Twelve posts of Christmas #9 - Christmas presents: gifts I can eat/drink

If you've read my 'gifts I can wear' post, you'll already be aware that I'm splitting my 'What I got for Christmas' posts into three instalments. I love nosing through other people's Christmas present summaries so I consequently enjoy writing similar posts myself... I assume most people are as nosy as I am!

Today's instalment is all about the gifts I received which I can eat or drink. There were quite a few gifts in this category, as you're about to find out. Don't worry, I'll re-start my diet in March once these are all gone.

A large pile of chocolates and sweets from Neil, family, friends and colleagues.

My love for hot chocolate and marshmallows is well documented... I had

these lovely presents from my parents, my parents in law, and my colleague Chris. 

I also had more hot chocolate and a pretty Cath Kidston mug from Amy...

this one wasn't photographed with the rest as I opened it a
few days before Christmas Day as instructed!

My parents bought us these tasty-sounding chutneys... I can't wait to try them

with some cheese and crackers. I know that makes me sound like an old lady but I don't care.

Limoncello and Prosecco from my colleagues... I feel a Limoncello Fever coming on. 

Have you written a blog post about all the food/drink you received for Christmas? Like me, are you trying to be mildly sensible but just CAN'T STOP EATING? Hopefully I'm not alone in this affliction...

So I REALLY like hot chocolate...

It's well documented that I hate tea and coffee but love hot chocolate. There's just no contest in my mind... why on earth would you choose tea or coffee when you could have a hot chocolate?

I happen to meet friends in coffee shops on quite a frequent basis which means that I drink a LOT of hot chocolate. Neil and I also like relaxing in a coffee shop for half an hour or so when we're out and about over the weekend... he drinks coffee, I drink hot chocolate. I was looking through my recent phone photos a few days ago and realised that I'd had six hot chocolates within the space of ten days. This doesn't even include the hot chocolates I've made for myself in my own house! I do nearly always order a skinny hot chocolate, but still... that's a lot of chocolatey goodness in a short space of time.

As hot chocolate looks so much more attractive than tea or coffee, I thought I'd post photos of my recent beverages for you to feast your eyes on. That's just the kind of thing I do, in case you hadn't already noticed.

Enjoy!

Valentine's Day hot chocolate in Coffee #1 

Skinny hot chocolate in Caffe Nero 

Hot chocolate with all the trimmings in work (for charity!)

Skinny hot chocolate in Starbucks

Afternoon tea in Pettigrew Tea Rooms

Yet another skinny hot chocolate from Caffe Nero 

I'm fully expecting to have another hot chocolate (or three) over the weekend and I'm already excited. Do you love hot chocolate as much as I do? Is this even possible? Let me know! 

Café review: Pettigrew Tea Rooms

If you've read my latest blog post on my hen weekend, you'll already know that I have a new favourite place in Cardiff... Pettigrew Tea Rooms!

I'd never heard of Pettigrew Tea Rooms until a few months ago when I started researching the best places to go for afternoon tea in Cardiff. It had excellent reviews on Trip Advisor and was rated the 9th overall place to eat in Cardiff (out of 873!) so I thought it was definitely worth a try for my hen weekend.

Liz booked a table for afternoon tea last Saturday at 3pm and we were seated upstairs. As I mentioned in my last post, I walked in to find a beautifully decorated table with lots of Disney Princess goodies, confetti and bubbles!

The lady who served us was very friendly and accommodating right from the start and explained what came with the afternoon tea package when we were all settled in - a drink of your choice, a selection of finger sandwiches, a scone with cream and jam, and a slice of cake of your choice. So much food!

It's well documented on my blog that I don't like tea or coffee so I went for a gourmet hot chocolate. I was not prepared for the sheer volume of cream on this beauty...

I'd like to think the others were jealous of my spectacular drink but they all seemed to be enjoying their vast array of exotic teas. I've never seen such a big selection of tea in my entire life.

Back to my hot chocolate... I was starting to wonder if there was any actual hot chocolate in the mug when I hit the copious layer of marshmallows underneath the cream!

The hot chocolate was so beautifully indulgent, rich and delicious... I'll probably never have one quite like that ever again (until I go back to Pettigrew Tea Rooms, of course). In the meantime, I should probably go back to ordering my regular skinny hot chocolate with no cream or marshmallows for the sake of my waistline. I do have a wedding dress to fit into, after all!

Around ten minutes after our drinks were served, the finger sandwiches were brought out on little tiered stands. We had three different stands between us, along with one stand of gluten free sandwiches. I sampled a beef sandwich and a ham sandwich... I didn't want to eat too many as I knew I needed to leave room for my scone and slice of cake! The sandwiches were very elegant with a generous filling and tasty dressings. We couldn't finish all the sandwiches so the waitress boxed them up for us so that we could finish them later in the day. A nice touch!

Our scones were on the top tiers of the stands, so I eagerly tucked into mine as soon as someone else started theirs. The scone was lovely and light with a generous helping of currants (just the way I like them), and the jam and cream were just perfect. There actually seemed to be two types of cream on the table... one was more runny than the other. They both tasted great so the consistency didn't bother me in the slightest. Are you a 'cream then jam' person, or a 'jam then cream' person? I'd genuinely like to know.

I didn't think I'd have room for cake, then I remembered that my stomach always has room for cake. The waitress showed us the wide range of cakes they had available and again I was really impressed with the variety of choice on offer. I eventually went for the lemon drizzle cake after being extremely tempted by the carrot cake and changing my mind at the last minute. Who isn't tempted by carrot cake whenever they see it on a menu? Anyway, when my cake arrived I was very pleased with my choice. The lemon curd and buttercream filling was absolutely out of this world, and the sponge itself wasn't bad either. I also loved the 'bride to be' icing detail on my plate... so thoughtful! Again, a few people couldn't finish their cakes so they were boxed up so that they could take them away.

The afternoon tea was £14.95 each which was well worth the price. Just look at the sheer volume of food we ate! The experience was so lovely and we were made to feel very welcome throughout. We stayed there for three hours and weren't made to feel rushed at all. It's worth noting that I also love the cosy atmosphere and decor at Pettigrew Tea Rooms. It won't surprise you to find out that I'm a big fan of pink floral bunting!

I'm already trying to figure out when I can justify my next visit to Pettigrew Tea Rooms... I can't recommend it highly enough!

Wintery things #1

I love winter! I mostly love it because it makes me feel all Christmassy, but I also love wrapping up for the cold weather in my scarf and gloves, digging out my winter outfits, drinking a lot of hot chocolate and lighting my Yankee candles. I always find that it's so much easier to find nice winter clothes than summer clothes... does anyone else agree?

I've only been blogging regularly since January, so I haven't had a chance to blog about my love for November/December until now. I thought I'd illustrate my love for winter by sharing a few photos I've taken lately of lovely wintery things. Hopefully I'll be posting a few of these posts as I take more photos, but here are the first five wintery things I've got excited about...

Christmas tree in St David's 2

Lovely hot chocolate at the Ocho Lounge in Penarth

New mittens!

Duffy's winter jumper

Winter pyjamas!

Does anyone else love winter as much as I do? Do you have any photos to share?

Happiness is... #2

It's time for the second instalment of my 'Happiness is...' posts. If you want to know more about the background of these posts, you can read the first instalment here. Again, I've linked to previous blog posts where relevant so that you can read about what makes me happy in a bit more detail.

So here are another 25 little things which make me happy!

26. Hot chocolate with marshmallows
27. Christmas
28. Receiving a random card or letter
29. Having a Pinterest binge
30. Making chocolate brownies
31. Surprising someone I care about
32. Writing my packing list before I go on holiday
33. My extensive collection of teddies
34. Eating at The Harvester
35. Finding something amazing in the sales
36. Poached eggs on toast
37. Novelty socks
38. Not having to pay council tax in February and March
39. Receiving my new Tesco Clubcard vouchers
40. Getting good grades
41. Going to the cinema
42. Playing with Tara and Homer
43. High School Musical
44. Having a lie in
45. An overwhelming sense of relief after weeks of stress
46. Eating a churro
47. Reading the Harry Potter books
48. A clean and tidy flat
49. Watching Friends... it never gets old!
50. Meeting up with a friend I haven't seen or spoken to for months and just picking up where we left off


That was very therapeutic... what makes you happy?

Hot chocolate, marshmallows and flowers solve everything!

You know when you just have 'one of those days'? This happened to me very recently. EVERYTHING seemed to go wrong. My day started with an awful night's sleep and a very bad hair day and ended with a wasted trip to the travel kiosk in Tesco and with someone parking in my designated residents' space, with a super busy day in between. These might all sound like little things, but they all built up into massive things in my frazzled mind until I was ready to throw something at someone, or at myself. I just kept thinking 'Why me???' in a very self pitying manner. However, my boyfriend saved the day with the lovely presents below :)

Beautiful flowers

Hot chocolate, marshmallows and a mug!

My love for hot chocolate is well documented, and I genuinely look forward to having a hot chocolate in the evening with three marshmallows for a treat. I live a simple life, obviously. I also love having flowers in my living room window to brighten up my flat, and these flowers match the photo frames Neil bought me for my birthday. These really were the perfect presents to cheer me up, especially because a lot of thought went into them. 

So perhaps hot chocolate, marshmallows and flowers don't solve everything, but they do go some way towards improving your mood when you have 'one of those days'!