Keep Your Chin Up!

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During these, sometimes, beautiful British summer months a hot coffee isn’t always what you want to sip on, especially when you’re on the go or out and about. An Iced Coffee however, is more than likely what you’d want. Rather than looking at the big brands, I wanted to try out something home grown – Jimmy’s Iced Coffee. Jimmy has been causing a stir in the Iced Coffee biz here in the UK, after a visit to Australia and falling in love with the stuff it was Jim that bought “proper” Iced Coffee to the UK. It was 2011 when Jimmy’s first hit the shelf in Selfridges (of all places!) and now, 2014, the Iced Coffee of your dreams is stocked in Tesco express, Waitrose, WH Smiths, Waitrose, and many other stores across the UK.

I’m a massive coffee fan, and I have to say that Jimmy’s is hands down one of my favourite Iced Coffee brands. It is a super yummy, thick and creamy coffee with just the right amount of froth, made with Arabica Coffee and semi-skimmed milk, perfectly sweetened with demerara sugar – a taste sensation (Original). I couldn’t rate this coffee highly enough, it is perfect for a summers day (whether its hot or cold out), and different from all the other Iced Coffee’s on the market. At the moment Jimmy’s Iced Coffee is available in Original, Skinny and Decaf but if you follow Jimmy on Twitter you’ll know that new flavours are on their way – and I personally cannot wait.

Check out Jimmy’s website here, follow him on Twitter and go and buy yourself some awesome Iced Coffee!

(This post is in no way affiliated with Jimmy’s Iced Coffee, I just love the stuff!)

Tom x
[All photos were taken on my iPhone 5 or my Canon EOS 450D, and edited with VSCOcam and PS]

Dylan’s, Anglesey
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On Monday, my family and I traveled up to North Wales, Bangor to be exact, to celebrate my brother’s graduation. After the ceremony and a glass of champagne, we headed out for dinner in a beautiful little restaurant on Anglesey called Dylan’s, which is sat right on the edge of the Menai Strait on the North West coast of Wales. Only 2 years old, the restaurant has earned itself a good reputation and hosts an absolutely delicious and varied menu, featuring a number of fish dishes, including mussels fresh from the Menai.
For starters, my younger brother and I shared a ‘Ferryman’s Platter’ which was delicious, although there was probably enough for more than two people to share. The platter included shell-on prawns, smoked trout, and a very generous serving of smoked mackerel paté, accompanied by a variety of different breads, dips and salad. The smoked mackerel paté was by far and away my favourite part of the dish; it was super rich in flavour with a smooth, creamy texture – perfect for spreading on the sourdough bread.
For my main course I ordered the Anglesey Sea Bass, which was served with fine beans, a fine herb risotto cake, and salsa verde. I’m not really the biggest fish eater, however this dish hit the spot. The fish was perfectly cooked and went perfectly with the crunch of the runner beans and the soft, full flavoured risotto cake. Although it all tasted amazing and I thoroughly enjoyed it, I feel that the salsa verde overpowered the fish, taking the edge off the otherwise flavoursome fish.
Overall the meal was absolutely fantastic, topped off with a Cappuccino and a chocolate coin, I was fit to burst. I couldn’t recommend Dylan’s enough, so if you’re ever in North Wales and need a place to eat, check it out, the restaurant has a great atmosphere with friendly staff, and on the night we visited was absolutely heaving. I would definitely recommend booking a table in advanced to guarantee yourself a table!

Check out their website, Twitter and Facebook.

Tom x
[All photos were taken on my iPhone 5 or my Canon EOS 450D, and edited with VSCOcam and PS]

June, In Photos

So, another month has rolled around, and what a cracker it was. June saw me leaving my university city; Lincoln, to move back to my home town of Chelmsford, to join to ominous hunt for a job (ahhh). It was really sad to leave my place in Lincoln, it was such a nice house, I lived with such a decent bunch of people and I have some absolutely cracking memories from the past 2 years there! I made the most of dossing around this month spending time with all my uni mates and not doing a great deal, however one of the highlights was going Go Karting with a bunch of mates for a friends birthday (and won!), which was ace. At the end of the month, after moving back home, I flew out to Holland to help my older brother move out of his pad in Leiden, where he has been studying his masters degree for the past year, which was wicked. I adore Holland, it is such a beautiful place and it was nice to spent some quality time with my bro. As June came to a close I was anticipating my final university results, and boy was I bricking it! Here’s hoping I passed and can graduate in September!!

[All photos were taken on my iPhone 5, and edited with VSCOcam]

Ps. I promise more posts will be coming soon. I am slowly but surely getting into the groove of blogging, and rediscovering photography. Baby steps, baby steps!

New Site, New Style, New Theme

Blogging has always been something that has interested me, ever since I started using the internet. Having a place where I could write down my ideas, share my youtube videos, and make new friends, lead to me fall in love with the power of sharing and posting about your interests on the web. Thus, I am finally taking the step into starting a new styled blog for myself, focusing on photography and subject matters that I care about and adore – all with the intention of keeping the posts frequent and of good quality.

I have completely re-designed the site from its previous versions. I have had the domain for this blog for an eternity, however I have finally decided to utilise it rather than leaving it stagnant with just my basic contact details on show and not much else. I plan, as I mentioned earlier, to keep the posts as frequent as possible, on the topics that I love. The majority of the categories that I hope to cover at some point in time with this blog include; Travel (I have a trip across Europe and a trip to New Zealand planned, and I want to share that journey with you!), Food, Film (and Television too, considering that was my specialist area at University!), Lifestyle and Fashion, and as many fancy coffee’s as I can find.

All of the photographs on my blog at the moment are taken with my iPhone 5, however, as soon as I return home I shall be getting back on the photography game with my Canon DSLR, with every intention to share some of my work with you guys.

I really hope that you enjoy the content of this blog, your feedback and comments are greatly appreciated! During these early stages it would be ace to hear your ideas and suggestions for the blog and topics for posts too.

tgudgeon.com on the iPad

New look on the iPad

tgudgeon.com on the iPad

New Look on the iPad

tgudgeon.com on the iPad

New Look on the iPad

New Sidebar

New Sidebar

May, in Photos

First things first, Welcome to my blog. I am back (again) this time with my mind set on what I want this blog to become and with plenty of ideas of posts and content for publishing.

To start things off, on this new look, new style, new theme, blog I am going to post a few pictures, at the end of each month, from my Instagram account, along with a little blurb and update of what’s been going on.

May has been a pretty standard month for me (thus ever more exciting for you!), I finished my final year at the University of Lincoln after handing in my last projects in the first week, it has been an exhausting yet enjoyable three years at Lincoln, I have met loads of brilliant people who I hope to keep in contact with. As soon as I had handed in my last projects, I was straight off home where I took full advantage of having no work and spent the majority of my time chilling out and relaxing! The main reason I travelled back home was to help out running the kitchen for a charity event that happens in my local village. This entailed preparing a ‘three course’ meal for 100 people, per night, over four nights. This was absolutely exhausting, and after cooking lasagne every night, I think it is safe to say lasagne will not be on the menu for a while! After helping out at the charity event, I had a decent amount of time to spend with my Mum, little brother, and a few friends which was great after being away from home for 2 semesters. May ended with a trip up to my Dads (which was ace), some decorating and then returning to Lincoln for the last month.

(All the pictures were taken on my iPhone 5, and edited with VSCOcam.)