March Favourites

Unusually for me I've been trying a lot of new products this month and the majority of them I've really liked so I thought I'd pop them all in a post so I can share them with all of you. Just a little word of warning, there seems to be a theme of exfoliators running throughout my current favourites. Maybe it's because of the ever encroaching warm weather and I'm starting to panic about getting that lovely glowing skin that we all lust after when we dig our shorts and summer dresses out of the back of the wardrobe! Anyway let's just jump right in...

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EAT | Iberica, Marylebone

I've been meaning to get this post up for a few weeks now but I kept being sidetracked with other things to here it is...finally! Tapas has to be one of my all time favourite foods - probably partly due to the recurring issue of food envy I seem to suffer from pretty much every single time I eat out - anyone else have this problem? So with tapas this isn't a problem, the whole point is to dig in and try everything - say goodbye to food envy forever with this one! Therefore since I moved to London I have been on the hunt for a great tapas restaurant and here's where Iberica comes in!

This is a fantastic tapas restaurant on Great Portland Street in Marylebone. The night I went they had this INCREDIBLE special cocktail that was only available that night, I literally can't rave about this enough. I can't for the life of me remember what was in it which is frustrating me more than you can understand but I'm pretty sure it involved blackberries, creme de cassis, soda water and some other unknown spirit! It was so fresh and crisp - my only complaint was that it wasn't bigger, is that bad?!

Now, onto the most important stuff - the food (in advance I apologise for the photos - I got a little distracted with the eating and only snapped a few quick pictures between mouthfuls)! First up was the 'Half and Half' - a bread board with a selection of spanish cheeses and cured meats with some quince jelly. This was just amazing, the cured meats so delicious, I could happily have eaten this entire board to myself. My only complaint - not enough quince jelly!

 Next to arrive at the table was the 'Grilled baby squid with green Canarian mojo'. I can be very fussy with calamari, it can either be amazing or inedible - there's nothing worse than rubbery calamari, who wants to eat an elastic band? So for this reason, this wasn't actually one of my choices but my dad deserved a big pat on the back for this as yet again this was delicious (are you seeing a bit of a theme yet?). It was cooked to perfection, had such a light crisp batter and that mayo....mmmmmm so good!

Although this may not be very original, my all time favourite dishes at tapas restaurants are patatas bravas and padron peppers. I know these are both really simple dishes (I love to make padron peppers at home - such a good snack) but they're just so good. You know you're not going to go wrong with these which is a huge benefit for someone like me who can be little unadventurous with food at times. Iberica once again managed to hit the spot with both of these. The only place I've had better patatas bravas was at Lola Rojo on Northcote Road.

We ended up with around 12 dishes between 4 of us which was honestly exactly the right amount - not a scrap of food was left by the time we were done and none of us were left hungry. I cannot recommend this place highly enough, it would be a great place for a date or just a fun night out with friends.

If you've been to Iberica let me know what you thought or if you know of any other great tapas restaurants in London!

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Spring Flowers & Sunbathing Cats

Being in London it can be all to easy to miss the changing of the seasons and so I couldn't have been happier to get back home last weekend to visit my parents! The weather was absolutely glorious, especially on Sunday, and so I couldn't resist having a little wander around the garden with my camera to try and capture the beauty that is spring.

Don't you just love how vibrant the colours of the flowers look against the dull leftovers of winter - it's only going to get better from here too as more and more of the flowers start to bloom. I don't think there could have been a better way to spend my Sunday afternoon than sitting in the garden with my parents and the cats, catching up on some magazines.

I'm surprised my cats haven't cropped up in posts before this - if I lived at home they'd be in virtually every post and they would take up the majority of my Instagram feed! So here we go, meet Alfie and Freddie who were clearly making the most of the weather by spending the whole day playing and sunbathing in the garden. They do love to pose for the camera so I just couldn't resist slipping them into this post!

The main reason I went home was to go and look at some houses with my parents as they're looking to move house so I have to say it was a little bit of a bittersweet trip home. The garden at home looks so beautiful at this time of year - I'll really miss it when they move!

Do you guys love spring as much as me? Fingers crossed the weathers stay as beautiful!

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Weekend Wish List #1

The weather has been so beautiful for the past few days I couldn't help but start subconsciously putting together a little shopping list of things that I want to for spring time. Everyone needs to inject a little bit of colour and excitement into their wardrobe at this time of year don't they? 

1. Gold 'Lovely Knot Bangle' from Forever 21. I absolutely love this. It's so simple and striking plus I absolutely love gold jewellery especially in spring time. This would be the perfect finishing touch to any outfit! (RRP £5.65) 

2. J Crew Matte Leather Belt in mint green. This is my absolute favourite colour - I think it's so sophisticated and goes with so many other colours. I'm in need of a new leather belt so I might buy this in the coming weeks as I just think it's beautiful. (RRP £34.50) 

3. New Look 'Stone and Pink Colour Block Winged Tote Bag'. Over the last few weeks I've become a little obsessed with the Michael Kors Winged Totes but I have to admit as much as I love the Michael Kors ones, I just love the pop of colour with the pink on this one. My wardrobe lately has been a little muted so this would provide a much needed injection of colour and for £29.99 it's hard to say no!  

4. YSL Glossy Stain in Pink Coral. I've been lusting after the YSL Glossy Stain's for months now and want pretty much every colour but with spring just around the corner I think this pink coral colour will be perfect for the upcoming warmer months (RRP £23.50) 

5. J Crew 'Pattern-Block Wallet Case for iPhone 4/4S'. I'm forever on the hunt for new iPhone cases as it's nice to mix it up a little bit every now and then isn't it? I think this one from J Crew is great as you can keep your debit card, Oyster card etc in the inside cover so it's ideal for when you need to dash out to the shops but don't want to take your whole bag! (RRP £34.50) 

6. Essie 'Lilacism'. As you know from my previous post about Orly Rubberised Base Coat I love me some nail polish and recently I've been on the lookout for some new spring nail polishes. Is this not the prettiest lilac/blue colour for the upcoming months? I can't wait to pop into Boots to pick it up myself. (RRP £7.99)

I've really enjoyed putting this post together - who doesn't like an excuse for a little window shopping!? Let me know if you'd like more posts like this in the future! For more information about any of my latest favs head over to my Luvocracy page! 

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BAKING | White Chocolate & Raspberry Cupcakes

Baking is one of my favourite things to do at the weekend - it's my perfect way to unwind and relax. So on Sunday I decided to have a go at baking some white chocolate and raspberry cupcakes - having got the taste for raspberries at L'ETO on Saturday! (If you missed my post about L'ETO, check it out here!) These are the perfect spring time cupcake!

Ingredients:

• 250g soft butter / margarine
• 250g caster sugar
• 250g self raising flour
• 4 medium eggs
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 4tbsp (almond) mik
• raspberries (frozen) 
• 150g white chocolate chips

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius. 

2. Cream together the caster sugar and butter until light and fluffy. TIP: make sure that the butter is room together or it won't bind together with the sugar properly. 

3. Add the eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly between each egg. TIP: try and get as much air as possible into the mixture at this point - this is what will make the cakes nice and light.

4. Add half of the self raising flour and mix in gently. 

5. Once the first half of the flour is incorporated add the rest and again mix gently. 

6. Add the almond milk and vanilla essence and mix through. TIP: you can use any type of milk - I just like almond milk as it adds that mild hint of nut and creaminess. 

7. Now add the white chocolate chips and raspberries. TIP: I like to fold these through the mixture to avoid breaking up the raspberries too much and to keep as much air as possible in the mixture.

7. Divide the mixture into cupcake cases in a muffin tray. The mixture made around 18 cupcakes for me but this will vary depending on the amount of raspberries you choose to add. 

8. Finally, place the cakes in the middle of the oven for around 20 minutes. TIP: after 20 minutes, to test the cakes, place a skewer through the centre of the cake - if it comes out clean (i.e. with no mixture on it) then the cakes are finished.

I was planning on making some white chocolate butter cream icing to finish these off but they were just so good when they came out of the oven I didn't have patience so I didn't waste any time digging in! 

If you want to see the recipe for the icing let me know in the comments section below!

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EXPLORE | L'ETO, Kings Road

On Saturday Matthew and I decided to head up to Sloane Square so that we could have a little wander around Chelsea in the sun for the afternoon. I absolutely love window shopping along King's Road, especially in Anthropologie everything in there is so beautiful! So after a couple of hours of mooching around and making a mental wish list of everything that I want we decided it was about time we stopped somewhere for a coffee to recharge our batteries. That was when we stumbled across L'ETO, with all of those beautiful cakes and tarts in the window I couldn't possibly resist stopping here.

I ordered a cream vanilla latte and Matthew opted for a London Hot Chocolate - is it sad that I was super excited when they arrived ad they had these cute patterns in the foam on top?! I wish I knew how to do that on my coffees at home!

Then came the raspberry tart - this was literally incredible! It has a lovely flakey pastry case filled with marzipan sponge, topped with smooth rich custard and fresh raspberries - I think I could have eaten about 4 of these! Not to mention one of pretty much everything else in the window - how are you ever supposed to choose when it all looks THIS GOOD!

Seeing all these lovely cakes got me in the mood to do some baking - come back soon to see a baking post! What did everyone else get up to this weekend?

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