One of the things I’m ALWAYS doing is decanting various ingredients into nice looking glass jars, then chucking away the packaging, and with it, obviously the guidelines on how to cook it. I’m reminded of this nearly every morning when I go to cook porridge and can’t remember the amounts. I thought I’d write it down as a record for me, and also for anyone else who is useless at remembering things, or just fancies porridge and isn’t sure how.
If, like me, you’re a bit addicted to baking, but want to keep your kitchen really stylish, you really don’t have to compromise. I’ve been looking at some of the beautiful bakeware currently available at John Lewis - not a single garish plastic mixing bowl in sight!
So walking the dog yesterday morning in blazing sunshine in shorts and t-shirts, we were surprised to see big, fat blackberries already on the brambles. I wonder if we’re just not normally very observant, or if they’ve come in very early this year? Anyway, we thought we’d get picking before the birds get all the best ones, and had a decent sized pot of them without even really trying (they’re stabby buggers - I’m nursing a few nasty scratches).
We have these moments, usually when we’re walking the dog and talking rubbish, when we go ‘we MUST go on a break to Paris’. We both adore France, but have never actually been to Paris together, unless you count Disneyland, and it’s been on our to do list for ages. Finally, this summer, we got to plan our trip together, and we decided to go all out: a wonderful, romantic, luxe short break - just the two of us. Here’s how we got on.
Going on holiday with the family is a wonderful experience, and a roadtrip with the whole gang is something we’ve always wanted to do. However, any type of holiday can be expensive, especially for large families or groups. Taking a motorhome instead of staying in expensive hotels is a good way to save on initial outlay, but I’ve got a few ways you can save even more money on a motorhome holiday.
Every time I go on holiday, I just bung my whole make-up bag in my suitcase, but honestly, once I’m there, I only use a tiny amount of it. This time, I decided that I was going to carry on the good work I’ve done with my capsule holiday wardrobe, by applying the same theory to my make-up bag.
I’m SO excited about all the new autumn/winter 2015 collections I’m seeing. It’s funny isn’t it, how after thinking of nothing but bikinis and straw bags for weeks and weeks, all of a sudden we just turn our backs on it all and start oohing and aahing over coats, chunky leather boots and gorgeous knitwear.
So now we’re back from our travels, I’d kind of forgotten that half the house was a building site! It was a bit surreal to walk into the kitchen to see half the units missing and the bare plaster on the wall where the tiles have been taken down (we got our own one-man wrecking machine, Charlie, to do it, of course).
Well hello there! I’m finally home after a busy few weeks of travelling: Paris, Barbados and finally Gran Canaria. I’ve had an awesome time and I’ve got loads to tell you and loads of recommendations, but before this summer is completely over, I wanted to tell you all about the products that worked really well (and some that didn’t). So here goes with my summer holiday skincare roundup:
I’ve been wallying around for ages trying to create a decent gluten free/grain free flatbread. I don’t even know why the obsession started (I think it was when I was cutting down on carbs, so experimenting with coconut flour). I started out with 100% coconut, but the texture isn’t as good and they’re overwhelmingly coconutty (good with curry though, as they’re kind of like Peshwari naan). Anyhoo, the lovely chaps at Steenbergs Organic sent me a range of flours and I’ve been messing about with them. And that’s how these buckwheat and coconut flatbreads came to be.
This week I’ve spent the most incredible week in Barbados enjoying the Crop Over festival. I’ve got so much to tell you, from the glorious sparkly, feathery costumes at the Grand Kadooment Day Parade to a heavenly day spent lazing on a catamaran in an ultramarine sea, and an encounter with a turtle! More of this later. The other thing that these sorts of blissful holidays do is make me take stock: reassess how my life is going, and suddenly see what I really want (generally this happens reading a magazine by the pool, or entranced by the passing scenery from my seat on the coach). Is this just me, do you think? Or is it some kind of universal truth of holidays: the lightbulb moments an inevitable result of unwinding and really having time to think? Read more →
It’s been a busy few weeks! I’m in Barbados at the moment, and before that, after heading down to Kent and spending some time at the lovely Goudhurst Inn, we were in Dover for a wander around the refurbished (re-imagineered in Disney speak) Disney Magic. The Disney Magic is the original (and best, in my opinion) Disney ship. It was Disney Cruise Line’s first ever vessel, and it’s regarded very fondly by Disney cast members and fans everywhere.
Whenever I travel, I use a company called APH parking. I’ve mentioned them before, and I love them, because you basically just drive to the airport, where they meet you, whisk your car away, then keep it safe while you travel. On your return, you give them a bell when you’ve picked up your suitcase and hey presto, your car’s waiting for you outside at the airport ready for you to drive home. No muss, no fuss. They’ve recently published a really interesting article about flying when you’re pregnant and I thought I’d share some of the key facts. It makes interesting reading and is a great guide if you’re preggers and considering flying.
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