Category: food

Blogmas Day Twenty Four: Christmas Traditions âœ¨ď¸

Hi guys 👋🏼

Traditions are one of my favourite parts of Christmas and so I thought for my penultimate Blogmas post I would share some of ours.

December

  • Christmas Rock N Roll Panto, this is on every Christmas at our local Theatre. Me and Tim go every December.
  • Mince Pie taste testing, because how else will we know which ones are best?!? It’s a public service really.
  • Put up the Christmas decs, and LOTS of them. Nothing makes you feel more Christmassy!!

Christmas Eve

  • Christmas Eve boxes, for my Nephews and Niece. I make these throughout December and deliver them on Christmas eve for them to enjoy.
  • Making festive treats, usually for our Christmas day dessert. This uwat I made a Lindt Chocolate Cheesecake for Christmas Day and the Platinum Jubilee Lemon and Amaretto trifle for Boxing day (it was a hit in the summer!)
  • A Christmas Byron. Me, my twin sister and our friend Demi go out for lunch or dinner together at Byron. No idea how this started but we’ve done it for at least 5/6 years now.
  • Watching ‘The Snowman’. I always watched this on Christmas eve as a kid so I carry it on now! I usually watch it before I go to bed.
  • Going to look at the Christmas lights. We drive around our local town and have a look at all of the awesome lights people have put up on their houses. This is one of my favourite traditions.

Christmas Day

  • Opening up our stockings first thing. I still have the same sack that I had as a child and I love having that to open first thing, good old Santa 🎅🏻
  • Going to Mum and Dads in the morning. It would be so weird not to!! I’ve only ever either woken up there (literally the same house) or gone there first thing on Christmas morning, my whole life
  • Christmas lunch. THE. BEST. MEAL. OF. THE YEAR. My father in law makes an amazing roast each year too do I can’t wait.
  • Christmas games, one of my absolute favourite parts of Christmas. Having fun together- it doesn’t get better than that. I very luckily married into a family that probably loves games even more than my family do – winner!
Photos from Christmas 2021

Other:

  • A Christmas walk. When we do our Christmas with Tim’s Mum we always go for a lovely wintery walk somewhere. It’s so nice and we always discover so many hidden gems near us that we would probably never visit.

What are your Christmas traditions?

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

IT’S CHRISTMAS DAY TOMORROW!!

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Blogmas Day Twenty One: Christmas Hampers đŸŽ

Hi guys 👋🏼

So another nice little DIY Christmas gift I like to out together are Christmas hampers.

Now of course you can theme them however you like, depending on who they are for, but the ones that I usually do are foodie hampers.

Lets have a look!

I like to go for a good mix of different things:

  • Typical seasonal items such as Pannetone, Christmas pudding, mince pies etc
  • New Christmas/festive themed bits that are out that particular year, such as new flavours of crisps, nuts, different cakes.
  • Specific things that you know they like eg a chocolate orange, certain chocolate, fave sweets etc

And I usually do a mixture of both sweet and savoury.

I start picking up bits for these in late November, early December so that when I visit different shops you get a good variety and choice, and you often find different bits depending on where you go.

Most of the stuff that I pick up for these hampers is the sort of thing that has a long life but I am always sure to check as sometimes I get carried away and then remember I need to be careful or the things will be out of date before they’ve received it 😅

I think these hampers make such a nice little gift, with lots of little suprised and interesting bits to look through and taste.

They are one of my favourite bits to out together! I often find it hard to stop once I start buying the bits for them as there are alot of delicious treats out there.

Have you made Hampers before? What sort of hampers do you like?

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

4 days to go!

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Blogmas Day Seventeen: The ultimate hot chocolate đŸŤ

Hi guys 👋🏼

At Christmas time one of my favourite drinks to have is hot chocolate. Me ans my twin sister were visiting London this weekend so we thought we would try out the ultimate hot chocolate that London has to offer.

The cafe is called ‘Italian Bear Chocolate’ and they are a chocolate lovers heaven.

You cam choose your flavour of hot chocolate from milk, white or dark. We both went for milk chocolate. We also both went for a small (which was more than enough!!) As we wanted to try the chocolate cake.

We added ‘triple chocolate’ to both our hot chocolate and the cake, which is the drizzle you can see cascading down the side of the mug and the cake.

It was so rich, thick and decadent. It starts off like normal hot chocolate but definitely gets thicker as you get to the end. The triple chocolate drizzle is amazing too. You can taste to good quality of each type of chocolate.

This is the cake that we got to share. This was decadence with a capital D. We had to take at least half home with us. The chocolate ganache and fudgey filling were amazing.

It was so good.

What’s your favourite festive beverage?

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

8 days until Christmas

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Blogmas Day Thirteen: Festive Food đŸ´đŸŽ…đŸť

Hi guys 👋🏼

Food is one of my favourite things – I love trying new things.

Some of the best food is ‘festive food’ that surrounds the season… so let’s take a look at a few of my favourites in general (and so far, this year!)

Festive hot chocolate

My favourite way to make a hot chocolate is in my Hotel Chocolat Velvetiser. I use the Mint Hot Chocolate Sachets, topping it off with chocolate whipped cream (that I found in Asda) and Christmas sprinkles.

Mince Pies

Mince pies are one of my all time favourite festive treats. I am taste testing lots of different ones (for the good of the people of course) Sainburys have come out on top so far but I am yet to have one of my favourite COOP locally sourced ones so the jury is still out.

Crisps

You can get lots of delicious flavoured crisps at this time of year and these sounded insane – I cannot wait to try these.

Cheese

Cheese is always a winner in my eyes, but a cheeseboard or cheese and crackers just hits different at Christmas. I am also very partial to a camembert.

Party food

I always get very excited to see what ‘party’ goodies are available each year. I love all the mini versions of something of your favourite foods. We are very partial to the cheese options that are usually available – (popcorn Halloumi in the photo above) Mozzerella sticks etc. I also love the crispy/tempura prawn options.

Roasts

I try not to have too many roasts close to Christmas so that I am ready to fully enjoy the main event, but throughout late November and early December, when the supermarkets start stocking all the pigs in blankets and stuffing etc, I really start to fancy a roast. I picked up some bits so that we can have one later roast.

Christmas Dinner is a my absolute all time favourite meal so I am buzzing for it.

What is your favourite festive food item?

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

12 days until Christmas

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Blogmas Day Two: Advent Calendars 📅 đŸŽ„

Hi guys! 👋🏼

Blogmas Day Two is here, December is under way! So let’s talk Advent Calendars.

Mines varies from year to year and I am a bit partial to a regular chocolate calendar – that scrunchy metal sound as you pop through the foil to get to the chocolatey goodness is just nostalgic happiness.

As a younger child I did also have a Material Santa Advent Calendar with pockets that my Mum would fill and those kinds are super cute too and perfect for picking exactly what you want in it.

Last year I picked up my own Material Advent Calendar… and its not just any Calendar, no! It’s a Harry Potter one – Amazing.

Epic!

I love the little Hogwarts Letter Pouches with Hedwig at the top, it’s like he is delivering me a little festive treat everyday!

My husband very kindly bought me some Dairy Milk (the elite chocolate) Heroes (the elite tubs of chocolate) to go inside it, so it was nice to come home to see it filled with treats.

And now we have 25 days of waking up and eating chocolate firsr things- what a dream!

What Advent Calendar do you have?

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

23 Days Until Christmas!

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Italy 2022 🇮🇹 Visiting Venice.

Hi guys 👋🏼

Italy is our favourite country to visit and out of all of the places in Italy that we have been, Venice is my favourite.

If I could recommend one place for people to go – it would be Venice. It’s beautiful and so unique.

Shall we take a look at what we got up to!?

Day One

22.07.22

Being up for over 24 hours wasn’t the most fun 🙃 but it was worth it to really make the most of the first of our four/five day trip.

We arrived in Venice at about 10/10.30am and I was honestly in a bit of shock, my eyes genuinely couldn’t believe that I was actually there again.

Last time we visited Venice was for our first wedding anniversary!! in 2016.

And of course, a lot has happened since, including a two year long global pandemic (who the hell would have ever guessed that would be around the corner) so consequently we hadn’t been on a plane since 2019 when we visited Rome (another MUST SEE city for its Italian awesomeness, food and history.)

My brain couldn’t comprehend that we were actually there, in the beautiful city of Venice – Honestly, at the real height of the pandemic I really did have those thoughts of ‘What if this is it? What if we can never leave this country again? Was our last holiday our LAST holiday for the foreseeable future?’

It really was a crazy time wasn’t it!!?

So to actually be back on Italian soil, in my most favourite country was so special and I am so very grateful that we got to visit it again.

We wandered around before checking into our lovely hotel (we always stay at the same one) and freshened up. We basically did lots of exploring and wandering around (to find pizza).

https://www.hotelcanalgrande.it/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=GoogleMyBusiness

Day Two

23.07.22

On our second day in Venice we did a walking food tour. We have done one of these before so, being seasoned visitors to Venice, this time my Husband created his own walking food tour (with the assistance of Trip Advisor).

It was really fun and nice to try out some different spots. We visited the most amazing Gelato shop. The flavours were insane. Our particular favourites included the ‘Opera’ which was hazelnut and chocolate, the Strawberry Cheesecake and the Pistachio and Amaretto Cherry.

We visited our favourite place for dinner ‘Al Bari’ which is situated just behind our hotel. I have SO missed the food here. It was amazing.

Absolutely INSANE 😍

Day Three

24.07.22

Having wandered around many times over the last few days we discovered that Venice has a Natural History Museum which we hadn’t visited before.

With the addition of a English Speaking Audio Guide we really enjoyed all of the different exhibits. It was cool to find something we hadn’t done before.

We decided to get some food from some of the little eateries that we had passed on our walk, on day one, on the opposite side of the canal to our hotel. There were lots of yummy things to try and it was cool to have a bit more of a look that side of the canal.

In the evening we played some games and went on a nice little stroll around the canals, it was fun to just wander and see what we would find around the corner. I then did my usual early evening routine of sitting outside the hotel, right on the Grand Canal and reading my book as the sun set. Heaven.

Day Four

25.07.22

Our final full day saw us take a lite adventure down the canal to one of the furthest points, St Marks Square! (Via Rialto) so that we could enjoy the amazing view from the bridge properly.

It was cool to go to St Marks again, we enjoyed a nice stroll around the whole square, in the hot sunshine.

The weather has been amazing.

Day Five

26.07.22

This was our final ‘day’. We had our flight to catch at around 2pm so we only really had until midday to spend in Venice.

We decided to head to Academia Bridge as we hadn’t been for a while, maybe even missing it out on our previous trip a few years back.

As we wandered around we discovered a little ferry that will take you across the canal, which is cool. So we have managed a ‘Gondola’ ride every time we have been now 🤣 I mean, it was a less fancy one and was definitely less than 5 minutes but, we’ll count it haha.

We had a great time in Venice, and as I said it is my most favourite place to be. A great start to the summer of 2022 ☀️

Have you been to Venice? Where is your favourite holiday destination?

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

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The Platinum Jubilee đŸ‡ŹđŸ‡§đŸ‘‘

Happy Platty Joobs day everyone! I hope you are having fun celebrating this special occasion in British History!

Friday 3rd June 2022

(& if you aren’t – I hope you are having a great Friday anyways)

I love the Queen so I thought it would be fun to have a little afternoon party to celebrate on the Official Platinum Jubilee day.

So, I organised an Afternoon Tea Garden party at my parents house, for all our immediate fambizzle to attend.

And it was great fun!

There was lots of decorations!

There was lots of food!

I even made the Official Platinum Jubilee dessert – Lemon & Amaretto Trifle. Pretty chuffed with how it turned out to be honest!! & we had a laugh ceremoniously bringing it to the table with the National Anthem haha 🤣

And lots of fun! Hanging out, enjoying the treats, listening to music and making crafts and playing games with the kids.

🇬🇧 Until Next Time,

Roseanne 👑

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Biscoff Chocolate Crispy Bars đŸŤ

Hi guys 👋🏻

So, here is another blog post, and this time I thought I would do a lil baking- it’s been too long.

These no bake Biscoff bars and super easy, super quick and partly inspired by loads of random videos that I have seen on Tik Tok… so there is no real ‘recipe’ as such.

Here is what you’ll need:

•Rice Crispies

•Smooth Biscoff/Biscuit spread

•Dark Chocolate

Recipe:

1. Slowly melt the biscoff spread jn a bowl, in the microwave – this took about 45 seconds.

2. Mix in the Rice Crispies until they are fully covered and start to combine.

3. Push the mixture into a tin and make sure it is all compact.

4. Freeze for at least 30/45 minutes.

5. Slowly melt your dark chocolate. I do this in the microwave at 30 second increments.

4. Allow the chocolate to cool.

5. Take the crispy block out of the freezer and slice into finger sized pieces. Be quick or it will warm up too much. Place back in the freezer whilst you prep the chocolate.

6. Carefully pour/spoon the chocolate over the crispy fingers.

7. Place on some non stick baking parchment to cool.

8. Bon apeiti!

These were a big hit with my husband, he really enjoyed them.

Mine don’t look the best, but they taste great!

Great for any chocoholics out there!!!

Let me know if you give them a go! Happy Baking.

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

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Blogmas Day Twenty Four: Christmas Eve Fun!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE GUYS!!

Santa’s coming tonight 🎅🏻

OMG SANTA! I KNOW HIM. (If you know you know)

Anyway, here is our Christmas eve fun/day of madness 🤣

Christmas Eve Boxes 🎅🏻 & Presents with my Niece & Nephews

Christmas Craft – after the present opening they did some colouring, and then later on in the afternoon me and the boys made our own Snowmen and watched ‘Elf’

My favourite tradition of all is going for a drive to look at the Christmas lights around town.

And then we of course headed home for some yummy food, games and of course ‘The Grinch’

And now my stocking is out and ready for the big man, Santa C to come 😁

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE EVERYONE!

How have you spent it?

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

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Blogmas Day Twenty Three: Baking Christmas Cookies đŸŞđŸŽ…đŸť

2 days to go!

I love a bit of festive baking – and its super fun when you get the kiddies involved. Me and my Nephews made some festive chocolate chip cookies – heres how it went.

What do you need:

  • Cadbury cookie pack
  • Oil
  • Milk
  • Baking tray
  • Baking parchment
  • Mixing bowl
  • Spoon
  • Festive sprinkles
  • Icing sugar

What do you need to do:

  1. Follow the box instructions – pre heat the oven accordingly.
  2. Empty the packet mix into a bowl and combine with the oil and milk.
  3. Roll out into 10 equal balls and place evenly on the tray.
  4. Press down a little.
  5. Bake.
  6. Add Sprinkles on top with a little icing so that they stick (or you could bake them with the sprinkles on top but they do melt a little)
  7. Enjoy!

Who doesn’t love a bit of festibe baking!?

What is your favourite festive bake?

Until Next Time,

Roseanne 🙂

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