Month: December 2024

Blogmas 2024: Day 15 My Work Christmas Meal (no 2)

Hi guys 👋🏻

We are on to the 15th of December, which means there are only 10 days until Christmas!!!! Whattttt. December is flying by.

Last night, I had my second work Christmas meal. We went to Ask Italian (our usual spot) for a yummy dinner together.

I really enjoyed my food – for the main course I went for the Festive Carbonara (which I enjoyed last year)

Fresh egg frilly tagliatelle with smoked pancetta & Brussels
sprouts in a velvety mascarpone & cheese sauce, topped with
crispy prosciutto

Me & my mum shared a couple of sides with our mains.

Bitesize lasagne pieces coated in crispy breadcrumbs, with a spicy tomato dip.

Sweet mustard roasted Brussels sprouts, green beans & pancetta.

For dessert, I had a really yummy sticky toffee coffee pudding.

Toffee sponge with a coffee infused sticky toffee sauce,
with a scoop of salted caramel gelato.

Annoyingly, I forgot to take a photo 🤦🏼‍♀️

And I always like to try one of their nice cocktails 🍸  they do have some yummy sounding ones every time I go!

Buttery toffee sauce shaken with spiced Caribbean rum & milk, with toffee popcorn on the side.

All in all it was a fun evening and I really enjoyed my food.

Have you had your work Christmas do yet? What did you get up to?

10 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!!

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

by Categories: Celebrations, christmas, food, Life, UncategorizedTags: Leave a comment

Blogmas 2024: Day 14 Christmas Eve boxes

Hi guys 👋🏻

With 10 days until Christmas Eve (WHATTT), I thought I would share with you what I am putting in my nephews and nieces Christmas Eve boxes this year. These things aren’t really expensive and are super easy to get hold of, so if you need some last-minute ideas, look no further.

Let’s get into it…

Personally, I feel like chocolate coins are a must!!

I picked up these big ones from Flying Tiger. The little ones are from Tesco.

I also popped in these yummy marshmallow pops and chocolate pops, too.

I did a theme for the 3 boxes I was doing so that I could keep track of what I had got for who.

All the Santa bits are for one nephew, the Reindeer is for my other nephew, and the snowman stuff is for my niece.

I like to pop something cosy in, so this year, I went for some cosy and cute little Christmas socks.

These were £1.50 from Asda.

I also like to put some fun things in, something they can do. I had to think a little this year as they are all getting a bit older now. I went for a Christmas suprise squishy because they seem to be all the rage. I also went for a little Lego Christmas figure that they can build.

On the theme of ‘something they can do’ I shared out a pack of wooden DIY decorations so they have a few of them to do each. I’ve also included a couple of little ‘Crack the Christmas Code Sheets’ that I printed off because I used to love doing those as a kid so I thought they’d be a bit of fun for them to so.

I always, always have to include a book! No explanation is needed. I picked up this children’s copy of ‘A Christmas Carol’ based on the Charles Dickens novel to pop in there. My niece and youngest nephew still enjoy picture books, so I had to get that in there. I’m sure my oldest nephew will still listen to the story with his brother.

I love this little tradition, and hopefully, I’ve still got a few more years to do it with my nephews and niece. They love it, and it does add a little extra magic to Christmas Eve.

I hope this gave you a bit of inspiration if you needed it!

What would you include in yours?

11 days until Christmas!!!

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

by Categories: Celebrations, christmas, Life, UncategorizedTags: Leave a comment

Blogmas 2024: Day 13 A festive film night

Hi guys 👋🏻

This time of year is perfect for a cosy film night, and there are plenty to choose from, who doesn’t love a Christmas film!

Now, one of my favourite Christmas films of all time is ‘It’s a wonderful life’. Now I know this is a bit of a rogue choice for come people but I think it is a brilliant Christmas film. It’s a classic and if you’ve never seen it watch it, give it a chance because it’s lovely and it had a lovely message. I was always very sceptical, but I am so glad I gave it a chance. I honestly think it’s one of the best films I’ve ever seen.

I introduced my twin sister to it last year, and she also loved it, so we thought we would watch it together one evening last week.

Once we’d had dinner, we settled down with our snacks to enjoy the film!

It’s definitely worth a go! Let me know if you watch it and what you think.

12 days to go!!

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

by Categories: Celebrations, christmas, cinema, Life, UncategorizedTags: Leave a comment

Blogmas 2024: Day 12 Homemade Mince Pies 🥧

Hi guys 👋🏻

Here’s another yummy festive recipe for you to try. It’s super quick and super easy. Perfect for a festive snack, party table, or pudding. Mince Pies is an absolute classic.

You’ll need:

  • A jar of mince meat
  • A sheet of shortcrust pastry
  • A circle cutter and a smaller star cutter.
  • Butter to grease the tin
  • One egg for egg wash
  • Any other ingredients you want to use to flavour your mince pies.

I didn’t follow a recipe, but here’s what I did…

  1. Grease the 12 holes in cupcake tin with a small amount of butter, to stop the pastry sticking.
  2. Use the circle cutter to cut out the base of each mince pies. Use the star cutter to cut out a top for each mince pie.
  3. Press one circle into each hole in your baking tin.
  4. Bake the cases in the oven just until they start to turn slightly darker (7ish mins at 200°c)
  5. Spoon a teaspoon of mince meat into each pie case, this is when you can add any other flavourings of your choice. I added a square of dark chocolate and a dollop of caramel. If you want more traditional mince pies, just stick to mince meat on its own.
  6. Top each mince pies with a star, pushing it down a little so that it sticks.
  7. Egg wash the top of each mince pie to ensure it turns that lovely golden brown.
  8. Bake in the oven at 200°c for 10 minutes but keep an eye on them.
  9. Enjoy!

Let me know if you give these a go!

13 days until Christmas!!

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

by Categories: baking, Celebrations, christmas, food, UncategorizedTags: Leave a comment

Blogmas 2024: Day 11 A festive ‘cinema’ showing with Nephews 🎅🏻🎞🍿

Hi guys 👋🏻

Now, who doesn’t love a good Christmas film! And I was really excited to hear about the new animated one by Richard Curtis!!

I first heard about it because Ed Sheeran has written and sung a song for it, and I knew that alone would make it a hit with my nephews. Plus, Richard Curtis! Come on.

So, last weekend I opened up ‘RoRo’s  Cinema’ for an exclusive festive showing. My nephews love it when I do this, and it’s such a simple, fun, inexpensive activity.

We had special festive snack boxes, and we settled down with our hot chocolates and blankets to enjoy the film.

We all really enjoyed it. I thought it was really sweet and very poignant. Ed Sheerans song made me want to cry, and there were some really lovely, likeable characters. I loved it.

I would 100% recommend going this a watch on Netflix.

Have you seen it yet? What did you think?

14 days to go!! 2 weeks!!

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

by Categories: Celebrations, christmas, cinema, UncategorizedTags: Leave a comment

Blogmas 2024: Day 10 🎄 Christmas Wreath Making

Hi guys 👋🏻

Welcome to day 10 of Blogmas!

A few weekends ago me and my husband and I attended a Wreath Making workshop organised by some of his work colleagues, just a fun little Christmassy get together. Tim invited me along, too, because he knew this would be right up my street.

It was really fun, and although I got pricked by Holly several times, I really enjoyed creating my Wreath.

Here’s how it went…

As you can see from the final pictures just above, we went for very different themes. They both came out really well, and we now have two lovely, festive, homemade wreaths to decorate our home. We’ve popped Tim’s on the front foot and mine on the lounge door.

Have you ever made a homemade Wreath?

15 days to go!!

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

by Categories: Celebrations, christmas, craft, home decor, UncategorizedTags: Leave a comment

Blogmas 2024: Day 9 New Christmas decs

Hi guys 👋🏻

I hope this finds you well. I have bought us (me) a few extra little decorations this year, so I thought I’d share them with you!

Lets take a look!

These are some cute little string lights, battery-operated, that I found in Aldi.

They are little red and white  Santa’s.

I’ve popped these in our lounge.

I picked up these three from a little Christmas market/shop with my husband and friend. It was quite a fancy place but they did have some quite reasonably priced little decorations. These little ones were only £1.75 each. A great gift or stocking filler.

I went for a big glitter Santa (See below) and two of the little ones, I like their shiny retro vibes. One is a Nutcracker and one is a little red van transporting a Christmas tree.

This Santa is so retro and nostalgic. As children we had a little version of this Santa that used to hang on our family Christmas tree and I LOVED him in all his glittery, festive glory. He eventually became a decoration on mine and my twin sisters little tree that was in our bedroom,. His glitter all came off eventually, he was well loved. This one will help keep his nostalgic, glittery awesomeness alive on our Christmas tree.

He fits our theme of red, gold and green so well too!

I also picked up this little penguin from Aldi, he was too cute and dare I say a little tacky (I love tacky!!), to leave behind!! He has pride of place in the lounge too.

I had to add a bit of extra festiveness to my book corner! I used to have these lights but unfortunately they broke. I love the retro lights and especially the pink ones, they are my favourite. They just look so lovely and nostalgic to me. Colourful Christmases for the win.

I reckon these will end up staying here all year to be honest, I just love fairy fights- especially in my book corner.

Have you bought any new decorations? If so what did you get?

16 days until Christmas!

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

by Categories: Celebrations, christmas, home decor, Life, UncategorizedTags: Leave a comment

Blogmas 2024: Day 8 Festive film mix 🍬🍿✨️

Hi guys 👋🏻

I hope this finds you well and you are enjoying Blogmas so far!

This is a different post to one that I’ve done before, but it kind of came to me randomly, and I thought it would be a fun one to share.

We love going to the cinema (unlimited card ftw) and watching Christmas films at home all cosy. Me, my twin sister and my husband all went to the cinema for an Unlimited screening and I thought it would be fun to make us a yummy treat.

The latest trend in cinema snacks seems to be toppers for popcorn, so I thought I would take that to the next level, and of course, add a festive twist. I went down to our little Tesco and chose my treats before assembling at home.

I went for:

  • Tesco sweet and salty popcorn
  • Lindt mini balls
  • White chocolate buttons
  • Milk chocolate coins
  • Mini choc chip penguin biscuits
  • Squashies ‘Naughty & Nice’ sweet mix

I mixed them together in a big bowl (which was actually way harder than I thought 🤣 – I did make a bit of a mess!!) I then shared it between out three tupperware boxes to transport to the cinema.

It was super yummy, festive, and just something a bit different! This would be great for a trip to the cinema, a cosy film night in, or for a gathering /party over the festive period.

What would you include?

17 days to go!

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

by Categories: Celebrations, christmas, foodTags: Leave a comment

Blogmas 2024: Day 7 My work Christmas meal 🍽

Hi guys 👋🏻

We are officially one week into Blogmas! It’s been fun so far. Now that we are well and truely into December the Christmassy events are really starting to happen, and this week I had my first Christmas work meal.

We went for a lovely 3 course meal at a cosy local pub. It was very cosy in there and I loved their real Christmas tree.

I had a delicious cauliflower and parmesan soup for my starter. This was so yummy. I don’t usually go for soup but this was really tasty and perfect as it was such a cold and wet evening. It also came with the softest bread.’

For the main course I went for the turkey Christmas dinner. Now I always used to have a rule that if I went for a Christmas meal I didn’t get the turkey, I waited until Christmas day… but then I realised this year that its such a wasted opportunity to have loads of different versions of my favourite ever meal.

This was a really yummy roast with delicious roasted roots, pigs in blankets and a massive Yorkshire pudding. I also came with the yummiest homemade gravy (this was my favourite part).

For dessert, I chose the chocolate orange (one of my favourite flavour combos ever) profiteroles. These were so yummy I could have eaten about 3 more portions, haha. They came with loads of chocolate orange sauce, and the cream inside was so light. Lovely.

All in all, we had some really yummy food and a good laugh together! You don’t always get the opportunity to chat to everyone at work during the busy day so it was lovely to have a catch up.

Only 2 weeks until the end of term!!

Have you had your Christmas party yet?

18 days to go!

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

by Categories: Celebrations, christmas, food, UncategorizedTags: Leave a comment

Blogmas 2024: Day 6 Festive Chocolate Orange Fudge 🍊

Hi guys!

I think its time for a festive treat don’t you!? And what better way to start than with this delicious but also super simple Chocolate orange fudge recipe.

I think that Chocolate orange and Christmas are synonymous with one another and it is one of my all time favourite chocolate flavours, but it just hits different at Christmas. Who needs a satsuma in their stocking when you can have a chocolate orange, right!!

This recipe is by Jane’s Patisserie and you can never go wrong with her recipes.

Here is the link:

Terry’s Chocolate Orange Fudge!

It is so simple and you only need three ingredients… A chocolate orange, a can of condensed milk and some festive sprinkles of our choice.

These would make brilliant as homemade Christmas gifts, yummy sweet treats at a work get together or Christmas party, or just as a easy activity with the kids.

These went down a treat with my husbands work colleagues and I can confirm that they go brilliantly with a cuppa!

What is your favourite festive flavour?

Let me know if you give this recipe a go!

19 days to go!

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

by Categories: baking, Celebrations, christmas, food, UncategorizedTags: Leave a comment