I’m not feeling very romantic today so I thought I’d give you a quick roundup of some lovely places to visit for some Valentine’s inspiration:

We’ll start our little culinary journey at The Glutton’s, with her gorgeous ♥ Apple and Salted Caramel Tart Fine ♥

Then it’s off to the lovely Babaduck’s to check out her rather gorgeous Tarte D’Amour.

Next, you must visit Cake in the Country and marvel at her Lady and the Tramp inspired spaghetti and meatballs

Then, we’re off to my lovely friend Julia at A Slice of Cherry Pie, for an oldie but goody – her lovely cinnamon hearts

… and Valentine’s Day wouldn’t be Valentine’s day without cupcakes – not particularly romantically inspired, these gorgeous Tropical Cupcakes from lovely Lucy the Teen Baker, would certainly hit the spot.

The incredibly talented Jules from The Butcher, The Baker has made these amazing Rolo cupcakes for her man.  They look utterly gorgeous – he’s a lucky fella!

Elra’s beautiful meringue hearts with citrus curd cream are almost too pretty to be eaten!

And last but not least, I’d like to suggest my very easy heart-shaped lemon and almond cake for your delectation…

If you’ve made something gorgeous for Valentine’s Day, do leave a comment and a link – I’d love to have a look.

And finally, here’s a romantic Valentine’s poem, from my wonderful sons:

Roses are red

Violets are blue

I’ve got a knife

Get in the van

I love blogging.  I’ve met all manner of wonderful people (and the odd horrible one), both in real life and online, travelled, visited amazing places and made loads of friends.  Sometimes, when I’m reading the gazillions of blogs that I subscribe to, I think it would be nice to tell other people about the fantastic things my friends and fellow bloggers write about and photograph.  There are always so many amazing things on the internet: great recipes, fun stories, great photos…

So I thought I’d put together a little ‘top 20′ for you to enjoy at your leisure. Think of it as my gift to you for November.  Some are old, some are new, but all are brilliant.  Enjoy!

1. Like Mam Used To Bake went to Barcelona.  This is such an amazing piece – great photos, loads of restaurant reviews… bookmark it if you’re ever tempted to visit.

2. Laura changed the habit of a lifetime, got busy in the kitchen and made a really scrummy spicy butternut squash soup.

3. Liz sparked serious debate when she asked ‘do you support the decision to scrap child benefit for those earning over 44k?‘

4. My lovely cousin, Don’t Bug Me, taught us all about hummingbirds (and showed us some beautiful photos too).

5. The Glutton made the most gorgeous home made sausages with cider and mustard gravy.  Nomnomnom.

6. Lovely Karen got married.

7.  And so did the beautiful Miss Power (sorry, Mrs Lister!) – check out the cheese wedding cake!

8. My mate Erica ticked another thing off her ’100 things to do before I die’ list and attended a foodie festival.

9. Lu gave us all exercises for the perfect arse (squeeze that pelvic floor, people)

10. 40NotOut encouraged us to wrap up in these inspired winter knits.

11.  Rach from Tales from the Village visited the Highlands, and took some stunning photos.

12. Joanna came face to face with Take That!

13. Shit Mummy nearly suffered Death by Polyester.

14. Tara photographed possibly the cutest witch I’ve ever seen (edit: I do apologise, she was a spider).

15. The lovely chaps at Yeo Valley released their farmer rap on iTunes (with lovely Ted the Wol on the front cover).  I love Ted.

16. Liz and family over at Violet Posy did some pumpkin carving.

17.  Josie met a lean, green, fighting machine.  Well, a frog.

18. The Cornish foodie made gingerbread skeletons.

19. My fab cousin, Moon and his family slaughter their pigs (fascinating, but be warned, the pics are a bit graphic)

20. And finally, we waved goodbye to Wallop.  Victoria and her family set out on their epic adventure.  Good luck, guys! x

PS: If any bloggers would like to take up the baton and write about their 20 favourite recent blog posts, that would be fab.

My 40th birthday – there’s a fabulous Disney surprise in store, and we’re also planning a glamorous cocktails and dinner extravaganza with my two gorgeous girls, Foxy and Tums and their lubly men.  Wehay!

Coveting…

the beautiful dresses on  A Change of A Dress – the most fabulous girly website ever.

Surfing…

over to John Lewis’ new and revamped fashion pages, and wishing I could buy this gorgeous Coast Violette Dress to wear for my 40th birthday:

Baking…

a scale model of Mont Blanc made out of cake and meringue (it’s my only medium, I’m afraid) complete with sugar sprinkle contour lines for #2′s geography project.  He’d better get an A:

Eagerly anticipating…

my lovely mate Keris Stainton‘s new book Della Says: OMG! (available for pre-order on Amazon now, and…

my review copy of Eat Me!: The Stupendous, Self-raising World of Cupcakes and Bakes According to Cookie Girl by Xanthe Milton.

Wishing…

I could get back to Ireland to participate in Dundrum Shopping Centre‘s 5th birthday celebrations (and have a chance of getting my mitts on some of their €50,000 worth of prizes).

Discovering…

Fantastic new food blogs!  This month I’m loving the winner of the Cupcake Challenge:

Eggs Cream and Honey

Lay The Table

and the frugal food week over at Icklebabe.com‘s blog.

Entering…

The Ideal Home Show‘s fabulous competition to find the UK’s next Home Baker of the Year (get entering now, just click on the link!).

Cooking…

Cobra Beer’s Ultimate Curry Sauce (sadly, I missed National Chip Week.  Bad times.), but happily  if you swap the morel mushrooms for something cheaper and leave out the gold leaf, it doesn’t have to cost the estimated £36 per portion to make.  Find Cyrus Todiwala’s Connoisseurs Curry Sauce recipe here.

and Drinking…

well, to go along with a £36 quid a portion curry sauce, it’s got to be something pretty spesh, so Cobra sent Hubby some of their fabulously bottled King Cobras to try.  He wasn’t disappointed.

Nibbling…

on Marks and Spencer’s Colin the Caterpillar coca cola flavoured jellies and Cadbury’s new Dairy Milk Caramel Nibbles.  Nom nom nom.

Tweeting…

Not on Twitter yet?  Get connected, the come and say hi! (I’m @EnglishMum)

Shouting ‘YAY’!…

at the news that my much-loved fellow blogger and Cousin, Moon, and his beautiful wife Mrs M are expecting a baby.  Congratulations!  It couldn’t happen to a nicer couple :

So that’s it for Feb, then.  Onwards and upwards to March.  See you on the other side xx

Okay, so after the madness that has been the last couple of days (I think I notched up 5 straight hours on Twitter on Saturday – ridiculous), and with our Shelterbox total standing at a very respectable £3622, today I thought I’d settle down and write a ‘normal’ blog post.  I sat at the computer awaiting inspiration.

Nope, nothing.

So I decided to catch up with some of the blog posts in my Google reader instead.  I follow a bloody ridiculous amount of blogs, which meant I had about 300 new blog posts to read.  It’s true, dearest reader, I’m a nerd.

This, plus the fact that my beloved, but completely mental friends had filled up my inbox with about 62 emails entitled stuff like ‘shitballs’ (we have these long, ridiculous, rambling conversations via email where we all hit ‘reply all’, it’s utterly confusing) meant that I had rather a lot of reading.

Another happy and unexpected bonus to all this tweeting and blogging for Haiti is that I’ve discovered tons of new foodie and winey (?) blogs to read, so happily I can send you elsewhere for some inspiration.  One of my faves is a fantastic wine blog called Knackered Mother’s Wine Blog.  Afterwards, I was tweeting about the amazing Lucy, who at just 14 writes possibly my favourite foodie blog, Teen Baker.  I think I’m particularly impressed as my own 14 year old, The Mad Professor, would have no chance of writing, spelling and punctuating a blog post, let alone cooking the food in the first place.  He does cook pretty well, but needs constant supervision as he tends to wander off muttering half way through the recipe, or forgets stuff, or just doesn’t stop talking ( things like the entire plots of books, in jaw-clenching detail, or, worse: the step-by-step walk-through of the dream he had last night) so that he drives me mad and I have to throw him out of the kitchen.

Where was I? Oh yes, blogs.  I also adore Epicute for no other reason than that I love food and I love cuteness, and this blog combines the two so perfectly.  And on the subject of gorgeous food, look no further than the utterly stylish Cannelle et Vanille.  And no list of fabulous food-bloggers would be complete without the Irish legend that is The Daily Spud (don’t be fooled, this blog is so much more than potatoes, I assure you), and while we’re in Ireland, my first port of call when lacking a little bit of inspiration in the kitchen is Italian Foodies.  And of course normally, I’d send you in the direction of Belly Rumbles when talking of food, but madame currently has something more important in the oven, if you get my drift.

And lastly but not leastly, nothing to do with food this one.  You MUST read this post by the delectable More than just a mother.  I defy you not to wet your pants (see what I did there?) laughing.

So there you have it.  I have absolutely nothing to say.

Oh.

Congrats to fellow Irish blogger, K8 the GR8 and new hubby TAT on their big day - pop over to K8′s blog and have a look at the kids in their wedding outfits.  Adorable.

Stuff to see and do:

Check out Disney 7 member Linda’s fabulous new blog, havealovelytime.com   All about travelling with kids, there’s hotel reviews and day trips and a certain guest blogger might even have an Irish hotel review on there soon *cough*

The kids’ vitamin company, Haliborange, has launched a great new website.  There’s tons of arty and cooking stuff to do over half term (remember, National Family Week is 25-31st May).  I loved the video ’cook-along’ with celebrity chef, Lesley Waters.  And for your budding High School Musical stars there’s going to be tutorials from performing arts guru, Sylvia Young!  Log on to: www.shinyschool.com .

The All Ireland Food & Drinks Skills Conference is on in Cromleach Lodge, Sligo on Wednesday 20th May 2009, organised by Taste4Success – a day long event on facing challenges and opportunities, promoting products and where to cut costs and differentiate in the Food & Drinks business.  If you would like more information click on www.taste4success.ie.

Disney stuff:

After your very own pair of Mickey ears?  Don’t miss the My Mickey ears auction - celebrity ears up for grabs – organised by Disney and benefiting Great Ormond Street Hospital.   Daisy Lowe’s ones are seriously cute.

Disney scoop: TOY STORY 3 is coming!!!!  And it’s in 3D!!!

Recommended:

Thanks to Fairy Non Bio Gel for sending me stuff to test (I’ve had their website running in the background and found the sound of bubbles popping strangely addictive).  It came top in my smell test, with Bold 2 in 1 Pomegranate and Orange Blossom a passable runner up, although sometimes I find the tablets don’t dissolve.  I’m well on the way to using it up and have to stop myself from sniffing my children as they walk past – they smell gooooood.  Oh and I’m loving all that squeezing gel into the lid too – muchos fun.

Other stuff I’m loving:

I’m still after a couple of these:

and one of these (thanks to lovely commenter, Hockeysticks, for the reminder.  Thanks also to the very patient Diane at Crann Dair Chicken Rescue for her answers to my exhaustive questioning.  In the UK, contact the Battery Hen Welfare Trust.

Elave Hand Wash for my seriously dry, itchy and very gnarly old hands (no wonder I suffered from ‘claw hand’ in all the Disney shots.

Benefit’s Hoola: fab bronzer without the ‘I’ve been tangoed’ effect, and their ‘fake’ foundation Some Kinda Gorgeous - a cream-to-powder type thingy.  The lady at the airport put it on me with a brush and I’ve never looked so polished (I usually look like Aunt Sally off Worzel Gummidge).

Coming soon:

Step by step vanilla muffins, news of a brand new cookbook, Lego Duplo sets to giveaway and more stuff from our trip to Disney (altogether now… oooooooh!) x

EDIT: Ooh and just had to add: has anyone seen Peaches Geldof modelling the new ‘Miss Ultimo‘ range?  I’m loving the underwear, but check out the serious tattoo action on that girl – she has more body art than the clientele of half Britain’s greasy spoon cafés!

Stuff to read:

DBM’s wonderful book review.  If this doesn’t make you want to rush out and buy this book, I’m a monkey’s uncle (apologies to my nephews and nieces there, only joking  x).  And yes, I know little Bugs is my cousin, but bloody hell she writes so effortlessly, doesn’t she?  I’m feeling seriously inadequate.  I’m going to take this book to Walt Disney World (did I mention I’m going to Florida??)

Baino’s lovely ‘Mummy Meme’.  I’ve been tagged for this one and really must get round to writing it, but Baino sums up everything that’s wondrous (and horrible) about being a Mum.  I just loved it.

On the same theme, K8 the GR8′s lovely piece.  If answer no 2 doesn’t melt your heart, you’re that rock bloke out of that film with the man who bursts into flames and that fella who used to be in Nip/Cut.  What the hell was that called?  Anyway, you’re him.

Laura runs into an ageing serial killer in the supermarket.  No, really.

Brighid’s Easter egg hunt  was surely the weirdest I’ve ever heard of.  I laughed out loud.

Blogs to visit:

A whole blog about chocolate.  Seriously.  I visit there just to drool on my keyboard sometimes.

Canelle et Vanille.  Possibly the prettiest food photography ever.

Gorgeous photos:

The photos on Lors’ fabulous Italian Foodies website.  Definitely the most beautiful blog on t’internet.

Coastal Aussie’s beautiful dingo, Taj, pretending to be a lion.  In fact, check out all Aussie’s amazing photography.

Things to do:

Enter the competition at allrecipes.co.uk.  It’s called ‘Share your secrets to win £500′.  Submit an original recipe and photo for the chance to win. The winner will be decided by the recipe that has the most reviews on the closing date of 15 May.  And yes, of course I’m going to enter.  Just as soon as I have a spare second.

And then there’s shopping:

The fab teenage t-shirts at Cool Green Attitude (ethical and organic too).

Le Creuset’s new white glossy cast iron collection.  Droooool.  

Oh and I wish I could afford one of these delicious Orla Kiely bags to take with me to Florida (did I mention I’m going to Florida?).  I’d like the pink one, please, Fairy Godmother.

Oh, and finally I thought you’d like to see this: the view out of my kitchen window as I was cooking Sunday lunch.  A sunny day, a comfy spot and a friend to hug, eh?  Who could ask for more (oh and check out the sparkly new birthday trainers.  That won’t last).

Oh and did I mention I’m going to Walt Disney World?  Oh, right.  Sorry.

So 2008, then.  Well like any year, this one had its fair share of ups and downs here at English Towers.  We started the year on a major low, with Hubby’s spectacularly festive then boss ringing him on Christmas Eve to tell him he was going to lose his job.  January continued on a low note when I managed to lose a little blue greyhound I was supposed to be looking after for Jen (never did find her).

February brought a little more good news: I became Englishmum.com (can you believe that was nearly a year ago?)  and got nominated in the Irish Blog Awards several times.  On the downside I still didn’t find Jen’s dog (it’s okay, she forgave me).  March saw me having a traumatic time with my bikini line, and us having a little trouble finding  a school for our Mad Professor .  April saw our youngest, the Death Wish Child, hit double figures and go off on a beano to Donegal.  #1 also went on a trip, this time to France.

May was our saddest month, when C, our lovely friend and neighbour, finally lost her battle against cancer, leaving her wonderful Hubby, D and her two adorable children, Little C and Lou, absolutely heartbroken.   Despite this (or perhaps as a fitting tribute), the sun shone, and Hubby finally came home from working away, but still, May was tough.

Forging on, then: June saw the beginning of our push towards self-sufficiency here at English Towers.  The workmen came and made our fabulous kitchen garden, ooh and Hubby mowed me a little love token in the lawn.  Bless.  In July, Hubby finally got a new job (phew), we added the greenhouse, #1 got to grips with his new school rules and I celebrated two years of blogging.

August mostly passed in that school holiday blur of children, children and more children, but to add a bit of variety I  nearly burnt the house down, and we travelled to Waterford for a fantastic wedding.  In September, we decided to get hitched again, and Moon and Mrs M did just that.  October saw me getting a job.  Yup, the real name-in-print, food writing job that I’ve always wanted.  In November, we took a little road trip to Toys 4 Big Boys at the RDS, and started getting ready for Chrimbo.  December was, naturally, Christmas central.  I could give you links to any one of my posts, but they’re all Christmassy.  Take your pick.

And that leads us back to ‘bloody January again’.  Last year, I rambled on a bit, but my main ‘resomalution’ was this:

If I do one thing today, it will be to tell my friends and family how fab they are, what I love about them and the qualities that I most admire. I will cherish the people I love, strive to make new friends, never be guilty of excluding anyone from my social circle, no matter how complete I think it is. I will strike up a conversation with the lady next to me in Tesco, compliment a total stranger on her gorgeous handbag and celebrate the fact that we are all, obviously, in this together.

I don’t think I’d change much of that sentiment.  There are no new resolutions, but after a year of love, loss, ups and downs, I’ll be making the most of every day; remembering how darned lucky I am to have amazing friends and family (near AND far), and how lucky I am to live in this lovely house, in this beautiful country full of wonderful, friendly, big-hearted people. 

 Lessons learned in 2008:

1  We should all stop trying to be bloody fantastic and start being ‘good enough’.  Seriously, if you can’t love yourself, how can you possibly love anyone else?

2  Curves are in.  Big style.

3  No matter how low you get, your friends can make everything better. 

4  That losing loved ones should make you appreciate the ones you still have even more.

Happy new year.  I hope 2009 brings you peace and happiness.  Oh, and thanks: whether you’re a regular, or this is your first visit.  You’re appreciated.  Don’t forget to pop in if you’re passing! xx

When you become a blogger, you join a diverse and very widely spread family.  I love it.  I suppose I’m a little odd in that I currently subscribe to the feeds of about forty different blogs, but hell, I love to read and have fresh reading material at my fingertips every day!  I’ve got friends all around the globe and people pop by English Towers all the time.  What’s not to love?  Anyhoo, this award is from Jay, who says:

“She encourages new bloggers, promotes the cause of ex-racing greyhound adoption (she is owned by the delightful Bertie) and writes in a pithy and often very funny way about a wide variety of subjects. She has also led me to some great blogs which I now read regularly”

But wait…there’s a catch: if you accept the award, you must:

1. Pick five blogs that you consider deserve the award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also for contributing to the blogging community, no matter what language.
2. Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.
3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.
4. The award winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of the Arte y Pico blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.

So I’ve tried to go about this from a slightly different angle, in that I’ve gone for people who, in my humble opinion, write really well.  Here goes, then:

For Travel Writing

My first award goes to Hails over at Coffee Helps.  Originally from Northern Ireland, Hails is currently on a one-woman mission to circumnavigate the globe, and the stories of her travels are really informative and often laugh-out-loud funny.  She’s relentlessly optimistic and incredibly versatile (managing not to starve to death even after being pickpocketed of all her worldly cash in Lyon).  A great blog.

For Razor-Sharp Wit

Next up is lubly Baino over in Australia.  Baino describes herself as ‘old enough to know better, too young to care. I am a lazy left-wing, arm chair radical with far too much time on my hands’.  I love her intelligent social commentary, and, frankly, couldn’t live without the Friday Fuckwit.  Enough said.

For Being Inspirational and Aspirational

Tara at DC de facto is who I’d like to be if I wasn’t me.  She spends her days ’protecting one pound people’ in a special care baby unit, still finds time to give us a slice of DC life, and her photos just sparkle.  Fantastic.

For Foodie Excellence

Well, I couldn’t pick five blogs without including the best foodie.  Pop over to Jen over at Little Bird Eats for droolingly good recipes and great photography (I never could master taking photos of food).  Small of stature, but big of appetite, The Wee One is a real foodoholic.

For Soul-Baring Excellence

Annie, over at The Little Pinch of Salt, is a true web-diarist.  She really does open her heart and her writing is just beautiful.  She’s also a big clever clogs in the film world and her photography is abolutely stunning.  Read it and weep.  Really.

Thanks, Jay! xx

So after the success of his guest spot, my lovely cousin, cheekiest commenter and all round good guy, Moon, has decided to branch out into the wonderful world of blogging web diaries (Grandad says we’re not allowed to call them blogs).

We’re a pretty far-flung family – there’s Moon in the USA, his sister in Canada, the rest of our random siblings back in various counties of the UK (Mad Uncle A is often hard to track down – up to no good no doubt) and me and Hubby here in rainy Ireland, so it’s quite handy to be able to find out what they’re up to at the click of a mouse.

He promises to make you laugh/make you cross/make you cry (delete as appropriate) and there’s even talk of boobs and sport for those of the gentlemanly persuasion (although I don’t see why boobs should be just a manly subject – I love a good boob conversation as you know).  He might even finally put to bed that whole rumour about him being made of cheese.

Anyhoo, pop over and say hi at Rambling Thoughts of Moon.  But then come back.  I might get lonely.