A Year in Cooking

Its been a good year for cooking so I thought I would do a easy to navigate review post. I really love cooking and I hope that I can inspire you to make a few bits and pieces. Hopefully I should be trying out even more recipes next year so look out for those!

January

Salted Caramel Cheesecake

February

Chicken Soup

March

Lemon and Poppy Seed Cake

April

Lime and Coconut Ice-cream

May

Pink raspberry cake

June

Honey and Pistachio Cakes 

July

Granny's Pie

August

Chocolate, Cherry, Honeycomb Parfait 

September

Apricot and Ginger Chutney

October

Carrot Cake

November

Cranberry Mincemeat

December

Mini Christmas Cakes

 I hope this inspires you to try some of the recipes :)

C x

Resolving to....

My theme for resolution this year is little is more. Every year I set myself these big unachievable goals to complete for the year and every year I fail.

So instead I have doing 6month resolutions – this will give me time to achieve something that might be more manageable and then in June I can look at what I have done, why I haven’t done something, and what I still need to do. Doing it this way I hope to accomplish some of them!

So let’s get started...it’s the big three first:

1.  Lose weight ~ this goes on my list every year and every year I last a couple of months and then get bored. I know that I need to lose around 2 stone (plus those 4 pounds I put on over Christmas), so with that in mind for my 6 month resolution I am going to try and hit the target of 1 stone 4lbs (8.1kg). I think this is very manageable as the first stone always goes tends to go quickly. I might review this at 3 months if it’s going really well but let’s not be too hasty.

2. Save Money ~ another one that makes the list often but I’m a nightmare for keeping up with. So this year I’m going to stop being unrealistic . I’m going to notice that £100 a month going out of my account and I’m going to spend it when I run out of money so instead I’m going to put £30 a month in, which will give me £180 over the 6 months. It doesn’t sound a lot but I think it’s better to start small and then review at the 6 month mark.

3. Exercise ~ I hate it. I really do not like it at all. I get all sweaty and red faced and out of breath. But this really isn’t an excuse. A couple of years ago I actually managed to stick to this resolution. I was going to the gym 3 times a week and it wasn’t killing me but then I badly sprained my ankle and had to stop and now I can’t get back into it again. 2014 will be the year though! Listen to my optimism! Once a week. That is the goal I am setting myself. Or better yet – 1 hour. I have to complete 1 hours exercise a week minimum. There is no reason I shouldn’t be able to do this. And I have to do it properly so I get all sweaty and red faced and out of breath.

4. Driving ~ I can’t drive which is fine because for the last 5 years I have lived in cities and had no need for it. However I am approaching my 30’s (admittedly this is still 4 years away) but I feel like it might be a bit embarrassing to admit that I can’t drive when I’m 30 so my 6 month goal is to learn the theory behind it and look at booking a theory test. I started to learn to drive 5 years ago but stopped when I moved to Cardiff so I know my way around a car  a little  bit so I’m hoping I won’t need many lessons but first I need to get the theory done so I  am motivated to do the lessons.

Those are the main four however there are a couple of little ones below:

5. Focus on my course more

6. Do at least one blog post a week on here

7. Look at learning how to use photshop

8. Learn the words to Auld Lang Syne in preparation for 2015

9. Get out and see more of London – something I am likely to achieve for I have this new column with Miss Mint – details to follow soon.

10. Be organised, focused and happy

xxx

A Year in Review 2013

It is that time of year again where I do my yearly review. These can get a little bit cheesy so I'm going to try and keep it short.

To be honest that shouldn't be too hard because my year has been brilliant. There haven't been any lows at all, only highs and I am so lucky that once again I have had a year filled with fun, laughs, good holidays, Leigh and friends.

Here is a round up of my year in a series of pictures:

January started off very snowy with promises of things to come for 2013

In February we found a new house and set about decorating it and making it in to our own little home. Unfortunately will still only live in rental but at least we upgraded the rental

March bought about the move and the start of spring

April was a very busy month, not only was it my 25th birthday but at the end of the month we also went to New York for a week.

In May I had the lovely trip to The Savoy for afternoon tea and we also went to Field Day -a one day festival in Victoria Park London. Unfortunately that day Pumpkin got hit by a car and hurt her paw which was awful but luckily 6 months later she was as good as new

In June of course there was Glastonbury, which was my 4th year and brilliant as always

July was filled with sunny days and lots of ice-creams

We went to Leigh's uncles wedding in August which was lovely as who doesn't love the romance of it all and I caught the bouquet!

In September we jetted off to Menorca with Leigh's family and it was so nice to have 2 weeks in the sun not doing a thing

October passed in a blur of colder weather, a spa day and Halloween

And November saw the night's draw in, fireworks everywhere and I was asked to write 2 columns for a new website which was very exciting and will be going live in a few days

And lastly December with the twinkly lights, Christmas fun and parties it has rounded off my year perfectly.

I hope you have enjoyed my little yearly round up. Like I said, everything this year was just lovely and I can only hope that 2014 will be just as delightful. A very Happy New Year to you all. I wish you all the best :) 

xxx

Hello Miss Mint

So some very exciting news - I have been asked to be a contributor/writer for a new website called hellomissmint.com which is coming to a computer screen near you in January 2014.

I have been asked to be the writer of a weekly travel section - which will be called 'Wanderlust' with lots of little travel tips and my reviews of countries. I will also be writing a column called 'The London Monologues' which will discuss life in the big city.

As well as the travel column you must all make sure you tune into the other ladies columns which will be covering all of the below.

It's going to be filled with lots of fun things which will enrich your lives and make you wonder how you ever lived without the sound advice of the Miss Mint team.

I am honoured to be asked to take part of this fresh project and it gives me a chance to write more which is so great because I love any excuse to have a chatter. Also don't worry I will still be posting my usual waffle on here.

Make sure that you all tune in - I will post the link when we are up and running in January. I know you are as excited as I am!

xxx