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favourite foodie gift ideas.

those who know me will know i'm utterly obsessed with anything remotely floral print, polkadot or just generally looks like it might've once belonged to your granny. i'm forever trawling the cath kidston website and could probably write a blog about duvet sets if there were ever a calling for it. 

so i thought why not put together some of my recent favourites, which i thought could also make for cute foodie gifts too.


one
cath kidston bento box £10
although i've recently bought a lunch box, i thought this combination brought together my love of japanese food and everything floral! the lovely layered lunch box comes with a knife, fork and even chopsticks. 

two
glass cupcake dome £13
an extra special way of displaying cupcakes - and why not? it reminds me of the glass dome in beauty and the beast and (almost) makes your sweet treats too good to eat.

three
i found this on not on the high street yesterday and fell in love. as i copywriter by trade, i'd absolutely love a typewriter and love that my mum trained at secretary college on one. plus what a brilliant pun... this will just have to do!

four
these adorable cutters from lakeland make it look like someone has already taken a bite... i love them! these are a new product and will be out from april 1st. hope it's not an april fools as they're definitely on my shopping list.

five
how charming are these from next? if you think the cupcake dome is a little pricey then these are a lovely alternative. who wouldn't want to receive one of these with a tasty cupcake inside? and since it's easter, why not have a go at making these lemon easter cupcakes which as they're in the style of a nest could look quite effective in a little bird house box :)

what do you think to my choices? have you come across any other foodie gift ideas lately?

#wiaw - what i ate wednesday - march 27th

so after really enjoying getting involved in  #wiaw last week, i've gone for my second attempt :) this was what i ate this tuesday...

7.30am
i'm afraid it does start with the same cereal shot as last week albeit a different duvet cover of course. this is actually asda's version of special k which is called "vitality" and i can't tell the difference at all. moving on...



paneer tikka masala.

shopping list 
♥ 200g block of paneer cheese
♥ 3 tbsp tikka paste
♥ one onion, choppped
♥ 400g chopped tomatoes
♥ tbsp tomato purée
4 tbsp natural yogurt
♥ knob of butter
♥ chopped coriander, to serve


this is based on the bbc good food paneer tikka masala recipe - which i really recommend! 

i made this last week for what i ate wednesday - if you haven't already heard of it then get involved! :)

#wiaw - my first attempt at what i ate wednesday.

when i found out about the #wiaw i was so excited to take part - couldn't believe i hadn't heard about it before. started by jenn over at peasandcrayons.com, what i ate wednesday is all about documenting a day in the life of what you ate one day that week. 

what #wiaw isn't about...
comparison - judgement - restriction - guilt

what #wiaw is about...
celebrating one of the glorious things we all have in common: we all eat!
 
so here goes...

7.30am
a bowl of of special k with a sprinkle of sugar. pretty standard breakfast on a work day for me really. 



9.30am
my first coffee at work, a skinny americano with two sugars. they ask me if i'd like it black or white everytime.
 

12.00 midday
so pretty much bang on midday my body clock says FEED. ME. NOW. gotta say, this is pretty annoying on my days off. also my day of food has been pretty bland so far so may i introduce to you... chilli and lemon king prawn linguine with asparagus, broccoli, rocket and sugar snap peas. just recently bought a new lunchbox too - it was love at first sight. sainsbury's have also recently started doing an asparagus, broccoli and sugar snap pea medley pack - three of my faves so it's perfect!



little lemon easter cupcakes.

so easter is just around the corner and that can only mean one thing in the baking world. finally breaking (or pretending you hadn't already broken) the rules of what you might have given up for lent. luckily i hadn't given anything up this year, so when the lovely people at bakingmad.com sent me some baking bits and asked if i'd try out their easter cupcakes, i jumped at the chance. i took inspiration from two of their recipes and put them together to create these little treats.

simple tofu stir fry.

first off, this is most definitely a real cheat dish, taking me no more than 5 minutes to throw together. however, i just wanted to share with you how much i really rated the cauldron marinated tofu pieces i recently tried. 



viennese chocolate dipped biscuits.


shopping list
♥ 150g icing sugar
♥ 250g unsalted butter, diced

♥ 330g self raising flour
♥ 50g cornflour
♥ 1 tsp vanilla paste
♥ 400g chocolate





so viennese biscuits... when i found out that for the "office bake off" i had to make either tarts, biscuits or cookies, at first i was insistent on making a trusty bakewell. a last minute change of heart meant i had my first attempt at making viennese biscuits, chocolate dipped of course. 



five-a-day vegetable lasagne.

just wanted to share this yummy and healthy (ish) vegetable lasagne i made for my friends at the weekend. one of my friends is a veggie so i decided to plonk as many vegetables as i thought would go together into a pan, add tomato sauce and layer up in a lasagne. 

i was pretty pleased with the results and they even went back for seconds... yay! i like to think this would be almost all your five a day in one go. though the cheese probably cancels that out. let me know if you try it! :)

this was also the first thing i've made in my new kitchen. if you follow me on twitter you'll know i've been super busy moving house lately - still got lots of posts to write up even from my old kitchen!