Aotearoa Southport Bed and Breakfast

Rose was particularly looking forward to breakfast. One of the perks is that she also gets her breakfast included – a sausage and bacon.

Special dispensation given to Rose who had been well behaved and so was allowed a sausage for her breakfast. I leave you to decide whether she enjoyed it :

Denise is an excellent cook and goes to an enormous amount of trouble for all her guests.

I mentioned the Breakfast Menu previously.

Our choices were :

Paleo Vanilla Granola

Home-made Vanilla Granola made with nuts and seeds

and served with Berries and Greek Yoghurt

When it says home-made it doesn't mean bought from a posh shop down the road with a home-made label on the box. Denise make the granola from scratch. A real breakfast designed for those who don't want the more traditional – stunning to look at and scrumptious to eat.

Eggs Benedict – vegetarian style

Home-made English Muffin with wilted greens and

Bacon or Smoked Salmon

Served with poached eggs and dairy-free Hollandaise sauce

The same applies to the muffin as to the granola, Denise makes them herself. The spinach is grown in pots on the patio. I declined the bacon and smoked salmon. The eggs were perfect and the dairy-free Hollandaise was delicious.

Here it is :

Generous is every respect – I should have asked for a childs portion!

More to come …

A dog's eye view and a review too!

My name is Rose and I'm a Tibetan Terrier and a princess.

Here I am :

I had a weekend away recently with the folks. We went to Birkdale, near Southport. For those not familiar with this neck of the woods, going north from Liverpool in the North West you hit Crosby, then Formby, Birkdale and Southport – all on the coast. The main reason for our trip was to introduce me to Macie who lives with Tim, Cheryl and Alyce. The human lot wanted us to get on so that we could have regular beach holidays – which I love. To be on the safe side the folks booked us into a bnb that welcomed me!

I had the best time ever and made two more friends called Leroy and Ziva, here they are :

For those who are fans of NCIS and wondering - you'd be right, Leroy after Gibbs and Ziva after Ziva!

Anyway I think it's time I handed over to my Mum who'll bring you up to speed with everything else.

Welcome to Aotearoa Southport – “A slice of New Zealand in the heart of Southport”. From booking our stay to arrival I could not speak more highly. I loved the fact that Denise interviewed me about Rose and expected to see her vac records – my kinda gal. We were made so welcome by Denise and Vince.

If you want a successful business, whatever it might be then attention to detail gets you noticed.

First of all Aotearoa is a beautiful home and although the website has great photos it's better still in real life. You know how when you check into your room the posher places give you a small tin of biscuits with your coffee and tea making facilities. Rose got her own box of dog biscuits. At Aotearoa no instant coffee – a small cafetiére and sachets of ground coffee.

Before we went on our way after checking in we were asked to make our choices from the Breakfast Menu. This is not your bog standard menu.

Smoky Sweet Potato Hash

Italian Baked Eggs (Oeufs en Cocotte)

Paleo Vanilla Granola

Eggs Benedict

Special Scrambled Eggs

Healthy Full English Breakfast

More about the breakfast later.

Nothing is too much trouble. It was a warm day, iced water was provided immediately and “help yourself to more when you get back”. What's not to love.

On our return we were also given a small cool bag with an ice pack and milk for the following morning. Your every need is anticipated.

See you in the morning, sleep well.

Beer bread – hints and tips

Before you have a go at baking the bread here's the helpful stuff that the recipe doesn't mention.

I used mature cheddar cheese in the mix and unsalted butter, melted, to brush the crust.

The beauty of this recipe is that you don't handle the bread mix and so no need to knead – sorry, couldn't resist. Use a round bladed knife to bring it together.

Use a 2lb loaf tin 9x5½x3” (in old money) – 900g approximately 23x13x7cms (in new money). Grease and line the loaf tin, even if it is non-stick. You could use a cake liner – if you do then spray the liner with Fry Light sunflower oil.

Turn the loaf tin after 20 minutes to make sure you get an even crust.

Let the loaf cool!

Most people are addicted to chocolate and all things sweet – give me a thick slice of good bread spread with quality butter and a lump of cheese any day.

The loaf is quite dense, cheesy with a slightly sweet background. It might sound strange but it's excellent. I couldn't agree more with the comment at the beginning of the recipe. I thought the Soda Bread loaf was the easiest and quickest I'd ever made – this loaf is quicker still.

Just in case it had escaped your notice your “raising agents” are the yeast in the beer and in the self-raising flour.

Could just be a great idea as part of a lunch for the end of May holidays!

Beer bread photos

Before the melted butter

Fingers itching – leave to cool

Just add butter to sample – worth the wait!

You might want to have a glance at the Hints and Tips coming next before you have a go.

Bring out the beer bread!

Driving North last weekend I caught two minutes of The Kitchen Cabinet on Radio 4 – if you've never listened it's great fun. 10.30a.m. Saturday morning, hosted by Jay Rayner.

All I heard was beer bread without any yeast. Instantly my “easy bread antenna” twitched. A quick note to self to do a spot of research and what follows is the result.

Beer Bread

Serves 6-8

“The yeastiness of India Pale Ale is an inspired addition to Matt

Tebbutt's recipe for bread – perfect as part of a Ploughmans Lunch”

100g cheddar cheese

375g self-raising flour

3 tbsp caster sugar

330ml ale, such as India Pale Ale

20g butter, melted (optional)

Preheat the oven to 160fan/180c/Gas 4.

Grate the cheddar cheese into a mixing bowl. Sift in the flour and the sugar, then mix well. Then, slowly pour in the beer, mixing as you go, until the mixture comes together to form a wet dough.

Pour the dough mixture into a greased loaf tin and bake in the middle of the oven for 45-50 minutes, or until the bread is risen and golden brown. To check if the bread is cooked all the way through, tap the bottom with your knuckles – it should sound hollow. During the remaining 4-5 minutes of cooking you can brush the crust of the bread with the melted butter, if preferred.

Do I have your attention? Have a look at the photos coming up – I think you'll be glad you did!

The orange drizzle to go with the cake

This is so easy and delicious - as I said previously it turns a cake into a supper or dinner party dessert.

Here's the drizzle cooling :

and again with the cake

or, if you'd prefer to give your guests a choice, serve the drizzle in small jugs

I've frozen the syrup and will, as usual, let you know how it goes.

In the meantime, what's not to like!

Whilst I'm on the subject of freezing - I promised I'd report back on the frozen Lemon Curd Crumble Bars – I defrosted them – in the fridge – and then warmed six of the bars in a pre-heated oven 160fan/180c/Gas5 for 12 minutes.

I served them with vanilla ice cream - in a word whoopee – another perfect freezer dessert of your own making!

My favourite cake – the photo guide

Take it from someone who doesn't “do cake” - this is the exception.

The final bonus – it freezes!

Thank you Ms. Roden