Laughs, Loves & Little Things

I've decided to start this weekly post 'Laughs, Loves and Little Things' in which I'll share with you a few pictures and stories from my week. As it was my Birthday last week I thought I might as well show you what I got up to as a little test run for both you and me.

1. On my way home I passed the bakery down the road 'Perfectionery', they had a tray of loafs outside which were going free. Well I'm not one to turn my nose up at a freebie; everything tastes better when its free doesn't it!?

2. I made a Smoked Haddock Risotto for Neil and I, its such a comforting and easy dish to make. Just make sure you buy the un-dyed haddock fillets - the recipe I followed was from BBC Good Food.

3. My Birthday morning was made rather fancy by Neil whipping up Eggs Benedict, I felt like a real lady of leisure sat in bed whilst he was busy in the kitchen!  (This is the best photo I could get as I was in such a hurry to eat it.)

4. YES! Look what I got off my Mum and Dad for my Birthday! I've been longing for a decent craft/sewing space for ages; gone are the days of crawling around the floor cutting out fabric! - More to come here once I've transformed this area into the perfect creative space!

5. Special delivery from my Nana - Her Non-Cross Buns with a gorgeous sticky glace. 

6. Mud Crab was the restaurant of choice for my Birthday meal, my Mum, Nana and Grandad traveled over to Sheffield to join me and Neil for an awesome dinner. I had the 6 hour beef rib with mash and the best beans I've ever tasted!

7. Cheeky snap stolen from Charlotte of my Birthday night out to King Bee at The Shakespeare. This was a joint occasion with my house mate Huw as his birthday is the 15th - just two days after mine. Not too sure what me and Charlotte are finding so funny here!

8. I traveled home on Mothering Sunday to deliver this homemade hamper to my Mum (best daughter ever or what?)

Wow... I've just realised how many photos of food I take/how much my life seems to revolve around food - not sure if its a good thing or a bad thing ill let you decide. I really enjoyed writing this post, I hope you guys liked it as you do realise we're now in a long term weekly blog post committed relationship! You don't have commitment issues do you?

See you next time!

xx

Baking for the Birthday Boy

Everyone knows the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, and as it was Neil's Birthday I thought I'd better get in the kitchen. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and I believe on your Birthday you should wake up to something special and indulgent. 

Pancakes are my speciality, and ever since watching that Matilda scene as a young girl I've longed to replicate those perfect pancakes she whips up as a four year old child. Well my friends at the age of 22 *cough 23 in 8 days cough* I think I've finally done it! Referring to a trusty Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall recipe Neil's Birthday pancakes were the best I've ever made and I topped them with some gorgeous Free Range Beech Smoked British Streaky Bacon from Waitrose and maple syrup. Check out the recipe here.

Well a Birthday isn't a Birthday with out a cake is it, so once he was out of the house I soon got to work on a Birthday carrot cake -his favourite.

If you've never baked a carrot cake before I cannot recommend it enough, I really enjoyed making this the smells are incredible before you've even put it in the oven. I followed Paul Hollywood's recipe which you can find here, its easy to follow and really 'scrummy' as Mary Berry would say. 

The Birthday Boy!

I hope you've all enjoyed this post, do give those recipes a go or share with me any of your favourite recipes. It's my Birthday next week and as you can see I've set the Birthday bar quite high so you'll have to wait and see if Neil takes part in the Battle of the Birthday Bakes - no soggy bottoms allowed!

xx