essex / Georgina Does

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My Favourite Essex Days Out

Monday, 8 May 2017

Whilst I love the hustle and bustle of working in London and I really do, I spend most of my life up there whether it's in the office, eating out or just wandering around the streets; Essex is my home. It's a completely different world from the big city, much slower and relaxed with lots of grass and lots of wild animals. Well, there is in my part anyway - there's a peacock who lives across the road from us with his chicken friends and also a couple of goats.

With all my traveling recently, I haven't really had much time to talk about exploring my home here on my blog so when The Essex Business School at the University of Essex got in touch, it gave me the perfect opportunity to put together a post. With the launch of their new BSc Tourism Management degree and a competition running alongside it to find Essex’s Best Youth Tourist Attraction today, I'm sharing my favourite Essex days out.

Southend

If you live in Essex then I’m pretty sure you would have been to Southend seaside at some point during your childhood. One set of grandparents used to live there and my other grandparents love it there too so I spent a considerable amount of childhood weekends there. Whilst the cold, stony beach isn’t exactly my cup of tea, I still love to walk along the front and spend all of my money at the arcades - hitting up the 2p arcades is one of my favourite things in the world and I have the best memories there. I loved going with my grandparents as a child and I still love going now whether it’s with them or with Andrew.

Epping & Hainault Forest

So we have a lot of forests in Essex and I love them both as a quiet sanctuary. Epping Forest is somewhere that I make alot of time to visit because its quite close and Molly loves it there and I love to take her out on a walk when I have time; it's always full of dog walkers.

Hainult Forest is all about the petting farm. I went with Andrew and his family for a post boxing day walk, we saw the goats (you should understand my love of goats by now) and I had the best day! After a frosty walk around the lake, we stopped off in the café for a warming cup of tea. Hainault forest is also a lovely place for a picnic so we do that quite often as well.

Hylands House

This one is a little bit further away from me but is somewhere that holds loads of cool events. I’ve been in the past for the Dukes Polo with Freeport Braintree (another amazing day out in Essex) and more recently to the Dog Show with Frontline. It’s also the location that they hold V festival at each year!

Lakeside

Freeport is great for discount designer goods but Lakeside will always be my favourite shopping center because it's the one I come home from with bags and bags of shopping every time; the shops there always have the best stock. Apart from a three story Primark and all of my other favourite shops, they have the best range of food for a shopping center. We usually get lunch at Pret or Pizza Hut before devouring milkshakes, cookies and who knows what else as we wander around. Another thing that I absolutely love about Lakeside is that it's never too crowded so shopping is actually a nice experience; we literally spend the whole day there.

If you’re aged 16-25, Post a picture on Instagram of your favourite place to visit in Essex to win a prize package of summer days out worth up to £500. Include a caption naming the attraction, explaining why you love it and remember to tag @essexebs #essexyouthtourism. Ends 18 May. See T&C

*Sponsored Post

Monday, 12 December 2016

Pivaz opened earlier this year and it was quite a big deal for Epping, a brand new trendy restaurant that brought some glamour to the high street. They're a Turkish restaurant (which is one of my favourite cuisines) and I’d been once already, for my birthday but my parents already love it there so when I was invited to come and try out their new Christmas menu, I brought my mum along with me.

Whilst Turkish isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when I think of a Christmas dinner, I’m actually not a huge fan of roasts so I was pretty pleased when the email came, saying that they were focusing on evoking the taste of the Mediterranean’s rich heritage and there would not be a turnkey in sight. So if like me, you’re not interested in going for another Christmas dinner this festive season, Pivaz is the place for you!

Let’s start with the décor because it’s something that I really do love about this place. There are lots of different sections as the restaurant twists around in a U shape and each part is different. It’s very interesting to walk from one to the next although all of them seem to exude luxury and decadence with lots of jewel toned velvets and secluded seating areas. We took our seats in the main dining room which was designed with blue velvet; buzzing with people on a sunday afternoon.

The Christmas menu is £39 for 3 courses and while there is quite a good choice for anyone who is new to Pivaz, the menu didn't have any of my mums favourite dishes from the normal menu on it. I however quite liked that because it meant we had to choose dishes that we'd never tried before and for me that meant that I found a new favourite!

I started with the Escargot as I don’t often see them on the menu and that are a dish that I really enjoy especially when they are smothered in garlic sauce. This time though, my very generous portion of snails were served in a cute little pot with a sweet, spicy tomato sauce. Mum had the mix mezze platter for one which was a pretty looking dish and perfect to get a hit of all the best turkish starters! We loved the filo parcel and beetroot tarator!

For mains, I went for the Char-grilled mixed fish as I had the lamb shish last time and I found a bit dry. The fish however was absolutely delicious and would be a dish I order again and again! The halibut was soft and full of flavour, the king prawns were huge and the salmon tasted great, placed between layers of onion and peppers. The dish comes with a fruity pomegranate salad but I had to order my rice separately. Mum had the beef shish which looked surprisingly succulent and juicy to me - it was much nicer than the lamb I had had previously so maybe they've improved since my last visit.

Dessert was a fruity affair with our first Christmas dish spotted top of the list - a Christmas pudding! There were none of their usual chocolatey options but I didn't mind because some of the other choices were still very tempting! We ordered the raspberry creme brulee and the passionfruit cheesecake and shared both. They tasted delicioius but quite heavy so neither got finished.

What's your favourite cuisine?

*My meal was complimentary in return for this honest review

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Monday, 11 April 2016

Bathroom habits seem to be of everyone's interest lately, have you noticed? There's been articles in the newspaper and magazines and press releases left, right and center on just how clean we are. Pebble Grey did some of their own research and apparently found out that over a third of people admit to not showering or bathing daily. Ew

Natural cleaning brand method (remember I did a post with them a little while ago?) also did some reasearch and found out that one in five of us wear clothes taken straight from the dirty laundry. Also Ew. Plus a quarter of people say their cleaner is more important to them than their doctor.

Check out this list of Britain’s top ten most surprising #dirtylittlesecrets! Apart from the ewwwwss and the yuck, I actually thought it was pretty interesting!

1. Running out of clean underwear and going commando

2. Using a hairdryer to dust (LOL)

3. Noticing a lipstick on a 'clean' wine glass + wiping it off with a finger

4. Leaving the bed sheets for more than six months before washing them

5. Following the five second rule and eating food that has fallen on the floor

6. Eating from the same plate at dinner that was used at lunchtime (guilty)

7. Never washing hands before eating

8. Hiding mess away in cupboards rather than cleaning up

9. Buying new clothes to avoid doing the ironing

10. Cleaning the house in the nude

To go together with this, I was asked to write about my morning routine but I'll be honest it isn't very exciting, especially during the week and I only have one dirty little secret but more on that later. I can get from waking up to out of the door in 11 minutes if needed, a little precise, I know, but that's because it happened last week and I was pretty impressed with myself.

That was one of the quicker mornings obvs but I think I left the house looking pretty much the same and I still managed to do everything I usually do - just a bit faster! So let me talk you through it.

During the week, I set my alarm for 7am and start my morning listening to Dave Berry on capital for 10 (or 30) minutes. I like listening to them talk because it makes me feel like I need to concentrate which wakes up my brain - does that even make sense? If that doesnt work, then I'll jump on youtube and find something loud and fast - at the moment, my go to song is Riton Ft. Kah-Lo - Rinse & Repeat.

Then when I finally get out of bed & find my clothes for the day (not out of the dirty laundry, ew), they go straight onto my radiator because getting into warm clothes makes so much difference! I usually shower in the evenings so I dont need to worry about that until later on.

So now maybe I should let you in to my little secret. I only wash my hair once a week, soz. I'm in that routine and it works for me, my hair lasts fine and I seriously don't think it looks much different from day one to day seven, is that really terrible?

Annyyyway, back to what I do do. Honestly, it's just a matter of brushing my teeth, eyeliner on, clothes on, perfume (currently FIERCE by A&F) and out of the door, well I say that but actually, I have OCD which means I cant just walk out of the door, not until I have checked all of my plugs, two doors, both cameras, my laptop and a window that I have never even opened. It used to completely take over my morning but with the help of my therapist, I am getting better at leaving my bedroom in the morning so hopefully that'll be something that wont be part of my morning routine for much longer.

At the weekends, we have never really laid in later than 9, nowadays we're up early and at the gym before then! Again, as of recently, My blender is finally getting some use and after the gym, I'll make myself a smoothie, this weekend it was banana, spinach, almond milk, honey & yoghurt and for my first attempt at spinach inside a smoothie (lets forget that I worked at Boost for 6 months) it wasnt too bad! I took a handful and Andrew ate the rest for breakfast with some garlic paste. Yeah, I thought it was strange too.

After that, it's all about a nice long bath with something from Lush, a little face cream, maybe even some mascara and my contact lenses!

Whats Your Dirty Little Secret?

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Monday, 29 February 2016

I have never had a pair of jeans from a proper jean shop before, I always bought mine in Primark and changed them every 6 months when they start to fall apart so when GAP at The Brewery, Romford invited me along to pick myself out a pair, I definitely wasn't expecting it to be such a big job! It took a long time, although finding the perfect pair was pretty rewarding in the end plus there was 20% in store that day which was pretty helpful..

Andrew and I went down to Romford a couple of weeks ago and spent a good hour picking out the perfect pair. I actually didn't realise GAP specialised in jeans (am I stupid?) but I was a little overwhelmed by the choice as soon as we walked in - there were so many different styles and different colours, different shapes and different sizes.

We decided that a good place to start was to work out what size I was, apparently I'm at 26 whatever that means but they seemed to fit best. I did pick up a pretty pair of black ripped girlfriend jeans but I'm a skinny jeans girl at heart so I grabbed a pair in every colour. Black jeans are me all over but Andrew convinced me to try something a bit different so it came down to two pairs - blue or khaki. After trying them on three times and walking around the shop in my socks for ten minutes I found my pair in these light blue ones - they won me over with their perfect fit and pretty shade of blue.

They got their first wear this weekend - we popped to Westfield for change a Victorias Secret bra that I somehow managed to pick up in the wrong size and a cheeky Nandos! I am all about the basics at the moment so I just stuck on a grey tee and my fresh new grey Nike Roshe Runs from Foot Locker. I am a major fan of the Roshes, I love the design plus they are totally lightweight and very comfortable - so pretty practical for trying to navigate Westfield on a Saturday afternoon!

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Friday, 4 December 2015

Last week, The Brewery invited Andrew and I along for a cheeky little date in the run up to Christmas! We haven't made time to go out and just have a nice afternoon together for ages, so it was really lovely to have an excuse to do so at our local center.

They have my favourite Nandos there but apart from that we dont tend to venture to all the other resturants so they decided we should try something new and sent us to Zizzi's to try their new Christmas offerings. Not only have I never been to the Zizzis at The Brewery, I actually havent ever been altogether!

We started with a glass of prosecco each while we looked through the menu - I aboslutely loved the presentation of these, to be honest, I thought every single dish came out looking lovely!

The set menus were amazingly priced and brilliant value for money! The one we went for was £24.95 and included a three course meal, a glass of prosecco to start and a shot of limonchello to finish, lets just say we were totally stuffed by the time we left - the portions were huge plus I can honestly say every dish was delicious.

After the enormous meal, we were off upstairs to the cinema! I grew up going to this one so it was lovely to be back really, you know just those little things like knowing where the toilets are and stuff. They were showing the new hunger games film but we decided to see Spectre since we hadnt seen it yet and Andrew is a big Bond fan! And we obvs cant go to the cinema without popcorn and a tango ice blast!

When Was Your Last Date Night?

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Monday, 19 October 2015

I am not a winter person. As well as just hating the cold because, well, its cold, it also makes all the metal in my back go really stiff and its usually quite painful so in the winter, any thoughts of dressing to look nice go out of the window in aid of keeping my back warm as warm as I can.

I can spend whole winters wearing jeans, a jumper and a pair of trainers. Now I love a big knitted jumper but it gets to a point when I get sick of wearing the same shape clothes in different colours for 5 months at a time (we are in the UK after all) so its nice when I come across a piece that I could could wear, without my back getting too cold, that I actually think looks nice as well! I picked up this jumper at the end of winter last year so I havent really had a chance to wear it yet and as for the shoes, you might be surprised to hear that these are my first pair of UGGS (I live in Essex). I wasn't a huge fan of the original long, chestnut coloured ones but I think these little black ones are really cute and a much better colour for me.

Granted, this outfit wouldn't be perfect for a day out in the elements on Oxford Street but it would be fine for a winters day at say Lakeside (the uggs would fit right in), or the cinema or the sort of things people like to do indoors when its just too cold.

How Do You Wear UGGS?

Uggs* - Cloggs

Dress - Primark

Bag - Longchamp

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Friday, 26 June 2015

Last week I was invited to to review somewhere in Essex, how exciting! Of course since there were no trains involved on her part, my mum wanted to come along on this one! It was nice to be invited back to a restaurant that I have been to many times with her in the past - Cafe Rouge, Loughton.

A lovely place to spend a sunny evening, we sat right at the back where there was an entrance to their garden seating. We started with olives and bread. Neither of us usually eat bread but today we forgot about that and went all out it was just too temping.

For starters we both went for snails, an old favourite of mine and something new for mum, she usually has the pate but was very pleased with her new choice as was I. They were served differently from how I remember and looked more like a pie with a yummy pastry layer over the top of the dish.

I was super sad that they had run out of mussels as I was really looking forward to that for my main so instead I went for the goats cheese and beetroot tart which was light and creamy - perfect for the warm summery evening.

Mum had beef bourguignon which looked delicious although it was a little bit rich for me, she really enjoyed it though!

My mum likes to ask all sorts of annoying questions when we go out to eat, "is this better than that" and "what would you recommend?" but both the GM and our waiter were amazing when it came to answering. They knew exactly what was what and had great advice and recommendations for us on every course.

Which brings us onto dessert. We couldn't decide between the chocolate fondant or lemon tart so I was pretty pleased when I spotted the trio of dessert which had both of them. The third one though was a tart tatin which neither of us fancied so we asked some more questions and our waiter recommended that we tried their chili chocolate and lime sorbet so we went with that and I'm so glad we did because it was my favourite part of the dessert. All three parts were actually delicious but the sorbet was so refreshing and tasty. I would love to try their other flavours.

To finish off I had a fresh mint tea and mum a cappuccino.

Let's just say we left suitably stuffed and very satisfied having enjoyed a lovely dinner.

Have You Been To Cafe Rouge Lately?

*Cafe Rouge kindly covered the meal in return for my review. All opinions are 100% honest.
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Friday, 27 February 2015

Last week Andrew and I took a little adventure to Chelmsford. It's not really that far from me but neither of us had ever been before so when I got an invitation to come and try out the Jamie's Italian in the town center I thought it might be fun!

We followed the sat-nav and got there alot easier that expected. We spotted the restaurant, turned down the next road and found a giant car park which we were both pretty pleased about. On the walk to the restaurant, the ticket flew off in the wind and I watched (and laughed) as Andrew chased after it haha I've never seen him run so fast.

After all that excitement we were pleased to sit down and relax. Jamie's is based inside The Trattoria and has a very warehousey feel to it. I loved the high ceilings, ripped wallpaper walls and the fact that the whole restaurant was filled with smells wafting out of the open pizza oven in the middle of the room. I have only been to Jamie's once before (at Westfield) and this has a very different layout!

Our waitress was really lovely which is always a good thing, she was smiley and helpful throughout our meal. Also, she brought over a jug of tap water which for me is a winner. I hate having to ask over and over for another glass of water. We also ordered juices - Andrew got pineapple and I got a virgin strawberry mojito - just as tasty as a real one - yum.

The menu itself was quite small with only 6 pastas and 4 or 5 pizzas although there were still lots of good choices, neither of us had a hard time finding something we liked. It was nice to have a good choice of pastas - we never eat pasta when we go out so we both opted for one. They came in bowls which was also a change for us. They were both big portions - I couldn't finish mine! I was pleased to see they were very generous with the sauce and toppings. Nothing worse than that awkward moment when the staff give you a little teaspoon of parmesan when what you really want is the whole bowl poured on top. (photos taken before the parmesan)

The food came out in good time and all tasted good too. We ordered three starters between us. Andrew went for the prawns which smelt amazing and I went for something I'd never heard of - Porcini mushroom arancini which I think was breaded balls of risotto, either way it tasted good although I really didn't like the sauce it came with. Andrew being Andrew insisted we needed a side order of garlic bread too. Be warned, it is reaallllyyy garlicy

Then after our mains, I couldn't leave without dessert! The prices though the meal were fine and were similar to the prices of say a Pizza Express. We had 6 courses and 3 drinks between us which came to just under £50. Dessert was tasty but very pricey, most of them were okay actually, it was just the ice cream and sorbet options that I thought were alot, I was just a little shocked that 3 scoops of ice cream could cost almost £5. They included a topping which helped but still seemed alot to me - although the salted caramel ice cream I decided on was delicious. Andrew just has a coffee which we thought they had forgotten about but it came out eventually.

We both enjoyed our meals and left super stuffed so that's a good thing, no one likes leaving a restaurant still feeling hungry.

Have You Been To A Jamies Italian?

*Jamies Italian kindly covered the meal in return for my review. All opinions are 100% honest.

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SLIDER

My Favourite Essex Days Out

Monday, 8 May 2017

Christmas Menu at Pivaz, Epping High Street

Monday, 12 December 2016

LIFESTYLE: My Morning Routine

Monday, 11 April 2016

FASHION: Jeans From GAP, Romford

Monday, 29 February 2016

LIFESTYLE: Date Night At The Brewery, Romford

Friday, 4 December 2015

FASHION: How To Wear UGGS

Monday, 19 October 2015

LIFESTYLE: Cafe Rouge, Loughton

Friday, 26 June 2015

LIFESTYLE: Lunch At Jamies Italian, Chelmsford

Friday, 27 February 2015