“Your Birthday Is A Special Time To Celebrate The Gift Of 'You' To The World.”

Hello all!

As some of you will know, it was my birthday a couple of weeks ago and I was absolutely spoilt rotten, so I wanted to show you a few of the lovely things I got. 

I woke up to breakfast in bed, which was gorgeous and so thoughtful... and then went downstairs to find an actual pyramid of presents! Along with a bottle bag for good measure (and anything in a bottle is certainly good measure!) 

 

 I had a chilled out day where we went for a picnic and saw friends. Then in the evening we went out for a slap-up (I do hate that phrase!) meal, again with my nearest and dearest. Two of my best friends got me a box full of gorgeous stuff (pics will be at the bottom) and my auntie and uncle got me some lovely jewellery.

 We had a great meal, I ended up taking half of it home with me... even though me and Sarah couldn't resist getting dessert, which was a snickerbockerglory. Kinda like a peanut butter sundae! Nommmm.

When I got home, a cute giant cupcake was waiting for me off my mum and dad, and a mysterious envelope which, when I opened it, was a voucher for a weekend away in a Manor House including Spa, Facial and Massage! It was so sweet of them, especially after how much I'd already got!

The Jacquard throw is what I bought with some of my birthday money because I love being cosy and snuggly - it's absolutely huge!

I also do a lot of writing so the Paperchase notebook was perfect, it's much bigger than most other I have. 

The photo in the middle of the three is what my absolutely beautiful girls from uni got me. We went out for a meal just after my birthday and they surprised me with a huge bag of stuff! There's a Floozie make up bag set, a scented candle, some lip glosses, a spa set and some earrings from Topshop that I'd been gazing longingly at for weeks. It was so thoughtful of them and I nearly cried into my TGI Fridays!

 

 I am a self-proclaimed geek and I do love things to do with the Universe. It's going to sound SO sad but I just love looking at the pictures of how big the galaxy is, it sometimes really puts things in perspective knowing there's so much more out there than my problems!

 This is our hotel we stayed in...

 

 Apparently, King Henry VIII used to stay there! So I was hoping for some creepy, haunting activity... but unfortunately I was left disappointed! Although there was this big old chest that, when we opened it, had a picture of a demon in... So chances are, we've unleashed some curse on the place for the next visitors!

 

Finally, these are the presents from my besties! There were some gorgeous Teal earrings (my favourite colour), a lovely scarf, other jewellery including some adorable teapot earrings, a cupcake keyring and a teacup with a Soy candle in it!

It's like all the things I love in one box!

 

So there's my birthday in a post! I hope I haven't bored you!

Thanks so much to everyone who sent birthday messages, and also thanks and big love to everyone who's gifts have appeared in this post! 

Will post about my Vintage Venture soon!

Lots of Love, Taz x

One Of The Very Nicest Things About Life is The Way We Must Regularly Stop Whatever It Is We Are Doing And Devote Our Attention To Eating.

Hi guys!

I’ve got a few things ready to type up and post in the (I hope) not too distant future. There’s a birthday post featuring some of the beautiful presents I got, and another which I’m going to refer to as a “vintage venture” which I went on last week. So they should be up within the next week.

However, after the excitement of the jubilee… and the mass of cakes I ate in celebration of it (God bless you ma’am!) I’ve decided to type up one of my favourite recipes. If you hate the sound of it, don’t make it… I think it’s simple enough :)

And if you do make it, let me know how it goes!

I am unashamedly obsessed with The Hairy Bikers.
(Many believe this is because my father is hairy... and a biker.)
Anyway, my dad got their cookbook from a friend and because he is a self-proclaimed masterchef of the world he, naturally, believed it would be of no use to him and passed it down to his curinarily-challenged daughter! (for the slow kid at the back - that's me!)

I love their recipes because they're easy to follow, they don't use ponsey ingredients (Nigella, I love you, but no-one has oak-dried baby porcini mushrooms or cave-aged truffle pesto in their cupboard!) and they eat REAL food, these guys are not cooking for diet-dwellers!
One recipe I adore is Key Lime Pie so I thought I would share it with you all - ENJOY!

Ingredients

For the base

· 175g/6oz digestive biscuits

· 80g/3oz butter

· 50g/2oz caster sugar

For the filling

· 3 large free-range eggs, separated

· 2 limes, finely grated zest

· 125ml/4½fl oz lime juice

· 210ml/7½fl oz condensed milk

· 80g/3oz caster sugar

· ½ tsp vanilla extract

· pinch salt

To serve

· whipped cream

Preparation method

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.

For the pastry base, finely crush the biscuits by placing into a plastic bag and bashing with a rolling pin (alternatively, pulse to crumbs using a food processor). Transfer to a mixing bowl.

Melt the butter in a saucepan, then pour over the biscuit crumbs. Add the sugar, then mix well to combine. Evenly spread the biscuit mixture in a 23cm/9in pie case, making sure to cover the sides of the tin as well. Level off any excess biscuit mixture.

For the filling, whisk the egg yolks in a bowl until pale and fluffy. In a separate bowl, whisk together the lime zest, lime juice and condensed milk until smooth and creamy, then mix into the egg yolk mixture. Pour the mixture into the pie case.

In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form when the whisk is removed from the bowl. Gradually fold in the sugar, vanilla extract and salt, then whisk again until stiff peaks form. Spoon the meringue mixture over the filling in the pie case, using a fork to form the meringue into peaks.

Bake the pie in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until the meringue is golden-brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Place into the fridge to chill completely before serving.

To serve, cut slices of the key lime pie and serve with a few spoonfuls of whipped cream.

Hope some of you will give it a try and tell me if you like/love/hate it!

Will try and get those other posts up within the week but going away tomorrow on a birthday surprise trip!
(Will also post about that too!)

Until then, take care.

Lots of love, Taz x

Let Them Eat Cake.

Hello my lovelys!

I haven't posted in a while because I haven't had much to say! But I wanted to tell you all about some of the lovely things I've been upto and share some photos.

Firstly, when I went for my weekend in Durham I bought these adorable little postcards for two of my friends which I've been wanting to show you for ages but I only gave them out on friday! (I am a terrible person) They are soooo cute and were perfectly apt for the friends in question.

They were from Paperchase and I also got one for my mum saying "I Love You So Much I Could Squish You!" haha. So sweet!

This post follows a theme about the same friends really because one of my 'things' is afternoon tea... I just LOVE it, it's so quaint and very English (I'm carrying forth the Ladies Who Luncheon flag for us Brits!) so my friends got us a voucher for Champagne Afternoon Tea at Mount Oswald Manor Hotel and Golf Club for Christmas! It was super kind of them and really thoughtful.

Also last week, me and Nix went for a day out in Stokesley. The market was on and the sun was out so it was gorgeous! We went to Chapters Bistro for lunch and would totally recommend it, it was amazing value for money, then did a bit of shopping, looked through the market and then headed to the Deli On The Green for some tea and cake!

I had Polenta shortbread which I'd never even heard of before, but it was delicious! So chewy and yum! And Nix got a pot of tea the size of her head! haha!

They also offer a great range of deli produce too. I got my mum some almond, cherry and linseed crackers along with some oak smoked wensleydale and nix got some haloumi. It also sells loads of chocolates and organic produce as well as chutneys, vinagrettes, and booze.

If you live locally then totally check these places out!

Until next time, take care.

Lots of love, Taz x

There Is No Trouble So Great Or Grave That Cannot Be Much Diminished By A Nice Cup Of Tea. - Bernard-Paul Heroux

So this is my new favourite place in the world to go! 

It's called The Olde Young Tea House and it's just so cute! It's set up almost like an old sweet shop with jars of flavoured tea on the shelves, you go up, have a sniff of them, and take the one you fancy up to the counter.

The whole place is decorated with vintage things and everything is mismatched! 

They have all kinds of flavours, there's fruity ones like mango and strawberry... and spicy ones like oriental spice... nutty ones like sweet almond... mystical ones like sleeping beauty... and these amazing flower ones that come in a clear teapot, they start off as a bulb and you pop them in the water, then after a couple of minutes they grow in the tea and spread out showing all their petals! We were amazed!

I took so many photos, I'm terrible for it! 

Me and a couple of my friends went on Monday, and we couldn't help going again today! We've been talking about it all week. I think we've agreed it's going to become our second home for between and after lectures!

They also sell some gorgeous stuff, including little bags of the teas you like, and some beautiful jewellery like little teapot earrings. Adorable!

Anyway, here we are at the weekend again, thank goodness.

I hope you all have a wonderful time and I'll post again very soon.

Lots of Love, Taz x