Reykjavik - place of mountains, beards and Bjork

I just spent four days in beautiful Iceland. Travelling alone, I explored Reyjavik with plans to see and eat everything but not enough kronas in my wallet. I had an incredible time there.
The main highlight was bumping into one of my lifetime idols - Bjork! She was just strolling down Laugavegur, the main shopping street. I almost fainted and asked her if she was Bjork, even though it was obvious but she ran away across the road! Sadly no photo for me then but still an amazing experience.
The atoms aurora borealis were being lazy and didn't put on a very good display so was rather underwhelmed by that. 
It's not as cold as I expected, the days were between 0-9 degrees. It was actually cooler as I arrived back home. Also the just 5 hours of light took some getting used to.
A welcoming, warm and peppery smelling massive greenhouse was another interesting visit made even better by it's home made tomato soup which was undoubtedly the best I've had, and I'm not a fan of tomatoes normally. Rows of the juicy fruit in various stages of growth were on display and pots of basil and scissors were on tables for you to snip into your soup.
The food was hit and miss. Cafe Loki was incredible , the food was delicate and simple, their rye bread ice cream is just spectacular. Cafe Babalu is quirky and cosy with the best chocolate banana crepes, bulging with thick chocolate sauce. Sushibarinn had wonderful fresh sushi and very delicious salmon tartar with avocado, chilli and black and white sesame. Those three are a must if you visit.
I saw a few geysers and waterfalls too but got very lonely out there, despite being used to travelling alone - at 19 I travelled to Greece on my own for two weeks, saganaki cheese..hello!
Perhaps the loneliness was due to the hotel being a fair walk away from the centre and no one else my age staying there, though I'm pretty sure they were all British, which can be disappointing. 
I'd recommend younger folk (or those young at heart) to stay at the hostel on Laugavegur as the staff are ridiculously friendly and travellers just hang out in the lobby there, enjoying the live music and other activities.

Here are some photos in no particular order.
 

Lovely soja latte at a restaurant that had no name (popular theme in Reykjavik)

Hotel buffet dinner, soup was so salty!

First introduction to Plokkfiskur, Icelandic fish stew..wasn't expecting this and didn't enjoy. Had the texture of tuna on a jacket potato after being chewed for a while. The bread was lovely, very syrupy

Crepe with maple syrup, flaky and light

Some street art that is prevalent across Reykjavik

Had one of those brownies, they were lovely and the girls here were kind and chatty, recommending the best places for nights out.

At the greenhouse

More art

More tomatoes

The tomato cafe

Lovely soup

More salty vegetable soup at a restaurant out near the geysers

This pecan pie was delicious, great pastry and wobbly sweet filling

Wrapped up enjoying the landscape

Salmon tartare at Sushibarinn

Sushi platter at Sushibarinn

Gorgeous generously filled  chocolate and banana crepe at the wonderful Cafe Babalu

Cafe Babalu

The view from the church tower, looks like the edge of the world!

Simple and elegant food at Cafe Loki. Egg and pickled herring on one rye, incredible buttery rich (much better than before) plokkfiskur on the other accompanied by amazing rye bread ice cream

Traditional Icelandic food - Skyr served with cream and sugar. How I didn't get ill I have no idea!

Amazing bakery. Bought some rye bread to take home and it's dense and sour and lovely

Yellow house

Church tower

Seafood coconut soup at Sushi Samba, also had calamari tempura and the most incredible basil aioli

Inside Cafe Babalu

A lovely scene on a beautiful walk

Toronto adventures

Hiya folks, just to let you know I haven't forgotten about you.
I'm in Toronto having a nice long holiday and I'm already missing home.
I love Canada though, the people here are so much more upbeat and friendly than those back in England. Also the nightlife is incredible - highlight of the trip for sure.
The mix of different cultures is so vast. I've had the tastiest muttar paneer and mango lassi from little India, passion-fruit and lychee bubble tea from Chinatown, cassava cake, bagels and ice tea, various unique flavoured frozen yoghurt and lots of home style Pakistani food. 
I've smelt beautiful incense and seen incredible displays in gold and every single other colour in amazing Hindu shops.
Memories of China were brought back to me when I went through smelly Chinese supermarkets with unique ingredients, live fish for sale and pet cats inside to greet me.
I've met family I didn't even know.
People go nuts for my accent over here, they are so lovely and just have the biggest smile whenever I ask for anything.
I saw a beach on a massive lake which had waves and a lifeguard. I made seedy carrot cake for my family which they loved.
I saw one of my favourite books in movie form at Toronto International Film Festival, caught the subway and air train, saw a live hip hop performance in a shopping mall, met a beautiful cat, seen black squirrels and wild bunnies, witnessed crazy people on public transport, bought some funky glasses from hot topic, been amazed by the excitement that is down-town, ridden a tiny bicycle past corn fields and got lost, seen people sitting on their porches in rocking chairs.
I also visited an amazing coffee and board games cafe called Snakes and Latte's... so much and I've still got another 6 days of exploring to do!
Friday and Saturday are for my Niagara Falls and CN tower visits.

Here are some photo's from my trip so far, mostly food of course!

First fro-yo was matcha with mochi

Sushi!

Immense toffee apples

Mango lassi and muttar paneer at little India

Seeded carrot cake

Pakistani mango heaven

The resident cat

Bulk barn! Anything you could ever want in mass amounts

Fro-yo no.2 was peanut butter and jelly flavour with various chocolatey delights

With the most incredible masala corn at a festival

At a fast food joint, those scone like things are called biscuits here, the fries were good

More fro-yo. mine was dulce de leche, creme caramel, vanilla and chocolate with fruit, brownies, yoghurt pretzels, blueberry mochi and peanut butter sauce. Ooh and lucky charms mmm

Honk Kong style egg waffle - very moreish and tasty.

You getting sick of fro-yo yet? This was healthy ish - greek yoghurt with honey, fruit and lychee popping boba (think salmon roe texture but filled with sweet liquid)

At snakes and lattes - the best cafe I have ever been to bar none. The walls are filled with all the board games ever invented with amazingly friendly staff who you can see playing games with people and fantastic coffee and cake.

I had cheesecake brownie, which I then swapped with my cousin for a raspberry white chocolate cheesecake as it was too raspberry-ish for her. I also drank a nutella latte and had amazingly buttery biscuits

At vegetarian restaurant Fresh - I had a tofu peanut buddha bowl

Toronto skyline at night

I'm incredibly inspired. Watch this space for lots more recipe's when I return home including the promised chai latte.

A day trip to Bridlington

Bridlington promenade

Me, my dad and sister all decided to go on a spontaneous trip to Bridlington.
We started with a walk along the promenade and me and my sister went on a couple of rides. I narrowly escaped my lung being crushed and exploded due to the rides violent and nauseating jumps and spins which resulted in my sister being continuously rammed into my side. Ouch.


After that torture I obviously needed comfort in some sort of fried sugar coated confectionery, but not yet!
First - a speedboat ride.

This was way more fun and not at all excruciatingly painful. The wing in my hair and the spray of the sea on my face, was very pleasant indeed.
Finally I enjoyed a couple of freshly made donuts. They were hot, sugary and stodgy. Just what you'd expect, perfect.

The fresh donuts being cooked

After a bit more walking and sightseeing we stopped to get fish and chips from a place called Captain Scotts. I chose scampi and shared some of my dads plaice. The scampi was particularly flavoursome and the fish nice and moist. Didn't manage too many of the chips as I had those donuts not so long previously.

Plaice, Scampi and chips

Didn't purchase any but this ice cream parlour was very extravagant and reminded me of a tv show I once saw about an ice cream store in Las Vegas

We then walked just enough for me to find eating again reasonable and stopped off at The Rowan Tree. This was a beautiful little cafe and my sister agreed that it was not the kind of place you'd expect to find in Bridlington. Gorgeous home made cakes and organic local produce. Definitely worth a visit if you are in the area.

Loved the style of this place, the counter with various tempting tea and cake

Carrot cake and a chocolate orange gateau