Stocking fillers for Him and Her

Sometimes its the last minute bits and bobs to pad out your loved ones christmas stocking which are the hardest gifts to think of.  Ive come up with 6 items for him and her that I know your other half will love. I know if my stocking was filled with the following I would be extremely happy and very impressed. So if you want to drop a hint, send them this way and keep your fingers crossed!

For Her...

1. Anthropologie 'With a twist' Teacup - £12

2. Diptyque Baies Candle - 70g £20 / 190g £40

3. Charlotte Tilbury Mini Lipstick Charms - £29

4. Deliciously Ella Cookbook - £9

5. Flowers of Liberty Colouring Book- £9.99

6. Fortnum & Mason Truffles - £13.50

For Him...

I've done my best to 'Think like a Man', so here's a few things that you might not have thought of.

1. Star Wars BB-8 Droid - £128 (The Ultimate Stocking Filler)

2. Beavertown Gamma-Ray - £22.85 6 pack

3. Leatherman Multi Tool - £22.99

4. Damn Handsome Beard Kit - £25

5. Paul Smith Rainbow Socks - £17

6. Hotel Chocolate Chilli Penguins - £7.00

P.S The Star Wars  BB-8 Droid may be a bit expensive, but its a fair bet that anything Star Wars related will go down well this Christmas!

Let me know what you think.

Rosie x

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Labels: Lifestyle

Best brunch in London / The Duck & Waffle

The Duck & Waffle is an absolute must must must if you are wanting to go to a restaurant like no other whilst in London. It is based inside the Heron Tower on the 40th floor and gives you outstanding views of the city. And it is open 24/7! We went for Brunch, but it would be cool to go back at other times of day for a completely different atmosphere.  

If you fancy going though, be sure to book in advance as its unlikely you will be able to turn up (at popular hours) and manage to get a table. 

Upon arrival, you will be greeted by somebody at the concierge desk who will then show you to the lift which takes you up to the restaurant.  It is such a memorable experience from start to finish... even going up in the lift is exciting. Be warned... your ears are likely to pop!  

Have your cameras ready....

Stepping out of the lift onto beautifully tiled flooring which leads you to the bar. (I'm a complete sucker for some pretty tiles!)

I don't know what I was expecting of the bar area, but for some reason it wasn't this. I was pleasantly surprised. I mean, I knew it would be lovely, but I wasn't expecting graffiti walls!
So far so good...

We ordered ourselves some drinks whilst we waited for our table as we took in the views. It is so strange that you look down on so many huge buildings. 

Said Graffiti walls...

Some cheesy obligatory photos of Ben and I at our table. It is such an instagrammable place!

More views....

And what you have all been waiting for. I present to you... 'The Full Elvis'. Words cant even describe how good this was. I think the picture says it all.  It is one huge plate of heaven (for anyone with a sweet tooth anyway).

And from a slightly different angle, just so you can see the details!

Waffle topped with peanut butter, jam, banana brûlée, mixed berries, chopped nuts, and Chantilly cream. 

O-M-G. 

And for Ben, Duck and Waffle. Obviously.

Yep, I am now that person who stands up and takes birds eye pictures of their food in restaurants. Well, I say me, what I really mean is Ben is forced into it hehehehe.

I hope you enjoyed looking through the pictures and get chance to go one day. I cannot recommend it enough and know anyone will enjoy it the experience.  If you fancy looking at the menus, they are available to read here.

Thanks for reading,

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Labels: Lifestyle

Exploring Greece / Aquila Elounda Village

Aquila Elounda Village Hotel

I’ve been meaning to post these pictures for quite a while now and I think the reason I haven’t is because I knew once I started flicking through them all, I would end up with a serious case of holiday blue’s…. and I’m not wrong!

With the economic crisis happening in Greece just weeks before we were due to depart on our annual jolly, we were slightly apprehensive about going. However, my thoughts were that if all tourists decided to cancel their holidays to Greece, the country would never get out of difficulty, so being the do-gooders that we are, we risked it and went (hardly a risk though).

  

We stayed at the Aquila Elounda Village Hotel in Crete, which was truly stunning.  I have always wanted to stay somewhere with an infinity pool and this hotel managed to tick this off my list.  We chose to stay all-inclusive, (mainly for the unlimited cocktails), but we were certainly not short of choice. There are two main restaurants serving food from an al la carte menu. I sometimes find that all-inclusive hotel restaurants aren’t generally up to the same standard as restaurants you would pay to go to at home, but this definitely was not the case here. There is also a buffet style restaurant, which was good at breakfast but average at lunch and dinner. I think if you stay half board this is the only option for your evening meal, in my opinion I think it would be worth paying the extra and going all-inclusive.  Finally, the poolside bar was also fairly good. It has a chilled out atmosphere, often playing live music during lunchtime and is the perfect place to get out of the sun during the hottest part of the day.

The grounds of the hotel were lovely albeit quite steep, so for anybody who has difficulty walking, this might not be the best place to go. There are 3 swimming pools set on different levels, which eventually lead down to the beach area where you can swim in the sea and do some water sports if you fancy getting active. Obviously, the only vigorous activities I engaged in was walking down a few flights of stairs to pick up some pina coladas from the pool bar!

I hope this is useful information if you are tempted to book to go next summer. I would definitely return for a relaxing week in the sun and I think the pictures speak for themselves as you can see how beautiful the island of Crete really is.  

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Elounda Village

Elounda Village is a short taxi ride away (10 mins max) which we visited one evening just to get out of the resort. It is a really small seaside town with a gorgeous little fishing harbour and a number of nice restaurants and bars.  Not as touristy as nearby Aghios Nikolaus but with enough options to keep you coming back for a good few nights.

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The dress

And finally, to finish off here are a few snaps of the most beautiful dress I own. Any avid fashion follower will instantly recognise this dress as an excellent copy ahem, I mean ‘design influenced’ dress by Chloe.  Unfortunately, I’m not lucky enough to be able to afford Chloe pieces (yet!), so thankfully we have the great British high street saving the day in the form of H&M.   As soon as I saw this dress I knew I had to have it. I was out shopping with work when I saw it and my boss told me I should go and try it on… who am I to argue with the boss!?  I just wished I lived in a warmer climate so I could wear it more often so it isn’t catching dust hanging up in my wardrobe.

Until next time...

(All pictures are unedited and were taken using the Olympus OM-D E-M10 available here)

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Labels: Lifestyle

Non-Alcoholic Mojito Ice Lollies

Can you believe it is the middle of August? I cant! I feel like summer has completely passed me by this year, so to try and get me feeling more in season, I made some super refreshing, non alcoholic mojito ice lollies.

They are a great way to cool you down on those hot British summer days… oh wait, we don’t get them. Don’t let that put you off though; these are the perfect summer refreshment. They are great fun to make for children (and adults), only require a handful of ingredients and are super quick. Plus it’s the middle of August; autumn will be here before you know it so you better get ice-lollying.

I have come up with a basic base for a non-alcoholic mojito, but you can play around and adapt the recipe to suit your taste.

You will need:

Ice-lolly tray

1-2 handfuls of mint

3 Tablespoons Granulated Sugar

3 Limes

Zest of 1 Lime

Soda Water – approx 500ml

 Start off by picking your mint leaves and putting them into a large glass or jar.

Add in a few tablespoons of sugar. I used 3, but if you like it extra sweet then do put some more in. You could also use stevia as a sugar replacement if you want to make this sugar free and reduce those calories.

 Zest one lime and pop aside.

 Next, cut three limes in half and squeeze the juice into the mint and sugar mix.

Begin muddling! If you are fancy then get your muddling stick out, if not, the end of a rolling pin works just fine.

Once the mint, lime and sugar are all muddled, add in the soda water. I filled the jar around half way.

Mix everything together and taste to check you are happy, then drain the mint leaves out through a sieve.

Now add the lime zest into the sieved mixture. I know in the picture I added the zest into the mixture with the mint leaves in, but in hindsight it is much better if the zest goes into the actual ice lolly mixture for freezing.

Finally, fill your ice lollies up until almost full, be careful not to fill all the way to the top as they need room to expand. 

Pop the lids on and place in the freezer overnight.

It is likely that there may be enough mixture left to make yourself a drink!

 Once the ice lollies are completely frozen, remove from the moulds and enjoy!

 The most refreshing summers refreshment.

So what do you think? Let me know if you give this recipe a try.

Please share on Facebook...you keep forgetting! I'll let you off though.

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Labels: Recipes