Thoughts on turning 30

So today I turn 30. Thirty. 3-0. It's a number with a whole lot of baggage. Personally, I thought I would hate the whole business of turning 30. It has always felt like it was a big deal and a big life-changer, probably right up until about 27 years old. But really, now, I am not scared of it like I used to be. In fact, I think 30 is going to bring a lot of good things.

I feel so very happy with many things in my life. I met my husband and we started going out when we were in school. We survived four years of a long distance relationship, 3.5 while I was in Scotland and my husband remained in Ireland, and 6 months while I lived in the South of France. He is my whole world and my rock. Nothing is a struggle with him or for him. He has stood by me as I put myself through undergraduate and masters degrees, while I struggled finding myself when I relocated home to NI and worked out what the hell I was going to do with my life. He picks me up every single day and is literally the sun in my world, I could never be without him. So as I turn 30 and I look back on our 12 years together as a couple, I feel overcome with happiness that this beautiful man has chosen me and we are moving forward as a family together.

I have a great job that I really love going to each day. And sure, I could make more money, but I am doing something I really enjoy and in a field I never saw myself in. I work for a company that accepts people have a life outside of work, and I leave the office at 5pm pretty regularly and don't have to think about work when I'm home. And I get 30 days leave to spend seeing the world. I learn and I am challenged every day, and I work with a great and intelligent bunch of people.

I have a family scattered over the globe, but I see their faces every week. And we are close and love one another and spend time to find out what's going on with each other. I have a large extended family a lot closer to home, and we make time to be with one another and be true friends. I lost my nana last year, and that was the most difficult and biggest blow I have ever faced. I was with her when she passed away, holding her hand. I thank the universe every day for her, and for our special bond. She will hold my hand every day and guide me through the rest of my life. I thank my nana for her children: my uncles, my mother and my godmother. My godmother and I have only got closer since her passing, and she is a second mother to me and I love her from the bottom of my heart.

I have a very close-knit group of friends, who are in contact nearly every single day. We share highs, lows, tears and laughs together every year as we have done for the last 24 years now.

I feel so blessed that I go to bed each night in a clean, warm, secure home, with clothes on my back and food in my belly. I have the luxury of hot showers and fresh pyjamas. I have the luxury of getting up in the morning and choosing what I wear that day, from a variety of options. I travel to a job where I use my brain and my opinions are respected. I am using my education, that I paid relatively little for. I travel home in a beautiful car that my husband and I pay for with our full-time jobs. I wake up on a Saturday morning, and I make a gorgeous cup of coffee and read for pleasure. I walk my beloved little pup, who loves me endlessly and without hesitation. I fall asleep with my arms wrapped around the love of my life.

I know this post is soppy. And I know I may have pissed a few people off. But it's truly how I feel, I am so so lucky and so grateful for so much in my life. And milestones like this are the perfect opportunity to sit back and take stock of how things are. I have many downfalls, and I am trying to address them and I try to improve and grow every day. I could definitely be a better wife. I am overweight. I could do more around the house. I could be a better dog owner and go for more walks. I could be a better friend and pick the phone up more often. I could be a better sister and book flights to see my brother more often. He's the best friend I have known the longest, and sometimes I don't show him how much I love him.

And 30 won't change a lot of these things. I will continue to strive to be better. And I will continue to appreciate when I fail and try to learn something sunny and positive from that failure. I have this feeling that 30 isn't my milestone, and the 32 things before I'm 32 bucket list that I have is a more accurate milestone. I want to be at my target weight by 32. My house will be built and I'll be settled in it at 32. Maybe someday I'll share that list with you. 32 is the new 30.

Now for some cake.

Holiday plans

This year, we haven't really had much time to head away anywhere. Both my husband and I are hungry to travel and want to spend our lives seeing the world! However, we are also currently trying to build a house, which is putting a huge strain on our bank balances as every spare penny we have is going to our house project.

However, we are heading off this weekend for a short break to celebrate my 30th birthday and we thought a little mini break won't do any harm. I can barely believe I am turning 30, and I am very glad we are going to be off enjoying ourselves when it happens! I wanted to give you a quick update on our travel plans, so you know what I'm up to when I'm gone.

We are spending the weekend in London, first of all. A dear friend of mine is getting married, and I can't wait to see her walk up the aisle, she will be so beautiful. The wedding is on Saturday, so we are flying over to London on Friday and meeting with some friends the night before. The day after the wedding we are flying from London to Barcelona, where we will get a transfer to ... Portaventura!

El Paso lobby

Hotel pool

If you're not familiar with Portaventura, I believe it used to be Universal Studios in Europe before it was Portaventura. It's about an hour south of Barcelona, close to the seaside town of Salou. We will be staying in one of the hotels on site - Hotel El Paso. I have stayed at this hotel before, and it really is gorgeous. For the first time in my life I am going on an all inclusive basis, so I will let you know how it goes.




I am a real roller coaster lover, and we're going with another couple who are the best of fun, so it is shaping up to be a great week. While I'm aware it's not the mind-expanding, life-enhancing travel I mentioned before, you also need a bit of good old-fashioned kicking back and letting-your-hair-down fun from time to time. There are a couple of new attractions that have opened since I was last there, including Shambala - a huge rollercoaster, the highest in Europe! How scary does this look?

It actually might surprise you to learn that I am pretty terrified of heights - but as I call them 'loose' heights. So I could never climb a ladder, but roller coasters are amazing. It's a complex phobia, people.

I'll let you know how I get on and in the meantime imagine a sun lounger, a cocktail and a grin that covers a girl's face. That'll be me.

Have a great weekend!

Louisiana red rice with prawns

Prepping veg

So for dinner the other evening I made a brand new recipe I had never tried before. Sometimes I am a little scared of cooking shellfish, with the chances of causing serious illness and/or death a much larger threat. But it was Monday and I was feeling adventurous so I gave it a go. And boy, am I glad I did. With only two of us, this recipe made enough for us to enjoy for two nights in a row. It gives a filling, tasty and fairly quick meal. I made it on a Monday, only getting in the door at 7.30pm and we we're eating just after 8pm. So even on days when time is slipping away, it's a nutritious,tasty and quick option. This recipe was in the most recent edition of Slimming World magazine. If you aren't a fan of prawns or seafood, you could easily substitute for chicken or more veg (maybe squash and asparagus would work nicely?) if you wanted to avoid meat altogether and I don't think you would do so at the detriment of any flavour.

Starting to cook

Ingredients:
Low calorie cooking spray
6 bacon rashers (smoked is best)
1 large red onion, chopped
4 celery sticks, chopped
2 orange peppers (I used 1 red and 1 yellow), chopped
1/2 tsp celery seeds or 1tsp creole mix (I used jerk seasoning)
4 bay leaves
400g can chopped tomatoes
325g basmati rice
600ml chicken stock
400g large peeled raw prawns
Lemon wedges to serve
2 spring onions, sliced to garnish

Add rice

Method:

1. Spray a frying pan with spray and place over medium heat. Cook the bacon until crisp, then remove from heat and set aside.

2. Spray the pan with a little more spray, add the onion, celery and peppers and season. Cook for 10 minutes, or until soft and golden, then add the celery seeds or Creole spice mix, bay leaves, cooked bacon, tomatoes, rice and stock. Cover, turn the heat to low and cook for 10 minutes. Stir in the prawns, re-cover and cook for a further 5 minutes.

3. Garnish the rice with spring onions and serve with the lemon wedges. Enjoy.

As mentioned this is a Slimming World recipe, and is completely free on the plan. I will definitely be making it again! Great for a work night, dress it up for date night with a 4.5 syn glass of wine or go all out for a dinner party. A really simple recipe, but the flavours will really impress your guests and will have them coming back for more....

Louisiana red rice with prawns

Movie Review - No Escape

At the weekend my husband and I took ourselves off to the cinema, a favourite Sunday pass time. We saw No Escape, a thriller starring Owen Wilson, Lake Bell and Pierce Brosnan. The film follows a family as they up sticks and move from the US to Asia so dad Owen Wilson can take up a post with a high profile global water company.

The action is fast moving and the audience are immediately thrown in, which set the pace and tone for the rest of the movie. The family spends 90 minutes or so trying to escape a populous mob, who are targeting foreigners (particularly those involved with the water company, Cardiff). The scenes in this movie are as tense as the mob is ruthless. It's a bite-your-lip, edge-of-your-seat, grab-your-husband's-hand-and-don't-let-go kind of tension, which happens to be the kind of watch that I love.

You've just landed in a foreign country, and foreign in every sense of the word. At one point Annie (Bell) tries to read a map in a life-or-death moment, and even the alphabet is incomprehensible. Trying to put yourself in their shoes was truly frightening, and the director did a great job getting the audience to come on the journey with the Dwyer clan.

One slight grievance I had was the complete lack of awareness the Dwyers had about the country, culture, language and goings-on of the place, which I found slightly unbelievable. You're moving there, to another continent, so presumably you've had some time to work on your local knowledge, which might have worked in your favour. Even if it was just to get a pint of milk. A very slight grievance, it may be said.

Overall, I thought this was a fast-paced emotional thriller and I couldn't imagine anything worse than being in that situation. It gripped me from start to finish, the characters were fairly agreeable and overall I liked it a lot.

No Escape - 6/10

Slimming world weigh in - Christmas challenge week 3

Hi everyone,

I wanted to have a quick update on how things are going with my Slimming World plan. I have recently joined my mother-in-law in a competition to see who can shift the most lbs by Christmas! This was week three of the challenge and I managed to shift 1.5lbs - so I was pretty happy with that. That leaves me at 2.5lbs in total. My poor mother-in-law hasn't got any yet, so she tells me this is her week to knuckle down.

I had a good week, even being out at the weekend and sticking to my syns with non-alcoholic beer and driving home. That alone deserves a 1.5lb loss, right?!

I really enjoyed a couple of new recipes on the Slimming World website this week - in particular the Beef and Mushroom sauce recipe (a French cuisine sauce, as opposed to a Chinese sauce) and the Pesto Chicken Bake recipe I shared the other day.

Breakfasts have been pretty standard mix of fruit, yoghurt, special K cereal bars and overnight oats. Breakfast is the most challenging time I find, as I am always rushing out the door and end up eating at my desk when I get to work, so they can start to become a bit same-y. (Anyone any tips on overcoming this, would be welcomed) Weekends mean poached eggs, bacon and a bit of toast - always a treat! I have been dying to try doing a healthy SW fry, with the new sausages they have released in Iceland, so I may pick some of those up and I will let you know what I think of them.

Lunches this week included ham salads, soup and leftovers - nothing too exciting.

My snack saviours for that old sweet tooth that haunts me were the Cadbury's Fabulous Fingers. At 1.5 syns each, they pack a very chocolatey punch and work perfectly with that evening cuppa. And, as traditional during Bake Off season, I saved 11 syns on Wednesday evening for two French Fancies and a cup of tea. :) I can't watch people plan, make and eat cake without indulging. It's a weakness for sure and possibly a syndrome.

Have my meals planned for the coming week, and I'll be sure to put up any new recipes that I try and love. Fingers crossed for a successful week on plan, and another step closer to my goal.

Immigration and the EU - so many stances, so little time

Like so many others across the world, my heart broke in two seeing the pictures of Aylan Kurdi's lifeless little body washed up on the shores of Bodrum in Turkey - a startling dichotomy to Bodrum's beach holiday image. An innocent young child, who knew nothing but fear and civil war in his native Syria during his much-too-short three years in this world. He has unwillingly and unwittingly become the human face of the suffering of so many thousands of refugees fleeing a desperate situation. I have heard many compelling arguments and discussions on the topic over recent weeks, but with little Aylan a shift has come. There is a renewed urgency. A renewed sense of necessity and a renewed sense of shame, that the international community has to this point sat back and let such a disgusting human tragedy unfold before us.

This week, The Economist examined the level of countries' acceptance of migrants and refugees, and it made for harrowing and uncomfortable reading.

Germany and Sweden leading the way - from The Economist

This graphic shows the levels of accepted asylum applications in 2014, both total numbers and on a per capita basis. Germany accepted over 40,000 applications in 2014. Angela Merkel has pledged to take in another 800,000 in 2015 - and has said there is no legal limit to the number of refugees they will accept. Sweden is giving a home to refugees at a rate of over 300,000 per 100,000 people: 3:1.

Then on the other hand we have nations like the UK and Hungary. In 2014, Hungary accepted 9.4% of all asylum applications made in the country - the lowest of any of those countries studied. What a disgraceful statistic. In the Telegraph on 2nd September (before the world knew Aylan's name), there was a piece describing David Cameron's resistance to calls "for the UK to take its fair share" of migrants. "The Prime Minister refuses to heed calls for Britain to accept more refugees," the article's sub-heading went, claiming that Cameron will not bow to German pressure. Fast-forward, post-Aylan. Cameron has agreed to take "thousands", claiming no EU nation has done more to aid Syrians. "No European country has done more than Britain in this regard. Were it not for that massive aid, the numbers making the perilous journey to Europe today would be even higher," the Telegraph quotes him as saying. So how many thousands can we expect Britain to welcome with open arms? We won't know exact figures until next week, but according to UN refugee agency spokesperson Melissa Fleming, the UK is aiming to help 4,000 people. Four thousand people. Let's just remind ourselves of the German pledge to take 800,000. Let's let that all sink in for a minute.

And Ireland - shamefully resting at the bottom of the table of accepted asylum seekers. The bar on the chart is so small, I can't even make a guess at how many asylum seekers Ireland has taken in. Worth remembering at this point that these are asylum seekers, not the 'economic migrants' peddled in the Daily Mail. An asylum seeker: someone whose life is at such risk they need to live in another country. Ireland, with its rich history of repression, persecution and emigration should stand ashamed today that Aylan and all he represents are being ignored and refused a safe place to just live their lives.

And zooming outside of Europe - the Arab League, the UN, Canada, the US, Saudi Arabia - calls to help, to do more, to notice. It has transpired Aylan's family only attempted the perilous Mediterranean journey after having an asylum application rejected in Canada. Writing in The Globe and Mail, Mark Mackinnon states that the family's application was for asylum in British Columbia, where - oh, yeah - they had a family willing to sponsor them. Harper's government pledged to accept 20,000 asylum applications in 2015. At the time of Aylan's death, Canada had accepted just over 1,000. The figure should have been approximately 13 times higher.

Listening to Marian Finucane on RTE Radio 1 this morning, I heard one of the success stories: a Syrian refugee who now calls Ireland home. Responding to a caller's question on what she should bring on a mission to Greece next weekend to help those coming in to shore off the rubber dingies, he said "Food would be great. Some clothes if you can. And a smile and a hug, that's what they really need." A smile and a hug. Come on world, the time to act is now - Aylan's blood is on all of our hands.

Book Review - Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

 Americanah - 4.5/5

I recently completed the final book in my summer reading list (see autumn TBR post for upcoming autumn list of books to be read). This book took me much longer than I expected to read, as I found myself slowing down to devour every single detail Adichie had put into the pages. I had never before read anything by this author, and to my memory nothing by a Nigerian author at all and I will certainly be back to read some of her others - Purple Hibiscus and Half of a Yellow Sun are currently sitting on my living room bookshelf. Some of the themes covered in the novel were those I had seen in other books and films I have encountered, but they felt born again and fresh.


Firstly, the blurb for those of you not familiar with the story:

As teenagers in a Lagos secondary school, Ifemelu and Obinze fall in love. Their Nigeria is under military dictatorship, and people are leaving the country if they can. Ifemelu—beautiful, self-assured—departs for America to study. She suffers defeats and triumphs, finds and loses relationships and friendships, all the while feeling the weight of something she never thought of back home: race. Obinze—the quiet, thoughtful son of a professor—had hoped to join her, but post-9/11 America will not let him in, and he plunges into a dangerous, undocumented life in London.

Years later, Obinze is a wealthy man in a newly democratic Nigeria, while Ifemelu has achieved success as a writer of an eye-opening blog about race in America. But when Ifemelu returns to Nigeria, and she and Obinze reignite their shared passion—for their homeland and for each other—they will face the toughest decisions of their lives.

Ifemelu and Obinze were extremely well-rounded characters, very raw and very honest - which made them very believable. What I liked most about Ifem's character (ironically) is that she was not always likeable. The majority of the novel is focused on Ifemelu's experiences of a life in America and the return to her homeland in Nigeria. I had never really considered the difference between 'non-American black' and 'black American' before, and Ifemelu (and by extension, Adichie) explores this during her time in America.

I watched an interview with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on Youtube, on International Author's Stage in which she explains the difference between an African American (someone who may have been forced to America by slavery) and American African (someone who comes more willingly). An interesting point of Ifemelu and Obinze's stories is that they are not forced from their country by war or famine. The aren't slaves forced to come to another country and leave all they have behind. Poverty isn't forcing them to leave Nigeria, in fact Obinze comes from a solidly middle-class family, while Ifemelu comes from a slightly poorer (but not desolate) situation. Ifemelu questions why when immigrants arrive on American shores with coloured skin, is it immediately assumed that they are fleeing warfare, when maybe all they want is a different life.

'Americanah', the term given to Nigerian people who return after a spell in America, does a great job of placing Ifemelu when she herself feels so displaced. She never feels American, and tries to shake the American accent she adopts. Yet, when she returns to Nigeria she is regularly called 'Americanah' and slips into subliminal American-isms. During her time in America, Ifemelu puts weight on, further losing her Nigerian identity and becoming more American. The author explores the themes of foreignness, growing and changing, returning home and, of course, race. A lot of these themes are very far removed from my everyday, and this made them fascinating to absorb. I enjoyed the paradox of race in America and Nigeria. "Dear Non-American Black, when you make the choice to come to America, you become black. Stop arguing. Stop saying I'm Jamaican or I'm Ghanaian. America doesn't care". You're only black in America, the author teaches us. There is no colour in Nigeria.

Obinze was a much more likeable character than Ifemelu, and as a reader I felt myself rooting for him all the time when he rarely achieved his dreams. He had a life-long obsession with America, only reading American books and investing himself in American culture. He did not make it to America, however, and spent some time in England as an illegal immigrant before being deported. His marriage to Kosi was very far removed from the loving and passionate relationship he experienced with Ifemelu, and this makes you feel for him - such a passionate and loving personality drowning in mediocre.

The movie adaptation of the book is currently in development, which I'm delighted about. Set to star Lupita N'yogo, it is pretty perfect casting. Despite the references to Obinze's small stature, I can't help but see Idris Elba cast in the film (he's not). Though maybe that says more about my Idris Elba obsession than anything.

An exceptional read, best I've had in a long time.

Autumn TBR List

So today I thought I would share with you one of my biggest passions - reading. I have a long commute with my job, and travel four hours on the daily, four days a week. Yup, so I got some time to kill. Luckily for me, usually I can leave my work at work, make myself a flask of coffee (another passion!) and spend a couple of hours reading. Who gets to make time for that every day? I know four hours is a long commute... but let's make it sunny! :)

I have a variety of things I like to read. I am a subscriber to a magazine service called Readly. It's great - you pay £9.99 per month, and can access hundreds of magazines from a range of countries. The service can be shared over four accounts on four devices (iPads, Kindles, etc.) , so all the family can get involved. It really has been a success in our house! I will go in to detail a little more on Readly in a separate post, but just to let you know a lot of my reading time goes on that. I also have paid subscriptions to National Geographic and The Economist. Plenty to keep me busy.

And magazines are great, but my heart lies with books. I love books - the feel of them, the look of them.. Stop. They are heaven. There is nothing I love more than visiting Waterstones, and more times than I care to remember I have been dragged away mid-browse. As you will likely discover, I have a little tendency to organise. I love to plan, organise and obsess, when necessary. And books is one area of my life that is militarily planned. I plan a season of reading and love working through my to-read list, ticking the books off as I go.

So today I want to present my Autumn TBR (to be read) list. I will do a full review of these as I read them, but this list will take me up to the end of November, and my winter list will start. (You see how this is going....)

Autumn TBR

1. Love, Ellen by Betty deGeneres

I read Ellen deGeneres' autobiography (Seriously, I'm Kidding - the fourth one?) not too long ago and I liked it. I really like her as a personality, and I find her very warm and funny. I am looking forward to this book, as it chronicles the struggle Ellen faced from her mother's point of view, and the backlash she faced when she came out. Betty deGeneres has gone on to become a gay rights activist and it will be an interesting read, I think. 

2. Nora Webster by Colm Tobin

I fell in love with Tobin's Brooklyn a few years ago, and I believe it is currently in production for the big screen, which makes me very happy. I love reading a book and then watching it adapted to screen, comparing what was in your head to what you are seeing as someone else's vision. Anyway, I have heard really good things about Nora Webster, and I'm looking forward to reading this one. This novel follows recently widowed Nora as she battles with her new situation with four kids in Wexford. A nominee for a slew of awards, including Costa book award and the Andrew Carnagie medal.

3. The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer

Never having read anything by this author before, I have little to say about what I can expect! However, I was drawn to this book because of the buzz surrounding it (another slew of nominations - winning Costa Book of the Year in 2013). The blurb doesn't make it very clear what the premise is, and all I know is that mental illness is one of the overriding themes of the novel.

There's Johnny, right there.

4. The Shining by Stephen King

Full disclosure... I've never read Stephen King before. Ever. Like, ever, ever. Where have I been? I have seen this film though, and I don't like doing it in that order. But everyone's knows what it's about and I love to have a scary read over Hallowe'en, so I am hoping this will fit the bill nicely. 

5. All Involved by Ryan Gattis (Kindle read)

This novel is something way different than I could probably say I have ever read before. It is set in LA around the time of the race riots in the early 90s. The author did a lot of research and interviews with gang members around this time, which all feed into his narrative. It's something different - not quite fact and not quite fiction. Really looking forward to this one.

6. 12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northrup

I have managed to avoid the film, as I was sure with this I wanted to read the book first. I am very much looking forward (can you look forward to a tale so grim?) to reading this one. Other than the obvious (slavery is the main theme!) I have no idea about any other aspects of this story, so I am looking forward to finding out more about Solomon Northrup. I read Colum McCann's Transatlantic last year, which was one of the most astounding books I have ever read. In it, Frederick Douglass makes an appearance - another well-known victim of slavery. I have his first book on my kindle ready to read, something tells me this book will whet my appetite for further reading on this subject.

So there you have it, my Autumn reading list for 2015. I am really looking forward to these titles, not as mixed as previous reading lists but I do have some non-fiction/fiction mixed in there. I will post reviews of these as I go, and let you know what I thought of them.

Have you read any? Would you recommend any of these in particular? Does anyone else plan their reading lists by season?

Leave me a comment below, I'd love to know. :)

Take care

C

Pesto chicken bake

Hey everyone,

So I figured a good place to begin blogging would be to cover one of my favourite pass-times, cooking. I love nothing more than trying a new recipe, and there's nothing I won't give a good go. At the minute, I am following the Slimming World plan in an effort to shed some extra pounds. I want to lose about 40lbs, or roughly 3 stone. I am like the vast majority of those who embark on such missions - facing an uphill struggle. But I've had a really good week and I am really determined - even attending a party at the weekend I managed to stay on plan. *Pat on back.* So this recipe is sourced from Slimming World, in case anyone thought I was genius enough to make it up.

Ingredients:
4 x 115g skinless chicken breasts
Low calorie cooking spray

For the marinade:
3 garlic cloves
6 tbsp freshly chopped basil, plus a few leaves to garnish
2 tbsp freshly chopped parsley
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
6 tbsp chicken stock

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Blending the marinade

Method:

1. Make the marinade: peel and grate the garlic, place in a food processor along with the basil, parsley, vinegar and stock and blend until the mixture is fairly smooth. Season to taste.

2. Make 3 slashes on each chicken breast, place in a bowl and pour the marinade over, rubbing into the slashes. Cover, place in the fridge and leave to marinate for at least 2 hours.

3. Place the chicken breasts in a roasting tin sprayed with low calorie cooking spray and roast in the oven for 20 minutes at 190°C/170°C Fan/Gas 5, or until the chicken is cooked through and tender.

4. Serve the chicken pesto roast sliced and garnished with a few basil leaves.

Marinading

Now, that's the official recipe. But I decided to put a little twist on it, of the cheesy variety. I am using my healthy extra A (see Slimming World for details on the plan) as Parmesan, which I will sprinkle over the chicken for the final 5/6 minutes of step 3. I would use approximately 30g per chicken breast for really good coverage, 30g being a Healthy Extra A portion. A portion (one breast) is free on Slimming World (or 6 syns if you are not using your cheese for HEA). Alternatively, you could leave off the cheese and the whole thing would be free.

Finished meal

Alongside this, I served roasted new potatoes tossed in crushed garlic and rosemary, and spinach salad with balsamic vinegar dressing.

End of a long day - Bake Off :)

All in all this was a really simple recipe, especially for a week night. It would be great to rustle up the night before and have in the fridge just waiting to pop into the oven for 20 mins when you walk through the door. Just enough time to pop in the shower, wash the day away and get into some comfy fresh PJs. Which is definitely how I played it.

And for dessert... 11 syns of French Fancies and the Great British Bake Off with lovely sofa cuddles from my man. A glorious end to any day.      


Take care

C

Hello and welcome

Thanks for taking the time to stop by. Nice to meet you. I'm C. Approaching 30, very happily married and an avid follower of lifestyle blogs and youtubers. My big loves are my family - my husband and my dog. My other big loves include books, cooking, dreaming of travels, actual travels, current affairs, films, magazines and great TV shows. Here you'll find a little piece of all that.

I am currently preparing for tonight's dinner - which is pesto chicken roast, with new baby roast potatoes and spinach salad. I'll throw together my first real post with this recipe and get it up for you guys later. Then we'll see where the blog takes us...

Looking forward to this new hobby :)

Take care,

C