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Tapas & Cerveza With Alhambra – Win A Crate Of Beer

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A few weeks ago I was sent a crate of Alhambra Beer. Alhambra is a new brand to me but not a new brand. In fact they have been producing quality beers since 1925. The Alhambra brewery was founded in Granada in 1925 and is named after the city’s magnificent Alhambra Palace.

Alhambra crate of beer

Not normally a beer drinker I assumed they would be eagerly consumed by my other half but I guess there is a big difference between a basic beer and a quality craft beer and I really liked it. The bottles are stylish too and wouldn’t look out on place on a dinner table although we enjoyed most of ours outside or lounged on the settee with tapas to watch a movie.

I love Tapas – for those of you that haven’t tried them, they are simply small dishes of food. Perfect for sharing and it means you get to try lots of different dishes.

I created this easy tapas recipe last night to accompany our beer.

Roasted garlic, tomatoes and chorizo with a chilli kick

You will need:

8 Garlic Cloves (peeled)
3 inch chunk of Chorizo sliced
6-7 cherry tomatoes halved
1/4 of a red chilli finely diced
1 tbsp Olive Oil

Share the ingredients between two tapas dishes or ramekins.

Tapas - chorizo, garlic & tomatoes

Bake at 200C for 25 minutes, giving a small shake halfway through.

Alhambra beer and tapas

Now how would you like to win a crate of Alhambra Beer with some stylish glasses?

Just enter this simple rafflecopter form for your chance:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

* I was sent a crate of beer to try.

I Wanna Be Like Yoohoooohooo

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Today is an important day. It’s a day of celebration for a woman who it is impossible to know and not love. A woman who has shaped my life more than she knows.

A day about a woman who really is the embodiment of the word mother.

Mam, mammy, maaaaam.

4 years ago this month you were just about to commence radiotherapy treatment for breast cancer just as I was about to become a mother myself. The prospect of losing you was unbearable. Yet you got through it and you were there when I gave birth holding my hand through it as you have done through everything else in my life.

Now I’m a mother of two, you are a Nanna to a whopping fourteen and yet you manage to make time for every one of them and make them feel adored. Izzy and Chloe idolise you and Dad and I can’t tell you how much pleasure I get from seeing my children growing and loving you as I do.

They say it takes becoming a parent to appreciate a parent and I don’t know if I completely agree. I appreciated you for 28 years before I had children. Yet these last four years have taught me a lot. I am grateful for you. I understand you more. I need you just as much as always – just in different ways.

You have taught me that parenting is forever.

And I’m more than ok with that.

I may be 32 years old but sometimes I need to be sat with you, having a cuppa and telling you about my day as much or even more than I was 12.

I hope that you realise just how much you have done for all of us and how we can be stronger knowing that you and Daddy are there.

Life has never been easy for you. Since you were a child yourself you had responsibilities that you shouldn’t have had to worry about. Since then with all of your children and all the smiles came worries, hospital appointments, labours and stress. Yet you never complain about it. Just continue to help us in every way you can.

If in all my life all I achieve is to be more like you I would consider it to be a life well lived.

I think everyone could benefit from being a little more like you.

The world would certainly be a better place for it.

Happy 60th Mam. Hope you enjoy everything we have planned.

Summer Treats With Rennie

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For me Summer food is all about variety. Lots of different dishes so that I can have a bit of everything without having to choose. Barbecues with ribs and burgers served alongside potato salads, corn with chilli and lime butter and grilled halloumi.

Lazy al fresco dinners of pasta with huge green salads and olives and various cured meats.

When Rennie asked me to create a summer dish I chose a seasonal fruit – figs to base my recipe around. I tried a fig and cheese starter at a wedding recently and I’ve been wanting to create something similar ever since.

Baked Figs with Bacon, Sundried Tomatoes & Mozzarella

You will need:

2 fresh Figs quartered
4 rashers of good quality smoked bacon
4 large Sundried Tomatoes
4 slices of Mozzarella

Place your quartered fig onto the middle of your bacon rasher, add a sundried tomato followed by a slice of mozzarella and wrap tightly with the bacon ( as if you are making pigs in blankets ). Repeat with the remaining figs.

Baked figs with bacon

Bake for approximately 20 minutes.

Baked figs mozzarella Sundried tomatoes

Serve immediately with a large leafy salad and herby potatoes.

To make herby potatoes: roughly chop 8 medium potatoes ( I leave the peel on ), heat 2-3 tbsp of olive oil in a large roasting tray. Add your potatoes ( carefully ) and sprinkle over 2 tbsp of fresh herbs – I used thyme and crushed black peppercorns and cook in a very hot oven until golden and crispy.

Roasted herb potatoes

Luckily I don’t tend to get indigestion (..unless I’m heavily pregnant ) after a meal but if you do suffer with this I can recommend Rennie ( I practically lived on them during my last pregnancy ).

This post has been supported by Rennie®, but all thoughts are my own.

Don’t Look Away

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Tonight I sat down to write a post about my eldest daughter approaching her 4th birthday and found I couldn’t.

Like lots of you I have seen some photos the last few days that I wish I hadn’t. Photos of families, of sorrow and of death. One photo in particular of a child who will never see his 4th birthday.

That small child, alone and cold who left this world in such a tragic way.

I don’t watch or read the news very often. You see I’m the type of person who seems to absorb things too much and a horrifying story ( particularly any which affect children) can play on my mind for months. As a form of self preservation I guess I just avoid it.

Sometimes it’s unavoidable. Like this week. I almost closed the browser window when the image popped up as I knew I would not want to read what had happened. I forced myself to look. To read.

It’s important that we do not look away when it comes to this.

This is happening. Around of us. It’s part of our lives now. We need to learn as much as we can about it and decide for ourselves. To find out how we can help. To know the unspeakable terror and sadness these poor, poor people must be feeling right now.

The sorrow of a father who lost his children and wife whilst trying to find freedom. For him then to see his sons lifeless body on every newspaper and TV channel. To know this has happened to someone else is overwhelming in itself. To feel the sadness and tears creep onto your face for a child you did not know. Imagine it was you. Imagine it was your child.

To be so scared of where you are and what may happen to your family that you are willing to risk all of your lives in a little dinghy on a rough, open sea.

I can’t imagine that kind of fear.

My children tucked warm in bed I hope will never know that kind of fear.

So instead of writing the post I shed some tears for an innocent boy called Aylan and the many others who have lost their lives and I wrote this.

I also did what a lot of you have probably done today and looked for ways to help, this article from The Guardian is full of ideas, click here.

A Pub Grub Classic – Smothered Chicken

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Smothered Chicken, Hunters Chicken, Hickory Chicken, BBQ Chicken… I don’t think I’ve seen a pub dish with as many different names as this one.

Whatever the name the ingredients tend to be the same. A chicken breast wrapped in bacon, topped with cheese and smothered (hence the name) in BBQ sauce. It’s something I used to order a lot when I was younger as I love the slightly sweet and sticky indulgence of the meal. I rarely order it now although it’s still quite often on a pub restaurant menu, preferring to go for some thing different but when I do order it I’m quite often disappointed. Disappointed by slightly anaemic bacon, a sauce which isn’t quite what I want it to be, a barely there topping of a cheese which doesn’t really taste of anything at all.

So what do you do when you fancy something and want it to taste a particular way. Well you make it yourself.

First up I think it’s important to choose your ingredients wisely. The sauce is so important. Too sweet and it’s hard to eat it all. Too bitter and you don’t want to eat it at all. We try different BBQ sauces all the time and occasionally we even make our own. For this meal I chose a BBQ sauce we picked up in TKMaxx – yep TKMaxx. They have an aisle or two of food bits, normally sauces and oils – you won’t normally find the same product twice but it’s an exciting way to try new things. This sauce was a bit fiery but oh so good. I wish I could remember the name but I can’t and it’s all gone but for a similar taste you could use the Nandos Peri Peri BBQ sauce and for something sweeter the Jack Daniels BBQ is pretty good too.

For the cheese we used an extra mature cheddar – yes it’s harder to grate than a rubbery basic mild but the flavour is what it’s all about.

The chicken – we use thighs (boneless & skinless) instead of breasts and for the bacon – it has to be smoked, streaky if possible but definitely smoked.

You will need:

5 chicken thighs ( boneless & skinless )
6 rashers of bacon
200g of strong mature cheddar (grated)
300ml of BBQ sauce

Pour approx 75ml of BBQ sauce into a baking dish, place your chicken on top and then add a further 75ml over the top. Now drape your bacon rashers over the top of the chicken and bake for about 20 minutes. Remove from oven. Pour over remaining sauce and sprinkle your cheese over and bake for a further 10 minutes.

Smothered chicken

* your sauce will be a little oily due to the cheese, drain away or skim if you prefer.

Serve immediately with homemade chips and a fresh green salad or with rice and veg.

IF you have any leftover this makes a really good sandwich filling ( when roughly chopped ) for the next days lunch.

We really enjoyed this at home pub grub and will definitely make it again soon.

What Does A Four Year Old Want?

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It’s rapidly coming around to Izzys 4th birthday and like every other parent I’m asking myself how did that happen? It seems like just a moment ago that she was a newborn snug in my arms. Yet here she is, nearly four years old. As happy, funny and full of life as I could have hoped she would be.

We are starting to plan her birthday party, no grand affairs here just a simple tea party with her family and friends. Last year it was Frozen themed. We pulled the projector down and screened the film with popcorn and in the garden we had cakes and sandwiches with a visit from Olaf ( we have family connections 😉 ). This year she is yet to decide exactly what she wants but we will figure it out.

What to get the girl who seemingly has toys coming out of her ears? Well first of all a good clear out of her existing toy stash. Some passed onto family and friends, others passed onto the charity shop and some only fit for the recycling bin.

These are some of the gift ideas she has thrown at me, others are things I like and also items we have previously been sent to review:

She has asked for a camera. It’s one of the only specific things she wants. She tries to use mine a lot of the time and I’m undecided as to whether to get a child specific camera like this one:

Fisher price camera

Or just a basic cheap camera. What would you do?

This years must have on the Christmas toy list is My Friend Freddy and I think Izzys face would light up if she opened this on her birthday. You can tell this clever teddy up to 50 details about your child so that it can astound them with how well he knows them. It can be tailored to the age of your child and can also be paired with a phone or tablet. Pretty cool huh?

My friend freddy

Sometimes it’s nice to buy/give gifts which won’t fall apart when dropped, gifts which look pretty yet natural and feel almost like an educational aid. We love this Noah’s Ark from Born Gifted:

Noah's ark fair trade

Pip Ahoy is one of the TV programmes that Izzy has recently started watching and just in time they have brought out a fabulous selection of character based toys like this:

Pip ahoy toy

Izzy has lots of hand me downs from her numerous cousins so we don’t often have to buy clothes for her but when we do I like them to be cute and functional as well as comfortable.

I also love this Paul Frank Tee – Izzy calls it her shiny Monkey top:

Paul frank

We love wellies, the last year we have worn and worn and worn these awesome Bogs boots:

Bogs wellies

Unfortunately they have now just about outgrown them and we have moved onto these ones from Brantano which are cute and easy to pop on.

Wellies

If your children are anything like mine then sticker books, play doh and colouring books will go down a storm. We like these painting with water books from Aldi ( a bargain at 99p ) which reminds me of my childhood. Do you remember being amazed at how the water changed the colour of the pictures?

Aldi paint with water

Also from Aldi and great for any Frozen fans are these activity tents. They can be used separately or together and my two will have hours of fun with it I’m sure:

Frozen tent aldi

Even 4 year olds can be scared of the dark, although actually Izzy has no problem with it during the night but after her bedtime story she likes to have her light on for a little while when she’s all dozy. For the past two years we have used an Owl nightlight from Lindam which I can highly recommend. Haven’t had to change the batteries yet and it’s used daily. We are now passing that onto Chloe and Izzy will be using this bear nightlight from PK Green Shop:

Bear nightlight

Now just the cake to consider..which of course she insists I have to make. No pressure then after she declared last years to be the best cake ever in the world.

* some products in this post have been gifted to us for the purpose of a review.

Getting Comfy In Style At Homesense

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I’m a longtime fan of Homesense, it’s the one shop I could spend hours and hours in. I’d choose it over clothes shopping any day of the week. It was the last shop I went to before I gave birth to my youngest daughter and the first shop afterwards!

Homesense baby

Ok that sounds a little obsessed.

It’s a shop full of little treasures. From the most unique bits of furniture to interesting books, candles and foodie treats.

My sister bought this for me a little while ago and I love it.

Homesense furniture

On our last visit we bought some great pieces including this gorgeous blanket:

Homesense blanket

Perfect for snuggling up now that the weather has begun to change. We also bought a load of candles and a Moroccan lantern for our conservatory which I’ll share pics of ASAP.

Of course I had to stop and buy a few things from the food aisle too. We had THE most amazing salted dipping pretzels as well as some great flavoured salts and some American candy.

Are you a Homesense fan? I’m getting so excited about the Christmas stock coming in!

* I was provided with a gift voucher for Homesense.

Westons Cider At The Big Feastival

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We have been attending The Big Feastival for a number of years now. It’s one of our favourite festivals. It’s a combination of food, family and music so it’s just perfect for us.

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This year we are attending as guests of Weston Cider who have a fab spot situated next to the main stage, the cider teepee will bring a touch of Westons’ Herefordshire Cider Mill to The Big Feastival, complete with a traditional barrel bar and reclaimed wood tables, comfy bean bags and heavenly hammocks. It will be the ideal place to sit back with a cold refreshing cider and enjoy the soulful tones of Paloma Faith and the cool beats of Groove Armada.

Cider teepee big feastival

This is the first year Westons will be showcasing Henry Westons, Old Rosie and Wyld Wood together under the new ‘Westons Crafted Cider’ umbrella, all of which have been crafted to perfection using traditional cider making techniques dating back 135 years.

As an extra treat for festival goers, Westons will be bringing new limited edition flavours to The Big Feastival, including Old Rosie Cloudy Cider with Rhubarb, Elderflower or Cloudy Lemonade – perfect for the summer. Two new Henry Westons varieties will also be making an appearance, Henry Westons Single Orchard Still Cider and Henry Westons 1880 Still Cider.

We have been sampling Henry Westons, Old Rosie and Wyldwood at home and I can highly recommend them – my personal favourite being the Wyldwood.

Westons cider

Westons cider

Are you going to The Big Feastival? Maybe I’ll catch you for a drink at the Westons Teepee.

* I have been provided with press passes for the festival and cider to sample at home.

3..2..1 Aperol Spritz

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I must have been living on a different planet but until recently I’d never heard of Aperol or indeed an Aperol Spritz. However since discovering I’ve enjoyed it on quite a few occasions!

Originally created in 1919 and an extremely popular drink in Italy over many generations, it is the perfect drink to enjoy in the garden with a BBQ or at a couples picnic. I could also see this being a great welcome drink at a wedding.

To create an Aperol Spritz you follow a simple 3-2-1 recipe to make the delicious drink.

Aperol spritz

That’s 3 parts Prosecco, 2 parts Aperol and 1 part ( or a splash of soda ).

You can take a look at this video below to see just how easy it is!

* I was sent the ingredients to create this Aperol Spritz.