside living and a desire for new adventures together in place we both wanted to call home.

While it has been a success overall... Winter was tougher than expected...

We were living in a 'Winter Let' property which is basically a summer holiday rental that is open for tenant occupancy over the winter months when nobody in their right mind wants to visit a totally shut-down seaside resort.

Gradually during the weeks after we moved in, the majority of cafe, restaurant pub and even some shop owners all battened down the hatches and left the country to go catch some rays and some waves in Indonesia or some such foreign land with warmer weather and clearer waters.

Luckily, we used this opportunity to make friends with some of the few locals that remained. Funnily enough, it is easier to get chatting to someone in the local pub when they are the only other person there and also when you start being able to buy shot after shot of rum at "locals rates".

Another problem we hadn't really bargained for was the lack of surf! October-March should really bring the best swell due to the big storms happening out at sea. While this is still true, we had forgotten just how bloody windy it would be on the very exposed SW coast. We got so used to the howling gale-force winds that it was almost more disturbing when the nights were quieter. Having said that, we did enjoy some better conditions around Oct-Nov.

The surf quality picked up again around March but by then our winter home had to be returned to the hoards of holiday-makers starting to invade the area and we had to move to a new house in a nearby town.

It's a shame we are no longer able to walk to the sea (unless you want to spend 30 minutes dicing with death on a pretty treacherous main road) but it's only 5 minutes in the car so we can't really complain!

I definitely feel happy here and you really can't beat the stunning beaches and scenery but properly settling in and making new friends does take a long time. I still miss all of my friends from back home and while I have some new friends here it takes a while for me to get fully comfortable and to be myself around people.

I also work from home which makes it harder to meet people as I don't even get out of the house very often! It takes extra effort for me to motivate myself to go and get involved in classes, clubs and other social activities. Something I haven't been particularly great at but I'm determined to throw myself into more things this summer and I am hoping that some new adventures will also help to build some closer friendships, so watch this space!

I've got to start somewhere!

I find starting something like this very challenging. I never know where to begin and I overthink it until it feels like an almost impossible task when really it should just be something natural and enjoyable.

I have decided that today I am going to make a start and it doesn't matter if it is just a load of drivel because in the end you just have to start somewhere!

I just find that my head is so full of things I want to say that sometimes I can't even make sense of all of it myself! Let alone get it out onto the screen in front of me in somewhat coherent sentences...

This "overwhelmedness" is something I battle with in every day life. Not because I have a particularly busy schedule or many responsibilities but just because there is so much I want to do that I never know where to begin.

I am hoping that this blog will help me put some structure around some of my ideas, passions, life goals and even just general day-to-day musings. It can be a place for me to record things I want to achieve and things I have achieved. I also hope it will just be a fun hobby and maybe in time it might even entertain or help others!