Christmas Time

This year I spent Christmas with my sister, niece and nephew at their new home in Essex. We had a lovely couple of days together. Christmas eve is always spent wrapping last minute gifts, watching Christmas films and sipping wine. This is my niece totally engrossed in watching Toy Story 2.

And here we are snuggled up on the sofa

My sister and the kids writing Christmas cards...

Here are a few snaps of festive prettiness...

On Christmas day the kids were up at the crack of dawn which meant we were too. After the excitement of opening presents we settled down to a breakfast of gammon, bacon, sausages and West Indian bread, a bit of a family tradition. 

I was in charge of making Christmas dinner and I have to say I think I did quite a good job...

After dinner was spent watching Christmas movies, eating chocolate, drinking wine, playing with new toys and tucking into this bad boy

I had an awesome Christmas. I hope you did too. xx

In Town For One Night Only

Ryan is one of my best friends, and before he moved to Sydney 4 years ago we used to spend pretty much every weekend together partying in London. We stay in touch via Facebook, Whats App and emails but hadn't seen each other in a year, so when he told me he was booking a trip to London, I was uber excited and started counting down the days.

We met in North Greenwich and decided to take a 360 tour of the Emirates Air Line Cable Car. Here are a couple of snaps I took...

We then took the River bus to the other side of Greenwich and took a stroll through town. Next was lunch at one of my favourite restaurants in Greenwich, The Hill. I ordered the scallops followed by a sea bass ravioli, and Ryan had langoustines to start followed by paella.

Scallops

Seabass Ravioli

After lunch we headed to a local pub and settled down with several vodka tonics and a good catch up.

Later in the evening we headed into Soho and had dinner at Balans. I had the duck which was cooked to perfection

We then met up with my sister in Covent Garden for cocktails and dancing.

I love days like this.

Summer Holiday

My sister and I have just returned from a well deserved break in Spain. 4 days of sunshine and no responsibility was just what we both needed and we are already planning our next holiday.

We flew to Barcelona and stayed in Santa Susanna which is a relaxing and chilled resort in Costa Brava. 

Most of our days were spent lazing on the beach and trying every cocktail we could find which included a LOT of sangria.

My Sister

Couldn't resist a selfie. I  love beach wraps. The one I am wearing in this photo is an ankle length beach wrap from Matalan that I bought last Summer.

We managed to drag ourselves away from our sun loungers long enough to visit the local market. Shopping in 28 degree heat is thirsty work so naturally we stopped off for more cocktails.

Apart from our trip to the market we spent every available second soaking up the sunshine. Our evenings were spent sampling the local cuisine and bar hopping. The cocktails in Santa Susanna really are good!

Wish I was back there now.

Healthy Takeaway Alternative - Prawn & Turkey Balls

I fancied a healthy alternative to a Chinese takeaway, and rustled up this little number, Steamed Prawn and Turkey Balls. 

For this recipe I used:

1 pack of minced turkey 

a handful of ready to eat prawns

teaspoon of ginger

2 finely sliced cloves of garlic

half a chilli

juice of half a lime

couple of splashes of soy sauce

After finely chopping the prawns I threw all the ingredients into a bowl and squished with my hands before rolling into balls.

I then steamed them for 12 minutes and served on a bed of noodles with Pak Choi. Delicious, quick and healthy.