Christmas Pressies

I thought I would share with you all how very lucky I was this Christmas time and let you have a look see at some of the presents that were at the bottom of my stocking this year. 

Firstly some of my presents from Leigh:

He got me this beautifully shiny new hairdryer:

A few years ago Leigh bought me a necklace with a 'C' attached which I sadly lost so because he is a sweetheart he got me a new one this time with added locket, which opens out four times. Isn't it pretty?

At work I have a secret emergency food drawer so Leigh got me this handy little tin to keep the secret creme eggs in:

I also got this adorable home made stamp so I can stamp all of my creations:

And from others: 

I was very lucky this year from my parents. They got me a brand new Samsung camera. After my old one died earlier this year from Glastonbury related injuries I have been quite at a loss but lucky that is all over now as I have a shiny new one - it's 14.2 megapixel, touch screen, and has wifi so I can upload all my lovely pictures straight away if I want. It's just yummy:

My mother also cross stiched me this adorable picture. Everyone says that I look like one of girls from the gorjuss range, so I have slowly been building up a collection of things and now I have this picture which I love:

Leigh's mother knitted me these lovely hand-warmers. I haven't had anything knitted for me in years and the are very cozy:

 His parents also bought me Katy Perry's new perfume, Killer Queen. I don't normally own celebrity perfumes but I tried it in the shops a month or so ago and really like it so it went on my Christmas list. The desciption given is one of dark berries and lush plum that blend into an opulent floral heart. Just lovely:

I also received the Salted Caramel Yankee Candle which I mentioned here. It just smells divine and it's the first thing you can smell when you walk in to the house now:

  My lovely aunt and uncle got me this adorable lunchbox which I will be putting all my healthy food in for new year's diet:

One of my brothers and his girlfriend got me these two plates that I had asked for, the design on them is delightful with lots of little animals and one colourful rabbit:

 

My other brother got me this pretty canvas which will go perfectly in my bedroom:

And last but by no means least my Grandparents got both Leigh and I a pressure cooker which makes me very happy as kitchen accessories always do:

And those are most of the gifts I got this year, I have been very lucky indeed to have such a wonderful Christmas, not only with the presents my family have been lovely enough to give me but also the time I have had which can be found in my earlier post.

I hope you also all had a perfect Christmas.

xxx

Disclaimer: I am in no way writing this post to show off or gloat but instead to thank everyone for their lovely gifts.

Happy Christmas!

As you may have guessed I love Christmas. 

Every year Leigh and I alternate spending time with my family and Leigh's and this year it was my turn for Christmas Day and Leigh's for Boxing Day. I am pleased about this because my brother is moving to Australia in January and we don't know how long he will stay so it was nice to have all the family together.

It's so special spending time with family and although it's hectic it's so much fun. I'm so sad its over for another year  because I really do wish it could be Christmas everyday!

I hope you all had a very lovely Christmas :)

xxx

Market at Christmas

With only 3 days to Christmas what better way of celebrating the Christmas spirit than with a trip down to the wonderfully festive London Borough Market. 

At this time of year there are so many festive stalls and things to try. When you first walk through the gates the smells of cheese, meat, flowers and mulled wine float aromatically around you and it feels safe and warm inside although the warmth is probably from the hundreds of people that were crammed in which I suppose is only to be expected so close to Christmas!

There were so many lovely things to see:

Pretty flowers, including some lovely Christmas berries

Tons of vegetables are to be found in numerous vegetable stalls

The smell of oranges always makes me feel Christmassy

And then there's the glorious spice stalls with the different exotic smells

And all the mushrooms which are a favourite vegetable of mine although Leigh is not a fan.

There are lots of tasty saucisson's to be tried, that range from the standard to Duck and Pistachio.

And of course the most exciting bit about the whole trip was the amount of cheese that I got to eat. You just need to ask and they will let you try little bits of cheese. We tried all sorts including a 36 month matured cheese which was full of flavour.

We bought several cheeses and once home arranged them on our lovely slate cheeseboard

But back to the market...


There are lots of places to get something warm to drink

And you can finish off the day with a piece of cake or chocolate on the side...

It was lovely to spend a few hours soaking up the atmosphere and if you want to feel festive and eat a lot of cheese I would definitely recommend it.

xxx

Camembert Cranberry Puffs - Recipe

Time to get your santa hats on because it's going to get a bit festive in the kitchen. 

I made these little bites of scrumminess for the Christmas meal I went to recently and they went far too quickly. I was very glad I doubled up!

So you will need (this is the double up version and makes about 50):

Ingredients

For the chutney

1tsp olive oil

1 small red onion

1tbsp balsamic vinegar

3tbsp red wine

5tbsp sugar 
100g (3½oz) cranberries

For the puffs

1 egg

250g (8oz) puff pastry

125g (4oz) Camembert, sliced and cut into 16 squares

Method to the madness

Preheat oven to 200°C, fan180ºC, Gas 6  and line a baking tray with baking parchment and grease. Heat the olive oil and gently cook the red onion until softened. Add balsamic vinegar, red wine, sugar, cranberries and cook till jammy - about 10 mins.

 It looked so twinkly when it was heated!

Roll out the puff pastry on a lightly floured surface and either use a little star cookie cutter like I did or just cut into squares about 2.5cm. Brush with egg and then bake these for about 10 minutes until golden and risen.

Whilst those are in the oven cut Camembert into 50 little pieces and then taking the puffs out of the oven top each square with a small slice of Camembert and a spoonful of chutney. 

Return these to the oven for about 2 mins or until the cheese melts.

Try not to burn your mouth as you pop them in your mouth. Oh and try and save some for others. Or not.

Happy Eating :)

xxx