Thursday 5 March 2015

Valentine's Day 2015



Hello my loves,

How are we?

I know it’s late, but thought it would be nice to share what my fiancé and I got up to on Valentine’s Day. We decided to celebrate on the Friday as we knew everywhere would be mobbed on the Saturday.

We booked a table for two at Jamie Oliver’s place in Glasgow. I cannot recommend how amazing the food was. Please don’t go in expecting Jamie Oliver to prepare your meal himself as that won’t be happening but you could definitely see his personality through the dishes.

Before we set off for Jamie’s we exchanged our gifts. I got Guy a Ralph Lauren hooded sweatshirt and he got me chocolates, a beautiful purple orchid and a Bluetooth speaker (ideal for me as I like to listen to spotify in the tub). We were both delighted as we were not expecting much from oneanother as we had just bought our house so it was a lovely surprise.


The starters, main and desert were so rustic yet beautifully served. I love it when you go somewhere and the dishes are more homely than a typical restaurant. The plates are traditional as well as the stands (tomato puree cans) for the antipasti board!
 

For my starter I had the antipasti plank which included cured meats, mozzarella, cheese, olives, capers, coleslaw and a pickled chilli. Guy had the pate which he demolished in a matter of seconds then decided to steal some of my starter!

For my main I had the free range chicken with wild mushroom sauce served with seasonal vegetables and lemon rocket. I don’t usually order chicken when I’m dining out as I don’t find it very exciting but for some reason I really fancied chicken for a change. Mushrooms aren’t really my thing but they totally worked with the chicken and the lemon rocket was so tasty as it was zingy and refreshing – I’ll have to try and recreate it at home. Guy had the prawn linguini which he enjoyed. Both mains also came with polenta chips which we had never had before. They were massive and sooo crispy, very tasty! 

 

For desert I had the chocolate brownie with popcorn while Guy finished with the lemon meringue cheesecake. I was extremely satisfied with my desert as it wasn’t an overwhelming portion and the popcorn was a delightful extra. I think Guy was a tad full by the time his desert rolled in and couldn’t finish it. That’s what happens when you’re starving and demolish your starter and main at break neck speed!

 

We will most definitely be returning to Jamie’s. The atmosphere was lively but not too loud where we couldn’t hear one another speak. The décor is rustic and has an industrial feel to it with the exposed ductwork.

If you are ever in the Glasgow area, or have a Jamie’s in a city near you then give it a go!

xoxo

Questions of the day:
-          Have you ever been to Jamie’s Italian?
-          What’s your favourite Italian dish?

We've Moved!

Hello, hello hello!!

It's been so long my lovelies. My apologies for being MIA lately, I do however have a fairly reasonable excuse…we bought a house!!

So since my last post (oh my god, last year?!) some pretty big things happened…
First of all, my boyfriend of nearly (at the time) 6 years proposed to me the night before my birthday. Words cannot describe how truly delighted I was. I knew after a few months of being with Guy that he would be the man I marry and now that he’s proposed I could not be happier! He really is my best friend. 

My beautiful ring <3
 
An engagement gift from my boss :)
 
However, we both agreed the wedding planning would be put on hold as we were currently renting and really wanted to buy. Buying a property has been on our minds for quite some time now so a couple of days after we got engaged we began looking.

At the time, we were told that it was a ‘buyer’s market’ which meant that buyer’s were getting great deals as property prices were slightly lower than usual. So it was fairly easy to find properties online that we liked at affordable prices. I’m not going to lie to you though, the months we spent trying to find our ideal home were an absolute nightmare! We lost a few houses to other people putting an offer in before us, which was extremely disheartening. 

The day finally came, mid-October, where we viewed a house that we fell in love with! A three bedroom detached in a family friendly estate that we initially thought was too good to be true. But after reviewing the Home Report we decided to put an offer in and were moved in by the 20th of December. 

 

Please note, do not move 5 days before Christmas, seriously! Stressed doesn’t even cover it!

  
Our Christmas tree, Lilly had no problem settling in once this bad boy was up!

We are now settled into our sweet little house and couldn’t be happier. Lilly seems to be very at home here too :-)

Our finished bedroom <3

So that’s the main reason I haven’t posted in a while. I adore blogging and really want to get into a habit of it in 2015!

xoxo

Questions of the Day:
-          If you’ve recently moved, how did you manage the stress of it all?
-          Any recommendations for future posts?