When pregnant with my first son, making homemade Christmas tree decorations is something I really thought I’d do every year as a family tradition. I also thought I’d use bamboo nappies and make my own yoghurt. What can I say, I am not that mother. Not that I judge those women who do. We all use out time as we wish. READ MORE
“Hi Holly, would you like to review a gastro weekend including pies, cheese and beer?”
“Erm, let me think…”
I reckon it took all of half a second, maybe a quarter, to say a huge yes please. READ MORE
Anyone who knows me well, knows I LOVE cheese. I always choose the cheese board after dinner. I am often to be found nibbling on slithers of cheese straight from the fridge. I am a cheese fiend. Cheese would be my last supper. And Comté is up there for me; in my top cheeses. It’s creamy, nutty and moreish. And has a fabulous name. I can channel my inner French woman. (And for anyone wondering how you pronounce it, it’s ‘com-tay’ – I am always the girl who asks for the correct pronunciation so tend to pass the news on). READ MORE
This is another Halloween idea, rather than a cake recipe as such. You will need to bake a cake first or buy one – about 20cm across. Any flavour will do. Cakes such as this one or this one would be perfect.
This cake caused just as much excitement as the monster drip cake did in my house. The legs caused a particular stir. You could use any accent colour fondant you wish instead of orange. Purple maybe? That seems witchy. READ MORE
This is more an idea than a cake. You will need to bake a cake first or buy one – about 20cm across. Any flavour will do but given it is Halloween soon maybe you might fancy adding lime marmalade as a slimey filling. Or colour the cake with purple and green food colouring. Or not. Your call. (Cakes such as this one or this one would be perfect).
These marshmallow monsters went down extremely well with my cake and treat loving sons (2 out of the 3). They were removed from the cake when my back was turned and snaffled. I think that’s a very good sign for any novelty cake. (Do excuse the poor quality phone snaps, I had to rush off to the Countryfile Live show so didn’t get any photos taken properly). READ MORE
I have hosted many a Halloween party. I know every game inside out. We’ve done it all. Spooky cupcake decorating, pin the hat on the witch, wrapping small children up as mummies using cheap loo paper, bobbing for apples, ghoul discos… I won’t go on. They’re all fun. But really you may as well ditch the lot and just go straight for the doughnuts on a string. It is one of the funniest games I have ever had the joy to see my children play. Proper belly laughter. And if you manage to fill the house with the aroma of freshly fried doughnuts in the process then bonus points for everyone. If you go a step further and add a doughnut to a boozy freak shake for the adult guests then, well, a spooky high five to you. READ MORE
Is it tiffin? Is it chocolate fridge cake? Is it chocolate biscuit cake? Oh who knows! All I know is that this is beyond delicious. I ate some for breakfast this morning and then I ate some for lunch. I am planning on a lot of veggies for my dinner to make up for this behaviour. I don’t promise this is sugar free. In fact I don’t promise anything nutritionally from this recipe. All I will say is that if you are making it in the gargantuan quantities I do then do share the tiffin love. READ MORE
Now do you remember me telling you all about the Maiyango closing menu I went to? No? Well, if not, here it is. The big question I was left with after enjoying some delicious food was what on earth was going to take the place of Maiyango? Some might say that the owner is a master of marketing – there were lots of teasers but nothing concrete for some weeks. You could even book into the new restaurant (in advance of it re-opening) without knowing anything about it! A lot of mystery and intrigue.
It’s that time of year again when I can’t help but think about baking, baking and more baking. August is not just for checking the boy’s shoes, shirts, pencil cases and the like. I also look through all my baking kit and weed out the weaker items, sacrifice the less used bits to the local charity shop and do a little recce of what else I might need. READ MORE
I have two lovely book reviews for you. I am lucky enough to be sent lots of lovely books ahead of publication but these two I wanted to tell you about as I enjoyed them both very much (for very different reasons). READ MORE
Holly Bell 