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28Dec

Art deco cocktail sticks

2015 holds a lot of amazing new adventures for me, I will not only be in charge of other’s healthcare (!) when I qualify as a nurse but also I will be getting married in August!!! We have a nice little tight budget and we are looking to make a lot of things ourselves, from the invitations to the lovely deep emerald green napkins I have pictured in my head. Our reception will be on a lovely village hall in a quaint village in Hampshire. It looks like it could date back to the Tudors but the inside definitely says Art Deco and we were told that back in the late 20s a Canadian ex-pat fell in love with the village and decided to build a hall for the community so we decided to pay homage to it so we are going Deco. It won’t be a theme, theme. No, my bridesmaids are not going to be dressed as flappers. It’s very loosely based on the era. Only a few can afford these sort of amazing art deco weddings. But I can try. And I am sure having fun Pinteresting all sorts of wedding inspirations. So when I came across
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21Dec

Last minute Christmas gift

  As much I feel Christmas is the most magical time of the year it can also be a very stressful time for some. Gifts to buy and wrap, final errands to run at work before the break, all the packing for those who are spending Christmas away and obviously, for all the hosts out there, the last minute food shopping, cleaning the house…Still thinking it’s the most wonderful time of the year? And you can plan it to the last curled ribbon but there is always someone that we unwilling forget to buy a present for. Or even that last minute guest to whom you just want to give a little gift. We have a solution! You can make this gift in 20 minutes and with the right packaging it can look really special too. These caramelised nuts are delicious and perfect for this time of the year. If you are a super-organised type of hostess and have done all your gift-buying and wrapping you can also serve it as nibbles. Careful, it is addictive. I used a spice mix called Lebkuchen which is traditional here in Germany but you can use the same spices as those for gingerbread
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14Dec

Frosted Candle Jars

I have not enjoyed the build up to Christmas this year as I normally do. With working two jobs and an exam looming I haven’t had time to imerse myself in the preparations as much as I would have liked, from decorating the house to planning what dessert can possibly be light enough after Christmas dinner so you don’t feel like you are going to explode on the sofa while watching Home Alone for the 100th time. A couple years ago I was in a very different frame of mind: I actually had time off during Christmas and my brother was coming home from Switzerland with my new sister-in-law so my mum and I went all out with the decoration and food prep. We even made our own cake stands. We got a bit carried away, we had more stands than cakes. That remains as one of the best Christmas in recent years for me, so I am bringing back one of our many DIY projects from that time which I re-use every year. This idea was born after my mum brought home a selection of unused jars that were going to be thrown away from the lab were she works. We agreed
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05Dec

Marzipan and cinnamon hot chocolate

December is definitely my favourite month. I love what it brings: the chill outside, the snow, the traditional German Christmas markets, family gatherings…My love of December is so great I chose to get married on this month two years ago. Call me crazy but to me there’s nothing more romantic than a winter wedding. And December would not be December without a hot drink to warm our cold bones and help us relax after a long day, right? I will be openly frank here and say that I am being bad. I’ll tell you why: I was planning on posting a recipe of traditional mulled wine to share with all of you but I decided to be a little selfish. Selfish because mulled wine contains alcohol and, dear readers, I am teetotal at the moment as I am breastfeeding. I guess I could have made a litre of mulled wine and just photograph it for the blog. Or let my husband loose with it. But it is Christmas time, a time for sharing. Plus it would be so sad to make mulled wine and not have a drop to drink. So I have adapted a delicious recipe of marzipan hot
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28Nov

Chai spiced fruitcake

A British essential for the holidays is definitely a boozy fruitcake, they are everywhere this time of the year. The whole left side of the bakery aisle in my local supermarket has been transformed in the most amazing selection of dried fruits and citrus peel. I love dried fruits, I love booze and I certainly love cake but not fruitcake. Never been a fan of the traditional recipe and I reckon it’s because the ones I have tried in the past left me feeling underwhelmed, they were either too dry, too boozy or have a ratio of 95:1 fruit to cake, and that is just not the balance I am looking for. So I have adapted a family recipe to share with you a lovely spiced fruitcake. It is based on my grandmother’s orange cake recipe which was always an amazing treat when I was growing up and I’ve packed it (a good balance) with fruits soaked in Amaretto and chai tea, a drink which I have felt in love with recently and it adds an amazing mix of spices. Now as you can see by the pictures I lost my normal 20cm cake tin and had to use one
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20Nov

Stir-fried noodles with cashew nuts

For a couple weeks now I have had an enormous desire to eat oriental food and I especially adore Thai and Vietnamese cuisine, but will be the first to admit I don’t often venture into the kitchen to cook these dishes. The reason behind my it is not lack of will or time it’s more the shopping for the ingredients that puts me off.  And I am spoiled for Asian shops where I live, plus the prices are super affordable, so what’s the big issue? In recent times I have been trying to avoid going to shops packed full of people, and all the Asian shops are in central Frankfurt, where everyone seems to be, all the time. So when I think of making noodles I also start to think of having to get in the packed Metro then fighting the crowds when I get off on the other side. So I often give up just thinking about it. The scary thing about all this is that I never used to be like this. Am I getting old? Sometimes I ask myself whether living in a big city and paying ridiculous rent makes me yearn for the comfort and coziness
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