Valentines Day Gift Guide

MAKE UP BAG | CACTUS POT | GIN BOOK | PHOTO ALBUM | CANDLE

Valentine's Day is a funny one, you're either into it or you're not. Personally I love any excuse to spoil those most special to me. But, it doesn't have to be your boyfriend. Maybe you think your best friend, your sister, your mother-in-law, the cat's aunt, needs a little bit of extra love and a bit of spoiling at the moment. Whoever it is, the gifts I've compiled, ranging in price, would be great for anyone and sure to bring a smile to someone's face. Personally I'm holding out for the Jo Malone candle. We'll see. 

Basa with curried vegetables and rice

I love a fish curry, scrap that, I love a curry full stop but fish curry is just a bit different and something I don't always go for. With a soft white fish like basa the flavour can be overwhelmed by the spices so I decided to change it up a bit and this is what happened.

You will need

1 basa fillet per person

1 large sweet potato

1 butternut squash

1 red pepper

1 red onion

2 cloves of garlic

150g sugar snap peas

3 tablespoons red curry paste

1 tin of coconut milk

75g rice per person

How to

Preheat the oven to 200C/392F/Gas Mark 6

Prepare the base by seasoning with salt and pepper and drizzling with oil. Wrap the fish in foil and put to one side for later.

Peel the sweet potato and squash, remove the seeds from the squash and chop into cubes. 

Roast in the oven for about 20 minutes or until just soft.

Whilst the vegetables are roasting dice the onion and pepper. Crush the garlic and finely chop it. 

Remove the vegetables from the oven and reduce the temperature to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4.

Put the fish in the oven and bake for twenty minutes.

Heat a small amount of oil in a frying pan and add the onion garlic. Cook for about two minutes before adding the curry paste. Stir fry the onions with the paste before adding the peppers and beans. Cook for another few minutes.

Pour in the coconut milk and add the roasted vegetables. 

Allow to simmer whilst the fish cooks. At this point bring a pan of water to the boil and cook the rice. 

Keep stirring the vegetables as it will begin to thicken up as it cooks and you don't want it to catch.

Once the fish and rice are cooked serve up and enjoy.

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Maybe we all need a social media detox?

Social media is great. We can keep in contact with people on the other side of the world, we can share important messages, we can make changes, all via social media. And that's great. But there are two sides to social media, and as with everything it's not all sunshine and roses. Although everyone's Instagram feed would have you thinking otherwise.

But there lies the problem. Or at least that's how I'm feeling.

I love Instagram, if you follow me you'll know this already. For me it's my favourite social media platform. I'm a very visual person and therefore sharing photos and seeing photos from others everyday is fantastic. I'm a keen user of Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat as well too, obviously. But it can be a bit easy to get lost in it all and feel a bit down about things when all you see is the glossy parts of people's lives.

It's not hard to get caught up and think that you're not doing it quite right when all you see from others is photos of them on golden sandy beaches, strutting around with designer sunglasses on or sharing a coffee in some fancy coffee house for Wednesday brunch. That's not real life but it's easy to forget that. 

We all get a little addicted to social media I'm certainly not immune. I've found myself waking up and reaching straight for my phone and having a scroll before going to bed for the night. It's definitely not healthy and it can feel a little stressful. As a blogger I definitely feel the pressure to post on social media regularly and do feel anxious about not doing it enough. 

Although being on social media regularly comes with the territory of building a blog I want to make more of an effort to not be so reliant on it. Not picking up my phone in the morning until I've had breakfast and got ready for the day, putting it down an hour before bed and not turning to social media when I don't know what else to do. Maybe I'll find that I don't feel so stressed out by it and won't let it effect my reflection on my own life, or maybe I'll just figure out it wasn't social media doing that anyway. Either way I think it's a good idea for everyone to step away from the screen every not and again for a little while and look at the bigger picture. 

Cheats Pork Wellington with New Potatoes, Asparagus and Beans

Sometimes you just need some comfort food, especially on cold January nights. However, more often than not good comfort food takes a fair bit of preparation and a while to cook - Shepard's Pie, Stew, Beef Wellington. This alternative to the later is relatively quick and easy to cook and by using pork mince instead of beef also makes it a little different to the original. This recipe feeds four comfortably.

You will need

500g pork mince

1 white onion

250g mushrooms

2 cloves of garlic

Handful of fresh sage

2-4 tbsp of mustard (depending on your taste)

Filo pastry

400g new potatoes

8 sticks of asparagus

200g runner beans

How to

Preheat the oven to 200C/392F/Gas Mark 6.

Roughly chop the onion, mushrooms and garlic. 

Melt a teaspoon of butter in a large frying pan and add the onion, mushroom, garlic and sage leaves to soften. Stir occasionally.

While those ingredients are softening prepare your vegetables. Half the potatoes, trim the asparagus and take the ends of the beans before chopping them in half also. Put the potatoes in a pan and the asparagus and beans in a steamer pan ready for later.

Once the mushroom, onion mixture is softened take it off the heat and pour everything into a food processor. Blitz everything together until it forms a paste.

Heat a drizzle of oil in the same frying pan and slowly fry the mince until brown. Drain the fat from the mince and set aside.

Take five sheets of filo pastry (I used pre-made pastry, if you have the time and patience to make your own then go for it, but I have neither) and baste between each sheet with oil.

Once you've had basted each sheet I would recommend moving the pastry onto a baking tray. Spread the top sheet with mustard. I used about three tablespoons but I quite like mustard, if you really like it add more, not so keen, use less. Top the mustard with the mushroom, onion paste and then add the mince.

Once everything is evenly distributed carefully roll the pastry around the filling to create something that resembles a sausage roll. Glue the seal with oil before putting in the oven. Bake for between 20-30 minutes, or until crisp and lightly golden.

When you put the wellington in the oven bring the potatoes to the boil to cook and the greens to steam. 

Serve together and enjoy. 

Dear February

Dear February,

Well you're here already, how did that happen? Thirty one days ago I was getting ready to welcome the new year in and now here we are, a month down yet it feels like no time at all has passed. Why is that? Time definitely moves faster as you get older, that's one thing 'they' tell you that's true. (Who is they by the way - peers, old wise people, who knows?) It's scary though, time, especially when you look back on it.

Looking back on January it feels like I didn't do much but that's because nothing out of the ordinary happened. I filled January with the things I always like to fill my time with, books, writing, the fresh air, family, friends. I think we often think we haven't done anything if we're not doing things a little bit different to normal, but really we've often done more than we realise.

In January I wrote the most blog posts within a month than I've written in a long time. I went to the gym at least three days a week and worked by butt off each time. I got out and about somewhere every weekend. I cooked four of my own recipes and wrote them down to share and to remember. I actually made more headway on my Australia photo book and put all my photos from 2016 onto a memory stick ready to do the same with those. People across the world took stand against, among other things, a racist and a misogynist and proved there is more good than bad in the world - that's something I'm proud of.

January was filled with things and it's important to realise that just because you're not doing anything particularly exciting doesn't mean your not living life to the fullest. We tend to think life is passing us by to quickly and we're not making enough of it but if we're doing what we want to do and we're happy then life is being lived the best way it can be. 

So you're here February. The month of love. I hope February is filled with love. Love for each other and everyone. The world could really do with a bit more love at the moment. 

Work hard. Play hard. Be nice.

January Favourites

I can't believe it's this time of the month already - the first monthly favourites of the year is here. By the end of this week we will be in February, thank god, I can't quite believe it. It feels like I was only suffering from a New Years Eve hangover yesterday. 

This monthly favourites is an odd one. I have discovered a few new things but there's also one thing I've rediscovered my love of. So let's get into it.

New York Giants Sweatshirt - Topshop Tea and Cake

I saw this and I had to have it. The New York Giants are my team, by chance. Long story short I chose them in secondary school, they won that year, I stuck with them. So when I saw this sweatshirt in Toyshop literally two days ago I had to have it and I had to put it in my favourites. I love it, its oversized and so comfy. Right now it's great with jeans or joggers depending on the intensity of your lazy day but I think it will also be great in summer with shorts for when there's a bit of an evening breeze. Even if not I'll be wearing it cause I love it.

Fujifilm Instax Mini 8 in White

These have been doing the rounds for a while now and I finally picked one up last month and I love it. Seeing as I want to start printing more photos anyway so I can actually look back on them, this cuts out the middle man. It's also been great for recipes as I can take a photo of the food and stick it straight in my recipe book. 

Clinique Pep Start Eye Cream

BEST EYE CREAM EVER. Eye cream is a funny one for me, I've never really noticed any changes when using any particular one even though I know there are benefits to different eye cream, and I know I should use one it's always a second thought for me. However, after getting a sample size of this a few weeks ago I had to go out and purchase the full size once I'd used it up. It's fantastic and really does brighten your eyes, I haven't even felt the need for concealer recently and that's saying something.

Eucerin Dermo Purifier Night Care

I raved about this in my Skincare Saviours so I won't go on about it here. But, just know that it is great, has evened my skin tone, reduced scarring and helped fight blemishes. Definitely a good one if you suffer with skin issues.

Lush Lip Scrub in Bubblegum

Chapped, dry lips are the worst and at this time of year, nearly unavoidable. Once you've got over the soreness the worst part is the flaky skin right? The lip scrub from Lush has been my saviour this month for that and I'll definitely be continuing to use it. After using it once my lips felt smoother and softer and ready for lipstick again, so definite winner there. Also it tastes great.

Kikki K Large Planner in Yellow

Jack bought this for me last Valentine's Day and I've been in love with it ever since but this month it's really proved it's metal. After a bit of reorganisation and a few additions inside I've never felt so organised. It's also helped me stick to my resolutions which is a bonus. For me this has been the best organiser I've used and I love that's it's so pretty and bright. They don't seem to do the bright yellow anymore but there are still lots of fun colours and patterns to choose from.

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Chocolate Granola

I'm not going to lie, this wasn't meant to be granola. Throughout baking this I was intending on healthy, chocolate flapjacks. However, they didn't quite go to plan and that needs some work. However, what I did end up with was some delicious chocolate granola which is perfect as a porridge topping, with yoghurt and fruit, frozen yoghurt or just as a snack, so I thought I'd share it with you anyway.

You will need

350g coconut oil

3tbsp maple syrup

200g light brown sugar

100g sunflower or pumpkin seeds (or 50g of both)

100g puffed rice

250g rolled oats

6tbsp cacao powder

How to

Preheat the oven to 140C/284F/Gas Mark 2. 

Put the coconut oil, maple syrup and sugar in a pan and heat until melted. Don't let the mixture boil though and make sure to keep stirring it as otherwise the sugar may burn on the bottom. 

In a separate bowl weigh the seeds, puffed rice and oats. 

Whisk the cacao powder into the wet ingredients before pouring it over the dry ingredients.

Stir them all together until combined and all the dry ingredients are well coated. 

Pour the mixture into a lined baking tray, spread it out evenly and bake for 20 minutes.

Once cooked allow to cool before breaking it up and pouring it into a container to store.