Lifestyle

Disclosure: Our stay was complimentary. As always all thoughts are my own.

I don’t know how I can continue to be surprised at what my nearby surroundings have to offer, but here we are! I’ve grown up, worked and lived in and around Milton Keynes for the best part of thirty years, and have only recently learned that there is a country house retreat just on the outskirts of the city. Driving to stay the night was an odd pleasure, because I am so used to driving a great distance to reach a staycation. But here I was, arriving just 10 minutes from my front door!

Hello there.

Well, in the eight years that I have been blogging this has been the one and only disappearance I have made. My extended break has been a mix of moving house, well mainly moving house to be honest, and doing it right before Christmas where life just goes a bit mad for a few weeks.

January, before it actually came around, seemed like a great moment to start writing again. Except in practice that just wasn’t the case, because in a world that loves to neatly put everything into boxes, food is of course no exception. I certainly don’t need to remind you of this having just survived January, emerging from a frankly horrible month where food becomes compartmentalised more than ever into New Year fads.

As if we’ve been married one year! It has absolutely flown. I maintain that the second a time machine is invented I’m going back to Myres Castle 2017 and reliving that spectacular day.

For our first wedding anniversary Q won best husband ever award by surprising me with a trip away for the weekend… despite us agreeing we weren’t going to do anything given everything else we have on at the moment! I packed an overnight bag and was driven in the direction of Bristol…

Growing and foraging food I find so very satisfying. I don’t have a garden (yet) but I have always dreamt of having a vegetable patch for that very reason; I want the enjoyment of creating my food and getting it from somewhere that isn’t a clinical supermarket.

Disclosure: Mazda kindly provided me with their new MX-5 for the weekend. As always all thoughts and words are my own.

If you’re a regular reader then you’ll know that I’m an Autumn girl at heart. And yes I admit it, I have started to get excited about the conkers growing on the trees.

But good Lord if it isn’t absolutely criminal not to enjoy every drop of this glorious sunshine that we have been blessed with this year! Truth be told I’m never usually that into Summer because I don’t know where I stand with the weather, and I find myself standing in front of my wardrobe with painful indecision about what to wear. But not this year: every day is guaranteed heat; no umming and aahing about layers. I hear the last time we had a Summer like this was 1976, so chances are I won’t see another until I’m old and grey. Basically, carpe diem the hell out of that Sun you guys.

Disclosure: This was a paid post in partnership with Snapfish. As always all thoughts and words are my own.

There are girls who unpack their luggage a soon as they get back from holiday and get the washing on right away. And then there’s me.

There are girls who plan their birthday out with military precision to get bookings where they desperately want to go. And then there’s me.

There are girls who print their wedding photos the moment they are received. And you can see where I’m going with this can’t you?

My dad is Irish. My mum is Welsh. I live in England. But you’d be forgiven for thinking that I had some Scottish blood for all that I go on about it, how much I love it and over the past two years, how much I have visited.

Thing is it’s got all the things that I love the most: hearty food, dramatic landscapes, ancient architecture and a sense of adventure. I also have family who live not too far from Trossachs National Park so Bank Holidays are a great excuse to drive up and visit them. From Milton Keynes it takes 6 hours in the car: sure it’s a long drive but manageable. We spent three wonderful days this time.

Well. Despite being one where I’ve had to lie a little lower in the name of wedding preparations it’s still turned out to be a fantastic year of restaurants, recipes and discoveries. ‘Best nine’ becomes increasingly popular year on year, but for me it’s not about how many likes I got but which experiences were the most memorable. So, here’s my personal 2017 best nine!

Disclosure: this press evening was complimentary. As always all thoughts are my own.

I have always said that there are one of three materialistic categories that people dream of: the dream car, the dream wardrobe or the dream house. For me it has always been the dream house. Ever since I was a small child I have dreamt of living in a beautiful home with warm surroundings, a crackling fire and a kitted-out kitchen. It is with bitter sweetness that I attend events like this one at Fisher & Paykel; drooling over gorgeous kitchen wares with nowhere (yet!) to put them!

Fisher & What?

Before getting in contact I had never actually heard of Fisher & Paykel (had you?) but I learned that they’re a massive luxury Kitchen brand on the other side of the planet in New Zealand. They boast that since 1934 they’ve been looking at innovative, ergonomic ways to deliver luxury kitchen solutions and walking around their showroom there was no end of oohs-and-aahs from myself. I tugged at every handle wondering what was inside and was surprised a number of times seeing as they do things a little differently. I discovered a dishwasher in a mid-height draw; where you can stack your dirty dishes without bending over constantly. I found another unassuming draw serving as a neat fridge for your white wine and bubbly!

Less surprising but most desirable was their lovely wide, double-door American style fridges. The absolute kitchen dream!

*One day!*

Getting Festive

Once I’d tugged at every door, peered in every nook & cranny, played with every touch screen (jeez I really am a kid in a candy shop huh?) my attention steered towards the good smells coming from the kitchen, where a film crew were catching chef and food stylist Clover Hutson in action.

I instantly took a liking to Clover who was as forthcoming with her excitement over food as I am!

Clover is a chef, demonstrator and food stylist who was treating us to a Christmas dinner as well as tips on delivering maximum wow factor without spending forever in the kitchen away from the fun.

One of Clover’s recipes which was a bit different from the norm was this lovely tray of roasted veg with chunks of blue cheese crumbled over and left to melt in the oven. This adds a whole other level of richness and indulgence which I loved. Blue cheese on Christmas dinner is A-Okay in my books and definitely one to try!

I think we can all agree that a good Christmas dinner should have minimal plate showing through the generous helpings…

Dessert was a team effort with two to make and devour! First up was a quick and crowd pleasing Panettone cake which Sophie and Victoria got stuck into creating.

Panettone Layer Cake With Orange Cream

• 1 whole panettone
• 300ml double cream
• 4 seedless oranges – 1 for zest
• 50ml Cointreau or Grand Marnier
• Icing sugar
• Vanilla extract

For the orange cream: place the cream, two tablespoons of icing sugar, the Cointreau/Grand Marnier, the zest of one orange and a dash of vanilla in a large metal or glass bowl and whisk until stiff.

Next, cut the panettone horizontally into four or five slices. Layer the cream and slices and top with the remaining cream. To decorate place dried orange slices into the cream topping and sprinkle generously with icing sugar.

The next sweet treat was about using up a crowd dividing dessert: the Christmas Pudding. I for one love Christmas pudding (how can you not it’s bloody delicious!) so I was first to volunteer as Clover’s assistant for this one!

Christmas Pudding Sundae

• Leftover Christmas pudding, crumbled or diced
• A few tbsp dark rum to taste (but don’t be shy – it’s Christmas)
• A good drizzle of honey
• Vanilla icecream
• Dark chocolate shavings

This one’s mega low maintenance because there’s no measuring (ideal when you’re a few drinks in on Christmas day). You add the Christmas pud pieces to a pan on a medium heat and once they’ve fried a little and developed some nice crispy bits, you add the rum and honey and cooked until nice and hot.

Then all you have to do is layer up the pudding, ice cream and chocolate shavings until you’re filled your glasses. 10 minutes max to make this; simple but so good (Especially because Clover used a lot of rum. Good work).

Top work Fisher & Paykel for stoking my festive spirit and kitchen dreams… I wonder if I can fit an American fridge in my stocking? I really enjoyed the new ideas that Clover brought to the table (pun intended), there’s a video below showing a bit more of what we got up to along with a bit of festive potato enthusiasm from yours truly!

This may well be my last post before Christmas, so I hope you all have an amazing day! I love seeing what everyone’s eating so please share your pics with my on Instagram!

Here’s what I’ve been getting up to over the last few weeks!