Five Little Things

1. I love this boucle jacket from Asos. I've got one similar in turquoise from Zara but I can't help thinking my life would be better with this beautiful fluro orange one too!

2. The colour yellow. I keep finding myself drawn to it at the moment, whether that's nail varnish, a statement knit or a handbag. Maybe it's the smell of summer in the air, or maybe I'm just feeling particularly happy at the moment. Whatever it is, I like it!

3. The fact that some of my favourite super bloggers (Chiara, Jessica and Jules) are all in Cabo, Mexico. In fact, I love and hate this in equal measures. Love because my Instagram feed has been filled with beautiful pictures of beaches and Mexican sunsets, and hate because my Instagram feed has been filled with beautiful pictures of beaches and Mexican sunsets!

4. Ibiza. Because I've just booked to head back to the White Isle this summer, for the music, for the beautiful landscapes, for the cocktails and for the sunsets at Café del Mar.

5. These Zara heels. I bought some stilettos this weekend to curb my cravings for them, but then I saw these beauties and fell head over, well, heels. I love cobalt blue right now and think it's going to be one of my summer colours. The price tag is another thing to get my heart a flutter too, at just £29.99.

References:

www.asos.com

www.pinterest.com

www.theblondesalad.com

www.easyholidaydeals.co.uk

www.zara.com

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Koh Thai Tapas

On Thursday, my Mum and I took a trip to Bournemouth to do a bit of shopping. Of course, a midday pit stop for lunch was essential and we decided Thai food was on the menu for us. Just round the corner from the town centre is Koh Thai, a Thai tapas restaurant.

Thai and tapas isn't normally associated, but when you try out Koh Thai, you'll realise its a match made in heaven. The extensive menu is full of little bits that you can get a few of to share, just like tapas, as well as lots of main dishes too. During the week they do a business lunch which for the bargain price of £12.95, includes a drink, a starter and a main.

We decided to share the starters, where we had chicken satay and tempura prawns. Both are some of my favourite things to eat and I could have easily sat there and eaten a mountain of both of them. The prawns were delicious and of a really good size, which is fairly unusual for restaurants. The chicken was perfectly succulent and the accompanying peanut satay sauce was the perfect combination of sweet, spicy and seriously flavoursome.

For mains I opted for Pad Thai, a seriously good mix of rice noodles, egg, peanuts, spring onion, bean sprouts and chicken, all covered in a delicious sweet sauce. It was really nice, but if I was being super picky, I'd have liked it to have been a little spicier. A drizzle of lime juice over the top was all it took to tone down the sweetness however.

Mum went for the Green Chicken Curry with jasmine rice, which like all Thai Green Curries was de-li-cious. Packed full of flavour, it wasn't just a party in your mouth... it was more of a warehouse rave. However, it did pack some serious spice and I definitely would only have been able to manage a few spoonfuls. It was a real Thai curry though, so a hot spice was always going to be the centre of it.

If you're after real quality, flavour-full food and lovely service, I'd whole heartedly recommend Koh Thai.

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Chocolate Cornflake Cakes

Happy Easter everyone! Sorry I'm a day late but since being back at home my life is either non-stop working in the restaurant or seeing my friends and that certainly applied this weekend with the bank holiday. My weekend was full of split shifts and partying so I am now recovering with an extreme case of tiredness topped off with a lovely cold!

Just before the mad weekend though, I decided to whip up some of my favourite cakes of all time... Chocolate Cornflake Cakes. Yes, they're very easy to make and some of you may think they're boring, but I can almost guarantee you'll change your mind once you've tried these. Sometimes cornflake/rice crispie cakes can go rock hard once the chocolate dries but these little treats are full of golden syrup so they stay chewy as long as they stay on your plate.

To make 15 little cakes you'll need;

100g chocolate of your choice (I always use a dark one, around 70% cocoa)

75g cornflakes

50g butter

4 tbsp golden syrup

First, put on a pan of water and bring it to the boil. You only want the pan filled about a quater of the way and when it begins to boil bring it down to a simmer.

Break up your chocolate, then put that, the butter (cut into chunks) and the golden syrup into a bowl and place it on top of the pan of water. Obviously, make sure the bowl is suitable for heating up, and that it's big enough to put onto the the pan without touching the water.

It is important that you keep the water down to a simmer, because too much heat can make the chocolate split which won't make it look glossy and nice.

This should slowly start to melt the butter and chocolate and as it does, you should stir it all together so it becomes a glorious pool of liquid chocolate/heaven.

When everything is all mixed together and there are no lumps of butter left, take the bowl off the pan of water and put it on the side (be careful, it will be hot).

Add your cornflakes bit by bit and gently stir them in, trying not to break them too much.

When all the cornflakes are covered, separate them into individual cases.

Chef's treat is to lick the spoon AND the bowl. Trust me, you won't want to miss out on that one.

Now all you have to do is try and wait as long as you can while they set... but I won't tell if you have to have one sooner than that!

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