Well hello! Long time no see! I’m officially back, with lots of new experiences to share with you, and of course something delicious. I wanted to do something spring-themed, and these chocolate cupcakes seemed like the perfect idea. Not too heavy or complicated, but pretty and delicate. The mascarpone frosting is pastel-pink with a hint of rose water to match the colour. I love the contrast between the rich chocolate cupcakes and the creamy rose-hued frosting. Delish. Mini eggs are Easter-obligatory of course. I may have consumed the majority of the remaining “props” after the shoot today. Just maybe.

Hello to you all from snow-covered England! With all this freezing cold weather, what could be better than a fudgy, soft blondie filled with creamy peanut butter and melty chocolate chips?! They say you need more calories when its cold!

Well hello guys, it’s officially blood orange season! My favourite thing about this time of year is the citrus. Here in the UK blood oranges are very widely and cheaply available right now and they look and taste so good. If you haven’t ever tried a blood orange, you must! The juice that they produce is a beautiful deep red and is most scrumptious when imbibed in cocktail form, obviously.

Hello hello! Sorry to have gone MIA recently. As you can probably guess, the flu got me. I spent the whole week in bed and watched more Netflix and Amazon Prime than I had previously thought was humanly possible. More on that later. First, I wanted to bring you guys a recipe to remind you of summer. Something a lil’ Mediterranean. An appetiser that you can nibble on whilst sipping on some crisp white wine. A dish to share with your friends, and a reason to fry pita breads in copious amounts of olive oil.

If double chocolate salted caramel birthday cake doesn’t get your mouth watering, then you must be taking Veganuary too seriously. This cake is heaven. So indulgent, so moist, so chocolatey. I love adding a little espresso powder to anything with chocolate in it. It’s such a great thing to keep in the pantry, even if you don’t actually like drinking coffee. It also works brilliantly in brownies to really bring out those deep, fruity notes in the chocolate.

Well it’s almost the weekend, and I feel like the weather is almost on the cusp of changing. Today felt rather Spring-like, and I kinda wasn’t keen. Weird as it may sound, I love Winter. Cold, blustery days. Being all cosy and warm inside, wrapped up in fluffy pyjamas. It is still preeeetty cold outside though, so comfort food is definitely on the agenda. I’m trying to steer away from my usual suspects (yes pasta, I’m talking about you) and to make things a little lighter in the new year. This butternut squash soup is perfect. It’s unctuous, creamy and rich with a hint of spice. And it’s so good for you! As a bonus, it can also very easily be made vegan. What more can you ask for?!

Hello hello! Yes, I’m back with another super easy recipe to throw into your healthy January repertoire! I took inspiration from Alison Wu’s post about drinking celery juice in the mornings, you can find it here. Her pictures are so beautiful and creative, I am very much in awe of her artistic talent and her ability to make healthy living so beautiful. I like to amp up the flavour of this green juice with some heat from the ginger and a little tang from the lime. It’s perfect, almost salty savoury and makes a great alternative to those sugar-loaded juices. Fruit is wonderful, but it’s crazy how much sugar pressed fruit juice can contain. Not the best way to start the day!

So it seems that “dry January” is oh so passé, and we have moved onto “Veganuary” in 2018. So for all of you who are making changes to your diet this month, here’s a lil’ something I made for you. It takes about 2 minutes to make, is packed with beneficial ingredients and superfoods and is totally vegan! A protein smoothie is a great way to start the day, as the protein will keep you fuller for much longer. Also great as a mid-afternoon pick me up and it tastes oh so creamy and indulgent. It’s also totally banana free, cos I know that plenty of you are conscious of all that sugar that’s packed into a banana! This also makes it ideal for those who are banana intolerant.

What’s pink, green and brown all over? Salted pistachio, rose and cacao nib dark chocolate bark!

And just like that, Christmas has happened again! I hope you all had a wonderful celebration and ate as much as I did! Copious amounts of wine, too. But alas, the party season is not over, and with New Years Eve coming up, I’ve got a great little fizzy cocktail number for you. And because everybody’s wallets are hurting by this point in the festive season, you’ll be pleased to hear that there is no champagne involved. Just some good old cider and brandy that I’m sure you have lying around!

Just as it’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas, it’s also starting to feel a lot like flu season! So I’m here to the rescue with a warming hot toddy to alleviate those winter blues. Yes, there’s bourbon. And honey, lemon and spices. All the good stuff. And some ginger for added health benefits. Always gotta balance out the bourbon with some health!

Coming at you this week with some cheesy carbs to soak up all the Christmas alcohol you’re going to be consuming. These little mouthfuls of joy are perfect for the job. Mini, cheesy, savoury, ready to be lashed with butter, perfect with a big cuppa. Mmmm. I like to use cheddar in these scones, but if you have an alternative favourite hard, aged cheese feel free to use it instead!

As promised, more Christmas cocktails!! I can’t wait for you guys to try this one. It’s easy to batch-make, tastes delicious and is the colour of snow! What could be more festive?! Coconut lends a smooth silkiness to everyone’s favourite margarita, and you can go wild with the garnishes. Red and green are obvious go-to’s, but you could also dress these up with whatever colour scheme you’re going for this year. Deep purple blackberries frosted with a touch of gold leaf perhaps. Rosemary sprigs, candy canes or coloured sugar rims are great options too.

Sugar and spice and all things nice was what I had in mind when I created this recipe. It has all my favourite things about a cookie. Oats, chocolate chips, dried cranberries, warming spices, chewy centres and crispy edges. These smell just like Christmas while they’re baking and are the perfect midnight treat with a glass of ice cold milk.

With all the Christmas and Thanksgiving-related indulgences that have already started, I thought what better than something simple, vegetable-based and wholesome to start off the new week. These carrots are super easy and flavourful, and you can customise them however you want. Maybe with a soft-boiled egg and some toast points for lunch, or with some quinoa and sautéed kale for dinner. Totally up to you.

I cannot wait to share this one with you all! This galette is divine. The smell while it’s baking… if only I could package it up into a scented candle and send you one. So good. Something I’d noticed when making galettes before is that the sweetener used for the fruit filling is always sugar.

Christmas season is officially in full swing! So naturally, I had to make you a cocktail. And there had to be prosecco involved. What could be more Christmassy than ruby red pomegranate and some fizz?! Before you ask, yes, I am listening to Christmas music while I write this.

Before we start talking about kale, I’m just going to vent all my festive excitement for you. Well, boy am I glad that the “Halloween season” is officially over, and we can focus on the real deal: CHRISTMAS!! I know it’s nearly two months away but I am already SO excited. I’m currently pondering what colour theme to decorate the tree with. Any suggestions? I’m so tempted by a rose gold theme but I know that I really shouldn’t go out and buy a whole tree-worth of new decorations. I’m such a bauble-hoarder. Tucked away in boxes I already have stuff for red, white, gold, silver, purple, black… The list goes on.

Yes, you read that correctly. Apple cake pie. Because why have just a cake, when you can have one inside a pie?! Best of both worlds. I’m definitely one of those people who finds it hard to make a decision when it comes to dessert, and I was really struggling between all these gorgeous dutch apple cakes I keep seeing on insta, and a classic apple pie.

Wow, I have been meaning to post this for a seriously long time. So here you have it, the long awaited travel guide to Austin! I lived in Austin for a year while I studied at UT Law School, so I got to know my way round pretty well. Being an avid foodie I took every opportunity to try new restaurants and bars, so I thought I should let you guys in on it too. I was back in Texas over the summer, in Dallas, so it seemed natural that we should take a trip to Austin to reminisce a little and have some good food. My boyfriend lived in Austin for 5 years, so our combined expertise is pretty far-reaching. I’ll give you the run down on where we visited this time around, then list a couple more places that I love and that you shouldn’t miss out on!

Remember that soffrito from last week? Well here is your opportunity to use it! Bolognese is the ultimate comfort food. Rich, meaty and deeply flavoured. Plus there’s pasta. And parmesan. Heaven.

I decided to go all out for you guys, given that this is my last week in Texas. So it had to be big, it had to be sweet, and there had to be peanut butter in there somewhere. I give you banana bread made into a cake covered with peanut butter frosting and drowned in chocolate sauce. Voilà!

All the cozy fall ingredients. All in one cocktail. Happy humpday guys! This one is easy to throw together and tastes like one of those fancy cocktails you’d pay $15 for in a snazzy bar. It also tastes like autumn. Thick knitted sweaters, trees shedding their burnished copper leaves, bonfires and fireworks, afternoons by the fire getting stuck into a new book, the sound of the rain tapping against the windows.

Time for something pretty, pink and delicate. Meringue kisses! These little beauties are easy to whip up and ideal if you have just made my pandan ice-cream and are looking for something to do with all those egg whites. They also make great party favours or a replacement for a wedding cake. Meringue is also fat-free. As if you needed any other persuasion.

Coming at you today with a real killer. Seriously, this will crank your food up a couple of notches. You’ll have everyone asking you what your secret is. Soffrito! So basically, soffrito is a combination of onion, celery and carrot that is frequently used in Italian food. In France they call it mirepoix, and there are tons of other variations too. You may well have heard of the “holy trinity” in Cajun cooking. It’s basically the same as soffrito, but with bell peppers in place of the carrots. In Spain, they call it sofrito and use tomatoes.

I don’t know about you guys, but personally, I could spend a whole day in an Asian supermarket. Despite the fact that I cannot read any Asian languages. I actually quite like the fact that sometimes when I buy things, it’s a bit of a mystery and process of discovery. Last week I popped into an Asian store in Dallas after we grabbed some Vietnamese food for lunch. The fresh produce section was amazing and I had to restrain myself. Having just picked up a Cuisinart ice cream maker for ten bucks at an estate sale, ice cream was on my mind and I was on the lookout for potential flavourings. The pandan leaves were a no-brainer. I’d never tried them before, had no idea what they tasted like, and were less than 2 dollars. Perfect!

So things have been pretty busy here. We just got back from an amazing weekend in Austin, more on that later this week! I can’t wait to share all my restaurant recommendations with you guys. We truly had some insanely good food while we were there. Just thinking about it is making me hungry. I whipped up these blackberry thyme tequila smash cocktails late last week.

Happy Humpday everyone! Today I’m bringing you a slightly less guilty way to get your PSL (pumpkin spice latte, for those not in the know) fix! If you saw my pumpkin spice carrot cake, you’ll know I did promise a pumpkin spice latte this week. So I came through for you, because I know that the pumpkin cravings are getting stronger as the temperatures drop and the leaves begin to fall, amirite?! Anyway, I don’t think that it would be permissible to say pumpkin spice one more time in this post.

Sorry for being MIA the last few days guys! My boyfriend just finished up his dissertation so we took a little time out to relax and celebrate. And in true celebratory fashion, I bring you cake! Pumpkin spice carrot cake with cream cheese frosting to be precise!

Ok, ok. Enough with the desperately trying to hold on to summer. It is officially FALL and time to get COZY! So I made risotto for you. Literally the most “fall” thing ever, loaded with comforting, sweet roasted butternut squash, creamy blue cheese and crispy sage leaves. Vegetarian food never tasted so good. You might actually forget that meat at meal times was ever a thing after you try this.

Guuuuys, I have been dying to share these with you all weekend but it was a busy one! How was your weekend? Hopefully filled with fun times, good memories and some delicious eats! Everyone keeps saying summer is officially over, but it’s never too late for ice cream sandwiches, amirite?!

Before you say it, I know! Bourbon is not Irish! But it just goes so nicely with the whipped cream here that you’re going to have to forgive me. Admittedly, the last time I had an Irish coffee I made a real faux-pas. I stirred it. The poor guy who had made it and was so proud of his defined layer of cream was devastated. Safe to say, I have learnt from my mistake and instead come up with this recipe. You just can’t make the same mistake I did when the coffee is in frozen form!

Cherry. Chocolate. Vodka. Your new three favourite words. So just for you, I made them into a cocktail.

Yes, I know it’s September but there are definitely still cherries and berries in the stores so it’s definitely still summer! A couple of weeks ago we visited some picturesque lakes in Montana and Idaho, so obviously I brought a bag full of cherries all the way back with me. Because apparently the North West has a thing for cherry season, so I happily indulged.

Happy weekend guys! Before I get onto the salmon I just wanted to tell you what I’ve been up to! This weekend is pretty special because I get to attend my boyfriend’s childhood best friend’s wedding! Shoutout to Parker and Brady! We had the rehearsal dinner last night which is a first for me as a Brit! We don’t have a tradition of rehearsal dinners in the UK, but it was absolutely lovely. Seems like a great idea, why not have more celebrations if you can!?

This post is a little different. As you may know, I am spending the summer in Texas, and yet again I will be missing my mother’s birthday. She has supported me endlessly, and provided for me selflessly my entire life. So I wanted to do a little something to show her how loved she is and how thankful I am to have her, from several thousand miles away.

Well hello there. Coming at you with the three Cs today. Because is there really anything that doesn’t improve with the addition of coconut? Cocktails, cake (more on that tomorrow), cream pie, ice cream…I could go on.

So first up, an apology to the vegans out there. I will admit that I suffer from a crippling cheese addiction. I must have been the only child out there that actually would not eat mild cheddar sandwiches because they didn’t taste of anything. I like my cheese flavours bold and robust. I also like my cheese melty, be that in mac and cheese form or grilled cheese form, or even just cheese broiled on a pyrex plate. I have my mother to thank for that last one, as if I needed any more encouragement to consume more cheese. If you have never had taleggio before and you are also a fan of melty cheese, I suggest you hunt it down asap. It has a fairly strong, fruity flavour and is perfect in a grilled cheese, or melted onto crostini if you need your cheese in slightly smaller doses.

If I told you I was supposed be on a healthy eating kick, would you even believe me now? Sometimes, you just have to sacrifice for the good of others, so you make them the best french toast ever. This all started with a trip to Japan in 2016. You also probably wouldn’t believe me if I told you that we had the best french toast of our lives in Tokyo would you? Well, there is this hidden away little café, down a flight of stairs in a basement, called Café Aaliya, where they pretty much ONLY serve french toast. It can be hard to find Western breakfast options in Japan as the Japanese are not really that into the first meal of the day, but this was a real unexpected treat.

So, summer is officially upon us. I am in England for the moment, and in traditional English fashion, I can’t help but start the conversation with the weather, typical Brit. Anyway, the evenings are drawing out longer and longer, giving us so much more time to enjoy one of the best things about summer…cocktails!

Well, we are officially halfway through the week, just that bit closer to the weekend, and I know dessert is on your mind. If you are as food-mad as I am, weekends mean one thing and one thing only. Cooking time! Having more time and less pressure than you have on weeknights means that you can get the creative juices flowing and whip up something delicious. If you want to slide into the weekend pretty lazily, or you just can’t be bothered with yeast and rising times and dough and kneading… then this is your weekend project. Your Friday night project – crumble! Crumble is an English tradition, and you can make it Summer or Winter, with whatever fruit you have on hand. I personally love rhubarb for its balance of sweetness and acidity that pairs so well with the crunchy, buttery topping. It also grows like crazy in my mother’s garden in England, so it is thanks to her green fingers that I got to make this for you guys!

So I’ll let you guys in on a secret, a very sad secret. Back in the UK, where I’m from, we don’t have sprinkles like this. At all. Funfetti is not a thing. Just let that sink in a little. I know that these sprinkles are only so colourful because of the artificial colourings (which are not permitted in the UK, unfortunately), but they are so pretty! So I knew that one of the first things I had to bake for the blog was something funfetti!

Hey guys, just a little warning early on. I love pasta. If I could, I would eat it every single day. It is such a versatile food, and guaranteed to make you feel cozy and comforted no matter what kind of sauce you throw on there. Also, you get to top it with a glorious showering of my other favourite food group. CHEESE. What could be more delicious?! I can let you in on a secret; the answer is FRESH pasta! I love the chewy bite you get with a mouthful of perfectly cooked, al dente pasta, and when it comes to that bite, nothing can beat a fresh egg pasta.