Food | The Humble British Stew

For me a hearty stew is the ultimate cold-weather comfort food. 

You can make a stew with pretty much any meat and veg you like, but I think beef is my favourite. 

Towards the end of last week I had some veggies and leftover's in my fridge and decided to make them into this delicious and tasty meal.

Ingredients wise, it's kind of tricky - I just used what I had to hand, and for me no one stew is ever the same. But if you're a stew first-timer, for this one the specifics were:

• 457g Lean Casserole Steak 
• olive oil
• knob of butter
• 1 onion
• salt & pepper
• tbsp plain flour
• 2 leeks
• 4 carrots
• 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• splash of worcestershire sauce
• glass of red wine
• dried mixed herbs
• bay leaves (fresh or dried)
• 250ml organic beef stock
• any other leftovers (see below)!

Preheat your oven to 150 degrees C (I have a fan oven).

First I peeled and roughly chopped the onion.

And did the same with the leeks and carrots. I like to keep my veg fairly chunky for stews - it has such a long time to cook and if you cut them too small you will end up with mush.

Next, I seasoned the flour with salt and pepper.

And tossed the beef in to lightly coat it. I don't bother with "browning" the meat. This is a one-stop-pot,  minimal fuss kind of meal.

With the prep done, the cooking commences! In the butter and oil, I fried the onion for 3-4 minutes.

Then I added the meat and veg.

Along with the chopped tomatoes....

.....worcestershire sauce, stock, red wine, herbs and bay leaves. Bring it to the boil and pop into the oven for 3 hours.

When you're near the end of your cooking time you can add any other leftovers that are pre-cooked/need minimal cooking.

Mine were:

- 3 chestnut mushrooms
- 1/2 can baked beans
- some roasted butternut squash
- some cooked puy lentils

In they all went! Is it just me or is it unbelievably satisfying to clear out the fridge and not throw anything away?!

After popping it back in the oven for another 20 minutes. It was ready!

We had ours on it's own in big bowls, but some really fresh, warm bread to mop up the juices would be lovely too.

Seriously yum and comforting! This would serve about 6 on it's own or more with sides - mash, bread etc.

What are your favourite winter comfort foods? And what are your favourite ways to use up leftovers? Please do tell!

Food | A little something for the weekend....part deux

The first holiday Dan and I took together was to Stockholm, Sweden. We flew really early from London and arrived in Stockholm just in time for brunch.

It was frrrreeeeezzing cold, -13 degrees and we snuck into the closest cafe we could find, where we both ordered the same thing -  A Toasted Bagel with Smoked Salmon, Cream Cheese, Avocado, Capers and cracked Black Pepper alongside big, streaming hot cups of coffee.

Ever since then, when the temperature dips we both get a craving to re-create that brunch. So we do!

I know it's not revolutionary. Smoked salmon and cream cheese bagels are old news but the addition of capers and avocado make it something different and special.

Dan added sliced tomatoes to his, and couldn't wait to tuck in! #bloggerproblems 

That boy has the patience of a saint when it comes to me photographing food before he eats!

Happy Friday everyone!

Travel | Go-lightly

Whenever I fly anywhere I really try to travel light. Sometimes I do well, other times not so much.

With the carry-on luggage only policy (otherwise you'll probably need to hand over your life-savings and/or an organ for hold luggage), fully prevalent across a lot of airlines a girl has got to get smart with what she takes on board.

I by no means am any kind of expert on this subject but I have had a fair few successful goes at it now so I thought I would share what I'm carrying on in terms of liquids/creams/gels for my upcoming weekend to Zurich.

As we all know, your liquids must be less than 100ml size each, and fit inside a clear, re-sealable, 20 x 20 cm bag. In theory, you must also be able to close your bag.

I can get this sucker closed at a push, but to be honest no-one's ever asked me to at airport security.

Also, this bag is ever so slightly smaller than the max (it's 18 x 20cm), so I could always pick up a bag at the airport and decant if they were being really fussy.

Anyway, on to the good stuff. What did I manage to cram inside?

1. Caudalie Beauty Elixir (30ml) - I love this. It's a refreshing spray for your face packed full of calming and relaxing essential oils. It's great for travelling, a little spritz of this before the plane lands leaves me feeling fresh.

2. & 3. These little stackable pots are so handy. I have a few pumps of my new Rimmel Foundation and Stay Don't Stray Eye Primer in each of these.

4. Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream Skin Protectant (50ml) - during the winter months I can't leave home without this product. It's so multi-funtional and moisturising, and I'll use it as a lip balm or over lipstick whilst I'm away.

5. Lee Stafford Hold Tight Firm Hold Hairspray (50ml) - If I've bothered to style my hair I always give it a little spritz of hairspray. We don't want all that hard work going to waste now do we?

6. Batiste Dry Shampoo (50ml) - For freshening up between washes. I pop some of this through my hair after I land as well for a quick hair freshen-up.

7. Origins Super Spot Remover (10ml) - Unfortunately you never know when a blemish might appear to taunt you, so I always keep this handy.

8. REN Frankincense Revitalising Night Cream (3ml) - Samples are great for travelling! I've yet to try this one but know my skin is generally happy with REN products.

9. REN Rosa Centifolia Cleansing Gel (15ml) - I'll use this as my face-wash.

10. Benefit It's Potent Eye Cream (3ml) - Now I'm in my 30's I'm really trying to make a habit of eye-cream. This one is pretty good.

11. Sure Long Lasting Protection Deodorant (35ml) - Fairly self-explanatory!

12. Travalo filled with my favourite scent.

13. Caudalie Vinoperfect Radiance Serum (2ml) - Another sample I'm keen to try.

14. Benefit The PoreFessional Primer (22ml) - This really helps to give my foundation some staying-power with my combination skin.

15. L'Oréal True Match Concealer

16. Soap & Glory Thick & Fast Mascara (10ml)

17. Bourjois Liquid Eye-Liner (2.5ml)

18. Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream Hand Treatment (30ml) - I always carry a hand cream with me.

19. Colgate Total Toothpaste (25ml)

20. REN Vita-Mineral Day Cream (10ml)

21. Dior Hydra-Life BB Eye Cream (6ml) - For keeping any dark circles at bay.

22. Benefit Speed Brow (3ml) - To show my unruly brows who's boss.


And that's it! Obviously I'll take more make-up and other toiletry essentials but the rest of it's non-liquid.

You may have noticed that I'm missing Shampoo, Conditioner, Shower Gel and Body Lotion. For this trip I'll borrow my friends products (thanks George!), but if I'm staying in a hotel I'm generally happy to use what's provided for a couple of days.

What tips and tricks do you guys have for when you're travelling with hand-luggage only? Are you a packing queen or a "take-everything-except-the-kitchen-sink" kind of girl/boy?!

Food | Delia's Classic Christmas Cake

This year I'm celebrating Christmas with Dan's family. My brother is coming to join the party too and at  last count I think there is about 24 of us in total, phew! 

In order to make-sure we all share a bit of the Hosting-Christmas-Day load, we're all contributing in one way or another. I'm making the Christmas Cake, along with a few other bits and pieces. And Dan? Well apparently he's "in charge of Lego". Brilliant.

I know Christmas Cake is absolutely not everyone's idea of a good time, it's a bit like Marmite, love it or hate it. I happen to completely LOVE it (but hate Marmite if anyone's taking note). 

Now, I've made Christmas Cake once before. I think I was fairly young, and the only thing I can really remember about the experience was that I definitely used the Classic Delia Recipe (the wholly grail of all Christmas Cake Recipe's apparently), and that icing a Christmas Cake is not as easy as one might think. 

Here's hoping this one fairs a little better!

Making a Christmas Cake isn't hard per-se. It just requires quite a bit of prep work and time! Definitely a job for the weekend.

I made my cake a couple of weeks ago but apparently there's a traditional time to make your Christmas Cakes and Puddings called "Stir-Up Sunday". This is the last Sunday before Advent, so this year it's this weekend - Sunday 24th November. The whole family get's together to prepare the Cake/Pudding and each takes a turn at stirring the mixture whilst making their Christmas Wish. Love that.

I jumped the gun because I got a little worried that:

a) I had no free weekends from early Nov to Christmas and would run out of time, and

b) That just three weeks of "feeding' the cake brandy wouldn't a boozy cake make. 

If you're not an alcoholic like me (kidding Dad), then anytime before Christmas is just fine to make your cake. And also my version is completely not child friendly! In my experience most kids are Christmas Cake Haters, and that's what a Christmas Yule Log is for, right?

Ok, so on to the how-to. Have you got a cuppa handy? This is a long one.

The night BEFORE you want to bake, you need to soak your dried fruit in 3 tablespoons of brandy (or your festive liquor of choice). For some reason I forgot to photograph this but it's pretty straight-forward.

Then the next morning you start by lining your 8" cake tin. You need to make sure you have a deep tin. A sandwich tin will absolutely not work here. I got mine from Sainsbury's for about £5 (they had an offer on). Actually, I got all of the ingredients/materials for this cake from Sainsbury's. So if you have a larger store near you, you can pick up everything in one shop.

Delia says to double-line, but I'm a rebel so just did one (spoiler alert - it turned out fine). 

I started by drawing around the base of the tin on parchment/greaseproof paper, and then guestimating a long strip to go around the perimeter.

Once you have your side-piece the right length, fold over the bottom 1/2 inch and make little cuts in it to enable it to sit flat against the sides of your tin.

I then greased both pieces with some butter and stuck them into the tin. Side piece first, then base.

Now you have to line the outside of your tin. This is so the cake bakes slowly and evenly. You need to wrap some brown paper around the outside and then tie with string.

It will look a bit weird but something like this is fine.

And now, after all that. If you can be bothered it's time to bake!

Preheat your oven to 110-120 (degrees). Delia says 140 for her conventional oven, mine's a fan oven so you need to reduce the temp by about 20 degrees. I was scared so was probably closer to 110 than 120 (it's hard to tell exactly).

Next you cream your butter and sugar together. I went for a mix of dark brown and light brown sugar.

In a separate bowl, whisk together your eggs and add to the mix a little at a time.

And then sift in your flour, nutmeg and mixed spice.

At this point you stop with the mixing and fold-in the flour (you're trying to keep as much air from the sifting process as possible).

Then you're ready to add your soaked fruits, chopped almonds, orange and lemon zest (and make your Christmas Wishes!).

Continue to use the same gentle cutting and folding technique.

When it's all combined it's ready to go in your tin.

Spoon it in and level the surface.

Your cake needs a little hat! Take a double sheet of parchment paper wide enough to cover the surface of your tin and cut a hole in the middle. This "hat" will flap around a bit in a fan oven but shouldn't actually fall off.

And then you bake, for a looooong time! Delia says 4 1/2 - 4 3/4 hours, but maybe longer. It's difficult to tell because everyone's oven is different.

I left mine alone for 3 hours and then had a look. It was cooking really slowly so I decided to take it's hat off and look at 4 hours.

At 4 hours in it was looking pretty done but I wanted to try and leave it until the minimum time (4 1/2 hours). At 4 hours, 20 minutes I was scared it would dry out so did the "bounce back" test Delia describes and inserted a clean skewer into the centre of the cake. It came out clean so I decided it was done! It looked like this and smelt amazing. The whole flat smelled like Christmas for a good 6 hours. That's worth your time and energy alone.

I left it in it's tin to cool for a while and then removed the tin to let it cool on a wire rack.

At this point I did the first brandy feed. I made small holes in the top with a skewer and carefully spooned over some brandy (just a few teaspoons). I will be repeating this process every four days until I ice the cake a few days before Christmas.

Finally, when the cake is completely cool it's time to put your Christmas Cake baby to bed.

I laid out two sheets of foil in a cross and then did the same with parchment paper.

I popped my cake in the middle and wrapped it up well. And then put it into an air-tight container.

I gave mine a little wish to be yummy and tasty for us all on Christmas Day and then put it somewhere cool and dry.

And that dear friends is my tale of Christmas Baking. And you know what? It totally got me in the festive spirit. Even Daniel, the Christmas-Cake-Hater, couldn't help but feel Christmassy!

Beauty | Boots Haul and M&S Gift Idea

It's 3-for-2 time at Boots again, we all know this is dangerous territory for me but I managed to reign in my feverish excitement and got just a few new products to try.

1. I need a new foundation for Autumn/Winter. I've been trying to re-purchase my beloved Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum for ages but my shade (53-Light Beige) is never in stock so I had a quick scout around the YouTube Beauty Bloggers and heard good things about Rimmel Match Perfection (£7.99) so though I would try it. I bought it in shade 103 - True Ivory.
2. I also wanted to try a liquid concealer. I have a couple of "highlighting" concealers for under my eyes etc. but not an everyday one for blemishes, red patches etc. I went with L'Oreal True Match in Vanilla (£6.99).
3. Whenever the 3-for-2 deal is on I always treat myself to a "lucky-dip" item. The way I see it you win some, you lose some when it comes to beauty purchases so if it's a "free" try I feel less bad if it doesn't work out (did I mention I have OCD when it comes to wasting money/food?!). I went for the Revlon Just Bitten Lip Stain and Balm in the shade Twilight. It's a rich plum colour stain (kind of vampy?), and it adds a pop of interest. The dark/vamp lip is a key make-up trend for Autumn/Fall, and so far, I really like it. As long as you keep the rest of your make-up low key, it looks really cool.

I also got a couple of hair products. I've heard really good things about the New Dove Style + Care Range and I need a new Heat Protect Spray. It was a third off so I thought I would give this one a whirl. I mentioned I was using the Lee Stafford Argan Oil Miracle Heat Defence Spray in this post. Unfortunately I've had to abandon it, the oil formula is just too heavy for my fine hair - when I use it my hair will not hold a curl for love nor money.

Finally, I was out of Hairspray and the TRESemmé ones are 2 for £4 so I thought I would try them. I got the Ultra-fine formula, helmet-head is not the look I'm going for.

In other beauty deal news I popped into M&S and they were also having a 3-for-2 event.

To be completely honest, if I think of M&S brand beauty products I think of my Gran. You know, the classic Royal Jelly scent. But I have to eat my words thoughts, as they actually have some really lovely ranges in their beauty section. My favourite is La Maison de Senteurs. It's all really beautifully packaged and the Fleur d'Orangier scent smells lovely, and high-end (think Molton Brown Naran Ji).

When I showed Dan he thought I had been somewhere expensive for this little collection of goodies. Speaking of which the whole lot only cost me £10. (Each item was £5 and it was 2-for-3). I just think the hand wash and lotion would look lovely next to anyone's kitchen sink and who doesn't like a nice candle? These three items popped into a pretty gift bag will make a really sweet gift.

Do you guys like to experiment when the 3-for-2 deals are on? What will you be splurging on this time?!

Note: I have not been payed or perked for this post. Boots, Marks & Spencer and all the other brands mentioned have no idea who I am. 

Food | Something for the weekend....

Happy Friday everyone!!! We made it!

During the working week Dan and I usually have porridge or muesli with fresh berries for breakfast. As lovely as that is, come the weekend we're craving something a little more elaborate. Luckily for me Dan is a fabulous breakfast cook but occasionally I cook him breakfast, and if you know me at all, you know that more than occasionally I eat breakfast for dinner.

Here's a little something to try this weekend if you're in the mood for a treat but not the side effects of a Full English.

It's a little idea I got from Pinterest, where else?

Mashed avocado on toast topped with grilled bacon and poached eggs, heaven. And if you're veggie or don't love bacon, leave it out - it's still amazing!

It's not difficult to make, but does require some assembly!

Super-filling and nourishing, this is always on my breakfast/dinner menu.

Have a fabulous weekend! x

Life | Fighting Fit

The last few days I have been fighting what is affectionately known in the UK as the "Common Cold". Uggghhh, there's nothing like not being able to breathe, feeling like you may cough up a lung at any second or your head may explode from sheer sinus pressure to make a girl feel particularly, blah. Actually make that blllaaaeeeuuuuggghhhhhhhhh.

However much you may feel like burying yourself on the sofa and making your final requests to your nearest and dearest there's no better time to properly look after yourself in the hopes of a quick recovery.

Here's a quick disclaimer. I am not a medical professional, nor do I have any formal nutritional training or background. This is just stuff that I do when I feel like crap and it seems to help so I'd thought I'd share.

I'm not really a conventional (or unconventional) drugs kind of girl. There's something about cold and flu medicine that hurts my tummy, and I find it just heavily masks the problem but doesn't actually fix it.

If you're under-the-weather but able to get to a supermarket I would buy the items below. Failing that you can always text a little list to your BFF, boyfriend, Mum etc.

1. Soup. You need to eat well whilst you're poorly but the chances of cooking yourself a meal are slim- to-none. Fresh soup that you can just heat-up is a dream.

2. Honey and fresh lemon. Hot Toddy's are guaranteed to help pep you up. Just boil the kettle and in a cup add lemon juice and honey to taste. Sometimes I add fresh ginger, and sometimes I add brandy/whisky if I'm having one before bed.

3. Herbal Tea.  I try to steer clear of caffeine most of the time anyway, it just doesn't agree with me. However, when your immune system is busy fighting those cold bugs it doesn't need the additional "stress" of caffeine. So stock-up on herbal tea's in place of regular tea and coffee. There's lots of really palatable green tea around these days, and as a bonus it's choc-full on anti-oxidants to help get those bugs out of your system.

4. Innocent Veg Pots. Along the same lines of soup, you're not going to be cooking up a storm anytime soon but need to keep your diet nutrient-rich. These are great as a quick dinner option.

5. Multi-vitamins. A good quality multi-vit should be a regular occurrence in everyones day but if you don't normally take one now is as good a time as any to start. I take Every Woman by New Chapter, it's the bomb.

6. Vitamin C and Zinc. Rather than drinking loads of fruit juices and smoothies you can up your Vit-C in take with one of these effervescent tablets in a glass of water. Fruit juice is good for you in moderation but similar to any type of sugar it can cause an imbalance in your blood glucose levels. This means that your blood sugar levels will spike and crash (you'll feel "better" for an hour and then terrible again). Drinking a boat load of OJ is not going to help this situation.

7. Instant Hand Sanitiser. Obviously not something you eat! But if you're busy coughing and blowing your nose it's nice to sanitise those hands before touching common items like the remote control, kettle etc. Way quicker than washing your hands.

8. Bread. I don't have any wheat/gluten intolerance's but try to keep my bread intake minimal on the regular. A wholewheat/seeded loaf is really helpful though when you're not well. You can dip it in your soup, eggs, or toast and top with mashed avocado/banana as a quick and easy snack.

9. Satsumas/Clementines.

10. Eggs. For boiling, dippy eggs and soldiers are so comforting, or scrambling on toast.

11. Blueberries and Cashew Nuts. For snacking, along with the satsumas. If you have a handful of nuts when you eat fruit it slows down the absorption of fructose preventing those blood sugar-spikes I talked about above.

12. Ripe and Ready Avocado's. For mashing on toast. And just because they are my favourite super-food. 

What do you mean no drugs at all?! You have to do what you need to do. For me, they're a last resort. I do regular steam sessions when I'm ill to help unblock my nose and clear my sinuses. You can keep them super-natural by adding fresh Thyme or Rosemary to a bowl of hot (not boiling) water and then inhaling the vapours by breathing in the steam under a towel. Or if you don't have any of those to hand I find a few drops of Olbas Oil or Tea-Tree oil in the water really helpful. Just a little note on this one - if you steam whilst wearing mascara you will emerge looking like a Panda. I'm not saying don't do it but you know, it's an interesting look. I also rub Vicks VapoRub on my chest and feet (and put on socks afterwards) to aid nighttime breathing/coughing.

Possibly the MOST important thing you can do for yourself isn't in this picture above.

WATER.....drink it like it's your job, Your body needs fluids anyway to get rid of toxins, cold bugs included.

Sleep and rest is really important too. I know the world doesn't stop for a cold but if you can stay home, do. I'm really lucky with my job. I work in hospitals and no-one wants to see a big old mess of coughing and sneezing in that environment so it's understood that I can work from home when I'm ill (where I'm likely to get better quickly and not spread my cold).

Other things that help? Sofa, blanket, magazines, chick-flick, zzzzzz.

What are your tips when you're ill? Sharing's caring!

Life | Boy Bedroom Makeover

In fairness to Dan the title of this post is slightly mis-leading; his flat is so lovely, I have absolutely nothing to complain about. But when I moved in over the summer I couldn't help but make a few tweaks to the space to make it feel like home.

Fear not, this isn't about to be a re-hash of the very scary scene in "How to lose a guy in 10 days", (watch the trailer at about 40 seconds in), if you can't because you're at work just imagine frills and tampax EVERYWHERE.

Anyway, I already had a great neutral canvas to work with. I actually chose the wallpaper because when we first got together there had been a leak in the roof which had ruined what was already there. After a little trip to the end-of-line bin in John Lewis we were all sorted.

Before I got my little mitts on it, this is what the roomed could look like on any given day. Pretty messy and blah, huh?

Seriously, how much aftershave does one boy need?

After a little tidy up and some accessories it now looks like this! And I love it. Still neutral but more cosy and interesting.

I added some pillows and a throw, that's it. The throw (£14.99) and stripy pillows (£6.99 each) are from TK Maxx, and little miss "ooh la la"(£7) is from Asda.

Total makeover cost: £35.97.

A (free) tidy-up of the bedside tables keeps them looking pretty.

Oh, and then I added this heart to the wardrobe door.....I don't think he's even noticed, yet!

What do you think? When is it too soon to "make-your-mark" on your boy's pad? Never?! I can't wait to decorate our room in the new house. It will be still be neutral, as much as I love vintage and shabby chic I can't handle anything too patterned and floral (Dan breathes a sigh of relief).

Speaking of the new house. It's all starting to come together, finally! Phew. A little update on that coming soon.

On a side note - why do I have such a good memory for cheesy music and films circa 2000?

Life | Banner Time

Mmmmm hmmmm,  that is a title related to the legend that is MC Hammer. 

Now we've got over that little interlude..... This post has absolutely nada to do with MC Hammer, Hammer-pants or anything else Rap related from the 90's. No, this is what you do when you search the internet with JP and can't find "engagement party bunting". True story peeps. There's stuff for hen parties and weddings but engagement parties? Nope.

Being the industrious gals that we are we decided to get busy and make our own banner/bunting. After all, how difficult could it be?! Actually, really easy but time-consuming if you're amateurs to the crafting world like JP and I. We cracked on and got 'er done in one evening though, and the reward?Ultimate crafting smugness, and a nice-looking banner for our BFF's engagement-do.

So here's what we did. 

1. Found some "vintagey" (what? It's a word, and if it isn't it should be) font. You can download literally thousands of fonts for free online. JP found Palatino Linotype Bolder and printed off the letters we would need.

2. I hot-footed it to Hobby Craft and picked up supplies. Cream card stock, grey card stock, 4m pink ribbon, a crafting knife and glue.

3. We cut out all of our letters a little wider than the actual font because we wanted them a little chunkier.

4. And then used these cut-outs as a stencil to draw around. Our grey card stock was sort of shimmery on one side so we wanted that to face out. When you're tracing your letters you want them the "wrong" way around, so that when you flip 'em and stick 'em they're the right way around.

5. Once we had cut out all of out letters (we had 12), we then worked out what size we wanted our "flags" to be. 3 trial and error templates later we had the right size. 

6. Cut out all of your flags and stick your letters on.

7. Using a hole punch, make the holes for your ribbon and thread through, leaving enough ribbon at each end for hanging. 

8. Finally, bask in your crafting genius and eat steak (not obligatory but it definitely helps). Big thanks to JP's boyfriend, Rua for putting up with all the girly chat AND making us food!

A couple of side notes:

1. I completely forgot to take a photo of said banner "in-situ" at said party....ooops. There are some mini polaroids with it in the background though so it secured it's place in history.

2. Obviously this means that next time there's a party there will be some kind of custom bunting/banner involved. Why not? You can adapt this method for any occasion.

3. 460 words on bunting....wowzer. Fun times.

Happy Friday everyone!