Lamb-ie and Stuffed

So yay I'm back.

The trials and tribulation that have happened over the last few weeks seem to have calmed down and life is back to normal (Well normal for me lol).

I've had a busy, busy, busy week. First big event went to the Hippodrome in Leicester Square for my friends 40th Birthday! She'd hire out the Heliot lounge for fun an frolics.

It was a really nice venue, staff was lovely and it was great to get out into town (Hubby had the little one)

As I was having a night off  I had a cheeky glass of Fizz:

Which was noms, I then tried their Margaritas, and regular readers will know I do like my Margaritas. Not to toot my own horn (toot toot) but I do make a mean Margarita (V. Strong)but  have to say it wasn't the best which was a shame.

So I went back to the fizz for the rest of the night my poor head lol.

As due to the Easter holiday we had some family time we decided to have a  meal out at the Farmhouse in West Malling

I had their lovely Steak Panini which was very tasty and the steak was cooked really well and no chewy at all. You can tell it was good a the little one wolfed it down.

My Husband had the burger which looked lovely,

But we decided couldn't have been as nice as the steak as the little one didn't like the bite, he was given, and went back to the steak.

We even had some amazing Crisps "Corkers" yummy really need them to start doing them in big bags in my local supermarket as these would go great with dips and a cheeky glass of wine while having a comfy night in, in front of the TV.

I did some of my own cooking too, well I though I might as it is supposed to be a cooking blog lol.

I did a Roast Dinner for my mum as she's well on her road to recovery. Also Asda had super duper bargains the lamb was £4 per KG and the bags of veg were £0.29p each OMG whole dinner didn't cost that much over a £10 and that was with dessert.

For such a good price it was a huge leg of lamb as my glamorous assistant demonstrated, and remember he's 6"4"

Roast dinners are really simple to do but appear complicated so you get lots of praise which is nice. The only thing you really need a handle on, to have a great roast, is timing. If you get that right everything else fits into place.

So for the meat I heated up some olive oil in a roasting dish (in a pre-heated 180 Degrees) for about 5 minutes

I then gave it a baste and quickly scored the top before liberally adding Rosemary.

I then covered it in foil and put in the oven for half the cooking time 25min per 500g (17 oz) with an extra 25min on top

So after half way I whipped off the foil basted again and then I added some par boiled new potatoes and Parsnips to the roasting dish then back in the oven for the rest of the time.

What you end up with is golden lamb-ie goodness which is so so so flavorful.

Add some veg and a couple of Yorkshire puddings (I know they are supposed to go with beef but I love them with all roasts and it my blog so there).

What you are left with is a fantastic roast dinner for all the family (The little one ate all of his and he is my gold seal of approval for all my cooking now lol).

Also in the week we went out for a lovely brunch at Bills I opted for the Vegetarian option which was toast one topped with hummus and the other with guacamole. It also came with two poached eggs, mushroom and tomatoes.

Great combination of flavors especially with the sweet chilli sauce applied all over the dish. There was nothing left just one satisfied me.

I have had a lot of food this week but I have been burning it off too we been doing so DIY to the new house have a lovely new spare room.

and a beautiful new floor, oh well I can't really take any credit for the floor as we got that from the wonderful people at Carpet4less I like to give credit when it's due and these guys were great.

Really good prices and really professional fitting, couldn't be more impressed with the service.

Last cooking dish I want to share with you is a lower fat one than the roast dinner.

I baked a potato

Once it was a bit cooler I scooped out the inside.

and place the that into a bowl.

I filled the bottom of the empty potato skins with low fat cream cheese

I then grilled some bacon (with the fat trimmed off) and some Mushrooms

chopped them up and added them to the potato mix.

I then put this mix back into the potato shells and grilled for about 6 minutes.

Then add some low fat cheese and place back under the grill till it melted and serve with a lovely salad and Voila a lovely and not overly fattening snack.

So glad to be back and glad to be cooking and hopefully over the coming week we can have some fab food and some fab times. 

Bonny, Bonny Scotland

Great timing as this is going up on Burns night, Haggis for everyone :) 

But last week I was up in Scotland for my  father in law's (FIL) 60th birthday.

Had my first flight with the little one alone. British Airways were so helpful and lovely (Big Thanks to all the Staff you were brilliant) but I still need a drink after the whole ordeal lol..

We managed to surprise him, might not be the best thing to do, jumping out on a man just about to turn 60, don't worry he got a bit of a jump but he was okay.

As they had traveled back all the way from Malaysia and still on Malaysian time the first day was a bit quiet.

The second day we made up for it and I made Margaritas - 2 parts tequila to 1 part Cointreau and 1 part lime juice. Mix in a shaker full of ice and serve in a salted rimmed glass. 

Yes I know these a Champagne glasses but it's all we had and needs must.

They where so tasty, albeit a bit strong, they went down very well with the Mother in Law (MIL) - even though we were starting the celebration for the FIL birthday due to him still being Jet lagged he was asleep and missed out on the Margarita fun lol

On the third day we  it was officially FIL 60th birthday 

We had a yummy breakfast along with Bucks Fizz (Mimosas) and Cake the cake was in the shape of a Jammy Dodger on of the FIL favorite biscuits.

He got lots of lovely cards and presents we bought him a fit bit, which will help to burn off the cake calories lol.

It started to snow, proper snow not like the rubbish we get down south,  so we got the little one out to experience it. 

And obvs I had to go out and have some fun in it too. I know I'm a fully grown woman but don't care, I love snow and turn into a 5 year old whenever I get to experience it.  :)

I enjoyed it much more than the little one I think he preferred looking, he's more of a sun bunny which bodes well if we trying to plan a trip to Disney World as I doubt they ever get snow there.

We spent most of the day relaxing as the FIL wanted to watch the Cricket which England won. Yay go team..

Early evening we went o a lovely restaurant "The Boathouse" which is in the grounds of my favourite hotel Cameron House (it was the venue for our Wedding Reception) so hold a special place in my heart.

It was very snowy still so I had to modifiy my foot wear for going out, don't worry I took high heels in my bag as even though the Wellies were handy they didn't really go with my dress lol. 

Stared off the dinner with a lovely Wine a Da Luca Pinot. It was super yummy, dry and crisp just the way I like my wines. 

The food was equally exquisite as the wine.

My Hubby ordered steak and it came with Jenga chips - very fun and they were nice and Crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside, as I insisted on trying one (For research purposes only of course).

The FIL ordered the Duck, he said it was nice but I think I would have liked mine a bit pinker.

My Hubby Steak was cooked to perfection too.

I had an utterly amazing Crab and Avocado pizza, stoned baked in a proper pizza oven. You could tell it was freshly made and the crab was so nice. I would say it a must if you visit this restaurant.

As it was a celebration we finished off the meal with a Moet - well a bit of Fizz is always needed when marking a big milestone.

Honestly I can say enough nice things about this place, it also right on the loch, to dark to take any good pics but it is an amazing location for a bit of amazing food. 

The next day it was still really snowy, but we found an ingenious way of getting the little one around the town. 

As we couldn't stay out in the cold for too long we took a visit to the Loch Lomond Shores Sea life center.

I think I made a new friend.

And I definitely found Nemo and all his buddies. 

We even on the break got to spend some time in the loch in the little town of Luss.

Which is a chocolate box picture of a town, but I would avoid the cats.

Another must when visiting that part of the world also very special as we got married in Luss Church - ah memories.

The MIL offered to baby sit so we got to have a night out. We went to the Great Scotts Bar in Cameron House, a very comfortable lounge bar with a very nice Scottish Theme, full of muted tartans and squashy wing back chairs and sofas. 

They also carried the same wine list as the Boat House so I got some more of that delicious Sicilian Da luca Pinot. Will have to see if I can get that in the Supermarket.


So on the last day we just milled about,  although I did find King Kong at Loch Lomond Shores Jenners enjoying a fun day out.

Oh and I found this fab farm shop - Auchentullich Farm Shop - yeah I have no idea how you pronounce it either lol :) 

I picked up some very spice but if you like that thought of thing, flavourful, Silver and Green Piri Piri Stuffed Olives

Which went fab with this fresh wholemeal bread food heaven.

So all in all a very fun and full week.

The only other Major highlight is I was name 10 in Foodblogs.co.uk  10 Food Blogs Taking 2016 by Storm.

Can't thank them enough, and is making me so excited for what I am going to do this year.

Honestly I really appreciate it, being dyslexic and dyspraxic it is very very scary writing stuff and exposing your quirks for people to see and for someone to write something so lovely and get what I'm trying to do means so much.

I do hope to take 2016 completely by storm not only in my blog but everything I do, so guys watch this space.

And I would also like to hear from some of you so please post a comment even if its just to say hi.

Weird Christmas plans in the Netherlands

So last Friday I went to visit my friend in the Netherlands again..

It's weird as we were all full of fun in an airport with people traveling hither and thither, all full of happiness.

We started off in similar fashion having a few drinks because the working week was done, I was getting a bit of me time. Which for me personally I think is really important if you have young children. As sometimes you sort of lose yourself and just need a day or two to remind yourself there is another world out there and it not just nappies. Although can't last anymore than two days as I miss the cuddles.

So we had wine and cocktails at the airport:

Mojito

Followed by drinkies on the plane.

Some poor (Drunk) girl behind us had never flown British Airways before, and needed to tell the whole flight how happy she was that you got a free drink. She was only 20 and on her way to a rave in Amsterdam (Ah to be young and foolish).


The flight from London is really quick just under 1 Hour, that the great thing about living in the UK Europe is just on your door step. But I think in the UK as there is a body of water separating us, we feel further away. I haven't been to nearly enough of Europe as I should have been. Although that's because I'd rather head over to the States so always saving my pennies for that.

But I do plan with the little one a few more jaunts to nearby places to expand his horizon and my own. Especially as you can drive to Europe so can take all the stuff we need with us too.

We got off the plane and headed for the train. OMG coming from England where the train service at best is bad, to go on to the ATM service in the Netherlands, like night and day. So cheap for starters.


All the trains have free Wifi and when you log on it gives you information on when you will arrive at your destinations.

Absolutely bloody brilliant. To celebrate how great it was we had a bit of fizz (Although I have now discovered that you are not supposed to drink on these local trains so I apologies to the authorities and vow not to do it on my next trip).

We arrived at our destination and were reading for a great night, my Friend had just moved into a fabulous new house just on the Edge of the little town of Hilversum. It is beautiful she worked in fashion for years so has the most amazing eye for detail pair things together that I would never even think of.

I love her dog or as I call it the "Friends" dog.

As we were just settling for a big session of drinking and eating the sad, heartbreaking news of the Paris attacks was emerging. It's hard to fathom how awful it is. This misguided people driven by hate, taking innocent lives of people just trying to get on in the world.

I know a lot has already been said, and who am I with my lowly blog to add more? I'm saying something as I am a person in this world and I have a voice and even if only one person hears it could make a difference. All I am going to say is Hate breeds hate, compassion will always breed compassion. People have been hurt have lost loved ones and had their lives turned upside down in the most devastating way. I feel nothing but sorrow for everything that went on. I hope that we find some way to end this terrible loss of life.  And the most important thing is we all stay strong and keeping love and compassion in our hearts as that is the best way to beat hate and fear.

So was a bit subdued when we went to bed and got up the next morning especially as the scale of the horror unfolded. But we where there and we wanted to enjoy our time.

So we headed into Hilversum for a quiet day of drinking an eating.

As we were in the Netherlands we came across a sex shop, not my thing but I did like the theme of the window very autumnal lol

then we headed to the market, I loved it the last time and loved it again. So many stalls filled with fresh produce and it smelt divine. We picked up some yummy cheese for later on in the day.

As we skipped breakfast went back to the same place we went before "Flinders"  to get some eats. I got some traditional food of Bittenballen which are deep fried bites filled with meat (Don't know what kind of meat and thought best not to ask) but they were delicious but so fattening. We order the Fish Bittenballen and some great cheese bites. That were like spring rolls with cheese in the middle. Total Nommage

We also added some lovely dipping bread.

Washed down with a fantastic Gin and Fever Tree Tonic - Well I am on my holidays don't judge lol.

There seemed to be a commotion going on outside, our friend informed us it was the local Christmas parade. It is to mark the arrival of Santa coming by boat from Spain to the Netherlands. Now I normally happy and fascinated by other countries traditions. although I was slightly uneasy about this one.

Now I'm all for people, especially the kiddies having fun and feeling the Joy of Christmas. But I, as coming form London, didn't really get or understood Santa's helper "Black Pete". where people get dressed up put on black face make up, bright red lipstick and a curly black wig and give out treats to the children.

Now this is not my culture or my tradition so I am the first to say I don't full understand its significance. also someone tried to tell me it was because of the coal from going down the chimney (Although that would not account for the Red lip and curly wig). But in a western multicultural place it seem very outdated.

So people tried to modernize it and a caught a picture of this lovely lady with a pink face.

 But Our friend told me that only 18% of the population see a problem with it. I just think round children it send a weird message. Although it wasn't sinister in anyway and the kids loved getting the candy and all the local seemed to be having fun. I just think a bit of modernizing to bring it in to the 21st Century would make it a truly amazing festival.

Also got to see Santa and he seemed fun.

As for me I prefer the Elves version of Santa's helpers rather than these garish Petes

We stayed in the cafe most of the day gassing about this and that we even had to order some more food love array of meats and cheeses.

 at around 5pm we left to go and meet our friends son and his new girlfriend. All I can say is he was brave considering we're a nightmare at the best of times but after a drink it's a lot worse.

We met at the Soul Kitchen and after another round of deep fried snacks,

Some more drink and a chat with the Bar owner.

Sitting out in the cold

We moved onto shots to warm us up.
JAGERBOMBS

had a great chat and then made the long walk (which was all of 7 minute) back to our friends house where we all curled up on the couch again and had some glasses of fizz an tucked in the cheese we purchased.

Next morning and our last day boo. We awoke to our amazing hostess cooking us bacon.. mmmm bacon which was especially nice as she doesn't eat it.. I know mad right.

to make the most of our time before we headed back to the airport we went to the lovely town of Urtrecht.


Had drinks on the train again (Sorry still didn't know at that time it was bad).

Utrecht is fab, it like a mini Amsterdam with beautiful canals

Lovely architecture

Yummy shops and a great cafe culture.

we managed to find this great restaurant De Beurs and as it was dry we sat outside for a bit of a cocktail

it was so nice we went inside to have some lunch.

I have a big burger.

So yummy so tasty and medium just the way I like it.

So after being very well fed we had to make our way back to the train station and boarded the train back to Schiphol...


I was very excited as it was a double Decker train, we don't have these in the UK and I think they are very cool - but then again I am sad.

So plane home (after extensive Security which was heighten due to everything that been going on), cab back and just in time for a big huge mummy hug before bedtime. That what making go away great you get so excited for going back and giving the little one a big tight squeeze and just getting a beaming smile in return.


So apart from the obvious it was actually a good weekend and just want I need to re-charge my batteries before the Christmas Rush..