missiecindz.com | Missie Cindz

It’s never too late to build your future.
Write down your own future in a Missie Cindz book.

Writing isn’t magic and it isn’t some kind of innate talent that one either has or doesn’t — it’s motivational, endearing and inspirational. At least for me. A simple notebook has completely changed my way of approaching work, business and life this year ~ read my blog post: Good everyday notes worth eating via #cindy365notes.

On the 3rd of each month I’m going to send one budding, current, or retired writer their very own Missie Cindz Recipes, Snap or Ready notebook in which to start your own true tale of liquor, adventure, entrepreneurship and big shot ideas, and because that first blank page is always a bit intimidating I’m going to mark it up for you with a Missie Cindz note of ‘Do It‘. No excuses, get to writing.

Even Sir Richard Branson tells the importance of having a notebook “Anyone who aspires to lead a company must develop a habit of taking notes. I carry a notebook everywhere I go.” – source

How to enter
All you need to do to be in with a chance of winning one of my notebooks is to tell me, in 30 words or less, as a kid what did you want to be when you grow up ~ perhaps it’s something you still want to do now? I’ll select one winner at random on the 3rd of each month. You can send me your answer as a comment below or by tweeting me: @MissieCindz and the hashtag #MissieNotebookGiveaway. You can comment as many times as you want but it doesn’t affect your chances of winning, your name will be entered into the competition for the rest of the year.

The competition giveaway begins today 04/05/2013 and ends 03/05/2014 ~ Winner will be announced on the 3rd of each month and is open to international readers. I will cover all postage costs.

Feel free to spread the word. Good luck everyone and I look forward to seeing a year of beautiful writings and doodles from you! ~ Missie Cindz

Notebook information: The notebooks are 52 page A5 sized 100% recycled books that are perfect for dropping in a handbag (or totebag), desk drawer or leaving in the car or beside the bed for when inspiration strikes in unusual places. On the inside front cover, there is a small tag to scribble your name. Printed in the UK on heavyweight recycled luxury paper and card. To see more of my notebooks visit my shop > here <

It is often said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

During my first month in London, I discovered the Breakfast Club, the little yellow cafes in London that serves a twist on cosy morning comforts. Since discovering the place in my first week, and having eaten a pancake or three I’ve been allured to their yellow den (hang-outs) ever since!

Instead of soggy cornflakes, porridge or PB and J, there’s Eggs Benedict served with home-style fried potatoes, the BC Fish Finger Sandwich with skin-on chips and coleslaw, or you can go for something sweeter with apple and cinnamon soaked oats and the All American pancakes, eggs, sausage, home-style fried potatoes, streaky bacon and maple syrup! ~ heart attack on a plate I hear you scream? but, actually it wasn’t as greasy as it sounds.

The Breakfast Club serves some of the best smoothies and shakes I’ve ever had (try, the ELVIS – Peanut Butter and Banana). Really, I crave for their shakes! The place has a kind of good-humored, 80′s warm-hearted feel and after leaving the place, you feel like going home and sticking on The Breakfast Club movie to watch.

As a heads up, the place can get really busy (we had to wait for a table), but service is incredibly fast and I didn’t feel rushed and like I had to quickly finish off my meal so that the table could be prepped ready for the next customer. These guys also have great taste in music too. Definitely a ‘must try’ place to go for breakfast, brunch or dinner in London. It’s become my new go-to spot when I need something quick to warm my belly…

The Breakfast Club  |  31 Camden Passage, London N1 8EA  |  020 7226 5454

{Photos by Cindy Cheung and Baz Chan (last pic)}

Tea: making new memories and people happy

On Wednesday 24 April, 200 tea-lovers joined Yorkshire Tea for a trip on the Orient Express to celebrate the joy of a proper brew. We were treated to a tea-lightful afternoon chugging around the London countryside whilst enjoying afternoon tea with champagne and tea, and to finish off, the Yorkshire Tea Brass Band got everyone dancing whilst supping exclusive Yorkshire Tea cocktails served by Jake from Jakes Bar.

For the last few months, I’ve been thinking a lot about what brings me motivation and joy. Sure, I love a good cuppa tea or a slice of good cake…but making other people happy really tops that list. What Yorkshire Tea did this week was deeply generous, and truly made lots of people happy; creating new (lasting) memories and experiences which even money couldn’t buy! ~ well, you could if you had a lot of it but we don’t; and Yorkshire Tea also gave tea-lovers something positive to talk about, simply to bring a smile to someone’s face.

We should all think about doing something to spread a little positivity. Those moments of happiness are so important especially during bleak times like these.

Making new friends over a proper brew
Here’s a sneaky peep of my day captured as photographs – afternoon tea, finger sandwiches, cakes, champagne and more!

Onboard the train, I met Steve Jones of TunneltoTowers Run London (T2T), one of a group of fire fighters who went to help with Hurricane Sandy relief and Yorkshire Tea sent tea to. I’m looking forward to supporting his charity run and helping with some fundraising this summer. Lots of support is still  needed for the T2T charity run ~ see here for more details: www.tunnel2towersrun.org

Thank you Orient Express, Yorkshire Tea, Sam Ward and everyone involved in making the day so memorable! A special thank you to Peter Hamblin for the photograph of me (first photo), you captured my day perfectly! :) – Missie Cindz

{All photos from Cindy Cheung. First photo from Peter Hamblin Photography}

Feast of St. George celebrations in the middle of Trafalgar Square

London Farmers' Market taster stall making an appearance at Feast of St. George

Yummy food and sunshine at the Feast of St.George on Saturday 20th April 2013

I love speciality food markets and being new to London I’m still finding my way around and discovering the local food scene. Last Saturday afternoon I went along to The Feast of St George where I saw traditional English fare consumed on picnic benches in the middle of Trafalgar Square.

There was an English farmer’s market, with stalls selling edible treats including a hog roast, homemade speciality pies, artisan chocolates and ice cream, freshly baked breads and cakes and freshly squeezed lemonade. There was also live cookery demonstrations and foodie workshops, plus live music and entertainment by talented Londoners.

It was a truly colourful St George’s Day in London over the weekend. Proving to tourists and fellow Londoners that London really do know how to throw a good party! – Missie Cindz

{photos by Cindy Cheung}

Satisfying my sweet tooth emergency at Konditor and Cook. Please note, the Treacle Stout is not available in-store (this was my own for fun decoration only :)

Did you say cake?…
I get excited at the thought of discovering and trying new cake places. To satisfy my sweet tooth emergency I popped over to Konditor & Cook on Shaftesbury Avenue to visit their Curzon shop (not far from Soho).

I ordered two slices of cakes for myself and a friend; Lemon Chiffon (lemon zest sponge cake filled and covered with a smooth citrus chiffon frosting) and one of their bestsellers, the Chocolate Curly Whirly (a dark chocolate sponge with vanilla bean frosting), plus two little mini cakes. All the chosen cakes were delicious and not as dense or overly sweet as I expected (but I do have a very sweet tooth). The Curly Whirly was definitely one of the best chocolate cakes I’ve had in a long time.

There are six Konditor & Cook outlets in London where you can sample their beautiful confections choosing from cakes and pastries through to savoury lunchtime options including homemade quiche, tarts, fresh salads and sandwiches. They also do whole cakes made to order or individual slices to take away which is ideal if you need that ‘cake fix’ to take back to the office or home.

If you’re a baker or wanna-be-baker, check out the recipe to make Konditor & Cook’s Bestseller, Curly Whirly cake over on The Guardian’s website here ~ definitely something for my cakey followers: @Clarek56, @weekendbakers and @vagabondbaker. Bake-In’s the new going out afterall!

Happy weekend everyone ~ and I hope you satisfy your taste buds on nice treats too.

Note: All my posts are about things I love and want to share with my readers. The integrity of what is written is extremely important to me – all my thoughts, writing and opinions are solely mine (unless stated otherwise) – Missie/ Cindz

{photos by Cindy Cheung as shared on Instagram – Thanks Oliver Denton for the sweet company, I had so much fun!}

Last weekend, I was invited to go along to and speak at Blog North’s Food Glorious Food. A day which saw me hanging out with an army of creative and delicious food-related superheroes served with cuppa loads of tea and plate loads of food! It was a veritable cornucopia of an event to tease out your blogging tastebuds.

Held in one of the coolest creative hubs in Leeds, Duke Studios. The day saw plenty of food (quite expected) but more than that there were deliciously useful and engaging workshops to attend lead by an army of talented individuals who I was very pleased to have had the pleasure in meeting. Creative workshops ranged from food photography and tips with Paul Winch-Furness – and have you checked out Paul’s Instagram stream yet? you’re warned; it’ll make you very hungry! There were also creative food writing with Emma Sturgess and branding expertise with Sam Ward – Brand PR Manager from Taylors of Harrogate demonstrating the importance of why Clandestine Cake Club and Yorkshire Tea support each other to strengthen both group’s aims and messages.

Kicking off by Sharing Cookies
On arrival we were asked to take our giant ‘name badge cookie’ which were hung on a ‘washing line’ and asked to decorate it to however we pleased.

Missie Cindz Workshops

One of my biggest passions in life includes creating new memories and experiences with others, my community! and I was also lucky enough to share both my personal story and the tale of Missie Cindz’s passion for food with aspiring food bloggers, creatives and entrepreneurs. A big thank you to those who supported and attended my sessions.

My workshop aimed to share with you ways in which you can express your love of food and grow online and offline communities with a creative use of social media, events and charming collaborations. I have linked a downloadable PDF of my workshop presentation so that those unable to attend my workshop can refer to it.

I enjoyed Blog North so much that I’m currently thinking of doing more workshops and creative sessions in the future; to inspire and motivate you by blending first hand experiences with honesty and enthusiasm that will leave you feeling inspired and touched so that you can learn to improve your own personal and professional (food and life) endeavors!

If you would like to express your interest in attending a Missie Cindz creative workshop/event please comment below so that I have a rough idea on whether I could fill a room :) ~ my worst nightmare would be having a party and finding out no-one turned up!

On a final note, to those who came to my workshop you’ll know this ~ Remember to always keep yourself hungry to discover and learn! It doesn’t matter if the glass is half full or empty; there is always room for more!

Lunch was served by award-winning Café Moor of Leeds serving us a huge gastronomic table of North African goodness. The owner and chef, Kada (pictured above) shared with us his own personal passions for food and telling the story behind his food operations in Leeds. If you’re ever in the city, do pop over to meet Kada and his team in Leeds Kirkgate Market, share some lunch, and hear about their plans to strengthen authentic food to life in Leeds city centre.

Print is not dead: The Delve Club

I was also excited to hear about the launch of Delve, a new bi-annual magazine for Yorkshire produced by Emma Bearman and Fran Graham and many, many other talented contributors. It contains articles and stunning photography of some of the things that makes Yorkshire, so fantastically Yorkshire. I can see a lot of hard work has gone into this first publication ~ great work. Well done guys!

On a Graphic Designer’s note, the design and print is absolutely fantastic too. The magazine, printed on high quality paper stock and contrasting materials, reflects an authentic, genuine, forthright tone of voice, capturing traditional food values and provenance. Every page captures a touch point of authentic, hand down quality that echos the magazine’s persona and how proud Delve are about Yorkshire’s food scene. I found myself feasting at the photography itself!

The afternoon saw lots of cake cutting whilst we got to meet meet Lynn Hill and members of the Clandestine Cake Club and Leigh Linley of Good Stuff who both started blogging, developed great communities and events and are now published authors; sharing the secrets of blog-to-book success.

So there you have it, blogging certainly is a passport to lots of amazing things!

Thank you Blog North and Culture Vultures for introducing me to a plate of Leeds goodness! Blog North was a great event and thanks to everyone who was involved in making the day brilliantly engaging. I met so many wonderful people and left feeling inspired myself too!

Workshop motivators
Paul Winch Furness – Photographer (@paulwf)
Emma Sturgess – Award-winning food writer (@emmasturgess)
Sam Ward – PR Brand Manager of Yorkshire Tea (@YorkshireTea)
Taylors of Harrogate featuring Yorkshire Tea
Lynn Hill of Clandestine Cake Club (@clandestinecake)
Leigh Linley of Good Stuff (@LeighGoodStuff)

Delve Publication (@thedelveclub)
Café Moor Award-winning North African food stall in Leeds Kirkgate Market (@CafeMoorLeeds)

{All photos by Paul Winch-Furness / paulwf.co.uk}