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As always the weekend has flown by and Monday morning is already looming. I had such a great weekend though, and got lots of cleaning and cooking down. Today's recipe is another idea that I spotted on pinterest and something I thought I'd love to give a try.These cookies look incredible! When making them today Molly thought I they looked like playdough. He was right, the colours are a bit mad, but
My love affair with Thai food, started many years ago. It's one of my favourite types of food, and a trip to Thailand last year only strengthened my appreciation of this nations culinary genius. Whether in my favourite Thai restaurant or my delicious local Thai take away, Chilli Chicken and Basil Leaves is always my go to dish. I love the combination of the flavours and the when you mak
It's been a long week, and all in all I haven't been feeling great, so apologies for the delay in posting. I had a marvellous long weekend with my better half, who treated me to a luxurious night away to celebrate our 9 year anniversary. We enjoyed some great weather, an amazing picnic and copious amounts of delicious food. The weekend felt really long, and I feel well rested and prepared for the
When it comes to foundation, many of us girls have few qualms about spending 20, 30 or even 40 euro on a bottle of the stuff, if it's going to mean that we look like the best possible version of ourselves. Let's face it foundation is magical and can swiftly make you feel human again when your feeling a little worse for wear. I have tried and tested numerous foundations ou
Usually Mondays spark thoughts of misery and doom, but the sunny conditions along with the promise of a looming bank holiday weekend really have brightened up yet another manic Monday. Looking forward to the week ahead and have made myself a little meal plan of magnificent munchies for dinner each day this week. I'm starting today with a delicious dinner I whipped up last night with the limited fo
After being so good all week, this morning I decided to bake something sweet for Molly and I to have with a cup of tea over the weekend. I had some condensed milk lurking in the cupboard that I was eager to use up so decided to start with one ingredient and see what I could come up with. I adore condensed milk and gross as it sounds could quite happily eat it from the tin. It's deliciously sweet a
I've been trying to be a little healthier than usual this week, eating less sweets and more veggies and opting to head for a walk in the evenings instead of the couch. It has been more than a little difficult and I'm craving cake like no mans business! But the weekend is drawing near and no doubt I will have to afford myself a cheat day....or two! This evenings dinner was something really simple a
As a child I never got the whole pizza movement. I was a boring child who ate boring food. Oh how things have changed! Back in 2006 Molly and I visited the south of Italy for the first time, exploring Sorrento, the Amalfi Coast and Rome. I fell in love instantly not only with Italy itself but also with the delicious pizzas which were loaded with fresh local ingredients. When I
After a very busy weekend of catching up with Molly's family and a wedding, I feel like I need it to be Friday again so I can have a rest....not such a good sign when your thinking that on a Monday evening. This evening I started my week as I meant to go on with a brisk 5K walk which ended up being a 5K shower as I got drenched....typical Irish weather! Tonight's recipe is one of my Mom's all time
After a late celebratory birthday dinner with family this evening, followed by a 5km walk, I'm really enjoying lying on the couch watching mindless television. The week seems to be flying along and I have a wedding to look forward to at the weekend which will be a nice excuse to get dressed up and be social. Tonight's post is one of my ultimate comfort foods. When ever I eat out and see goats chee
Well I've had a few 'blog free' days as I have been busy dining out, drinking good red wine and meeting up with friends! Today is my birthday, and I got up early this morning to make myself the ultimate birthday cake. Now some may think this a little sad, or strange but I really enjoyed it. There's nothing like starting off your birthday with doing something you really love. Molly had a
Today was one of those days where I felt I really earned my money....I was super productive and was steaming through my 'To-Do' list like something out of this world. That said as a result when I got home needless to say I was wrecked and all my good intentions of going for a walk and being active went out the window. Despite how busy I was all day I was starving by about 11 O'Clock and starting d
Back to the madness of work today and very glad to only be working a 4 day week this week in order to ease myself back in. It's not until you get back into the throws of work that you remember....ah it ain't so bad! Did a spring clean around my office and I'm feeling uber organised for the week ahead. Now as many of you know I love love love anything sweet. Chocolate, desserts, sweets, ice-cr
My two week long break is finally drawing to a close and I have the irksome sound of my alarm to look forward to tomorrow morning. March has come to a close and I am welcoming April with open arms in hope of a rise in the temperature outside. Ireland's coldest March since records began....no surprises there then! I had a really lovely Easter break in the west with Molly in tow, and we at
I have such fond memories of eating croissants as a child, sitting on a country wall in France alongside my siblings. We used to holiday in France quite often when I was young, and I always loved the French pastries and cuisine. Croissants were always a treat whilst on Summer holiday at home here in Ireland, probably because they were quite expensive, relatively speaking back i
Had such a lovely few days and so glad to be reunited with my Molly after being apart for the last week and a half. I did a spin up to the big smoke yesterday (Dublin) to collect him and bring him down for the Easter holidays with myself and my parents! After boring Molly to tears with wedding talk, it was time for a tasty lunch out. When I got home I got to cooking up a storm and got a little sho
All this time off has left me with ample time to catch up on all sorts of cookery programmes including Masterchef and the Great British Bake-Off. This not only is great fun but also means endless inspiration of things I need to try. This leads me to the Croquembouche. I will openly admit by no means is this the easiest of desserts to prepare. It may look straightforward ( as I thought watching fro
White chocolate is my ultimate treat! I absolutely love a few squares of creamy white chocolate after a hard day at work. When it comes to dessert if white chocolate features in the title...I'm in! I'm such a huge fan of the Choceur white chocolate from Aldi as many of you know, it is by far the tastiest white chocolate I can get my hands on at the moment. This panna cotta is incredibly easy to ma
Now if you've been following my posts over the last week or so you may have noticed that I appear to have become slightly obsessed with coffee glaze. The hilarious thing about it is, I don't even like coffee. I don't drink the stuff, I don't even really like the stuff! What I do love is coffee slices and this spans back to my childhood when we used to get 'sticky buns' as a treat for special
I really love a nice French style apple tart, when the pastry is thin, the filling isn't chunky and that beautiful colour like you see in the beautiful patisseries in France. My Dad is also a big fan of a fine tart so yesterday evening I decided to put a fresh spin on a classic dish and came up with this apple and lemon tart. I was presently surprised as to how well the flavour
My home-time holiday in Clare continues and I am thoroughly enjoying waking naturally, making my day up as I go along and enjoying a glass of wine with my lunch if I please. It's the little things in life! As my parents headed off this morning, I was left home alone which gave me plenty of time to cook up a storm, blast the radio and bake and dance like a lunatic. The first bak
This time last year I visited Thailand with my family. I am overdue a holiday at the moment so I'm doing a lot of reminiscing and making 'this day last year' statements which are driving Molly a little mad. During my trip we did countless activities from elephant trekking, to boat trips and snorkelling The highlight for me though was a fantastic afternoon we spent in
Anyone who knows me, knows I absolutely adore cupcakes. My apartments is littered with cupcake paraphernalia from tea-towels to teapots, cushions to magnets and everything in between. I love making cupcakes, enjoy decorating them and love to surprise people with exciting and interesting flavour combinations. The hilarious thing about it all is I don't actually love e
This morning after going for a 30 minute 'ralk' (run come walk if you will) I headed to the shops to pick up some of the ingredients for some dishes I have on my to do list for my week off. Ever since becoming familiar with Julia Child's fascinating life story, beef Bourguignon has been on my life long to do list. Julia's signature dish always sounded incredibly
After a nice relaxing St.Patrick's day at home, the time has come to sit down with a nice glass of wine. I had a very productive day cleaning out my 'home' bedroom to make space for wedding DIY materials along with other bits and pieces I can no longer store in Dublin as my apartment has by all means reached capacity! When I'm not in the throws of my everyday routine I seem to get very d
An old time English favourite, Yorkshire Puddings have always been a must have in our house when having roast beef. This evenings dinner did not disappoint with a stack of Yorkshire puddings to accompany our delicious roast dinner. My Mom always needs to double this recipe when we make them at home as everybody adores them! They are the ultimate roast treat. Dipped in gravy and gobbled u
So delighted tomorrow is Friday and can't wait for some well earned time off over Easter. Only a few hours of work tomorrow and then I'm free! Really looking forward to heading west for the weekend and I am of course looking forward to the St.Patrick's day festivities. Tonight's post is the perfect Paddy's weekend treat....sure isn't the spinach green! I had a real craving for quiche this ev
I'm feeling very productive today and after a busy evening, decided to keep my baking themed week going my whipping up a batch of Viennese biscuits before bedtime. I've churned out many biscuits over the last few months but these are a definite winner. Molly has always loved these biscuits and will often buy them in Marks & Spencer's. Following the taste test, he has given me the thumbs up so
And so the freezing cold weather continues, but following a very productive day in work, I felt I deserved a little treat. Molly is a huge fan of O'Connors bakery in Co.Clare. He is a true lover of coffee slices and éclairs and I will often treat him to one when we head west. This evening when I got home after work I decided to head straight to the kitchen for my first attempt at some home-made éc
After yet another manic Monday at work, topped off with a dusting of snow, when I got home this evening, all I wanted to do was make a winter warmer dinner. Molly is a big fan of pies, and I nipped into Aldi on the way home to pick up some beef along with some other ingredients to put into a delicious Steak & Mushroom Pie. I've been getting a little more adventurous recently and make the effor
Although I couldn't be with my own wonderful Mom for today's mother's day celebrations, next week will be Mother's weekend and I'm really looking forward to it! That said I had such a lovely day today, celebrating Mother's Day with Molly and his family. I made a special dinner for the occasion and most importantly of course, a very special dessert! Molly's Mam is a really big fan
I have had an incredibly busy week and so apologies for my lack of blog posts in the last few days. Have been out all day with Molly, getting some necessary bits and pieces for the house. I'm looking forward to a couple of weeks off come next Friday, and I am making a 'Bucket List' of recipes I want to try during my time off, so stay tuned! Tonight I want to share with you these baby Con
I made this cake to celebrate my wonderful parents 30th Wedding Anniversary on February 26th. Quite the achievement and only seemed appropriate to celebrate with cake. This two tier tower is made up of a moist chocolate madeira on bottom, with a 'dummy' cake (6 inches) on top. I used this dummy cake which is in fact made of polystyrene, as it's a great way to create a dramatic two tiered cake for
After a busy weekend of running about, I am really enjoying a relaxed Sunday afternoon at home with my parents. Had a very productive day yesterday which included picking up some decorative bits and pieces for my wedding, which I'm really exciting about using in my numerous make and do projects to come! Just finished a delicious lunch and now getting ready to make the journey back to Dub
Thursday evening has arrived, which means when I wake in the morning I will be filled with the Friday feeling! I'm heading back to the mother-ship in county Clare tomorrow, so thought I best make something tasty to bring along for my Mom and Dad. I had a very busy evening so settled for a pretty simple recipe from 'The Primrose Bakery Book'. I've only ever made this cake once b
Sunday evening called for a quick and easy dinner, that was tasty and went down well with a nice bottle of red wine. This recipe was just the ticket, and was prepared, cooked and served in under 30 minutes. Some of my 'fridge favourites' feature in this recipe including bacon, spinach, chorizo and parmesan. I picked up this delicious spring onion tagliatelle in my local aldi store last week on spe
Since my time spent living in the U.K. I've always wanted to make a chicken and mushroom pie. I don't have much recollection of pies in our house growing up with the exception of Shepard's Pie which I recall detesting and to this day dislike! Savoury pies are real comfort foods, perfect for chilly winter evenings. Surprisingly this pie doesn't take too long at all, a
This afternoon I was hosting afternoon tea for my cousin in order to have a chat and a catch up. The cousin in question is a big fan of shortbread.....as am I! I have always loved making shortbread, and it was one of the first things I learnt how to make solo as a child. I make shortbread quite often and usually opt to roll out my dough and cut it out into shapes be it rounds or hearts.
Over the Christmas holidays, my Mom and I spent an entire day on the couch watching re-runs of the great British Bake Off. It's such a fantastic show and really gave us lots of great ideas for trying over the Christmas, that we ordinarily wouldn't have the time for. On one episode the challenge was soufflés. What ever happened in the kitchen that day, every contestants soufflé was a flo
This week a very good friend of mine was leaving her current job to move on to something new. She wanted me to make a cake to celebrate all the good times and wonderful people she has been working with over the last few years. We discussed all the options for what would make up the delicious core of the cake and decided on a luscious lemon madeira with lemon butter-cream icing. The cake itself is
Baked Alaska is what I would call an Oldie but a Goody!! This weekend I arrived home to my parents house and had this idea that I would love to attempt a Baked Alaska. I have actually never eaten or even seen a baked Alaska in reality and when I mentioned it to my Dad he seemed less than impressed. Baked Alaska was all the rage in the 70's, but I think my Dad's perception of a Baked Ala
Hard to believe it's half way through the week again and that Thursday is nearly upon us! Looking forward to some Valentines festivities tomorrow and enjoying a nice meal out with the lovely Molly. This evenings post is a little something I have been working on and perfecting over the last few nights. I am finding 11.00am in work a tricky time the last couple of weeks as I just feel abso
Over the last couple of weeks, Molly and I have been trying to treat ourselves to a nice piece of steak once a week. We eat a lot of chicken, turkey and bacon, so having a nice beef steak is a welcome, albeit expensive addition to our evening menu. I usually serve steak with a tasty potato dish like dauphinoise potatoes or home-made chips or wedges. I get our steaks from the local butchers and dep
February is here which means it's finally Spring time! All we need now is for things to warm up and for the sun to come out. With February comes a very special day that all those in love....love and all those not, well dislike. Feburary 14th is just around the corner and I'm sharing my Teddy love early so you too can have one ready for your loved ones! Believe me, nothing says 'I Love You' like a
After a shopping trip at the weekend with Molly, I am delighted to report back on an unmissable offer that is currently being run in Tesco. I am a really big fan of Pyrex products. I find them incredibly well wearing, durable and they always seem to look new...which I love! I am lucky enough to have a few Pyrex pieces already in my collection, but when my attention was drawn to what
In preparation for a long day at work today I was really in the mood for something simple and delicious for breakfast to give me a great start to the day. I am attending day 4 of my 5 day course which started last week and it's proving a little tiring. To keep me going throughout the day, I thought an omelette would be a great start to kick me into action and get my brain working after a
This week I have been asked by a certain lovely colleague at work to make a special cake for her daughters up coming 30th Birthday. Unsure of what she wanted, we did a little brainstorming during the week and decided on an all together girly number. This cake was inspired by my love of all things make-up! This cake was such a wonderful opportunity to bring together some of the things in
This evening, I've been busy, cake making and tidying. Today was an unusually long day at work as I am currently on a 5 day course which is fascinating but exhausting. When I got home, a little wedding banter was followed by my daily trip to the kitchen to cook up something tasty for myself and Molly. Tonight's dish was whipped up in no time as I am a little under pressure tryi
Well what has been called 'Black Monday' is coming to a close. I've had a great evening working on a cake (post to come later in the week!) and watching movies with Molly. The weather today was somewhat treacherous, so it's lovely being wrapped up nice and cosy in the confines of our sitting room. Tonight's recipe is a first for me....a Cornish Pasty! After watching re-runs or the Great British Ba
Now as many of you know I am a huge fan of MAC products, but in particular MAC's individual eye shadow pots. Over the last 9 years, I have steadily built quite the collection of eye-shadow pots spanning all the colours of the rainbow. As time has gone I have gone through phases of bright and bold, to shining and shimmering, dark and smoky to muted and understated. That said these ten sha
