Tomorrow is one of my favourite days of the year, and I only realised yesterday, that’s the trouble with Easter falling at a different time each year! Although I eat pancakes all year round [...]]]> Photo Credit

Tomorrow is one of my favourite days of the year, and I only realised yesterday, that’s the trouble with Easter falling at a different time each year! Although I eat pancakes all year round – they’re my favourite cinema trip treat as there’s a crepe café at my local cinema – pancake day is a tradition I will never tire of. 

I prefer thin pancakes, i.e. crepes. I find big thick American-style pancakes are better for Saturday breakfasts, and don’t seem like such a treat. Crepes remind me of the pancake days of my childhood, as well as eating huge crepes with lemon and sugar in Cannes, and plate-sized crepes piled high with toppings in The Netherlands. 

I’ll always be a lemon and sugar kind of girl, although I have been known to use orange on occasion, however it’s only in recent years that I’ve started to branch out into other toppings. a few years ago I thought savoury pancakes were sacrilege, now one of my favourites from the cinema café contains sunblush tomatoes, pesto and goats cheese. 

For pancake day though, we have a foolproof formula for the most delicious pancakes ever (as long as you’re a meat-eater anyway). Place a few slices of thin-sliced pancetta in a heated, non-stick pan, and allow it to cook on that side until almost done. Pour the pancake mixture into the pan on top of the pancetta, so that when you turn the pancake, the meat’s properly cooked on that side and it can then crisp up on the other side. The bacon also provides just enough fat for the pancakes to cook nicely without having to add any extra oil. Drizzle with maple syrup and enjoy!

How do you like your pancakes? 

Last year I made some wishes for 2011, instead of New Years Resolutions. I wasn’t particularly successful, I must admit. I have therefore decided to start 2012 with [...]]]> Photo Credit

Last year I made some wishes for 2011, instead of New Years Resolutions. I wasn’t particularly successful, I must admit. I have therefore decided to start 2012 with one simple goal: Self-improvement. Be it my health, career, relationships, personal wealth, this year I intend to take every opportunity I can to improve upon my current situation, and to be proactive in seeking my own solutions. 2011 wasn’t the best year for me, but I’m putting it behind me in the hope that 2012 will be better. 

Hopefully, this will also give me plenty to write about!

What are your resolutions, hopes and dreams for the year ahead? I hope you had a wonderful 2011, and that 2012 is even more spectacular! 

I hope you all had an absolutely fabulous Christmas and are looking forward to a sparkling New Year! The Boy and I spent our first Christmas alone as a couple, so it was a [...]]]> Photo Credit

I hope you all had an absolutely fabulous Christmas and are looking forward to a sparkling New Year! The Boy and I spent our first Christmas alone as a couple, so it was a laid-back, quiet celebration involving great food, buck’s fizz with breakfast, squealing with delight over books and Secret Santa delights, Doctor Who and Downton Abbey,  lie-ins and days spent curled up on the sofa. 

I’m feeling re-charged and ready for an exciting 2012, I hope you are too! 

It’s time to get the winter survival kit ready! I like to have everything ready for when the cold weather really sets in. 

To me, this means:

* [...]]]> Photo Credit

It’s time to get the winter survival kit ready! I like to have everything ready for when the cold weather really sets in. 

To me, this means:

* Stocking up on delicious hot drinks! – I completely fell in love with the “Fragrant Green Tea Treatment” by Bloom Tea that I received in my first Boudoir Privé box (yes, I was one of the few people who loved the surprise addition of teabags in a beauty box) so I’m ordering some of that as soon as possible. I also “need” (well, it feels important to me) more white tea, lots of coffee, and plenty of hot chocolate!

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* Ensure I have my winter Lounging Essentials – I really feel the cold, but I resent receiving enormous electricity bills, so warm clothing to wear around the flat is a must-have, and will be particularly useful this year if I remain unemployed for much longer. Yoga pants and hoodies are my favourites for curling up on the sofa, with thick fluffy socks or Ugg boot-style slippers (Primark have some every year, they’re cheap, comfy, and usually come in nice cheerful colours). 

* Buy More Scarves! – I have a weakness for “pashmina” style scarves (the type you can purchase for a few pounds from market stalls and eBay as they’re cosy to wrap up in and come in just about every colour imaginable! I love to coordinate them to my outfits. 

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* Make and freeze some delicious winter food – Soups and stews – I adore winter meals, and my favourite cold-and-flu-beating soup always comes in handy! (I suppose I should add a disclaimer here really – something along the lines of it’s not medically tested, but it seems to do the job for me!)

* Prepare a Winter Reading List – I always read more in winter. I know lots of people love reading on sunny beaches or in parks, but for me, nothing beats curling up on the sofa in a warm blanket, or in bed under a heavy duvet with a good book. I currently seem to be reading a lot of post-apocalyptic “young adult” fiction (blame Suzanne Collins) 

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* Other little Essentials – Some other suggestions!

• Trilogy Age-Proof CoQ10 Booster Serum – I know it’s quite expensive, but it’s totally worth the money, my skin feels amazing when I use this stuff!
• Muji Touch-Screen Gloves – These were an impulse-purchase last time I was in Birmingham (I love Muji, and I’m still upset that the Nottingham store closed) and they work brilliantly, plus they’re comfortable and come in a few different colours. 
• A heated computer mouse! – I don’t have one of these yet, but a friend bought one recently and loves it, and as soon as I saw it I knew it would be going straight on my winter wishlist! It’s so hard to operate a mouse with gloves on, so a heated mouse will be wonderful for winter gaming!
• Echinacea and vitamin C for fighting winter illnesses. 
• A cat! – Sadly I’m not allowed one right now, my house contract says so, but really there’s no better winter comfort solution than a softly purring cat! 

Whether you love it or consider it a made-up corporate holiday, I hope you have a lovely day!

(I’ve never really been into it, but the boy and I celebrated at the weekend with [...]]]> Photo Credit

Whether you love it or consider it a made-up corporate holiday, I hope you have a lovely day!

(I’ve never really been into it, but the boy and I celebrated at the weekend with a huge – and low-effort - meal and a cosy night in with a bottle of wine – the supermarket “meal deals” were just too good to resist this year!)

The parties are over, the hangovers hopefully dissipated, and tomorrow (in the UK at least) it’s back to work and normality again.

My one goal for 2010 was to make it better than the [...]]]> Photo Credit

The parties are over, the hangovers hopefully dissipated, and tomorrow (in the UK at least) it’s back to work and normality again.

My one goal for 2010 was to make it better than the last, to see a marked improvement in my life and, if possible, the lives of those around me. I’m not really sure as to what extent I’ve achieved this, there have been definite improvements, but many big things I wanted to happen didn’t.

I am working on some goals for the year, which I will share soon. Goals that are achievable with some hard work and patience, as well as some wishes for the year ahead. Resolutions don’t work for me, the word itself has become so synonymous with being broken by February that they feel doomed from the start!

I’d like to wish each and every one of you a Happy New Year, and I hope all your dreams for 2011 come true!

The Christmas season is finally upon us, and this post is all about some of the seasonal elements that I look forward to year after year. I’m not talking about the big traditions of family, presents, religion, carols, [...]]]> Photo Credit

The Christmas season is finally upon us, and this post is all about some of the seasonal elements that I look forward to year after year. I’m not talking about the big traditions of family, presents, religion, carols, etc. here, I’m talking about the little things that have become, to me, my own personal Christmas essentials, those things that without which, it wouldn’t feel properly “Christmassy” because they’re always part of my festive celebrations. A few of the things I always look forward to include:

* My father asking me to select which wine to drink – For some reason, he seems to think I know about these things, despite the fact that whenever he does this I always read the labels and just choose the one that the label suggests would go best with whatever we’re eating. Usually if I’m buying wine myself my first priority is whether or not it’s currently on special offer! (I would, however, like to learn about wine at some point in my life.)

* Eating Christmas cake icing – I don’t like fruit cake at all, but the soft, white sugary deliciousness that is regalice is a wonderful thing, and there’s usually some in my mother’s ‘fridge, left over from covering the cake. I end up eating chunks of it and ending up on a sugar high to rival that of most 4 year-olds.

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* Cats – Our rental contract doesn’t allow us one (or fifteen – I fully intend to be a crazy cat lady as soon as I’m allowed) of our own, so when we say we’re looking forward to visiting family, it usually means we’re especially looking forward to spending a few days entertaining one of our respective parents’ cats. I can’t wait to see my Daisy cat next week!

* Geeky TV – My two favourite shows that I have to watch every Christmas are Doctor Who and the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures. It’s probably rather nerdy of me (well, the latter almost certainly is) but those two shows just make my festive season. I was always really jealous of the kids who got to be in the audience for the lectures (still am really), and, well, Doctor Who is amazing, and anyone who says otherwise has no taste!

* ‘Fridge-raided Meals – Boxing day fayre at my parents’ house tends to consist of a general reminder when it’s around meal times to get whatever one wants from the ‘fridge if we’re hungry. Meals usually consist of cold turkey (of course), other cold meats, cheese, salad vegetables, bread, fruit and cake. ‘Fridge raiding – particularly from a very well-stocked ‘fridge – is one of my favourite types of meal!

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* Essential movies that must be watched over the festive season:

• An old favourite I can quote from beginning to end.
• A kids’ movie that’s actually really good.
• A kids’ movie watched only for nostalgia value (because actually, with hindsight, it’s quite terrible)
• Any Bond film, bonus points if it’s on ITV at around 3pm on Boxing Day.

* Food and drink, aside from the traditional Christmas dinner, cake, etc. that must be consumed:

• Bacon and cheese rolls, preferably from Marks and Spencer, which usually cause mouth burns when accidentally eaten a little too soon after coming out of the oven, but which are nonetheless delicious.
• Chocolate from a selection box.
• Copious amounts of After Eight mints.
• Port.
• Smoked salmon for breakfast, watched intently by the cat (I always give in).

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* Other – That wonderful feeling when you see someone open a present and you know they love it, Buying fairy lights, not as seasonal decorations, but for everyday lighting when I get back home, All the many excuses there are to dress up, Seeing sparkle everywhere, Lots of happy faces!

If you celebrate Christmas, what traditions do you have that help make it that little bit more magical? If you don’t, how do you spend this time of year?

To all those who celebrate it, I hope you’re having a lovely weekend! x

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Throughout my life I’ve had something of an odd relationship with Lent. Brought up a Catholic, giving something up for the 40 days before Easter was something encouraged, but my parents’ weren’t the types to force it [...]]]> Photo Credit

Throughout my life I’ve had something of an odd relationship with Lent. Brought up a Catholic, giving something up for the 40 days before Easter was something encouraged, but my parents’ weren’t the types to force it on me, believing that it was something I had to do for myself in order to get any kind of spiritual benefit from it. Thus, whilst I often marked the season by giving something up, it was usually for relatively non-religious reasons such as weight-loss or saving money for charity.

Religion is no longer a big part of my life, and when asked if I believe, my very genuine answer is always “I have no idea”. I certainly don’t hold Catholic ideas such as no contraception and that being gay is wrong, and I’m definitely not a creationist under any circumstances, but I reckon if there did turn out to be an intelligent being of some sort behind the Big Bang, evolution etc. I wouldn’t be too shocked. Perhaps it’s that Catholic guilt everyone speaks of, each year I do feel somewhat compelled, still, to give something up.

I’ve decided therefore, to observe Lent in the same way as I do New Years. Just like making a new start on January 1st, Lent is a good time to deprive ourselves of something that’s bad for us, something that we spend too much money on, or simply to do something good for the world. These things can of course be done at any time of year, for any length of time, however a particular block of days when lots of other people are doing a similar thing lends a certain sense of community and mutual support to the proceedings. Just as everyone setting goals at New Years encourages me to think about what I want to achieve in the year, I think giving something up for Lent will encourage me to stick to it more, as I’ll know there are many others in the same boat as me. Plus, there’s a definite finishing date and the prospect of Easter eggs at the end of it!

I can’t think of one single thing I need to give up however, as I have far too many vices! To that end, I have decided that for the next 40 days I shall cut down dramatically on food and drink that’s bad for me. I can’t say I’ll be able to give it up completely, as for a start we take turns doing the shopping and cooking in our house, so for two weeks out of every three the evening meal is out of my control, but I’ll do my best to swap chocolate and junk food for healthier alternatives, etc.

This is something I’ve been saying I’ll do for a long time, but I think I have more chance of succeeding knowing that it’s for a set period of time and that I’m not the only person being deprived of something I enjoy!

How about you? Do you observe Lent? Are you religious or are you a non-religious person who gives something up anyway?

Also, I hope you had a fabulous Pancake Day! x