Aloha! It's day 2 of Blogmas! This post is also my 200th Blog Post! I never thought I'd see myself coming up with enough content to write 200 posts, but here we are! 3 cheers for me!
Today I have a recipe for my favourite Chocolate Chip Cheesecake, which I'm hoping you will love as much as I do!

Ingredients for the base: 

- 25g butter

- 150g shortbread biscuits, finely crushed

Ingredients for the topping:

- 300g dark chocolate (with no more than 40% cocoa solids)

- 2 eggs, beaten

- 400g full-fat cream cheese

- 150ml full-fat soured cream

- 50g dark chocolate chips or drops

Ingredients for serving:

- 100g dark chocolate

- 300ml whipping cream, softly whipped

Method: 

1. Preheat the over to 160 degree celcius. Grease the base of a 20cm spring-form cake tin with butter and line with baking paper.

2. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over a low heat. Stir in the crushed biscuits, then tip into the cake tin, pressing evenly over the base of the tin. Place in the fridge to chill whilst you prepare the topping.

3. Break the chocolate into a bowl and melt over a pan of hot water, stirring occasionally with a spoon until runny and smooth.

4. Put the eggs, cream cheese and soured cream into a separate bowl and whisk until smooth. Pour in the melted chocolate and whisk for a minute. Stir in the chocolate chips or drops.

5. Spoon into the tin and spread evenly over the biscuit base. Bake in the oven for 45-50 minutes until firm around the edges and slightly wobbly in the middle. 

6. Remove from the oven and run a small palette knife around the edge of the tin to release the cheesecake. Allow to cool in the tin before transferring to the fridge to chill. 

7. Once chilled, remove the outside ring of the tin and lift the base on to a serving plate, removing the paper lining. 

8. Spread about half of the whipped cream in a thin layer on the top of the cake. Finely grate the chocolate and sprinkle over the top. 

9. Pipe or spoon the remaining cream around the edge of the cake. 

10. Add some decoration if you wish. I used Malteaser reindeers for a festive look!

In bake off style - Ready, Steady, BAKE! 

xxx

Blogmas Day 1 | Blogmas Giveaway!

Aloha Everyone! This year I have decided to (attempt to) take part in Blogmas! I'm hoping it will encourage me to blog more regularly throughout the festive period!

What better way to start, than with a festive giveaway!

Here is what you can win!

1. Real Techniques Blush Brush

2. Real Techniques Shading Brush

3. Yankee Candle Small Tumbler in Vineyard

4. Yankee Candle Wax Melt in Baby Powder

5. Yankee Candle Wax Melt in Candy Cane Lane

6. Yankee Candle Wax Melt in Vanilla Chai

7. Yankee Candle Wax Melt in Wild Sea Grass

Follow the steps below to be in with a chance of winning!

The giveaway will run until midnight on Saturday 19th December and is open internationally!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck!

xxxx

My charm bracelet story

Aloha! Today I thought I'd do a little post about my charm bracelet, and what all the charms on it mean to me. My bracelet is probably my most prized piece of jewellery. It is a Links of London sweetie bracelet which I was given for my 18th Birthday by my parents.

My Charms:

A book - This was a gift from my mum's best friend. It was given to me at a time when I was starting a journalism degree and symbolised my love of writing. I never completed my journalism degree, eventually switching to do law, but I still love writing, doing so through this blog!

A cocktail glass - This was a gift from my auntie. Cocktails are my favourite things to drink, closely followed by Mexican beers!

18 - As the bracelet was bought for my 18th Birthday, my best friend bought me the number 18 charm to mark the occasion!

Pink Heart - This was a gift from my mum, because she loves me obv. 

Jukebox - This was from my granny. It symbolises my love for music. 

K - This one is self explanatory. The first initial of my first name. Because what's a charm bracelet without an initial charm!

xxxx 

TheSundayPost - 29th November

Aloha! Wow it's the end of November already! I know I say this all the time, but I have no idea where this year has gone!

Here is what I've been up to this week!

1 - Drinking hot chocolate and scheduling posts! I'm going to be taking part in Blogmas this year so I've been super busy thinking up ideas for posts! This will be a huge challenge for me as I am not the most regular of bloggers and I find it hard to blog when I'm working full time too!

2 - I don't get paid until tomorrow so money has been pretty tight this week! Of course, that also meant I couldn't full embrace the Black Friday sales. I did manage to pick up a few things which Mikey kindly lent me the money for!

3 - I had been going on all week about really wanting a burrito from a local Mexican street food place called Pinto. (I blogged about it here.) Mikey surprised me on Friday night by bringing one home for me! It was soooo good!

4 - I bought allll the wedding magazines. I genuinely think I have an obsession with them. I have to buy one whenever a new issue comes out! I've been cutting out all the pictures I like and adding them to my scrapbook, which I'm going to blog about soon!

So that is about it for this week! I'm away to put up my Christmas tree now! I know it's not quite December yet, but there's nothing wrong with spreading some christmas cheer!

xxxx

FoodieFriday // Texas Style Barbecue Beef

Aloha!

Today I have a little slow-cooker recipie for you all. I think this dish might be my absolute favourite meal. I love it so much I'm even considering demanding it for my wedding meal (in true Bridezilla style). Here is how you can make it too!

Ingredients for the rub:

- 1 tbsp caster sugar

- 2 tsp salt

- 1 tsp mixed spice

- 2 tsp garlic granules 

- 1 tsp onion powder

- 4 tsp smoked paprika

Other ingredients:

- 1kg beef brisket

- 2 onions, coarsely chopped

- 1 garlic clove

- 3 root vegetables (I use carrots)

- 2 tbsp barbecue sauce

- 2 tbsp soft light brown sugar

- 200ml hot beef stock

- 2 tbsp of malt vinegar

Method: 

1. Roll the brisket joint out flat and rub the spice mix into the surface of the beef. Leave to marinate for at least 15 minutes. I leave it in the fridge overnight for maximum taste!

2. Place the chopped onions, crushed garlic and root veg in the bottom of the slow cooker.

3. Stir the barbecue sauce and brown sugar into the beef stock, then pour over the vegetable layer in the slow cooker. 

4. Sear the beef in a hot pan and place on top of the layer of vegetables and beef stock. 

5. Put on the lid and cook on high for 7-8 hours until the beef is easy to pull apart.

6. Remove the beef from the slow cooker and shred into strips.

7. Pour the liquid in the slow cooker into a frying pan and simmer for a few minutes until the sauce has thickened up. Add the vinegar, then pour over the beef. 

8. Serve with your choice of sides. I like to serve either in a roll with salad, or with baked potatoes and corn on the cob!

There you have it, a very simple and super tasty meal which will impress!

Happy cooking!

xxxx

Dublin Photo Diary

Aloha! If you follow me on twitter or instagram, you will know that I recently went on a long-weekend trip to Dublin. Mikey has a lot of family in and around the Dublin area so it was a nice opportunity for him to see them all, and for me to meet them all!

I thought I'd do a little photo diary for anyone who is nosy like me!
So here is what I got up to!

Dalkey. About a 40 minute train ride out of Dublin. Mikey says on a hot summer day you could be in the South of France. It was a really pretty little place, definitely worth a day trip to if you are ever in Dublin. Lots of lovely little places to enjoy a bit to eat and a drink!

Mikey enjoying the first of many pints of Guinness that weekend.

After 2 nights in Dublin, we headed out to a tiny little place called Ballylanders. Mikey's dad is from that village, and his Auntie and Uncle were having a 40th Wedding Anniversary party nearby which we went along to. We spent the night there, then went for a nice long walk through the countryside to walk off our hangovers (I think I was still drunk when I woke up thanks to the barman giving us free pints!) These cows thought I was coming to feed them...sorry guys!

After travelling back to Dublin, we spent our last day having a walk around (the weather had finally cleared up), and visiting the Guinness Storehouse! 

The Storehouse was really interesting. They've done a really good job of making it an attraction which is really worth visiting. It's a must if you are in Dublin! Here we are enjoying our free pint of Guinness in the Gravity Bar on the top floor. With panoramic views across the city, it's a lovely place to sit and enjoy a drink. 

Afterwards we had a wander around Temple Bar.

And I ended up in a sweet shop...obviously. I just love traditional sweet shops. I got a bad of tutti fruiti cubes and fizzle sticks which are 2 sweets I used to enjoy many years ago when I was a little girl!

And on our final evening we went along to Mikey's cousin's Ukulele club which is held in a bar in the city centre. It was a great night and they were all really good. We even got them to play 500 miles by the proclaimers which got everyone in the pub up dancing and singing! 

We had a great time in Dublin. It's definitely somewhere you should visit if you haven't already. I'm sure I will be back soon to see Mikey's family again.  

TheSundayPost - 22nd November

Aloha! Another week over, another week closer to Christmas! I can't believe it's now less than 5 weeks away!

Here's my summary of this week!

1 - The weather has been so miserable this week. It's been cold, wet and windy almost all week! Coupled with it being dark by 4pm, I've not been outside much!

2 - Cuddles with Smudge have been had. I'm starting to notice him ageing a lot more recently. He's not able to jump up on the sofa as easy anymore. Sad times :( 

3 - My dad is away to Florida on a golfing trip for his brother's 50th birthday so on Thursday night he took us out for a bite to eat at Pizza Express. I tried their new christmas starter, smoked salmon rillette. It was delicious! Then I had my usual choice of pizza, the pollo ad astra on a romana base!

My dad has been sent to Florida with a shopping list for christmas presents so hopefully he manages to find the things I've asked for!

4 - Saturday night, the weather was rubbish again so we decided to have a night in with telly and food. We got some steaks from the local butcher and I made a spicy chipotle sauce to go with them. Then afterwards we toasted marshmallows and enjoyed a few beers whilst watching X Factor, I'm a Celebrity and The Jonathan Ross Show. Sometimes it's nice to just relax at home rather than go out in the cold!

That's it for this week. Now we go into the last full week in November! Scary stuff!

xxxx