Happy Monday! There’s been radio silence on here since my last post a few weeks ago, as studying for the ol’exam just got in the way. I do usually try and schedule posts to see me over exam season, but it just wasn’t happening this time. The good news is the exam is out of the way, so I’m planning on reintroducing myself to the world of blogging over the next few weeks…

Most of the last month or so has pretty much entirely been spent at my desk studying, but of course there’s been time for a few yummy bits and pieces to eat!

1. 1. A really delicious pasta bake from the lastest issue of Delicious magazine. Essentially a cheese bechamel spiced with nutmeg and clove, spaghetti and plenty of spring vegetables. One of the nicest and freshest things, and something I’ll definitely be making again.
   2. Post-exam cocktails at my favourite spot – Home SW15. Of course some sneaky cauliflower cheese croquettes got eaten too…
   3. Cadbury’s Darkmilk Chocolate. The perfect bar for an evening treat, it’s far too easy to sit and eat loads of this!
   4. Pizza night! Following every professional exam me and W have gone out for a pizza, and this time round was no exception. We tried out Battersea Pi over in Clapham and it definitely didn’t disappoint! Review coming soon…
   5. A “throw together” meal of a hash made with potatoes, onion, cavelo nero and chorizo sausages, topped with a fried egg. Surprisingly tasty!
   6. Spending far too much money on clothes, but finding some real gems in the process. H&M in particular have some lovely bits in…
   7. Sourdough bread. W has really gotten the hang of dealing with our starter and baking the perfect loaf. Have a look on my Insta feed for more!
   8. Re-reading the Harry Potters, because why the hell not?!
   9. New laptop! I bought it a good month ago now, but it’s only since my exam on Friday I’ve been able to have more than a brief play on it. SO nice not to have to wait 30 minutes for it to turn on…
   10. Having a good skin week, despite my exam stress. It’s been a rough ride for my skin this year (mainly due to the fact I’ve accidentally upped my sugar intake and I’m finding it tough to cut it back down) but right now it’s looking good.

How have your spent the past few weeks? Any tip for cutting down on sugar?!

Hello from me! This is just a really quick, frantically typed catch-up today – done between exam papers (because somehow my exam is now less than three weeks away, no idea how that happened!). My last fortnight has been pretty much all study (surprise surprise) but definitely some yummy food and good days too…

1. Meal prep Sundays. The perfect way to productively procrastinate – though to be fair to myself I did pick things that produced maximum portions with minimum effort. The perfect way to pace myself through exam questions, and now we have lots of delicious meals ready for the week!
2. A date-night in. I had an afternoon off work and couldn’t bear to spend it all studying so cooked up a three course meal. It included oven-baked arancini, veal saltimbocca and a cream dessert with bananas and homemade caramelised walnuts. Yum!
3. I also mastered making my own caramel for the first time. It’s terrified me before so I’m pleased I tried it out!
4. Evening walks. Despite it still being dark after dinner we’ve been trying to get out for a walk around the local area. Turns out we’re getting in around 2 miles which isn’t bad!
5. A really good meal involving cheesy mash and pork fillet. Based on this recipe. So good, so quick, absolutely 100% will make again.
6. Tinned peaches and vanilla ice-cream. A new combination to me and one I’m now totally hooked on.
7. A new laptop. I’ve needed one for years but finally took the plunge this month (anyone else HATE getting new tech even though you know it will work better?!). It’s (1) super fast, (2) so light-weight and (3) really quite pretty so winning on all counts.
8. Peanut Cookies from Sainsbury’s and Yorkshire Biscuit Brew. Thank me later.
9. Watching Masterchef – I love it! I thought the Vegan Challenge was particularly good, and I also loved the episode about cooking with scraps.
10. Board game afternoon (and takeaway pizza from The Dynamo) with my girls. The best way to spend a Saturday!

What’s made you smile lately? What have you been up to?

Happy Monday! After my more positive post a fortnight ago there’s been radio silence on here and, whilst I do have an excuse, it’s not something I particularly want to share. Let’s just say that these last few weeks have been far from easy and there’s more to come. I’m hoping that focusing on the positives whilst writing this post will improve my mindset (it needs it!).

1. The SUN. These last few days have been absolutely glorious in London, and for the first time in my life I’ve felt a genuine difference in my mood as the weather has brightened up. I’ve even been outside with bare legs (albeit a midi skirt) and a t-shirt. In February.
2. Having a big spring clean. With the warmer weather we threw open all the doors and windows and went a little crazy with the cleaning spray. We reorganised cupboards (my bathroom cupboard now has boxes for treatments of different ailments. I even have a first aid box). Found places for wedding presents which have been sat out for months. Sadly the missing limited edition MAC lipstick that sparked the tidying remains missing.
3. Picking up more plants. Our flat was lacking some green, so we picked up some more plants and attracted a lot of attention walking back from B&Q. Now just to keep them alive!
4. Gooey melted cookie dough pots. For our Valentine’s date night we kept things fairly simple – pan-fried sea bass with a lemon caper butter, then this glorious cookie pots based on a recipe from Top with Cinnamon.
5. Lots of new recipes. We’d noticed we’d let our goal to cook more new recipes slide in January due to both of us being ill constantly, but we more than made up for it in the last two weeks, pretty much everything we cooked was a new try! Highlights have been an Ottolenghi chickpea pasta dish and a smoked haddock bake. And the aforementioned cookie pots.
6. Having broad beans for the first time in years. My Granddad used to grow them and they immediately transported me back to my childhood.
7. A new concealer that seems to be working wonders on my under-eye circles. If you have trouble in this area definitely check out the L’Oreal Infallible More Than concealer.
8. Knitting! My knitting skills are definitely getting there – don’t get me wrong my Grandma would NOT be impressed but it’s looking less like a tangle of wool every time!
9. Popcorn from The Popcorn Shed (gifted). The perfect calorie controlled snack, and the flavours are *amazing* – I loved the Berrylicious flavour combined raspberries and chocolate…
10. Branching out and buying a leopard print dress – now I just need to find the courage and the occasion to wear it!

What’s made you smile this week? Are you enjoying the nicer weather?

Happy Monday, and Happy February. I have to say I’m very glad to see the back of January as it felt like the longest greyest month ever. I’ve found I’m really, really struggling with the wedding blues now. It wasn’t too bad immediately after the wedding and honeymoon as we had a break to the Cotswolds, birthdays and Christmas to look forward to, but now it seems like a *very* long time to go before anything else exciting happens – so I’m hoping getting into the habit of these Happy Monday posts will help to cheer me up again. Recalling the positive things does seem to lift my mood slightly…

1. Fruit crumble, Peanut Butter Jelly style. I’ve recently been working on a more modern take on the fruit crumble (see my classic recipe here) and it’s been a super delicious recipe to test.
2. Really good bacon. W’s been getting a fortnightly subscription and it’s changed how I see bacon sandwiches for good. It smells incredible!
3. Picking up a (still very expensive) dress in the Ted Baker sale ready for black tie events and weddings in the next year. I was specifically looking for something I could wear with my wedding shoes and I love it. I now need my bank card confiscating!
4. Chowder. I absolutely fell in love with it during the New England leg of our honeymoon, and last week I made a gorgeous curried version. I’ve still got to attempt the classic Clam though…
5. A tasting menu at Hibiscus in Northampton. Whilst the ‘main’ of venison was really not to my taste at all, everything else was delicious. The highlights were a cold crab salad on a puffed cracker, and a lovely light pigeon and beetroot dish.
6. Trying out a DoughnutTime doughnut – I went for the Bruno Mars based on a Kinder Bueno. It was delicious although a tad too sweet for my liking, I thought the hazelnut creme could be a tad nuttier.
7. More board games. I mentioned last time that we were enjoying Zombiecide, but this fortnight we’ve been enjoyed 7 Wonders Duel, it’s a two-player game that definitely keeps us entertained of an evening!
8. Burning candles. I’m determined not to keep saving them ‘for best’ so every night my flat is being filled with some delicious scent. It’s definitely lifting my mood slightly too!
9. A really good burger from GBK – the Major Tom is definitely worth a try!
10. A vegan lunch-time soup of chickpeas (so many chickpeas in the recipe!), lemon, mint and tahini. It was a little like hummus in soup form and was absolutely delicious. 100% my favourite soup recipe *ever* and I’ll be posting the recipe very soon…

What’s made you happy recently?

I feel like January has been *the* longest month ever. Why isn’t it over yet?! Yet again I’ve been crazzzyyyy busy at work (plus the studying has started again, boo!) and I started this fortnight off battling a really horrific cold. Despite that it’s been prettyyyyy good and I’m hoping with February around the corner my post-festive bad mood will start to lift!

1. Silent Witness. It’s probably the only TV series (other than Bake Off and Masterchef) that I religiously watch so I’m really glad it’s back on our screens again. Even better is that BBC have made loads of old series available on iPlayer, so my evenings are even more fun now!
2. Date Night at (you guessed it) Home SW15. We made it for another visit as we’d got a voucher for a free bottle of wine, and had a really delicious meal. More of the Cauliflower Croquettes (a must try!), then I enjoyed a *massive* Chicken Kiev with Sprouts and Artichoke Puree whilst W had a very indulgent Cheese Souffle. We both finished off with Treacle Tart which was almooosssttt as good as my grandmas recipe…
3. Haggis. Burn’s Night just can’t be done with out it, but we had plans on the Friday evening so celebrated a few days early with Haggis, Neeps and Tatties and a Whisky Sauce. So, so good and I also have enough spare to make Haggis Carbonara the next day!
4. Making progress with knitting. I’ve been trying for years but it suddenly seems to have clicked. I’m far, far from perfect but it actually resembles knitting rather than knotting now…
5. Planning our Scottish road trip. It’s something we’ve wanted to do for years and we’ve finally taken the plunge. We’re not doing the whole of Scotland as we wanted to restrict the amount of driving and also really get a feel for the places we do visit, but I’m super excited! And it just means we’ll have to plan another trip for the bits we didn’t see…
6. Board games! We’ve developed a love for them over the last few months. At the moment our favourite is Zombiecide, a strategy-based collaborative game that can even be played by 1 player. Any other recommendations then do let me know!
7. Green & Black’s Orange Velvet Fruit. We got a bag in a Degustabox (gifted) a few months ago and they are absolutely addictive. So, so good.
8. Donating a load of food to the local Food Bank. We had a lot of chocolate from Christmas we weren’t ever going to get through, plus a lot of tins which we just weren’t using. Clearer cupboards for us and it helps out people in need.
9. Sex Education on Netflix. So good for some light-hearted watching!
10. Vegan lunchboxes. Since my Mushroom & Lentil Stew I’ve eaten a really tasty bean salad (although I did ‘cheat’ as I had a dressing leftover from these Taco bowls which I drizzled over for a few days – but I’d sooner cheat than waste food!). I’ve also got a curry made with chickpeas and cauliflower for this week, and I’ve got a bean stew planned for next.

What have you been up to recently?

I’m back! Despite very good intentions to have all October’s posts scheduled in advance, sadly it didn’t happen. Happily, though, I’m back as a married women. Still thoroughly wrapped up in newly-wedding bliss, suffering deeply with the honeymoon blues (and extra honeymoon lbs!) but excited to be back writing in my little online space. I have an awful lot of *whispers* Christmas content to plan, write and photograph soon but I have a little goal to keep posting regularly until my regular Christmas-New Year break so here goes…

Let me know in the comments what you have been up to!

1. 1. We all know what’s coming up first – getting married! I finally, FINALLY married my best friend at the beginning of October. The day, whilst it didn’t go without hitches, was everything we’d dreamt of and even more. Nothing prepares you for the feeling of walking into a full room knowing everyone is there for you, because of you. Getting ready with my closest girls was wonderful, dancing with my new husband a really surreal moment, and I just can’t quite believe we finally did it. We’ve started to get photos through and oh my, has our photographer done an amazing job
   2. Being surprised with the most perfect honeymoon. Many of you will know that I handed over every single jot of honeymoon planning over to W, with strict instructions that I wanted to be surprised on our wedding day. Somehow we made it over a year between booking and me finding out, with only one small slip up by a friend. Even then the details were a total surprise, it wasn’t what I’d have guessed but it was wonderful. Boston, a Fall road trip around New England, New York and then Hawaii. Bliss.
   3. Ticking off a restaurant from my bucket list. Our NYC stretch of the trip managed to include dinner at Eleven Madison Park. Three Michelin stars, listed as Number One restaurant in the world in 2017. Definitely a once in a lifetime experience, with some of the most exquisite food I have ever tasted. I won’t be reviewing it in full, but I will probably do some kind of post on it in the future.
   4. It goes without saying that most of the food in NYC was a highlight – I don’t think we ate a bad meal. In fact we only had one bad meal in our trip of nearly three weeks, so I don’t think that’s too bad!
   5. A helicopter tour over Maui, Hawaii. Another bucket list item ticked off in the space of a few weeks, though I was pretty terrified! We spent most of our time on the island flopped on a beach, but managed to squeeze in this sight-seeing flight and I’m so glad we did – it was stunning!
   6. Coming home to fresh bed sheets. I was so glad past Chloe made that decision during the madness of packing.
   7. Heading back into the office to be given more responsibility which, touch wood, seems to be going well.
   8. Being more inventive with lunchboxes. Whilst my usual lunches are by no-means bad, now W is no longer part of a ‘lunch club’ at university I’m now prepping for two and he gets bored having the same thing every single day. So far highlights have been a thick and funky Broccoli and Blue Cheese Soup, and a Caesar Salad made with lentils.
   9. Baking sourdough – mainly my husbands (!) project but one I’m wholeheartedly supporting.
   10. The smell of a Pumpkin Spice candle. Utter bliss.

And that’s my quick catch-up. Please do tell me what you’ve been up to recently, I’d love to hear your news!

Another Sunday evening when I’m going to moan about being too hot – it’s the start of September, I should be getting ready for Autumn but even the thought of wearing a jumper is making me sweat. Though I have at least managed to wear a cardigan outside recently which is an improvement… A lot has happened since my last Happy post (especially as I missed one, whoops!) so this is a bumper one. It’s certainly been a good few weeks.

1. 1. Being able to say “we get married NEXT MONTH” – after being engaged since the end of 2015 this feels crazy! So excited to be a wife…
   2. On more wedding-related news, we’ve had our respective stag and hen dos. He came back with all hair/beard/eyebrows still in-tact which was my biggest worry, so that was good. And my hen (or at least part I, with part II to come!) was amazing. My girls did a wonderful job at planning at day that was perfect for me, though unfortunately my night out was cut short when my mum took ill – but hey, what’s another Happy Things post without praising our ambulance service?!
   3. The meal on my hen deserves a special mention – I wouldn’t be a food blogger if meals weren’t a highlight. However my Confit Duck Leg with a Plum and Ginger Glaze was extraordinary. One of the best things I’ve eaten all year.
   4. All the foodie magazines. Recently I’ve been able to get a copy of the Sainsbury’s magazine through work, which takes our regular foodie magazines up to 3 per month, plus anything else I can get my hands on. So much inspiration. And it’s meant we’ve definitely kept up our goal of cooking at least one new dish a week…
   5. Speaking of new food, August’s Degustabox arrived and was just as good as July’s. I’m a big fan of the Crooked alcoholic soda!
   6. Making a batch of Noodle Salad for lunchboxes. It was loosely based on this recipe, but I’ll be posting my own version soon!
   7. Hosting a dinner party for friends. I made a selection of tips (Tumeric Hummus, Courgette & Tahini and a Whipped Feta) and served with breads – I could have just eaten that. So fun to catch up over some delicious food.
   8. Picking up a new favourite dress from Warehouse. My previous favourite shrunk but they’ve been great about refunding it, fingers crossed this one doesn’t suffer the same problem!
   9. This Trout Pizza from Waitrose is still a favourite, I’ll be gutted when it’s no longer available…
   10. A few days of cooler weather. We enjoyed some comfort food (this Cauliflower Cheese Risotto is a great option!), and I even pulled out the fluffy socks. Sadly it hasn’t lasted!

What have you been up to lately?