Holiblog: Northern Italy Edition ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น

Hey guys ๐Ÿ‘‹๐Ÿป


This Feb Half Term, we embarked on our latest Italian adventure, this time in Northern Italy. This trip was sort of inspired by our 2020 Italy trip that never was (thanks, Covid!)

We changed the plans a little from the original idea, as we only had a week half term instead of the Summer Hols, but we knew we wanted to travel around more of Northern Italy. I found some cheap flights to and from Verona, and we went from there.

Let’s see what we got up to!

Day 1 – Travelling to Italy

Sat 17th – Today was mainly spent travelling to Italy. It was pretty uneventful (and actually an ok flight, and that’s coming from someone who isn’t very fond of flying)

We arrived in Verona at 7 pm and after a short bus ride and a check-in at our hotel we went in search of food.

The little Pizzeria (Rio’s) that we found nearest to our hotel did not disappoint. It was one of the best pizzas I’ve ever had in Italy.

Day 2 – Verona

Sun 18th – Today, we spent the day in Verona, exploring the town.

We did lots of walking.

We had a short tour of the Verona Arena, which was really cool!

It’s the best preserved Arena in Italy! 

The Arena was probably my favourite ‘sight’ of the trip.

In the early evening, we travelled to Lake Garda, the next destination of our trip.

Day 3 – Lake Garda

Mon 19th – Today, was we visited Salo in Lake Garda.

It is home to the longest promenade in Italy.

& it is very beautiful.

They also do a bangin’ sandwich. This was an insanely good lunch. That bread ๐Ÿคค

We had a lovely time walking up and down the promenade as well as looking through the city streets.

We rounded off the day with a delicious dinner, Caprese, Rosemary Foccacia, Risotto, and Tiramsu – so good.

Day 4 – Lake Garda

Tues 20th – We started off Day 4 with another yummy breakfast at our lovely B&B  before we headed off to get our bus tickets for the day.

We didn’t realise a market was on, and it was quite extensive. There were some amazing food stalls, including fruit, veg, soooo much cheese and meats.

We decided to pick up some bits and create our own lunch. We chose a delicious fresh tomato, a fresh ball of Mozzarella, a fresh Foccacia, and some amazing strawberries. Delicious.

These made a yummy picnic.

In the afternoon, we headed off to explore another part of Lake Garda – Sirmione.

They are known for their delicious gelato, so we had some in the sunshine when we arrived!

We then had a walk through the castle and town on our way to the ruins of a Roman villa. There was a museum and the ruins itself so that was really interesting to see.

The ruins were so vast.

Once again, the weather was amazing.

We went back to freshen up before having a delicious dinner and a chilled evening in our room.

Day 5 – Milan

Wed 21st – Today we travelled to Milan! We were sad to leave our lovely accommodation in Garda.

Milan Centrale Station is massive! It gives Grand Central Station NYC Vibes for sure.

We spent the day doing LOTS of walking around Milan, seeing the city on foot, there is some cool architecture and graffiti. We picked up some more delicious ice cream, and we went to the Leonardo Di Vinic museum to round off the day.

We had these incredible crepes for dessert from those amazing Gelatoria that we discovered first in Verona.

Day 6 – Milan/Verona

Thurs 22nd – Today, we travelled back to our starting point, Verona, for our final leg of the trip!

Once we made it back Verona (after a 40 min delay at Milan) we freshened up and spent some time just chilling/reading in our hotel room.

It rained in the evening, so we just ventured out nearby to get some food. We didn’t stay out for long before heading back and watching a film in bed.

Day 7 – Verona

Fri 23rd – Today was the only day it rained pretty much all day. We had been so lucky with the weather so far. Typically, we had our Verona Walking Tour.

We didn’t let the rain dampen our spirits and we both thoroughly enjoyed the tour of the city. It was so interesting and Verona is such a beautiful place.

Booking a tour is well worth it!

We grabbed a spot of lunch from a place near the end of the tour, as recommended by our tour guide. The fresh pasta was delicious, and the tiramisu was insannnne.

We were very glad to have such a lovely shower in our hotel room because we were freeeeeezing ๐Ÿฅถ after walking back in the rain. 

And of course, we had another delicious dinner to round off the day!

Day 8 – Verona

Sat 24th – Today was our last full day ๐Ÿฅฒ

The weather was beautiful, which was great for our final day. We headed over to a cafe that we heard was really nice. We had yet another delicious coffee and pastry.

We spent the rest of the morning/early afternoon looking around the castles museum – it was really interesting with our audio guide, and at the top, you get soke beautiful views of Verona.

After all that exploring and walking around, we enjoyed a lazy afternoon in the hotel.

In the evening…

WE WENT TO VENICE!!! My favourite ๐Ÿ˜

It was beautiful as always โค๏ธ

We had a delicious pasta dinner when we arrived…

… before heading to our favourite gelatoria!! ๐Ÿจ Su So is incredible. We had to squeeze some in for dessert.

It was buzzing in Venice as it was the Venice Carnival that weekend.

Venice is truly unique.

I love sitting by the Grand Canal. It’s so peaceful.

๐Ÿ’—

Day 9 – Home time

Sun 25th – Today, it was time to go home!

We enjoyed a nice walk into the city centre of Verona to find a nice cafe for breakfast again. We really enjoyed doing this the day before.

We had a final delicious coffee, pastry (and Lasagne for Tim ๐Ÿคฃ)

We then had a walk around a bit more, including the arena before heading back to make our way to the airport.



We had such a brilliant trip and it was great to see so many new parts of our favourite country.

Until Next Time,

Roseanne ๐Ÿ™‚

Blogmas 2023 Day Twenty Four: Christmas Eve ๐ŸŽ…๐Ÿป

Hi guys ๐Ÿ‘‹๐Ÿป

Christmas eve is here!

The penultimate blog post of this year’s Blogmas!

Here’s what we got up to this Christmas Eve…

I finished off our Christmas Day dessert with a dark chocolate glaze and some festive sprinkles!
Me and my sister watched ‘It’s a wonderful life’ at the cinema
One of my favourite traditions -In the evening, we drove around our local area and looked at the Christmas lights. We found loads of awesome ones.
We had a delicious picky dinner of a baked camembert with tiger bread ๐Ÿ˜ whilst we watched the ‘Miranda Christmas Special’ on TV.

All that’s left to do when I get home is to put out my stocking and tuck into bed with my Christmas pyjamas!

Happy Christmas Eve ๐ŸŽ…๐Ÿป

Until Next Time,

Roseanne ๐Ÿ™‚

Blogmas 2023 Day Twenty Three: What’s on my Christmas table? ๐ŸŽ„

Hi guys ๐Ÿ‘‹๐Ÿป

So we all have a Christmas table, right?!?!

That table in your kitchen or lounge that slowly gets filled with delicious Christmas nibbles throughout December, all ready to enjoy in and around the festive period.

It’s nice to have some festive nibbles around for any wrapping sessions, festive film nights, or if you have any guests pop over.

We have a nice mixture of sweet & savoury going on.


Let’s take a look at ours…

This is a new addition but we liked the look of this as I love chocolate and my husband loves sweets.
These are my favourite mince pies from the COOP.
Pringles are a must. These are mine and my husbands favourite flavours (Mine on the left, his on the right)
Heroes! The best of all the festive chocolate tins.
A tin of shortbread is a Christmas must have.
My Nana always had these at her house on Christmas day so I had to pick some up when I saw them.
A selection of festive chocs! Lindt originals alway look so festive.

It is mainly sweet goodies to be fair, haha, but we have savoury crisps and plenty of party food and cheese and biscuits to counteract the sweetness.

I also have keep my festive headbands/glasses/hats etc on here incase I need them or any guests need to be made more festive ๐Ÿคฃ

What are your favourite festive nibbles?

Until Next Time,

Roseanne ๐Ÿ™‚

Blogmas 2023 Day Twenty Two: Easy Christmas treats to make with kids ๐Ÿซ

Hi guys ๐Ÿ‘‹๐Ÿป

Now that the Christmas holidays are in full swing and the kids are at home, I thought I would share with you a few fun, easy, and relatively quick recipes for little festive treats.

These ideas are so cute. I’ve either made them with my Nephews or made them with the children at work. Either way, they are lots of fun and great for keeping the kids occupied.

I’ve included links to help you with how to make them.


1. Chocolate Reindeer

Chocolate Reindeer Rolls Recipe

2. Rice Crispy Christmas Puddings

I have previously posted during Blogmas about this recipe.

Here’s the link to that days post:

Blogmas 2023 Day Three – Festibe Baking Blogmas 2023 Rice Crispy Christmas Puddings

& Rice Crispy Christmas Puds Recipe

These are my favourite of all the recipes!!

3. Hot Chocolate Snowman Jars

Hot Chocolate Snowman Jars Recipe

These are fun but would also make a great homemade gift.

4. Easy, Festive Cupcakes

Easy Vanilla Cupcake Recipe

Use whatever festive coloured icing/sprinkles that you wish to decorate them with.


3 days until Christmas!! Only 3!!!

Until Next Time,

Roseanne ๐Ÿ™‚

Blogmas 2023 Day Sixteen: Work Xmas Meal #2 ๐ŸŽ„

Hi guys ๐Ÿ‘‹๐Ÿป

Last night, I had my second work Christmas meal.

This time we went to Ask Italian.

I chose from the three course festivo menu.

I started with an Espresso Martini ๐Ÿธ

Here’s what I went for…


Festive Sage meatballs. These were really tasty, soft, and delicious in the tomato sauce.

Festive Carbonara with Crispy Pancetta & Brussel Sprouts (Sounds weird, was amazing and a delicious way to serve sprouts!!)

Orange Panattone pudding with Ice cream ๐ŸŠ This was a really yummy mix between a sponge pudding and a Panattone. My only improvement would be that it needed more ice cream as it was quite a big pudding.


It was all really delicious. I particularly enjoyed the Carbonara.


We had a lovely time & it was good to have a chat not at work!

Have you had your work christmas meal yet?

Until Next Time,

Roseanne ๐Ÿ™‚

Blogmas 2023 Day Twelve: Bring a Board Night ๐Ÿดโœจ๏ธ๐ŸŽ…๐Ÿป

Hi guys ๐Ÿ‘‹๐Ÿป

At the beginning of December me and a few of our friends got together for a little festive celebration, a ‘Friendmas’ celebration if you will.

It was great to be able to all get together as its often hard at the best of times, let alone at Christmas.

I suggested a fun little ‘Bring a Board’ night where everyone brings a themed board of food

We had a variety of sweet and savoury food.

I did two boards, a savoury festive crisp board and a sweet, hot chocolate station board.

Here are my boards:

My Crisps board.
My Hot chocolate board with my velvetiser.
My Hot chocolate board.

It was a fun night. We caught up, listened to some Christmas songs, and played some fun games.


Have you done a ‘board night’ before?

What do you and your friends do to celeb together?

Roseanne ๐Ÿ™‚

Until Next Time,

Blogmas 2023 Day Ten: Work Christmas Meal ๐Ÿธ

Hi guys ๐Ÿ‘‹๐Ÿป

So a few days ago I had the first of my work Christmas meals.

This year was so great because it is the first year that we’ve been able to have a proper one since before COVID!!

So many people came and it was such a lovely and festive atmosphere, like the old times.

We went to a local pub which was so quaint and cosy.

I got myself a (or maybe a couple) of Claus-mopolitans (they saw me coming) which were delicious.

For my main, I ordered the festive burger – an unusual choice for me but delicious none the less. It had pigs in blankets on top and inside to make it extra festive was brie, and cranberry sauce. Brie on anything makes it better. It also came with some really yummy chips.

I was defeated by it though…

For dessert, I had the chocolate brownie with ice cream. The brownie was really chocolatey and had nice big chunks of chocolate in, but it would have been warm – that would have made it top tier.

The ice cream was amazing. It was honeycomb flavoured and had bits of crunchy honeycomb in it, which was delicious. There were also pieces of chocolate covered honeycomb and chocolate sauce on the plate, which were amazing.


It was so lovely to all get together, dress up, catch up and have a laugh together.

15 days until Christmas!

Until Next Time,

Roseanne ๐Ÿ™‚

Blogmas 2023 Day Four: Advent Calendars ๐Ÿ“…

Hi guys ๐Ÿ‘‹๐Ÿป

Welcome to Day Four of Blogmas!

And today I am going to show you which Advent Calendars I have this year. I’ve got a nice variety with a last minute addition.

Let’s take a look!


Up first, my chocolate advent calendar…

I got out my Harry Potter pocket advent calendar, this one you fill yourself.

I got me and my husband chocolate coins for each day.

It has 24 pockets, so I’ve put extra in for the 25th as I like yo have one for Christmas morning too.


Next up, I have my beautiful Pop up Harry Potter advent calendar. I bought this either last year or two years ago (I can’t remember)

It is so cool – and it’s great that you can refuse it!

I love the little decorations you get each day, to hang on the tree!


My final advent calendar is a F.R.I.E.N.D.S themed one. This was an unexpected one, but I couldn’t resist it. A bonus was that it was in a sale at my local bookshop, so it was a bargain.

This one comes with cool little F.R.I.E.N.D.S themed goodies such as decorations, bookmarks, puzzles (& I’m not sure what else yet!)


It’s fun to have a few different ones to open each morning!

What sort of advent calendar do you have?

Until Next Time,

Roseanne ๐Ÿ™‚

Blogmas Day Twenty Four: Christmas Traditions โœจ๏ธ

Hi guys ๐Ÿ‘‹๐Ÿผ

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 ๐ŸŽ…๐Ÿป
  • 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!

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 ๐Ÿ™‚

IT’S CHRISTMAS DAY TOMORROW!!

Blogmas Day Twenty One: Christmas Hampers ๐ŸŽ

Hi guys ๐Ÿ‘‹๐Ÿผ

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 ๐Ÿ˜…


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 ๐Ÿ™‚

4 days to go!