It’s so great to be off work now for the school holidays! Woohoo.
And only 5 days until Christmas – exciting!
I feel like this Blogmas has flown by!!!
One nice part of the festive period is the work get togethers!
Here’s how they went!
For my work do we went to a local pub thats sells amazing pizzas to order. Delicious.
I also had one of my favourite cocktail – an espresso martini 🍸
It was lovely to get together for a chat! And its nice to get a chance to chat to othe people at work that you don’t often get a chance to, unless it is just in passing!
Last night I went to the Christmas meal of my work place that I left just before the summer hols, at the end of July. I have seen them since but it was nice to catch up again.
I enjoyed the food at Prezzo, you can’t go wrong with Italian!
Bit gutted that I started the evening off with a headache (sugar induced I think) so I didnt think I ought to have a dessert! The tiramisu looked so nice 😩 but I really enjoyed my Araccini style starter and ‘Marry Me’ Pasta.
I had a thoroughly festive weekend that was rounded off yesterday with a delicious roast for lunch with my friend.
We met up for a last meet up before Christmas and to exchange our Christmas presents/cards with each other.
We went for a proper, traditional Sunday lunch at a lovely pub. It was so cosy and festive in there and the food was delicious.
We both went for the turkey roast dinner that came with Pigs in Blankets. I also got some Cauliflower cheese. The turkey and the pig in blanket was my favourite part but it was all really tasty.
For dessert I went for the Chocolate Fondant served with white chocolate ice cream and crumbled shortbread biscuit. I love a chocolate dessert and this really hit the spot.
We had a lovely time, a great pre Christmas catch up with some tasty food. A great way to round off a fun, festive weekend.
This year’s ‘Holiblog’ post (holiday blog post for those who are new here) is a bit of a different one as we booked an impromptu train trip around Europe (well, a small part of Europe)
We went for a 5 day trip getting to and from using the Eurostar, and then local trains in-between. So, with just a rucksack, each we set off (at 4.30 am in the morning 😭)
Here’s how it went…
Paris, France
A brilliant first day of our little European adventure!
Our first stop was Paris 🇫🇷
We found some delicious pizza 🤣🍕 and we walked to the Effiel tower (which really is quite massive) very cool.
A highlight was the River Seine boat sightseeing tour. 🏞⛴️
It’s been 33° so it was a welcome shelter/rest from the sun, and we were able to see lots of the sights of Paris that we wanted to. 🌞
Traditional pastries acquired ready for tomorrow mornings early train to our next destination 🥐
Pairi Daiza, Cambron Casteau
Today was amazing. 🇧🇪
If you ever in Brussels you’ve got to visit ‘Pairi Daiza, Kingdom of Animals’
It’s so much more amazing that I could ever have imagined – what a beautiful place with some amazing animals, I’ve never been anywhere like it.
The themeing of each continent area was spot on, and we saw animals we had never seen before absolutely thriving in the most amazing exhibits.
It’s been a full-on, hot day, and my feet ache a lot (10 hours there and 30,000 steps) but boy, did we enjoy ourselves – we didn’t want to leave!!
Ps – the bats were awesome 🦇
Europe Day Two- done ✔️ 🇧🇪
Ghent, Belgium
Today, we started off with breakfast in Brussels before we headed to today’s stop – Ghent. 🇧🇪
I’d never heard of it before we booked this trip, but I am so glad we came. This place is so lovely to walk around. The architecture is beautiful, and it’s so quaint with a surprisingly contrasting but infectious bustling night life. 🚤 The canals are really pretty, and as well as wandering around ourselves during the day and at night, we also enjoyed a canal boat tour and a Medieval walking tour.
The local culinary delights, including Leige waffles 🧇 DELICIOUS frites, topped with traditional blemish stew, gravy & mayonnaise, and Belgium chocolate of course.
Another brilliant day! Stop no 3, done ✔️
#Ghent #Belgium #Europe2025
Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Day Four was Rotterdam! 🇳🇱
We started off the day having breakfast in Ghent before heading to our next stop.
We chose this (instead of Amsterdam) as it was suggested to be quite a contrast to Ghent, and that it was. We visited ‘Mini World’, which was really cool, and it was actually very helpful when spotting interesting landmarks around Rotterdam afterwards. The lighting at Mini World was very impressive i. Particular. We also had a walk around the plaza.
The highlight was the food market hall – there was so much to see and try. We had our first traditional Stroopwafel, which was delicious, as well as trying some other yummy cusines too.
We then headed to the harbour to have a look at the views, finished off the evening by chilling in our hotel room after a few very busy days!
Last stop today!
Brussels, Belgium
Our last day was Brussels 🇧🇪
We never got to look around Brussels when we stayed the other day as it was just the closest place to ‘Pairi Daiza’.
So, here we are! Doing it properly this time (plus, you can get the Eurostar from Brussels so win, win)
We started off by getting a train to the other Brussels station, Centrale, which funnily enough was much more in the centre of Brussels than Midi. It was also a 6 minute walk from our first stop – The Choco Story Chocolate Museum 🍫 it had to be done.
It was really interesting and I very much enjoyed the samples along the way, as well as a chocolatier demonstrating how they make traditional Belgium Pralines which were first made in Brussels (we got to eat those too! Yum)
After that, we grabbed a quick lunch of Frites & Mayo 🍟 in the sunshine 🌞
In order to see as much of Brussels as we could in our short time there, we got tickets for a hop on, hop off tour bus of the city. (Although we just stayed on it for 2 hours to see the full tour) It was a beautiful blue sky, sunny day and we enjoyed our little tour of the city on the open top bus 🚌 we saw lots of cool sights, street art and the Headquarters of the EU 🇪🇺.
And just to round off the day before we headed to the Eurostar, we grabbed some final waffles 🧇 We tried a savoury ham and cheese one which was very nice and a triple chocolate drizzled one. Belgium chocolate really is delightful
16 trains later (for the whole trip), and we’re back home! All in all, it was a success! And a very fun, jam-packed 5 days – we’ve done many steps, seen many things, visited many new places, and consumed many waffles! Europe 2025, you were a blast!
(& living out of a backpack really isn’t that bad!)
So, I had an idea to document some more memories on my blog. I used to do a lot more of these sort of posts before I started posting more book/reading content, and when I had more time haha, life seems to be busy these days!
Here is my second quarterly memories update to capture 2025, we are halfway through the year!!
These are the second three months of the twelve of 2025!
Let’s take a look.
April
Easter fun! Me and my Nephews and Niece did some Easter craft, Easter baking and an Easter Egg hunt. On Easter Sunday, we swapped Easter eggs and had our traditional family Chinese takeaway at my sisters. We enjoyed lovely walks and bank holiday board game days, as well as meeting up with my friend Hannah for nrucu to meet her little one and a day in Felixstowe with my friend Charlotte.
I also handed in my notice to my job at the after-school club where I’ve worked since I was 19 😭
May
May was a fun one!
This month includes mine and my twin sisters birthday. We had a fun time meeting up for a late lunch, and going a bit of augmented darts before heading to mums to open some pressies. We also had a family chippy tea at mine the Saturday before.
I made our birthday cake and made one that I have always wanted to try… meet Agatha the Caterpillar Cake! I’m really happy with how she came out.
Me and my husband went away for the May Half Term to a lovely place in Norfolk. We’d visited before, and it’s great for a relaxing and chill long weekend. It was lovely.
We also went to a cool exhibit in our hometown for our fave football team, had a beach day and did some good workouts.
June
We had another beach day as we had my nephews for the day and the weathers been great.
We celebrated my Dad’s 71st Birthday together with a garden Chinese, we also celebrated Fathers day (double celebrations, greedy 🤣)
Other fun things this month include a ‘Hare trail’ coming to our hometown… these are always fun for the Summer. We did a parkrun (first time thos year!!) Me and my work friends celebrated our friends 40th birthday with a fun party and my nephew came round and cooked us breakfast 🥹
Me and my husband also celebrated our 9th Wedding Anniversary this month. I can’t believe it’s been 9 years.
We had a delicious meal at our favourite Italian in town to celebrate.
Train journeys are the perfect time to pick up your book.Coffees, walks & catch ups.Sunshine & sea.Takeaway Nandos 🙌🏼Lil ice cream at the cinema treat.My fave reading spot.Shorts in April? Who dis?Cinema with hubby 💗Breakfast with my nephews.Mediterranean brekky, delish.Colour hunt – I spy purple. Colour hunt – I spy yellow.Spring floral nails by moi.Colour hunt – I Spy orange.AC birthday tradition photo. Book one of the hols.Work ✌🏼 at least it’s sunny.The Sims ⭐️ Brunchin’ with a friend. Book 2 of the hols. 20° – whattttt!?
Week Two
Out for lunch with Mum.Breakfast crossaint 🤤Fun playing The Sims.With my favourite 3.Easter craft session with the kids. Easter Egg hunt time.& finally, chocolate Easter Nest making.Enjoying Good Friday on the Waterfront.Our yummy brunch sandwiches.Playing Catan at Geek Retreat.My Easter Egg.Yummy Easter desserts for a family lunch.Out for a lovely Easter Sunday afternoon walk.Me & Tim 💗Our traditional family Easter Chinese in the evening 😀
I hope you’ve enjoyed the long Easter weekend, if you celebrate it 🐇
So, I had an idea to document some more memories on my blog. I used to do a lot more of these sort of posts before I started posting more book/reading content, and when I had more time haha, life seems to be busy these days!
So I thought as we are a quarter of the way through the year, I could do a quarterly memories update to capture 2025.
This is part one, the first three months of the twelve of 2025!
Let’s take a look.
January
I’m not always a fan of January. It always seems such a miserable month after the festivities if Christmas, but this one wasn’t too bad! Me & my husband went to London together for the day, we saw ‘Harry Potter and The Cursed Child’ (again) and had a delicious dinner at a fancy Italian restaurant.
There was more footie with my nephew and lots of reading this month!! I love making my new reading lists and new book purchases for the new year. I also had two baby showers to celebrate, which was lovely! Not a bad start to the year, really!
February
In February, we had some fun sleepovers with my Nephew’s and Niece, me and my twin sister played the OG ‘The Sims’ game on its re release anniversary special, so amazing nostalgia there! I went to London to meet up with my Uni friend Kirsty and we watched ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ Musical… we also had dinner with another friend afterwards which was a great catch up (The show was really good).
Me and my Twin sister also saw a show, but in Norwich, we watched Giovanna Fletcher in ‘The Girl on the Train’. It was so cool to see Gi in a show and it was done really well on stage (I love the book!!) Speaking of books, Me and some friends from work started up a reading library in our staff room which has been going well and is nicely stocked now.
This month I also added some colourful accessories to our bathroom to finish it off, (we had it redone at the end of last year), and I have been meaning to add some colourful for a while! And we, of course, enjoyed a lovely Valentines evening together at our favourite Turkish restaurant.
In the February Half Term me and my husband went away for a long weekend. We stayed in Norfolk at a lovely inn and enjoyed a chilled weekend! The pub was lovely and cosy, the food was brilliant (breakfast included, always a winner with us!) And we had a little trip to Banham zoo, which I haven’t been to in years. We even had a Meerkat experience whilst we were there as they were only £15 each, bargain. It was a lovely relaxing weekend, much needed.
March
We had lots of fun in March, including the football and limited edition Ed Sheeran stickers!! My besties little boy had his first birthday party (under the sea themed), and our new sofas finally arrived!!
There was lots of yummy food, including a work meal at Prezzo, Wagas with my sister and our friend Dan, as well as our traditional Mothers Day homemade Afternoon Tea with my sisters and a Mothers Day lunch with Mum. I’ve also been ill a lot this month with coughs and colds, which is not ideal, so here’s to a healthier April.
Me and my twin sister met up with one of our oldest friends, as tradition on Christmas Eve (we’ve known each other since we were 3!!) Obviously, my nephews came too, so we all enjoyed a festive Costa.
I delivered Christmas Eve boxes to my niece and nephews! It is one of my favourite traditions. I love putting these together.
We went out in the evening for our traditional Christmas Eve Lights look out around our town. We all loved the festive Skeletons and this brilliant charity effort.
We got my nephews ready for bed and, more importantly, Santy Claus. We then enjoyed some picky bits (a Christmas Eve Camembert is a must!) We also played a new game. I got a little while ago ‘Scream The Game’, which was a fun little, fast-paced interactive game based on the film.
The we went home & I popped my stocking at the end of my bed and went to sleep.
I’m also a big fan of Christmas Eve as we have lots of fun traditions on that day that make us feel super festive.
I hope you’ve all had a lovely day and enjoyed yourself whatever you have been doing.
We’ve had a great time spending the day with family, that’s what it’s all about. And the Christmas dinner was fantastic.
Until next year, that’s me over and out for Blogmas 2024. I hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as I have.
Now that it is the school holidays and Christmas is just around the corner, it’s time to get in the Christmas mood. If you need a little festive ‘no-bake’ treat, then look no further.
This one’s perfect for a Christmas buffet table or an easy activity to keep the kids occupied.
Let’s take a look:
What do you need?
Milk chocolate – I prefer Cadburys but use your favourite.
White chocolate for the topping
Rice crispies
Christmas Sprinkles
An ice cream scoop
Small cupcake cases/greaseproof paper
How to make them:
Melt the milk chocolate (slow & steady)
Mix in the rice crispys until they are all coated.
Spoon into an ice cream scoop to create the dome shape.
Spoon into either cupcake cases or into greaseproof paper.
Leave to cool in the fridge.
Melt the white chocolate.
Once the chocolate has hardened, take them out of the fridge and drop the white chocolate onto the top of the milk chocolate rice crispy domes.
Let it drip down the sides to resemble the icing on a Christmas pudding.
Decorate the top with sprinkles to look like the holly on top.
Leave in the fridge so that the white chocolate hardens.
Enjoy!
These are super cute, really effective, and best of all, really easy!!! Oh, and REALLY delicious.
I’m here with another delicious recipe for you, and this one really is worth your attention. If you are looking for something to really wow your guests but is also super easy to make, then look no further – a Rocky Road Christmas Pudding centrepiece is what you need.
Ingredients:
Dark chocolate 200g
Milk chocolate 100g
White chocolate X1 bar (topping)
Unsalted butter 125g
Small pack of digestives
Mini marshmallows
Golden syrup
Festive sprinkles (topping)
[You can add cherries/Raisins etc but I didn’t on this occasion]
I don’t usually use a specific recipe as I have made Rocky Road how we like it, for many years haha and we like lots of dark chocolate and golden syrup and we don’t add Raisins/Cherries etc.
I crushed up my biscuits, leaving some dust, mostly medium-sized pieces. I then melted my butter and chocolates (dark and milk) and mixed this all together. I then added my golden syrup (measure with your heart) and marshmallows.
I used one of my bowls as my mould, lined with baking parchment that I scrunched up so that it is easy to use.
I packed it in, making sure the bottom was flat, and then I popped it into the fridge to cool.
Whilst it cooled I melted my white chocolate.
Once it was cooled, I carefully spooned the white chocolate on top, allowing it to cascade down the sides to create the icing effect. I then added my sprinkles as the holly (you could use a fake or real sprig if you have one)
Leave this to harden up again in the fridge and voila! You have a very delicious, choc-tastic, and very impressive looking treat for any Christmas table.
It looks so effective when you slice it with all the bits of biscuits and marshallow, adding to the ‘Christmas pudding’ effect.
I took this one to my husbands work Christmas Wreath Making workshop, and it was a hit!
This recipe actually previously won us his works ‘Great British Bake Off’ comp, so why not try our winning bake! Haha.
Let me know if you give this a go and what you think!
Roseanne Byford 